Chapter 10
And You Breathe Again
Piers sat silently up against the wall in the cramped space, his hands tied behind his back as an extra precaution against anything he might try. His psynergy though, was still available to him. The three thick stone walls were rendered useless by the gaping hole in the forth, it would be a tight squeeze, but Piers would have fit through.
The waves echoed through the caverns, even had they not been there sleep would have only been a joke for him. Outside he had a pleasant view of the ruins. Without moving from his current position he could see the broken pillars that had at one time lined the city streets, even the place where he and his friends had stopped for lunch that time they'd explored Ancient Lemuria.
Piers stopped thinking about his friends, he rolled his shoulders slightly to ease the tension building up, flexing his fingers too keep the blood flowing. Not that it would matter really, wouldn't be too long now.
None of them would leave; he knew that for a fact. They'd try to organize some sort of rescue; that was what they did. They didn't leave people behind, although he wished they'd start. He hoped that Mia couldn't remember where they'd been held; just as much as he prayed he'd gotten her the antidote in time. If they didn't know where he was, then they couldn't get hurt trying to save him.
'Not that anyone can save me from this,' He thought with a fake, emotionless smile, the leather thongs bit into his flesh, and he'd been thrown into the wall a few times. There was no one guarding the door to his cell, hell, it probably wasn't even locked, and they hadn't thought to patch up the whole in the wall. Piers knew it was all just there to mock him, and he knew it was doing a damn good job.
He shifted in the dim light again, not for his arms this time, but in a vain attempt to loosen the metal collar around his neck. The cold metal sending chills though his entire body. At least, that's what it felt like…
--Flashback--
Piers watched silently as two of the men carried Mia's unmoving form from the room, and out down the passage.
"I wonder if Hatred affects the Bond in any way." The other man purred, entirely pleased with himself. Piers stood up in one fluid motion, his expression stony as he faced the man who had brought him here.
"I wouldn't know." He replied crisply, "I've never had to do such a thing with a snake before, or any other cold-blooded reptile for that matter." The other man laughed harshly, mirth never reaching cold black eyes.
"Flattery will get you no-where, boy." He said, striding proudly towards the large rough wooden desk. "And don't try telling me you might be older neither, I know for a fact that I am much older than you." He continued, sliding a leather tube out from the small case that rested near the small candle. Holding it up in the light, he took a good long look at it, the tube itself was unremarkable. Nothing at all hinting at what it contained,
"Fools," The man muttered, his face half in shadows "They had it stored away with a bunch of other scriptures, its only purpose to sit there gathering dust for another millennia!" He shook his head violently, setting the tube down gently as Piers walked over and placed his hands on the table top.
"Let's just get this over and done with, shall we?" He said softly, his voice blank of all emotion, every fiber of his being screaming against what he was about to do. The other man looked up from where he was fiddling with the lid, a sly smile playing across his features.
"Eager, are we? Or just unwilling to delay the inevitable?" The way his words seemed clipped at the end grated on Piers' nerves as the other man succeeded in opening the case and slipped the contents out. The Adept was swamped with dread as the ancient paper glittered slightly in the candle-light, a few pieces falling away under the man's gentle touch.
As he pulled it out completely though, Piers suddenly felt weak, his vision blurred slightly and he leaned a heavily on the table as the wounds broke open slightly, his blood seeping through the wrappings and his shirt. As he bled though, the scroll seemed to mend itself, the brown color seeping away until it shone with a light of its own, mesmerizing and powerful in a way that reminded him of the Golden Sun. The other man looked up, his thin lips pulling back into a mocking sneer
"So, I was right this time." He said amused as the scroll continued to repair itself, unrolling the document completely, he turned it for Piers to see what was written. The Mercury-Adept waited a few moments until his vision cleared before looking down at it. Written in thin black strokes, he read the first few lines of the prophecy that was the source of all this. Down near the bottom was a large blank space. reading up just before it were the words 'Terms and Conditions of the Binding'. What legal terms, maybe lawyers really were devil spawn… A fine silver pen had been rolled up inside the scroll, a simple shaft of silver with a nub at the end. But Piers also noticed miniscule spines along one edge.
"Well?" The other man simply stood there, apparently waiting for Piers, the man snatched the scroll off the desk, turning it over, he read off of it. 'If in any case where the Master is unable to survive the ordeals of the testing, the powers shall then pass to the second name on the Bond. The Second shall then continue the ordeals where the First fell. A new Second shall be chosen should such an event occur.'" Without touching the pen, the man then set the scroll back down.
"My name is the Second, Boy, I'm not going to throw my life away when I'm so close to my goal." He batted the pen towards him, not touching the metal for more than an instant. "You know the terms we have agreed too, I hope you see no problem with being the one to write them out." Piers met the other man's smile with his own glare. Snatching up the pen; he wasn't at all surprised when the small spines seemed to grow in order to draw blood.
