Tears streamed down my face as I woke up. They trailed glistening paths of salt down my cheeks, filled with the turmoil boiling in my chest. Was I crying because I was happy or sad? I truly couldn’t tell.
‘Aww, is my little morsel homesick?’
Not homesick. Just regretful. Do you not have any regretful memories, Lilith? I wasn’t sure why I was even asking my own murderer, but I thought it, so she heard it.
‘Why should I share vulnerabilities with my enemy?’
Enemy or not, we’re in this together, is it too much to ask to get to know my mental tormentor?
‘Ugh, human sentimentality reeks of desperation. A hunter learns by observing, I have learned so much about you from watching in wait.’
That’s not fair! You get to see everything I think and do, but I only get to hear your thoughts when you decide to badger me with insults! How am I supposed to observe?
‘Poor fledgling, perhaps you should give me control more often and you can watch what I do.’
The way you say that makes me want to give you control even less.
Despite my memory filled dreams, I had a restful night, and I could already feel some of the bruises becoming less sensitive then they had been the previous night. It was bound to be breakfast soon, so I figured it would be best to prepare for the day ahead of me. The rooms had their own private bathrooms, yet another reminder of the cruelty of our world to allow a man like Markus such incredible luxuries. If my face was plastered on every corner of this city, I might be convinced to stay a little while longer in this manor. But if a day was all I had, a day would be enough.
I wanted to start my morning with a bath since I hadn’t had one since the morning of the ritual, and with the full force of the Empire breathing down our necks, I wasn’t sure when I would get the opportunity for another. I made my way into the bathroom, making the realization that due to the disguise covering me in the clothing I was wearing at the time, I had no change of clothes. Hopefully Markus wouldn’t care to comment on the reused wardrobe. I turned on the water and let the hot water begin to fill the tub as I stood in front of the mirror. The disguises were unbelievable. Phern’s utter disgust as the idea she would use the Axis Anonimi was beginning to make a lot more sense. I wouldn’t want such a basic illusory spell to me compared to such a marvel of transformation, from what I could gather, it was based in a miniature transfigurative layer of ‘skin’ overlaid over the body underneath. It was how none of my bruises from my actual body carried over to this form, and how our clothing was still technically ‘on’ underneath this body. The only downside I could really come up with was the uncomfortable initial sensation and the growing sense that I was wearing clothes on top of other clothes, a distant claustrophobia in a sense. If that’s what it took to look like this then I’d deal with it any day of the week. I’m choosing not to follow that line of thinking right now, I have a bath after all.
I began to strip off my clothing in front of the clouded mirror. The action made me feel wrong, still, like I was betraying the privacy of another person, when I knew I wasn’t. Once I was naked I moved to the bath, but before dipping a toe in, I stopped. No one was here.
‘You forget my presence far too frequently, human.’
No one of consequence was here. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if I saw myself in the mirror, right? I took a deep breath and placed a hand on the mirror. With far more bravery than you would expect to be required, I slid my hand across the damp surface. My lithe fingers collected water until it streamed down my hand and across the bottom of my arm. After a few swipes, I was met with my own reflection. My breathing stopped as I stared. It was as though I was caught in the glare of a skullthreader, unwilling to move an inch lest disaster strike.
‘Mind explaining to me the euphoria in your mind, human?’
She can feel my emotions?! I’m going to have to use that against her when I get the chance. Whatever, I was fine, I was done staring, that’s for sure. I slowly lowered myself into the bath, enjoying the soothing warmth wash over my muscles and knead the pain into the water. I spent my time in the bath lingering on my reflection, something that I was thankful Lilith didn’t bother to bring up. Perhaps she fell asleep? Sometimes I noticed the connection between us become quiet.
“Breakfast in ten, Lady Illona.” A guard spoke outside of my door after delivering a startling knock. Looks like my bath has come to an end, pity.
In ten minutes I was waiting outside Phern and Cecelia’s room. In another 4 minutes I was still waiting outside of Phern and Cecelia’s room. After another 3 minutes, I knocked on the door to Phern and Cecelia’s room.
