Scourge
Well, Duskweaver said. That was absolutely terrible.
Zane plucked the sword from the sand. "I know," he said grimly. "I cannot believe that we let Cole get captured."
A pause. Who? Duskweaver asked.
"Our leader," Zane answered.
Oh, Duskweaver thrummed. Well, yes. That's bad too. But I was actually talking about the killing.
Zane looked over at the ten or so dead bodies that lay strewn across the sand. "Was I too sloppy?" He asked.
No, it wasn't you, Duskweaver reassured him. I'm so confused...why does the killing make me feel sick?
Zane wandered over to where Jay sat with Varasach, who was finally starting to wake up. "I don't know," he said. "It does that to me, too."
But the stone men are evil, Duskweaver reasoned as he shrank to his normal size. So...why do I feel this way? I'm doing what I was made to do- kill my master's enemies- and it's not making me happy at all.
"I don't think we're supposed to be happy with the killing," Zane said as he sheathed Duskweaver, then stuffed it into his boot. It was not the most comfortable place to put it, but it would have to do until he found a way to attach it to his belt. "So you're right to feel the way you do."
"Hey," Lloyd said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Are you done talking to your alternate personality yet? 'Cause we've gotta get going."
"Yeah," Zane said; he was in no mood to correct Lloyd's accusation. He got to his knees beside Varasach and felt her forehead. "How do you feel?"
Varasach looked badly shaken. She sat up slowly and wiped her face. "Where...is Cole?" she asked weakly. Her face paled when she saw Zane's expression. "Kozu...took him?" she asked. "That...is not... No..."
Jay put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said. "But we need to move. If Kozu sends more men back to capture us, we'll be in trouble."
"But where do we go?" Lloyd asked, flipping a few sweaty strands of hair from his eyes. "Cole was supposed to guide us to the prisons. Now he's..."
"Gone," Jay finished. "He's gone. We're hooped. Without his help, we'll never get to Kai."
Zane sat back on his heels, contemplating Jay's words. Cole knew where everything was in the Overlord's dungeons. He knew how to escape. He knew where Kai would be held, assuming he wasn't already dead.
"I-I can help," Varasach said finally.
Jay's eyes lit up. "You've been in the Overlord's hideout," he said. 'You'd be able to guide us to Cole and Kai!"
"If they're in the same place," Lloyd added cynically. "Not to mention, we have Wu and Nya to think about."
"Should we go back and get them?" Zane asked. "They had wanted to help."
"But it'll take us three days to get back to the beach," Jay argued. "And that isn't counting the time it'll take us to make it back here. If we go back now, we'll lose nearly a week." He shook his head. "I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to put off a rescue for that long."
"But we do need help," Zane said. "I doubt we'll be able to do without it."
Lloyd looked up at the sky. "Well, it's too bad we don't have anyone nearby to help us," he said loudly.
"Lloyd?" Zane cleared his throat. "What are you doing?"
Lloyd smirked. "Calling for help."
"Who?" Zane asked.
Lloyd pointed at the sky. "Look up."
Zane did so, squinting to keep the light out of his eyes.
A huge brown bird leapt from a palm tree and spread its wings, coasting on the warm breeze. "The eagle," Zane said. A hundred different emotions pelted him as the bird landed on Lloyd's arm. Grief. Anger. Frustration. It was Cole's fault that she was dead.
Stop it, he told himself firmly. Cole did not intend to kill her. It wasn't his fault. The storm threw her over the side.
"Zane?" Lloyd stroked the eagle's chin. "Are you okay?"
Zane realized that he had been on the brink of tears, and he quickly penned in his emotions. "Yeah," he breathed. "Sorry. Seeing Pixal's bird is...nostalgic."
Lloyd looked like he wanted to say something, but shook his head instead.
Jay shrugged."Well, this bird did scare away the stone warriors when Cole was running," he admitted. "So I guess she could be pretty useful."
Lloyd held the eagle's green-eyed gaze. "Do you hear that, girl? You'll be useful. No more hiding."
The bird broke the stare first. It exhaled something close to a sigh and ruffled its feathers.
"Good," Lloyd said. "I'm glad to see you're finally listening."
The eagle chirped in protest but did not fly away.
"So I guess we should follow Kozu now," Jay said. He got to his feet with a grace that seemed almost unnatural- were his feet floating?- and wiped the dirt from his trousers. "Lead the way, Vara."
