by Lance Wilson
“Thank you my lord” Attonnan says his voice soft and already distant. His last thought before sleep takes him this time not of revenge but the gentle and tender touch of his lord and master.
It is only the beginning of the evening when there is another tap at the door. Fuma wakes from his own sleep and smiles to see that Attonnan is still on his side but now has pulled himself close to Fuma and at one point in his rest Fuma had managed to drape an arm over him. He admits this young one is beginning to fascinate him.
“Enter.” he says his voice low and soft, but still commanding none the less.
The door opens and Fuma is a bit surprised to see that it is lady Elana. She is dressed in a bright blood red dress, a long seductive slim dress that fits her form just right, and long red silk gloves that come up to her elbows. Her hair long and hanging down, her face done up in makeup. It then strikes him, this is the new moon, his day with her. His mind instantly goes into calculations, how should he handle this. If he goes with lady Elana then Attonnan will wake to find him gone. He will feel abandoned, the bond that has taken him this much to create will be shattered and perhaps all his work useless. If it were a youth from a better home then yes he could go, make up an excuse and win over Attonnan’s trust later, but Attonnan has been turned away too often, he would do as Fuma asked that is sure, but there would be no bond, Attonnan would grow cold to him and all the promise he could have held would be gone. No. He will have to turn her down this time and explain later. He is sure that she will understand. Slowly Fuma gets up and then walks out of the room with her but stops once he shuts the door. Elana’s eyes go a bit wider, she is confused, this is there day, and it has been there day for over two centuries now.
“Is there a problem my lord?” She asks calmly but even he can hear the confusion and perhaps anger in her voice.
“No problems, but tonight will not do. We shall pick this up next month” he says and reaches for the door.
For a moment there is only silence, she is not walking away, she is shocked and doesn’t know what to say, he is turning her down.
“And Elana, you failed to give me Attonnan’s progress report today, see to it that it does not happen again” he says and with that walks back into the room shutting the door as she stands there.
Pain rips through her, how could he have done this, this is there night, every month when the moon is absent. Attonnan, he has never done this to her before, it is the whelp. That stupid young prince; it is him that takes the lords time from her, he will pay for this. How dare he put himself above her. He has not spent nearly the years getting the lords attention, working for him, falling to his every whim. But here he is stealing the lord’s attention to from her, her. She shall show Attonnan what it is like to cross her. Fury rages though her as she walks down the halls to her own quarters. Once she is inside she looks at herself in the mirror. Surly he noticed how she was prepared for her, how much time she spent to make herself ready for him. But he chooses the whelp. Well, she can cure that. Of course she cannot kill Attonnan, but she can make it so the lord will never want him around him. She will cause Attonnan such pain, pain that he will not be able to bear, he will fail his next task, he will be shamed in front of Fuma and Fuma will then loose his interest in him. Yes. Yes it is the perfect plan. She will hear the little princes screams again, his screams shall echo through the hull of the ship, his screams will give her the pleasure she was denied tonight. With that the thoughts running through her head she strips herself and slips into her bed, her head filled with Attonnan’s screams and her plots to make him pay. Oh yes he will pay, right before sleep takes her she lets out a little chuckle.
It is early the next mourning when Attonnan wakes, again he is laying on his side curled up against his lord. Fuma’s arm is draped around him. Part of him begins to wonder. Part of him wonders how this could be right. This man took him from his home, separated him from all of his family, and yet here he is, holding him. Worst of all, as this man is holding him he is comfortable, he feels safe. Something doesn’t add up to all this. Before any of this can really sink in and he can think about it there is a knock at the door. Before Fuma can even open his eyes he already knows who it is. It is lady Elana; she is here for his lessons.
“Enter.” Fuma says taking his arm off of Attonnan
Elana enters a smile on her face. Go ahead Attonnan, enjoy your time with our lord, and consider it over. By the time this day is over he will never want to have you near him again. She smiles wider as these thoughts cross her mind.
“I am here for his lessons my lord.” She says calmly but the smile never leaves her face.
“I’m glad you’re so present today.” Fuma says, but deep in his mind he begins to wonder.
This is not like her. She has been scorned less then twelve’s hours ago and here she is at his door smiling. He wonders to himself what she is planning, he hopes that she is smart enough not to let last night affect his training. But with that smile, he wonders what she has in mind. Either way, if she put the blame on Attonnan and punishes him, he will have to punish him.
