Dragonborn

SIX

Eight men were kneeling in front of me, bound and gagged and glaring furiously. I returned the glare with one of my own and watched in satisfaction as they all flinched. Only one remained defiant, struggling against my guard's hold. "He'll do," I whispered to myself. "Tie him to a chair."

I took off my coat, leaving me in a white tunic as I waited for them to finish tying up my soon-to-be example of why it's a bad idea to disobey a law. I rolled my sleeve, pulling out a knife in my boots.

"It's done, your highness."

"Leave us." I cut off their protest before it was voiced. "I'll be fine. Go with Ser Harwin and free those kids."

They left reluctantly and I locked the door behind them, leaving me with eight prisoners and a dozen corpses lining up the wall. I can't say I'm happy with what I'll do but I'm also not that distraught over what's going to happen next. This world got my moral compass all screwed up and I don't even care.

Whatever, I guess. It's not like I'm gonna start hacking someone to pieces if the mood strikes me. The only hacking that'll happen will be to these men.

I twirled the knife between my fingers - the nicks and scars were a small sacrifice just for the sheer awesomeness of doing this trick without losing my fingers - and sauntered over. I took off his gag and said, "Hello."

"You fuckin' bitch-umph! Hmmph!"

"What a foul-mouthed person." I tsked, stuffing back his gag. "Now, I'm going to take off your gag and the only sound that'll come out of your filthy mouth is the answers to my questions, clear?" The or else was implied and I'm glad he's smart enough to pick up on that. He glared but nodded nonetheless. "Good."

"Fuck yo - gaaahhhh!" His insult faded into a pained scream as I broke his index finger by slamming the pommel of my dagger on it. The sound jolted the other prisoners in the room.

"Did you know there are two hundred and six bones in a human body?" I asked in rhetoric. "Do you know what that meant? I wonder how many it'll take before you break."

"I won't bend to a woman!"

"We'll see. Who are you?"

"I'm the king of-" I broke another finger. He groaned, sweat beading on his forehead.

"Who are you?"

"Fuck you!"

I sighed. "You know, it'll be more pleasant for you if you just answer me." He just grunted, still glaring in defiance. Okay, then. "Look around you, I don't need you to get the information I want. So either you tell me the answers to my question or we'll find out just how many bones I will break before you'll be begging me for death." I promptly broke the remaining fingers in his right hand. His screams echoed in the room, drowning the whimpers of the others as they watched us. "Come on, it's not like I'm asking you to list every tenet of The Seven. It shouldn't be hard to answer my question."

"Please-" The crack of his wrist was drowned by his screams. "Davos!" He moaned as I grabbed the index finger of his left hand since his right was a total mess of broken bones and bent fingers. "What was that?"

"It- It's D-Davos Waters, your g-grace." He said.

"See? Not so bad, isn't it?"

"Please-"

"Ah, ah, ah. Answers to my questions only, Davos. I'll let this one go as a freebie because you're going to answer every question without being a smartass, right?"

He nodded frantically, tears and snot mixing as he let out a shaky 'yes'.

I patted his cheek. "Good boy."