After the two left, Gilliam was not looking forward to the upcoming event. He wanted to lie and claim that he had let someone know, but he had not been tortured properly for some information before and he didn’t know if he could keep the lie going through pain. He also didn’t want Cera or Rhyan to go through that.
Though, saying that they hadn’t informed anyone, as they stupidly didn’t do at the time, could also be bad as at that point these people wouldn’t need the group anymore and would probably kill them or use them for some fucked up experiments.
Wondering what to do had him get visibly nervous, he had been the super powerful mage kind of person for a while now, and now he was reduced to a torture-victim-to-be due to a fancy gem. He wasn’t entirely useless with a sword, but he had only trained with it a little, most of his swordsmanship with the broken blade came from the fact that it was magical. He had a way with magical objects, a mundane sword would still be a usable weapon but... most trained people would probably end him if he had zero magic to back him up.
Looking around the room he could see that Rhyan was handling this better, though as Ibela mentioned of torturing Gilliam it might just be that since it’s not happening to him, it’s easier to think properly. Cera looked scared as well but differently, it seemed that the trauma in her past was messing with her head.
Pondering what to do he started getting a bit desperate, walking around in his cell, trying to find ways to get out. Find anything to pick the lock with besides straw, there was nothing. And besides; looking at the locks across the room, the little he could see in the dim lighting, they were the old-style locks and not the tumbler-style he was used to in the modern world. This meant that the very limited knowledge he had about these kinds of locks might not even do much even if he had the tools.
After pondering like this for a while he noticed that the guard had fallen asleep with his book, Gilliam didn’t waste a moment in taking Savia out of his hair and lifting her towards his face.
She looked back at him extremely worried. “Savia be silent, Savia do good?” She whispered to him, and with her tiny voice it was barely hearable even at Gilliam’s short range.
Whispering as silently as he could, Gilliam had only one proper thought.
“Yes, you’re very good.” He felt the smallest of smiles curl the corner of his mouth in a strange pride at his familiar. She returned with a smile of her own at being complimented.
“Now, I need you to do something. Can you teleport me out of here? Anywhere, just out of here?” Gilliam requested.
She seemed to ponder and feel around a bit before she shook her head. “Teleport magic not working.”
Gilliam held back the urge to curse loudly and rather continued with the next step of his plan. “You see the tiny window above the man over there?” He turned around and pointed at the small slit above the sleeping guard.
She replied by nodding.
“I need you to go over there, crawl out that if you can and as soon as you can teleport, I need you to get some help. Anyone, everyone, anyone that doesn’t need magic to fight. And bring them here.” In desperation, he didn’t list anyone specifically, but in his mind, he imagined Kintas might do well if he dared go back to Albion.
“Who Savia get?” She asked the logical question with a tilted head.
Gilliam inhaled to reply but the door opened at that point, the sadist looked through and saw Gilliam speaking to a small creature in his hand, the back-lit hallway let the man easily see that he had something in his hand...
“Fuuuuck...” Gilliam commented as the man used a second to process.
Gilliam couldn’t let this happen, he stepped to the end of his cell and grabbed Savia in his hand like an object he was about to throw. “I’ll throw you, get ready!” He shouted into him before he stretched his hand out through the bars and threw her towards the window slit. At this moment her glee at being tossed normally was a very good tool, she seemed to focus and use her wings in addition to the throwing force to aim for the slit.
“Wake up! Catch that creature!” The sadist shouted at the guard, who promptly woke up and looked around.
Sadly the man was somewhat competent, and since there was only one flying creature in the room he seemed to understand what was going on enough. Savia did her best to fly around his attempts but after a few failed grabs the man managed to cup his hands around her, holding onto her as one would a sparrow.
“Fuck!” Gilliam shouted. But in the very next moment, the guard also let out a slur as his hands opened, Savia jumped out and took flight.
