The Veil (62 page)

“I don’t believe you! You lied to me!” I hissed back through gritted teeth.

The Physicker gave a snorting laugh and slapped my thigh as if we were sharing a hilarious joke. “Okay, you got me! I had to try though didn’t I?”

“I am going to kill you.”

He rolled his eyes. “I have heard that so many times it is frankly a little tedious.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, all this talk of escape reminds me.” He wrenched open my mouth, peering inside at my cheek. He shook his head and let a chuckle. “Stupid girl, you didn’t even try and keep hold of the lock pick.”

I closed both hands tightly together.

“So, do you care to share the secret of your heritage?”

“I’ll never tell you anything,” I hissed and spat at him. I was so dehydrated that barely anything came out, but it was still enough to speckle his lenses and cause his smirk of a smile to vanish from his face.

“That is not very cordial now is it Guardian?” Physicker Agorias slapped me with the back of his hand. The blow was far harder than I expected it to be and I felt blood seep into my mouth. “Now I am going to ask you some questions and…” he glanced at the tools laid out on the trolley, “I would advise you to tell me exactly what Lilith wants to know, or things will become very unpleasant for you.”

Don’t let him see weakness.
I gave a dark grin, feeling the blood spread over my teeth. “You think this is my first time being tortured, little man?”

The Physicker raised his eyebrows. “Why my dear, of course I don’t think that at all.” He ran a hand up my thigh in such a way that it made my skin crawl. “The difference is that you have never been tortured by
me
.”  Reaching out to the trolley, he picked up a small, curved adamantine scalpel, making it dance around his hands with considerable skill. “Since this is a room where secrets are shared, I think I’ll share first. You see, I wear the hat of colosseum Physicker here most of the time – a sort of resident surgeon if you will – but that isn’t where my heart lies.” He leaned forward. “The truth is that I am more of a
collector.
” He smiled.
“I collect body parts.”

A mixture of fear and nausea rolled through me.

“Bodies fascinate me, you see,” he continued. “The way that each species is different, wonderfully made up of all of these complicated and unique elements, all bound together in a single structure. When you think about it, it’s actually quite beautiful.” He rolled his tongue slowly over his lips as his mind wandered, producing a sticky sound from his mouth. “What amazes me is how every species can be so complex, yet simultaneously so vulnerable. Take Bloodseekers for example. That subspecies of Vampire is the product of evolution spanning countless eons, separating them from the primitive cognitive function of their Hivemind kin in order to produce a deadly predator that can oversee and ensure the survival of an entire pack. But then the Ageless War arrived and removed their natural prey through migration and disease, and the very thirst that made them strong became the very thing that made them weak. Add to this the introduction of sunlight and fire for the first time, and they are no longer something to be feared. The perfect predator has been undermined by a new set of circumstances, and it will take countless more eons for them to adapt.”

The Physicker flicked a thumb back and forth across the blade of the black scalpel, producing a scraping sound. “Or take the Chosen as another example. A wonderfully complex being formed when the human soul transforms into something far more powerful. It is suspected that this anomaly of human evolution is created through your Earth’s need to protect itself from an outside threat.
Us
,” he added pointed the scalpel at himself. “Now there was no conscious thought involved, your world simply changed its own natural rules to protect itself – a primordial instinct that you or I could never hope to truly fathom.” He gestured the scalpel back at me and I felt my throat tighten as the blade winked in the torch flame. “You are this wonderful creation of strength, intellect and skill that would put you very close to the top of the Pandemonian food chain were you native to this world.” He leaned forward and slid the blade down the length of my forearm. “But, yet you are still vulnerable.”

I let out a shriek of pain as blood bloomed from the wound. The Physicker placed a hand over my mouth and my cries were muffled. “Shush, shush now. It’s only a shallow wound, look.” He grabbed a bottle of clear liquid from the trolley and cast it over my arm. The pain tripled and a deep scream escaped my throat as the substance fizzled on the skin, producing coils of foul smelling smoke as it burned my arm. It took over thirty agonising seconds for the pain to subside.

