22nd Day of Coldeven, 565CY
Headquarters of The Emerald Serpent, Willip, Furyondy
"Please, make it stop… make it stop… MAKE IT STOP!"
The last word of his scream was drawn out as Tadoa wriggled as fiercely as he could, but it was no use.
Another drop of blood fell from his leg and landed unerringly on his forehead.
Tad's four limbs, each now banded with several rings of metal, dangled from the meat hooks above him. They had been removed days ago but due to some vile spell from the Emerald Serpent, they still occasionally dripped blood.
Tadoa, of course, could do nothing about it. He had tried wriggling his trunk for what seemed like hours, but he always seemed to be right underneath one of his former arms or legs when they decided to drip.
The pain in his stumps was excruciating. The Serpent had healed the wounds so that the elf did not bleed to death, but that was all he had done. Now, something horrible was everywhere Tad turned his eyes. He couldn't look at his own body without seeing the stumps, and he couldn't look up without seeing the limbs that used to be his.
And if he looked to his side, he saw the Emerald Serpent.
The Emerald Serpent, who had become the child's entire world. He, or those under him, fed Tad, tormented him, cleaned him up, tortured him, gave him a pillow to lay his head on when he slept, and talked to him.
Actually, only the Serpent himself talked to Tadoa for any length of time. He had started with questions. Questions that were not, as the boy might have guessed about his friends.
They were questions about yuan-ti.
Tadoa had never even heard the term. The Emerald Serpent, whom Tadoa guessed to be one of these yuan-ti himself, was apparently very interested if his race inhabited either Rolex or Aarde. Although Tadoa could neither confirm nor deny this, the Serpent showed no disappointment. He had merely stood there, gazing down thoughtfully at his captive.
The Serpent was once again disguised as an elf. Tad had noticed (although he would never dare speak it aloud) that he maintained this disguise at all times. Only that one time had he allowed Tadoa to see his true form. The young elf believed that the other members of the Emerald Serpent organization did not know the true nature of their leader. Despite the fact that he was occasionally alone with one or the other of them however, the thought of trying to use this information to his advantage never occurred to Tad.
Whatever remained of his life was pain, and he knew that.
If he resisted, they hurt him. If he cooperated, they hurt him. If he remained silent, they hurt him. If he begged and pleaded for release, mercy, or even death, they hurt him. He had profaned Corellon Larethian, renounced everything and everyone in his former life, and sworn to be the Serpent's loyal servant forever.
And still, they hurt him.
At first, it had been merely physical. A small portion of Tad's mind, even in the midst of brutal torment now, would watch the dark gray liquid flow from the tube in his chest to a vial on the worktable. The Emerald Serpent would not say what this liquid was, or what purpose it was being put to. At first, Tad had harbored the tiniest of hopes that the Serpent's refusal to share any information with him meant that the young elf might someday be released. Now he knew it was due merely to the Serpent's secretive mindset, which allowed his organization to thrive even in a kingdom like Furyondy.
There was less physical torture these days, though. The Emerald Serpent had moved on to Tad's mind.
He would pull up a chair and sit besides the black slab on which Tadoa's trunk lay. At the Serpent's command, Tadoa had begun to tell him his entire life story; from as far back as he could remember.
And then the Serpent would tell him how Tad had been wrong about everything.
Everything good about Tadoa's life had been a lie. His mother, his myriad siblings had all hated Tad, but deceived him with soft words. Why, Tadoa hadn't even known who his own father was. Did he not ever wonder about that?
Of course, they all had reason to hate Tadoa. It had all been his fault. The coming of the Invaders From Beyond, the very Devastation that nearly destroyed his own world. All Tad's fault.
The child had a hard time actually following the Serpent's convoluted reasoning. To his mind, it didn't seem to make sense.
But to his heart, it did. The same heart that now groaned with misery at the torture that had been inflicted upon him, a torment that he knew now he deserved.
Now they were talking about Elrohir's father and his band of companions. Tad's best friend at the time had been Luthor, the only other elven survivor of New Rolex, the Wildwood encampment. Tadoa's eyes ran with tears as he heard from the Serpent how Luthor had secretly burned with the desire for vengeance against Tad, who had condemned all of his people to death from the Neutral Forces. Of course, Tad had struck first, tricking them all into setting off one of Hoos' deadly traps, while he, Tadoa, "conveniently" managed to escape.
"You do believe what I'm telling you, don't you, my friend?" the Emerald Serpent asked him.
It was a phrase he seemed to use a lot lately. In the beginning, Tadoa hadn't always; although he always said yes, in a vain attempt to avoid future pain. But now, he did believe him. Yes, Tadoa would suffer, and Tadoa would die, and his soul would be sent hurling into the Abyss, where it would do the only good it had ever done- be consumed to help awaken a sleeping god that Tad had never even heard of.
But he did believe.
"Let's back up a bit," said the Serpent. "This Venom. This wizard who seemed to have such a fascination with snakes. Tell me more about his lair, and his minions."
And as Tadoa told him, the Serpent's eyes began to take on an almost dreamy quality. He stood up, clasping his hands behind him and gazing about the green-lit chamber.
"Is not Merrshaulk wondrous, Tad?" the Serpent asked his prisoner. "If the yuan-ti do dwell on Rolex and Aarde, then we have allies who eagerly await the joining of our forces. If not, then two unimaginably huge vistas lie before us, ripe for the taking! Either way, the Sleeping God shows us the way towards the day when he shall awaken, and all three worlds will writhe in his coils!"
He leaned over the slab; his face close to Tadoa's.
"And all thanks to you, my child. All thanks to you."
Tad started to cry again. The Emerald Serpent had pulled out the black wand again, but he didn't need to use it anymore.
As the boy cried out in despair, the dark gray liquid began to flow again.