Avi


When she was done being examined she was taken to a small chamber where a group of priestesses came in with wooden buckets filled with cold water mixed with scented oils to wash her. They used brushes with thick bristles that scratched her skin as they scrubbed her awfully, washing every part of her body.

One of the priestesses grabbed her and bent her over a table where they used razors to shear off her beautiful golden hair. By the looks of their faces, it seemed they were jealous of her beauty. They were not fair faced like she was. Most of them had unsightly moles or large warts, crooked noses and lips the color of worms and they were either very plump or very thin.

It seemed they were doing all they could to tear away Avi's loveliness. Her hair, once reaching all the way down to her back like gold threads was cut to the length of her neck. They doused her head with their buckets of water to clear away bits of hair and blood from the cuts they gave her scalp.

"Up!" one of them shouted. "Get up!" She smacked Avi hard on the bottom. "NOW!"

Avi did as she was told and was forced to put on an old woven rag before being led by soldiers from Shadow Company into a dank chamber and shackled to the wall.

Their radios buzzed with military jargon.

"Sleep tight, Summoner," one of them said before they left her alone in the darkness. The door slammed and echoed in the vastness of the dungeon.

"Oh," someone groaned from the darkness. "Who…who's there?"

Avi gasped. That voice! I know that voice!

"Solomon! Master Solomon Muto!" she cried out.

"Oh, Avi! Is that really you?" Solomon called out from the rack on the other side of the dungeon.

"They kept you here too?" Avi sobbed.

"Oh, this is nothing compared to what the Orcs did to me back in the wars against Anubis," he chuckled. "If you ask me, these guys are real amateurs."

"I admire your spirit," Avi said, still crying. "What are they going to do? Do they mean to kill us?"

"Were it so easy," said Solomon. "They need us both alive to get the little brat of the coastlands what he wants."

"So, this is Prince Hector's doing?"

"Aye, that it is."

"So he's aligned himself with Stefan and the Church?"

"More like Stefan and the Church has aligned with him. Hector's the key to getting them what they want, and that is to spread their bullshit into Emboldor. Their faith has banned from the Land of Kings since the Inquisition, and it seems to me that Hector is willing to help them have a foothold on the sacred lands if they can give him soldiers and knights for his army. Uh, Weren't you going to marry the boy?"

"Not anymore," Avi sobbed. "Yuri and the princes were right about him all along. He set me up. He already took the dragon in the temple. Shadow Company was waiting for me."

"I'm so sorry, Avi."

"Oh, Master, how could I have been so stupid?"

"Now, now, love, there is no need to be so hard on yourself. The Church fooled us all."

"And these Shadow Company soldiers?" Avi asked.

"They are not from the Church, my dear. Just a bunch of modern, beer-drinking, trigger-happy mercenaries looking to get contracts here in the West and bully the people who believe in the old traditions with their technology and fancy guns. It's been a problem as of late, having these modern soldiers harass the people of the North, West and South, but now with Shadow Company getting jobs here, I fear the problem is only going to get worse. These people know nothing of guns, let alone how to fight people with them. If this keeps up, I fear the old ways will be a thing of the past, even though they should have been a long time ago after the foundation of Domino and the rise of technology."

"I believe in progress," said Avi. "But not like this. Oh, Solomon, they mean to kill Yuri."

"He is protected by the God Cards and the spirit of Norman the Conqueror lives within his Pendant of the Kings. There is no force in this realm or the Shadow Realm that could harm the little prince. But…if they get their hands on those beasts, I fear not even Yuri will be able to stop Prince Hector."

"The Ancient Beasts? Is that what they want with me, Solomon?"

"Not you. Me."

"What?"

"Avi, I am one of the few in the continent who can read and decipher ancient Celtran. Hector, was somehow able to find the tablets containing the maps that lead to the whereabouts of the Ancient Beasts, god-like saurian monsters who were once used by Norman the Conqueror himself. But as potent as he was, even he was not able to contain them."

"And the maps?"

"They are written in a complex code the Celtran scholars used to keep Men and Elves out of their secrets. It took me hundreds of years to learn it with my friend Arthur Hawkins, though its best I no longer speak of him, for these thugs might go after him, and he is not as strong-willed as I am."

"What does all this have to do with me?" Avi asked.

