 |
endaran withdrew to the study and shivered curled under the comforter on the battered couch. It was the only place that felt safe. At his behest, the servants had not roused Zhou and he was left alone with his grief and despair. Afraid to sleep, he drifted in and out of consciousness, bolting awake at the slightest sound or sensation. He was anxious about attending the ceremony so poorly rested, but what choice did he have?
He berated himself for a fool. Of course Teleri would be mad and she had every right to know what was happening to him. Seeing Threnody must have been a terrible shock. Why had he left it so long? Naturally he had feared her rage and abandonment but hiding it from her had pretty much guaranteed it. Of all the stupid, stubborn things he had done…
The single comforter was no match for the unheated room. Its pervasive chill eventually drove him to rise and seek the green drawing room. As he padded down the stairs one of the servants approached him bearing a flickering candle in a tin sconce and gestured him to follow. She was an older woman, one of the hand-full of servants who worked during the small hours of the morning. When he asked her name she smiled tersely and nodded as she lead him back up the stairs and down the corridor past Zhou’s rooms to a small guest bedroom where a fire was newly crackling in the grate and the sheets were turned down on the bed. He noted the wardrobe was already stocked with his clothes.
“Sleep well, Master Kai,” she said stiffly, bowing deeply to him before departing with the candlelight.
Teleri must have ordered it and he sensed her hostility in the servant’s demeanor. At least she still loved him enough to care for his welfare and that meant he had might have a chance to make amends. Sighing, he slipped gratefully under the covers and drifted off to sleep at last.
It seemed only a few moments had passed when he was roused from sleep by an impatient rapping on the door. The faint gray light of dawn now cast everything in pewter shadows and he rose stiffly, clutching a comforter to his body as he cracked open the door to find Zhou and Taskmaster Ho standing outside.
“I’ll get dressed…”
“Put on a robe and come now,” replied Zhou bluntly. Pendaran did not have to say anything, Zhou knew what had transpired the previous night and he was unhappy about it. Obediently he drew a loose gray robe around his frame and drew it closed with a sash. He emerged into the dimness of the corridor knowing he looked disheveled and sleepy but he did not dare to delay either of the two men.
“You upset Teleri, I see.”
“Yes. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“What if you don’t come back from the ceremony? Is that how you want her to remember you?”
“What do you mean, don’t come back?”
“Surely you didn’t think I was sending you to drink tea in a temple.”
“Of course not.”
“You will cleanse yourself and don the armor Taskmaster Ho provides you. After you have meditated and attuned to the spells he and I have prepared for you, come to breakfast.”
“Yes, Master.”
“And Pendaran?”
“Yes?”
“Give me some idea when you plan to stop the lying and deception with your loved ones.”
Pendaran burned with shame but said nothing as Zhou bowed politely to he and Taskmaster Ho before walking away. Master Ho nodded grimly and guided Pendaran toward the bathhouse where they parted. Sighing, he already knew what to expect when he entered the building and submitted to the ritual scrubbing and soaking that inevitably started most ceremonial endeavors. Not that he did not enjoy some part of it, but no one spoke to him and he was beginning to feel very alone and anxious about the trial to come.
The new armor was splendid, however, nothing at all like the dusty and awkward gear he used for combat practice. His measure had been carefully relayed to the armor maker and it fit him like a second skin despite the careful layers of padding and hardened cloth over his vitals. It was of silk and linen dyed a lustrous black with a sash wrapped three times around the brocade trimmed jacket.
Once dressed, he returned to his new quarters to meditate and prepare. The skills he was expected to use had been laid out upon his bed during his bath. He donned the rings one after another, seeing that his role that day would be largely defensive. There was one spell he did not know, however, a gift from Zhou and one of the mighty ones that were difficult to obtain. He silently thanked his master and settled down to attune himself.
He rose from meditating an hour later when a servant came to fetch him to breakfast. Instead of the crowded and rowdy dining room with its long table, he was taken to a small private parlor used for guests or smaller gatherings. Zhou and Teleri awaited him there. His master appeared grim and weary, no doubt as a result of convincing Teleri to come. And Teleri had her head bowed and did not lift her face to acknowledge Pendaran when he arrived.
Pendaran drew up his chair to the little table across from Teleri and to Zhou’s right. A servant approached to serve them steaming rice porridge and side dishes of stewed plums. There was the ubiquitous tea and a small vial of honey. When the servant withdrew, Zhou nodded to him and they ate in tense silence.