Attonnan only smiles at his lord, nods and gets up. He knows what is about happening. Without words he walks over to the door to Elana’s side. Elana’s smiles down at Attonnan and they start the day. They walk through the ship, deep into the hull of the ship. Her mind reels in the ideas she has for him. The ways she is going to make scream, make him so humiliated in front of the lord that he will either be thrown down to the dregs of the Hojo clan, a slave and nothing more. Her eyes twinkling as she walks down the halls deep into the hull. The walk only takes a little time and then before Attonnan knows it they are in the room where they will continue his training. The post with all the branches is gone and all he sees now is chains and a crank of some kind. Attonnan only hangs his head, he is not sure what he should have expected but he knows that he should expect pain. He walks over to the chains, not even thinking twice. Elana smiles he has no idea what he is in for. Elana walks over to him and shackles him to the chains. She then walks over to the crank and begins to tighten the chains. Oh sure she could keep going until he is pulled apart, but that is not what she wants, oh know, that pain will be nothing to what she is going to do to him. Instead she only pulls the chains tight enough to lift him off the ground and pulls his body tight. She watches as his muscles go taunt and his eyes close. She then walks over and quickly cuts his clothing off. She smiles as she sees the scars still left on his body since the time her and lady ebon worked on him. She takes the knife and cuts along the seams of the clothing tell they fall to the ground. She can hear the breathing of Attonnan, it is slow and calm, he is preparing himself, but no preparation can help him now. She walks over and tosses the knife on a counter. Then she gently walks over and begins to put on her gloves, the gloves are studded and at the end of each finger is a metal claw like an animal claw. She then walks back over to Attonnan, the smile only getting wider on her face. Gently she lets the claw trace the spine on his back, not breaking skin just letting the cold steel move over his naked skin. She can feel his skin tremble under her touch. Thoughts run through her mind, should he start slowly, move over the skin, or should she go all out, get into it, make him feel the horrors right away. Not sure she only lets the metal studs move over his skin. She feels him tremble feels his skin crawl; as she smiles she makes her decision. With ferocity she grabs him around the neck putting the hand over his face Attonnan freezes up in shock even his breathing stops. She then leans in and with a claw of the glove she begins to claw and pry out his right eye. Her long eagle like claw moving behind the eye, sever the optic nerve, all the time magic flowing through her claws making it burn and smoke out of the socket. The pain rips though Attonnan like a storm, nothing he has felt before can even compare to this, screaming at the top of his lungs. Tears streaming down the eye she is not working on. It only takes seconds for the eye to roll out of the socket and the burning se
nsation slowly stops. A yellow slick liquid runs out of the socket and immediately the flesh begins to fuse together. With that she lets go and steps in front of him to look at her work. Attonnan only hangs his head and trembles, the slick yellow liquid running down his face and trickling onto the floor. She then reaches for his face pulling it so she can get a better look. She then grabs his jaw forcing it open. Looking at his teeth she smiles, with the same eagle like claws she reaches into his mouth, letting the claws pierce the gums pulling out the bottom back teeth on his right. Like the eye his jaw begins to burn as if it were filled with white-hot coals. Elana can’t help but begin to chuckle as she works the claw back and forth prying out the two back teeth. She only does the two in back, and then with the same claw she moves to the back left side, takes the two bottom teeth. Then she moves on to the upper jaw. Yellowish green liquid pours out of his mouth. Attonnan’s eyes flash open; the slick liquid that fills his mouth trickles down his throat. Instantly the foul taste of rotting meat fills his mouth and throat. He can’t help it, as much as he wants to hold back, the taste, the pain, he has no choice but to vomit. Now not only is the slick liquid filling his mouth and now pouring out of his mouth, now also his vomit is flowing onto the floor. Elana at first is repulsed at all of this, but then a smile comes across her face, sure the liquid even makes her want to vomit, but on the other hand, if she is causing so much pain in him then she shall keep going. She continues to work on his upper jaw, removing the back teeth in left and right side. With each time she removes a tooth, more liquid runs from the wounds making Attonnan vomit again. Once she is done there, she grips his tongue and with the razor edge of the eagle claw, she severs the base of the tongue. Removing her hand Attonnan vomits all over the floor, tears rolling down the eye that is not now fused together. Blood, vomit and puss now run down the front of Attonnan, his mind reeling at the pain burning through him now. Why, why would she do this, there is no lesson in this. His whole body trembling and hanging only by the chains, he can no longer hold his own weight with his muscles. She then walks over to a table and grabs a cloth wiping down the front of herself, a calm coming over her. She is glad she did this, he has not screamed much that is true, but his pain resonates though his body and she knows it. She then dangles the tongue between her fingers in front of her. Maybe she’ll grill it up later, throw some spices on it and let it simmer a bit. She then walks over to Attonnan again and then grabs his face once more. Holding him steady with her left hand she reaches for his other eye. The steel eagle claw ripping through his socket; the claw then delicately moving over the optic nerve and severing it making the eye roll out of and onto the floor. She then removes finger and then watches as the eyelid fuses shut and puss flows out of the creases. She then walks around him and smiles. Without hesitation she lunges with her two forefingers the metal claws stabbing right in-between his shoulders. Channeling the magic in the glove she watches as boil begins to form. At first it is just a rise in the skin, but then in continues, grows larger. The boil then turns a dark green/brown color. Slowly she removes the claws and watches as his back is soon covered in green almost black liquid, it too smells like rotten meat. Attonnan tries to scream, but with his mouth full of blood all he can do is let out this gurgle sound as blood. Attonnan can feel the blood; vomit and puss cover his entire chest, stomach and legs, and now, a warm slick liquid running down his back. His body trembles as his muscle just hang there useless. He wonders what will be next. His tongue cut from his mouth, his eyes removes, his teeth pulled from the roots.