“Almost ready, dear!” The croaky voice of Phern filtered past the door.
“It’s Xa-Ester. Are you two okay?” I nearly forgot that I couldn’t afford to slip up within this manor. Any guard overhearing could be all it takes to have me Dead, as possible, in the words of my wanted poster.
“Oh, Ester, come on in! We’re just about to leave.” Phern replied, and I opened the door to an unexpected sight. Cecelia was in a state of half-undress, currently hopping on one foot while attempting to slip a heel onto the other, the shoulders of her shirt were fallen to the side, showing the bra underneath. A vicious blush splattered across my face as I twisted around and raised a hand up to cover my eyes in an act of overkill.
“Oh, please. Don’t be so -ugh- modest” Cecelia muttered as she pulled the heel on with a grunt while speaking. “We’re all women here, it’s fine.” I shot a glare towards Cecelia that I don’t think she caught. Was she saying that to cover for anyone within earshot? It still didn’t change that it wouldn’t be appropriate for a guy to look at her like that, even if I was currently disguised.
“Tulip is not a morning person, sometimes it takes a slap or two to get her out of bed. Or three…or four…” Phern spoke the last part under her breath, but I caught in nonetheless with my new hearing.
“Bite me. No one should be forced to wake up this early.” Cecelia looked especially frustrated as she pulled her other heel on and readjusted her shirt back over her shoulders. Her frustration was mildly entertaining, mostly due to the faces she was making.
“Never imagined your greatest weakness to be the sunrise.” I laughed, taking a step back to allow Phern and Cecelia to walk out into the hallway with me.
“Another word from you and I’ll show you the greatest weakness of a Deathless” Cecelia shot daggers at me as we began walking towards the dining hall that we had passed during Markus’ initial tour the previous night.
“Oh no. Then I’ll have met my end due to the infamous Tulip Blossom, slayer of Deathless and overgrown weeds.” I grinned, satisfied with my retort.
“Tulip Blossom was the name of my mother, before she was slaughtered by bandits in front of me. So by all means, what did you have to say about the name?”
Oh. That took the winds out of my sail. I went quiet as we walked, only managing to speak up after a minute had passed. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“That’s okay. I made it up anyway. I just wanted to see your reaction, and my Gods was it worth it. Hah! You looked so guilty. It was just a name I came up with when I was 6.” Cecilia had gotten a real kick out of her, so much so that she was grinning ear to ear the rest of our walk to the dining hall.
I was malding, but mostly because I had felt so guilty only to have my apology flipped on my head. I’d just have to get her back for that when I got the chance.
“Lady Illona! I hope you had a magnificent night! Was everything to your liking?” Markus. He sat at the head of the table, no shock there, and waved us to come and sit in the chairs closest to him. I hadn’t realized how much I appreciated the smell of clear air until I was deprived of it upon nearing Markus. It’s okay, I just need to act a little bit more and we’ll be gone in a few hours.
“It was wonderful, Markus, endless thanks for the accommodations. You’ve done us a big favor by letting us stay here.” I replied in the kindest and most regal tone I could manage. Every time I thought I went too far, he only smiled more, this man’s ego was a real fucking mess.
“That’s great to hear.” He clapped his hands, and servants walked out of the neighboring room to place trays of food in front of each of us. When the lids were lifted, I was immediately met with the realization that I was under the purview of a new diet regiment. The breakfast that was served was two strips of bacon, deliciously fluffy looking scrambled eggs, and three delicate pancakes painstakingly stacked in a row on top of each other to resemble a leaning tower. On the plate, I could only stomach the two strips of bacon, everything else would lead to instant and embarrassing vomit in the dining hall.
“O-oh how wonderful!” I gave a weak smile, shooting a look over at Cecelia who sat across the table from me. She met my eyes and made the same realization that I had, eyes sharpening as she considered the same unsettling circumstances we found ourselves in.
