Chapter 6
"How the heck can you not let someone go even a little bit? It doesn't make sense. You can't… it's impossible for you to let someone go a little bit, so how can you not let someone go a little bit?" Emerson ranted to his brother as they sat alone in a cell in the castle dungeons.
"That's what you're annoyed about?" Caiden asked baffled.
"Yeah." Emerson replied as if it was obvious.
The two had been brought down to the castle dungeons and chucked in the cell only a minute ago and there had been silence until Emerson had started this ridiculous rant. Of course the cell was magically bound, they didn't know how, they just knew that it was. The cell itself was no bigger than the back of their van was; that being about five by eight meters.
"Well, to answer your dilemma…" Caiden began. "He was making a joke you idiot!" Caiden snapped.
"Ok, calm down. Just 'cause I didn't know doesn't mean you have to shout at me, geeze."
Caiden sighed. "Wow you're so annoying."
"Thank you, I try my best." Emerson said smugly.
They sat in silence for a while, probably only two minutes but to them felt like half an hour.
"You see, I never thought this castle could get anymore stereotypical, and then we were brought down here, to the castle dungeons. I mean, that's just ridiculous, I bet this Potiphus Laire guy, if he is the owner, just gave his decorators a picture of Camelot and said: 'You see this? This is exactly what I want it to look like.'
"Also, did you see all of those men, I'm pretty sure they must have been his private army or something." Caiden speculated.
"Yeah, rich bastard." Emerson agreed. "Although a great choice in suit, must have an eye for good clothes."
Caiden rolled his eyes at this comment. "I bet you'd complement anyone if they were wearing a good suit… you never know, you might even complement me?"
"You, nah, that's not happening."
Emerson thought for a while and then said worriedly. "Oh crap, I wonder what happened to Jeremy, if they knew pretty much everything about us, I bet they know about him."
"He's a bright kid; he probably drove off the second we were out of sight."
"I dunno, he seemed alright, I don't think he'd just steal the car, just like that. Anyway, we still owe him a job."
Caiden glared at his brother. "You still haven't told me what job."
"Nope, I haven't, and I'm not going to, at least until we get out of here." Emerson decided. "How do you think he got this thing that's dampening our magic, I haven't seen anything like it before." Emerson asked.
"Well, he's rich obviously; people can do a lot with money, especially ambitious people."
"And crazy people." Emerson added.
"Ambitious and crazy aren't too different." Caiden muttered.
They heard footsteps outside the cell. They heard someone reach the door, locks clicked open and the door swung open to reveal a dozen guards armed with compact assault rifles. The brothers were ushered forward and handcuffs were clicked onto their wrists, their magic was still bound. Caiden noticed but said nothing.
"Master Laire will see you now." One of the guards said.
"I guessed." Emerson muttered quietly.
"I'm sorry?" the guard asked.
"Oh, I was just marvelling at how wonderfully old Potiphus keeps his guests." Emerson said innocently and the guard glared at him.
"You won't feel so smug when 'old Potiphus' has you on your knees, begging for him to kill you."
"He can do his worst." Emerson said defiantly and the guard shrugged and gestured for them to follow.
They began following and immediately the guards surrounded them and walked in step. They were led up stone steps and into a corridor. Ahead of them, coming off the corridor were many doorways, however the doors were closed so whatever was inside was cut off from their view. They were led straight down the corridor to the end and through a door. They entered the huge room that they had been apprehended in just a few hours before. They were now led through another doorway and up more stairs.
"This is getting silly." Emerson muttered quietly to himself and Caiden smiled.
They finally reached a sturdy stone door that looked overly secure. The guard banged his fist against the door and a voice from inside replied. "Come in." The door was opened and inside Potiphus Laire sat at his desk.
"Mr Tate, I trust your stay has been pleasant." Laire said sarcastically.
"Not in the slightest." Caiden replied bluntly and Laire laughed.