Varasach stood and smoothed her dress, pulling it down to make sure it covered her thighs. "We should wait for dark," she said. "Most will be asleep."
"She's right," Zane said. "Now that we have the first two blades, Kozu is going to be extra cautious. If we wait another day, he will surely have guards watching every inch of this forest. But if we leave tonight, before he's had time to prepare, we will have a better chance of rescuing Kai and Cole."
Jay paced in a circle around one of the rocks. "So we need to do...what?" he asked. "We've already established that we can't stay here. Do we find some bushes to hide under until nightfall?"
Zane watched as Jay's movements became rapider and more agitated. He wound around the rock so fast that he-
"Jay?" Lloyd stepped back, noticing the abnormality at the same time Zane did. "What is going on with your feet?"
Jay stopped and stared. "What?" he asked. "Are they a weird shape or something?"
Zane crouched low and stared at the sand under Jay's boots. "You're...floating," he said slowly.
"I am?" Jay looked at his feet, then lifted one up and examined his sole. "Hey, Stormstrider. What's up with this?" He was silent for a moment as Stormstrider gave his reply- which Zane could not hear, unfortunately.
Lloyd pressed a hand to his forehead and groaned. "No," he said in a long, drawn-out tone. "Now there's two looney birds in the nest."
Jay laughed. "Is this right?" He levitated a few feet from the ground. "How cool! Hey, guys! I can fly!"
What is he doing? Zane asked Duskweaver in his mind. Can you explain it?
Duskweaver thrummed in his boot. Each of the blades has a special ability. Apparently, Stormstrider's is flight.
Really? Zane watched as Jay flew atop a stack of boulders and struck a pose while Lloyd applauded. What is your special ability?
I am...a healer, Duskweaver said, as if just realizing it for the first time. Yes, that's right, I think.
"How interesting," Zane said out loud. "Do these powers have a limit?"
If by 'limit' you mean 'run out of power,' then yes, Duskweaver said. But don't worry. It would take a lot of exertion to drain my gem. You could heal a thousand cuts before having to recharge me.
Zane wanted to ask how the recharging process worked, but never got the chance. Jay had tried to do a somersault off the boulder, but had lost his levitation halfway through the stunt. He fell on his back with a loud grunt and laid there, wind knocked from his lungs.
Here's your chance, Duskweaver said excitedly. Absorb my power and help him breathe again.
"How do I absorb your power?" Zane asked as he knelt beside Jay.
Think, and do.
"That makes no sense," Zane sighed.
"You're not making sense," Lloyd added.
I'm sorry, the blade said. That is the best way for me to explain it. You are the first man to wield me; I am as new to this as you are.
Jay finally found his breath, and he inhaled greedily.
Too late, Duskweaver said. We will have to practice some other time.
"Are you all right?" Zane asked as he stood again.
"A-all right?" Jay asked between his gasps. "I-I've never been better! That was awesome!" He accepted a hand from Zane and got to his feet.
"Why did you fall?" Lloyd asked.
"Stormstrider said something about me losing my concentration," Jay answered. "He says that..." He winced, probably because of something his blade was saying. "Ouch." He crossed his arms. "No need to be that harsh. You're my pocketknife, not my mother."
His blade must be pretty strict, Duskweaver commented. Poor Jay...
I sense the beginning of a strange relationship, Zane agreed.
Cole walked down the hall, heart beating a rapid rhythm in his chest.
"Overlord knows you're here," Kozu said in the Dark Tongue. He strode confidently beside Cole. "He will wait for us in his room."
"Where is Kai?" Cole asked. "Is he alive?"
"Sanguine?" Kozu laughed as if Cole had said something funny. "Yes, yes. He is under the dripper. Second time this week."
Chills crawled down Cole's spine. He had never been under the water dripper, but he had seen many cases of insubordinate slave women and prisoners losing their sanity to it. Some left the tank sobbing uncontrollably, paralyzed for hours- days, sometimes- while the most extreme cases left them unable to remember even their names.
How would Kai fare with having such a torture done to him twice?
Cole clenched his fists, wanting desperately to punch Kozu in the gut. But I promised, he reminded himself. If I try to resist them, Hagar will die.
Cole would obey. He would lay down in the mud and allow the others to walk across his back. He did not care what happened to himself, just as long as his family was safe.
His family...
He forced himself to unclench his fists as Kozu opened the door to the Overlord's chambers. On every wall sat an array of torture implements. It looked the same as when he'd last been here, on the day that...