Phern was completely consumed in enjoying her own meal, so I was unable to get her attention. Bless her heart, but by Gods if I die because she was enjoying her pancakes too thoroughly I would kill her myself.
I started with the only safe options, eating the two strips of bacon as I listened to Markus drone on about… something. I honestly wasn’t paying attention to anything but the ends of his sentences so I knew if I needed to respond with a “Yeah.” Or “I completely agree.”
It didn’t take long to finish the bacon and find my body yearning for more meat. I would need to find a way out of this breakfast as fast as I could. “Oh, well that was wonderful, really, Markus. I really should get back to work on my commission unfortunately.” I started to get up from my chair when my own stomach betrayed me, growling loud enough to reach Markus’ ears. He simply stared at me for a moment before coming to a conclusion and speaking.
“Ah, I should have known, someone as refined as you would not want to be seen as gluttonous. I completely understand, but you really shouldn’t be ashamed. I promise I will not judge a lady for eating a full meal.” He gestured back to my mostly full plate, and I sat back down with a twitch of my eye.
“Geishta, I believe you mentioned cutting meat out of your diet during the summer season, I could take the bacon off your hands, or better yet, you could give it to the illustrious Lady Illona.” Cecelia, or Tulip rather, cut into the conversation, giving a look to Phern -er Geishta to follow what she said. Making the same realizations the two of us had, Phern let out a “Mmm!” In acknowledgment, her mouth is still full of pancakes. She slid her bacon onto my plates, and I scarfed it down as quickly as I could without looking undignified. It was heavily cooked, and didn’t satisfy much of my growing hunger, but it might be enough to excuse myself from the dining hall.
“Thank you for the breakfast, Markus, the meat was deliciously prepared.” I said while rising from my chair.
“A lady with an appetite for meat, now that’s something I can get behind.”
Ew, ew, ew, get me out of here.
I nearly made it out of the hall before the bassy voice of Markus reached my ears once more. “Lady Illona, would you mind if I accompanied you to your room? I would love to see your project.”
“Oh, I really must continue my work. I’m in the eleventh hour, and working while traveling simply couldn’t suffice.”
“Of course, my lady, I won’t be long at all. It’s the least you could do given all of the accommodations I’ve provided, no?”
Fuck. “I-I suppose so, yes.” The wires in my brain felt like they were knotted and throbbing as I scrambled to come up with any possible mode of escape. I don’t have an art piece, or anything that could resemble such. I felt so tense that at the slightest push I would explode like a tension spring.
“Excellent!” Markus stood from the head of the table and made his way over to me. His hand reached out to wrap around my shoulder, but I had already moved out of the way of his arm to start towards my room.
The walk felt three times longer than it did on the way to the dining hall. Every door I stepped past practically screamed at me to run inside and lock the door. I was focusing all of the effort I could manage into not shaking life a leaf as we walked side by side. My analytical brain had a vice grip on me as we walked. I must have come up with anywhere from 10-40 different plans on how to escape, from letting Lilith rip his throat out, to faking a heart attack. From bad to worse, our steady walk ended when we reached my bedroom door.
I shivered as I reached for the doorknob, wondering if I would even make it out of this room. A slip up against someone capable of extensive holy magic in an enclosed room would surely be the end of me. “Right this way, sir.”
I opened the door and stepped into my own fate as we crossed the boundary into the room. Markus closed the door behind him, thankfully not caring to lock it or forgetting entirely. “I have it stored in the bathroom so that no maids would damage it while cleaning. If you’ll wait out here for a moment I’ll bring it out here.”
“Absolutely, Lady Illona.” Markus took a seat on the elegant red lounge chair.
The second I entered the bathroom, I closed the door behind me and took a deep breath of air in as quiet as I could manage. LILITH, HELP NOW! I was hoping our mental connection would facilitate me ‘yelling’ at her through my mind, unsure of how the link actually worked.
‘Oh my little morsel you have cornered yourself in a nasty situation, haven’t you?’
Not the time, Lilith. If we don’t come up with something to work as an art piece we’re completely fucked.
