Chapter 25
There was a great bustling about and before the wizard sat down at a fancy table and padded chair to eat the feast set there by a Corporal, the Captain of the Rangers entered. He bowed and remained on one knee before Blackfin who was after all, the Emperor’s son.
“My Lord,” he said, his dark eyes darting everywhere but at the wizard’s face. “We have brought you and your men the horses and a guide to the ruins.”
Blackfin laughed. “I need no guide to Cape Fear. I was one of those that brought it down.”
I stared at him and felt rage transform in me to a dull anger. He was one of those responsible for the death of my parents, which had started with the destruction of town. “You murdered all those people,” I whispered and he whirled around on the seat as I stood up. I clenched my fists as I took a step forward. Immediately the collar’s energy took over my body and my mind. It was as if I was cut off from all existence within my own flesh. I looked down from somewhere over my body as it fell to the floor with blood leaking from its eyes, ears and nose. The others approached it and placed their fingers at my neck.
“He’s dead, Lord Blake.”
Blackfin shook his head. “No. Not quite. The pain from the slave collar was too great for him to bear so he fractured his mind. In effect, he tore his essence free from his body and it is here in this room. Probably floating somewhere. Little does he know that it is bound to my web now more tightly and securely than ever. It is his soul and I have it.”
He gestured, created a small stone of amethyst crystal and held it up towards me. Powerful forces pulled me into the crystal and imprisoned me. I batted at the slick walls that surrounded me and knew what hopelessness felt like. He held up the stone and I saw his face as he slipped the gem onto a chain, around his neck and under his robes to lay on his chest near his heart. I could not see any more until a hand slapped my face and my true flesh woke on the floor of his tent.
Hours had passed and I had lain there in agony so great that my mind had forgotten it but my flesh had not. I whimpered as torn and bruised bone and muscle reminded me I was mortal. Blackfin was lying on his bed watching me.
“I didn’t think you would wake sane. How do you feel?”
“Like death,” I whimpered.
“That’s because you died. You tore your spirit loose from your body without the proper safeguards and I captured it into your birthstone.”
“Oh.” My reply was flat.
He cocked his head and studied me. “You will do anything I ask of you, even let me rape you if I command it.”
“Yes, master.”
“Too bad I don’t enjoy willing participation. Well, I can always find a more…exciting bed toy in the ranks. You see, Tobias, I’m going to share my secrets with you now that I know you are mine, totally and completely. I can’t do it unless there’s fear, violence and pain.”
“Do it?”
“Penetration. I know you’re not a virgin, Tobias. Come here.” He patted the bed and slowly, I rose to my knees and crawled over to his side. He pulled me onto the blankets and stroked my face. Kissed me and bit at my lip, my blood trickled down my neck into the collar of my blouse. Once white, it was nothing more than a rag with sleeves. I sat quietly, not feeling anything except a dull pinch at my neck.
“I could even remove the collar and you would not change your demeanor,” he murmured into my chest. “Alas, I do not know how to unlock the spell that put it there and I suspect human tools would not even lay a scratch on the metal.”
“I do not know, master,” I replied. My hands laid in my lap, trembling not in fear for I had none but in reaction to abused muscles.
“There are clothes on the chest for you. Dress and make ready. We leave in an hour for the village to meet Elder Connacher.” I stood and would have fallen had he not put his hand on me. Stood there stolidly until he pushed me forward to fall on my hands and knees, he told me to crawl. I obeyed his every command until I was washed, clean, dressed and waiting stoically at the side of the door, still on my knees.
He had given me black clothing like his own, black leather trousers designed for ease of movement with gussets at hips and knees. Padded lightly to stop a knife thrust or punch. A leather jerkin with pockets and padded more heavily. Stretchy underclothes that were lightweight and warm. A blouse of thin black wool and linen that fit like a second skin. Over all, a black hooded cape lined with pockets that held small steel circles and an assortment of daggers. Last, he handed me a crossbow the size of a pistol, a cunningly designed weapon as small as I had ever seen and a compound bow with quiver of arrows.
“Take these.” When they were in my possession, he spelled and the air popped around me, turned blue and shimmered. When I blinked, the weapons were gone. I stared at my hands. “When you need them, they will return. You just think of them. Do so.”
I did and suddenly, the weapons were in my arms, ready to fire. Carefully, Blackfin pushed them down and said, “You want to shoot me, Tobias? Do it, shoot me.”
I leveled the bow, cocked the arrow but could not pull the string back or let loose. Let the bow fall to point to the ground. “I cannot, master. Though you order me, I cannot kill you,” I said in defeat.
“Of course not.” He told me what he required of me and I nodded as I committed it to memory. Once he was satisfied that I understood, we left the tent. Mounting the horses the Rangers held we rode to the ruined Bordertown where my father had rescued my mother.