The putrid scent of shit and blood filled the air of the black dungeon. The cells were lined in a semi-circle, surrounding the only source of light. The light, a candle, sat atop a small oak table in the center of the dungeon, which was placed between two chairs. One of the chairs, iron, was bolted to the stone floor and held a naked man with dirty blonde hair and blue, speckled green eyes. Cuffs, shackles and thick leather made it so that he was unable to move more than an inch in any direction. Across from him, on a simple wooden chair, sat a broken creature, free of any restraints and with its face shrouded under a black hood.

The creature stared into immobile man for nearly two minutes, neither of them making a sound. “What's wrong pet? Are you scared? Don't worry, I'll make this quick.” The creature licked its chapped lips as the man tried to maintain his self control and not convulse in the shackles. He had seen seen the torment that those who squirmed too much received. When he was locked in one of the surrounding cells, he learned that movement would only excite the creature, make it draw the pain out longer. Though the gag in his mouth did nothing to stop the muffled whimper that escaped his chest, nor the tears streaming down his face as he came to terms with his own fate.

“Shush my little pet, this will hurt me more than it will hurt you. You know daddy doesn't like doing this, but you were a very bad boy and now I have to punish you. But before that, I'll give you a chance to make everything better. If you can tell me any information that I think is of value, I might let you free.” The creature's raspy voice sounded like bones rubbing against one another and for some reason, sounded happy. “And I'm sure you won't lie to daddy, you know what happened to your sibling when he didn't give me the truth.” It stretched a mutilated arm over the table and undid the gag.

The man in chains did know. One of the prisoners before him tried to give false information, maybe in a vain attempt to live longer or maybe out of spite. But the punishment for lying to the creature was hell. The creature always verifies the claims of the desperate men, so the other man way have gotten to live a month longer and unhurt, but when the creature decided it had been lied to, it tortured the poor soul day and night for weeks. Every time he had seemed close to death, the creature would bring a priest to heal him to peak condition before starting again. The first days had been filled with screams for mercy. The next few were filled with cries of sorrow. Afterwards came the days of hate, then the days of broken laughter. The last few days were simply incoherent screams. Finally, one day, the screams stopped. The man was still alive and groaned every once in a while, but nothing else came out of him, as if he had somehow learned to accept his fate with the demon. Only then did it end his punishment with sweet death.

The man currently restrained before the creature knew that begging was useless; like squirming, begging would only excite it. He had wondered why those who went before him had all begged. Every. Single. One. They had seen the same things that he had. They knew it was useless. But everyone tried. Now that he sat before it, as he saw the candle light illuminate the creature's face, he saw its grey eyes. He saw pale skin. He saw a man. A human. Humans could be reasoned with. Humans had empathy. A human could help him. Maybe this wasn't the creature of his living nightmares that he had watched and listened to day after day in this cold, dark, pit. Maybe..

“Please.” The man croaked at his captor. “I'll tell you anything. I'll give you anything. I'll do anything. I am yours sir. Please.” His voice contained dread, fear, desperation, and for the first time since arriving in this underworld, hope.

A toothy grin appeared on the grey eyed man in front of him. “That depends on what you know pet. What can you tell me?”

“My name is Alexander Thane. I'm a -” Suddenly, a thick knife appeared in the robed man's hand and chopped off two of the fingers on Alexander's left hand. “Ah... Aaaaaaghh!” A guttural scream escaped his throat as he registered what had just happened. His entire body shook against his metal constraints as he tried to clutch as his injured hand to no avail. The creature's grey eyes twinkled, watching the man in shock. Alexander knew those eyes. He had seen those eyes often, in a time before he was sent to this abyss. Those eyes were gleeful, they were excited to see their victim's despair, their victim's useless struggle.

“You have no name pet. You are nothing but my newest dog. Do you understand?”

Alexander nodded in fear, stifling the cries he wanted to make. “Yes sir.”

The creature slammed his hands onto the table. “Yes master! Bark dog!”

“Yes master! Arf!”

“Good boy, now tell me of any useful information.” The master looked into the pet's eyes.

“I...” Alexander didn't know what the master could want. Something valuable enough to keep him alive? To avoid the pain? “I have money! In- AAAGGHHH!” The master chopped off the other two fingers.

“I don't care about your money pet! You have none! You have no belongings, you have no name, you have nothing but the knowledge in your head! Give me something interesting!”

“I-I-I-I don't know!” *Thunk,* his thumb is gone. “NOO! Please!” His arm tried twisting away from the blade, but was locked in place by his harnesses.