‘I’ve seen and heard it all, dear. No need to tell me what you’ve stuck us in. Let’s see…’
I stood for a moment in the bathroom, eyes meticulously examining every single item in the bathroom for any possible solutions.
“Are you alright in there, dear?” Markus’ booming voice bled through the door.
“Yes, just a moment!” Lilith, it’s now or never!
‘I’ve got an idea. Give me control.’
Against my better judgement, I relaxed myself in body and mind. It was indescribably existential to experience losing control over your own body. It was like I was pushed into the passenger seat of my own body, watching through my eyes, and feeling every movement, but having no autonomy or agency in the actions. To be completely honest, it was horrifying. I was glad Lilith could no longer hear my thoughts, or she might notice how much sympathy I was feeling for her.
‘It’s a long shot, but it’s our only shot.’ Lilith mentally shot back at me. With roles reversed it was fascinating to understand more of how our shared mental space worked. While in this ‘backseat’ so to speak, I could hear her thoughts, with certain thoughts that were meant to be ‘messages’ being much louder and clearer. The rest was almost a soup that if I focused on, I could understand, but if I relaxed and didn't exert myself, it sounded more like static or distant conversation. Odd.
I watched as Lilith moved her (our? my?) hand down to the bottom of our dress. She set our right leg up on the edge of the bath, and to my utter horror, used a single conjured claw to slice across the underside of our thigh. Gods that hurt. She didn’t utter so much a peep to the gruesome act, instead drawing the blood out of our thigh, collecting it in the air in front of us. Once a sufficient amount had been gathered, she grabbed a hand towel to wrap around our thigh. It didn’t need to stop the bleeding for long as it would heal up momentarily, but it would catch the blood that flowed until it sealed. Smart. I then witnessed Lilith move to the countertop to grab the bottle of white shampoo, quickly twisting off the cap and pouring the entire bottle into the floating pool of blood.
‘Lilith, what on earth are you doing?’
‘Tell me human, what are the optics of presenting an art piece made out of what looks to be crystalized blood. I’m changing the color, now silence.’
Lilith mixed the blood with the shampoo, the color changing to a pinkish rose hue, and in an instant, the pool of blood coagulated and solidified into a crystal-like substance. I was genuinely at a loss for words. She had made a crystalized tree, complete with a thick trunk that spread into a multitude of branches at the top that weaved in between each other. A few of the branches formed dewdrop-like shapes at the tips of the branches. It was gorgeous. Even more impressively, her entire plan had been enacted in just shy of a minute. I was once more thankful she could not hear my thoughts. I really owed Lilith for this one.
‘Take back control, if I speak to that man, I will rip his teeth out before he finishes a sentence.’
‘Understandable.’
I pulled myself back into my body, once more feeling the sensation of appendages responding to my commands. I couldn’t waste any more time, grabbing the crystalized blood tree and opening the door to the bathroom.
“Here it is, Markus! I fear it tipped over while I was out of the room, so I had to reattach a limb. It’s resolved now, don’t fret.” I walked out of the room, the slightest shake in my hands as I carried the tree over to him, setting it on the small coffee table positioned next to the lounge chair.
“Oh my.” Markus looked pleased. Extremely so, in fact. This pleasure mercifully lacked the usual slimy undertone of desire behind it, was he actually impressed? “I understand your reputation, Lady Illona, this is absolutely a masterpiece. Whoever has commissioned your services is in for a sublime treat.”
“Why thank you, it’s an honor to hear such flattery from the captain of the guard.”
“Oh?” Markus turned to face me, then looked back to the rose tree. “You know, my lady, I think you are much like this tree you’ve created.”
“I’m not sure I follow you, sir.”
“What is a tree, exactly? I believe it is the hope for more, no? A seed takes root, grows into a powerful being, and then produces for the world around it. It's very same product leaves seeds to cultivate more life, to grow in number. I see, as this powerful being. This tree, full of life, you see?”
This had better go where I think it’s about to go.
