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Disclaimer: I do not the Gundam Wing characters, nor am I making
any money from this. A Confessor and a Mord-Sith are borrowed
without permission from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth novels.
Many of the names of the locations are taken from the online
game of Everquest, again without permission.
Warnings: AU, dark, violence, shounen-ai, angst
Pairings: 1+2 3+4
Special thanks as always go out to Betty, my beta reader, and
Kitsune and Maria for their feedback.
Mord-Sith! A continuation of the Confessor Series
Part 2
Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping, Left it's seeds while I was
sleeping, And the vision that was planted in my brain Still
remains Within the sound of silence --The Sound of Silence by
Paul Simon
Duo sat bolt upright, gasping for breath. His slender body shone
with sweat and his thick braid was soggy. He brought a trembling
hand up to his forehead, pushing his damp messy bangs out of his
violet eyes. As the reality of his surroundings washed over him,
some of the tension eased from his body and left him with a weak
shaky feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was only the dream
again.
The dream was always the same. He was trying frantically to reach
someone. Who it was, he didn't know, but strong arms had held him
back. The need to get to that person was overwhelming, and the
sheer frustration of not being able to get there nearly drove him
wild. But that wasn't what caused him to wake up in a panic,
clawing blindly for consciousness. No, that was something else.
A sound. He didn't know what the sound was or what caused it, but
it stirred a terror so deep inside of him that his conscious
mind utterly rejected it. It remained deep in his subconscious;
buried there behind the thick locked doors created by his mind
to protect him. Somehow, he knew if he were to ever hear that
sound, he would go insane. `Go insane?' he thought, `hell, I'm
already halfway there.'
That was the worst thing about losing his mind, he decided. It
was the fact that he knew it was happening and there wasn't a
damned thing he could do about it.
With a rueful chuckle and shake of his head, he climbed out of
the large bed in the quarters that had been assigned to him
since he had completed his `training'. He still couldn't believe
that the most influential human being in the world, Emperor Odin
Lowe, would invest so much in him. He had been alone all his
life, hunted by people who hated and feared him for his power.
On hindsight, he supposed they did have a point.
But here in Erudin, he could be himself without fear of
persecution. The Emperor accepted him as a Confessor. He even
went so far as to ask Duo to be a personal guard and stay as a
resident of the Palace. Duo, having nowhere else to go, accepted
the invitation gladly.
All the Palace staff treated him with respect. Even the Mord-Sith
tolerated him, though that was probably by the Emperor's orders.
He had accidentally killed one of the Mord-Sith when he first
was brought here, but the other members of Odin Lowe's elite
bodyguard seemed to think that she deserved it. He didn't
understand their attitude, but wasn't going to question it. He
was now rich, respected and walked among the most powerful
people in the world. Not too bad for a poor orphan boy. He
should be the most content Confessor in the world, never mind
that he was the only Confessor left in the world, thanks to
Treize.
And yet and yet he couldn't help but feel that things weren't
right.
It wasn't anything specific he could lay his finger on. When Odin
Lowe had ordered Duo to join him at the Kunark border and capture
the King, the action seemed justified. After all, Kunark had
attacked Golgatha first; Odin was just defending his empire. And
this way, the lives of the Golgathan soldiers were spared. Duo
understood the Emperor's reasoning and willingly carried out his
orders.
But right before the Confessor and Une, disguised as guards, had
slipped into the King's tent, Duo overheard a discussion in which
the King announced his intention that he was going to contact
Treize and ask for an alliance. The King knew of the devastation
that happened at Bitterroot, and thought Treize must have a
powerful new weapon with which to fight the Emperor.
Duo had read the reports about Bitterroot. More than 75000 people
had died there, and no one could figure out how it had happened.
That bothered Duo, almost as much as the fact that Odin's army
had been on its way to the Sank Kingdom in the first place. The
Sank Kingdom didn't have an army, so it was no threat to the
Empire. Duo couldn't understand why Odin Lowe would feel so
threatened by an unarmed country. When the braided Confessor had
questioned him about it, Odin said it was necessary to send part
of his army there to guard the border. When Duo had tried to
pursue it further, the
Emperor had warned the violet-eyed youth in no uncertain terms
that Duo was not to further question his decisions.
