Hallowed Damnation [#Wattys2016]

4

Salina groaned and moved to cup her pounding head in her hands, but the sharp cold bite of shackles on her wrists restricted her. She cursed as she lifted herself from the grimy floor she had been laying her face on.

Her jail cell was just like any other she has seen; dreary and probably below ground, dirty with the pungent smell of rat piss, two rows of cells with a hallway in between leading to a heavy door. She had been placed in the farthest one with her chains attached securely to a stone wall. There was very little light except for a few low hanging ceiling lights in the hallway.

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to remember how she got there. She recalled the strange men whom had wiped out her family, but then she fell unconscious after battling them. After that, it was all just spotty memories of the swaying motion of a ship and murmured conversations.

She cursed again, louder this time. If they took her here by way of ship then there was no telling how far she was from Scabbal. Escape would not be an easy option but she was not all too sure if there was any other.

"Good to see you conscious," a calm voice echoed slightly in the quiet dungeon.

Salina's eyes promptly changed as she scanned the room for the source of the voice. "Who's there?" she demanded while dropping to a defensive stance.

A maniacal laugh filled the dense air. "So that's why they took you."

Salina snapped her head toward a figure three cells in front of her. It was an older man sitting on the floor with his legs stretched out in front of him and his back against the wall. The metallic clinking sound as he laughed indicated that he was chained as well. What truly interested her was what she was especially able to see with her skill; his hands sparked with dozens of tiny lightning bolts.

She switched her eyes back and relaxed her stance. She now sat cross-legged and looked directly at the strange man staring at her with an excited glint in his eyes. "You're a tinkerer," she said. She observed him as he let out another cackle of glee.

"Ah! What a marvellously unique gift you have there," he said as he moved slowly to face her. "And I prefer the term creative genius if you don't mind."

Salina could see him clearly now that the light was reaching him better. His long graying dark hair was matted and in wild disarray while his thick beard was not any better off. The general length of him suggested that he was dwarfish and that he had a slight hunch. Although overall he looked disheveled and hopeless in his tattered rags, his face was anything but. His face had dirt smudged all over but his green eyes still sparkled with intellect and mischief. Salina swiftly concluded that he was insane and that she liked him already.

"Where are we?" she asked. She knew that the people who had taken her were definitely Archanian. No one in Armen was idiotic enough or powerful enough to do what they did. If she were to be taken anywhere, it would be to the heart of Archan.

"You are in Waxwing, my dear girl, the academic capital of Archan. I would welcome you, but I hate it here myself."

She smiled kindly at him. "What are you in for?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Probably the same reason as you. I didn't want to come peacefully," he said with a toothy grin. He jerkily hopped up on his feet and gave her a proper gentleman's bow. "Dr. Mugirith Navi, tinkerer and mad genius extraordinaire. You may call me Mugi for short."

Salina chuckled at the silly old man. She could imagine him causing all sorts of trouble for the very people whom had captured her. She offered a slight bow of her head to her new acquaintance. "My name is Salina Ironblood, mercenary by trade."

"Ironblood?" he said thoughtfully. "Of Armen's Brotherhood of Blades?"

Salina's smile dropped. She lowered her head and clenched her fists on her lap as she answered through gritted teeth, "Yes."

"They killed them all, didn't they?" His tone turned sombre as the pain of loss threatened to overwhelm her. It was not a question but she nodded all the same. "I know all too well the agony you feel and the rage it accompanies. I hope for your sake that you managed to kill at least one of those snooty bastards."

She lifted her head and smirked at him. "Several actually."

He laughed the mirth back in his voice. "Good girl."

"How do you know about the Brotherhood?" Salina asked in pure curiosity.

"I am much older than I seem," the Doctor replied with a cheeky grin. "I was there before the nations parted and the two continents were established. I lived happily in Armen before I was forced to relocate here with my kind."

Sorrow filled his eyes for a moment and made Salina think there was more to the story, but she did not pry. She knew that some things were best not spoken of in fear that it might crawl out of the hole you had worked so hard to bury it in.

"Did you know Cyrus Ironblood?" she asked in search of some comfort in his old tales.

The joy seeped back into his eyes as he recalled. "Yes, I knew him, but he was still a cheeky little brat at the time. He got into all sorts of mischief just like every boy his age. It was his father, Elizar, that I was acquainted with and I lost count how many times he scolded his son in my presence."

Salina smiled fondly as he told his story. She could hardly imagine stern and prideful Cyrus as a mischievous young boy. She was still smiling when the Doctor continued speaking.

"The Brotherhood of Blades, your family, is a proud institution. Some people think you're just a band of lawless individuals, but the truth is the opposite. You kept discipline and order even before The Disunion and you continue to be a symbol of power and mortal potential. To your kind, you represent a strength that can equal and even overcome ours."

His words warmed Salina but it was the genuine respect in his voice that she appreciated the most. He spoke the words as if the Brotherhood was still standing in all its glory. As if her being alive meant that what they stood for was still alive. She decided that he was right and she resolved to keep fighting for her life and for her fallen.

She could not help the yawn that escaped her mouth. Her own fatigue surprised her. The doctor chuckled as he slinked back against the wall and let the darkness shroud him again.

"You should get some rest. The worst is yet to come," he said softly.

Salina agreed and curled herself up on the freezing floor trying as best she could to get comfortable, but one more thought begged to be voiced. "What of your kind? What do we represent to you?"

He smiled sadly at her through the darkness as her eyes fluttered close. He did not agree with the simple truth that he said. "A threat."