Knowing that it was near impossible at best Thad still couldn’t give up on the possibility of escape. The second he gave into his death what would be left to keep him from betraying his friends. “Have any ideas on how to get out of here?” Thad asked Thuraman almost jokingly.
Ure…i…ave…n…dea…i….old…it…ou…enda…go…e…ould…ave…ent…ack…to…farl.
“I know you said the same thing last time. We should have gone back to Farlan but it’s a little late for that now. Have any thoughts that could get us out of the predicament we are in now?”
Ray.
Thad wanted to shake his head and laugh at his staff but he could find little humor in his situation. Worst of all he had not only doomed himself but had brought over a hundred elves with him who now waited for him to return. Thad hoped they took his warning and left on the appointed day. If the dallied even for an extra sunrise then they would all be at risk.
Hey ill lea…hen…oppo…ed…to…unli…ou…hey …end…to…sten.
This time Thad couldn’t help but to laugh at Thuraman’s taunt, though as pain once again ripped through his body he wished he had refrained.
Ore…ite…swo…ovin…in…ure…dir…ion.
Thad cursed the Brotherhood as the sound of footsteps rang in his ears. Thad found himself praying that they would pass by his door but he had no such luck. Knowing that pain would follow Thad still turned his head to see what he least wanted to see. Hern and Sallias stood in the candlelight, both looking far too pleased to see him.
Sallias grabbed a wooden stool and carried it over sitting down at eye level with Thad. “I know we didn’t end on the best terms last time but I hope this time will be different,” the man said ingeniously. “If memory serves me correctly we were talking about the dwarven village and we had some trouble with its location. Now where did you say it was?”
Thad cursed inwardly and had the urge to give the man some fake destination that might at least control his urge to let Hern work but he didn’t want to give the man anything that might be used later. If he told him something now and refused later he might drag on the torture for days in the hopes of garnering more than Thad had or was willing to give. “I don’t know,” Thad replied. He waited for the familiar feel of pain as his body was stretched far beyond its intended limit but the pain never came.
“I was hoping you were lying about that but either you are the best liar I have met or you are simply telling the truth,” Sallias said disappointedly. “Now that we are past that bit of unpleasantness why don’t you continue with your story after you left the dwarven village?”
“Water,” Thad said his voice dry and raspy. He didn’t expect the man to oblige him but right now even a few turns of the wheel was worth it if he received something to quench his parched throat.
“Yes it does get a bit hard to talk when one’s throat is dry,” Sallias said.
Thad was amazed when the old man produced a ladle and bucket of water. It wasn’t cold water but it still cooled the fire that had been burning in his throat. “Now you had left the dwarven village,” Sallias prompted Thad.
“Once I was clear of the village and out of the Underearth I walked to the nearest town. I am not sure what the name of the town was, all I was really curious about was if I could get passage back home to Farlan. When we were turned away we headed to the port town of Handlane. Along the way we met up with a group of your vulgar friends slaughtering a small family of nadirie so we returned the favor.”
Before Thad had a chance to say another word he was racked with immense pain as his body was stretched. “Do try and keep it truthful. You should have said you murdered them,” Sallias said his voice flaring angrily.
“Before we reached Handlane we found another group of the Brotherhood who had lain in wait for us,” Thad continued. “Once we knew they were there it was a simple task to prepare a surprise of our own. In the end we killed nearly the whole force leaving them to run away like the wounded dogs they were.”
Thad felt another surge of pain as Hern pulled back on the lever. When the room resounded with a loud crack darkness started to move in on Thad but unluckily it receded before it claimed him. Once Hern let go and the pressure subsided from the continued pain in his left leg Thad was certain something had broken.
“Being needlessly spiteful will only earn you pain. You should treat my brothers as the holy men we are. We follow the one true god’s will. Remember that and it shall save you endless hours of agony,” Sallias said sorrowfully.
