When Saer tried to get up he tasted a stronger wave of energy. It hurt his back like he was being whipped by hundred people at once. Aftermath of the pain was a terrible fall which Saer was compelled to block by his face.

Saer spat blood and turned on his back. He saw a young man holding an iron club. The bloke raised it above his head with no good intentions.

He rolled sideway to avoid the contact. Saer heard the metal clang on the wooden floor. The club’s top had gone through the floor.

“Filthy low blood.” Maester Rudolph clenched his fist.

Saer felt his rib cage pressing against his lungs. The pressure limited inflation of his lungs and made breathing most painful task in Ouskerus.

“Braden.” Maester called.

While being suffocated, Saer waited for the pain in silence. And when the wave hit him from the back, he screamed hard.

“Rikilda.” Maester loosened his fist.

Saer hadn’t recovered from the agony of the last blow when another one came straight at his chest. He got hit by a more painful wave, which pushed him down to Braden’s feet.

You are not a Calajhan. Saer said to himself. Wernh’An’s eye was showing no interest in Braden.

He would have said it loud if he was laying there for long. But Maester elevated Saer upright. His loose body floated in air with just his toes touching the floor. Weightlessness made Saer vulnerable to everything imaginable.

Maester Rudolph spun him in Braden’s direction. Saer’s eyes pleaded to Braden for mercy, but it was Maester who decided what was to be done with the poser.

“Your turn, my lord.” Rudolph said.

An explosion happened near his face. Saer closed his eyes to take the suffering. The pain which came after it was similar to the one which Braden had put him through at first. But it was bearable, at least.

Once again, he lay on ground.

“Who sent you?” Rudolph said.

Saer was too stunned to answer him. Maester took his silence as Saer’s stubbornness instead so he made him upright again.

While getting lifted, Saer didn’t feel weightlessness like he had done before. His muscles and bones were keeping him vertical instead of Rudolph’s sorcery.

Diminishing Strength. Saer found it a hard way without being taught.

“You will make this spy answer, princess.” Maester faced him at Rikilda. Braden moved aside when Rikilda prepared herself for the attack.

“Use light wave.” Rudolph said, “This will harm his internal organs.”

Saer knew what Maester was trying to achieve, yet he fell in his trap. His heart leaped out of his chest just at the thought of the pain alone. Rikilda Calajhan had her arms stretched already and her fingertips were lit with orange light.

Counter this magic. Think. Saer breathed several times. Be something else….

He imagined himself as a prism when she released energy from her fingertips. The light passed through him causing no harm and when it came out, then it fragmented into colours of a rainbow. Most of all, it bent.

The light hit Braden and knocked him to unconsciousness.