Tortured Silence

by Michael Clement

  Brynn nearly exploded. Leaving me apparently was fine.

  But, me… leaving her… was unacceptable. She stood up, and I could see her visibly shaking with anger and rage.

  I watched the whole thing, trying to understand what was going on. Lady Shufen had declared war on Ashmouth, destroying… no… murdering hundreds of people.

  Yet… Mockery, her daughter… walked in like a diplomat.

  Shit.

  That was it.

  Mockery was…

  No, that didn’t make sense.

  “If you weren’t Felmorna’s lover, I would throw you out,” Addisyn hissed.

  Yep.

  That was it.

  “I’m not her lover,” Mockery said with a wicked grin. “I’m her wife, as well.”

  Fuck.

  That wasn’t what I wanted to hear.

  Pissed, Addisyn turned and spoke to a servant that she summoned, as I tried to hide my own anger.

  While I fumed, a couple was asked to leave the room.

  And… Mockery and I were given their seats.

  - 23 -

  Mockery was sitting on my right, and Brynn was on my left. It was one of the most awkward situations of my life. I wish that I had slipped away like Xot had. No one else had noticed the well-dressed goblin slipping into the kitchen.

  “He’s a goblin,” Brynn hissed at Mockery as if I wasn’t even there.

  “Yes,” Tian said smoothly. “And, he has a huge dick. But….”

  Stopping, she glanced at the other courtiers to make sure that they were listening.

  Then, Tian added, “You’d already know that… wouldn’t you?”

  The other women around us nearly swooned. Fucking a goblin was against the church’s teachings, and just wasn’t done.

  Well… not in public, at least. In private, anything was possible with enough wealth. And, the forbidden was always exciting.

  Brynn blushed, as Mockery rubbed me in everyone else’s faces.

  Lovely.

  It was bad enough that I was still stuck defending Brynn unless someone else succeeded in killing me that was.

  And I couldn’t even leave. If Brynn died, I had no idea what would happen to Abigail…

  Mockery’s hand slipped over my lap and cupped by manhood.

  I gasped in surprise.

  Several people looked at us, but Mockery just laughed and told them a dirty joke. Flustered, they looked away.

  But, Brynn didn’t.

  She stared at us, as Mockery leaned in closer and began to rub me up and down.

  “Stop that,” Brynn hissed.

  “Make me,” Mockery countered.

  God Dammit.

  It felt so good that I wanted to burst.

  “My Lords and Ladies,” a deep voice called out.

  Everyone’s heads turned, and the conversation dropped down again. A butler stood next to a slim man dressed in a white shirt and brown pants. In the butler’s hands were two scabbarded sabers.

  Mockery kept rubbing me. Annoyed, Brynn swatted at her hand and missed, connecting with my nuts.

  Gasping, I bent over.

  “Are you happy now?” Mockery snapped at Brynn. “Look what you’ve done!”

  Nauseousness poured through me. Brynn had smacked me hard.

  Several of the other guests scowled at the two women, while I just tried to breathe.

  “An official challenge has been made, by Baron Jeffrey Cantrell-Sinclair…”

  “Oh, Good Lord,” Brynn cursed, drawing everyone’s intentions. Standing up, she slapped her hands together. “Take it back, you fool. Bazal will kill you.”

  Jeffrey stepped forward. He was a thin man, but I could see muscle layered on his frame. He wasn’t a bodybuilder. Instead, he was built more like a runner. His dark black hair had been slicked back, and a thin mustache accented his weasel-like nature.

  I sighed. He was the man who Brynn had teased and bullied when I had talked to her mother in the past. Brynn had forced him to leave the room by humiliating his manhood.

  Apparently, he hadn’t learned.

  “I will ever defend you, My Lady,” Jeffrey insisted.

  The butler turned to me. “A challenge has been offered, do you accept?”

  “What happens if I don’t?” I asked Brynn as I rubbed myself and tried not to throw up. I hadn’t been smacked that hard in the nuts in years.

  “They will kill you,” she answered.

  And… I think that Brynn wanted that to happen. I could see it in her face. My wife wanted someone to defend her honor and win her name back.

  But it wasn’t me anymore.

  Shit.

  This completely sucked.

  “Is the fight to the death?”

  Brynn nodded.

  Fine.

  Fuck it.

  I stood up and took off my jacket, laying it on my chair.

  Tian grabbed my hand before I left.

  “Be careful,” she advised.

  Turning, I walked past James and Candace, who were stationed behind their Mistress. Many of the other nobles had bodyguards or servants standing behind them as well, so it took me a few minutes to reach Jeffrey.

