Assault on the Dolorous Tower

A NEW CHARACTER EMERGES

Selices/Celises of the Dolorous Tower: Selices is a soldier of the Dolorous Tower, the best the evil brothers Caradoc, not Briefbas, and Turquinie have. Their other men live in terror of him and when he is spotted in the halls other soldiers move as far to the side as possible, his name whispered like saying it too loud will summon him. It probably could too. Given he's an elf, he could hear them easily enough. Kidnapped from his people at a young age and imprisoned by the giants, Selices in early life was severely abused and conditioned, the giants clipping his ears, filing his teeth, and in teenage years carving intricate patterns into his skin to heal as elaborate scars to add to his terror. He escaped once to try and find the elves despite Caradoc and Turquine telling him they would have nothing to do with him because [REDACTED]. [REDACTED] "Have a nice day!" - Merlin. After that attempt at escape he didn't try anymore. For years he was used like a toy by the evil brothers and many of their men, but the older he got the fiercer he became until soon the generic soldiers began to fear him more than want him, with special exceptions like if he was used as a reward for something Caradoc and Turquine approved of. His weapons of choice are makeshift claws attached to his fingers. The armor he wears is unnecessarily sexualized and reminiscent of bondage for obvious reasons, given the sort of men the evil brothers are—more Turquine than Caradoc, the latter of which prefers traditional torture to the sort Turquine likes—but it is light, maneuverable, dangerous, and leaves lots of room for motion which is ideal for the elven fighting style, so Selices has become accepting of it most of the time.

Parents: [REDACTED] "Have a nice day!" – Merlin

Siblings: [REDACTED] "Have a nice day!" – Merlin

In-Laws: Unknown

Paramour: Unknown

Children: Unknown

Uncles: Unknown

Aunts: Unknown

Cousins: Unknown

Agravaine sat cold in his cell, shivering. Caradoc had come to taunt him. He'd been stupid and gotten defiant, so he'd been beaten near unconscious and stripped to the loincloth. He was lucky to even have that. The giant had said something like 'freeze here', but he hadn't really been paying attention given, you know, he'd been fighting to stay conscious. Now he was freezing, scared, and really despising being near naked in this place given Servause's implications about what Turquine might have liked to play at with him. He… he just wanted to go home… He wanted his dad and his siblings and even his mom. Tentatively.

He heard the familiar tapping of nails against bars. He sniffed, looking up wearily. Selices. Selices was the reason he hadn't had every bone in his body broken, or been killed, by Caradoc. Selices was the reason he had at least the loincloth to his name. He'd just been screaming for help and begging for mercy and sobbing and struggling to get away from Caradoc, not thinking anyone would come… But the elf did… He came and called off the man with a threat and a warning that Turquine wouldn't be happy if he didn't share the prisoner with him, so Caradoc had reluctantly backed off and ordered Selices to go scout for any potential threats as he went. Selices had then left too.

Now that the elf was back, Selices examined Agravaine quietly, jaw twitching uncomfortably on noticing the boy had been crying. "You're just a child," the elf murmured, shaking his head.

"Get lost," Agravaine replied, burying his face in his knees again. Again, wasn't like Selices could talk.

Selices watched him quietly for a moment. "What's the measure of a good man?" he suddenly asked.

Agravaine frowned, looking up curiously. "What?" he asked.

"What's the measure of a good man?" Selices repeated.

"I don't know! I'm a kid, remember?" Agravaine replied, a bit annoyed by the question. How was he supposed to respond to that? "Why are you even asking?"

Selices was quiet. "Will they spare good men? Your friends?" he soon asked.

Agravaine was quiet. "If they know they're good," he finally replied. "Kind of tough to figure out when everyone's trying to kill you, though. Seriously, why are you asking?"

Selices thought over his answer. "They're coming for you… Tomorrow… I heard them… They're readying for battle."

Agravaine perked up hopefully. "Th-they are?" he asked.

Selices nodded. "They'll kill whoever stands in their way," he said in a murmur, and Agravaine immediately sobered, catching on. Whoever was in their way… Selices would be in their way… So would others who might have been put into the same situation the elf had been. Men who didn't deserve that fate and who deserved for once some good in their lives. Agravaine stared. "What is the measure of a good man?" Selices murmured more to himself than to Agravaine this time.

