Renegade of Two Realms

by Phil Parker

It had taken a couple of days I think. The dungeon was long and narrow, I found him at its far end, furthest from the light from the grate. His name meant Bear, a fitting title for a man built like one, except now he had lost a lot of muscle, though his frame was still enormous, his skin hung from it now. It took some time to get him closer to the light, he blinked like a mole for a while, and others were not happy about my social engineering. They changed their minds when I conducted my own form of forceful diplomacy, something that quickly earned me respect. Puck helped, such a willing contributor to the art of political negotiation.

  Somehow, we didn’t know the details, Islene had escaped in the chaos of the fight and the fire and I felt sure she’d do her best to acquire our freedom. Mahon held a very different perspective. I had to admit she’d been unsuccessful where his imprisonment was concerned though he didn’t blame her. The fact was, we were in a place no one visited and no one else knew where we were. But, as I repeated until it became my mantra, I’d been in far worse situations than this.

  Until Lord Taranis heard about my arrival.

  I don’t know how he found out, I assumed he didn’t keep a personal tally of his guests, though I think my reputation as a trouble-maker may have had something to do with it. At that point I didn’t care, if he took an interest in me, it offered a chance for escape.

  Just goes to show how absence can make the heart grow fonder; I’d repressed just how sadistic a bastard he could be.

  I was summoned by the jailor with the nymphomaniac wife who led me to a room which had a window, I remembered blinking at the light. This new accommodation was small, tiled, with a drain in the centre of the floor which left little to the imagination regarding its purpose. Sure enough, I was instructed to strip and hold on to metal rings in the wall above head height. A hose pipe turned out to be the preferred method of cleaning, the force of the icy-cold water rammed me hard against the wall and robbed me of my breath, a combination that caused me to lose consciousness. The delightful gentlemen who’d provided this service chose to wake me up by kicking my arse repeatedly.

  Anger got the better of me at that point so I told the bastard how his wife had complained to me about his pathetically small dick. Inevitably he retaliated but his prowess in fighting was no better than his love-making, I got the better of him and broke his legs. His screams brought reinforcements who chose the strategy of piling on top of me, at which point they managed to manacle and fetter me. The decision to leave me naked appeared to be driven by the opportunity for numerous ribald comments concerning the effect ice cold water had on my manhood. Oh, how we laughed.

  Eventually, once the good-humoured joshing ended, my new friends took me to another, larger room, with furniture. They strapped me, spread-eagled, to the wire frame of an old bed.

  That was where I met the man who had turned me into a raging psychopath. It was a wonderful reunion.

  ‘Puck!’

  I heard the warmth and welcoming voice first, as though he was greeting an old friend. He sauntered into view, grinning at me and shaking his head as though our meeting was too good to be true. He’d hardly changed, his tall frame had thickened out around the waist, his hair was speckled with grey and the stupid line of moustache drawn across his top lip was still evidence of his vanity.

  ‘It’s been such a long time,’ he said jauntily, ‘too long. You must have been so unhappy, trapped with that awful human scum. There were stories that you’d gone native, but I didn’t put any store by such things. And you’re looking well too, a little thin I have to say but I understand that’s because you’ve not been eating while you’ve been here.’

  He moved closer, circled the bed frame, still smiling.

  ‘I wish they’d told me you’d arrived, we could have avoided all that unpleasantness. From what I hear, you’ve given my troops quite a thorough testing, and with only a few bruises to show for it.’ He sighed. ‘But you were always the warrior, weren’t you?’

  He still loved the sound of his voice too. I smiled up at him.

  ‘All down to the quality of training, your lordship.’

  He chuckled. ‘And yet there were those who criticised my methods.’

  ‘I know. Something to do with the large numbers that died in the process, wasn’t it?’

  The faintest of shrugs. He moved closer so he could scrutinise me better, he might have worn a smile on his lips but those grey eyes held the same merciless look of winter they’d always had.

  ‘It weeded out the weak and irresolute, the result was an elite force that became the stuff of legend.’