“But what a shame it would be for that tree to not leave seeds in the earth to grow more. Why shrivel up and die without leaving hope for more? Perhaps the tree before me just needs a man to sow her seeds into the earth.”
‘You are fortunate I do not control our body now.’
“Um, I, Uh.”
A knock at the door provided the biggest relief that I had perhaps ever felt. A guard opened the door, and I felt myself mercifully relax the grip I had tightened around my arm. A few seconds later, and I might have drawn blood with the force I grasped at my skin.
“Captain, your guest has arrived.”
Guest?
“Ah, very well, send him in! I might as well introduce him to Lady Illona as well.” Markus smiled and tucked his greasy hands into his pockets as the two of us awaited the arrival of his guest. The footsteps of the person grew louder until he rounded the door and I could match a face to the almost metallic sounding steps.
In the doorway stood a man with dirty brown hair, brown eyes, a thick layer of stubble across his face, and a set of goggles resting on the top of his forehead. The goggles appeared to have multiple lenses stacked one in front of the other in a descending order of sizes. Gears interlocked along the outer rim of the goggles, some of the oil used to lubricate the gears dripped down the sides of his brown face, adding to the smudges of oil smeared across his cheek. The man wore a long brown coat that stretched down to his ankles. The boots he wore had metal plating on the bottoms of the shoes, explaining the clunking footsteps I had heard from a distance. The man raised a hand to greet Markus as he entered, the leather glove he wore squeaky ever so slightly in the silent room. A moment passed before he flashed a hearty smile and fully stepped into the room. A shivering rage gripped my senses. I had an overwhelming hatred for this man that burned fiercely against a winter’s night. What was happening? I had never seen this many before in my life.
‘It’s HIM. Relinquish control now, human. I must peel his s k i n from his face. I’ll carve a river of blood along his vertebrae until he loses his sanity.’
Lilith’s rage throttled through my mind. I had to step back towards the bed to catch myself from the crashing waves of hate that flooded my heart. My right hand snatched a fistfull of the bedsheets and squeezed hard enough to pale my skin a sickly white tone. It was all I could do to expel the emotions. I was beyond thankful that the two men were too busy greeting each other to pay attention to my brief faintness.
‘He will pay for his actions with every pint of blood coursing through his veins.’
Later, Lilith. I’m about to pass out if you keep wringing my brain like a washcloth. There was no immediate response, but I felt the anger subside within my heart. It was strange feeling such seething anger towards a stranger I’d never met.
“Markus! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Sebil Partillo, at your service.” Sebil gave a curt bow. The man had a sort of comforting air about him that clashed against the pseudo-sauve attitude of Markus. Why two men that felt like complete opposite were doing business together, I had no idea. Not that it was much of consequence, I’d be out of this manor shortly.
“It’s my pleasure, Mr. Partillo.” Markus made his way up to the other man and pulled him into a firm hug, even planting a few pats on Sebil’s back. Having been that close to Markus, I was amazed Sebil could keep from retching. Markus tilted his head towards where I sat on the edge of the bed. “Apologies for the interruption, Lady Illona, but I have some urgent business to attend to with Mr. Partillo here. Adult conversations, you understand. I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you.” Adult conversations? This man was a special kind of infuriating, like he’d studied the art of crawling under my skin.
“Oh, that’s a shame. I wish the two of you the very best with your adult conversation.”
“If you would, Mr. Partillo?” Markus gestured towards the door, and I watched with satisfying pleasure as the two of them left me to my own private bedroom. Only, instead of walking down the hall, Markus stopped walking. They had made it far enough down the hallway I couldn’t make out the exchanged words, but whatever was said caused Markus to slink back down the hallway and knock at my door. Gods, when could I catch a break from this walking catastrophe.
I opened the door with the brightest smile I could manage. “Yes? Oh, Markus. Back so soon?” Something looked off about the man’s expression. He stared at me with the same predatory gaze, but the edge of mirth in his eyes was replaced with a cold emptiness.
“I almost forgot, Illona, we have lunch prepared to serve at noon for the three of you. You’ve got a long journey ahead of you, I couldn’t bear to have you leave on an empty stomach.”
