A hoarse cry slid past Brian’s lips, the only movement his body was able to make. His throat was dry; scratched from too much use. Pain rain through every inch of him in mind numbing waves, made worse by the fact that he could not move.
“Did you know, the minds instinctual reaction to pain is to cradle the injured part of the body against oneself?” Roth asked, pacing around the table. He waved his hand, sending another blinding pain through Brian. “Remove that ability, and the subject shall feel pain so much stronger than originally intended. Fascinating, is it not?”
“Go…to hell.” Brian gasped out. While the rest of him remained immobile, his face still held the ability for movement. He wondered if it was because Roth enjoyed hearing him scream. He let out a loud one when Roth used his magic to break another bone.
“Do you not yet understand the gravity of your situation, my child?” No matter what he did, Roth’s voice maintained a calm tone, as if he was a professor at a lecture. “I have learned so much more than your precious Alyck ever dreamed possible. I have done experiment after experiment until I managed to achieve this perfection. Too heavy a hand, and you kill the immortal. Too light, and they can fight you off. But right here, in the middle, just barely touching that core with the right amount of spirit, I can hold you immobile for hours. I have control over every aspect of your body. Healing included. You are totally at my whim, child.”
As if to prove it, he allowed the break in Brian’s leg to heal. The agony of it was intense, but it soon faded away. Brian almost sighed with the relief. “What’s the point of this? What’re you hoping to achieve by doing this? Piss him off even more?”
Roth leaned down, nuzzling the side of Brian’s neck. One of his hands trailed over Brian’s chest, tracing the curves of his skin. He had stripped him, once he’d laid him on the table. Magically restrained as he was, there had been nothing that Brian could do about it.
“I promise you that he shall be plenty, how did you put it? Ah, yes. Plenty ‘pissed’ when he arrives. But by then, it will be too late. I will have the revenge I crave. He will pay for what he did to Isadora.”
“Who is Isadora? What is it you think Alex did to her?” Keep him talking, come on now. Anything to distract him. Anything to keep him in conversation. Give AJ the time to get there. His lover would save him, of that Brian had no doubts. He just had to keep himself alive until then.
But speaking of Isadora seemed to be the wrong thing to do. Brian screamed as each one of his fingers broke, and then started to heal. Mary, mother of God! The healing hurt almost as much as the breaking did! By the time they were all normally healed again, sweat was dripping down his face.
“It is not what I think, χοίρος. It is what I know.”
A recklessness took over Brian. The only thing he could think of that Roth intended to happen was to have AJ trade him spots when he arrived. There was no way that Brian was going to do that. Most likely, once Roth had AJ, he would kill Brian anyways. So what if Roth killed him now? At least then AJ could be safe. Freed by those thoughts, he smirked at Roth. “If you’re going to insult me, at least do it in English so I understand you, hm?”
Instead of using magic, Roth rose up and slapped Brian across his face. Blood sprayed from his mouth, down over his cheek.
“A χοίρος is a pig, and that is exactly what you are. You want to be impudent? You want to speak with me this way about things you know nothing of?” Roth leaned in close, grabbing hold of Brian’s shirt. “You want to know what he did to her? I will show you what he did to her.”
Standing straight, Roth began loosening the buttons on his shirt. “We shall see how he feels when he finds out that you were treated the same way he treated her. As a πόρνη; a whore.”
………
AJ watched as Sicily came into view. They were almost there. Somewhere in there his lover was waiting for him, living with the Gods know what kind of pain. It took everything he had not to leap off the boat and ride the water himself. But he had promised Brian he would keep all damage to a minimum. In his heart, he didn’t want to harm these people, no matter what his temper was. The devastation he had been a part of in 1908 still haunted him. Never again had he been so careless.
Off to the side of the island, AJ saw the tops of Roth’s castle jutting up from the cliffs. Everything looked exactly the same as it had been when he’d left all those years ago. Impatience filled him. He couldn’t stand here and wait. He just couldn’t.
Determination filled him. He spun around, facing Isleen and Howie. “I’m going up there. You two will work best as the element of surprise. Hopefully with him distracted by me, he won’t notice any other magicians coming into his home.”“Alyck, it’s too dangerous to go up there alone! Let us abandon the boat and come with you!” Isleen begged.
“I don’t have time to argue, Isleen. There is so much more at stake here than you realize. Howi will explain it to you. He’ll tell you about Isadora.” Just saying her name brought a fresh wave of pain.
Howie was watching him quietly. He met AJ’s eyes, and gave him a slight nod. “Είθε ο Θεών την ασφάλειά σας.” May the Gods keep you safe.
Quickly now, AJ smiled at them, then turned and jumped into the air. He spun the weaves as he did, so that he was caught up by air and hauled into the sky. Carrying yourself with air was one of the easiest and most pleasing things to do. There was almost no thought to it as he used it to propel himself straight to Roth’s home. He wasted no time being subtle. There was no doubt in his mind that Roth was watching for him, and waiting.
AJ extended his other senses as he flew. Using those, he found Roth’s presence easily enough, as well as Brian’s. After that, it was just a matter of depositing himself directly on a bedroom balcony. He landed gracefully, and took a single moment to calm and center his body, mind, and spirit. He would need control to make it through this situation.
After taking a deep breath, he stepped forward and pushed at the doors, opening them wide. “Honey, I’m home!” he called as he stepped straight in to hell.