"They mean to break me by torturing you," said Solomon. "Lady Avi, forgive me. I had many chances to save you from this fate, but in order to keep Prince Yuri safe, the ancient monsters must never be found."

"Do not blame yourself, Master," said Avi. "You did the right thing. If being imprisoned here is what is needed to be done to keep High King Yuri safe, so be it."

"Well, that was fast," said Solomon.

"I do not like the thought of being here," said Avi. "But if what you say is true, then we must stay strong for Yuri. It seems he is the key to getting us out of here."

"Mmm," Solomon said with a nod.


The cock's call rang through the stone walls of the dungeon. The light of the morning sun, usually welcoming the new day with a warm golden glow hit Avi's face instead with an ominous shade of red and orange like a burning fire. Her weary eyes opened and she saw Solomon still hanging on the rack. The sun's light that crept through the iron-barred windows revealed his scars, bruises, and burns. Avi knew all too well that her body would soon be riddled with damage from the oncoming tortures. Drops of water fell from the cracks on the ceiling and she could make out the screams of other condemned souls in the dungeon.

Soon her screams would join them. Solomon said they both needed to be strong for both Yuri's sake, and for Termnnia's.

He told her that they intended to torture her in order to break Solomon into talking and revealing the Ancient Beasts to the rebel boy-king. He must have been very difficult to interrogate if the Church and King Hector went through all the trouble of hiring an Eastern mercenary group like Shadow Company to search for her.

She heard footsteps come down the halls. She held her breath. She gave a sigh of relief when whoever it was passed by her chambers.

"Morning, Avi," Grandpa groaned as he awoke.

"Good morrow, Master Solomon," said Avi. She rested her chin on her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs. She quivered with fear, expecting a very long and painful day.

"Will it hurt?" she asked, her voice quaking. Stupid question, but, she wanted to know how much pain she wanted to go through. And she was so scared she could not find the right words to come out of her mouth.

Solomon's lips trembled.

He had been trained by the king's special forces known as the Swords of the King, a secret unit of guards of the High King when he served under the lordship of High King Jantaro Plantegrast, and in that time, he was trained in dealing with torture, so he was ready for whatever King Hector's men were going to put him through. But Avi, was a delicate young thing. She was still an infant in his eyes. A little baby who had yet to enjoy the fruits of life.

He swallowed and said, "Just keep telling yourself there will be no pain greater than betraying High King Yuri," he counseled her. "And you will forget everything."

Avi smiled at that.

"Yeah."

They heard voices outside and then the banging of keys fumbling to get the lock open.

"No matter what happens," said Avi. "No matter how much I scream. Even if I break and beg for you to tell them, you will not say a word. Promise me."

Solomon nodded.

The door to the chamber burst open. Witch Hunters by looks of their studded leather gear, capes, and black hats with white feathers, along with Templar Knights with helmets shaped like wolves and black enameled steel plate armor. They had a sharp black cross painted on their shields which hung on their backs. Among them was a tall and beefy man shirtless with brown boiled leather trousers, a black apron stained with blood and rust and a black hooded mask. There was a mess of hair all over his chest and engorged belly.

He sniffed the air. "Dawn," he said hungrily.

"Don't harm her!" shouted Solomon, writhing in the rack.

"Read the maps, and she will feel nothing."

Solomon growled.

"No? Then she will suffer for your insolence."

He snapped his fingers. The two Templar Knights lunged for her.

"You won't get away with this you fucking bastards!" Avi shouted.

"A tongue so uncouth should have no place in such a pretty mouth."

"Aye," said a Witch Hunter. "Looks like it's going to have to come off." He unsheathed his dagger from his belt.

"Ah, ah, there will be none of that." A priest dressed in red robes trimmed with gold and black thread walked in with a ledger under his arm as the man in the hood undid Avi's shackles and dragged her away. The priest was escorted into the room by two black knights wearing steel plate mixed with Kevlar. Black capes were fastened to their chestplates with silver fastenings in the shape of the sharp cross of the Church's Inquisitional Forces. Their helmets had black visors. Solomon could see holographic graphs of data and windows of information popping up in the screens of the visors. They were holding black assault rifles, heavily tricked out with a variety of attachments.

