The room was dim and smelled sweetly of rotting flowers and diseased flesh. Eclypsa put on her mask and donned gloves coming closer to the bed in the corner. She reached and turned on a light which illuminated a skeletal woman lying supine and unresponsive. She was covered in sores. Eclypsa checked the woman's palms and soles noting a flat red rash. Eclypsa checked her temperature: 98.7, she had tachycardia and patchy hair loss. Worst of all, the woman was just lying there, dark eyes dull. She was clearly not there anymore. For one last exam to confirm her preliminary diagnoses, she gently spread the woman's legs, lifted her skirt, and shone a light on her genitals.
Eclypsa pulled the skirt down and replaced the covers. She went to the head of the bed to speak to the woman. "You are dying. Very quickly, you don't have much time, a day, a week at the best. You have tertiary syphilis and I'm afraid it's too late. Your husband hired me to treat you the best I can. What would you like me to do, tell your husband?" She figured a culture as male dominated as this would not approve of the lord's wife/daughter/mistress dying of a venereal disease. It would shame her. The woman's eyes brightened, with a voice as hoarse as a raven, she croaked, "Tell him, tell the world! It would bring him great shame hahahaha! I told him, he would never own me and I showed him didn't I?"
Eclypsa stared, "Wait what? You want me to shame him?"
The woman cackled madly. "Yes! Yes, I might as well tell you, young lady, this story that I've kept in my heart." Eclypsa was mildly alarmed but she was positive the woman couldn't hurt her so she settled in for a story.
"I was a merchant's daughter. I grew up with more independence than many. I grew up and fell in love but Sheik Omar saw me and I had to be his. He paid for my hand and courted my parents. As for me, I slept with my betrothed in order to be unsuitable. The Sheik still dragged me here to this terrible place." At Eclypsa's skeptical look, the woman hissed, "A gilded cage is still a cage. To continue, the Sheik captured my beloved and gave a choice: my love's life or my freedom. I loved my betrothed too much and chose the Sheik. Years later I discovered that the Sheik killed my love the day I married him. For that I have been unfaithful. I have slept with Kings, princes, sailors, even the Sheik's relatives. I have paid my price but it was worth it. Never let others control you but do not waste your life like me. Always have a plan." The woman heaved a labored breath, apparently spent. Eclypsa was shocked by such a vehement confession and saddened by the woman's tale. In order to destroy her husband, she destroyed herself. "Is there anything I can do to make the passing..easier?" Eclypsa asked. It was a loaded question. The woman's eyes brighten with a harsh light "Tell him. Tell them all! Tell them that they never have broken me!" With a much softer and normal tone she murmured, "No, I will pass in my own time. I want him to suffer. Learn something from me, young woman. Now reach in that table and take that box. I want you to have it, I have no daughters and I don't wish for any of the other wives to have it. You have been one of very few people to have treated me well. Now let me rest." Eclypsa sat there, frozen with the box in her lap. The woman was clearly suffering and was not long for death but she was in so much pain. Eclypsa made up her mind. She filled a needle with a bit of anesthesia and injected the woman in the neck. It won't kill her but would definitely make her more comfortable.
She slipped out of the room and nodded to the men and James and was escorted out. She went to Bane and told him the diagnosis and he in turn relayed the message to the warlord. The Sheik's expression got angrier and angrier then he started screaming at Eclypsa. "Jokes on you man, I have no clue what he's saying," she thought. She shrugged and the warlord, enraged, whipped out a gun but before he even pulled the trigger, a bullet from nowhere hit his elbow and shattered bone; blood sprayed every where. The warlord wailed and the situation devolved into a gunfight. Bane grabbed Eclypsa to keep her with him and ran away from the fight. Inside they ran through the labyrinthine palace until they reached the Sheik's war room and snatched a ceremonial sword from its resting place. Eclypsa realized that he must have planned this from the beginning. There was no way he could have found one room so quickly and for such a particular item. Running deeper into the palace, they went underground.
Underground tunnels were the stuff on nightmares Eclypsa thought. Every shake, every vibration sent dirt and sand tumbling down. It felt like she was going to be buried alive. The tunnel narrowed and Bane still gripping her hand led her into a large, dark, and smelly room. Eclypsa's eyes desperately tried to to dilate and in the dark, she tripped over something and ran into Bane. Then, she felt claws close around her ankle.
Eclypsa screamed and kicked at the something. Bane broke a flare and the room was illuminated by a hellish glow. It was worst than being in the dark. Emaciated nude women were everywhere; chained to the walls, the floor, each other. Their hair was lank and unkempt, their skin was sallow and they were sitting in their own filth. Eclypsa clutched Bane's large arm. "Sex slaves, they won't harm you," his deep voice boomed in the stifling room. "We have to free them!" Eclypsa cried. "No time," He rumbled and before she could resist, picked her up and flung her over a broad shoulder and wrenched the door off its hinges. He left the medical bag on the floor and said, "Use this to pick the locks," then ran off with Eclypsa still screeching on his shoulder.
They ran to the Jeep dodging bullets and running in unpredictable patterns. Once out, Bane roared into a walkie talkie and his men ran out like black ants. Next thing Eclypsa saw was the entire compound go up in flames. She gripped the Jeep so hard her knuckles turned white as tears of helpless anger threatened to spill.