  ‘And then Llyr had them all murdered.’

  He stopped and looked at me, clearly surprised.

  ‘You’ve been keeping up to date with Dark Court politics, I see.’ His pause lasted longer than was necessary for any kind of dramatic effect, his expression told me there was something going on behind those cold grey eyes. ‘Which leads me to ask you a question, my dear Puck.’

  ‘Robin. I don’t use the other name now. It has certain… attributes I like to forget.’

  With a dismissive gesture he sat on the edge of the bed frame and looked at me closely.

  ‘Tell me why you are here.’

  We’d stopped circling one another, now the fun was going to start.

  ‘To find who has been sending assassins to kill me.’

  If he was watching my face for tell-tale signs, I was doing the same and for a split-second I saw a look of surprise there, it vanished and was replaced by feigned interest.

  ‘Well, Robin, you have to acknowledge you’re not the most popular person at the moment. You can’t kill our High Lord and not expect consequences.’

  ‘Even when it was done in self-defence?’

  The nostrils on his finely structured, aristocratic nose flared.

  ‘Oh Robin, hardly self-defence! I’d trained the man, we both know Llyr was no match for you. Mab did a good job of convincing the other idiots in the Court that he got what he deserved, but don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes. We respect each other too much.’

  ‘Do we?’

  He ignored that. There was an agenda he was working through here.

  ‘And you are also Nimue’s paladin I hear. And then you turn up here, lurking in the home of a known dissident of the Dark Court, a representative of our Light cousins.’

  He ran a finger around one of my nipples distractedly.

  ‘You can imagine the kind of conclusions that might draw.’

  I didn’t say anything, he would expect denials and we were playing a game with a precise etiquette. Rule One: don’t provide what the other expects. A lack of a reply often prompts the other person to provide you with extra information, no matter how paltry it might appear to be. I was right.

  ‘And whilst in my accommodation you joined up with another dissident. However, what truly intrigues me, is why you are so protective of the mute, you appear to have forged a genuine friendship in the short time you’ve been here.’

  Shit.

  I held the other man’s eyes, not daring to look away for knowing how that would be interpreted. I chuckled.

  ‘Have you seen that man’s body? He’s not only fuckable, he doesn’t complain either.’

  Taranis’ eyes drilled into mine, he didn’t say anything for a long moment. Eventually he laughed.

  ‘You really haven’t changed Robin.’

  I did my best to shrug but my restraints stopped me so I lifted my eyebrows instead. The circling of my nipple continued, I’d escaped one trap but there were others lining up and it would only be a matter of time until things started to get nasty. I hoped it wouldn’t be soon, though it hardly mattered, the cavalry wasn’t on their way to save me from this. I was on my own.

  ‘Tell me Robin, why are you here?’

  ‘I’m looking for the bastard who wants me dead. I’m not the type to hang around fending off assassins endlessly, you should know that.’

  He exhaled and the nipple circling ended. I ha
d one card left to play.

  ‘I was developing the idea you were that bastard.’

  He didn’t attempt to hide his surprise.

  ‘Me?’ He stood up. ‘Well, who thinks a lot of himself?’

  I really had rattled him, but he wasn’t angry, more perplexed than anything.

  ‘Llyr is dead and I must confess it meant reshaping my plans but to bother about someone as insignificant as you, my Puck? No, no, no. I find your excuse to be a pathetic attempt to deflect me, you really don’t respect me, do you? I’m disappointed.’

  He spoke in such flat tones I started to believe his indignation. My need to find other suspects grew less important when he moved over to a workbench in the corner of the room. He opened a couple of drawers and peered inside, he body blocked whatever objects he took out and laid in front of him with great care.

  ‘One of the qualities I always admired about you, my Puck, was your resolution. You were so hard to break, I savoured the ways I had to extend myself to force you to my will. For a young man you were remarkable. I only wish I had as much time now but I have other commitments. However, my research methods have been refined considerably. I lacked subtlety when I tried to break you before, I only succeeded in creating your demon, I’m fascinated what can be achieved now. Your arrival is so perfectly timed.’

