Xilanada - Pursuit Of Regretted Truths/Part 14

Ava woke painfully but was glad for it. It meant she was still alive, right? No ghost she'd ever heard of woke up hurting. Praise the ancestors for small blessings.

A raucous noise was the first thing she noticed. Ava looked around and quickly took stock of the small storeroom she was in. No, the sound came from outside. A lot of people must be out there, she thought. First things first, though.

Her hands went to her stomach and found the knife wound still there. So, she hadn't imagined it. Glee had almost finished readying herself to take them both back through the wall when, somehow, Piiro's hand had reached into the wall and pulled them both out. He'd been so fast! Once, she would have staked money on making lightning more quickly than someone else could pull a knife. Now, she knew better.

The poison was gone, though. Her reserves of Essence were not spectacular but she was a little stronger than she had been when fighting the toxin. She was fully dressed, thank Setash. And yes, she still had her Elemental Lens. Things were looking up!

The storeroom was quite dark, with only a red glimmer from beneath the wooden door to show her surroundings. Therefore, Ava easily forgave herself when she stumbled over someone by accident.

The body, a man from the timbre of his quiet moan, stirred against her foot as she regained her balance. Ava groped downward and felt a thickly muscled arm. Temperature was fine, slightly clammy, no immediately noticeable ailment. That was good.

A sharp crack preceded the tiny ball of lightning she formed her hand. It was a little noisy but, with all the noise outside, no one out there had a chance of hearing it. She held it up and glanced around again, seeing little of interest in this out-of-the-way closet except for the man at her feet.

He was as well-built as she'd thought he'd be. Heavily muscled, especially across the arms and shoulders, slimming down somewhat to his waist and legs. He was certainly an athletic man but, judging by his build, she'd wager he was a blacksmith.

The man's deep black skin marked him as a Southerner. He wore a loose silk shirt and pants embroidered up each seam, which regrettably meant little to her. He wasn't a common soldier or smith, she guessed that from its quality, but there was little else to tell from his dress. The chains that bound him hand and foot were much more interesting.

Thick bands of gold and silver were wrought to fit his wrists and ankles perfectly. The craftsmanship was extraordinary. As she ran her fingers over the metal, she felt a faint response from the shivers of lightning that involuntarily fled her fingers. Magical Material? Chains of oricalcum and moonsilver, then. With...Starmetal links?

Whoever he was, he wore a fortune in artifact material. Strange symbols had been hammered into the surface, sigils that looked like some high form of Old Realm that she was unfamiliar with. The symbols for punishment and eternity seemed to be represented but what were those other markings? How strange.

Beneath her hand, the black man stirred again and opened his eyes, revealing orbs of gleaming gold. He was...beautiful, she realized. From the short tight curls of his hair to the white flash of teeth when he smiled, he might be the most attractive man she'd ever met. Suddenly, her chastity seemed a lot less important.

"Hello," he said. His voice rumbled like a big cat purring and it was as deep and rich as the finest coffee. "My name's Padrick. Do I know you?"

"I don't think so," Ava said, smiling despite herself. "I think I'd remember meeting someone so memorable. Who are you and what are you doing here? And where's Glee?"

"Glee?" he asked, looking a little puzzled. He pushed himself up on his elbows, tried to rise but the short length of chain almost made him fall. "Why am I chained? Where is this?"

"You're at the Six Poses of Lightning School," Ava answered matter-of-factly. "I'm Ava Spyefel, a Professor here. And you, my friend, are lucky to be inside this room and not out there. It's my guess that the noise you're hearing are demons. A whole lot of demons."

"Demons? What kind of a School is this?" Padrick asked. She began to frown and he grinned slightly. Such a pretty man. "No offense, matron, but do you know what's going on?"

"I'm not actually sure," Ava said, feeling unusually anxious about it. Damn that Ravishment, it made everything harder than it had been. "I've been out of touch for most of today thanks to...well, all I know is that there's an Abyssal in here whose been turning a bunch of our students into killers. Maybe he summoned the demons. But there's one of the Third Circle out there so...maybe we should stay put for the moment."

"When you put it like that..." he said dryly. Padrick shifted with his arms and knees, maneuvering himself up into a sitting position against the wall. He looked uncomfortable but otherwise in very good condition. Very good.

"I'm not a matron," she said after staring at him for a minute longer.

"Oh? I'm sorry, Professor Spyefel. You look like a Dragon-Blooded, I assumed you were the head of a household already." Was his smile more direct? Were his eyes warmer, now that he knew she was unmarried?

"No...I just...never made the time," she said, once again feeling deep regret rising up within her. Ever since Glee had Ravished her to avoid perishing, Ava had struggled with all sorts of feelings she'd hardly been aware of up until now. Ravishment wasn't supposed to do this, was it? The Faerie took passions, drained emotion, left a person with less spirit than they had before. Certainly, her self-control wasn't what it was but she'd discovered so much more lay beneath her surface than she'd ever thought of.