The only explanation that made sense to Duo was that Odin Lowe
was planning to conquer the Sank Kingdom. So the Emperor had
lied to the Confessor, but why? Why did he care what Duo
thought?
The sun-on-steel cobalt gaze was enough to make Duo drop the
subject, at least for a time. And there was something about
those uncompromising eyes that reminded Duo of something.
Duo decided to investigate further. He knew that Dorothy had
found him at Bitterroot, lying unconscious amongst the ruins,
though he himself had no idea how he got there. His memories
were fragmented, some were crystal clear; like Hilde, others
were hazy; like running through a long canyon, being pursued by
Trieze's soldiers, and there were some that were just plain
nonexistent, like Bitterroot and how he ended up there.
Nobody could figure out what had happened at Bitterroot. The
Emperor concluded it must have been a new weapon from Oz.
But how had Treize managed to get hold of such a powerful weapon?
Would he use it again? And what had Duo been doing in the middle
of it all? The braided Confessor had no answers to those
questions. Duo felt a need to find the answers because he had a
sense of time running out.
At one point, he had gone to Dorothy to ask her if she knew
anything more than what he had been told. He had knocked on the
door to her chamber and breezed on in without waiting for a
reply, just to annoy her. He found her naked on her bed,
straddling a half-clothed guard; she had her Agiel between her
teeth like a dog with a bone.
"Dorothy, got a minute? I have a question " he trailed off as he
took in the scene.
Dorothy looked up at the sound of his voice, her eyes dilated
with lust and fury. "Maxwell! What the hell do you think you're
doing! Can't you see I'm busy? Get out of here now!" she
practically shrieked with outrage, the red rod dropping from her
jaws. She caught the Agiel deftly in one hand, much to the
pinned guard's relief.
Duo just grinned annoyingly and replied, "This will just take a
minute Dorothy. I'm sure he won't mind." Duo indicated the
helpless man on the bed; the guard's eyes were wide and
pleading.
"All right, what!" she snapped, hopping off the bed and standing
glaring at Duo, with her hands on her bare hips.
"When you found me at Bitterroot, was my wrist already broken, or
did you do it?" he asked. He didn't remember breaking it, but he
did remember having the splint removed after it was healed.
"No, I did not break your wrist, nor significantly damage you in
any other way. You were pretty much dead to the world the whole
trip back to Erudin. So I had no cause to do anything to you,
unlike now," she growled, stalking closer to him. He held up his
hand, pointing at her warningly, making her stop in her tracks.
With her whole attention on Duo, she didn't see the hapless
guard slowly slide down to the foot of the bed, his eyes never
leaving Dorothy's bare back.
Duo also kept his eyes on Dorothy. He thought she wouldn't be so
stupid as to try anything with him; but a person could never be
sure with the temperamental Mord-Sith.
"And you found me in the fortress itself?" he questioned.
The guard was quietly sneaking to the door, his shirt grasped in
one hand.
"No, on the plateau above the fortress," she corrected
impatiently. Duo should have found her nakedness distracting,
but for some reason he wasn't interested. It wasn't that she
wasn't beautiful. With her large blue eyes and incredibly long
golden hair, she was striking. There was not an ounce of fat on
her. But Duo wouldn't touch her with a ten-foot barge pole even
if he had been able to enjoy sex like regular human beings. The
Mord-Sith were too violent in their lust. Instead it was all he
could do to keep his eyes on her and not watch her victim slip
out the door. He ruthless bit down on the urge to laugh.
"And I was wearing an officer's uniform?" he knew all this
already but wanted to give the poor guard a head start.
"Yes, what else do you want to know? I want to get back to what
I was doing." She twirled her Agiel around her wrist from its
chain.
"What was Odin Lowe doing at the border between Sank and
Golgotha?"
Dorothy bit her lip, her irritation momentarily forgotten at his
question. The Emperor made sure to keep certain truths hidden
from Maxwell. "Did you ask the Emperor?" she countered.