“I don’t have anything to say to him,” Teleri whispered to Zhou. Pendaran noticed her eyes were red and puffy from crying. It was painful merely to look upon her and he felt again the burn of shame for what he had subjected her to.
“Your husband goes into a dangerous trial today. He may not return. This is your final opportunity to be at peace with him, regardless of your decision to dissolve your marriage.”
Pendaran raised his head. Dissolve the marriage? By the five gods, what was she thinking?
“No,” Pendaran murmured, “I will not agree to that.”
“I don’t care, I’m leaving you. And don’t even think about talking to my son. I’ll claw your eyes out first.”
“Just like that? I don’t even get the opportunity to speak in my defense?”
“My brother told me about your filthy habits. So maybe she is a demon, you’re still cheating on me.”
Pendaran gasped audibly in shock.
“You actually believe I invite her into my nightmares and that I enjoy being used by her?”
It was too much. A mixture of rage and despair welled up within him and all he wanted to do now was leave. And maybe break something.
“How was Teleri to know if you never told her?” Zhou asked quietly. Then, turning grimly to her, he continued, “I will attest that your husband has never cheated on you during my time with him, but until recently I did not know the horror of what that demon was doing to him.”
“Well maybe you two should get married since he obviously tells you everything while he leaves me in the dark,” she snapped, “What was I thinking getting tangled up with a known liar and scoundrel?”
Zhou was obviously fighting an urge to smile at her outburst. Why did he find this so amusing? Now Pendaran was feeling angry at his master. This was not his affair. How dare he intervene? If Teleri wanted to run off and dissolve the marriage, more power to her. She was a rabid little harridan.
“If we were married, I would have left him before I fell so painfully in love with him,” Zhou replied. Teleri looked at him in puzzled horror, then laughed as tears poured from her eyes. A ragged sob rose from her throat and Pendaran moved instinctively to her side, holding her gently as she wept, her pain palpable to him.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, “I never wanted to hurt you.”
“Stop hiding things from me, you fool,” she wept, “Why won’t you trust me? Don’t you think I’d still love you if I knew what you had gone through? Why did I have to learn this from Zhou?”
He glanced at his master, wondering what he had told her. Feeling strangely violated, he cursed the man under his breath. And yet he understood. Teleri needed to know the truth but her rage toward Pendaran meant that she could not hear him.
“I was afraid I would lose you.”
“You could have told me she threatened to kill you… or that she torments you. I want her dead. I want her to stop hurting you.”
“No one wants that more than me,” he replied, stroking her face softly, “I’m sorry I caused so much pain.”
“I forgive you. Now be careful today. And come back to me, please?”
“I will.”
Something approaching smugness lurked in Zhou’s expression as Pendaran moved his place setting to nestle beside Teleri as they finished breakfast.
“Meddler.”
“Indeed. But I could hardly send you into combat distracted by so much anger and grief. Finish up now, Master Suun will not wait much longer for the portents were only slightly better at this time.”
“Slightly better?”
“Given that we have to do this quickly, there were no auspicious days until next month. We’ll just have to hope the stars were being tricksters.”
Pendaran finished his breakfast and lingered for a final kiss with Teleri. He gazed upon her lovely face, his fingers entwined in her golden hair. Smiling mischievously, she tugged his ears and pinched his cheeks, then squeezed him around the ribs tightly.
“You look gorgeous, as usual,” she whispered, “Good luck, my love.”
“Farewell. I will see you in the evening.”
Zhou bowed to her before the two of them departed. Pendaran followed his master’s graceful form down the narrow corridor out into the yard where eight awaited them. Taskmaster Ho bowed deeply upon their arrival while those he had selected for the ceremony nodded their heads. They wore the gleaming white cloak of Zhou’s guild and Pendaran felt oddly out of place as he was guided down the shallow steps to join them. They waited for a moment as Zhou received a bejeweled staff and a mask from a servant.
“This is my old staff, one that served me well for many years. I won it after a guild contest of arms and bore it proudly into battle. I give it to you now.”
Pendaran, humbled, said nothing as he took the staff, only nodded his head in deference and clutched it boldly in his right hand.
“This mask is enruned and will give you greater focus. It is of a design favored by the masters of Shing Jea and I have dyed it my color so that you might channel my fervor in battle. Go now and find success. When you have achieved the favor of the gods, I will bestow full membership and honors upon you upon your return.”