She hoped that was peculiar to Glee's kind of Ravishment. She hoped it wasn't something Erembour had done.

"That's a shame," Padrick said in a kindly voice. "You look like you'd make a good mother."

"Thank you," Ava said, blushing at the compliment, and perhaps at what it implied. "Those are most unusual chains. Where did you come by them?"

"They aren't mine," he said. Padrick glanced at them and shrugged. Those great muscles flexed as he briefly tensed against them. She was almost surprised the chains didn't snap, starmetal or not. "Have you ever seen anything like them?"

"No, I don't think I have." Ava moved next to him and knelt, to better examine the chains.

"Do you see a way to get them off?" he asked anxiously. Those noble dark features were chiseled with concern. He was a little older than she was, Ava realized. At least to look at. If he was a Dragon-Blood, he had to be much older than she was. But if he wasn't...why would someone go through the trouble of binding him up with artifact chains?

Ava brushed her fingers over his manacles, feeling an inward shiver when they 'accidentally' brushed the taut skin of his forearms. That was strange. The bracelets and anklets didn't have a lock. She examined the chains, where they bolted onto the manacles and then every inch of gold and silver surface. No, no lock.

There was a unique design set on the ridge of each one, though. Very small and engraved with further symbols of punishment and pain. Nothing that would hurt her, she was certainly skilled enough to recognize those kinds of wards. The chains didn't seem to have the capacity to actually cause injury at all, to anyone, not that she could tell. They did look like they were meant to stay on permanently.

That made no sense! There had to be a way of opening these chains. No one made an artifact of this quality intended for only one use, ever. Ridiculous!

"So what did you do to get into these, anyway? Who put you in them?" she asked absently, as she worked her fingers over the tiny designs on the ridges of his manacles. He sighed deeply, the motion moving his whole body. Ava felt the power beneath the chains, felt the immense strength of this man. It warmed her in a most pleasant way.

"I was going to ask you if you had any idea. I'm a metalworker myself but I've never made the likes of these." He looked about the room. "So, we're in Hollow, right?"

"Hollow?" she asked, glancing up at him. Padrick looked interested, perhaps a little puzzled. My, he was so handsome. Ava gave him a little grin and went back to the manacles. "We're in Nexus, of course. I think it used to be called Hollow, though. Old name. You're either a lot older than you look or you have a taste for the ancient."

"You don't look the least bit ancient," Padrick answered smoothly. The deep bass of his voice rolled across her spine and she arched her back, like a cat. She hadn't felt like this since Sen...and so far this man had none of her ex-betrothed's irritating qualities.

"You're not a demon, are you?" she asked mirthfully, giving him a wink as her fingers found a small indentation in one bracelet. It sank in with a click more felt than heard.

"No, I'm not a demon. Just a man who hasn't seen a woman like you in ages." He glanced away. Was he a little shy after all? For some reason, that made him all the more endearing.

Her fingers found the other catch and, again, it clicked as she pressed it. The bracelets snapped open with surprising force, as if someone had pried them open. The chains fell from his wrists and he rubbed them, wincing at the apparent soreness.

"That's so much better," he said, smiling with relief. "How'd you do that?"

"Oh, it was nothing. Look, see these catches? It's a very clever design. Someone must have really wanted you left in these. There's no key, just a puzzle to be solved."

"Are the ones on my feet the same?"

"Let's find out!" she chuckled. Deftly, she felt for the catch and pressed it on both anklets simultaneously. With the same shocking abruptness, they sprang open and fell away from him.

With a speed that astonished her, a suddenness of movement that would have put Piiro to shame, Padrick was off the ground. One massive arm swept her up and pinned her against the wall. The freed man grinned unpleasantly...and then slowly a frown came over his face, as if he'd just noticed something.

"Hey now, I did just get you out of those," Ava said, wondering when the amazingly handsome man had gone crazy on her...or if he'd always been and she'd been too distracted by that tight body to notice. Now that she looked at it, she saw even darker stripes across his arms, like a tiger. For that matter, his eyes were now cat-like in shape. Or had they always been? He smiled without humor and the flash of his white teeth this time showed incisors that could never have passed for human.

Why had she not noticed these things before?

"I know. I'm grateful. It's why I'm not going to kill you." The throbbing bass of his voice hummed with absolute confidence. He could have been a lot scarier if he'd wanted to, she thought. He must not feel the need. That meant his judgment was better than hers, for she was already about as scared as scared got.

"Padrick...it's been a really long day. I found out some of my favorite students have been turned into murderers, I was Ravished by a girl I thought was half-Faerie and now turns out to be half-demon, I was knifed, poisoned, spared for some reason by another demon, and now I'm getting manhandled for doing someone a favor." Ava felt righteous indignation flare inside of her, a wrathful mien that grew more powerful than any anger she'd ever felt before. "You know what? I've had...enough!"

Pinned as she was, Ava was still free to ball a fist up. The room lit with the lightning that burst from her skin, coalescing in a hot second to pure white energy. She flung her arm outward and hit him with everything she had.

