The hold door slid open to reveal a tall, courtly man in his late seventies. As he and the young boy entered, his wavy, salt and pepper hair barely moved under the swoosh of the closing doors. The long, pressed locks framed a thin and dark face with beady eyes peeking from beneath full brows. He was impeccably dressed all in black with a regal cape lined in dark silver. His son was dressed much like him, but his features held a sunnier disposition. His hair was the fairest blond, cut into a low faux-hawk. His blue eyes shone bright and innocent with an underlining ruthlessness, which now stared into Morgan, who boldly glared back.
“Vi-cenzo,” the willowy man greeted enthusiastically with the stiffest smile. His hands clapped together in his eagerness. “I have heard we have Morgan in captivity,” he announced merrily, his eyes dancing with joy.
Cenzo straightened up to his full height to stare down at the Royal, attempting to block his view of the prisoner. “We do,” he replied curtly. “What business is it of yours – Royal Werner?”
The man also straightened up; his smile fading quickly into the darkness of his face. “As well you know Morgan was responsible for the death of my brother, Siegmund, the first of the Heroic Seven to have died by that monster’s blade. Your father promised me first blood and I’ve come to collect.”
Cenzo snorted at the bloodlust in the man’s eyes. Werner was well known in the court for his love of sadistic ventures. He was the first to always demand a torturous act to be committed against a prisoner. Sometimes he would plead his father for a private showing. Word from the harmite was that he also enjoyed inflicting welts on innocents foolish enough to accept his invitations to his suite. One secondhand story from his sister told of a girl who had to have large pieces of her fabric cut from her skin because the wounds had healed around them. She was marred so badly she was banished to the dark side of the harmite. Another rumor was that his “heroic” brother, Siegmund, was an avid participant in their S&M games.
In his supposed grief over his brother’s death, Constance had demanded that any Messian brought in from the battlefield would go directly to him for punishment. A trail of blood led down to the dungeons below the palace, where hundreds of Messian soldiers met their final deaths. At one point during the six months following Siegmund’s death, his father had actually stepped in to halt Constance’s actions; because the Universal Council had gotten wind of the tortures he was inflicting on the Messian soldiers and was planning to investigate the allegations. Fearing his reign would be jeopardized, his father had publicly reprimand Werner, but privately assured him he would have his vengeance when the Assassin was captured. This kept the bloodlust lit in his eye; the hope of pure vengeance.
Cenzo could see that same lust now twinkling in the man’s eyes as he perused the prisoner hanging behind him. “Whether he’s promised you or not, I haven’t brokered any deals with my father over the handling of my prisoners,” he affirmed coldly, staring the man down.
Werner sneered merrily, as he returned, “I have a signed decree from your father, which overrides any command you may have on this matter.”
Snatching the document up, Cenzo immediately recognized his father’s signature and seal on the document, which clearly read that Werner was indeed entitled to his punishment of Morgan. Despite the close bloodline, knowing what he knew of Werner, every gut instinct told him to rip the decree to shreds and shove the pieces down his wiry throat. But his head reminded him that as a Spryten soldier he could not defy the order of the Emperor – no matter his preference, no matter his blood relation. In fact, this was how the royals like Werner were able to have whatever they wanted as long as they allowed his father absolute power over the government and military.
A practice only established during his father’s reign. Before then, his forefathers had reigned as either generals or as politicians, leaving one or the other to experts. If his father wanted Cenzo and his troops to attack a village, they did it without question. This never sat well with Cenzo, who found no sport in pillaging people who had no effect on the war whatsoever. His father believed that he needed to claim as much land as possible to leave the Messians without allies. What his father neglected to see was that no matter how many villages or cities they acquired Messians somehow infiltrated their holdings. His father may keep the rulers of those lands happy with all their heart’s desires, but Messians were getting to the people.
Cenzo returned the document to Werner, with a stiff warning, “You get first blood and that’s it.”
Werner looked like he wanted to protest, but thought better of it. He turned to the boy and ordered, “Calydus, my tools.”
Morgan simply smirked at Werner, who tried to hold her gaze, but found he was slightly unnerved by the coldness staring back. He was always the intimidator and dominator. The beast seemed perfectly calm and collected. He was determined to break her of that quickly. “I’ve waited a long time for this, Morgan the Merciless,” he announced, removing his overcoat.
“The kid, too?” Morgan asked, indicating the boy.
“I’m teaching my son the order of things,” Werner explained, rubbing the boys head tenderly. “How the inferior are punished for their sins.”
Morgan looked at the little boy and smirked deeply, “I’m sure this child learns a lot of lessons from you, Werner, but not quite the one you intend for him to learn today.”
“Shut up, murderer!” the boy called out.
“Damn, if the little bastard can’t issue an order,” Morgan giggled. “Did your… daddy teach you that?”
“My father has told me all about you and your kind,” the boy returned, bravely.
Morgan’s smile deepened. “Is that so? Does he talk about me during his little bedtime stories?”