"Be sure you're specific with the conditions, Boy, you don't want anything unexpected too happen now do you? No… accidents?" Piers glared darkly at the other man as he bit his lip against the sharp needles. Placing the nub firmly on the paper, he began to write.
'The Scholar Kraden of Vale, Venus-Adepts Felix and Isaac of Vale, Mars-Adepts Jenna and Garet of Vale, the Jupiter-Adepts Ivan of Contigo and Kalay, and Sheba of Lalivero, as well as the Mercury-Adept Mia of Imil, are to be allowed to exit the Sea of Time unharmed with no assistance from any under orders of the Second. They will not be harmed in any way, shape, or form outside of the Sea Of TimeNor will any citizen of Lemuria, not excluding Lunpa the Explorer within the Sea. If there is any breach in contract, the Second will loose all rights to the Power of the Trials.'
Underneath Piers scribbled his name in his own blood, before slamming the pen down hard and fought the urge to cradle his shaking, bloody hand. The other man's dark eyes scanned the words, nodding solemnly. Picking up the bloody pen gingerly, he looked back up at Piers,
"Now let's see if your long-standing hatred of me makes this experience any more memorable." His smile never touched his dark eyes as he bent down and, in blood, wrote his name on the small line next to Piers'.
Piers' world exploded into agony as his mind was assaulted by unseen powers. Part of him burned as if drenched in scalding water, while his lungs felt like they were being crushed as he drowned in his own pain.
Piers fell to his knees, refusing to scream as he felt, more than saw, the bond taking shape. A wrist-thick rope of his own soul and that of his captor interweaving and connecting them both, the golden parchment flying up and wrapping itself around the two strands, fusing them together. Dimly he could feel, as this was supposed to be created by two people who trusted each-other with their lives, how the power tried to form itself into a mutual bond for them both, but how the other man's lust for power and his own fear for his friends forced his end to become a noose.
The pain abated slowly, and Piers was left with the sensation of a heavy collar around his neck, he reached up with one hand, but met only his own skin as he gasped for air. He heard the other man's harsh laughter across from him, before two more men came and bound his hands though, he heard, "I suppose hatred has everything to do with the Bond, doesn't it, lad?"
The Golden Bond, a collar around a dog's neck, with the other man as his master.
--End Flashback--
Piers shifted uncomfortably again against the wall, the waves echoing rhythmically from the outside of the island. He snorted as he felt vast amounts of contempt through his end of the Bond. This man was going too do to Piers what he had his father before him, only this time he wasn't going to fail.
'He's going to kill me.' Piers thought, oddly resigned to, what he supposed, was his fate. He'd signed the Bond on his own; because of this he couldn't feel anything more than his original hatred for the man. 'Maybe the others won't come; I wish I could have said good-bye, but I don't want them to be there when it happens. I don't want to see the look on my Uncle's face when he finds out about this…'
Rolling onto his side, not trying to sleep, he'd never be able to manage it with the constant knowledge of that bastard. He tried to ignore the tight sensation of the bond. It was a noose around his neck, and Piers was just waiting for that trapdoor to fall through and strangle him…
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Mia stood out on the swaying deck of the ship, Lunpa and Hydros had left a few hours ago, the others were all in bed. It had been more than slightly difficult to get out of bed and out on deck without help from the others, or without waking any of them, but she hadn't been able to take being inside, warm and safe anymore…
'Before Piers, there were three false Masters, and yet no one thought to mention that all three were in Piers' family…' She thought, glancing down into the murky waters
'His grandfather and father's brother both survived, but Piers' father didn't… Some one he didn't trust forced him to sign the bond in exchange for the safety of Piers and his mother. He wasn't the prophesized master, and yet he was still forced to sign…' Not looking at anything in particular of down the caves, she didn't realize she was staring straight in the direction of Ancient Lemuria.
'Piers' mother knew when he signed because she felt the pain the same instant he was forced to, she was one of his closest relations at the time. Leon felt the same pain today as a sign that Piers had done the same, this time, to save us…' Her eyes stung and she didn't bother trying to fight the tears very long. There was no one on deck; there was no reason to hide them this time.
'Piers was still a small child when his father was killed, he died because he didn't trust that person with his life. I know for a fact Piers doesn't trust or maybe even know that man in the caverns… The only way to break the Bond is to have some one attack it with the Trident. The Trident is important because it's a symbol of Poseidon's power, if that is done, any power will go to the Second, because if the Bond is severed and there's no one ready to re-sign it then… Piers will die…' Mia gripped the railing as hard as she could as she tried not to cry out loud.
The ship would be finished tomorrow, and they had no idea what to do. The bond made like this gave one member power over the other. If they didn't deliver it, then there was an excellent chance that this person would just let Piers be killed in the trials. So not going wasn't about to change anything, it would actually be more humane to just give the Trident over…
But they couldn't do that… There was something they could do to save him, one real way they could give Piers a chance to live…
They just didn't know what it was…