“Thank you, Master Bei.”
“Good luck, my friend.”
Pendaran gazed upon the mask with its blank expression, one half steely and the other bright dragon red. He drew it onto his face and felt its weight and binding charm as he fastened its cords above his nape. He was not fond of having his face completely covered but after the generosity of his master, Pendaran was not about to protest. Now he gazed upon his companions, recognizing most of them and heartened to see them at his side. There was Fbody the warrior bearing a double-billed axe of an exotic design and Bao Li, one of the guild’s top rangers bearing a winged recurve bow with two others, a long and short bow, unstrung across his back. Kazuma smiled back at him with his perpetually staring eye gleaming in the grim sunlight and beside him, his closest friend, Mashiro in his dour elementalist robes. Ming, the guild’s preeminent assassin lurked at the sidelines in her pale bladed armor doing her best to look unobtrusive. Two monks were with them, a pair of young women he had only briefly encountered during practice rounds. Meirou was the taller of the two clad in simple white vestments with jade accents. Her long black hair was bound up into an ornate knot upon her crown. Kunyi was petite and alert, her lithe form almost constantly in motion. Her robes were of finest silk dyed a lustrous earthy red and ornamented with mysterious symbols.
Pendaran fell into file with them, welcomed into the midst of their group and heartened as they variously welcomed him and wished him luck. He could almost understand their simple comments and in this he also took heart. But once they were past the gate and walking south through the maze of allies and buildings, the mood became serious and Taskmaster Ho urged them on at a vigorous pace.
It was nearly noon when they reached Nahpui quarter. They advanced slowly toward a strange courtyard, an enclosed shrine of sorts that glistened with four round golden portals depicting beasts that Pendaran did not know. There was an odd man awaiting them there with a strange spyglass as might be used to gaze upon the stars. He assumed this was Master Suun, the Oracle of the Mists, and was surprised to see him having a heated discussion with Taskmaster Ho. Finally the man broke off and walked toward Pendaran.
“I will grant you entrance to the ceremony, but the stars do not favor you. It is against my will, nevertheless, I agreed with your master that you should be allowed to seek the path to the stars. Choose the gate and be gone from here.”
With that, the man turned away and refused to speak. Pendaran gazed at Taskmaster Ho in confusion, and then looked at the glowing orbs that marked passage into the trial. He was being tested and he had a sinking feeling he was going to get it all wrong.
“Ming?” he called and the assassin’s dark gaze met him above her mask. She nodded, waiting.
“Have you walked this path before?”
“I have.”
“Which way is best?”
“The way of Kaijun Don, the Celestial Kirin.”
“Thank you.”
He walked toward the sheltered corner, moving cautiously up the ramp with his entourage in tow.
“Will you lead?” he asked her, hesitating to step within the glowing circle of runes.
“Of course, Master Kai,” she replied, bowing to him.
He swallowed, flummoxed by her sudden show of respect. If he had learned nothing else over the last few weeks of practice it was that he did not belong at the front line. He had the bruises to prove it. Ming gestured to Fbody and together the assassin and warrior stepped boldly through the portal and vanished. Pendaran stayed in step with Bao Li and Mashiro, bracing himself for burning or perhaps pain when the golden light fell upon him and instead feeling nothing but a slight sense of disorientation when they materialized moments later upon the rickety planks of a slum rooftop.
This was the place of a great ceremony to draw the gaze of the gods? Pendaran smirked as Kazuma and the two monks appeared. Taskmaster Ho was absent, but no one seemed perturbed by that.
“Now we can have some fun,” Kazuma chuckled.
“Once we start taking out the celestials, the refracted light of the stars will make more images of them. No going back. We finish now, or we die,” said Fbody.
“Just stay with us, we will look after each other. Your role is to stop things from happening before they become a problem and defend the backline from attackers.”
“The way we practiced it?”
“Pretty much,” Ming agreed, “Only the floor isn’t padded here and you aren’t sparring against your friends.”
Pendaran nodded and clutched his staff, bracing for the coming battle. He did not have long to wait. They had barely gone but a few paces when the burly figures of avicara rushed toward them, stoop-shouldered and ferocious. The bird warriors of Tyria were never a welcome sight, but here they seemed somehow bigger and more menacing, steely gray like a stormy sky. Fbody and Ming ran forth to dispatch a pair of archers.
