Terrors

Aniah struggled and thrashed, kicking at Aluri and trying to punch him. He blocked or ignored her attempts as if she were attacking him with a blade of grass.

She was so desperate that she didn’t realize at first where they were going.

Downstairs. Where the prisoner was kept. Where he was tortured. She felt her pulse quicken even more. They were going to kill her slowly, drawing out her agony as long as possible to make up for her mother’s refusal to cooperate. Aluri would probably enjoy it.

She let out a feral scream, a sound drawn from some base instinct deep inside. She just kept screaming. She had never felt so terrified. She’d felt fear, of course. She had felt a cold, insidious worry creeping up on her. She’d known panic in times of intense action. She’d despaired over the future. But never before had she felt this overwhelming sense of horror, a certain knowledge of excruciating pain in her future. Her skin was hot, her brain fuzzing, and her ears ringing. She could hardly breathe, her screams degenerating into gasping sobs.

Aluri threw her to the ground. All she saw was red. Red, red, red. The floor was stained in it. Her stomach heaved.

“Alright, here she is. You’d better be able to deliver.” Aluri’s voice, a distant thing. She could barely comprehend the words.

“Leave if you fear.” A new voice. She squeezed her eyes shut, resting her forehead against the floor. It made her skin squirm, but she was so lightheaded from screaming. Why was the room shaking?

“I will not leave this task to you alone,” Aluri sneered.

“Then we begin.”

***

Jistan was sweating. He felt like a bumbling grizzard in the nearly empty hallways of the palace. Sackrin and Karrin moved like shadows. Only Narissa made him feel a little better, her footsteps tapping softly and her breathing labored. At one point, Sackrin made her remove her shoes and carry them. She walked somewhat more quietly after that.

Sackrin moved with purpose, barely hesitating at intersections. There was no way he knew where they were going; he was simply decisive enough to pick a route without overthinking it. After all, if you didn’t know where you were supposed to go, any path was as good as another. It was all just guessing anyway, so what was the point of second guessing?

Second guessing may not have been productive. However, giving hallways a second glance before strolling out into the open may have been wise. Sackrin beckoned them to follow him to the left, barely glancing around the corner. They stepped out just as a group of palace guards emerged from another corridor at the opposite end of the hall.

“Arkadia’s Flames,” Jistan muttered. “We’re so dead.”

The soldiers started to yell. Sackrin and Karrin simultaneously charged.

Jistan cursed again, reaching for his sword. But wait, running with it unsheathed would be awkward and unwieldy. Plus, the confined corridor was better suited for close range weapons like knifes and daggers. He reached down into his boot for his knife. Sackrin and Karrin had already engaged the soldiers, Karrin ducking a cudgel and slamming an open palm into someone’s face. Sackrin sidestepped a sword, causing his assailant to lose his balance as his sword hit only open air. Sackrin stepped in and grabbed the blade by the hilt, slamming it backwards into the man’s face. He immediately released his grip on the sword, screaming.

Jistan stumbled, hopping on one foot as he tried to pull his knife free. Oh, by the gods-

The knife came free with a jerk, almost causing him to fall over backwards.

I really hope Karrin didn’t see that.

He charged belatedly. Karrin and Sackrin fought majestically, but there were a lot of soldiers.

Suddenly, Narissa cried out. Jistan spun.

Another group of men had just emerged from the other side of the corridor.

They were surrounded.

***

Joree’s skin crawled as he was held by a monster. The strangely intimate gesture was somehow worse than the torture. He couldn’t move. His whole body quivered in pain, fear, and confusion. Distantly, he registered that people were talking around him. He grasped for their voices, trying to find an anchor for his rapidly deteriorating mind.

“…supposed to do that?” Aluri’s voice.

“The same way from before.” The soft voice spoke from directly above Joree’s head.

“Ah, I see,” Aluri replied.

“What are you doing? Just get it over with, you bastards.”

Joree’s heart sank. Aniah’s voice trembled. Instead of sounding angry, she almost seemed to be pleading. Her usual self-centered haughtiness was completely gone.

“It ends soon,” Joree’s captor said again.

Part of Joree panicked. The other part just felt…numb. He wanted to stop caring, to stop trying, and just give in to emptiness. Surely that would be better that the pain, the fear, the uncertainty. Yes, it would be over soon. That sounded nice.

Aniah screamed.

***

Jistan didn’t freeze. That was his first surprise. In a blink, he found himself charging the second group. He was halfway there before his mind caught up with his body.

What am I doing? It was too late. The men came at him in fervor, closing the gap all too soon. Jistan responded by sending out a general wave of Will, throwing as many of them off balance as possible. He was again surprised at how far his instincts had come. This all seemed so natural, he didn’t even think before acting. He struck out with his knife, catching one surprised man across the forearm as the soldier leapt backwards. Jistan was soon forced to back up to keep them from surrounding him.

We’re already surrounded, he reminded himself, gritting his teeth and ducking the fist of a monstrous Kriton.