Agravaine shifted uncomfortably. "Are there men here who deserve to be spared?" he soon asked.

"I don't know," Selices replied, looking down. He'd never bothered to think about it before.

"Okay, let's try this another way. Who in this tower for sure doesn't deserve it? Who… who's hurt you? And others? Who watches and snickers? Who taunts those that are broken or have been used for Caradoc and Turquine's pleasure?" Agravaine said, trying another approach. "Who would you, personally, want to see dead?"

Selices' jaw tightened, and a scowl crept across his face. Apparently there were a lot who fit that description. "Okay. That's something," Agravaine said. He thought a moment. "You protected me from Caradoc, or tried to, so now let me repay the favor. I'm going to tell you what you need to do." Selices looked quickly to him, intently listening now. "Do you have authority here?"

"I am the most elite of Caradoc and Turquine's soldiers," Selices confirmed. "I rose quickly."

"Yeah, I can see an elf having that advantage," Agravaine flatly replied. "Okay. So if you have authority, then go to every man you would love to see dead and assemble a battalion out of them. Put them outside to guard the tower, tomorrow. When my friends, err, schoolmates, come, they'll be put in the ground."

"There are more than could be sent outside without suspicion," Selices said.

"Okay. I'm going to assume you're crazy skilled, so here's what you need to do. Every man you don't want dead, find him and subdue him and bring him down here into the dungeons. Start now so you have a chance of getting them all in here by tomorrow. Lock them up, leave them. When the others come for me, they'll be protected. They aren't going to kill men locked in cells. Or men who beg for their lives for that matter unless it's for a damn good reason. Then just… just stay away from them. Hide or hang out with me or something, just don't go up to meet them. Don't get in their way. You'll live, the men you feel could be deserving of life will live, and everything will be okay, alright?" Agravaine said. Selices shifted uncomfortably. "Selices," Agravaine said. The elf looked over. "Alright?" he repeated. Selices was still, but then meekly nodded. "Okay. Trust me, and know I never, ever, ever suggest anyone ever do that. This, though, is kind of a special exception… I'll watch your back, okay? I'll vouch for you."

Selices was quiet. "I'm not a a good man," he finally said. "So I won't deny whatever fate comes to me."

"No, no, you don't be thinking like that. You're a good man, okay? You're a good man. Elf. Whatever. If you weren't, I'd be in a lot worse shape than I am now. You're a good person. You deserve to live," Agravaine said.

"You can't judge that," he replied.

"Ideally no human could, but currently we're all we have, so yeah, this round I can," Agravaine said. "You deserve to live, okay?"

Selices sighed. "Alright," he relented.

"Good. Now get going. Round up every man you think deserves life, like I told you to, and get them down here. Don't raise eyebrows, though. If it can be helped," Agravaine said. Selices nodded and immediately set off to do what Agravaine told him to. Agravaine let out a shaking breath, leaning back against the wall worriedly. He really, really hoped this worked.

KAK

The teachers crouched with the older students on the cusp of the hill, looking down at the misty tower with all the guardsmen outside. There were more than they'd expected, but they stayed calm. After a moment, Sir Pertilope of GKA raised his hand. Silently they prepared their bows, each taking aim at a separate target.

"Steady!" Pertilope said. They remained still. Pertilope waited a moment more then lowered his hand quickly. Arrows flew, whistling through the air as they closed the distance to their targets. Every arrow met its mark. Not every arrow killed, but every arrow struck. Men dropped dead, others screamed in pain and collapsed, injured mortally or bad enough they wouldn't get up for a while, and alarm broke out, the men scrambling to find their assailants and take them on. Pertilope raised his hand again. The teachers and older students all readied their bows once more. Pertilope lowered the hand and the arrows went forth once more, taking out even more of the outside guard. Now, though, they were on the alert and had spotted their opponents. "Move out!" Pertilope ordered.

