UMBRIEL

5. Emissary of the Void

Umbriel and Valerie knelt on the hard wooden floor of a dimly lit office, arms tied behind them. The bruised and beaten were bodies painted with blood.

"So," a woman's voice began from the shadows, "how did you do it?" Neither from the pair spoke. "First, you blew up the floor, then you murdered twelve of my men with your bare hands a shitload of knives," she chuckled, "and then, now this is the confusing part, you surrendered! Why is that, exactly?"

"Well, it's kinda hard to keep fighting when your partner throws his hands in the air and admits defeat." Valerie muttered.

"True, you have a point." A large armored woman stepped into the light, clad in glistening gold armor, a sword and shield both strapped to her back, and her belt lined with pouches and knives."Still, all of that is pretty impressive if I do say so myself." She held a bundle of papers in her gauntlet, "Do you know what these are?"

Again, neither from the duo spoke, "These are accounts from numerable sources that describe you repeatedly terrorizing and harming my men." She tossed the papers down onto the table and walked over to the two, kneeling down in front of Umbriel. "Care to explain to me why you've been doing all this?"

Umbriel's solemn gaze met her's. "Why don't you go shove a blade up your ass, then I'll tell you."

"What the fuck, dude?! This isn't the time to be an asshole!" Val hissed at him.

The guard standing behind her hit the back of her head with the pommel of his sword. "Put a sock in it, elf, nobody was talking to you."

"Fine then," the woman sighed, "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way." With a wave of her hand, the guards hoisted the pair to their feet, dragging them down the hallway and into the basement.

They lifted Umbriel and Valerie up against two posts, and hung them by their cuffs across from each other, on hooks bolted to the columns, all while being berated by the full force of Val's obscene vocabulary. The two soldiers then left the room, leaving the duo dangling in the air.

"So what exactly is the plan from here, huh?!" Val shouted at Umbriel. "I didn't sign onto this just to be captured and tortured to death!"

"To be honest, I have no idea what we do now." Umbriel answered calmly.

"Great, this is just great." She pulled at her iron restraints. "If we get out of here, I swear to the All-Mother I'm gonna kick the living shit out of-"

Her threat was interrupted by the door to the basement slamming shut, accompanied by the bone-chilling sound of creaking wooden stairs and grinding metal. A sly, snake-like voice spoke from the shadows, "Oh don't worry, little elf, you won't have to hurt him. I'll be doing all of that for you." A tall and sickly man stepped into the light. He held a knife and a whetstone in both hands, displaying a gruesome smile across his grimy face.

He pulled a small table out from the corner and scooted it into the center of the room. He then began setting his tools down onto it. "Did you know this is my favorite part of the job, interrogating prisoners?" He asked happily. His knives and hooks were rusted and worn, still harboring dried blood from past sessions.

"Wow, you really make sure to clean your tools, huh?" Umbriel said sarcastically. The torturer's eyebrow twitched, annoyed by the snarky comment.

"You know what, lizard-boy? Because of that, I think that I'll start with you." He picked out one of his cleaner knives. The blade had a few chips along its edge, and the gut hook on the end was bent slightly askew.

The man danced up to Umbriel and slid the knife along his arm. "Wow, these scales of yours are so very pretty," he paused, "it's gonna be such fun to rip off every single one."