CHAPTER 30 #2
“Now we can either do this the easy way or the hard way. I’m okay with the hard way after seeing what you and your friends did to my manor.”
The creature straightened its head and glared at him, displaying its razorblade teeth as its lips curled back in disgust. Suddenly, it let out an ear-piercing screech towards Zendryk; dark saliva flew from its mouth and hung dripping from its canines.
Although disgusted, Zendryk didn’t move an inch.
I had to give it to him; I would have at least taken a step back.
“The hard way it is then.” He nodded to Ulric, who turned a wooden wheel attached to the wall, and a chain began to wind around it.
I followed the chain's path and realized it led into the creature’s cell.
With each click of the wheel, the creature was pulled back towards the wall.
My brain started piecing things together.
They were going to pull it back, and as it tightened, the chain around its waist was going to dig into its stomach.
I covered my mouth at the thought, but immediately put my hand back down, not wanting the creature to recognize any of my fear.
The creature shrieked each time the chain clicked.
“Are you ready to talk?” Zendryk asked, motioning for Ulric to stop with a flick of his hand.
Can it talk? The creature said nothing. And he waved again for the wheel to turn. The Soulless was now pulled against the wall, with the chains starting to dig into its pale stomach, pinching and pulling at the loose skin, catching it between the links.
You talk to it.
Great time for the voice to show up. Hell no. I know when I’m not supposed to interfere.
Since when?
Its sarcasm was not lost on me. I swallowed and took a step out of the shadows away from the wall.
“You need to talk,” I said, hoping the words didn’t come out as scared as I felt.
Zendryk shot me a look, silently telling me to stay back, but I didn’t listen.
The creature swiveled its head to me in a serpentine fashion, and a wry smile plastered across its face.
“Ah… it's youuuuu.” Its voice was as piercing as its shriek, but it also had an air of struggle, as if it were trying to breathe underwater. “Soooo it …. is true.”
Everyone in the room was looking at me as the heat rushed to my face, wishing I could sink back into the shadows and hide away.
“What do you want me to ask it?” I looked to Zendryk, who seemed uncertain of what was happening.
“Ask why they are attacking us, and where they reside.” His eyes darted between me and the creature, watching the interaction closely.
“I dontttt…. Need herrrr … to relayyyy… your questions.” It jerked its head back to Zendryk, its black eyes blazing at him. “We seek ….. theee poooowwerrsss …. Within…”
“What powers?” He crossed his arms, frustration boiling to the surface.
The creature turned back to me.
“Do youuuu…. knowww what you areeee?” Its head clicked up and down in quick jerky movements.
Do I? I was not sure. I did not know how to proceed. I didn’t want to admit I had no idea what I was, but I also didn't want to be caught in whatever game it was playing.
“What do you know about me?” I hoped it wouldn’t catch on to my uneasy tone.
It tossed its head back, cracking bones as it did and…. Laughed? I would have preferred its screech compared to the laugh, if that's what you could call it, that was now bouncing off the walls around us, trapping us in its terror.
“Shhheee …. Does notttt…. Knowwwww.” It continued laughing at me.
“Know what?” I asked, frustration edging my words.
“Alllll … will come to light….. soooooonnn enouuughhhh.” It dropped its head as if it was too heavy to hold, its frail neck ready to snap at any moment.
He screeched and whipped its head towards Zendryk as he motioned to Ulric to turn the wheel; the skin that was caught in between the links of the chain tore, and black blood dribbled down its stomach.
“Enough with the games. Where do you reside?!” His calm demeanor was slowly giving way to anger, his tone growing harsh.
“Oouuutttt…. Thereeee…..” The words seemed harder for him to say with the tightness of the chain around his stomach. The wheel clicked and turned, and it let out another ear-piercing scream.
“Enough! Either answer or die a painful death.” Zendryk was done with this interaction. Enough with the games the creature was playing, dodging around every question that was asked.
It was trying to breathe but was struggling. “Beyond… the… noooorthernnn…. Border…..”
“We already know that.” His jaw tensed with the words.
The creature started to cackle its shrieking laugh, but the wheel turned in response, and this time a crack radiated through the cell. Bones. They’ve broken its bones. The cry from it curdled my blood.
“Where do you reside?! This is the last time I’m asking.” Zendryk said in a final warning to the now slumped-over creature.
The creature shifted, trying to ease the tension around its waist. He coughed, and blood dribbled from his mouth. The broken bones must have pierced something internally. If they don’t kill him, he will bleed out.
“Seeeeek… thheee … hannnndd “ it coughed and more black blood poured from its mouth “… thhhhhaaat … silllllenccccessss… breatttthhh...”
Another cough, and the blood was coming faster.
“The…. Answwerrrrr … liiiiessss… witttth… thhhheeee… onnnneee… whoooo… haltsssss... heartssss…”
The blood was now a waterfall, cascading into a pool on the ground, sizzling as it hit the cold stone floors.
The creature looked at me and smiled through the blood that now coated its teeth, “Hel…Hel…” It raised a hand, pointing towards me, “Hel… Helzál!” it yelled, then choked on the liquid gathering in its mouth.
Zendryk looked at me before walking into the cell, unsheathed his sword, and stabbed it right through the creature’s head.
In only moments, the creature went from talking to us to filling the cracks on the floor with its blood as it poured from the wound in its head.
I looked away, only to be met with another sight I was not sure was better.
I peered into the room at the end of the hall, and it was filled with different torture devices.
I walked over to the doorway and saw a wooden table with giant wheels and four shackles at each corner.
Accompanying the shackles were chains that were attached to a wheel at each end, like the wheel that had tortured the creature that was now lying on the floor behind me.
On the other side of the room was a chair, filled with spikes and shackles attached to the arms and legs.
Hung on the wall were various knives, swords, and other sharp items that I had never seen before.
My stomach dropped as Ulric walked over and blocked my view.
“Don’t look in there; nothing good ever comes from it.” He grabbed my shoulders and turned me away.
“Why do you need all that?!” I demanded.
Ulric looked at me like I was a child, but Zendryk was the one to answer. “Sometimes, just like with the creature, we need to encourage them to talk.”
“Encourage them?! Surely there’s a better way than torturing them. Why not offer them food or gold? Bribe them even!”
“You would think that would work, but many won’t give up information, even if they were starving on the streets.
Sometimes honor means more to people. We haven’t had to use that room in years; today was the first time anyone has seen the other side of a torture device in a century.
We always try to go a more peaceful route first, but when that fails, we need to have something to fall back on. ”
I was sickened at the thought of someone being tortured, screaming in that room just for information.
But I just helped with an interrogation, didn’t I?
That was what we just did to the creature, wasn’t it?
But … that was different…I think. I didn’t say anything else while we ascended the stairs back up to where the living were.