She turned to the other two wizards in the room and they acknowledged that they were ready.
“Begin,” Eksela said.
Eksela, Hezza, and Yhadi all raised their hands toward Winn, and black lighting erupted from their hands and hit Winn in the forehead. The pain was debilitating. It was like nothing Winn had ever felt before. It enveloped his brain, and Winn felt like it penetrated his brain and engulfed every bit of it. If Winn could move, he would be convulsing on the floor. It felt like a million needles were stabbing him in the center of his head, or that little bugs were devouring his brain. He tried to scream but couldn’t. He tried to grab his head with his hands, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t believe he didn’t pass out from the pain, but he had the thought that despite all the pain that they were keeping him awake so he could experience the full brunt of the torture. He opened his eyes and saw that the wizards had a very strained look on their face. Good, I hope they are hurting too. Suddenly, white light emitted from Winn’s head and slammed into the wizards. The wizards were knocked back into the wall, and after they hit the wall they collapsed on the floor. The sharp pain in Winn’s head ceased immediately and all that was left was a slight throbbing dull ache. Winn started recalling events in his life and naming the people he knew. He remembered Sarah, Jaunty, his parents, his siblings, his cousins, Auk from his childhood, his soldiers, and his god friends. If he had lost any memories, he couldn’t imagine what they were.
The wizards were writhing on the floor and Melevia hovered over to them and started screaming at them. When they gathered themselves, they told Melevia that they could not penetrate Winn’s brain, and that they triggered a defense mechanism that a god must have put there. Melevia screamed at them again calling them terrible names. She approached Winn and raised her arms and shot out more black lightening at Winn. Again, he was in excruciating pain. She started laughing in triumph when white light exploded from Winn’s head again. It slammed into Melevia and she flew across the room and hit the wall. She popped back up and shot more black lightening at Winn but this time the white light shot out of Winn before the black lightening could hit him and it knocked her against the wall again. Winn saw something he didn’t think was possible. Melevia was bleeding a black ichor from a hundred cuts on her skin from where the light hit her. She looked down and screamed, and she disappeared.
The wizards were finally able to get up. Eksela was so shaken she didn’t speak in Winn’s mind, rather she spoke aloud.
“Do you know what force is protecting you?” She asked. She waived her hand and the gag on Winn’s mouth was removed.
“I have no idea,” Winn said. He suspected it was the Almighty that protected his mind, but he wasn’t about to tell Eksela that.
“Take him to the dungeon,” Eksela said. “We will pray to Jezel to help us get around Winn’s protection.”
Hezza waived her hand and he floated towards her. She opened the door and walked out of the room with Winn floating behind her. She walked down a dark hall with Winn following behind her in the air for ten minutes, came to some stairs, and followed them down.
“Hezza why did you become a wizard?” Winn asked. “You could have been anything but a blood drinking evil minion.”
“Shut up worm,” Hezza said.
“Funny that you call me that. It seems to me you are the slimy one who belongs in the dirt. Why a dark wizard?”
“If you must know, I was taken here as a girl. I was to be sacrificed to enhance the wizard’s power. When they were about to sacrifice me, a wizard named Donel stopped them and took me under his wing. He taught me the wizarding ways and by the time I was twelve I was a powerful sorceress. My strength with dark magic was the reason I was chosen to be one of the wizards that are going to destroy your mind.”
“That hasn’t worked out so far,” Winn said.
“Don’t be fooled, what happened today won’t stop us from achieving our goal. Your memories will be destroyed. I am highly motivated to damage you. I would kill you if it was allowed. Donel was with the Dellos forces in Rama. You killed him.”
“Ah, he was one of the wizards that conjured up the windstorm. If it helps Vanya helped me kill them. Aren’t you mad at her too?”
Hezza reddened with fury at that question.
“You are lucky we have arrived at your cell. I would have killed you if I had to spend another minute with you.”
“You think you can kill me?” Winn said. “Set me down and try.”
She didn’t respond. Instead she motioned to a guard to open the cell door, then she cast him in the cell, and he hit the ground with a thud. The cell door closed, and it was pitch dark. Winn got up on his feet, and he felt wet straw. He extended his hands and walked very slowly toward what he thought would be a side wall. He eventually found the wall and he turned and slumped down into a seated position against the wall on the floor.
“Is anyone in here?” Winn called out. He heard a groan. “Hello are you OK?”
“Winn,” a barely audible voice called out to his left.
Winn inched his way toward the voice and felt a person’s arm. He reached up and felt the person’s face and he exhaled, because he thought it was Jaunty.
“Jaunty, is that you? It is me, Winn.”
“It is me, and I want to die more than I did before.”
Winn felt Jaunty’s forehead and it was burning hot.
“You have an infection Jaunty. I will ask our captors if you can have some medicine. Maybe they have healers here, I don’t know. Have they given you any water?”
“Winn, I don’t think I have had any water since Predias. You remember fighting all those Menegar? You killed them all.”
“Jaunty, I am afraid you are delirious my brother. If I would have killed all the Menegar we wouldn’t be here.”
“What is wrong with the palace. When is Sarah coming?”