Immediately the older students and teachers clambered over the hill and charged down it to face the attacking guards. The arrows had done their job, and most had been wiped out or put out of commission, but a good number still ran to face them. The groups clashed, but the guards stood little chance against the onslaught. Soon they lay dead or out of commission, and the teachers and older students were peeling off the men's equipment. Pellinore whistled a signal for the younger boys to come. They did so quickly and began to take armor off the dead bodies to put on themselves. Most of them were visibly disturbed by it, but they trooped on. They didn't have a choice at this point. Agravaine's life depened on it. The children couldn't fit into the armor, of course, so it was decided they would be 'captives'. It would give them a semi-believable lie, if nothing else. Once they were geared up, the group move to enter the forboding tower.

"Agravaine has a change o' heart and this is how he's repaid," Stephen dryly said as they walked into the grim, dark, and frankly horrifying place. It was freezing in here, and musty. It smelled of decay and illness and death. "Way t' encourage uprightness. He should have let 'em have me."

"Don't say that," Morholt seriously warned, giving him a look. "Don't you dare."

"I agree with Morholt. And you'll never catch me saying as much at any other time," Tristan dryly said.

"But he…" Stephen began.

"Our brother betrayed you. To protect IAK, yes, but he betrayed you nonetheless," Gaheris said. "Don't think for a moment that was excusable. He redeemed himself which is all well and dandy, but it ended like this anyway. Now it's our job to ensure it doesn't get worse for him than it already is."

"Let's focus on the mission, guys. We should split up. Try and find the dungeon or somewhere they could be keeping Agravaine," Dornar said, taking in the environment warily. Oh he didn't like it here.

"You there!" Turquine's voice suddenly shot from behind. They all spun quickly to face him. He looked the children over. "Captives. Good. Our attackers are that much weaker. Not that children could have done much. Throw them in the cells." He commanded. Looking to Morholt, he said, "You. Come with me. We're going to go collect our newest prisoner. I need to sharpen my blade."

"Sharpen your blade? How…" a boy from RKA, Lambaile in fact, began. He trailed off quickly, though, stopping himself from blowing their cover. Stephen, for his part, was pale. Morholt was stiff. Finally, though, he approached Turquine.

Turquine looked back at the rest of them and said, "Lock the brats away in the secondary dungen then get back to your posts! If the little ones are here, the others can't be far away." With that he walked off, Morholt following him cautiously.

KAK

The minute Turquine and Morholt were out of sight, the rest of them grouped together. "Why do they need Agravaine to sharpen a sword?" Constantine asked.

"Because t' sharpen their swords, they superheat the blade and plunge it inta the body o' a captive or a slave to temper it! They claim t' believe it makes it sharper, but that's a lie. They do it because they're sadistic bastards!" Servause replied, panic in his tone. Panic quickly followed for the rest of them too.

"What do we do? We can't let them kill our brother!" Loholt exclaimed.

"Morholt will stall as long as he can," Tristan said. He couldn't believe he was putting faith in Morholt, but this situation sort of required it.

"That's not good enough! They're going to kill him!" Gareth yelled.

"We won't let them," Gaheris promised. "We won't. Right Gawain?" he uncertainly added.

Gawain was pale. "We-we have to hurry," he replied.

"No more hiding, no more playing subtle. Now we cut them down. Stay in groups, meet on the top floor. That's where Agravaine will be!" Caradoc Briefbas said. Immediately the schools split up and began a massive swep through the tower, the teachers and older students moving ahead of the younger ones and cutting down any who stood in their way with as little noise as possible. In not long, however, the alarm was sounded, and the jig was up. Now it was do or die…

KAK

Selices camped by Agravaine's cell, sitting on his perch and staring at the nervous boy. They'd both heard the fighting outside, through the dungeon cracks, as men fell. It was silent now, but soon the others would be in the tower. At least Agravaine hoped. Unless it had been them falling and not Caradoc and Turquine's men. Footsteps were heard approaching. Agravaine caught his breath. Selices looked over and tensed up, bristling upon seeing who was coming. Turquine, approaching with a guardsman who seemed unfamiliar to the elf.

