Memories - Chapter Three
Jarlaxle glared at the old male beside him, snarling his thoughts on the topic of today's lesson. Why did he have to learn about things and races of the surface world anyway? It wasn't like he was ever planning on going there.
The whip at the teacher's side rose and fell next to him, as if to scare him. "You missed." He stated, a daring look coming to his eyes.
This time the whip didn't miss its target, wrapping itself around his back, making the young drow wince at the sudden feeling of pain it caused. Again it came down upon his back, then again.
Ten times his back was hit, none of his classmates coming to his aide, not wanting the same treatment. He could see the worry in Zaknafein's eyes, even though they had been fighting for a week.
Jarlaxle was irritable and hard to get along with to all though, and he knew not why. Usually, he was quite happy for company, unusual in his race for his ability to make friends. Sure it is not the true friendship someone from the surface might feel, but other drow, while he had been told he was annoying, seemed to like him. Seemed being the operative word.
He laughed, the sound coming out strangled from his throat that was sore from trying to keep inside screams at the pain he was in.
He was getting strangely used to staying quiet, this punishment had been given to him so often in the past week. He had quit caring sometime the past few days.
The whip started to rain down on his back again, but still he kept his silence. With an angry growl, the Loremaster pushed him onto his back.
The welts on his back, some open wounds, sent pain through his entire body as they came in contact with the hard floor. He cringed as the whip began to cut its way through his stomach. This was new.
He bit his lower lip to stop any sound that was trying to escape him. In seconds, he had bit through skin hard enough for blood to begin to fill his mouth and drip down his chin. He began panting, not wanting to give in.
"Scream and I will stop." The Loremaster announced, hitting the whip into his unprotected stomach with abandon.
Jarlaxle couldn't trust himself to open his mouth lest he do what the older drow asked of him. Instead, he shook his head. This seemed to anger the teacher immensely and the next fall of the whip cut deeply into one of his cheeks.
Without thought he gave in. His scream echoed through the room they were in. The whip came down on the opposite side of his face, cutting his other cheek open before the punishment stopped.
Jarlaxle clutched at his face, trying to stop it bleeding, in case he got into trouble once again for dirtying the floor.
"Get up and get out of here. You will not get off this lightly next time. Do not dare to give me any more cheek boy!" The Loremaster shouted.
Jarlaxle nodded, slowly getting to his feet and walking to the ward that housed an apothecary. He needed to heal before he did anything else...the training with weapons starting the next week, allowing him to finally get rid of the Loremaster who hated him so much. He would very much like to be alive by that time.
Someone was in there already. It was Phlann, but he had been in class a second ago, hadn't he? He was silent as he observed the other male as he tinkered with one of the vials, before putting a small satchel of something away into a hidden pocket. Jarlaxle quickly hid himself as Phlann left the room hurriedly and ran back to the classroom.
Curiosity peaked, he moved to the shelf that the other student had been snooping around. He was instantly drawn to one potion in particular...it was his.
He carefully examined it, but it had the same colour, scent and, after tasting a little of the liquid, he scowled as he found it still had the same awful taste.
Shrugging, but deciding to forgo the stuff for one night just in case, he went to another shelf and picked out all the extra healing potions he could hold...which meant two, as his back and stomach wouldn't allow him to lift any more than one in each hand without overly straining.
He took them back to the dorm room and drank them as he made his way to his bed. They began working almost instantly and he sighed as his sore flesh began to knot itself together. It hurt a little, but at least he shouldn't scar.
A few minutes later, he wasn't only healing nicely, he was also bored. It was as he was going to get up that Zaknafein made his way into the room looking for him.
"You healed yourself...you are just going to get into more trouble for doing so." Zaknafein announced stepping closer.
Jarlaxle tilted his head to one side, hair immediately falling into his red eyes. "Did you see Phlann leave the class at any time?"
Zak shook his head, no. "I did see him enter again. Our Loremaster saw him coming back in, but he never so much as looked at him twice. Maybe he got permission to leave before the lesson started?"
Jarlaxle nodded. "He has been adding something to my potion. I am not going to take it tonight...see if he notices..."
Zak started. "That reminds me. I took a sample of your potion to Sorcere to be examined. I wanted to see what the ingredients were...you have been acting strangely since you began taking it."
Jarlaxle frowned, but didn't say anything, now thinking it was not so much his fault as Phlann's for his ever changing moods. "And?"
"And I forgot about it." Zak stated, smiling a little. "Sorry."
