“It seems that I have only one option. A hermit named Tole captured my friends and—”
“Tole, I’ve heard that name before.” Fefantor said interrupting. “Tole...” he said the name again while rubbing his chin, and then he snapped his fingers. “I remember him. Does he have my amulet now?”
Torhan nodded.
“Did the thief help you steal it?”
Torhan chose his words carefully before answering. “No. After we gave the amulet to Tole, he sent Molech to kill us, so that the amulet couldn’t be traced back to him.”
“That makes sense.” said Fefantor. “Who’s the girl?”
“You leave her out of this.”
“It doesn’t work that way. You stole something from me, so if you don’t want her hurt, I recommend that you tell me.”
Just then one of Fefantor’s men returned.
“Master?”
“What is it?” Fefantor asked without turning around.
“All connected sir. Do you want me to take this one down there as well?”
“Not yet.”
“Very good.” The man bowed and left closing the door behind him.
“You have no intention of letting me go, do you?”
“Again, it all depends on you. Who’s the woman?” Fefantor was losing his patience and Torhan could tell.
“She’s innocent.”
“I’ll make it easy for you. If you tell me her name, I’ll let you go, and if you don’t, I’ll turn you into one of my servants.” Fefantor paused. “I’ll let you think about it.” He said and walked out of the room knowing that he had a win-win situation.
Torhan was left alone for well over an hour to contemplate his decision. There was no way he was going to give Katara’s name to him. He was lost in his thoughts, when the door opened, and instead of seeing Fefantor, it was two of his men. They walked up and stopped several feet away.
The one on the left spoke. “The boss wants to know your decision.”
“Tell him that I will never give him her name.”
“He knew that you would say that.”
The one on the right took out a dart and walked back to the door. “I bet I can hit him in the throat.” He said and threw it at Torhan, hitting him right where he said he would. Before losing consciousness, Torhan heard him gloating. “I told you so.”
****
Along the way, Katara told Jacko everything she knew about Fefantor’s mansion; from the layout, to where they might be keeping Torhan, to the guards walking along the perimeter, and finally, his horrid creations. She also mentioned Molech, and how he fit into the equation, just in case they had to deal with him. After they found the area where Torhan and Molech were captured, they picked up the backpacks and continued. They arrived at the mansion just as the sun peeked over the horizon.
Katara led them to the same area both, she and Torhan, plotted during their first visit. She had all but forgotten about her Wooden Tirip, until she spotted the charred remains scattered about.
“Why would someone start a fire with logs and then scatter them?” Jacko asked.
“That’s because the logs weren’t used for a fire. The last time we were here I created a wooden guardian to help us escape, so they must have destroyed him.”
“You can do that?”
She nodded.
“Do you think you should create another one?”
“We don’t have time. After the guard passes, we’ll enter through the door down there.”
Jacko looked through Torhan’s backpack. “We have three flasks of oil, so we’ll use them if there’s trouble we can’t handle.”
“Don’t use them unless you have to. I don’t want the house to burn down while we’re in there.”
“I’ll try not to. Are you ready to go save our friend?” Jacko asked.
Torhan woke up in searing pain and screamed.
“Calm down and breathe deeply, the initial pain is the worst.” A shallow voice said to his left.
Torhan looked over and saw Molech not more than a few feet away. He was chained to the wall by his arms, legs, and waist and was wearing tattered clothes. His entire body from his face down to his feet had a yellowish tint. Torhan glanced left and then right and saw long needles, with clear tubes filled with yellow liquid, protruding from his shoulders. “What are they doing to us?” He asked after the pain subsided somewhat.
Molech took a couple of deep breaths before speaking. “I think they are turning us into those creatures.
Torhan was dressed and chained just like he was. All of his items, including his scabbard were gone. He began pulling against his restraints.
“It’s useless; these chains are…” Molech was in midsentence when he suddenly fainted.
Torhan looked around and recognized the room at once. It was the same one they killed the guy in before entering the basement. Just then the door to the far end opened and Fefantor, along with two creatures, entered.
“I see that you’re finally awake Torhan,” Fefantor paused, “that is your real name, is it not?”
Torhan looked over at Molech.
“Don’t blame him he really didn’t have a choice.” Fefantor continued walking over until he stood directly in from of him. “You will make a nice addition to my collection.” Fefantor grabbed his face. “Last chance, what’s the female’s name?”
“I won’t tell you.”
Fefantor released his grip. “That’s okay I already know.” He smirked. “I just wanted to see if you were going to tell me. Her name is Katara. And guess what? You’ll be hunting her down for me in a few days. I would like you to meet your new brothers, K and L.” He gestured to his creations. “Your brand new name will be M, and the thief will be known as N. Before you ask me why I used only one letter; it's because I got tired of coming up with new names.”
Fefantor laughed like the madman he was and walked over to this strange-looking contraption against the wall. “Ready for another dose? I want you to feel every ounce of fluid as it fills your body.” He pressed a button, releasing more yellowish liquid into the tubes that were connected to his shoulders.