The boy looked confused then he caught on to what she was saying. She could see the fear creep into the boy’s eyes as if some secret had been laid bare for all to see. Morgan turned her gaze back to Werner and scowled coldly, watching him assemble his tools. One appeared to have a computerized handle with an electrified cord, which buzzed lightly as he adjusted the settings. Morgan noted the tiny, sharp spikes along the spine of the cord. The weapon, just on appearance alone, could rip flesh from bone. If he was going to draw first blood it would be on the first strike with that thing. Werner, who seemed mesmerized by the weapon, sighed and placed it down.
He picked up another tool; a long, weighted rod with electrified clamps on the end. “I need her raised further up,” Werner instructed to no one in particular.
Cenzo did not move to do Werner’s bidding. Instead, he nodded his head toward Aries to do as the royal asked. Aries pressed the button to raise Morgan higher up in the hold. Calydus walked around Morgan and placed a large bowl beneath her, then took his place at her back, awaiting his father’s orders.
“Any words, Morgan, before I begin?” Werner demanded, pulling the trigger to spark the clamps for effect, receiving no reaction from the prisoner.
“Hope your aim’s good,” she smiled coldly.
“Oh, believe me, you will know what is pain,” he assured her raising his arm for his first blow. “But I must say I am surprised to find that my brother’s assassin was a woman.”
“Really? Why?” Morgan engaged.
“I mean the assassin was calculated and skilled, he- I mean you had simply taken on all seven (one at a time, of course) and made mincemeat of them,” he said, drawing closer. “It was quite of combination of barbaric mayhem and deliberate planning.”
“I simply returned the favor,” she threw out, not attempting to avoid the spark which came dangerously close to her exposed nipple. “You should’ve seen what they had done to our Empress.”
“Ah, yes, your foolish little Empress, who thought she could change the war by demanding we honor some bogus treaty from centuries ago,” Werner mused with a snort. “She was a pretty little thing, but she had the most annoying penchant for traveling with her bratty children. She had a nerve to bring her daughter into the council.”
Morgan smirked, “Her point was probably this: If a child understood the concept, what was wrong with all of you. If I recall, hadn’t the Empress’s daughter made a blistering point that had stung the court deeply.”
Werner was thrown, his movements paused, “I don’t recall.”
“Sure you do,” she sneered, watching him exchange weapons. He was going right for his first blood. “I believe she said something to the effect: we are all…”
The hiss traveled across the hold like a bolt of lightning and struck soft flesh immediately. Only it wasn’t Morgan’s. In the last milliseconds of the crack, Morgan had swung back to catch her boot heel in the line holding her to the ceiling. The strike had landed on Calydus, who was now screaming in agony on the floor. In the chaos, Morgan had detached one of her concealed picks and broke the lock on the cuffs. Landing on the hold floor, she flung the sharp pick right at Werner’s wielding hand, where it promptly exploded. Werner howled in pain as he stared at the stump that remained of his hand.
Cenzo stared at Morgan in disbelief. He had been so wrapped up in the discourse between the two; he had not noticed anything else. How was she able to conceal the weapons? Aries would’ve done a complete metal search of her before binding her. At that moment, Aries was charging for Morgan, only to be quickly dispatched, which fully woke Cenzo from his stupor. Morgan held Aries prone with another one of her picks firmly pressed to his neck.
“You didn’t think I’d let him get what he wanted, did you?” Morgan asked, knowingly.
“I guess I underestimated you,” Cenzo answered, adding, “But why let the boy get hurt?”
“Trust me, I did that brat a favor,” she said, nodding toward the whimpering Calydus. “He’s no longer pretty enough for bedtime stories.”
Cenzo did not press further at the accusation, but merely offered a slight glance toward Werner who was whimpering himself over his lost limb. If what Morgan implied was true, then Werner would need to be questioned. His activities in the haremite may never come to question, but abuse of a male child was another story.
“And now, what do we do?” he asked edging toward her and Aries.
“Give me a status on my men,” she ordered tightening her grip on Aries, dancing them around the hold slowly.
“Aries, tell her what’s happened to the Messian soldiers,” Cenzo ordered calmly also following Morgan’s lead.
Aries grunted, “C’mon, Cenz. She’s going to make a break for it.”
“Do it!” Cenzo growled. “You see what she did to a little kid and a court royal. What makes you think she won’t cut you?”
“Fuck!” Aries swear. “They are in isolation in another hold.”
“Are they all accounted for?” Morgan pressed. “Alive?”
“Yes!”
“Good,” Morgan replied happily, flinging her explosive pick at the door panel, which forced open the hold doors. Shoving Aries back into the hold, Morgan made a break into the depths of the land barge. Soldiers paused in surprise as her blurring half-naked image skated down the hall. However, Morgan knew she was not alone in her sprint around the barge. A mere glance back confirmed Cenzo had taken up the chase.
Ok, General, let’s see you catch this snake, she smiled to herself.
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