"I tried," he admitted. Odin's manner discouraged Duo from
questioning him too much, and Duo wasn't sure just how far he
could push his luck where the Emperor's temper was concerned.
"Then don't ask me. I'd get in trouble for revealing information
that doesn't concern you. You don't have to worry about the
Emperor taking over your mind." For a moment, she almost sounded
wistful; then she caught herself and her eyes hardened again.
"Was that everything?"
`What was I doing at Bitterroot in the first place?' was what he
truly wanted to find out but dared not ask. `And why was I left
behind? The last question was the one that he really agonized
over. Was he supposed to have died with the others? Dammit, he
wished he could remember.
Dorothy impatiently waited a moment to see if Duo would ask any
other question. Then she just shrugged, not really caring.
Thinking that enough time had passed to give the guard a good
running start, he grinned at the irritated Mord-Sith. She glared
back at him. "Are you finished?" she asked pointedly. He
nodded.
"I guess so, thanks anyway Dorothy." She ushered him to the door
and all but shoved him out into the corridor, slamming the door
behind her. He counted to three, and then a shriek of pure fury
echoed into the quiet corridor. He took off running, laughing to
himself.
The guards treated him with utmost courtesy after that. And with
something that bordered on respect.
After that incident, Duo tried to keep an eye on the Mord-Sith's
activities with the guards. He made it a point to quietly
intervene whenever possible, as he had a few days ago when
Dorothy had all but climbed inside the brown-haired guard's
clothes.
Clad only in his sleeping shorts, he padded over to the tall open
window that looked out over the Palace gardens, and placed his
hands against the sill and leaned out. The twin silver moons
cast a pale
light on his upturned face. A cool breeze dried the sweat on his
bare chest and stirred his damp bangs as he inhaled the perfumed
air. Insects quietly chirped in the gardens below, competing
with the bubbling fountains. The tall willow tree right outside
his window
rustled quietly in the breeze, as if greeting him.
Climbing onto the sill, he leaned his back against the side of
the opening and drew his knees up to his chin. Wrapping his arms
around his legs, he studied the night sky as he often did after
waking from the dream. It was coming more often again, almost
twice a week now. It usually happened after he had used his
power too much as he had in Kelethin. Sleep wasn't attractive
when all it held was terror. Duo knew the dreams heralded
another unwelcome facet of his current mental condition. He'd
soon have to ask Une for help again.
In a twisted sort of way, Une's training had already helped him.
Ever since he had regained consciousness in Dorothy's tender
care, Duo would intermittently suffer intense headaches in
addition to the regular constant ache that now permanently lived
behind his eyes. He didn't know the pain's source and, being
impervious to healer's magic, couldn't be healed. White agony
would flare behind his eyes and build until he thought he would
literally go mad from the pain. Une, using her Agiel, taught him
to tolerate the pain. He could push it out of the way; ignore it
while he went about his business. And when the pain got too bad,
she could send him into oblivion.
The icy Mord-Sith who worked with him was still a mystery to Duo.
After his retaliation against Sylvia Noventia, Une had taken
over. She was different. While Sylvia had viciously enjoyed
tormenting him, Une never once acted as though she enjoyed
inflicting pain. Actually, Une never showed any emotion
whatsoever. She always exhibited the same icy calm in every
situation. In a way, that calm reassured Duo. Even when she had
him screaming in agony, her demeanor wouldn't change a whit.
Shivering slightly, the braided Confessor rubbed the back of his
neck under his braid. Using his power against Sylvia had been an
instinctive reaction; he had lashed out blindly at the source of
his torment. He didn't discover until later that Sylvia had been
deliberately trying to get him to use his power against her. When
Duo's Wild magic ripped into her, she started screaming. She
collapsed and lay in a shrieking, boneless heap, stopping just
long
enough to draw a breath to scream again.
By the time the guards had located Une and brought her down to
the cell, Duo was almost catatonic. Physically, the power
expenditure for him had been negligible; but, in his fragile
mental state, her screams had resonated through his mind until
he withdrew into himself, unwilling to respond to anything. Une
entered the cell and took in the whole situation at glance.
