Rise Of The Forgotten: Paths Cross

CHAPTER ELEVEN PRINCESS OF ANIMALS

Kira was dragged into a room and thrown into a chair, the knights that had dragged her from the tavern unshackled her hands and shackled her to the table that sat in front of her. Kira snarled at the knights showing her small tusks. The knight that stood behind her grabbed her head and slammed it onto the table; Kira let out a small yelp of pain. "Do that again you little monster and I'll rip your jaw from your disgusting head!" the knight said as he pressed his helmet into her head. The viser of the knight's helmet pierced the side of Kira's head cutting her. She grunted and tried to push back on the knight's hand as he held her down, but to no avail, the knight didn't budge. "That will be enough from you." A deep voice echoed through the room, the knights snapped to attention with lightning speed. Ruffgaurd entered slowly, each step he took sent a ripple of force through his armor. Ruffgaurd dragged a chair from the wall and placed it parallel to Kira on the other side of the table. Ruffgaurd snapped his fingers and the two knights exited the room and shut the door behind them. Ruffgaurd walked over to the shelf and pulled a box from the bottom. He placed it in front of Kira, she looked at it as Ruffgaurd continued to walk around the room grabbing things and setting them on the table. The box was a light-colored wood, with dark iron hinges. Across the top of it was inscribed "Through pain, your sins will be cleansed." This seemed familiar as if it had been said to her all her life. But she couldn't place where she had heard it from. Ruffgaurd slammed his fist into the table, snapping Kira to his attention. She hadn't noticed the mass array of other boxes and bags Ruffgaurd had placed in front of her. "So tell me little Boarkar, why are you this far north of your lands?" Ruffgaurd said as he sat down in the chair and interlocked his hands. The groans erupted from the chair under the weight of Ruffgaurd and his armor. Kira remained quiet. Ruffgaurd smirked, "I know you won't tell me what I want out of the kindness of your heart. But how long I wonder, will you last before you begin to spill every detail of your journey here?" Kira maintained eye contact with Ruffgaurd as a trapped predator would with a hunter that had cornered it. Her nose held high and the tips of her tusk peared out from her mouth. Ruffgaurd remained still just like a hunter watching his prey, his one eye stayed locked onto Kira never moving. Silence hung in the air, the only sound that passed through the room were the muffled sounds of the knights walking up and down the halls. Ruffgaurd undid his hands and began to tap his right index finger. The rhythm of his taping would periodically become sporadic and tap out of rhythm. Kira remained still. Moments became minutes and before long a full hour had passed. Ruffgaurd still tapped away with his index finger; neither one ever moved or broke eye contact. The scar on Ruffgaurd's face caused Kira to think about her father and what he would be doing at that moment. Most likely sending word to the other clans to meet at the falls of their ancestors. Beautiful waterfalls that filled pools along the base of the falls. Ruffgaurd coughed, snapping Kira's gaze to his hands. "Forgive me I hadn't had the time to have lunch due to-" Ruffgaurd gestured with his hand "you and your disgusting presents." Kira curled her nose at him. Ruffgaurd stood up and walked over to the side table that sat beside the door. He poured a drink and drank it as he walked over to Kira, he stood beside her. Kira cut her eyes at him and Ruffgaurd smiled and poured his drink over her head. The water ran down her face and hair. She turned her eye forward and raised her hand to wipe her face; when she did Ruffgaurd slammed her face into the table. He snatched her by her hair and pulled a knife from his belt. Ruffgaurd pressed it to her face now covered in blood streaming from her nose. "If you thought I was a patient man, you are wrong, and trust me when I say this any and all stories you have heard about me are true and I will do everything I need to." Ruffgaurd pulled tightly on Kira's hair and began cutting it with his knife. Kira pulled away from him, tightened his grip, and pulled harder. She let out a grunt of pain, Ruffgaurd laughed, "See you are already beginning to make sounds and I'm