"Selices, on your feet," Turquine ordered. "Unlock the boy's cell and bring him out to us. We're taking him into the tower, all of us." Selices' eyes widened slightly in alarm. He looked quickly to Agravaine, who seemed surprised at this. The boy looked questioningly and confusedly to Selices. Selices' jaw twitched. The tower… That was never, ever good. For a moment he was still, but soon he moved to obey the order, unlocking the cell and going in to retrieve the boy.

"What's in the tower?" Agravaine whispered.

"Nothing good," Selices replied. "I will try and buy you all the time I can. You only need a little more." Agravaine nodded, but was visibly unnerved.

KAK

Meliot and a teacher by the name of Amide Banier, aptly nicknamed Plaine de Force, raced up the tower steps with Agravaine's brothers, cousins, and Arthur. Meliot and Banier cut down those who stood in their way, thus far doing an excellent job at keeping the hands of their students clean, for which the two were quite proud. Tears of anger and hatred shone in Mordred's eyes as they ran up the steps. He was particularly close to Agravaine, you see. They bottlenecked against a group of Knights trying to beat them back down, Amide and Meliot holding the front valiantly. The students with them restelessly pushed to try and get in their own strikes. The sooner these men were out of the way, the sooner they could save their relative dang it! The two teachers, though, made sure it wasn't going to be easy for them to jump in and start killing. Not that it kept back everyone…

Mordred, agitated and impatient now, searched around for a way to get around this inconvenient blockade. He spotted a window sill and crept towards it. Unseen, he clambered onto it and crouched, drawing a little dagger daddy… Lot… had given him. He watched the opponents carefully then suddenly leapt from it, pouncing on one of the men and stabbing him with extreme prejudice. The man gasped in pain and fell back. The other knights of the Dolorous Tower were totally taken by surprise when the toddler had pounced from nowhere and driven his dagger to the hilt into their comrade's chest. It wasn't a fatal blow, but the teachers would soon make it so. Meliot immediately finished the man off and pressed on to the others while Banier snatched Mordred, dragging him away. He threw the boy back into the arms of a visibly shocked and slightly horrified Arthur, who stared at Mordred like he was a gremlin or something. Mordred stuck out his tongue defiantly.

"Have you gone crazy, Mordred?!" Gareth shot, snapping out of his shock. "You could have been killed!" Mordred harrumphed, not commenting. Loholt and Ywain suddenly darted under the teachers, cutting the legs of another man who also fell with a shout of pain. This time Amide finished him off while Meliot quickly herded Loholt and Ywain back to their family. The man was now visibly annoyed and concerned. The little children were getting too bold. This was becoming a game to them. The permanence of death was totally lost on little ones of this age, or almost was, so they were going to end up being a detriment if they couldn't be kept in check. The second the line of opponents was downed, they began to rapidly ascend the stairs once more.

"Agravaine, we're coming!" Yvain cried out as the other students and teachers began to rejoin them again, coming out of secret entrances, leaping from higher areas, or racing up from below. Their progress was astounding, and honestly Arthur was amazed at the ease with which they were doing this. When you worked together, he guessed. Go figure. Teamwork worked.

KAK

Agravaine was led up to the highest floor of the tower through a back passageway. They came into a large room. The boy scowled murderously as Caradoc approached them, joining Turquine. Turquine went to the furnace and began to heat his sword in the flames. Agravaine's heart began to pound. "Wh-what are you doing?" he demanded.

"Sharpening my blades," Turquine replied.

Sharpening his…? Agravaine paled, Stephen's words coming back to him. To sharpen a sword—or was it forging or was it both?—they would plunge the blazing hot metal into a servant's body for some reason he couldn't recall... "Oh god," Agravaine said in a whisper. Selices looked uneasy and pale now too. "Let me go! Let go!" Agravaine suddenly panicked, fighting desperately to get away.

"To turn on us again? I think not," Caradoc replied. "Your time is up."

"Calm yourself, Agravaine. I will stall as long as I can," the Knight holding him whispered. Agravaine stiffened.

"Sir Morholt," he said with a gasp. Wait. Morholt didn't know Selices wasn't a threat!