Ignoring the shaking boy in the corner, she stood over Sylvia's
screaming figure, a look of icy contempt on her delicate
features.
"You were warned what he could do to you, Sylvia but you chose to
ignore the warning." She stared at Sylvia's writhing body for
another minute. Then she snapped her Agiel up to her hand from
where it had dangled from her wrist on its chain, and pressed it
against Sylvia's chest. With a twist of the red rod, the Mord-
Sith's racing heart stopped beating. Silence filled the cell.
Then Une signaled to the guards to drag the corpse away. They
never looked in Duo's direction as they filed out the door. It
closed it behind them with a solid clang, leaving him lying
there, shivering on the stone floor.
Pulling himself back from the past, Duo raised his head and
inhaled, trying to get rid of the tension that pervaded his
slender body. There was so much he couldn't remember. Why he had
been at Bitterroot, what had happened there and why was he the
only one to survive? The Emperor himself had asked him those
questions, but there was just a black void where there should
have been memories.
A sudden quiet in the night caught his attention. Even the
bubbling fountains were oddly hushed. Then the wandering breeze
carried a sound to him. It sounded like crying.
Still clad only in his shorts, Duo agilely hopped down from the
window into the willow tree. Its bark was smooth under his bare
feet as he climbed down to the cool dew-dampened grass. He
silently made his way across the lawn and into the hushed
moonlit gardens.
On the other side of the gardens was the north wing of the
Palace. He stole over to the wing, trying to locate the source
of the crying. It almost sounded like a little girl. When he was
about to try to sneak into the wing without attracting the
guards' notice, a slight movement caught his eye. He froze,
studying the still figure. With a thrill of recognition, he saw
it was Middie.
She was standing under one of the spreading oak trees, the
shadow- dappled moonlight playing across her skin and soft blue
dress. A happy grin stretched across his lips as he stealthily
made his way to her side. He knew that she had seen him, but she
didn't look at him; she kept staring at the wing in the
moonlight, a small frown marring her delicate features.
"Middie, what brings you out here?" he asked in a low voice as he
stood by her side, while also looking up at that the Palace. Her
waist-length hair was loose and the slight breeze played with her
tresses. Her large, clear eyes held a hint of sadness.
"Hello Duo," she greeted him, her voice soft and musical. She
turned and looked at him, raising an eyebrow at his undressed
state. He caught the look and grinned unashamedly back, his
violet eyes sparkling cheerfully under his long bangs. She
turned back to study the Palace again.
"What are you doing out here this late at night?" she asked.
Middie was always interested in his activities.
"I couldn't sleep," he shrugged. Seeing her skeptical glance he
crossed his arms across his bare chest. "I heard a noise," he
admitted.
She nodded. He listened intently, and heard it again, louder now.
"It sounds like someone's crying," he commented.
"The girls are crying," Middie answered. "They have been bringing
them to the Palace for about two months now. Soon, they will
start their training."
"Training?" he asked, puzzled.
"To be Mord-Sith," she answered, a hint of anguish in her voice.
Duo frowned. He liked Middie and didn't want to see her hurt.
There was something about the tall woman that had always
affected the young Confessor. Middie carried an aura of peace
and calm; a subtle power burned steadily beneath her quiet
exterior. Whenever Duo was near her, he felt his fears and
worries easing. Middie's presence was like a sanctuary from the
madness that pervaded his life.
She was the one person in the Palace who he could truly call a
friend. Middie seemed to understand his every thought and
feeling. She was the first person he could remember that showed
him kindness, in a lifetime of running and hiding. She was the
only person he could recall who truly cared about him since he
woke up in the Palace of Light. And, because of her; he had
agreed to subject himself to daily torture.
Having fallen into a light sleep, he had been lying on his
stomach in the cell where Une and the guards had left him,
forehead pillowed on his arm. The clang of the door being
unlocked brought him to semi- consciousness, but not enough to
make him move. At the sound of footsteps approaching, he tensed
up; Duo knew that he was going to be punished for what he had
done to the Mord-Sith. He prepared to strike at the first sign
of abuse.