The man again reached out and grabbed her again with one hand, but this time he couldn’t hold on as it seemed that he pricked himself on her spine-barbs, again letting out a swear as he let her go.
This second moment gave her enough time to fly up and disappear into the air-slit, the man jumped onto the table, and pulling a dagger from his waist he stabbed and sliced after her in the slit, but the jerky and violent movement had the table loose balance, making the man fall and slam into the chair.
Gilliam was unsure if he had gotten her or not, their shared bond didn’t work in the anti-magic zone, but he couldn’t see any blood in the slit but he could see a shadow move around and disappear in the light.
Feeling immense satisfaction at her getting out, it was only a matter of time until she got far enough from the anti-magic area to be able to teleport, at that point it should hopefully be better.
Being jump-scared as the sadist slammed against Gilliam’s cell door their eyes met, and the man looked just as horrible as Gilliam expected a torturer to look. But in this case, he was furious.
“What the fuck was that?”
Gilliam wondered how to reply, he wanted to be snarky but that wouldn’t help his incoming torture. He could be honest but that would have them send someone after her, but at the same time, if she got out of the range of the antimagic then it wouldn’t matter.
“A small bird, it’s going to get help.” He smiled. Though he lied a little, it wasn’t entirely a lie. Savia could look and act like a little bird, hell her legs were even sparrow-like.
“The fuck it was.” The guard replied. “Look at my hand, it fucking burns.” He held up his hand and even at this distance, with the addition of the light from the hallway, Gilliam could see the puncture wounds in his hand which were already starting to swell and react to Savia’s venom.
“Oh, you’re gonna have a bad time.” Gilliam smiled at the guard. Though her venom was painful before, the years in the mana-rich Fractured lands, eating and living there, seemed to have improved it. He hadn’t seen it used on people but the Fracturians who volunteered to be tested on had... a bad time... They didn’t die but they strongly regretted trying it out.
“Well, it was a special bird.” Gilliam commented back as the guard started scratching the puncture wounds before pinching them and sucking on them, perhaps trying to get the venom out.
Yeah, he was going to have a bad time.
All of this gave Gilliam hope, looking at his companions they didn’t share this, at least not on their faces. But perhaps that might be because they didn’t know the people, as well as Gilliam, did, he just had to survive until then. Due to the urgency, he didn't get to explain to Savia who to go to, so it was all up to her special way of seeing things to find out who she would go find. Perhaps she’ll go get Kintas, or Nolis, though both of them would have problems in Albion. She might go to the guild master here in Albion, and explain the situation to her?
There was nothing he could do but wait, she was good at delivering pre-defined messages but she had never done anything like this before. Unless they could make it out and he could ping her over their bond, they were entirely up to who she could find and persuade on her own.
“Well, no matter. I’ll get my answers in time.” The sadist commented as he uncorked a vial and splashed it all into Gilliam’s cell. As the concoction came into contact with the air it started to give off a gas, and there was nothing Gilliam could do to get away from it before he blacked out.
He woke up, like before he was weak, disoriented and feeling generally like shit. Trying to move he quickly found that his arms, legs and waist were strapped down onto a table.
“Ah, finally awake.” The sadist’s voice commented in a much calmer tone than before.
Gilliam tried to wiggle free but, especially in his weaker state right now there was nothing he could do. The room was simple, well lit and had just one door. A table filled with various instruments, none looking clean, and a chair. Except this and the table he was strapped to the room was bare.
“Sooo... I don’t suppose we can avoid the torture part if I just answer honestly?” Gilliam commented honestly. He’d rather try and talk his way out of this and answer most things honestly rather than face torture. Hopefully, it could at least stall until Savia found help.
“Oh, no. I don’t think so. I feel that some incentive for honesty is the better way to go, so there is going to be at least some...” The man stepped properly over to the table with a rusty dagger in hand. “... discomfort.”
