The Fire Immortal-Book 5

Chapter 25

Here's the next chapter! I hope you guys like it! :D :D :D Please vote and comment for it and share it with your friends on wattpad, facebook, twitter etc. I hope you guys will continue to be loyal readers until the series is complete... because there will be about fifteen more chapters and an epilogue left. Hope you guys enjoy it! :D Picture of Troy and Dahlia on the side. :) 

Chapter 25

                      Dahlia lay limply on the floor of the hospital wing, her mouth burning from pain. It had been an hour, maybe two, since Varmer had shoved his knife into her mouth and made a vicious slice. Much to her surprise, after her tongue had been sliced out, Varmer had cauterized the wound; he had burned the end to prevent it from bleeding any more. Fortunately, the bleeding had stopped. Unfortunately, the makeshift operation that he had done had been without anaesthesia. Her mouth had been on fire... literally.

                      For the past hour or two, she had been drifting in and out of consciousness; it was much too painful to focus on anything else. Varmer had chained her up to one of the beds that, unsurprisingly, were bolted to the floor. She lay at an awkward angle with her arms chained above her head, her body half-twisted on the floor.

                      After Varmer had cut out her tongue, he had rounded on Tamarak and demanded to know all information that the latter knew about Arulan's army of rebels, Luna's plans and Troy. Tamarak, much to his credit, had not said a word. He had held his tongue through all the physical torture from Varmer and Leo; he had been punched, kicked and whipped, thankfully minus the poison that Dahlia had been whipped with her first time at Varmer's castle. Finally, in disgust, Varmer had chained him to another bedpost and left the two in the hospital, both of them barely conscious and suffering from serious wounds.

                     For Varmer had more pressing matters to worry about.

                     One of the random magicians in his army who was on stable duty had delivered a message to Alyce about the half-an-half monsters remaining in Varmer's army. They had tried desperately to escape about half-an-hour previously, particularly those who could fly. It was a bad blow to Varmer because all of them were supposed to be under his control through magic. If they were showing signs of rebellion, it was another major decrease in number for his army, something that he certainly did not need at the moment.

                     Now he faced Zara and Tia in his throne room, wondering mentally whether they were planning on deserting him too. He hadn't spoken to either of them since Linden's death; Dr Lucy had taken Zara out of the room to speak with her and Tia had followed whilst Varmer himself and Leo had tried to prise information out of Dahlia and Tamarak. Unfortunately that had gotten nowhere and Varmer had found himself wishing that Tia hadn't been quite so hasty and killed Hunter in cold blood before Varmer could get any information out of them.

                     Zara had changed into mourning clothes, jet-black all the way. She wore black trousers, still flexible enough for fighting, and a long-sleeved black shirt. Her sword was buckled at her waist and her staff was slung over her shoulder. Tia looked much the same as normal, with a black muscle shirt, black army pants and combat boots; she wore a black leather jacket over the whole outfit. She had more weapons on her person than normal; her twin swords were strapped to her back, long knives were attached to her wrists, a nunchaku was stuffed in her belt and shruikans were pushed into the other side of her belt. A dozen small knives were stowed in the inner lining of her black leather jacket.

                      Both girls looked grim and determined; Tia looked angry while Zara looked blank and emotionless, like she was deliberately closing off her feelings from breaking her. Never before had Varmer seen either girl so rattled in their lives.