just trying to pass the time while I wait for our guest to arrive." Before long Kira's long thick hair now lay on the floor in piles. Her tears fell, mixing with the blood that stained her face. Ruffgaurd took his hand and whispered something into it. His hand began to glow brightly, and Kira felt the heat coming off of it. She flinched back and attempted to put her hands up in a defensive stance, but they were pulled back down by the chains on the shackles. Ruffgaurd turned his head to her, and through his twisted grin, he spoke, "Oh what's the matter afraid of the touch of the one most high? HA!" Ruffgaurd walked to the other side of the table and placed the knife he had used to cut Kira's hair into his brightly burning hand. "Don't worry, I would not waste such a prayer on the likes of you. I merely wish to cleanse my knife and hand from touching your disgusting head. I may need to visit a priest to ensure more protection." The knife sizzled in his hand, the glow began to dissipate. Ruffgaurd wiped the knife on the table and placed it back into his belt. A knock beat on the door, "Yes!" Asked Ruffgaurd, a muffled "The one you asked for is here sir." passed through the door. Ruffgaurd turned his head to Kira. Ruffgaurd called out, " Bring them in." The door opened and the tavern keeper from the Pinky Toe was pushed in, he stumbled and caught himself. Behind him, the knights pushed a woman holding a small child. The tavern keeper quickly wrapped his arms around the woman as she began to cry. Ruffgaurd flipped his hand at the knights who quickly shut the door. Ruffgaurd walked over to the three and pulled the small child from the woman's arms, neither the woman nor the man attempted to stop him. The child he held was a small boy, a mere age of three or four. The child didn't seem scared like his parents but curious. He looked around the room until Kira caught his eye. The boy seemed fixated on her, with every step Ruffgaurd took the boy would turn to be able to see Kira better. Ruffgaurd smirked at this, "The young boy isn't afraid?" he asked while turning to the boy's parents. The tavern keeper spoke up all while trying not to burst into tears, "No sir, we sing the praises and glory of Umar and the knights that protect it." Ruffgaurd nodded his head, "Oh you do?" He held the boy high into the air with both hands, and the parents gasped. Ruffgaurd slowly turned his head to them and grinned, " Then if you sing our praise, why did you allow the Boarkar whore to stay at your Tavern?" The feeling of dread flooded the room, both parents stopped moving and could barely be heard breathing. Kira's eyes widened and her heart sank with dread. She was willing to take any form of torture from her enemies but to witness others suffer due to her, she could not bear such a sight. Ruffgaurd turned to the boy who still held his eyes on Kira, Ruffgaurd then let the boy go from his hands. Kira's heart felt as if it had stopped, the boy's parents gasped. Time seemed to come to a halt. Before the boy had come parallel to the table Ruffgaurd caught him and did it again. The boy began to laugh and smile enjoying the moment unaware of the type of being that held him. The mother fainted and hit the floor with a thud, the tavern keeper fell to his knees and began begging, "Please sir please!" " I truly don't know how I could have missed what kind of creature she was!" the man crawled on his hands and knees over to Ruffgaurd, "I only ever saw her in a hood and I took no chance in trying to see what she looked like out of respect to her privacy." At that, Ruffgaurd snapped his head to the tavern Keeper, the boy he was holding began to fidget in his hands. Before long the boy started to fuss and cry, Kira noticed Ruffgaurd was increasing his grip on the boy. Tears poured from the boy, his face became a bright red and his cries increased filling the whole room. Kira's heart began to race, it felt as if it was going to break out of her chest. Ruffgaurd reached down and grabbed the tavern keeper off the ground with one hand and shoved the boy into his arms. The boy wrapped himself around his father tightly and began to calm down. Ruffgaurd peered into the man's eyes, "You showed respect to one of the many enemies Umar has?" The Tavern keeper nodded slowly. Ruffgaurd grabbed the boy's arm and snapped it. The boy let out a blood-piercing scream of pain and stopped breathing, his