No. I can't think about that.
"Good evening, Dark Knight," the Overlord's breathy voice gripped Cole's heart. "I trust that you had a nice vacation?"
But then again, it's hard not to think about it when my father stands there with a whip in his hands...
Cole's legs stiffened, and he backpedaled straight into Kozu's chest. "It was a little...stressful," he answered.
Overlord gave a light scoff. "I can imagine," he said. "What, with me chasing you, recapturing you, and..." He grabbed Cole's face and stroked his cheek gently with a thumb. "...and then, threatening to kill your family."
"I'll kill you," Cole snarled. "I'll wring your neck and leave your body to the birds."
Overlord played absently with the leather coil of the long whip. He smiled smugly, curling his black mustache. "I'd love to see you try again," he said.
Cole wavered, then bowed his head in defeat. Overlord knew his weakness: he would not hurt his father's body.
Overlord drew a syringe from his pocket, filled with a cloudy liquid. "Look at me," he demanded. "Make eye contact when I speak to you."
Cole hesitantly stood straight and lifted his face to level with his master. Oh, how he wanted to reach out and wring the Overlord's neck.
But he couldn't.
"Good," Overlord smiled. "So you haven't gone completely feral. Hold out your arm."
Cole obeyed. Overlord frequently gave him injections before the tortures. Some made him more susceptible to pain, while others induced fear or hallucinations.
After pulling the empty needle from Cole's arm, Overlord gestured to the post on the far wall with his whip. "Get over there, drop to your knees."
Cole forced his feet forward. This was not right. He should not be here. He needed to be out there with his team, coming up with a plan to rescue Kai. Now that he wasn't there, his team had no chance of winning.
As if they had ever stood a chance in the first place.
He could only hope that the others were leaving the island with Varasach instead of trying to attempt a rescue. Because Cole could not- would not- leave. Not as long as Hagar was here. I left her once, I can't do it again.
"Take off your shirt," Overlord ordered once Cole was kneeling.
Cole undid his shirt's buttons and threw the garment aside. It was impossible to keep the tremors in his arms from becoming more prominent as Kozu shackled his hands to the post.
You're a coward, Cole.
Why did that voice have to be at its loudest when he was at his worst?
"I will do twenty," Overlord told Kozu. "You can do as many as you want after that. He'll be dead by sunrise, anyway. Might as well have some fun with him."
Cole closed his eyes and tensed his shoulders. He had to be strong. He would not fight it, he would not demand that they stop. This was his duty; his honor.
There was a whistling sound, then a sharp crack!
Cole flinched, then relaxed slightly. Overlord was teasing him. The whip had hit the floor, not his back.
Crack! Cole stifled a cry of pain and surprise as the whip hit his skin, leaving an angry red welt in its place.
"Be glad that you returned," Overlord said. "I already punished Varasach for your disappearance. But if you had waited another day, I would have done some terrible things to your other whore. Perhaps even killed your child."
Crack!
Cole found himself smiling as another sharp blow hit his lower back. Yes, Overlord was right. His family was safe- and that's all that mattered.
Sweat streamed down Nya's face as she walked beside Wu. They were on day four of their expedition. The sun was low on the horizon, streaking the sky with pink and orange. The mixed calls of exotic birds filled the air.
The ground was soft and dark, a welcome change from the sand that she had been dealing with for nearly a week now. Tall brush grew between the fruit trees that had obviously been cultivated at one point, but now had grown wildly out of control from their many years of neglect. Many of them needed severe pruning, and others needed to be cut down to make room for the younger, healthier trees.
The fruit was in season, and hung heavily from the branches in clumps that made Nya salivate as she passed them by. Lemons, oranges, even a few run-down rows of tall avocados.
"When are we going to break for the night?" Nya asked.
"When we meet up with your team," Wu answered. "They have the blades now, and they need our help to rescue your brother and Cole."
"Cole's been captured?" Nya asked.
"If my sources are correct, yes."
Nya smiled. "Serves him right," she said. "He's so annoying."
"Hmm," Wu hummed. "Have you ever thought that maybe there's a reason that he's the man he is today?"
Nya looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"
Wu looked sad and solemn. "I mean that maybe you should cut him some slack. Cole has had a few very hard years, and desperately needs love and approval from his peers. He is struggling to hold his broken life together. Criticizing him for seeming rude and unsophisticated is not the best way to help him."
