Chapter 40
He came surrounded by a score of men all over six foot six; everyone had that eerie blue fire at the back of their eyes. I knew them by the faint subtle smell of ozone, and they wore their humanity like a well-fitting suit. Many were Secret Service and qualified warriors; they stood slightly to his side dressed in Kevlar body armor. He was as well armed as his men. His eyes flickered to my hands, to Zip and behind me. "You came alone?" His tone was disbelieving, almost a sneer. "No, bodyguards, no army? Just you and a…girl?"
Zyperia slid her face over my shoulder. "A Heart Warrior, Throne Guard, and not just a girl," she spat. "And the Lord of the Strings."
"Ah," he said softly. "And I am the String Cutter."
Leaping forward, he brought forth the bat, wrapped in leather. I threw up my hands, opened them so that the glow from the Seillach Bane arched into the space behind us as a shield.
The shaft came down and I braced myself for the impact on the shield and was astonished when it pierced through my protection as if mist, as it smashed into my forearms like matchsticks scattering. The cracks were louder than thunder and as Zip pulled me away, my arms felt broken and numb.
"It is the wood from the Tree!" She gasped. "Against it, you have no defense! Run!" I landed, half on the picnic bench and half on the ground. I couldn‘t move, I couldn‘t get my arms under me to struggle up. She tried to drag me out of his reach. Brightarm slashed again, hit ting me in the ribs and I felt him them crack. I couldn‘t breathe; saw red and flashes of black. She tried to pull me away, and he pushed the cudgel into my stomach, holding me to the ground. I struggled to move, could only push ineffectually with my feet at the slick surface of the staff, felt the essence of the Tree, and was neutralized by it. My hands would not close. I couldn‘t feel my fingers, my arms hung limp from the shoulders. Black sparks hovered in my vision. I saw the end of the branch heading for my face; saw an explosion of stars and then–nothing. I floated. A pinprick of sensation and then, even that was gone.
*********
Chains. Woke up in chains. Hanging from my ankles, swinging slowly in a parabola in the room that I had seen many times on TV and in history books. I was in the Oval Office, looking out on the Rose Gardens, between the most famous desk in the world in the window.
Everything hurt. Dully. Masked by some kind of pain meds, as if I was lost in a dream, knew I was dreaming, but couldn‘t wake myself up. My fingers could almost touch the carpet. I tried to lift my upper half to what held me to the ceiling, but the moment I tried to bend, my ribs screamed with pain and a thin bleat escaped my lips.
"Welcome, Lord of the Strings," the President‘s amused words penetrated my delirium.
"As you will presently discern, you are a guest of the White House and prisoner of the Druz/human alliance."
"Zip," I managed to say as he pushed me to circle around so that I saw her in the chair and the muzzle of a rifle and Druz stun rods on her. She looked unhurt save for a black eye and split lip. "Zip?"
"I‘m fine, Jadewyn," she smiled. "These humans are nowhere near as torturous as the Druz."
"Not so, Zyperia," Brightarm snickered. "You have only to look at Jade." In dry tones, he went through my various aches, pains and breaks as each one made themselves known in excruciating detail. "He‘s only feeling enough to keep them at bay; I had the doctors give him just enough Fentanyl to mask some of the pain."
"Jade!" She cried. "Speak the words! Bring forth the Seillach‘s power!"
"I can‘t," I sobbed. "The Tree binds me!"
"What are you going to do with him?" He laughed, twirled me around, pulling on my ankles and slapped me playfully on the ass. "Oh, I think we‘ll find a use for him, zip, is it? Who are you? His girlfriend? You can‘t be a bodyguard. You‘re too inept and were taken too easily."
He frowned. "Heart Warrior? Aren‘t they supposed to be invincible until death? Or was this some plan to get close to me?"
"Yeah," I groaned. "I planned on being tortured and broken to get you to let down your guard. Is it working?"
He sneered. "We don‘t need the girl. Take her to CIA headquarters and lock her in the crypts. She‘ll keep. What is your name, girl?"
I tried to tell her not to speak but she spoke before I could get the air. "Zyperia Fetherwyn Ethelyn," she said quietly and proudly.
He was still. "Fetherwyn‘s kin. Are you, his daughter?"
"No."
"Cousin, then. Will he barter to get you back?"
"He would toss me aside to get Jadewyn back," she said.
"We all know the value of the String Bearer," he returned. "I know you can‘t call the power as the Tree binds you, Jade. Part of her influence is here now." He poked me in the ribs, just under the last one on my right side and I felt a warm stab of pain rush my muscles and clenched my stomach. I tightened my butt muscles; felt my insides cramp and liquid ran down my back as my bowels loosened. A foul smell filled the room.
"I had a 2 inch piece of my staff rammed into your gut, Jade. It‘ll fester, poison and eventually kill you. When you‘re close, I‘ll take the Seillach from you and the power."
"When I am dead, the coin is gone forever," I moaned.
"Not if I snatch it from your dying fingers. That is how your mother took it from your father and you from her. As I will from yours." He took one of the Druz rods from the guard and stuck it in my chest, held it there until I heard all I heard were her screams and the popping of my skin as it sizzled.