“Incoming,” Mashiro muttered as a pair of starlight avicara rushed into their midst, blades agleam in their talons. They scudded past the elementalist and ranger, making a hungry bee line for the monks. Mashiro showered ice upon the beasts and they staggered to a crawl, slipping and croaking angrily. One of them glowered at Pendaran and stalked toward him. In an instant, he wrapped the creature in the brutal new hex Zhou had shared with him and tried to fend off its angry sword blows with his staff. Metal clashed against his arms and he bit back a cry of pain, gratified when the beast snarled in rage and agony and stumbled blindly. Now its weapon hissed and flashed harmlessly before him as he hexed the creature again and again, each time punishing it for attempting to strike him by making it miss or stumble. With Kazuma’s help, the creature collapsed in a matter of seconds and he immediately focused upon the second, noting it was feathered with Bao Li’s white fletched arrows and its vision was choked with dust. In the excitement, he did not notice that the monks had already healed what little harm the first beast had done to him. While he had been preoccupied, Ming and Fbody had easily dispatched the others.
“Well done,” Kazuma said as they caught their breaths and started forward, “That was a nice warm up.”
“We have to fight again?”
Pendaran blushed as his question was met with good natured laughter. Of course, he soon understood why. They had barely crossed the roofline and walked across a stolid stone bridge when another band of starlight creatures rushed toward them.
“Keep your head about you and just let your instincts guide you,” the necromancer said kindly, “Protect the monks and they’ll take care of you.”
And those were all the words they had time for as the rush of furious steel and feathers clashed against their line. The biting cold of Mashiro’s spells snared the beasts and beat them to a standstill as Pendaran and Kazuma drew upon their magic. The necromancer’s hexes were slow but devastating, brutally punishing the beasts for the least action and unleashing wicked spirits from the depths of Grenth’s domain to gnaw upon their foes. In contrast, Pendaran moved quickly, his incantations swift to match his gestures. Once more the steely creatures were crushed by their might and they stood panting and victorious in the lee of a battered wall.
“Now the main course,” Kazuma chuckled wheezily, “Do you see her? The avatar of Kaijun Don?”
Pendaran followed the necromancer’s bony fingers to a rickety courtyard at the bottom of a sloped roof. He thought for a moment there was a pool reflecting a starry sky at its center until it moved. Now he saw the ghostly shape of a vaguely equine creature etched in starlight.
“It was said she was a beautiful monk while she was still alive, but her beauty was stolen away by brutal thugs and she succumbed to a demon that promised revenge. Now this is her corrupted form, beautiful and evil.”
“Ready,” Ming murmured, her envenomed daggers at hand. Fbody nodded and the two of them stalked forward with Bao Li. The ranger had his longbow at the ready and used it now, nocking and arrow and letting its long arc taunt the starlight avicara guarding Kaijun Don’s delicate net of stars. Grunting and hissing with rage, the avian creatures rushed up the ramp into Mashiro’s icy incantation. In an instant they were mired in frost, helpless to avoid Bao Li’s envenomed arrows and the vile hexes of necromancer and mesmer. They advanced, easily dispatching the beasts as they rushed down the rickety planks that led to the Celestial Kirin. The beast made a high-pitched chortle and lowered its ghostly horn. Fbody cried out in pain and was flung to the ground, the cloud of holy energies so great it even burned into Ming’s flesh. The assassin leaped lightly past the warrior and dug her daggers into the beast’s corrupted neck. Gracefully she danced aside and flipped over its back, catching it now across its withers.
Mashiro pelted it with ice, blurring its vision so that its attacks were clumsy and failed to strike Fbody as he renewed his assault. Startled from his sense of awe, Pendaran instinctively uttered the brief hex and watched in satisfaction as the beast squealed in agony when it attempted to tear into Ming. Kaijun Don made a valiant attempt to heal itself but Bao Li’s arrows disrupted its incantations, and soon after, Pendaran’s signet also denied is enchantment and he stole its energies into the bargain. Powerful though the avatar of the celestial creature was, however, it soon succumbed to their greater might.
“We’re done?”
Mashiro chuckled knowingly and Kazuma smirked darkly. In the spray of light where the kirin had fallen, two new forms emerged, perfect copies of first although smaller and less potent. Without delay, they resumed battle. Bao Li stopped one of their signet attacks while Pendaran managed to stop the second. After that, it was merely a case of layering the hexes back on and watching the beasts destroy themselves by fighting through them.
“Taskmaster Ho did a good job with you,” Kazuma laughed as they hustled past the wreckage of the battle.
