Her Heart, His obsession

7. Commanders (part 2)

That's right. whenever a mission went wrong i always punished the ones responsible to the maximum. It was to satisfy my frustration and to make an example of them. it was for sending the clear message that no slip up will ever go unpunished. so now that i was sure they knew i thought i test it out. lets see what they were expecting me to do. i started circling the two. so i began with questioning Xavier; "tell me Xavier why do you think i kept you behind?"

"Master please, we were under attack that day by a clan of the west coast warlocks. They were all captured and punished but it seemed that it was a plot to distract us. So it weakened our connections to the front line in Quebec."

Rage took over me. How dare he try to dodge the question.

it was such a shame that Athena had decorated her cabin so beautifully. i really wanted to punish xavier in this room for this pathetic response but the persian rugs could not be tainted tonight. it would not be the way to make her happy.maybe I would take this outside, in the front courtyard.

"Tsk, tsk xavier I asked you why do you think I kept you behind. I did not ask you to tell me a story about some tiresome attack. The westeners attack us on monthly basis. They have so many "justice seekers" I believe. We all know their pattern. they always try to break into the dungeons to free the prisoners, they put up a fight and guess what they always end up in the exact prisons but not as saviours but eternal captives. It is hilarious and ironic if you ask me. Your method of dodging questions does not sit well with me at all."

Now I turned to Sean; " so Sean, try to help xavier by answering the question ."

Sean looked fearful. The panic waves coming off him were hitting me repeatedly. He had never had a slip up before. Neither had xavier. They were my top two commanders. they never failed. I had never had to punish them before. They knew from experience what I did to people who had minor slip ups and this was a major one. So maybe I shouldn't blame xavier too much for dodging the question.

Sean swallowed and whispered;" master, you kept us behind because our protocol demands the punishment of the..... Of the....... Ones who contributed to the most key reasons behind a failed task."

I smirked; " very good Sean. Now tell me the key reason why we lost the battle in Quebec." As I finished the sentence, I had lost my patience. I threw them full force. They hit the cabin walls with a force that shook the ground. There were big cracks appearing now on the beautiful wall papers Athena had put up. Now look what I did to my love's possessions.

I wanted answers fast so I went straight to the point; "Tell me, which one of you gave the order to pull back to our fighters when I was captured." Xavier and Sean were looking at each other. They knew that the response could possibly determine their deaths, torment or demotion. I bet it was both of them, they worked well as a team and made decisions together. I may have enough mercy on them to let them choose their punishment. Patience was not my strongest virtue. They were both silent.

"If I don't get a response, I will punish you both. So which one of you wants to go first."

The look on their faces was now priceless. i would have been laughing at their expressions if this was a different situation. Their eyes were bulging out of their sockets and looked petrified.

They looked at each other and both moved and knelt on the floor in front of me to show submission. The worst part was that it was no use to me to punish both of them. i wanted to take pleasure in tormenting the one responsible for me remaining in captivity. if my men hadn't pulled back they could push the enemies back with enough force to cause destruction enough to get them close enough to the entrance of the underground dungeons to get me back. then they could easily get Alexander to heal me to some extent for me to be well enough to cast the monitoring spell to find the best healer alive. I could still meet Athena but in different circumstances. Then I wouldn't owe her my life as much as I did now. I will try my hardest to come out of her debt . I want to be the one, Athena owed her life too. Not the opposite. I had to reverse my situation. I just have to put her into the situation to exchange my life debt to her with something she wanted that i could only give her. That day would come soon. The day that I will owe nothing to Athena. The day where there will only be the feeling of love between us. Where I will feel completely superior to all beings.

it was xavier who started to speak slowly "master please let us explain. it was .......". i wanted the one responsible. I didn't have time for stories

"Right, I am going to give you 10 minutes to prepare a full report on what happened that day after my capture. I would like it to be as detailed as possible. Remember this is your only chance at explaining." I waved my hand and sent the two of them to the far corner of the guest room next door." I hated failure but I was going to let them prepare their defence. This was the court room and they had to answer back for what happened three months ago.

I was still looking into how I was captured. I had my suspicions. It could have been the same curse that killed my ancestor, the great Ronas. The signs were the same. The legends said red sparks surrounded him and he endured excruciating pain that caused him to bleed for three days . well the only difference was, i bled for 3 months to no end. It weakened me enough fir them to capture me. whatever source they had, they used it every day to enhance the pain. i must have been stronger than the great Ronas to last so long.

But for me the key question remained; Could a Valera blooded warlock possibly be alive? who else could have possibly given the traitor warlocks their ancient weapons. No, it was impossible. I had many warlocks trying to trace any sign of valera presence around various territories. I couldn't sense any trace of the valeras anywhere in the world. Even my enhanced powers after my 21st birthday that let me teleport out of the hell hole in Quebec underground , did not lead to sensing any traces of no Valera any where. I guess I have to wait for Lucia and the rest of the redemption fighter bunch to bring me my captors to go through interrogations. I looked forward to tormenting them.

The thought of getting revenge on my captors. Brought a smile on my face. My mood improved slightly. Sean and xavier should thank their lucky stars.

Their 10 minutes was up and I was in a good mood to put them on trial. I waved my hand and both my commanders appeared with a parchment in front of them. Very good, each had written their accounts. Lets see if the accounts are identical.

I summoned the parchments. as the words registered in my mind, disbelief surrounded me. I did not expect to see his name on this report. that was impossible.

My little brother, demitrious had given the order for them to pull back. I should have known. No man under my rule dared to ever give such order. Pulling back was as good as desertion and treason in my book.

"Xavier, you tell me how he made the fighters to obey him. This order goes against protocol. I am sure many must have resisted this order."

Xavier was hesitant to answer. I was getting impatient now. But luckily for him, Xavier managed to find his voice and answered; " master we don't know. It was an order that had so much power behind it. No one could disobey it. It was as though a spell was cast. Lucia had a theory, that since your brother had turned 18 days before, it had helped mature his powers."

Of course. He was going to regret this.

"Very well. the ones responsible will be dealt with shortly. Xavier and Sean your task is to get back to base and prepare the fighters for attack. I will be there by dawn. Make sure you get Alexander to give you remedies for easing the tension in your bodies for the teleportation shocks. I want all my commanders to be at their best when we move to north. In fact, Get Alexander to give health checks to all commanders before setting off."

Sean and Xavier were about to hold hands to leave, when I told them their last mission; "one last thing, inform my brother that I will be summoning him very shortly. Maybe within the hour. Give him the message that if he refuses the call, i would deal with him in the morning at the base and at the base the suffering he will witness and endure would be 100 times worse. So he needs to choose wisely. You are dismissed men."