“Once we reached Handlane we chartered a ship to Farlan but along the way we were attacked by a Brotherhood vessel. One of my companions died in my arms and I was flung out to drift upon the ocean. What happened after that I do not know for when I awoke I was among the elves,” Thad said this time taking care not to anger Sallias. Thad didn’t watch his words out of fear of reprisal he knew that was coming soon enough. He chose to hold them so that when the pain finally came he might last just a bit longer. “While I was with the elves I gathered a small army, commissioned a ship, and then marched on Rane. I am sure you know the rest or at least the parts that you consider important.”
“How would one reach the elven village,” Sallias asked unsurprisingly.
“Go ask your mother I hear she made frequent visits,” Thad said, forcing himself to laugh despite the pain that shortly followed.
This time Thad knew where the village was and Sallias was well aware of that face. Thad was punished then asked repeatedly where the elves had hidden but each time Thad tried to come up with a different insult. Before Thad finally lost consciousness he was glad to see that Sallias was so mad it looked as if his face would catch on fire.
The next time Thad was awoken when a sharp pain spread though his hand. Screaming Thad tried to rise sending even more slivers of pain arching through his body. As his eye cleared Thad saw Hern standing over him with a toothy smile holding what appeared to be a small smithing hammer. Looking at Hern’s smile and the pain still shooting through his hand Thad didn’t have to look down to know his fingers had been smashed.
“Now are you willing to tell us where to find the elven village?” Thad head Sallias ask from somewhere in the distance.
“I would rather die than betray my friends to the likes of you butchers,” Thad replied, gasping and grunting as pain racked his body.
“I am sure you would be more than willing to die, but death is not what you will find here. You will beg for the release of death, pray for it but you will not find it until you are nothing but a broken pile with nothing left resembling humanity.”
Thad watched with trepidation as Hern walked over to the wall and ran his fingers over the assortment of metal tools. When his fingers touched a long straight rod with little thin needle like protrusions Thad could feel his heart drop.
Hern didn’t walk over to him directly, he disappeared from Thad’s sight but he could hear the man off to the side. The crackle of coals and heat filled the room as a fire was lit. When Hern came back into Thad’s line of sight he still held the devilish looking instrument but now it goaled a bright red.
Hern laid the metal down on Thad’s chest slowly. Thad felt the red hot needles pierced his skin, burning his flesh. The pain was agonizing and he was sure his screams could well be heard all the way in the Island nations. When Hern lifted the rod from his chest the pain didn’t subside it continued to grow and to make matters worse the smell of his own seared flesh reached his nose.
“Painful, I know and yet it does so little real damage to the body.” Sallias said in a scholarly manner. “Most torturers don’t like their job, so they rush it. They tend to be flashy and normally kill their victims within the first few hours. Hern on the other hand loves the sound of humans screaming and has learned how to prolong that sound almost indefinitely.”
Sallias paused letting Thad ponder on his words as the smell of his own burnt flesh continued to fill the room. At the same time Sallias talked Hern continued to look ov
er his prized collection of tools, seemingly trying to decide what to use next.
“Now if you would like to forgo the endless hours of screaming and pain, it is an easy task. Tell me where to find the elves. That is all I ask. Are their lives really worth all this pain? One way or another you will break and tell us what we want to know. Why put yourself through the through all this?”
Pain still rippling through his body Thad couldn’t speak but the look he gave Sallias must have convey his message as the man shook his head. “I have no pity for your kind but not even I am heartless. I shall go to the chapel and pray for your soul as Hern continues his work,” Sallias said before turning and walking out of the room.
Shortly after Sallias left, Hern returned to the table carrying a small knife with a hooked edge no bigger than Thad’s pinky finger. The smile on the brutal man’s face let Thad know in no uncertain terms that while small it was about to inflict a very large amount of pain.