“No, I’m fine talking... I’ll even be hon-” Gilliam’s plea was instantly cut short as the dagger pierced his hand and embedded itself into the wooden table.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Gilliam’s screams and grunts of pain only furthered the man’s excitement, his sadistic glee didn’t fade from his face at all as he went through some more... incentives. A cut along the outside of Gilliam’s thigh, his left foot’s large toenail was removed with thongs, right hand’s pinky was crushed with a hammer, using several blows taking one bone at a time.
The process was spaced out enough that Gilliam got a moment to calm down and almost get some semblance of control of the pain before the next event happened. As sad as it was the man had considerable skill and knew exactly what he was doing.
“Now, as a little introductory taste, I think we can talk.” The man smiled as he supported himself on Gilliam’s chest as if he was leaning against a rock. “Let’s start with what the little creature you sent off was.”
Gilliam had a moment of inner crisis, he wanted to spill all the details, everything. Her name, what she was, what she was doing... everything. But he couldn’t be detailed, he needed to answer honestly but keep at least some detail.
“She... she’s my familiar.” Gilliam started, trying his best to regain control over his breathing as he did his best to push through the pain. “I sent her out to get help.”
“Oh, help you say? Who was she going to get?” The man eyed a knife almost as if he was inspecting that it wasn’t too clean.
“I don’t know. I didn’t get to tell her any specific names before you came in.” Breathing heavily but still somewhat rapidly, Gilliam told the truth.
“Well, she could fly but I doubt she’ll find her way to anyone of importance, we’re not on Fairviig anymore, after all.” He smiled.
Gilliam realised that he looked back confused, which seemed to be a good expression as the man’s smile grew larger.
“Now, what was your little friend? What did she do to the guard? He’s been twisting in pain for the last day and a half now.” His smile faded a little, but it grew again a second later. “I would love some of it for myself.”
This told Gilliam something important, at the very least it was a day and a half since Savia made off, and she still hadn’t returned, that was a bad sign... Teleporting to the Academy... or anywhere else for that matter, get aid and coming back shouldn’t take more than an hour at most. Kintas could probably be ready in five seconds. It also told him that if the gas worked this long, they had at least a day to move them, not considering if they re-gassed them to get them further away.
They could be anywhere by now.
The good thing is that since they were... somewhere else, this time didn’t feel weird for them for her to find her bearings and fly somewhere for aid. So they were far into somewhere weird then.
But what could be taking her this long? Was she captured and he either doesn’t know or just chose not to share? Did some creature get her? She always hated hunting birds like falcons just for that reason. Teleportation powers or not she was not on the top of the food chain.
“She’s special, she makes her own venom, I haven’t tested it on humans before but I don’t think it’ll kill them.” Gilliam answered honestly.
“Interesting, there aren’t any birds that I know of that can do that, so just what is she?” The man pushed right before he swiftly brought the dagger down and stabbed it into the table next to Gilliam.
It didn’t hit him but it absolutely sent a message.
“I... I honestly don’t know... She’s a small winged creature, I never got the time to find out just exactly what she was or where she comes from.” This was entirely honest for Gilliam, the times he considered this he was in the Fractured Lands, and there was a staggering lack of books there about Lisican fauna.
“Hmm... I suppose we can find out more later. Now, did you tell anyone about us?” He continued the interrogation, walking over to the table and picking up something, Gilliam couldn’t see as he was blocking view of it.
Gilliam again had a moment of crisis, should he fess up that they went straight from the other place to the new, in the speed of things not explaining things to anyone, or should he lie? If they knew they didn’t inform anyone then they didn’t need to fear and the value of their lives would plummet. If he lied and claimed that they did inform someone, that could at the very best put someone else in danger...
In the brief moment, he had before he had to answer he decided to try to lie. “We told the Guildmaster on the w-” Gilliam’s attempt at lying was brutally interrupted by the man turning around, bringing a hammer down on his shin, cracking bone, splitting skin and tearing muscle in the same movement as it was all crushed against the table.