  As I approached him, the diners surged to their feet and formed a circle around us. I could barely think with all the bets that were being screamed back and forth between them.

  Most of the fools were betting against me, which didn’t make any of this a good idea.

  After a few minutes, the butler raised his hands and called for quiet.

  “Do you accept the challenge?” he asked me.

  “What are the rules?” I asked.

  “Kill or be killed,” he responded.

  “Magic?”

  He nodded.

  Anything goes.

  Jeffrey looked excited.

  “Are you sure that you want to do this?” I asked him.

  He grinned.

  “You are going to die,” he hissed.

  The butler took Jeffrey’s arm and led him to the other side of the circle. Then, he set the blades in the center.

  Several nobles began chanting as he slid through their ranks.

  A circle of protection grew around us, flashing and snapping until it clicked into place. The outside took on a golden color until I could only see Jeffrey inside of it.

  Jeffrey moved quickly. Reaching down, he picked up his saber. Then, the little fucker kicked the other blade, so it shot through the air at my face.

  I tried to grab it and missed it.

  And, the fucking thing shot right out of the circle.

  - 24 -

  “Oops,” Jeffrey said, as he removed his scabbard and threw it away as well. “It seems like you are weaponless.”

  Lunging forward, he tried to ram the tip of his saber into my stomach.

  I twisted my body to the side and allowed his weapon to pass within an inch of my chest. Blister had hired dozens of warriors to train me how to fight. He had been serious that he wanted the best bodyguard that money could buy.

  My elbow followed his blade and then snapped back, smashing into Jeffrey’s face.

  Stumbling backward, he croaked. “You struck me.”

  I didn’t bother talking. Jeffrey was used to duels. I didn’t fight duels. I fought to survive. There is a significant difference between the two. One strove for honor; the other just craved bloodshed.

  “Rākṣasī āga,” I roared, slamming the tattoos that were on the knuckles and the backs of my hands together.

  Bluish-white flames should have erupted from my fingers.

  Instead, nothing happened.

  Jeffrey grinned. “Fool. Your magic is blocked.”

  Raising his saber over his right shoulder, he swung at me. Stepping back, I evaded the blow.

  Dammit.

  This wasn’t good. I was defenseless.

  Quick stepping forward, Jeffrey boxed me in slicing first in one direction and then the other. Lazily, he started using a looping pattern, slashing again an
d again.

  I only had one chance. I could feel the circle snapping with power behind me. The blade had passed right through it, but I suspected that my flesh would react poorly to touching the magic.

  So, I waited for my one chance.

  Growing cocky, Jeffrey swung at my head. Darting forward, I slipped in close to him.

  A dagger plunged into my stomach.

  Looking down at it, I gasped in surprise. Where the fuck had he gotten that?

  Jeffrey skipped back as I swayed. Blood was gushing down my side. On the other side of the golden wall, I heard screams of excitement.

  “I’m going to kill you… you stinking goblin,” Jeffrey hissed. “And then, I’m finally going to fuck that bitch.”

  I stumbled backward as he continued to prattle, confident in his victory.

  “I’m going to fuck that fine little ass of hers,” he crowed. Smiling, he cut at me again, making his saber scream through the air.

  He hadn’t even been trying to hit me, I realized as I lurched backward.

  Quick shuffling forward again, in that stupid fencer’s stance, he cut me so that the tip of the blade sliced from chin to the back of my neck.

  Jeffrey had never fought to survive. His blow was designed to humiliate me.

  But, it left him open to a response.

  My lurch had been a faint. I had fought in the back alleys of Savannah, hundreds of times.

  Yanking the dagger out of my side, I stepped in close and jabbed it into his nuts.

  Jeffrey squealed like a stuck pig and collapsed.

  Swaying for real, I looked down on him. The dagger was rammed all the way into his groin. Blood was gushing out of the wound like a river. The blade must have severed his femoral artery.

  The mousey little man began to push himself backward, making a trail of blood as he tried to get away from me.

  Leaning over, I picked up the saber that was covered in my own blood.

  “No,” Jeffrey hissed, as I walked forward. I didn’t need to kill him. He only had a few minutes until he bled out.

  But… I wanted to hurt him.

  “Break the circle!” Jeffrey shouted at the men that still chanted around us.

  I stepped on his hand, making the human scream. Blood was pouring down my side and face, but I was going to finish this fight.

  Jeffrey looked up at me and shouted. “I will pay you!”