Behind him, he thought the woman, Narissa, was yelling something. He almost glanced over his shoulder, which would have been extremely stupid. He couldn’t afford to get distracted.

He sent out another wave of Will, further disorienting the group of guards. A couple of them seemed to be attempting mind strikes of their own. He could feel a faint, stinging sensation in his mind, like something was scratching the inside of head a little too hard. But the impression was weak. After taking hits from fully trained Mind Scythes, this felt like getting stabbed with a feather. Annoying and a little distracting, but hardly injurious.

Still, Jistan and the others were in serious trouble. They were outnumbered at least five-to-one.

He took a step back to avoid a swiping knife and his back hit something. He panicked, then realized it was Karrin. When had she gotten here? Was she coming to rescue him? No, her back wouldn’t be turned if that were the case.

There was only one answer. They had been squished into the middle of the corridor, pinned in between two forces.

Sweat dripped down Jistan’s brow and his breathing came out heavy. Trapped. They were going to die.

A wave of overwhelming panic nearly swallowed him. He met the eyes of one of the Kritons. The man was smirking faintly, his lips curled in pleasure. Arrogant, self-assured. Jistan forced himself to focus, flicking his eyes to another Kriton. His eyes burned with an angry satisfaction. More faces, more emotions. Pride, eagerness, loathing, even morbid glee. Emotions that would make them brash and overconfident, driving them to act quickly, without enough force or foresight.

Jistan breathed in deeply, time seeming to slow. His mind sharpened, a razor edge far more deadly than any sword. He honed his focus in on his own terror, his shear desperation to live and to save his family.

As the moment of timelessness ended, he struck.

***

Joree’s eyes snapped open. Aniah let out another strangled cry, but she seemed to be trying to muffle the sound.

“If you’re going to strike me down, girl, now is the time,” Aluri taunted. “Show me your power.”

Aniah either didn’t hear him or didn’t have the presence of mind to respond. Joree managed to turn his head towards her. She was on hands and knees, head bowed, arms trembling as she held her body up. Aluri kicked her in the side, knocking her over with a breathless gasp.

“Stop,” Joree rasped. He was sure no one could hear him.

“Why are you doing this?” Aniah pled after getting her breath back. “I have no information for you. Torture is pointless.”

In response, Aluri kicked her again. And again. She curled into a tight ball on the floor, pulling her knees up towards her head.

Power flooded the room. Joree felt it immediately and seized it with hardly a thought. His body was broken, his mind nearly so, but somehow this one piece of him still functioned.

Instinctively, he threw the power at the monster. He was clearly the leader here, with Aluri acting as the muscle. He had to dispose of his first, and then-

Nothing happened. Well, not nothing. Joree felt as the power flooded towards the man, then was sucked into a central point on the man’s chest.

“Good,” the man whispered, completely unharmed.

***

The guards began to scream. Weapons dropped to the ground, then bodies. Jistan didn’t stop. He screamed with them, his terror becoming fury that he directed as his would-be murderers. Almost all of the guards were down.

***

Joree slumped. That was it then. He and Aniah were both going to die.

A faint sensation came from somewhere distant. Slowly, it built. Joree gasped as it flooded his senses, overwhelming everything else. It suffused the air with power, power he could hold, move, use. He felt his expression harden, brow furrowing in determined concentration. He took hold of that power and sucked it towards himself.

It came like a mighty flood, first dancing in the air around him, and then seeping into his skin, through his mouth, ears, and nose. It was simultaneously suffocating and enlivening.

This time, he ignored the monster that held him. Aluri was still kicking and taunting Aniah. Joree focused all the power inside of him and pushed. It shot out of him, snapping against Aluri. Aluri took a single step back, eyes going wide. Then he grinned. Again, Joree could feel the power being sucked away somewhere, like a metal rod pulling a lightning strike away from its surroundings.

Joree gritted his teeth, although the motion hurt his jaw. He didn’t stop pushing. The power inside of him responded eagerly, shooting towards Aluri. Aluri kept smiling. And Joree pushed harder.

Slowly, Aluri’s smile slipped. He reached for his neck, pulling at something there. A chain? He tugged at it, his motions growing more desperate. Only then did Joree realize that Aluri’s shirt was smoking. The man let out a small cry of alarm.

With a ragged, painful scream, Joree threw the rest of the power at Aluri with a final massive shove.

A sharp crack split the air and Aluri screamed, clutching at his chest. Then his entire body burst into flames. They consumed him as he screamed.

***

The last of the guards collapsed. But most of them were still living. Still living. Jistan growled, summoning more.

With a horrible ripping sensation, it was sucked away. The moment his Will slipped from his mind, he lost control of it. He was left feeling completely empty, numb. He collapsed to his knees, gasping at the sudden coldness inside him. Someone knelt beside him, but he couldn’t hear their words.

Blackness started creeping in at the corners of his visions. He vaguely felt his body begin to slump forward.

And then nothing.