Hern put the hooked end of the knife just above Thad’s right eye. Though he couldn’t see what the man was doing Thad could fell the pin pricks as it pulled at his flesh and the small streams of blood as it flowed from the cuts. Thad wasn’t sure what Hern was trying to accomplish as the pain was only minor compared to everything the brute had put him through. Hern seemed to pay little attention to Thad’s lack of discomfort and simply carried on with his work.
Thad wasn’t sure how long Hern used the small blade to make the small cuts in his forehead but he was glad when the large man finished. It may not have been painful but each passing moment the smell of the man’s breath stung his nose more than the last until his eyes were watering uncontrollably.
After sitting down the small knife the large man disappeared from view. Thad hoped the man had given up for the time being but he had no such luck as Hern quickly retuned carrying a small glass bottle of a clear liquid.
Pulling a dirty rag out from one of his many pockets he stuffed it in the neck of the bottle. Thad had to admit to more than a little curiosity to what he was doing. Using a thin rope and a set of hooks that were attacked to the wall and ceiling Hern suspended the bottle neck down over Thad’s head.
The smell coming from the bottle stung Thad’s eye and burned his nose but it was far from the torture he had expected. He didn’t understand the true meaning of what Hern had been doing until the first drop of the liquid traveled down the cloth and landed on his forehead.
Pain like nothing he had experienced before burned across his forehead as the hundreds of little cuts began to burn as surely as if the large man had put a hot poker to his head.
As Thad’s pain filled screams filled the air Thad could hear Hern laugh. Thad’s one good eye focused on the bottle and the cloth shoved inside as another thick drop of clear liquid hung only inches from his open wounds. Off to the side Thad heard the door shut but he had no time to look as the jostle from the closing door caused the drop to fall igniting his forehead once again in searing pain.
Whatever the clear liquid was, it was thick and took time to gather enough to form a full drop. Thad did not take this as a blessing as he was forced to watch as the drop formed. The few moments before it dropped were the most mentally agonizing.
Once Thad’s mind was clear again and the pain subsided he once again looked at the dangling bottle and the cloth. The next drop had already started to form but it was still a bit away from being fully formed. “Thuraman can you hear me,” Thad asked in a pain filled voice.
Es… ave…bee…stin…to…ure…eams…or… th… ast… ew… ays.
“Can you destroy the flower petal that the elven god gave me?” Thad asked not knowing what would happen but praying for anything as long as it meant an end to his torment.
Es… i… an… des…ry… it…ough… i… on’t… ee… how… eve… he… ods… ould… elp…ou…no.
“Just please do it Thuraman,” Thad pleaded with his staff.
i..uess…it… tter… han…ing…othin.
As Thuraman spoke in his mind the next drop fell from the cloth sending another series of searing pain through his body. With the pain muddling his mind anything else his staff said was lost to him. He only hoped that somehow something would help him.
CHAPTER XXIII
Thad lay on the table his eyes fixated on the small bottle that now hung above him above his feet, though his eyes were heavy and he desperately wanted to sleep. The past few days had been nothing but one long continuous nightmare. Hern would come to the room and force water and food down Thad’s throat. For a brief moment that was the only time Thad did not know pain. After he was fed and the food had enough time to settle Hern went to work.
Thad had lost track of what all had been done to him, most of the time he was in so much pain there was no room for thought.
After Hern was finished for the day he would use the small hooked knife and once again make fresh cuts in Thad’s flesh and hang a new bottle. Thad wasn’t sure what was worse, Hern’s personal torture, or the hours left alone with the dripping bottle watching it form and the searing pain when it descended.
Today the bottle was nearly empty which meant it was close for Hern to reappear with food and water. Thad didn’t have to wait long before he could hear footsteps coming down the hall. Thad could tell from the sound that Hern wasn’t alone today.
When the door opened Thad turned his head as much as the shackles would allow. Sallias walked through the door shortly after Hern the old man’s nose curled up as the acidic smell of the room assaulted his nose. Thad didn’t enjoy Sallias visits but it did allow him some short measure of relief from the endless torture.