  Dropping to my knees, I slammed one of them into his chest, knocking the air out of his lungs.

  Then, I grabbed the saber with both hands and used it as a hammer. The point came down, piercing his skull. Putting all of my strength into it, I forced it through his head, until the point punctured the floor.

  Pressing onward, I forced it deep into the expensive wood, as Jeffrey’s feet tapped out his death knell.

  Kastabal would have approved of the tune.

  I did.

  - 25 -

  The circle collapsed around me.

  The silence was overwhelming.

  A dirty goblin had just killed a noble.

  “We claim his title.”

  Mockery’s words rang out over the crowd.

  Addisyn furiously roared. “You will do no such thing!”

  “By the right of combat,” Tian screamed back, “Bazal is now the Baron of Black Mountain.”

  Now that the circle was gone, I suddenly remembered that my own heart was a mana source. I could have used it to create as much power as I wanted inside the aegis of the circle.

  Chuckling at my own foolishness, I said, “Upacāra hā viṣa.”

  Blister’s magic wrapped around my wounds and began to heal them. My only surprise was the power source.

  Jeffrey.

  His soul to be precise.

  The magic scooped him up and fed him to me.

  I nearly choked, but I swallowed him down, using his life force to heal my wounds. No one noticed because everyone was watching Tian and Addisyn swear and curse at one another.

  Feeling much better, I walked back to the banquet table and sat down. James was standing next to Mockery, keeping an eye on her, but Candace was by our seats.

  No longer caring what anyone thought, I began to eat.

  Fuck them. I was hungry.

  Steak tastes so good after a deathmatch. It melted in my mouth.

  “Manners.”

  I glanced at Candace.

  Looking back and forth to either side of me, I verified no one else was there.

  Taking a drink, I wiped my mouth with my hand. Then, I belched loudly, just to tweak her sensibilities.

  Her left eye twitched.

  Laughing inside, I turned back and dug into the food. In the background, Mockery and Addisyn were still screaming.

  “He will hold that land over my dead body,” Addisyn screamed.

  “I can help you with that,” Mockery replied. “But then you would lose your land as well.”

  Addisyn screeched and hollered, cursing both Mockery and her mother.

  Laughing, Brynn sat down by me.

  “She is something, isn’t she?” Brynn said.

  I looked from Brynn to Mockery. Tian looked like she was really enjoying herself. Her face was flushed, and she was visibly excited.

  Then, I remembered the dead street girl that Mockery had murdered to save me. Her blonde hair filled my vision, and I swallowed hard.

  Solemnly, I nodded and looked away. I just wish Mockery hadn’t gone so far toward the wicked side of the moral meter.

  I was nearly done eating by the time Tian sat down by me again. With a smile, she climbed into my lap, straddling me in front of everyone.

  Her kiss was amazing. Mockery pressed her breasts into my chest and rocked her crotch back and forth several times, taking my breath away.

  “Stop that,” Brynn hissed.

  Tian broke our kiss and snarked back, “Why do you care, Brynn Cantrell? You don’t want him anymore.”

  The other courtiers who had returned to their seats stopped chatting and began listening intently.

  Brynn fumbled over her words, then she snapped back. “My name is Brynn Tawret.”

  “You lost your name,” Mockery teased. “Now, you are only Brynn Cantrell, daughter of the whore who fucks the Fell Serpent.”

  Brynn opened her mouth and then closed it.

  Fuming, she turned away from us both and grabbed her wine glass.

  “Well, My Baron,” Mockery said. “Would you like to go upstairs and fuck?”

  Brynn choked on her drink. Gasping and coughing, she shouted, “You may not fuck my husband!”

  Mockery laughed. “Want to join us, Princess?”

  Boiling over with anger, Brynn threw her cup and stormed off.

  Turning back to me, Mockery kissed me again.

  Then, she led me upstairs.

  --M--

  I lay in bed, listening to Mockery snoring. I had sworn to the Dark Lady that I wouldn’t sleep with her again.

  But… damn… she was good in bed.

  Somehow, I needed to get through to her that things like murdering children were not alright.

  Tian was lying on her side, giving me a prime view of her back.

  It was tattooed. Almost every surface from her shoulder blades down to just above her butt crack. The design was amazing. It showed a scraggly tree without any bark or leaves. A young woman was sitting in the branches watching a dragon float through the sky. The more that I looked at it, the more details I picked up.

  Like the ring of skulls buried around the tree trunk.

  Or, how much the dragon looked like her mother.

  “Do you love her?”

  I looked up at Candace, who was guarding us in the dark.