He couldn't stop himself from flinching as he felt a hand on his
back. But the hand did not punish, it stroked his braid and
gently massaged the bruised muscles. Finally, convinced that he
wasn't going to be hurt by this person, he raised his head and
opened his eyes.
He looked up into Middie's large eyes. They were wet, though why
she was crying he couldn't fathom. She must have seen the
puzzlement in his violet eyes, and smiled.
"Do not fear me, child. I will not harm you," she told him, and
somehow he believed her.
"Who are you?" he whispered, his voice hoarse.
A half-grin tugged at her lips. "I am Middie, a friend." She
helped him sit up, bracing his back against the cold stonewall
of the cell.
They studied each other for a long moment. Duo studied her large,
clear eyes and something told him he could believe her. He
nodded, accepting her word. "Why I am here?" he asked, wincing
at his sore, dry throat.
"Do you remember what you are?" she asked in return. She reached
behind her and produced a blanket to wrap around him, which he
took gratefully.
He took a deep breath and exhaled, without thinking he said "The
bringer of death."
At her surprised look, he knew that was wrong. It was, but it
wasn't. He knew that he had been called that, but from Middie's
reaction it wasn't what she had meant. He searched through his
broken memories and a word surfaced.
"I'm a Confessor." That was what his kind was called if he
remembered correctly.
She smiled and nodded. "Yes, you are. Do you remember what
happened to you?" she prodded gently.
His violet eyes wandered off to the left as he sought the
memories in vain. He shook his head, wincing at the pain that
flared with the movement.
Seeing the pain in his eyes, her smile faded and a worried
expression replaced it.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" she asked in a soft voice, brushing the
bangs out of his eyes.
"Yeah, but only if I think too hard," he joked, grinning his
familiar roguish grin, trying to charm the young woman in front
of him. She saw right through him though.
"Because of what you are, a healer can't help you. No one can
make the pain go away. You have to learn to bear it. Can you do
that?" Her clear eyes bored into his violet ones. He knew she
was trying to get him to agree to something, but he wasn't
really sure what.
"I guess so, if there's no choice," he shrugged. The prospect of
going through life with a raging headache didn't seem all that
appealing; but it was better than the alternative.
"Duo, I am serious. Can you learn to bear the pain and go on
living?" her face was very earnest as she leaned forward,
studying his eyes in the detached manner of a professional.
"Umm, Middie could you just spell it out, because I'm not
thinking real clear here," he said plaintively as another twinge
caused his vision to blur.
"You have to learn to bear the pain, because what's wrong with
you won't go away. Une can help if you let her."
"Une? The Mord-Sith?" he felt like he was lost in a thick mist,
unable to follow where she was going.
"Yes, she can teach you how to tolerate the pain. Will you let
her, without striking back?"
Duo thought about it. "Will she do to me what Sylvia did?" He
studied the tall woman's eyes, unease coiling in his stomach.
Middie didn't beat around the bush. "Yes, and more. Duo, you
can't be healed, but if you don't let Une teach you to bear the
pain, it will continue to grow until you go mad."
The braided Confessor shuddered, from the cold or the dire
implications he couldn't tell. It never once occurred to him that
she could be lying. He knew with rock-solid certainty that she
wasn't.
"Is that my choice? Torture or madness?" He bit his lip, trying
to find the courage to give her the answer she clearly wanted.
He took refuge in a feeble joke, "Gives new meaning to saying
between a rock and a hard place." He drew in a shaky breath.
She didn't say anything, just sat there on her heels, brushing
his hair with her soft fingertips. Her lips quirked in a
sympathetic smile at his black humor. She waited patiently for
him to make up his mind; the boy had a hard decision to make.
Finally, with a seriousness that was totally out of character for
him, he asked in a wistful voice "Will you be there?" He wanted
to add `with me?' She sensed it anyway.
"Of course, young one. You had the courage to make difficult
decisions in the past. You still have that courage. You know the
way you must go. Trust your feelings."