“Names pet. Locations. Rumors. Do you know of any others like you? Is there anyone who helped you?” The master seemed to be in bliss, listening to his pet's howls of pain.

“I...” Alexander searched for anything in his mind that could save him from this madman, but his mind only drew blanks.

The creature pouted. “It seems like the pet doesn't really know anything. That's too bad.” He grabbed the gag and reached over to put it back onto his prisoner.

“No, no, no! Please! I'll do mmmmphh!” He squirmed in his chair, unable to stop what was happening as helplessness overwhelmed him.

“Shush pet, I have to give you your punishment and then this will all be over.” The creature stood and its crooked figure pushed the table to the side in order to get a better angle on his prisoner's body. A wicked smile spread across his clammy face as he opened the leather satchel beside him. He pulled out pliers, drills, knifes, needles, and much more. Tears rolled down Alexander's face as the creature carefully inspected each tool, before setting them on the table to the side.

[You guys have a pretty good idea where this is going by now. If you start feeling squeamish at any point, stop. This scene becomes more and more fucked up as it continues. Any useful information is repeated after the spoiler so you won't miss anything but a little bit of character development.]

Spoiler :

After posting this chapter, I was wondering if I crossed a line with this scene, so I asked a mod if I should change it. She said yes.

But then I decided that I really like how it turned out because someone complimented my writing for the first time. As a result I had the idea to post this scene to my blog that I never used so that I didn't have to ignore the sites rules or change the story.

By the way, what I wrote before the spoiler tag still stands. In fact, I think that it applies even more so. If you don't like how this torture scene is going, stop reading. It's not important to the story. Here it is:

http://sheepbitter.blogspot.com/

By the way, if you want to know what you're getting yourself into before reading the scene, here's a spoiler:

Spoiler :

Torture, pedophilia, and a little more if you pick on the hints.

Name: Alexander Thane

Date of Birth: Month: Gamelion, Imperial Year: 5043

Date of Death: Month: Mounichion, Imperial Year: 5081

Crimes: Serial Rape, Pedophilia, Murder

Sentence: Death by torture

Inquisitor's Notes: Alexander Thane could provide no information of note, though I didn't question him thoroughly as the purpose of his torture was punishment for crimes committed and not interrogation. There were no noteworthy events other than the fact that I allowed the apprentice Ellyse Ward to practice her skills on the man. Her progress as an inquisitor is astounding; she has great control over her victim's physical and mental state, though she struggles to keep her own in check while in the heat of the moment, a problem that I expect will resolve itself as she gains maturity. The creativity of her methods always brings me great joy and with enough experience she will be able to bring her ideas to fruition. I did notice something interesting, though it may be completely coincidental. Ellyse Ward and Alexander Thane both share- *knock knock*

“May I come in master Odeus?” The voice of a young girl came from behind the heavy door to Odeus' office. “I've brought your tools.”

Odeus raised his head from his desk. “Yes, yes, come in Ellyse. I was just writing the report for our last pet's demise. I see you're wearing clothes again.” Odeus smirked.

“Are you disappointed?” The girl gave a coy smile.

“You're much too early to be asking me that. Try again in a few years. Did you clean everything properly?” The eight year old girl placed the leather satchel atop the desk and nodded. She was dressed in the traditional black leathers of The Inquisition's apprentices.

“Good, now what did you learn today?”

“That master Odeus is a liar by omission.”

“I see... What else girl?”

“That when bleeding one to death, it's important to take blood pressure into account, which can be influenced by fear, lust, and most likely any other emotions.”

“Very good, well I'll tell you a little trick only us older inquisitors know. It can also be influenced by diet.”

“Diet? How?” The blonde girl looked suspiciously at the crooked man, her blue, speckled green eyes flashed with a hint of curiosity.

“Specifically salt from what we found. Though any food seems to do, it's most pronounced with plain salt. If you take a pair of twins who have been in the same living conditions their entire lives and cut them open, the one fed a large quantity of salt will fill a bucket with blood much faster.”

“Wow, do we have any twins right now?”

“Ha! Girl, don't get your hopes up. Twins alone are rare enough, but ones committing crimes together come only with the best of luck. We try to preserve them as best as possible by keeping a priest nearby to heal them, but the experiments take a toll regardless. Even if we were fortunate enough to nab a pair, I doubt any of the elders would let a mere apprentice like you conduct tests on them.” Odeus started laughing inwardly as he saw the girl become downcast. “That's enough for now. Go wash yourself. It would be a shame to see your beautiful golden hair permanently stained with blood.”