“Are we done now?”
“There are four of them in total and we’ve only got the first one behind us,” Kazuma replied, “Trust me, you’ll know when we’re done. We’ll all be cheering.”
Pendaran could never have imagined how grueling the ceremony would be. The place was crawling with avicara, and what was worse, Kaijun Don had a nasty habit of coming back, always in pairs. If they tarried too long in any place, they were soon surrounded. Now he understood what Fbody meant about not going back. As if this was not bad enough, they had no sooner finished the combat with the starry phoenix, Hai Jii than did it also spawn two essences and they now had to fight a pair each of kirin and phoenix.
“What happens when we reach the third avatar?” Pendaran murmured just loud enough for Kazuma to hear him as the monks paused to take a drink from their flasks and recover from the battle before they rushed on.
“Just fight and stop worrying,” the necromancer said gently, “We have all done this before. You are doing everything right. Trust that we all are.”
“Sorry.”
“No need to apologize, just focus and do not let fear get in the way.”
There was no time to discuss it further for Fbody and Ming urged them on through another cluster of mirror image essences and a horde of angry avicara. Now it was not so simple. Pendaran had to decide quickly which enemy was most dangerous and act accordingly. Twice he panicked, wasting valuable seconds as two of the foul creatures descended upon Kunyi. The monk shrieked in alarm as they drove her back against a wall, their blades splintering off of her staff and darkening her clothes with blood. Pendaran hurried to blind and confuse one of them with the devastating hex and made the other slip clumsily so that she could dart out of their way. Snarling, the creatures turned on him. Mashiro and Kazuma were too busy assisting with the starlight essences of phoenix and kirin to help him.
Now it was his turn to cry out in alarm as the beasts rounded on him with biting steel, tearing into his flesh and driving him back. He moved to hex one of them and was distracted by one of their archers, the incantation dying upon his lips as the arrow grazed his temple. Panicking, he used his signet to distract one of the warriors before its sword ripped into his ribs. It seemed a poor use of the thing, but it did buy him an opening and he dodged away, dancing free of the vicious pair. By that time Mashiro saw his predicament and the beasts were shredded by a massive burst of ice.
The battle was over and Kunyi fussed over him, her own wounds sealed but their dark stain remained upon her garments. She thanked him for helping her and with that they were once more rushing over the crooked roofs and wending through the slum. Pendaran was sweating profusely and tired when they finally fought their way through another horde of avicara and came at last to gaze upon Kuonghsang the Celestial Turtle Dragon.
“Stop its wells,” Kazuma murmured, “and if you fail that, stay out of them. Now it’s our turn to feel some hexes.”
Pendaran smirked. Hai Jii’s hexes had not been pleasant but now they were facing all the phoenix and kirin essences as well as the avicara. Seeing they were ready, Ming and Fbody gestured Bao Li forward and the ranger expertly teased the avicara forward, enabling them to rip into the creatures and destroy a couple of them before the starlight celestials joined in.
Kazuma’s warning turned out to be accurate if not understated. Within minutes they were in chaos, struggling to keep abreast of battle while maddened by phantasms and drained of blood. Kuongshang lumbered into their midst and hissed a dark invocation. A vile green circle of ghastly energies erupted from the corpse of a fallen avicara and enshrouded them. Pendaran staggered as he felt his life energies being drawn out of him. Between the nightmare images of the hex and an overwhelming sense of exhaustion, he desired nothing more than to simply lie down and give up.
The hex lifted as Kunyi rushed to help him, and wrapping him in an enchantment, she drove off the sensation of ennui. He mustered his energies to cast Zhou’s mighty hex upon an advancing avicara and while it was blind and reeling, he crawled free of the ghastly green vortex and was released from the final hex. Just when he thought the battle could not get any worse, Fbody cried out in misery as Kuongshang’s starry form shimmered with dark energies. The warrior tumbled to the worn planks, pale and lifeless. Pendaran was seized with a mixture of rage and fear, firing off the command for his signet swiftly so that the hideous star creature did not create a well where Fbody’s helpless form lay. Mashiro also called upon the might of a signet looped about the finger of his right hand and with it Fbody crawled painfully back to his feet, staggering once as he fetched his axe and strove to heal himself with his own signet. The monks were exhausted, forced to the edge of combat but occasionally having to suffer the punishment of the hideous wells.