The warm hand on his forehead was soothing. He started to drift
off again. It wasn't until later that he realized that she had
known his name. Which was odd, because he hadn't remembered it
himself until after his training with Une had started.
Une knew about pain. She understood how to give it. As she taught
Duo how to bear it, it never occurred to Duo to wonder how she
knew so much about it.
Duo frowned. "How will they be trained?" he asked the tall woman
standing next to him in the quiet garden. He had no idea how
these fierce, violently psychopathic women came to work for Odin
Lowe.
"Every couple of years, all of Golgatha is searched for a
specific type of young girl. They look for the most gentle, kind
and compassionate girls they can find. Do you know why?" she
asked him and he shook his head in a negative reply, his braid
swishing down his bare back.
"Because from the deepest caring comes the deepest cruelty. To
this end they are trained. During their training, they are
broken three times."
"Three times?" he echoed in disbelief, still staring at the
Palace.
She smiled bitterly. "Yes, three times. The first time is to
break their spirit. That was what Sylvia was trying to do to
you. The Mord-Sith teaches a girl in training that she is
entirely dependent on her trainer. If the girl does something
wrong, she is disciplined by the Agiel. You yourself know how
much pain the Agiel can give." Duo nodded. He knew very well
what that innocent-looking red rod could do.
"The second breaking is to break their empathy. The child must
watch her trainer break her mother. The trainer tortures the
mother until she dies. Then the girl is broken a third time.
While under the
trainer's guidance she must break her father. She must keep
hurting him until she kills him. This is to get the girl over
her fear of hurting others, to make her enjoy giving pain."
Duo was stunned and sickened. Never in his life could he imagine
such cruelty. Middie sensed his revulsion. "Everything that was
done to you was nothing compared to what will be done to these
girls. It was done to Une, Dorothy, Mariemiea and even to Sylvia.
You could defend yourself, they can't."
"We have to get them out of there," he decided, keeping his voice
low.
"How?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow.
"I know the layout of the north wing. I know how to avoid the
guards, but even if they give us trouble, well then, I can always
Touch them." He wasn't too thrilled with that possibility
though. He would do it if he had to, but only if he had to.
Some time ago, he had explored the North wing. But it had been
like all the other wings except for a series of small, cell-like
rooms in the basement. At the time he had no idea of their
purpose. Then the Emperor had commanded his presence at Kunark
and Duo had forgotten about the whole thing.
"What would you do with the girls, Duo? Do you think the Emperor
would just let you go with his new Mord-Sith? Not to mention
yourself. As long as you are of use to him, you stay alive. But
if you willfully disobey him, or go against his wishes, he would
in all likelihood have you destroyed," she said, playing the
devil's advocate.
"Screw Odin Lowe," he declared. "I'm not afraid of him and I can
defend myself just fine. Even though he's an Emperor, he's just a
human being."
"That's the point, he is The Emperor. He can do this, and he has
done it before and will do it again. Duo, please, think about
what you are proposing. Even if you were successful in taking
the children away from here, where would you go?" she pointed
out.
He thought about it. Where would he go? To the south, both Kunark
and Faydwer were both under Odin Lowe's rule. Obviously, staying
in Golgatha was out. That left the Midlands and Oz. And that
meant Treize. To the east was the Desert of Ro, and to the west
was the black ocean, Timorous Deep. Middie was right, there was
no place to go.
"Dammit," he swore softly. There had to be a way to save these
children. Middie looked at him sympathetically.
"They are not lost yet, Duo. If we keep alert, there may be some
way of saving them. But we can't do that if we just jump in
without a plan. We must think things through." Duo nodded in
agreement, rubbing absently at his forehead.
"Another thing, never again mention using your power against the
Emperor. There is a delicate balance between the power of the
Throne, the Emperor and the people. If you were to disrupt that
balance, the whole of Golgotha would be thrown into chaos."
"I don't understand," he complained irritably, missing the
concerned look she gave him.