  He turned around and held up a syringe and smiled.

  ‘I have learned a lot since then, my Puck. We explored the landscape of pain in those distant days, didn’t we? I have found the dark valleys where it once hid, now we can penetrate its secrets and learn how far the body, and the mind, can go before they surrender. I’ve worked on others that were easier to break, they had minds like glass. You represent more of a challenge, you will fight me. If I can break you, I can be assured my experiments will succeed. Oh my Puck, we will tread those boundaries together.’

  His smile broadened as he moved closer.

  I’ve experienced fear on many occasions, real terror too from time to time. The thing is, if you believe you have the capacity to deal with the pain for its duration, you cope. If you think you can escape the cause of that fear, that hope helps you cope too. Duration and escape. When you are denied both of those things, when fear has the potential to be all you will ever know, it turns into despair. When that happens you are lost. Taranis had once made me reach that conclusion and now it looked like he was going to do it again. I felt Puck stir in me but my restraints were beyond what he could affect, unless he chose to yank my limbs from my body. There might be a point where that fate would be preferable.

  The smile stood over me, syringe in hand.

  ‘Any preferences where I insert it?’ he chuckled.

  I don’t know what he injected into the side of my neck but it felt like liquid fire. It coursed through my veins and set my brain ablaze, if someone had offered to open my skull and pour cold water inside, I’d have thanked them profusely. The intensity of the burning sensation lessened after a while, I don’t know how long but certainly the time it took Taranis to circle me forty-three times; I counted them to distract myself. With each circuit I expected the pain would release Puck but my psychotic alter ego appeared to have hidden in a distant synapse, well away from the flames.

  I expected my interrogation to continue but there were no more questions, Taranis didn’t seem to care why I was there, what I was doing or who I was, except that I was his guinea pig. Every once in a while, he took my temperature, gave my sips of water through a straw and listened to my heart. Like I’d done with Luke, he asked me about the scars I wore, casually, a conversation between friends. When we exhausted that topic he would ask me about the sensations I felt, noted them down and thanked me.

  ‘Your psychotic other self hasn’t appeared, have you noticed Robin?’

  I told him I had. It earned me a grin.

  ‘The brain is a fascinating organ. It orchestrates the body’s actions and records everything we do, it enhances our thought processes and dictates the kind of person we become. I had always wondered if I could harness your demon.’

  ‘Which you put in me!’ I snapped through clenched teeth and felt the fire reignite. I howled.

  ‘Ah, have you noticed how your anger fuels the pain? You might want to suppress it.’ His smile widened, showing perfectly white teeth. ‘You may come to thank me for the experiments I’m conducting on you now. You might even become a nice person.’

  He chuckled as he returned from his work bench with plastic pipes and a small glass bottle. He dangled the glass bottle, upside down, from a stand by my head and ran the plastic pipe from it and into a catheter inserted into the back of one hand. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him turn a tap on the catheter and seconds later felt a return of the fire. My brain felt like its embers, heat radiated from it, to reignite every part of my body. I dripped sweat, like I’d bathed in it. He gave me a drink and threw a bucket of water over me. It’s chill made me gasp but the pleasure that followed was almost as good as sex, and just as temporary because by the time he’d put the bucket down and made more notes, the heat returned.

  ‘What are you doing to me?’ I gasped. My throat was made of sand.

  ‘Isn’t it obvious? Experimenting. I’m a scientist Robin. There are numerous areas where my research has taken me, each one has brought me enormous success. My research in improving the fertility of our race is perhaps my most significant to date, though someone has temporarily robbed me of that delight.’

  He turned to look at me, his eyes burned like my brain, no longer icy and cruel.

  ‘They will suffer even more than you, as penalty for their theft. But, I have other areas of research to pursue in the meantime. Your arrival has proved most timely.’

  ‘So this isn’t an interrogation?’

  Flames licked at my mind, consuming my thoughts, my identity.