“You’ll never get away with this.” Torhan said and felt a hot burning sensation as the liquid entered his body. He screamed.
“That’s what everyone says. Now I must go upstairs and rest. I’ll see you in a few days, and together we’ll rule the world.” Fefantor laughed insanely and left.
A few minutes later, Torhan’s legs began burning so intensely he thought they would melt away. Before the darkness claimed him, he wished that he would never wake again.
Katara and Jacko waited until the guard turned the corner at the far end of the building, before making their way down the hill. She did her best to cover as many of the footprints as she could, while Jacko went over to the door. He nearly tripped over a wire at the bottom of the steps and figured it was a trap. He couldn’t determine how to disarm it and went back up the steps to Katara.
“We need to go around the front.” He said.
“Why?”
“The door has a trap, and I can’t disarm it.”
“We’ll have to kill the guards.” She said coldly. “Hopefully, they’ll have a key to the front door.”
They retreated down the stairs and waited. A few minutes later, they heard the sound of snow crunching beneath someone’s feet. Patiently, they waited for the guard to pass the steps before rushing out and killing him. So swift was their attack, the guard never knew what happened. They moved the body further away from where they were, left him in a kneeling position and then retreated back down the steps.
They heard someone else turn the corner, walk a few feet and then stop.
“Hensny!” He shouted and began moving quickly toward them.
Katara knew their diversion worked and as soon as she saw his leg, she hit it with her mace and sent him stumbling to the ground screaming. Jacko ran over and covered his mouth, and then placed his finger-knives against his throat.
“What are you doing?” Katara said.
“I have some questions for him.” He said and looked into the guard’s eyes. “If you remain quiet and answer my questions, we’ll let you live. Do you understand?”
He nodded and Jacko slowly removed his hand away.
“Where do they keep the prisoners?”
“In the lower level.”
“What are they doing with them?”
The guard was hesitant to answer, so Jacko pressed the blades tighter against his throat.
“My master turns them into his servants.”
“He means those things.” Katara said.
“I don’t have anything to do with this. I’m just a guard who walks the perimeter. What choice do I have?”
“How many men are inside?” Jacko asked.
“Ten, including the master.”
“Do you have a key?”
“On my key ring.”
Jacko grabbed it from his belt, covered his mouth, and then slid his finger-knives into his throat, silencing him forever. He felt bad killing him, but knew that it was necessary if they were going to free Torhan. They dumped the guards’ bodies down the stairs and made their way to the front. Surprisingly, there wasn’t anyone posted outside of the door, and they walked up, unlocked it with the key, and entered.
Inside, the house was very quiet. There was a staircase on the right leading up to a long hallway straight ahead which ended in a T-junction, and a room on the right with tables and chairs. Katara was about to say something, when she heard footfalls approaching from somewhere down the hallway. She beckoned Jacko inside the room on the right and hid by the entrance with their weapons drawn. Whoever it was, hurriedly walked past their room and up the stairs.
Once the footsteps faded, they left the room and moved quickly down the hallway and stopped at the junction. To their right, the corridor went on beyond their sight and the one on the left ended at a closed door. They quietly followed the corridor to the right until it ended at an empty room and then went back the other way. Katara kept watch, while Jacko pressed his ear against the door and listened. After hearing a few voices inside, he held up three fingers indicating how many people there were. With their weapons ready, they threw open the door and surprised the unarmed men inside.
There were two men seated in chairs across the room, and another carrying a tray of food on his way over to them. All three men reacted differently; the portly man seated to the left was so surprised by them, he froze and stared up at them with his mouth open. The man seated next to him stumbled out of his chair and fell flat on his face, and the person with the tray dumped the food on the floor and held it like a weapon.
Katara and Jacko attacked. The first to fall was the guy holding the tray. After swinging and missing Katara, she smashed him across the face with her mace and then hit him on top of the head, splitting his skull apart. The next one to die was the guy who fell out of his chair. As he was getting to his feet, Jacko gave him an axe-kick on the top of his head and snapped his neck. The chubby man was so terrified by their ferocity; he was unable to do or say anything, and when Jacko swiftly plunged his finger-knives deep into his neck, he offered little resistance and died with a whimper.
Katara barred the door, while Jacko walked into the small room on the left and found two more doors. One led to an empty kitchen and the other led downstairs, which they took. No matter how carefully they navigated down the spiraling stairway, the steps creaked under their weight, causing them to pause on more than one occasion. After deeming it safe, they descended further and came to a closed door at the bottom. Jacko pressed his ear against it and listened. He held up two fingers. He was about to test the knob, when he heard a muffled voice getting closer. His facial expression told Katara everything she needed to know, and they retreated up several steps and waited.
The door opened, closed, and footsteps began climbing the stairs. Jacko crouched down and when the figure rounded the corner, he grabbed him by his garments, and Katara whacked him on the head with her mace, coating the walls with skull fragments, brain matter, and blood.