"Its complicated, child." She always called him that, even though
she didn't look much older than him. "It has to do with an
ancient bond between the Emperor and the people of Golgatha. The
Throne of the Empire draws magic from the people. The Emperor
wields that magic to defend the people from harm. If you
eliminate the Emperor with your power, the people are left
unprotected."
"Can't someone else be Emperor?" Duo asked, massaging his
temples.
"Only the direct male descendants of the first Emperor can wield
the power of the Throne. Only a son of Odin Lowe could replace
him."
Duo closed his eyes, trying to think. "And the Emperor doesn't
have a son, does he?"
Middie didn't answer, instead she was staring at him, worry now
very evident in her eyes.
Duo felt the warning tingle behind his eyes. `Oh, please, not
now,' he silently begged. Middie, sensing that he was about to
have another episode, grasped his arm.
"Come on, I'll take you back to your room." She tugged him back
in the direction of his quarters.
"Can you please get Une?" He gritted his teeth as the pain began
to spread from behind his eyes throughout his skull. By the time
they reached the foot of the willow tree, he was desperately
fighting the nausea that heralded another episode.
"Can you reach your room?" Middie asked, concern in her
voice.
He gave her a wan smile and said in a cocky, albeit weak voice.
"Yeah, no problem. I can handle this. Une trained me well." One
of the first lessons Une had taught him was never, but never,
show weakness. Not even to Middie would he admit how scared he
was of what was happening to him.
Gingerly, he grasped the lowest limb and pulled himself up. He
steadied himself on the branch, and then started climbing.
Experience told him that if he didn't hurry, soon he would be
unable to continue. Clenching his jaw, he forced himself to
hurry. Finally he was level with his window. With a burst of
determination, he jumped the gap to the window ledge. Falling
into the room, he lay there, breathing heavily as the pain
continued to grow.
Scrambling to his hands and knees, he crawled to the small pot in
the corner and emptied his stomach of dinner. After he had
thrown up everything, he staggered to his bed and collapsed.
The door opened, allowing a sliver of light to illuminate the
room.
He hastily scrunched his eyes shut; the light caused white
streaks of pain in his skull.
"Une?" he rasped, clutching his temples. The tall Mord-Sith
stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her. She was
dressed in brown leather instead of her red, indicating she was
not expecting to spill blood that night. The ever-present Agiel
dangled from the wrist of her armored glove.
"Maxwell, I was told you need me," she stated unemotionally.
They had been through this before. Any of the other Mord-Sith
could have done this, but Duo allowed only Une to do it. He
trusted only her.
"Une, help me," he begged, tears beginning to stream down his
cheeks.
"Very well, get ready," she ordered, flipping her Agiel into her
fist.
He felt around on the night stand. Taking a strip of cloth he
opened his jaws and bit down on it, tying the ends around the
back of his head to form a gag. He didn't want to wake the
Palace with what was coming.
Shaking, he knelt on the bed with his back to the Mord-Sith. He
felt her armored glove grasp his braid to steady his head. He
braced
himself as she touched the Agiel to the base of his skull. No
matter how many times he had done this, no matter how much he
thought he was prepared for the pain, it never failed to take
him by surprise.
There was an explosion through the pain in his head. Une's grip
on the braid held him upright as the shock consumed him in a
mixture of fire and ice. For a brief moment, he couldn't move,
breathe or cry out. Then his mind was flooded with red, now he
could scream. The
gag caught the shriek, muffling it. Arching his back, with Une's
hand steadying him, he screamed until he could no longer utter a
sound. He screamed until there was nothing left to scream with.
He screamed his heart out.
Then blackness boiled up through the red and Duo fell limp on the
bed.
Une removed the Agiel, letting it dangle once more from the chain
at her wrist. With surprisingly gentle hands, she untied the
gag, brushing the stray wisps of hair from his face. Then she
drew the covers up over his still-trembling body.
For a brief moment she studied the unconscious boy. Then, with
one last look around the room, she turned and exited, leaving
the moonlight to watch over the still figure on the bed.
As Une shut the door to the young Confessor's quarters, she
`received' Odin's summons. Walking with her usual determined
stride, her boot heels striking the marble tiles like mallets,
she made her way to the Emperor's private quarters. Dorothy was
on duty, she noted.