“My apologies, sir, my group and I had planned to leave before noon today. I appreciate the offer, however.”
“It wasn’t an offer. We’ve already procured the ingredients for 3 additional guests, I can’t have that food wasted for no good reason.” Markus gave me a hollow smile before turning to leave.
I closed the door with a quivering palm. Did he know? Whatever the guard had said shifted his entire demeanor. Perhaps it was unrelated news that left him sour? No… I couldn’t take that risk. It was smarter to operate under the assumption that he was aware of my identity. I needed to find Cecelia and Phern as soon as possible. I slipped out into the hallway, knocking on the adjacent quarters.
“It’s Ester.”
Maintaining the confident personage through my scattered thoughts felt like staying afloat in raging waters. Thankfully, the two had made it back to their room after breakfast and allowed me to slip inside. When the door closed behind me, I felt the puppet strings holding my visage together slip. Air. I needed air. Gods I needed to breathe, to calm myself. Every breath bred the desire for another two breaths. I was caught in a vicious cycle of gasping for air, the crushing weight of dancing with death in a body that wasn’t my own pressing down all around me.
“Ester, look at me. You’re going to be okay.” Cecelia’s gentle fingers had wrapped around my chin and lifted my face to meet her eyes. Ragged breaths spilled from my mouth, slowing more and more the longer I stared into her eyes. For a moment, the entire world felt as though it slipped away, leaving a beautiful absence of all but the two of us. Before I knew it, the burning desire for air in my lungs had quelled.
“I’m sorry.” I hadn’t meant it to be, but the words came out as a pathetic whisper.
“It’s okay, Ester. We’ll get through this. Just tell us what happened.”
I told Phern and Cecelia everything that had happened after I left the dining hall. The two of them began packing up all of their belongings as soon as I finished explaining the final conversation I had with Markus. We were in agreement that avoiding lunch was our best plan, something which Cecelia and Phern were already ahead of me on. The two of them had been spinning their own gambit while I was occupied. Phern had ‘extracted’ information from one of the servants after breakfast. Apparently her sunderby candy she had offered the guard at the gate was actually a potion brewed and solidified into a small hard candy. The two of them told me that it induces a state of truthful confession. I wasn’t happy to find out the two of them had drugged a servant, despite their reassurement that it was completely safe. The principle of it was where my hesitation lied, but the information was exceptionally useful, so I saved my complaints for when we were safe.
The information that they had obtained detailed a side entrance to the manor that could be used as an alternative to the front door. The only problem was that Markus, paranoid as he was, had a guard stationed just outside the entrance. According to the servant, however, there were not enough guards in the manor to go around. That shortage meant that the guard stationed at the side entrance would leave to watch over the dining hall during lunch. If the three of us played our cards right, we could wait until lunch was about to be served, and slip out the side when the guard rotated for lunch.
The worst part of the plan in my opinion was passing the time until noon. The tension inside the bedroom felt primed to explode at any moment. Each time I heard footsteps in the hallway I assumed it was a guard, or even Markus himself, coming to execute us. While waiting, I decided to at least get rid of the hand towel wrapped around my thigh. As expected, it looked like I never had an injury to begin with. I left the bloody towel in the bathtub of the girl’s room.
“All of these stakes, how do the two of you do it? I feel like my heart has gone through more stress in the past 2 days than my entire life combined.” It was close to lunch when I finally spoke up.
“I know this doesn’t help much, but you kind of get used to it.” Cecelia gave a short laugh that made me question why she almost sounded happy giving her answer.
“If I don’t have a heart attack, maybe.”
“Wouldn’t kill you if you did.” She snarked.
I wanted to thank Cecelia for comforting me through my panic earlier, but the idea of starting a conversation about that felt like too much to handle right now. I brushed it aside and prepared to enact our hail mary plan. With ten minutes until lunch, we left the room and started walking towards the side entrance. Perhaps luck was beginning to shift in our favor as we didn’t run into a single guard on our way through the hallways. It was about time my luck swung around, I thought.