“Yes master.” She bowed and turned to leave.

“Oh yes, I almost forgot. Ellyse, your mother died of childbirth correct?”

“Yes sir.”

“How old was she?”

“She had just turned fourteen sir.”

“I see, and your father?”

“I don't know sir, I never met him, but I believe he raped her. At least that's what the conversations that I've had with those who knew her lead me to believe. They aren't very keen on telling an eight year old girl that she's a bastard of rape.”

“Interesting... Go now.”

“Yes master Odeus.”

---

Hector pulled on his horse's stirrups as it trotted down the streets of Ileria and towards the keep. Sunlight had finally broken through the clouds two days ago and with it, came the end of the rain. Nearly everyone in the city was out right now, excited to stretch their legs after being stuck in their homes for the past two months. Colorful merchants offered their wares. Bright children chased each other in the streets. Men and women were hanging lanterns and colorful quilts. There was going to be a massive festival, that's for sure; even the small elven community they had was participating. The drought was over and the people were brimming with optimistic energy. The farming jobs that had slowly dwindled over the past years would come back. The lakes, overflowing with water, would soon be overflowing with fish. Food would become cheap again and everyone would benefit one way or another.

Hector was currently on his way to request the forces to either help Thrend and other villages rebuild or spend his time burying the dead. When his stallion finally arrived at the gates, the guards were jubilant and waved him inside without a word. If the Marquis' own knight couldn't be trusted, then the situation would be far too dangerous for ordinary folk like them to get involved anyways; no sense in throwing your life away for someone you don't really even know. The Marquis was also the person who determined their pay and the laws of the county, so they made sure to do their jobs to stop and search properly when it wasn't someone from high up coming through. Hector lead his horse into the courtyard and handed the reigns to the stable master. He brushed the dust off of his leathers before walking to his lord's study.

*knock knock* “Your lordship, may I enter?”

Atreus looked up from the book in his hands, frowning. “Hector, get your ass in here before I beat it black and blue. Don't give me that 'your lordship' bullshit. I know you only say that when you want something from me.”

Hector entered the musty room with a wry chuckle. “Your lordship, I request 400 men with accompanying horses and provisions.”

“The fuck you need that for?” Atreus asked, legitimately curious.

“Thrend? My lord, surely you haven't forgotten about your subjects?” Hector sighed.

“Yeah, I did. So what? I mean it's been what? A fucking month since we got word? All this rain's fucked with everything. The fields are all flooded, killing whatever crops we had managed to grow during the damn drought. Half of the grain silos got water-logged, meaning all their food's turned to rot. The roads are covered by fucking lakes so there's no flow of goods in or out of the city, let alone anywhere else in the county, which means food can't get to where it needs to go. The bad roads also mean that the merchants are stuck wherever they are and not trading and if the merchants aren't trading then I'm not getting the last bit of fucking taxable money left in this damn empire! Why should we send men out to the fucking frontier? Those assholes don't pay taxes anyways thanks to the gods damned Imperial law! They're always talking about how they don't fucking need us nobles meddling in their lives anyways, so why should I start meddling now when they actually need my help? Fuck Thrend, I've got bigger problems to worry about! No taxes for ten years if you settle the frontier... What kind of fucking bullshit is that anyways!? Did they just ask the court jester in the capital to make a law that rhymes!?” Atreus slammed his thick hands down on the table.

Hector frowned at the man who was suppose to be a respected ruler in the eyes of the public. “Well I'll just tell the soldiers that. 'Sorry boys, I know you've been cooped up in the barracks every day for the past two months, getting all restless and worrying about your families back in your villages, some of which may have been attacked by an orc horde, but the Marquis says we can't go even though the rain's finally stopped and we have the chance to check up on them now. Now I know you're all armed and trained and potentially upset that you're not allowed to do anything, but hey, look at the bright side, you can get fat and lazy, collecting your pay for doing literally nothing because there's nothing else to do!'” Hector knew exactly what made his liege tick. If riots and wasted money didn't convince the Marquis, nothing would.

“Take a thousand men and help rebuild the villages. I'll leave the specifics up to you. Nobody in my county's gonna get away with being paid for doing nothing. No one!” Well maybe the armed riots didn't weigh on Atreus' mind as much as the wasted money did, but it still influenced his decision… Probably... Hector hoped it did at least...

“Yes my lord, as you command.” Hector bowed to his liege.

“Fuck you.”