"Heckler and Koch G-Thirty-Six," Solomon said, as two Witch Hunters untied him. He fell to the ground with a thud. "I thought the Yeyu forbid the use of machines, especially weapons smuggled in from Earth."

"There are some exceptions," said the priest. "I am Reverend Keller of the Chapel of White Tree. I see no introductions are needed for you. Master Suguroko 'Solomon' Muto. The legendary duelist, archeologist, and Sword of the King. I must say, this is quite the honor."

"You expect me to talk?" Solomon asked.

"For her sake," Reverend Keller said jerking his finger behind him.

A horrid, high-pitched screaming blasted through the stone walls.

"She has beautiful fingernails," said Reverend Keller. "It would be a shame if she lost them all, wouldn't it?"

One of the Witch Hunters brought Solomon a wooden tray with a plate of grapes, cheese slices, a crust of bread with sesame seeds and strands of dry roasted chicken meat. He poured Solomon a glass of wine from the Argovan Winery.

Solomon licked his lips and reached for the food, but the black knights raised their weapons. Solomon grunted in shock and froze.

"You may eat only when you agree to read the maps."

Avi let out another ear-piercing scream as the inquisitor ripped out another of her fingernails with his pliers.

They were torturing her in the next room so Solomon could hear her screams.

"You can have your feast," said the priest, "and by my command Avi's torture will end. I swear to Yeyu."

Solomon took the goblet of wine with his weak fingers.

"Are you ready to talk?" the priest asked.

Solomon frowned and poured the wine onto the floor.

The priest laughed. "You would let her suffer? You cruel, cruel man. And I wonder who the real torturers are."

"I am not the one inflicting her with pain," said Solomon.

"No, but you are the one who can stop it," said the priest. "We can stop the torture, no problem. But unless you speak and agree to read the maps for King Hector, Avi's pain will continue."

Avi screamed again.

"Such a fucking shame," Fira said leaning against the stone wall with her arms crossed over her chest. She was clad in tank top and very short denim cutoffs. "I remember when we had those nails pedicured in Domino. Good times, eh, Dove?"

"You…" Avi sobbed. "How could you do this to me? After all we've been through. After all the Daltons have done for you. You would betray us like this?"

"Nothing personal, Dove. But I am a Templar, and I am loyal to my order."

"When Yuri gets wind of this, he will have your heads!"

"And how will he do that if he doesn't know you are here?" Fira asked.

The inquisitor took out another fingernail. Avi yelled at the top of her lungs. Her fingers soaked with blood.

"Damn," the inquisitor said, examining the removed fingernail. "Nice polish. Looks expensive."

"Two silver swords," said Fira. "For each of us."

"Would you mind covering yourself!" a Witch Hunter said angrily, displeased at Fira's choice of attire. "Yeyu respects women who are covered and show decency."

"I don't care what Yeyu thinks," said Fira. "I am not putting on those robes and those ridiculous veils. They look stupid, and I find it oppressing. If he doesn't like it, he can kiss my tattooed ass."

"Spoken like a true mercenary," said the Witch Hunter. "You bring shame to the Templar name."

"Yeah, well, at least I brought in the bitch, didn't I? Something that took you lot forever to do."

"Humph!" said the Witch Hunter. "If you weren't so favored, I'd have your fingernails out too!"

The food was tempting and Avi's screams grew louder and more painful. But Solomon stood in that wooden chair unable to speak.

Hector was not going to get those Ancient Beasts. No matter what.

"NO MORE!" Avi begged them. "NO MORE!"

"Just one more finger, love," said the inquisitor. "There."

Avi squealed awfully. Solomon sobbed, burying his face in his hands.

"Read the maps, and she will feel no more," said the priest.

"Fuck…. you," Solomon growled like a rabid beast. Those were words that never came out of his mouth.

A black tactical knight punched him hard in the face and took the food away.

"Let us break for lunch," said the priest. "Maybe by then, he will be ready to talk."

Meanwhile, in the other room, Avi panted and whimpered, looking at her mangled fingers. The anti-magic collar around her neck was all that kept her from summoning a dragon and massacring all the men in this fortress. But even if she did get it off, there were anti-magic drones swarming all over the castle.

Fira smiled and began to take off her clothes.

"Okay, Avi," the inquisitor said, holding her head up by her hair. "It's time for your bath."