“She isn’t coming today Jaunty. It is time to get some sleep.”
“Is she coming tomorrow? Alana will be so excited. She is pregnant you know. I know Sarah is coming tomorrow, don’t lie.”
“Yes Jaunty, she is coming tomorrow. Go to sleep.”
Jaunty mumbled some more then he drifted off to sleep. Winn didn’t sleep for a long time. Just as he dozed off the cell door opened, and a guard placed two small buckets by the door.
“We need medicine for an infection,” Winn yelled as the guard shut the door.
Winn crawled towards the door and found the two buckets without knocking them over. One of the buckets had water in it and the other had some kind of stew. Winn hoped like hell it wasn’t made of humans. He and Jaunty had to eat, so they had no choice about eating the stew. Winn walked back over to Jaunty and woke him up. He gave Jaunty most of the water and food. He ate and drank what was left. Jaunty was even hotter than before. He drifted back to sleep quickly.
Winn and Jaunty spent several more days in the cell with Jaunty getting worse. Suddenly right after the buckets were placed in the room, a glowing Melevia appeared in the cell, hovering above them. Winn could see the damage from the white light was still there, but she wasn’t bleeding any more.
“I am here to cure your friend,” she said. “He is to be sacrificed as a reward when we erase your memories. I can’t have him feverish or he will sicken my wizards when they eat him.”
She floated down and touched him on the forehead. Jaunty screamed like he was in terrible pain. Finally, she lifted her hand off him. Winn felt his head and it was cool.
“Thank you for healing him,” Winn said.
Melevia laughed heartily.
“You are a fool. You will wish that he died of fever after you watch him being eaten alive.”
She disappeared.
“Jaunty are you OK?” Winn asked.
“That had to be the worst healing experience ever,” Jaunty said. “But yeah, I feel better than I have in a long time. My wounds aren’t aching, and I don’t feel so weak.”
“Good. Can you walk?”
> Jaunty got up and walked around the cell. He had a limp, but besides that he moved well.
“I don’t know if I can run at top speed, but I think I can move fast enough to make another escape attempt without you having to carry me.”
“I don’t know how we are going to get out of here. We are in loin cloths and even if we did manage to escape from the wizard’s lair, we would freeze to death before we made it off this mountain. Then of course there is a country full of Menegars that we would have to deal with.”
“Don’t be so negative, there has to be a way out. What about the gods?”
“The gods, the angels, and the Almighty himself have all abandoned us. I have called for all of them to help us, and none of them have. We have been forsaken. I can’t help but think that means we are going to die here.”
“Winn Vaux don’t tell me you have given up. Have they messed up your brain?”
“Funny you should say that. It is exactly what they are trying to do. Somehow my brain fought back at them by shooting a white light at them and that thwarted their attempt to destroy all my memories.”
“Winn, that wasn’t just your brain. That was divine intervention. The gods and angels are still watching over us. Even the healing by that awful creature must have been influenced by a benevolent being.”
“Jaunty, I hope you are right. If so, we are going to need a lot more help to get out of this mess.”
“You know I am right, you never…”
“Jaunty hush.”
Winn felt a presence. A malevolent presence he had felt before. He was about to call out when a bright light flooded the cell and Jezel emerged from the center of it.
“You have foiled the attempts of my followers to alter your memories,” Jezel said. “They have called out to me for help. I will examine your brain and see what is causing so much trouble and remove the problem. Jezel caused Winn to float up in the air towards him. Winn couldn’t move even though he made a mighty attempt to do so. Winn floated right next to Jezel, and Jezel held is hand over Winn’s head. Nothing happened for a minute. Suddenly, the white light exploded from Winn’s head and blew Jezel back so far, he slammed into the cell wall. Jezel screamed in frustration and flew back at Winn.
“You have been touched by the Almighty to an extent that I have never seen before,” Jezel said. “Your brain is almost untouchable. I did say almost. I think there is a way to accomplish my goals. I will have my followers try it. If they don’t succeed, then you are of no use to me, and I will kill you myself.”
Jezel disappeared and Winn went over and sat by Jaunty.
“What is it like to be probed by that devil?” Jaunty asked.
“It was like pure evil was pulsing through my head. Thoughts of death, misery, slavery, and wanton depravity entered my mind. I couldn’t stop them. I was mired in an abyss of suffering and debauchery. It was awful. I have never experienced anything like it. I doubt I will be able to sleep tonight.”
“Even Jezel got blasted by your white light,” Jaunty said. “The Almighty must have put powerful protections in place for you.”
“Yeah but will it be enough? Jezel said he thinks he knows a way to get around the protections.”
“I think he is bluffing and trying to scare you. There is no way they can fool the Almighty.”
“I hope you are right,” Winn said. “Even if you are, they plan to kill us though. Either way things look bleak.”
“True, but I am with you brother. There is always a way out when you are involved.”
“This time I don’t see it Jaunty. We are in one hell of a predicament.”
“We aren’t meant to die here. You will see.”
“OK, OK, Jaunty. I will try to match your faith. It’s time to hit the sack now. Goodnight brother.”
“Goodnight brother.”
