Chapter 54 – Prisoner

Jack felt something crack deep inside of him. His eyes shot open, and he let out a pained gasp. He clenched his chest, rolling over onto his back.

He stared inside himself at his core at the two drops of mana frantically bouncing around inside. They were bouncing around with an impressive speed as they slammed into the walls of his core cracking it again. Jack bore down on the two drops of mana, frantically trying to bring them under his control, fighting tooth and nail to bring them to a stop. He had been worried about this. He thought he was able to keep the drops of mana under control even while he slept, but that clearly was no longer the case.

Jack let out a sigh of relief as he stilled the two drops of mana in his core. He stared upwards at the ceiling of a rocky cave, taking stock of his body and his core. His body felt destroyed. He had no idea how many shockwaves the drops of mana had sent through his body, but it felt like a lot. Every movement hurt.

He traced the cracks along his core and grimaced. Looks like I won’t be using the shockwave technique thing anytime soon. His core looked to be barely holding on, he’d put it through too much pressure these past few days and was paying the price.

Jack continued to stare at the ceiling, trying to figure out where the hell he was. His hand drifted to his void sack for a health potion but it was missing. So was his armor. So was his daggers. His memory was messy at best. He hated this brain fog that always followed after a day of running wild. He could barely remember anything. Draugr, fighting someone, Hannah…

He felt something in his heart clench when he thought of her. A sad look in her eyes and a vague impression of angels.

What the hell happened? Jack wondered, pushing himself up off the ground to figure out where the hell he ended up this time.

He turned to look at a large muscular draugr, silver hair braided down his back, pitch black eyes drilling into him.

“He lives yet…” Onem said, a menacing smile returning to his face.

That’s right. I got my ass kicked. Jack remembered. Thoughts came flooding back to him. His inability to hurt the draugr, being toyed with, Hannah flying off with the angels, and Onem slamming his foot down on his head until he blacked out. Good times.

Jack continued to stare at Onem, his eyes falling to the woman beside him. Another draugr with wiry black hair and pitch-black eyes like Onem. She wrapped herself in a simple brown canvas dress. She sneered at Jack, baring rotten teeth at him.

Jack pushed off the ground and sprinted towards the only entrance he could make out in the cave-like room, a large crevice on the far side of the wall.

He immediately slammed into an invisible barrier. Jack looked down at a circle of runes that entrapped him. All glowing with an ominous black energy.

“Magic bullshit…” Jack groaned, wincing in pain as he rubbed his forehead. He dropped back to the ground in the middle of the circle and stared at his two new friends.

Onem had an amused look on his face. The draugr woman looked like she wanted to turn his insides into his outsides.

“Tell me-“ Onem started to say.

“Where are the Valkyrie hiding?” The woman spat, interrupting Onem and stepping close to the circle, staring down at Jack.

“The what?” Jack asked.

“The Valkyrie. The winged battle maidens the queen sent you here to rescue.” Onem said.

“So not angels… Got it. Yea, I’ve got no idea.” Jack shrugged, looking at his two captors.

The woman stared at him for a long moment, anger burning in her eyes. Then she turned to Onem, who gave her a small nod. She smiled.

She twirled her finger slowly, black shadow mana floating around the tips of her fingers. She pointed it at one of the runes that surrounded and trapped Jack. Her mana shot out towards it.

Jack fell to his back, gritting his teeth in pain. His veins bulged and turned a dreadful black, as every muscle in his body went taut. It felt like he was being pulled apart atom by atom.

“Enough.” Came Onem’s voice.

The pain stopped, disappearing as quickly as it came and Jack lay there gasping desperately for air. His eyes wandered over to the woman who was now cackling to herself. He was going to kill her first.

Jack hadn’t realized it, but his urges had subsided for a brief moment. He could think clearly. Turns out there was at least one bonus to having your head bashed in, really knocked out any urges he had.

Then they started torturing him, and those urges came rushing back. Now all he could think about was putting a knife through both of their skulls.

“Now that you know what’s in store for you if you lie to us… Answer Halldis. Where are the Valkyrie hiding?”

“No clue.” Jack said matter of fact.

Halldis started swirling the dark mana around her fingers again, prompting Jack to hold up a staying hand.

“Woahwoahwoah. I’m not lying here. You can believe me, torture always works on me. I suck at keeping secrets.”

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Halldis cast her spell again. The runes lit up, and Jack felt like he was being torn apart again. He wanted to scream, but he couldn’t unclench his teeth.

“We know the queen sent you here on a rescue mission to save her precious daughters.” Halldis howled.

“Listen.” Jack said, panting heavily, his thoughts growing foggy as thoughts of killing these two rampaged throughout his brain. “I seriously have no idea what the hell you’re talking about. No one tells me anything. I’m more of a go with the flow kinda guy.” He said, pushing himself back up to a seated position.

“Then why were you here? Why did you attack the labor camp? Why did your little friend set them free?” Onem asked, growing angry.

“We just wanted to see what you were up to, I guess?” Jack shrugged. “Hannah noticed you were guarding something, so we thought we would check it out for ourselves.”