"Good." He said. "Now before we get to the unpleasantness, I must say, coming here was a grave mistake."
"How so?" Caiden asked.
"I shall explain. You see I once had a brother, he was a younger brother, the age gap was perhaps around yours I presume." He said indicating the brothers in front of him. "He was my only sibling and I loved him dearly, however he wasn't my only family, no I had parents too. One day, my parents were on a plane, they were going on holiday. You see it was their thirtieth wedding anniversary; I was about eleven at the time. My parents were on a plane to Paris where they were going to stay for a few weeks and so my brother and I were staying with our grandfather, he was the only other family I had. Something happened on the plane, I think the pilot was drunk or something and it crashed, there were no survivors."
"I am sorry for your loss." Caiden said gravely.
"Not as much as you will be." Laire said and something in his voice told Caiden he wasn't lying.
"But I don't see what this has to do with me." Caiden insisted.
"I'm getting to that part." Laire snapped and Caiden didn't say more. "I was distraught, however I had to keep it together, I had a little brother. He didn't have a clue what had happened, he didn't understand what had happened, he kept asking when our parents were coming home. A few years later, our grandfather past away, cancer, he was eighty seven, he didn't stand a chance. So it was just me and my brother, moving from children's home, to children's home. That was when we discovered our magic. I'm a psychic; I can see the future, have visions that kind of thing. My brother, well, it's complicated. Thirty years or so later we'd grown up, drifted apart. I was successful, bringing in cash, I worked as a banker, damn good at my job too, also I'd inherited most of the family fortune, and so I wasn't short of money. My brother though, he was doing some work for the Guild, he worked with you."
"Julian Laire, I thought I knew that name, he was my partner back then." Caiden guessed.
"Yes, Julian."
"But isn't he dead, he died… oh, right." Caiden realised.
"Anyway, I might as well finish. You were doing a mission together, just a standard mission, no different from normal. From what I was told, you escaped, leaving Julian to die, the facility blew up with my little brother still inside. Where were you, his partner! You were escaping, alone, you didn't give a crap about my brother!" Potiphus shouted, standing up from his desk violently, and he lunged for Caiden enraged by the memory.
"Wait." Caiden tried but Potiphus grabbed his neck with his huge hand and shoved him back against the wall. Immediately Emerson reacted. He kicked Potiphus' leg and knocked him off balance, Potiphus let go of Caiden and he fell to the ground gasping for air. Before Emerson could do anything else he was smashed in the side of the head by a fist and the guards were on him.
"Stop." Caiden shouted and Potiphus called them off, Emerson didn't get up.
"Wait, I thought Julian was already dead, it was only after when I realised that he was still alive, and by then it was too late.
Laire's expression changed, he laughed. "You see the thing is, my brother Julian, he wasn't killed in the explosion. He was rescued."
"What? By whom? The Guild?"
"No, it wasn't the Guild; they didn't lift a finger to see if he was alive; they didn't even look for his body."
"They thought it would be impossible for anyone to survive that explosion; they couldn't find a body." Caiden insisted but Potiphus shrugged. "Who was it that saved him?" Caiden continued.
"There was a gang back then, you might have heard of them, they're called the Bloody Murderers."
"No." Caiden said as the realisation dawned upon him.
"They found Julian alive, but barely. They healed him and cared for him until he got back to full strength."
"No, that's a lie, you're lying."
"At this time, the Bloody Murderers only had four members, they needed a fifth, a leader, and Julian fitted the part perfectly. Julian changed his name, changed a lot about himself, and he donned a mask. He changed his name to a name that is now feared by all who have heard it, he became a legend. He became Maelicen Villainous."
A/N: As I said, pretty irrelevant, but still, I felt like it. Next chapter more things happen, don't worry. Where's Amya?! Thanks for reading, please review, you can read on if you want. I seriously commend you for getting this far. Other chapters are up, more coming. Thanks a lot.
Mangobean.