"Caradoc, Turquine, intruders in the tower!" a Knight exclaimed suddenly, bursting into the room with a group of five more behind him. He spotted the one holding Agravaine. "He's one of them!" the man exclaimed, pointing at the teacher. Almost before the word had left his mouth, the man was lunging at Morholt. Selices leapt into action, swiftly moving between the six knights and their target, meeting them head on. Morholt gawked in shock. What had just happened here? One of Turquine and Caradoc's own was turning? For what reason?!

"Selices!" Agravaine exclaimed in alarm. Morholt looked quickly at the boy. So Agravaine had made a little ally, had he? Good boy. Unfortunately, one man might not be enough this time.

Rage reflected in Turquine and Caradoc's eyes upon hearing of the intruder among them, and upon seeing Selices turn to protect said intruder. "If that man is one of our enemies, then he will die just like the slave!" Turquine roared angrily, withdrawing his sword from the flames.

"Agravaine, run!" Morholt ordered, letting Agravaine go and drawing his sword.

Agravaine gasped and ran to attempt to flee, but one of the six knights Selices was facing broke away and caught him before he could get escape, swinging him roughly around to face the blades of the giants. "Help!" Agravaine screamed. Before either of his allies could even react or register what had happened, though, the red hot steel of Turquine's blade was plunged up to the hilt into his stomach! Agravaine cried out in agony, doubling over.

"Agravaine!" Morholt shouted, trying to break away from his fight with Caradoc to run to the boy. Caradoc, though, wouldn't let him go.

"No…" Selices breathed freezing upon seeing this. "No!" he exclaimed, trying to run to Agravaine as well. The five knights he'd been facing though—four now seeing as he'd finished off one of them—quickly moved to keep him away from the boy for as long as possible.

Agravaine looked up at Turquine with a gasp, eyes wide. Turquine twisted the blade and Agravaine caught his breath, shutting his eyes tightly and groaning. The man withdrew the sword, now red and glistening with blood. Agravaine's body jerked slightly. He tasted blood in his mouth and began shaking. "And mine, brother," Caradoc said, switching off with Turquine easily, Turquine now locking Morholt in battle as Caradoc grabbed a sword that was currently heating up from out of the furnace.

"I will go in his stead, I will go in his stead!" Morholt pled with Turquine. "Let me go in his stead!"

"Hah! You will join him soon enough," Turquine replied. Caradoc closed the distance between himself and Agravaine, and drove the superheated blade into the child's body as well. At that very moment the doors burst open and Agravaine's relatives stumbled onto the scene…

KAK

His brothers, cousins, and uncle all froze in place, going white upon seeing what was happening. Mordred's lips parted in a silent scream until suddenly he found his voice again. "Agravaine!" the child shrieked desperately.

Agravaine gasped and looked over, eyes filled with pain and hope. His family! They looked on, mouths agape. Gareth was the first to physically react. "You bastards!" he screamed, lunging immediately. The others tore after him. The Knight facing off against Selices, and the knight holding Agravaine, immediately attempted to flee. Selices held his ground and probably would have been cut down if Moholt hadn't broken away from Turquine and seized the elf, placing the unexpected ally behind himself so he could act as a barrier for the stranger. It didn't seem the others had quite registered his presence anyway. They were busy disposing of the knights who were trying to flee from their wrath, and busy fighting off the other Dolorous guardsmen who were coming up from behind. Not that there were all that many left after their sweep.

Caradoc withdrew his sword from Agravaine, quickly retreating into the back passageway with Turquine following him. They were getting away! Agravaine collapsed to the ground and lay still, eyes wide and blinking numbly. He heard voices. The other bording houses. The students and teachers all. They called his name, screaming bloody murder…

He was aware of something, suddenly. Gawain and Carados. They were there. Gawain was in tears. "Don't do this, don't do this to us," his brother pled, placing his hand behind his brother's head. "Agravaine, please, you have to pull through. Don't make me go back to dad and mom with this! Carados, help him, please!"

Carados looked grim. "I… I don't know if there is anything we can do, Gawain…" he answered gravely.

"No," Gawain whispered, shaking his head.

Agravaine sobbed. "I don't want to die," he said, closing his eyes tightly.

"I won't let you," Gawain vowed, clutching his sibling's hand tightly and feeling a tear slip down his cheek. He bent, resting his forehead against his brothers and holding him close. "I won't let you," he promised again.