The Physicker grabbed my head, which was pouring with sweat, and made me look down at the cut. A snake-like welt ran from the crook of my elbow to my wrist, raised and dark red in colour. “Look at this, the seemingly perfect creature who can heal almost all of its wounds, undone by the simple combination of adamantine metal and Myaline Salt. I’m afraid my dear, that whilst I have stopped the bleeding,
that
wound will never heal.”

He let my head go and sat back in his stool, wiping the back of his hand across his damp forehead. His face was red with excitement and a grey substance had formed at the corners of his mouth. “To continue with my point, the painful truth is that evolution didn’t favour me. I should have been a strong, powerful Troll, but instead I became a Trollite, the bastardisation of our brethren. Granted, I am less disfigured and far more intelligent than any of my kin, but I am also
weaker.
My body is flawed. So that is why I collect. I collect the body parts of those Lilith no longer needs, because I am fascinated by what makes a creature strong and what makes them weak.”

“Is there a point to all of this?” I said, my teeth chattering with the shock of the intense pain I had just experienced. 

“Absolutely.”

He set down the scalpel and picked up a large, serrated knife. “The point is that right now, you are strong. Relatively speaking of course.” He raised a finger. “However, if you don’t answer the questions I am about to ask you, you won’t be strong for very long. Huntmaster, I have perfected my skills over a very long period of employment. Understand that when I return you back to your hole in this abyss, you will be alive but unrecognisable…no longer a woman… someone that even the strongest hearted would struggle to behold.” He opened his arms wide. “Just like me.”

My heart thundered in my chest.
He’s serious. He’s going to mutilate me if I don’t tell him what he wants to know. But if I do then I’m dead anyway, it won’t take them long to work out that I am the second twin from the Elementals’ words. I can’t do it. I have to do something...I have to get the hell out of this room.

And the one thing that could get me out of my situation Peter Eden had ensured – through his knowledge of the Abyss and the people who operated it – stayed in my position. I curled the fingers of my right hand up towards my palm and felt them scrape over the slight bump of the lock pick.

“So, let’s begin,” said Physicker Agorias. “My first question is, who were your parents?”

“Go to hell.”

He sighed and then stabbed the blade down into my thigh, twisting it with a flick of his wrist. Agony fired up my leg and my mouth parted into a lung-ripping scream.

“Now what did I tell you!” he said, ripping the knife back out of my leg. “Look at what you forced me to do. Now I am going to give you a moment to recover and then I am going to ask you again.” He glanced at the Myaline Salt container. “You know what comes next.”

I tried to clear my mind, tried to separate it from the intense agony that was radiating up my leg in pulsing waves. Instead, I focused on my hand, digging my fingers into the wound as I rocked back and forth from the pain. I could feel the skin pulling apart as I started to inch the lock pick out of its hiding place.

“Time is up, my darling,” said the Physicker. “Who were your mother and father?”

“Let’s talk about
your
parents,” I said. “Were they little freaks like you, or were they ashamed by what they produced? Did they abandon you because of the shame you brought on them?”

The Physicker’s face turned into a snarl and he grabbed the container, pouring the liquid salt over my wound. I screamed as the searing burns consumed my leg. I tried to move my mind away but the pain was far too intense. The leather of my battle outfit melted and mixed with the burned flesh, until the two bonded together. As soon as the acute pain started to subside, I scraped at the lock pick with my curled fingers. My hand tremored and agony radiated up my wrist as the metal slid against my nerves. Then finally, I managed to pull the lock pick free into my palm.

“You are very non-compliant.” Physicker Agorias sighed, setting the container back down. “But you won’t be for very long. I have all afternoon to work on you, and I am very good at my job. My orders from Lilith were to keep you alive, well and pretty enough to take part in a special event tomorrow. However, my master said nothing about your body parts under the clothes. When I am done with you, you will want to die in battle, because your life will no longer be worth living. I am going to ask you one final time. Who were your–”

There was a loud hammering at the door. “Physicker Agorias!” someone shouted from beyond. “Physicker Agorias!”

