"Do it."
The servant stood shaking, his hand holding the blade of the knife Noodok held to his neck. Blood dripped from his hand. The smell was intoxicating.
Kas stood uncertainly in the doorway.
Lux moved to protest.
"Noodok, I don't think this is..."
Noodok's eyes flashed with rage, and he growled with venom in his voice.
"I SAID DO IT."
Stunned slightly, Lux stepped forward and lay a hand on the man, chanting softly. His voice quavered slightly, unfamiliar with the harsh tone.
He was breaking many laws here, but the Mage would not speak of it. Blackmailed into breaking oaths, shame would prevent him from doing so. Kas would need to be handled.... manipulated possibly, or killed if required.... he glanced over to the man, formulating his plan.
Kas shifted uneasily in the doorway. This had not been what he was expecting, but he did not object. Noodok glanced at him confused for a moment. His face seemed to be slightly warped, the contours blurry... it seemed to be melting, dropping of him onto the ground, revealing flesh beneath.
He snapped back to his captive as Lux finished the truth spell.
"What do you know of Keltok?"
The servant shifted slightly.
"What do you mean? I met the man tonight."
Noodok shifted his tone deeper slightly, venom again softly ringing throughout his voice.
"You enslaved him."
"No, no I swear I didn't! I have no knowledge of his chains."
Dammit.
He had made a mistake.
He focussed again on Lux.
"Wipe his memory. Now."
He lowered the dagger from the man's throat. For a moment, he thought the Mage would object.... in which case he would be forced to kill everyone in the room. As the only one armed, he had little doubt that he would overpower them all easily.
Lux hesitated, but fortunately for himself, began another chant, slower this time.
He licked the blood from his blade when he was sure no-ones eyes were on him. It was warm... still fresh.
By the gods he was hungry, but now was not the time.
He sheathed the blade.
Confused, the servant stood still. He noticed the blood on his hand.
"My, it seems you slipped and passed out friend! Lux, please deal with this man's wounds."
He turned and walked out of the room.
Kas followed him, catching his shoulder in his hand.
"Noodok, What the hell was that?!"
For a second, Noodok considered severing the hand from its wrist, and then head from his shoulders. A man of lesser rank questioning him? How dare he.
But the screams would betray him.
Instead, he would need to handle this another way.
"Sometimes we need to bend rules for good reasons Kas. The general does not take well to failure. If you wish to be insubordinate, I can inform the general."
Kas nodded slowly, still processing. His face looked normal again... was magic at play?
He was clearly uncertain... a loose end. He would stall him for the moment, and then drag him into the river later. A drowned man would not tell anyone of his misdeeds, and he would have revenge for having been questioned.
"Go to Val. Tell him the servant is not involved. Speak nothing of this."
Shaken, Kas turned to leave.
Noodok watched trailing black smoke rise from each step Kas took.
The mists flickered and swirled around him... for a moment the soldier was cloaked entirely in the mists, and then he was gone.
Odd. He was no Mage, but Noodok would swear black and blue that he was seeing powerful magic at play. Something strange was happening at this feast. He glanced over to the feasting tent.
The lights of a classical fire dancer sparked trails in his vision.
He watched, as great black tendrils burst from the man's eyes and mouth, dancing with him, and they caught the staff and spun it around his head, seemingly defying physics with the ease with which the man twirled.
He blinked for a moment, unsure what he had just seen, but the man was now just a young boy again, bowing to an applauding crowd.
Lux. Why would he have refused? Why did he seem so uncertain?
He heard a voice whispering in the back of his mind, telling him truths he felt he had long known, things that he had to act on now. He didn't have time to leave it any longer.
The man was a traitor. Some sort of magic had been cast on him. It must have been Lux. That's why his vision was warping. What the hell had he done to Kas?
Anger flashed through him, the purest rage he had ever felt. He was going to tear open the fool who had crossed the Corps and feast on his entrails.
Through a gap in the forts entrance, he notice Lux arguing with Sanna and Iggy.
Was he enchanting them too?
In a jerking motion, his dagger fell into his hand from its sheathe, his knuckles white on the handle. He took a step forward, and paused. Something was nagging in his head, a soft voice arguing against himself.
He suppressed it and took another step.
A slight ache in his ribs made him pause again. His gut was roiling, shifting softly. For a moment, it felt like his ribs on the right side were cracking and shifting, but the pain was little more than dull ache. His vision was warping again, black tendrils rising from the corners of his sight.
Was... something inside him?
Slowly comprehension began to kick in.
The black crusade... the arrow. That's why his side hurt. How long had it festered? What day was it? When even had the crusade finished? It could have been yesterday, or years ago.
He realised he wasn't sure where he was, despite its familiarity... or why people were feasting.
He tried to will himself to sheathe the blade, but instead, his grip tensed, and he rose it slowly over his head. Black corded tendrils were rising to the surface on his arms... his arms? Where was his armour? His side hurt, but still he moved forward.
"Sanna..." he murmured it softly, attempting to resist the compulsion, but not quite able to warn them.
She glanced at him as he stumbled out the gate. Lux looked at him with alarm and glanced at the dagger. Their conversation halted suddenly, Iggy with confusion written over his face.
They had been arguing what to do about him.
He couldn't stop. He realised it now. Perhaps too late. The arrow he had taken in the black crusade... he had corrupted.
The moment he came to the conclusion, it hit him in a wave, as if anticipating his resistance. Completely unprepared for the corruptions overwhelming mental assault, it took control almost instantly, only his voice was his own, and even then, it was only tenuously so.
"SANNA, STOP ME!"
He lunged forward, plunging the dagger towards Lux's chest.
At last moment, a split second before impact, Iggy's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. The tip of the blade scratched a gash into Lux's robe, but didn't penetrate skin. Realising the state he was in, he began to shout, panicking at the loss of control. He was afraid now, attempting to battle his own body from within, but it wouldn't respond. It wasn't even his anymore. The most he could do was continue to yell, tears running down his face.
"SANNA STOP ME! STOP ME!"
Despite his resistance, all pretences of control was gone. Noodok lunged again slashing wildly but was pinned back by Iggy again, who had somehow managed to dodge the blade. Lux joined him, dodging backwards just in time as his jaw snapped shut around where Lux's neck had been. Blood filled his mouth from where he had caught his own tongue, and he savoured the taste.
Reacting quickly, Sanna slapped a hand into the side of his head, quickly mouthing ancient words. The last one he recognised, having heard it once before.
Sleep.
He fell to his knees as they let go of him, black tendrils now completely obscuring his vision.
A single thought broke the black haze momentarily before he collapsed.
Thank the gods... she had done it.
He passed out on Lux's boots.
(IMAGE SOURCE: velinov on deviantart)
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