After placing the dead man’s body on the stairs, they walked to the bottom of the stairs and opened the door. Peering inside the dimly lit room, they saw tables, empty cages, torture devices, a robed figure with his head down working on something towards the back, a couple of odd-looking creatures dressed in tattered clothes mulling about and a door at the far end.
Two unconscious figures were chained to the wall, with tubes protruding from their bodies. Jacko was pretty sure Torhan was one of them, and as he was about to rush in, Katara grabbed his arm and whispered.
“Hold on. Those are the creatures I told you about; the ones dressed in the shabby clothes.”
Jacko reached into the backpack and took out three flasks; two of oil and the one of dissolving. “Whatever you do, don’t get the liquid on yourself. It will melt whatever it comes in contact with.” He said and handed it to her. “Ready?”
She nodded and they quietly entered the room.
The creatures and the cloaked figure, which still had his back turned toward them, did not hear them enter. Slowly and hunched down, they walked toward the front of the room, and by the time they were halfway to the front, the robed figure spoke without turning around.
“Gregor, did Fefantor give you more serum?”
Jacko lit both flasks from a nearby brazier. “Fefantor said to use this instead.” He replied and threw them at him.
The glass container shattered against the wall, sprayed hot oil all over the table and the robed figure, setting them ablaze. The man screamed, dropped to the ground, and began rolling around.
The creatures turned, saw the intruders, and charged. Jacko threw the other flask directly at their feet and when it hit the ground it shattered, covered them with oil and set them on fire. The monsters continued advancing. Katara knew that they couldn’t fight them without the risk of getting burned, so she waited until they were close enough and doused them, like a priest would do with holy water, with the contents from the flask of dissolving. The vile fluid landed on their face and began liquefying flesh, bones, and eventually their brains. It happened so fast that they fell over after taking one more step.Katara went over to Torhan and found him unconscious. His breathing was shallow, which gave her concern as she began removing the tubes.
Jacko searched the smoldering corpse until he found a key and walked over to Katara. “Is he going to be alright?” He asked.
“I don’t know, look at his legs; they're turning black. It’s usually a sign that the limbs are dying.” Katara said and finished removing the tubing.
Jacko undid the locks and unfastened the chains. “What about the thief?”
“Leave him be; he has it coming to him.” Katara responded coldly.
“It’s cruel and we can’t leave him like this. No one deserves to be turned into one of those things.”
“He’s killed many people, setup Torhan for murder, and would have killed us if it wasn’t for Fefantor interfering.”
Jacko looked at Molech, who raised his head and opened his eyes.
“Please stop the pain, it hurts really badly.” Molech pleaded.
Jacko saw both of his legs were already green, and his stomach was starting to turn black. He decided to remove his tubes anyway.
Someone entered the room and said. “What do we have here?”
Startled, Jacko and Katara turned and saw a tall middle-aged man, wearing gray robes standing there.
“I’m assuming you are Fefantor.” Jacko said and stepped away from Molech to face him.
“The one and only, and you are?” Fefantor replied arrogantly.
“What did you do to them?” Jacko barked, curling his fists.
“What did I do?” Fefantor giggled. “I didn’t do anything. You see; they killed some of my children, and now they are in the process of repaying their debt.”
“A debt? How so?”
“When I get fin
ished with them, they will take their places.”
Katara laid Torhan on the ground and faced Fefantor.
“Oh, I see you brought Katara with you. That’s good, now I don’t have to find her either.”
“Your days are over and the only thing you’re going to create is a home for bugs as they burrow through your flesh.” Jacko stated.
Two tall, muscular, men came running down the stairs to join Fefantor. They wore robes and carried wooden staves.
“Sorry to end your fun, but I have other things to do.” Fefantor said and reached over and pressed something in the wall.
Everything in the room, which was made of some sort of metal, began sliding toward the walls by an invisible force. Katara tried to resist, but her chainmail was too much, and she ended up against the wall along with her studded mace. Meanwhile, if Jacko wasn’t standing so close to the wall, he might’ve had a chance to remove the finger-knives, but he too, ended up there with his back against it and his hands outstretched. Torhan slid over to the wall because of the metal cuffs that were still wrapped around his arms and legs.
Fefantor absolutely loved his little invention, and really enjoyed the expression on their faces as they struggled helplessly. “I would like to thank you both in advance for being my servants.” He laughed insanely while playing with his long ponytail. “Tie them up.” He ordered.
His men walked over to Katara, placed the leathery straps around her wrists and secured her arms to the metal rings on the walls.
“I’ll kill you.” She said and spit in the face of the closest guard, who then punched her in the stomach knocking the wind from her lungs.
“Leave her alone.” Jacko said to them.
“You’re next.” The other guard said.
A Demon's Quest the Beginning of the End the Trilogy Box Set Page 81