But the avicara were now dead and all that remained was Kuongshang. Despite his lingering weakness, Fbody stormed back into combat and between the eight of them, the beast died beneath their onslaught. Without pause, they hacked into the pair of essences that grew from the depth of the greater one and they perished beneath the enraged flurry of ice, hexes and steel.
“One more,” Kazuma said quietly as they marched on, aware of a standing army of essences gathering at their backs. They dared not tarry.
“We must bend our will to the defeat of the great dragon, Tahmu above all others,” Ming said fiercely, “Once he is dead, the ceremony is over.”
Pendaran nodded, too weary to question, and daunted also by the speed with which Kuongshang had laid Fbody low. They wove again through the tangle of decrepit buildings, up and over rickety rooftops stopping only to take out marauding groups of avicara and essences. At last they arrived at the edge of a great courtyard and the mighty figure of a hovering dragon etched in starlight greeted them. The great serpentine beast was surrounded with scores of guardians, not least of which were the essences of the prior avatars. They were greatly outnumbered.
“Do as Ming asks,” Kazuma whispered, “Do not let fear get in the way.”
“Thank you,” he said, realizing the necromancer had been guiding him and looking after him for most of the journey.
The monks wrapped Ming in enchantments and the assassin sprang lightly into the yard, her blades clutched determinedly before her as she approached the immense dragon. She seemed impossibly small as she leaped into combat. The dragon parted its jaws to call upon the heavens. Charged ribbons of electricity gathered around its sinuous form and Pendaran did the only thing he could think to do, releasing the power of the signet to stop its chant. The spell died in the beast’s throat and it roared with rage, lashing out at Ming and casting her aside as if she were a toy. Without missing a step she plunged her blades into his flank again as showers of ice and hexes and Fbody’s axe tore into the beast. Bao Li’s arrows silenced the beast again and again, but Ming was suffering as the hordes of avicara and essences converged upon her delicate form.
She staggered, teetering at the edge of collapse as Fbody’s axe settled deep into the dragon’s gullet, ripping it asunder in a flash of livid light. It was as if a crack had opened in the sky through which the blinding rays of the sun poured through. Pendaran cried out, his sight robbed by the overwhelming glare as he was lifted up, the wind whipping through his hair and clothes.
Just as quickly, there was silence and the light faded to reveal the little courtyard where Suun had greeted them. The eight of them were greeted by a score men and women in priestly robes. Some were very young, little more than acolytes of the order that attended to the trials in Nahpui and a few were very old, clad in saffron robes. Garlands of winter foliage were draped around their necks and a blessing was pronounced upon them.
“They’re basically saying ‘good job’,” Kazuma said with a crooked smile, “You did well. Congratulations.”
Tea and a sweet biscuit were gifted to each of them in turn until at last they were allowed to head home. It was already getting dark and the little bite of food had awakened a monstrous hunger in Pendaran. He was eager to get home and he longed to see Zhou and Teleri again.
They met up with Taskmaster Ho just inside the gates to the little temple and they marched quietly with him at their head. Pendaran felt lighter, somehow. The colors and textures of the icy streets were richer. There was little time to contemplate this however, for their journey was halted by a half dozen imperial guards. The intricate brass and scarlet regalia of the men was imposing at the best of times, but now they seemed particularly menacing. Pendaran could not help but notice they were looking at him even though they were conversing with Taskmaster Ho.
“Master Kai,” his teacher said quietly, the faintest sign of concern flickering in his eyes, “You must go with these men.”
“What?”
“Don’t argue,” Kazuma said quietly, “Just go.”
Pendaran strode cautiously toward the guards, alarmed when they produced a pair of manacles. He instinctively backed away which only caused them to press him harshly against the flank of the building. They seized his staff and tore the mask from his face. His wrists were locked behind his back and they spun him harshly around so that he stood in their midst, surrounded and helpless.
“We will tell Zhou. Don’t resist,” Taskmaster Ho instructed anxiously.
“What is going on?” Pendaran demanded.
The guards shouted at him. He assumed they were telling him to be quiet.
“You’re magi, don’t tempt them to get rough. We don’t know what is going on. Just go quietly. We’ll send help,” Kazuma said despite the protestations of the guards.
With that, they turned him around, prodding him forward so that he staggered in their midst. He felt their eyes upon him, their fear palpable to him. He was just one man and his hands were bound. What did they possibly have to fear from him? It was maddening not understanding their language fully, not having any clue what he may have done wrong.
<< Previous Next >>
|