“It looks like the guard already left. I can’t see anyone out there.” Phern whispered to the two of us as we stood behind the glass door that led into the magnificent garden behind the manor. Phern moved back to allow Cecelia and I to take a look, and sure enough, the garden was empty of guards.
“Okay, looks like they’ve rotated for lunch. Follow me, we’ll head straight for the forest.” Cecelia took the lead, opening the door and striding with purpose into the garden. Statues littered the garden, but without the time to stop and stare I couldn’t discern who they were. Perhaps the previous captains, or leaders of Multon? Cecelia had explained to me while we waited for lunch that Multon had an odd style of leadership. For decades now, the city has operated under a sort of martial law that had never ended. That would explain why the captain of the guard had such an extravagant lifestyle, I suppose. Cecelia spoke of the militaristic nature of Multon with such distaste that I could tell she had a history with the city that went untold.
Nearly there. We had crossed most of the way towards the nearby forest when a voice called out from behind us.
“Lady Illona, I understand the garden is beautiful, but you wouldn’t want to miss out on lunch now, would you?”
I froze.
“N-no, of course not.” I turned around to see that Markus stood atop a balcony, teeth bared wide in a confident smile. Fuck! We were so close to the forest. But the short distance suddenly felt like it was miles away. If we ran now, the guards he would send after us would outnumber and swarm us before we even made it to the main road.
“Well. Come on then, my dear.” He laughed and retreated back into the room behind the balcony as two guards stepped out into the garden. I could hear grinding teeth as we were escorted back into the manor and into the dining hall. It took over half of our walk for me to realize I was the one grinding my teeth relentlessly.
The dining hall was filled with just as many guards as there were guests. The three of us took our same seats from breakfast, with one of the empty seats now filled with the man from earlier. Sebil, I think it was. The man seemed relatively unbothered by the vacuous silence that sat in the room. It seemed as though nearly everyone in the room had some idea of what was about to happen, but no one dared to spoil the end.
I felt numb as the plates were set in front of us. The covers were lifted to reveal a large steak cut open to reveal a medium rare preparation. Under other circumstances, this would be a meal to die for. In these circumstances, well, perhaps it will still be to die for. Minute and minute passed. The three of us were hesitant to eat our food until Markus himself broke the silence. “Eat.” The minutes dragged on in torturous fashion as we ate, each second trudging by like time itself feared our fate.
“How is the steak, Ms Illona? I decided to get rid of the vegetables and potatoes for this meal, for your sake. You didn’t seem to care much for anything but the meat last time, no?”
I didn’t know how to respond, and even if I did, my jaw was locked tight. I could feel myself sweating heavily in my seat, a rising dizziness that threatened to send me reeling off my chair onto the floor.
“Your digestive tract is a fascinating thing, isn’t it? You metabolize much faster than a human. Did you know your inhuman physiology makes you process chemicals differently? For example, a dosage that would leave a human unconscious for hours leaves you in a very different state, doesn’t it?” Markus let out a booming series of laughs that echoed across every surface in the room. My mind felt so slow, his words only making sense seconds after he spoke to them and I could chew them in my head. When I finally realized what he was saying, I looked across the table to Cecelia, and then to Phern next to me. The two of them were completely out, Cecelia’s head rolled back while Phern’s lay flat on the table. My whole world was spinning, the simple task of turning back to face Markus had me feeling like I was rolling down a hill. Intense nausea wracked my brain. I felt as though I was sinking into the wooden chair I sat on, descending over and over while not moving an inch.
I watched as Markus reached under the table to pull out a familiar weapon. The crossbow, with golden trim, was being loaded frustratingly slowly, every second of the process being savored by Markus. I tried to speak, but my words melted and practically dribbled out of my mouth.
“Mnmnoo… don…don’t hmfrt themv…”
“I won’t hurt them, dear. But for a monster like you? I’m afraid there can be no mercy.”
Markus latched the crossbow bolt in place and pointed it at me with a menacing grin.
Fuck.