Nya pondered this as they continued to walk in silence. An eagle flew high in the sky with an osprey. Both chirped excitedly as they spun in wide loops, dove into branches, and shot high into the clouds.
"I'm sorry," she said eventually. "You're probably right. It's not very good of me to judge Cole. I'll try to be kinder in the future."
Wu smiled. "That's good," he said. "Thank you."
It seemed that the only razors around the dungeons were in the possession of the Overlord, so Kai's facial hair had grown a couple inches. He hated it. And per the norm, he wore his black trousers, red shirt, and purple cloak.
Also deeply hated.
He wandered down the halls of the Overlord's underground fortress with Besai, trying to recover from his plinker session. He always walked after going through the Overlord's strange tortures. It helped him to clear his mind.
Only, he was finding that there was a little less mind to clear with every pass through the tanks. The sensory deprivation left him hallucinating, unable to tell reality from imagination, and the plinker simply stripped him of his will to resist. There was hardly any pain. Just confusion and erosion, like a rock beaten by high tide.
The entire prison was neat and compartmentalized. All halls were the same length and width, like blocks on a street. Only instead of buildings, there were rooms. And instead of a sky, there was a stone ceiling that was terribly claustrophobic.
At each corner, there was a stone guard. Each gave him and Besai a respectful nod as they passed. As the Sanguine Knight, he had a slightly higher rank than these men. But only slightly.
Kai was amazed by the lack of prisoners in the building. Did Overlord not keep any here? It seemed as if all this amazing compound was used for was housing the stone warriors. Each room was supposed to hold ten stone men, when they were not on duty or at the brothels.
It seemed like that was all the men ever did. Stand at attention for hours on end, then go knock up a prostitute or two. A sad life.
Every once and a while, Kai would come across group of young women running errands or replacing lanterns. At least half of the time, the women looked pregnant. Whether they were three months along or eight, Kai saw the signs everywhere. The Overlord was clearly trying to grow the army as quickly as possible.
That was probably the reason that there were no prisoners. They were all either those women, men turned to glorified stone, or dead.
I'm unique, Kai thought wryly. Hooray, me.
"How do we get back, Besai?" Kai asked. "I'm ready to eat."
Besai processed his words a moment. She seemed to know the language; it was stored somewhere in her brain, she was just struggling to remember, since she had been very young when the Overlord had seized the island.
"Ckom," she said in her tiny voice, pulling him back down the way they had come. "It ees...dees way."
"Thank you," Kai said.
"Mmm," Besai grunted softly.
Besai led him down several more halls. They would turn to the left, then the right, then through a door, then turn left again... How she managed to not get lost remained a mystery. Kai knew that he would have wound up tripping into kitchens, sleeping areas, or even latrines before finally finding his way back to his room. But sweet, gentle Besai never got lost.
"Heer," Besai said, pointing to a door.
"Kresh," Kai said. Good.
He hated having to learn her language, but Overlord had made it clear to him on day two: he was to fit in, learn how to speak the language fluently. Or else.
"Sanguine!"
Kai gasped and turned to face the speaker. "Yes sir?" He instinctively put Besai behind him.
Kozu stood next to an open door, hands dripping blood. "Kocho," he ordered. Come. "Besai arelch." Besai...bring? Kai was pretty sure that was right. The nouns and verbs in this language were backwards, so it was hard to tell what was being communicated sometimes.
Kai and Besai obediently followed Kozu into the dark room. "What do you need?" he asked cautiously.
Kozu gestured to an unconscious man on the floor, barely visible in the darkness. He spoke a few lines in the Dark Tongue that were too fast for Kai to catch.
Besai understood, and she bowed her head respectfully.
Kozu turned to Kai. "Do not bring the Dark Knight back. He is dead to us now." He left the room, flicking blood from his hands as he walked.
Besai picked up a wooden board that sat against the wall, then turned to Kai. "Heeler," she said slowly. "Prizon-er."
Kai quickly put together her words. Healer, prisoner. So...they were supposed to take this man to a healer?
The man was laying face down on the floor, revealing the tattered red flesh on his back that wrapped around his back like strips of jerky. Blood covered every inch of his body, making his long black hair look almost auburn. His breaths were dangerously weak and shallow.
Kai felt nauseous. He approached the man, wrinkling his nose at the strong odors of blood and human waste. He wiped the blood away from the man's face, then recoiled with a gasp.
It was Cole.