“One last thing shall we, I think you’ve suffered enough, but I have to say, you haven’t passed this test” she says and smiles at him.
She then walk around to his front, his head is hung low, fluids of all kind running off of his face and onto the ground. Smiling the lets her claws roll down his chest and stomach, then when she reaches the gut she calmly slits him across the gut, reaching in she decides the last part she will use in this little session is the intestine. She grips the intestine with the hand and then plunges the claws into it. Letting the magic form boils all along the way. She lets the boils grow and grow, but satisfied with her work she removes her hand from his gut letting black/red liquid rush out, a mix of the puss and blood. Calmly she seals the wound, this one she will allow to continue to fester inside of him, and this will cause him pain for days. With that she decides she is done. She has more things to get to. Elana then makes her way to the table and pulls off her gloves, she will wash them later, for now she will throw her things into the laundry and take a hot shower. She makes her way to the door and then glances over at Attonnan, she should probably clean him up. Oh sure now he is useless, everything done with magic, it cannot be undone, not easily and not here. A smile comes over her again, let lord Fuma look on him now and find potential, he cannot see, cannot speak, nothing will come of him, he will be if nothing else a useless lame pet that you keep around cause you feel sorry for it. For now let him hang, she has other things to deal with. And with that though, she opens and shuts the door behind her leaving him there only to hang in his pain and suffering.
Hearing the door close he knows that Elana has left him. The pain in his body sill a vicious fire running through him, nothing will stop it. The taste of rotting flesh still fresh in his mouth, he wants to vomit more, but he has nothing left in him, and now the inside of his gut feels like it too is on fire, and filling with something, he is sure that it is probably the same kind of puss that still leaks from his eyes. His mind wonders what is to come of him now. How will lord Fuma deal with this, not only has he become useless but according to her he has failed her test. But how could this have been a test. She said nothing, the pain did not start slowly or lessen, it was like the first time, it was like she was trying to break him again. And he did break, so many times over he broke, but, but he couldn’t scream, his mouth full of his own blood and sickness, all he could do is spit out that was filling his mouth, spit it out again and again. He has failed again. How is this the way it always seems to be with him, time and time again he is given a hand that he cannot win, time and time again he has no choice but to come up short of everyone’s expectations. Maybe he will be lucky this time, maybe lord Fuma will see that he is useless now without his sight or speech, maybe this time someone will finally put him out of his misery. With that though he only hangs there, hangs there wondering what will happen next. Until soon there is nothing more then darkness, the pain and strain of the day finally overtaking him until there is only darkness.
Slowly he opens his eyes, he is not in the room of the lady Elana. As he looks around he finds himself on top of some kind to tower, the ground beneath him is stone with some kind of tribal carvings on it, it looks like a kind of spiral of sharp tipped lines, others look like claw marks that cross each other, it is an odd mark and he has never seen it before.
“Always a waist of flesh and time. Look at you, a bit of pain and you go sniveling, praying for death. I hope they give it to you, I hope they kill you so we could end this miserable existence you dare call a life. Lord Fuma gave you this home, wanted to train you, and now, now you just pray for your death, cause you are in a bit of pain” Attonnan hears the familiar sound of his father always criticizing, always angry with him.
“I am useless now.” Attonnan says now spying an archway just feet away from him.
Slowly he walks to the archway, inside the archway is what appears to be a kind of mirror, but the mirror itself ripples and moves like water. Looking into the mirror he sees himself now. His eyes are burned shut, crusted and blistered. Blood still pours down his mouth and past his chin, as does a slick yellow/green liquid. He can still taste rotten meat from this puss
“You were always useless, I should have killed you in your crib at birth, should have killed you and left it at that” Now Attonnan can see his father stepping behind him. Hate in his eyes and a look of disgust on his face.
“Maybe you should have, but you
didn’t, instead you just tied me up and whipped me when you felt like it. You say I’m weak and useless, look who made me that way. You always took time out for my siblings, but never time for me. You just beat me, beat me and insulted me. Lord Fuma has been more of a father to me then you ever were” Attonnan says growling at his father looking over at his reflection. Then it hits him, how can he see his father? His eyes are burned shut?
For the second time Attonnan is snapped awake. The door has opened. Right away all he feels is rage. The fear he had for this woman of pain, the fear he had of what she might do to him is now gone all he wants to do is kill her, pay her back for all the things she did for him. He hears the footsteps come closer to him. Moving toward him, then slowly it circles him. Fuma walks around Attonnan staring in shock at the work that Elana has done to him. It is just as he thought, she let her anger get the better of her and now she has overstepped her bounds. And yet, he feels no fear from him, only hate, a rage that feels like a bonfire surrounding him. Perhaps she has done him a favor after all, his training would have taken weeks more to bring him to this level, but he should test him. Slowly he draws his knife and brings it to Attonnan’s shoulder. With lightning fast reflexes he pierces the shoulder with the blade. But there isn’t even the slightest sign of pain. Attonnan only stands there growling, yes, he is ready, he shall talk to his healers, he knows a way this can all be cured in only a few days, and he will be just as he was, it will be costly but he can get it done. If this works he should be ready for the final test by the time they get to the party.