  ‘Oh no. Far from it. When you tell me what I want to know, that will be nice. I can use it against Nimue and her brood. But you won’t care about such things by then Robin. You, and the demon on your head, will have been transformed into something very different.’

  I heard the door open. Taranis looked over and jerked a thumb at me.

  ‘He will need hosing down every thirty minutes. Give him this liquid to drink every five minutes, more if he needs it. When he urinates, catch some of it and test it for the usual markers. I’ll return before the flask needs to be refilled but should I be delayed, there is another one in the cupboard over there.’

  He jerked a casual thumb to somewhere behind my head.

  ‘If his behaviour becomes extreme, such as massive rage, double the dosage and notify me immediately.’

  A young man, dressed entirely in white, stepped into my line of vision. He was small, the same kind of petite features as Islene but a mane-like array of brown hair flowed from his head and down his back. Taranis went to leave but stopped and caught the young man by his long hair, swung him around to stare down at him.

  ‘Needless to say Cori, you will not release the patient for any reason. To do so will mean you replacing him, is that understood?’

  The young man, wide-eyed with terror, swallowed hard and nodded repeatedly. Satisfied, Taranis released his grip and the young man sank to his knees.

  ‘He can be persuasive Cori. I suggest you don’t listen to anything he says.’

  The tall man fixed me with the smiling lips and manic eyes.

  ‘When I return Robin, we will take our first steps from the foothills of pain and ascend to its summit. I am excited to see your reaction when we reach the first base camp.’

  ‘Oh, me too.’ I croaked.

  Even resentment fuelled the fire that flared across my brain, searing everything around it. I screamed and screamed and screamed.

  Chapter 10

  ‘Are you sure you can manage to do this grandmother?’

  I struggled to equate Nimue, the Lady of the Lake and dominating matriarch of the Light Court with the frail old woman sat in her wheeled chair. Sh
e sat in the orchard, her favourite spot in the whole of the Light Court palace, struggling to breathe. The sweet scent of apple blossom lingered in the still air and covered the ground like snow and she tried to inhale its fragrance. The sun’s rays peeped over the top of the high orchard walls, I hoped they’d warm her but no matter what I did for her, she remained cold to the touch. I smiled as she heaved a huge sigh as the light caught her face, she closed her eyes and her smile grew, as did mine. It was good to see her happy. The smile faltered after the briefest of moments in the sun, she frowned and her shoulders tensed.

  I took hold of her hand, it was so very cold.

  ‘Let’s do this another day grandmother, you’re…’

  She opened her eyes and fixed me with the stare I knew not to ignore. I smiled at her as my words dried up, even now her strength held sway.

  ‘Filidea dear, I don’t have too many more days left.’

  A spasm shook her and a little trail of saliva trickled out of the corner of her mouth, I dabbed it with the lace handkerchief I kept for such purposes now.

  ‘Give it to me.’ She snatched it from my hand to wipe her mouth. ‘Can’t have you looking like my nurse. We need to show them you are your own woman.’

  I nodded and wished it could be that easy. She shifted in her chair as another spasm made her tense, her blanket slipped from her bony legs and I went to put it back, she gave me another look and I stopped myself.

  ‘Vevina will be here to do these things shortly.’

  I couldn’t help but shake my head and roll my eyes. ‘She’s nearly as ill as you.’

  Inevitably that observation got ignored. Grandmother’s hand gripped mine, with surprising strength.

  ‘Now listen, you know this isn’t going to be easy. They will try to goad you, diminish your worth, side-track you. Do not let them. Do you hear me Filidea?’

  ‘Yes Grandmother.’

  I’d been coached for this moment for the last six months, intensively over the last two when her diagnosis was confirmed. I hadn’t slept for the last couple of nights as anxiety eroded my capacity to sleep, to even relax. I felt exhausted. Worries of all kinds swept through my mind as I lay awake; doubts about my own abilities but also concerns for the way Oisin was generating problems with his attacks on Lord Taranis. Sibeal was getting near to her time and that brought more problems, hiding mother and baby would be impossible.