face turning a dark red and his lips a dark shade of purple. His arm hung backward at the elbow, and the bulge of the boy's bone could be seen pushing outward at the point of the brake. His father quickly began rubbing his head and trying to get him to breathe again. Kira burst out, " Blow into his face now hurry!" The tavern keeper did so but nothing happened. "AGAIN" Kira yelled. The Man did so two more times each time the boy would turn and slowly jerk around until the sound of his pain came bursting out, his color returning to a somewhat normal shade. The woman awoke to the screaming and saw what had befallen her young son. She rose and attempted to rush to her son but was grabbed by Ruffgaurd and lifted off the ground by her throat. Ruffgaurd turned to the Tavern keeper, "The break was a lesson for your son so he may keep his curiosity in check." The man grabbed at his son's head and tried to calm him down while holding him tightly to his chest. "And this is for showing an enemy of Umar respect." Ruffgaurd snapped the woman's neck and ushered a word that lit her a blaze. Kira's mind went blank, she couldn't fathom how someone would treat their people like this. How could any Kingdom allow such brutality for so small transgressions? Ruffgaurd walked over to the table and leaned directly into Kira's face almost pushing her out of the chair she sat in. "What's the matter, little princess? You don't like the sight of your enemies in pain and dying?" Kira began to panic. Ruffgaurd grabbed her head and said a prayer, " OH THOU WHO SITS HIGH GRANT ME THE SIGHT INTO MY ENEMY'S HEAD SO I MAY SHINE YOUR LIGHT UPON THEIR ILLINTENT!" Ruffgaurd's hand shined bright as he increased his grip on Kira's head. "Ah, I see you are seeking aid from the other clans. Yes, the Deadlands have begun to flow into yours. And your father oh yes I know him well. But what are you here for!" Ruffgaurd grabbed Kira's head with both hands and began to squeeze tightly. Kira let out a yell of pain, it felt as if he was going to crush her skull. The pressure continued, Kira started to hear popping sounds in her head, but the pain from whatever it was he was doing to her she felt this as well. As if he was cutting and crawling in her mind. "WHY ARE YOU HERE!" Ruffgaurd yelled out, "SHOW ME!" The Tavern keeper had fallen back to his knees and held his son tightly in his arms. The boy started crying again from the pain and the yelling. "Finally", snarled Ruffgaurd, "Yes I see now, you are looking for...FOR." "ORCHSHA?!" Ruffgaurd let go of Kira's head, she fell out of the chair only hanging from the table still shackled to it. Ruffgaurd wiped his hands and then collected himself. And slid back his thin white and grey hair and adjusted his armor. He walked over to the tavern keeper and his son and picked them both off the floor. Both were covered in tears and fear. Ruffgaurd pulled a piece of paper out from a pouch he had on his back right side and wrote something down on it. He placed the paper in the tavern keeper's hand and began escorting the man to the door, with a knock the door was opened. "Take that paper to one of my knights in the west wing he will give you money for the-" Ruffgaurd turned to the woman's chard body that lay on the floor and waved his hand, "Well that." Ruffgaurd then pushed the man and his son out the door and then slammed it shut. The muffled sounds of the boy crying could be heard as he was carried down the hall. Ruffagurd walked back over and as he did he stepped over the body as if it was nothing. He sat back down in front of Kira and began to tap his left index finger in the same rhythmic way he had done before. "I couldn't help but notice you were confused as to why I did the things I did to those people." Kira looked in him in the eye with anger and hate. Ruffgaurd continued, " The reason being was, I know what you are and how experiencing the pain and suffering of others would weaken your mind. You are Boarkar, you are trained to withstand pain and torture. But you. You aren't a normal one, you are a chosen cleric of one of your devilish deities." Kira broke eye contact and looked away. "I could have brought in a random villager from the street to weaken you, but this also allowed me to teach that idiot of a Tavernkeep a lesson as well." Kira looked back at Ruffgaurd with a both confused and worried look. Ruffgaurd only smiled with contempt.