Infernal Blade

Ten

Endana

"Bring him in, please," I called to Misa and Reichin. I could hear the sounds of Hanif cursing at my fellow Virtuosos as they dragged him towards the room. After an eventful time introducing Hanif to the Anax and the rest of the court, the Anax had instructed me to get Hanif cleaned up. I hadn't realized until then, but Hanif did look a mess.

The Anax seemed to have more patience for the thief than I had expected. In fact, for all the cursing Hanif did towards the esteemed ruler, he only reacted once. I had itched to throw Hanif right back in that hole I'd dragged him from, but I knew we needed him.

He seemed to know it to, that or he just had no self control. At this point, I wasn't sure which was the case.

The door banged open, startling the alleviators behind me. Reichin's tall and bulky frame appeared first, the jagged tattoo ever present on his face, stark against the tanned skin. It wove right into his midnight hair, reminding me once again of his unique heritage.

Not that I didn't have a unique heritage myself.

Reichin dragged in a struggling Hanif, Misa following with Hanif's other arm. Misa's shorter, more lithe frame and silver hair were quite the difference compared to Reichin. But they were two of the best Virtuosos in the Anax's employment.

They managed to get through the narrow door into the infirmary room, and Hanif seemed to calm down upon seeing me. Blood dribbled down a fresh cut on his lip as my eyes drew over the rest of him. Clearly he had been fighting the Virtuosos as his chained wrists were bloody as well.

"Thank you." I nodded to Reichin and Misa, swallowing back the feeling that bringing Hanif here was a very bad idea. "I can take it from here."

Misa's eyes widened, his mouth opening in protest. But Reichin beat him to it. "Are you sure, Endana? The guy's not exactly cooperating." He tightened his grip on Hanfi's forearm, to which Hanif tightened his jaw and threw Reichin a glare.

"I'll be quite fine." Now wasn't the time to chicken out, especially not on a lowly thief. Hanif had to learn his place, especially if I was going to be the one to oversee his mission.

Hesitantly, Reichin and Misa let go of Hanif's arms. One at a time, they cast me a glance and left the room.

Once they were gone, I was quite aware of the two alleviators behind me. They still hadn't moved, and I could tell their gazes were locked on the wild man standing in front of us.

"So what is this?" Hanif asked at last, the curiosity apparently getting the best of him.

"You have been in prison for several years. We need to..." I hesitated, taking a moment to draw up some of the power dwelling inside me, "decontaminate you."

Hanif's eyes flicked to my fingers, then snapped back up to meet my gaze. "I'm not infected." He said the word with such disdain that I couldn't help but take a step forward, flames tingling at my fingertips.

"Nevertheless, you need to get cleaned up."

"Why? Because your master ordered you to do it?" The amount of spite in Hanif's voice was overflowing.

"No, because the Anax doesn't want you to die from some commonly passed infection before you can be of use to him," I replied coldly. The fire had died from my fingers, my fear and apprehension right along with it. Behind the strong mask Hanif Nnamani was just a scared man, unsure of who he was.

I stepped forward and brought out the key to his chains. He held still as I undid the lock on his hands and neck. Now that we were in such close proximity, I could see the many bruises littering his skin. He clearly was not in as good a condition as I had hoped. But what could I ask of an inmate from Brinestone?