As she entered, she noted that Odin was dressed in his night robe
and slippers, sitting at his large desk. A rustle in the
bedchamber alerted her to two guards dragging a battered corpse
out of the room. Une recognized one of the princesses from
Kunark.
"Une, good to see you. I want you to answer some questions." Odin
Lowe smiled at her. As always that smile made her want to take a
step back. There was something wrong with it. Maybe it was that
he showed too many teeth, or maybe it was the fact that the
smile never reached that sun-on-steel cobalt gaze. But she never
let her feelings show. They remained buried under a thick layer
of ice and years of training.
"Yes, my lord," she replied automatically.
"When will the Confessor be ready to go to Oz?" His piercing gaze
never left her face. He was studying her every reaction.
If Une was surprised by the question she never showed it. She
never showed any emotion. Instead she replied in those same icy
monotones. "My lord, he had another episode tonight. That's five
in the past three months. Physically he's fine; mentally it's
just a matter of time before his mind collapses completely. If
you want him to take Oz, it will have to be quickly," she
finished.
Odin Lowe nodded, turning away from her. "I thought that was the
case. The army is still in Faydwer, however. And as much as I
would like it to, armies just can't move fast." He sounded
annoyed.
He drew in a breath, and huffed it out, running a hand through
his thick silvering hair. Then he was struck with a thought.
"Did you have any luck finding out what he knows about what
happened at Bitterroot?"
"No, my lord. I think those memories are locked away in Maxwell's
mind. There's no way to get them out without destroying him
completely."
"Ok," the Emperor accepted Une's word. He knew that if she were
lying, he would find out about it eventually; she understood that
too.
Une wondered what Odin Lowe was now plotting. She was usually
privy to his plans, but he was playing this one close to the
vest. She knew better than to pry, she had been whipped before
for less.
"I want to take over Oz and the Midlands soon, Une." He
straightened up, stretching his muscular frame. He was still in
excellent physical condition. Odin believed in keeping his mind
and body in top shape. He practiced daily with his sword to keep
his reflexes sharp; and to keep his mind equally sharp he worked
to conquer his enemies.
"What if Treize uses that weapon against you again?" Une asked in
a carefully neutral tone.
Odin Lowe looked thoughtful. His cobalt eyes studied the map on
the table in front of him.
"That's why we have to find out what that Confessor knows. It
would be so much easier if I could just get into his mind." Odin
had tried several times to enter the braided young man's mind,
but had yet to even scratch the surface, let alone penetrate the
thick, white barriers of Wild Magic that protected the
Confessor. "I'll
give you a little more time to get the information out of him. I
don't have to remind you what will happen if you fail, do I?" he
finished with a smile that reminded Une of a direwolf when it
was getting ready to tear apart a fawn.
"No, my lord," she saluted and turned at his nod of dismissal. As
she strode out, she passed a new set of guards escorting in
another one of Kunark's daughters. Seeing her already weeping in
fear, Une gave her about a month. The Emperor preferred his toys
to struggle, delighting in breaking their spirits as well as
their bodies. She would be nothing more than a source of release
to him, that's all.
It wasn't like the princess had a chance anyway. As soon as she
became pregnant, she was dead. Odin Lowe was very thorough in
making
sure that he didn't sire a child.
Une made her way back to her quarters and began striping off her
leather uniform. She changed into a night shift, making sure her
leather was at her fingertips if she got called to the Emperor
again. As she unbraided her long brown hair, she considered her
orders.
Maxwell was remembering slowly, but he was remembering. However,
it didn't appear that it would be fast enough to save either of
them though. Odin Lowe did not look favorably on those who
failed him. Une understood: if she didn't get the information
from Maxwell, she would pay dearly.
But the more he remembered, the stronger his headaches became.
She wondered what would happen if he remembered everything. Une
had been speaking the truth when she told Odin that she feared
Duo's mind would collapse. For the first time in a long while,
Une was worried about the future.
She knew time was running out for both of them.
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