“What is it?” he said in an irritated tone. “I am busy in here!”

The door swung open and a panicked Pitguard burst into the room. “I’m sorry to bother you Physicker Agorias,” he said breathlessly. “We have a situation.”

“What situation is that?”

“It’s Deathbreaker. He was being moved to check his battlesuit fittings with Solomon in preparation for tomorrow’s event and he stole one of our weapons. We managed to subdue him, but he killed three in the process. The Scorched Knight told us that when she isn’t here, you are to reprimand him if he ever acts out.”

“Incompetent fools!” barked the Physicker. “How can you allow yourselves to become so lax in securing him?”

“Because he never tries to fight us! We didn’t expect him to do anything like this!”

Peter must have known they were taking me to be tortured. He put himself at serious risk to get the Physicker away from me.
Peter’s selfless actions gave me the final bit of resolve I needed and I waited for the right moment – when neither the Physicker or the Pitguard were looking in my direction – to work the tool from my palm to my fingers and then push it into the lock of the adamantine bind.

“Did it ever occur to you that he might be waiting for the perfect opportunity?” growled the Physicker. “Anyway it doesn’t matter.”

I continued to fiddle with the lock, feeling the pick work its way through the tumblers.
Come on! Come on!
 

“Doesn’t matter?” said the Pitguard incredulously. “Three of my fellow guards are dead because of him.”

“And that is their fault.” Physicker Agorias gave a sigh. “Where is Deathbreaker now?”

I felt the lock come loose.
Yes!

It took all of my resolve not to transfer the pick to my other hand and try to break the second lock.
It’s too risky. I’ll get caught.
Instead,
I held the unlocked bind closed with my palm, biding my time.

“We took him back to his cell, so we could come and get your instructions on what to do with him,” said the Pitguard through gritted teeth, clearly trying not to show his anger at the Physicker’s nonchalant attitude.

The Physicker gave a slow nod. “Leave him where he is for now. Later this afternoon I will have you take him to my workroom and prep him for a session. However, for now, I have some reprimanding to perform
here
.”

“As you wish.” The Pitguard turned on his heel and then left the room, slamming the door behind him.

“I do apologise for the interruption,” said Physicker Agorias with a click of his tongue. “It seems that the arrival of you and your Chosen friends has caused quite the disruption in the smooth running of this colosseum.” He tapped a finger against his chin. “I wonder what makes you so special? No matter, I’m sure it won’t be long before you are telling me everything I wish to know.”

“Before we continue, I just have one question for you,” I breathed, my chest rising and falling from a mix of adrenaline and pain. “Do you want to die fast or slow?”

The Physicker stabbed the knife down towards my other leg. I snapped out my hand and caught his wrist, twisting it around and sinking the blade into his own throat. His eyes went wide as yellow blood seeped around the knife and he produced a gurgling sound. I cupped my hand around the side of his neck and pulled him down into my lap, pinning him against my legs and using my fingers to rip his wound open wider. I felt his windpipe split apart in my hand with a burst of air, sweetened by the knowledge that this, he wouldn’t survive. He flailed with his hands, trying to push himself off me, but I kept his head pinned against my lap, my anger and hatred of the monster giving me all the strength I needed.

“I told you I would kill you,” I hissed.

Soon the Physicker’s movements dissolved into twitches, and his hands dropped to his sides. I pushed his clammy body off me in disgust and then unlocked the rest of the binds. Afterwards I slid the lock pick back into the hole in my hand. Then, standing up, I limped over towards the door and knocked as loudly as I could. I took a few steps backwards and sank down to my knees, interlocking my fingers behind my head. The door opened and the shocked faces of two Pitguards stared between me and the dead body of Physicker Agorias.