Halldis started weaving the dark magic again and Jack braced himself for more pain, trying to shut down the parts of his mind that registered pain. It never really worked, but it would be nice if it did.

Onem held up another staying hand before Halldis could fuel more mana into the torture device.

“Are you saying that you came here unprovoked? On a whim?”

“Pretty much. Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

Onem’s face transformed from anger, to confusion, to shock in rapid succession.

“I don’t believe him…” Halldis hissed, mana still pooled in her hand.

“Neither do I.” Onem said matter of fact.

What followed was a fun little game called “Torture the guy who hasn’t been paying very much attention this whole time and doesn’t have any real tangible information.”

Jack didn’t enjoy the game at all.

“I say we just kill him.” Came Halldis' voice, she was staring down at a convulsing Jack. “He would clearly rather die than give up any information. I say we give him the death he so craves.”

“I’m telling you assholes… I don’t know anything.” Jack said for the twentieth time, the words coming out in a listless daze.

He wanted to tell them. He would tell them anything at this point. Being tortured sucked and he would have folded in seconds if he had any actual information. But he was genuinely clueless. They thought he was working for some Queen or something and was on the side of the Valkyries. They refused to believe it was just a dumb turn of fate that led Jack and Hannah here.

Even worse, they failed to grasp the concept that they were in a dungeon, that he had a quest to kill Gurthok. Any mention of it only served to enrage them further. Jack wasn’t sure what to make of that.

His brain raced for a solution to his problem, but between being tortured and his already wildly unstable mental, it was hard to focus on anything past killing these two assholes. He didn’t need to be a killer right now. He needed to be clever; he needed to think past this and figure a way out of it.

Every time he felt he was getting close to a solution, Halldis would cast her magic and tear Jack’s body and mind apart, and the killer would claw its way back up, only to find out it was completely useless. Jack was trapped. He was caged, and there was no killing his way out of this situation.

“No…” Onem said, stroking his chin as he stared down at Jack. “I’m sending him into the mines. Some time spent down there will give him plenty of time to remember something he may have… forgotten. Plus, I imagine his little friend will come to save him. I’m sure she will be far more helpful than he is.”

Stay away, came an errant wish. Don’t come find me. It’s my fault I’m in this mess.

Jack didn’t know who he was talking to, he just hoped anyone was listening and would tell Hannah to just abandon him. He got himself into this issue because he couldn’t control himself. Jack knew Hannah would be mounting a rescue mission. He didn’t want her to.

His thoughts flashed again to the angry and hurt Hannah, who was screaming at him across the battlefield, desperate to bring him back to reality. He had let her down. He couldn’t let her get killed. Jack had to find a way out of this on his own.

Another red eyed draugr entered the room, one of the thralls. It was holding a pair of manacles.

“Chain him.” Onem commanded.

The draugr walked up to the circle, paused for a brief second, and then stepped inside.

Jack was on his feet in seconds, pushing down all the pain as his body moved with a will of his own. He couldn’t stop himself. He didn’t want to stop himself.

Jack had to kill something, or he was going to go crazy.

Jack was on the draugr’s back, arms wrapped around its neck, squeezing tight as he pulled upward with every ounce of strength he had. He felt the dead leathery skin start to tear as the draugr frantically clawed at his arms.

Halldis poured her magic into the torture device. But not before Jack ripped off the draugr’s head.

She let Jack writhe in pain for far longer than any time before. The edges of his vision went black as his body ripped itself apart.

She stopped as two feet stepped up beside Jack’s head. He watched as Onem bent down to pick up the manacles.

Don’t attack him, came an errant thought.

Jack spun himself on the ground, swinging his legs at Onem’s ankles in hopes of knocking him down. His shin slammed into Onem’s leg, which he had encased in black shadow magic. Jack winced in pain. It felt like kicking a steel pole.

Onem clasped the manacles onto Jack’s legs. Jack felt a wave of relaxation wash over him. Weird.

“The manacles will make you docile, subservient, even. I suggest you don’t fight it. The harder you fight, the stronger their enchantment becomes. They will also ensure you’re a… productive worker while down there.” He said. “Now go find the Taskmaster. He will find the perfect place for you down in the mines.”

Jack laid on his back. In pain. Not really listening.

Onem was right. Whatever was going on with these manacles seemed to dull every thought he had. More importantly. The urge to kill had all but subsided. His thoughts were slow to come, but they were his thoughts now. Go find the taskmaster, he mused to himself.

Jack pushed himself up off the ground, staring at Onem and Halldis, who both had a curious grin on their faces.

Then the manacles around his ankles started to burn.

“What the hell?” Jack asked, staring down at his chained-up feet.

“I gave you an order. I suggest you follow it before things get worse.” Onem smiled. Jacks’ eyes went wide as spikes of pain started to radiate in his legs. He took a tentative step out of the circle of runes, unsure if the barrier was still active. He stepped on the other side and then ran to the crevice. The pain in his body was growing worse by the second and he stared down at the manacles which were radiating an ominous black energy.

Jack could hear the cackling as he squeezed through the crevice and into the hallways of the mine. He didn’t know which way to go, so he picked a direction that seemed to slope downwards and ran.

He had to find the taskmaster fast.