They both fell asleep and slept fitfully. Jaunty started coughing and that kept Winn up. Jaunty sat up suddenly and threw up on the floor.
“I don’t think the healing that evil goddess gave me is helping,” Jaunty said.
“The fever is still gone, isn’t it?”
“Yeah but my insides are burning, and I can’t hold anything down without vomiting it up.”
“If we get out of here Allesca will heal you correctly. Try to get some sleep.”
They laid back down but now it smelt like vomit and Winn had to strain to keep himself from gagging.
The cell door opened and Hezza appeared in the doorway. She waived her arm at Winn, and he became locked in an invisible hold. She waved her arm again and he rose off the floor and floated to her. She turned and walked down the corridor but didn’t go far until she stopped in front of a door in the hallway. She waived her hand and the door opened revealing a room with baths lining the far wall. Two Vestuan women rushed up to Hezza.
“Bathe him. He stinks like shit. Be quick about it. I must wait here until you are finished.”
Hezza let Winn drop and he fell on the ground. The two Vestuans picked him up and drug him to one of the tubs and set him in it after they took off his loin cloth. Hezza chuckled as she saw him naked, but the Vestuan women were all business. They both went and grabbed a large pot that was hanging over a blazing fire on the other side of the room. They brought it over to the tub and poured the hot water in. Winn almost yelled out the water was so hot. The Vestuans bathed him with some pungent smelling soap. The soap did the job, because when the Vestuans were finished with him every inch of him was clean. The Vestuans helped him out of the tub and dried him off.
“Leave him naked. It amuses me and makes him vulnerable. Eksela might fuck him right in front of us. I would like to see that. You know she would tear your precious manhood to shreds.”
Winn couldn’t speak or move but he felt is stomach seize up at the thought.
“Now now, we just got you clean, you shant vomit on yourself now,” Hezza said.
She caused him to float up again, and she made him float like he was laying down on air. She turned to walk out of the room it was as if he was being pulled behind her.
I am getting so tired of magic. At first it was amazing to see, but now it feels like a parlor trick.
Hezza didn’t say anything as she walked back to the room they were in the day before. When they got there Eksela and Yhadi were waiting in the room, but there was no sign of Melevia.
“What a lovely specimen,” Eksela said. “I have decided I will have you when this is all over. Now we have a lot of work to do, months of work in fact. You see, Jezel has figured out how to get around your defenses. We can read your mind with no problem. If we try to destroy your memories directly then it activates your defense. However, if we take a single memory, and present an alternative memory to your mind, you won’t be able to shut it out. You will absorb the false memory and it will confuse your mind to the point that the real memory and the false one cancel each other out. You may be able to remember fragments, but those fragments won’t make any sense to you. If this doesn’t work, we have orders to kill you. You will make a lovely sacrifice. Prepare yourself to be violated in your mind. We are going to lobotomize you one memory at a time. Do you have anything to say?”
Winn found that he could speak.
“It sounds like a load of horse shit to me,” Winn said. “Do your worst.”
“Oh, we will,” Eksela said. “Unfortunately, you have to be unconscious for this to work. I would love to see the look on your face when the alternative memories flood your brain. Nevertheless, enjoy your nightmares Winn.”
Eksela cast a spell on Winn and he passed out. Eksela told the other wizards to be prepared for Winn’s defenses in case she triggered them. She reached out her hand and sent a thin beam of darkness at Winn’s head. She closed her eyes and concentrated deeply on the thoughts she was sending Winn’s way.
Winn was suddenly aware. He was in a bedroom alone. Eksela walked in wearing a shear black nightgown. Winn looked down and he was nude. When he looked up Eksela had shed her gown and sh
e was nude too. She walked over to the bed where Winn was sitting, and he pulled her to him and started kissing her passionately. What am I doing? This is disgusting! She laid down on the bed and he laid on top of her and they started to make love. She started laughing maniacally then the image faded. He found himself on top of the Black Veil mountains surrounded by wizards. An old wizard stepped out of the circle.
“Give up your false cause,” the wizard said. “Be our servant. Become our instrument. Live with us, learn our ways. Learn the way of the sacrifice.”
“I regret ever killing one of your number,” Winn said. “I will gladly join your cause and serve you. You should rule the world, and I will help make that happen.” This is bizarre. It can’t be real, but it feels so real. I am a son of Aviel. I will never serve the dark wizards. “I am your servant for life.” Why did I say that? What is happening?
The scene faded to the cell where Winn and Jaunty were kept. Winn saw Jaunty and himself sitting in the cell talking.
“Jaunty, I am going to submit to the wizard’s will. They can have my memories if that is what Jezel wants. I am going to become his servant.”
“Winn, I can’t believe I am hearing these words come out of your mouth. What about Sarah? What about your country? Do you want to see all the people you love die?”
“Jaunty, love is a false construct, a fantasy. I don’t believe in love. Sarah can join me or die. You can join me right now or die.”
“Winn I will never join the side of evil.”
Winn struck out without warning and snapped Jaunty’s neck. What have I done? I just killed my best friend.
Trials of a Champion Page 8