The sound and shock of this, even before the pain came, would stick with Gilliam for quite a time. As the pain was properly registered it was all he could think of as he screamed out. He felt like passing out from the pain but to his annoyance, it never happened. It was unbearable and even though he felt that his strength had returned there was nothing he could do to get loose. His wrists and ankles chafed against the restraints, but short of gnawing his limbs off there was nothing he could do.
“You’re not good at lying.” He smiled as he took a few steps to stand beside Gilliam, supporting the hammer on his shoulder as if it were too heavy for him to carry normally. “I can also say that I’m good at telling.” His sadistic smile was present, but this time it also carried some extra joy.
Not that any of that mattered to Gilliam, he was still processing the pain of the shattered shinbone, adding that his movements moved his hand which was still nailed to the table didn’t make the situation any better.
“I think it’s about time you get to relax a little.” The man smiled at Gilliam. “We can’t have you pass out, or bleed out. I got what I need for now so you can have a little break.”
As he said this his hand slowly moved to the dagger that was stuck in the table, through Gilliam’s hand. “Oh, it seems it’s a bit stuck. I suppose we’ll have to wiggle it loose, then.”
Rocking the blade back and forth made the wound in his hand much worse, tearing the skin, opening the wound and rubbing the dirt into the wound more than before. Though he only rocked it a few seconds before pulling it out, it felt like hours to Gilliam, who could do nothing but scream.
Suddenly Gilliam felt a sharp blow to the side of his head, and the next thing he knew was him waking up back in his cell.
Opening his eyes slowly, there was nothing but pain. The tears never stopped, he was covered in sweat. The penetrations and cuts had coagulated but didn’t seem like they had been cleaned, so he was drenched in his own tears, sweat and blood.
He just looked at the ceiling for a solid several few minutes as he came to terms with his situation, he was angry, but at the moment he couldn’t even stand, let alone fight back.
Tilting his head slightly he saw that Cera and Rhyan still looked fine. Imprisoned but not tortured. If nothing else this gave him a slight solace that his companions hadn’t gone through this. Cera seemed to notice and looked back at Gilliam extremely worried.
However, Rhyan was the first who spoke.
“I... know this is the wrong words so forgive me but... How are you doing...?”
Gilliam knew what he meant, though he was clearly doing badly, Rhyan was worried and wanted to know more than what was just externally apparent.
“It’s my first time getting tortured... I can’t feel anything but pain.” His gaze returned to the ceiling as he tried to move as little as possible.
“What... what did they ask... What did you say?” Rhyan wondered with a worried tone.
“I answered what they wanted in the end... I tried to claim that we told someone about what we found but he saw through that right away... The only thing I didn’t say was... what Savia was... But that’s because I don’t know...” At the end of the sentence his voice broke as it all got too much for him, his vision blurred as tears started to build up and overflowed down his cheeks onto the stone floor.
Rhyan looked like he wanted to comment or reply, but couldn’t say anything. Cera just looked worried and was at a loss for words.
Through tears, but trying his best to steady his voice, Gilliam continued.
“If Savia’s help doesn’t come soon, I don’t know what’ll happen. I want to kill him so bad but there is nothing I can do like this...”
In Gilliam’s head, he couldn’t think of anything but the anger he felt towards the torturer, but also at Ibela who set this in motion. However, the pain he was currently feeling was so overwhelming that it was hard to even think of anything else.
He felt himself falling asleep, but almost as a torture of its own some muscle or something spasmed or moved just a bit, which sent a new jolt of pain through whatever part of his body he movies, which caused him even more psychological torture passively. He was feeling like shit and it was only getting worse.
Laying there, looking at the ceiling, he could in his peripheral vision see Rhyan trying his best to find a way out, Cera had joined him in trying to squeeze out or using her claws in the lock somehow, but both were failing. He saw that the guard wasn’t around, they might not have enough people or something, which could explain why the two others could do what they were doing.
In the end, Gilliam finally passed out.