Bright spots filled her eyes for a second, but the pressure holding her aloft didn't relent. When her vision cleared, Padrick still stood there. His shirt was frayed across his chest but his skin looked...possibly a little darker. That was it.

"By the Dual Monarchy, what the hell are you?" Ava asked in awe. She'd seen a Deathknight block her lightning and that Wraith Lord in the North had been very good at avoiding it, but no one took one of her Elemental Bolts and just...ignored it. For the first time in her life, Ava felt absolutely helpless. It was a terrifying new level of fear and it swamped her reason in a cloud of indecision.

"I was named Relentless Tyranny an Age ago, little Dragon," he said in an even voice. "I earned it when I massacred your kind for the pleasure of my Yozi Masters. I have not seen the light of Creation since the Star Children caught and bound me, for they found my deeds deserving of eternal imprisonment rather than the freedom death would bring."

"You're Anathema too?" Ava said wearily. "I'm starting to feel like I should be used to this. And you're Glee's Dad. Wow, she and I have one kiss and I meet both her parents the same night. You'd think we were engaged or something."

"Anathema?" he asked, frowning as if he didn't know the word. "I suppose I was to your people, but don't feel they were undeserving. They rose up against their betters and slew them. They would have killed my wife! The Dragon-Blooded were mere soldiers once, though I've only met a Terrestrial like you once...perhaps twice before. They had no business overthrowing the Lawgivers, nor are the Sidereal innocent for orchestrating it."

"Are you talking about the Usurpation?" Ava asked, trying to have a polite conversation while her feet couldn't touch the ground. "So you're really that old. No wonder you called Nexus Hollow. Look, I'm not here to argue with you about your crimes, Padrick, or about my ancestor's crimes. Now that you're free...what, you'll probably head toward the Realm and overthrow it? I'd stop you if I could but I didn't even scratch you with my lightning so you can pretty much do as you please."

The well-muscled black Anathema slowly set her down and looked at her, as if searching for something. Ava met his gaze. She couldn't say she did it without fear but she still did it. Ravishment didn't count for everything, after all.

"I'm not going to rape you," he said at last. Ava arched an eyebrow at the unexpected comment. The thought hadn't crossed her mind, though it certainly did now. Finding out that someone was an Infernal Anathema had a way of killing attraction. Funny how quickly desire could turn to dread.

"Then what do you want from me? I already freed you."

"Poor little Dragon-kin. Do you even know what's been done to you?" His voice was almost kindly again, the false Padrick she'd first met.

"Padrick, I'm not just a school-teacher. I adventured for more than a few years, managed to get by on my own despite the trouble I found myself in. What I'm trying to say is I don't like the damsel in distress part. So kill me now or take off and do whatever you're going to do. Just don't expect me to beg!"

"It's not like that," he said with a casual shake of his head. Padrick's eyes glimmered in the dark storeroom. "You've been twice-marked by those close to me, as intimately as only family could. My Mistress has touched you, oh, that's very plain to see. I didn't notice my girl's mark so quickly, even if you're light to admit it. It's a wonder you're still sane between the two of them."

"...what did Erembour do to me?" Ava asked, her jaw clenching with anger. Glee, she had invited, but the demon...well, maybe she'd invited her too. But that didn't mean she wanted to be somehow Infernally marked! This had all started because of some good intentions. How could things have become so terrible?

"It's not for me to say." He smiled again, white teeth against black skin, and bobbed his head. "It's time to go. Thank you, Ava, and I mean that most heartfelt. Without you...it would have been someone else. But it was you who set me free and I will thank you for that."

"Everything we've been planning has happened exactly as we expected it to. The day is coming, Professor Spyefel, when the real rulers of this world will be free. My escape tonight, I'll confess with pride, is another move in the great game, a mere piece moved across the board but one that leads inevitably to victory. I'll remember you in the new order to come, sweet Dragon. But the rest of your kind will not be so lucky."

He turned and strode to the door. Ava's hand yanked her Elemental Lens from her pocket and her whole body snapped like thunder from the power that coursed across it. A river of lightning poured from both her hands, blasting across his body and pulverizing the door behind him, shattering it into a shower of flaming splinters.

Relentless Tyranny or Padrick or whatever his name was only turned and shook his head at her. His shirt had perished in her attack and his pants were tattered enough now to be on the verge of immodest. His sole wound from her Charm was a small cut across the back.

"That was quite a stroke you dealt me there," he said. "No wonder my Mistress chose to mark you. No wonder my poor Pyarali found herself hungry to see you. Both of them and you still have enough spirit to attack me?"

"That and more!" Ava said defiantly.

"I like your attitude," Padrick chuckled in his deep booming voice. "I'm going to reward you for your courage, little Dragon. A sign of my favor...and my respect."

Lightning mantled her hand again but he was inside her reach before she could literally lift a finger. Padrick brushed his hand across her face and dragged his fingers through her hair...and that was all. Just as quickly, he was to the exit again. Relentless Tyranny grinned at her, white on black, and then the doorway was empty.