Sallias remained silently in the corner of the room as Hern force fed Thad some stale bread and tasteless thick broth washing it down with a half a gallon of water. Once he was fed Sallias pulled the stool over to the table and leaned in close to Thad’s face.
“Enjoying your stay so far?” Sallias asked jokingly. “If you are ready to leave all you have to do is tell me what I wish to know.”
Thad refused to speak, not trusting himself with words in his present condition. Sallias waited a few moments and when it was clear Thad had nothing to tell him the old man’s face too on a look of pity. “I do not take pleasure in seeing you in such a state. You did not choose to be born an abomination and had we found you early in life you would have had a peaceful end to your life. Alas, now we must do things no man should do to his brothers even those born into sin so that we may purify the world,” the old man said the sadness in his voice almost believable. “Just tell us what we need to know and the pain will end. You have done well to last this long, but it is easy to see that you are at your limit.”
Sallias waited again for Thad to speak but when he refused to even acknowledge to old man’s presence Sallias stood with a heavy sigh. “Hern there is no reason to hold back anymore. If he dies so be it,” Sallias said loud enough for Thad to clearly hear. “If he wishes to talk, call for me otherwise let me know when he dies.”
Thad didn’t know if he should be glad or not. Sallias had more or less given Hern permission to do as he pleased, meaning that his life no longer held value. Thad had wished for death a few times but he still cringed at the thought of it coming through even more painful means of torture.
Smiling, Hern walked over to the wall and bent down outside of Thad's view and picked up something. When the man stood Thad could see the same blacksmith’s hammer that had been used to crush his hand. Thad’s mind rushed with thoughts of what Hern could use the hammer for but he soon learned Hern wasn’t done picking his tools yet. From the wall Hern grabbed a foot long spike that reminded Thad of the long icicles that used to form on the roof of the academy when he was younger.
Hern walked slowly over to where Thad lay, twirling the dangerous spike in his hands menacingly. The large man placed the spike over the large portion of Thad’s right leg and struck it soundly with the hammer.
As the spike dug into his leg Thad grunted. It hurt, there was
no denying that, but it was nowhere near the pain Hern had inflicted before. Hern struck with the hammer again sending another tendril of pain rushing through Thad’s leg.
On the third strike the amount of pain was tenfold what the other two had been and Thad soon found dark spots swimming in front of his eyes. Thad heard the hammer strike again and felt the bone in his leg split.
As soon as Thad’s bone splintered Hern yanked out the spike and looked at it disappointedly. Thad wasn’t sure what the man had been planning to do but it had not worked out.
After a few moments of recollection Hern placed the spike over Thad’s other leg and gave it a much gentler tap. Thad felt as the tip slid into his leg, though due to the pain of his other leg, it was minuscule. Hern continued to tap on the spike gently every so often pulling it side to side opening up the hole wider.
Thad had lost count of the number of small taps Hern had given the spike before he felt its tip hit his bone. Thad expected Hern to break his leg as he had the other but Hern had other plans. Standing up, the large man went back to the wall and pulled down another long spiked instrument, though this one had small grooves cut in circular patters from its tip to its shaft.
Off in the distance Thad heard some commotion, though through his pain he couldn’t understand what could make such a racket. Hern seemed to pay little heed to the noise and calmly walked back over to where Thad lay. Yanking the spike from Thad’s leg Hern replaced it with the spiral spike.
Thad could feel the other spike much more keenly as it pulled at the meat of his leg as Hern pushed it down. Once the tip of the tool brushed against his bone Thad felt as Hern put a great deal of weight behind the spike as he slowly turned it.
If Thad had thought he knew pain before, he had been wrong. As the spike slowly cut into his bone a whole new world of pain opened up to him. Thad tried to scream but after a few moments no sound would come from his moth. Unable to control himself Thad arched his back sending several more tendrils of pain racing through his body.
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