Jarlaxle rolled his eyes. "Well, that's helpful..." He grumbled, before sighing. "So, what menial task have we been set today and am I to be a part of it?" Jarlaxle asked, changing the subject to what he knew Zaknafein was there in the first place.
Zak rolled his eyes. "We are supposed to be mucking out the lizard pens...can you believe it?!"
Jarlaxle scrunched up his face. "I hate doing that...though I have no problems with the lizards themselves. I cannot wait until we learn to ride them. I want one!" He stated the last with a longing look in his eyes that made Zaknafein laugh.
"Well, if we don't leave now, imagine what everyone will be thinking." The older drow said slyly.
Jarlaxle grinned wickedly, before throwing a hand around the other male's waist. "Let them think what they want!" He stated, before leading them both to the lizard stables.
The first thing that they saw were stares, the second were scowls from some, grins from others.
The stables were not that messy and, getting a rake each, Jarlaxle and Zaknafein chose a stall each and began to work. Working apart seemed to prove that their entrance was a joke, as most immediately forgot and went back to the task at hand.
Before long, they were joined by an irate Lawmaster. "Jarlaxle! Follow me. You had no right to heal yourself."
Frowning slightly, Jarlaxle did as he was bid, not liking the sudden glint in the adult male's eye as he was taken away from his classmates.
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Swiping sweat out of his eyes, Zaknafein put away the shovel he was holding and made his way to bathe. While the lizard pens were not that dirty to begin with, there were quite a few of them and the job had taken most of the day.
Too busy working as hard as possible, he was slightly surprised when he heard the other first-years talking about Jarlaxle's departure with their Loremaster.
Hurriedly drying himself off and going back to the dorm, the first thing he noticed was that Jarlaxle was not there.
Not thinking anything of it, he shrugged, got dressed and crawled into his bed, tired after his day of hard labor.
He was woken by a soft sound later that night. Peering around, he noticed the bed next to his was occupied. Jarlaxle must have come back. Again he heard the sound that had woken him. A small, almost indiscernible whimper.
Hopping out of his bed, he crept to the other side of Jarlaxle's bed, minding not to get stuck between the wall and a nightmare-crazed Jarlaxle.
His friend was awake though, that much was certain. Red eyes squinting in pain, mouth open in a grimace that showed what he was feeling.
Making sure everybody else was asleep, he signed to the younger drow, not wanting to be caught talking. 'What happened?' He asked, getting nothing but the slightest shake of the head as an answer.
Worry suddenly coursed through Zak's body, making him gently grip the sheet and peeled it off Jarlaxle. Quite literally.
Eyes shut, teeth clenching, it looked to Zak as if the other wanted to howl in agony. The sheets were covered with blood. Not thickly coated, but enough to have to warrant pulling at wounds.
The first thing Zak noticed was Jarlaxle's clothes were shredded. The next was that what could be seen of his skin was nothing but angry criss- crossing lines common from whips.
He almost gasped at how badly whipped his friend had been. Realising that not to be a good idea, he managed to only grimace in sympathy.
'Are you hurt anywhere else?' He signed, noticing a small nod. 'Where?"
At that, two shaking hands made one word. 'Everywhere.'
Swiftly going towards his things, Zak meant to find a salve to put on the wounds to try and stop the burning. He was stopped by a sudden, hard grip.
'Don't. Leave it, or you could make things worse.' Jarlaxle signed to him.
Frowning, but nodding his agreement at the logic of that, he got slowly back into his bed.
Neither slept anymore that night.
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Rizzen was frowning at the last component in the potion. It was not only a strong drug, but addictive. It was also very common for people of ill-repute on the surface.
As far as he could discern of the potion, it was a somewhat complex potion to make and he thrilled at the thought of unravelling something like this.
As far as he knew of the other ingredients, it was a sleeping draught of some kind. One that should not be addicting. The drug made it so.
Finding out this tidbit, now all he had to do was wait for the drowling to come back. He was hoping to have a rather meaningfull 'chat' with the young one about certain drugs and what they can do to one's body. Followed by a few charm spells to make him listen to reason.
Also, sorry for how long it took to update. I am currently writing 9 different stories now, from three different fandoms, and am dividing my time between them, since some are challenges with a deadline. I apologise whole-heartedly for the wait on this and all my other chaptered stories.
Thanks go to Lord Evil, one-and-many, BelleDayNight, singvogel, Sylvan, DragonEyeZ, ChichiX (twice hugs) and Lynn-Minmay for reviewing the last chapter.