Delinia wakes up beside another stream. Her whole body aches, especially her insides. Everything feels as if a thousand animals ripped it all apart, her throat, mouth, and heart. The pain is so great she can hardly breathe. She slowly drags herself the final few feet to the smooth surface. Cautiously, she drinks some. She cringes, waiting for this too to burn her throat. Instead, everything is soothed. This must be the legendary Stream Benigia. Slowly, her head clears. �Ol�n!� She remembers her mission and why she�s here. She looks for Fryon. �Fryon?� He�s nowhere in sight. She feels so lost. She walks upstream. Before long screams are heard over the breeze in the forest. Carefully, she jogs toward the cries. She hides herself in the bushes, pausing before peering through and onto the Cave of Anguish. �Nooooo!� Screams of misery come from within. She draws her sword. It is so bright that the greenness nearly blinds her. So much evil must be nearby. From behind her a N�maton jumps out. She turns to slay him, but all around her they are appearing, encircling her. There is no escape. She raises her sword and prepares to strike and take as many as she can down with her if any dare to advance further. Instead they move away. Her sword�s light doesn�t lessen, it only becomes more intense. She turns around and finds herself face-to-face with a horrifying, disgusting old man, gray in hair and wrinkled in face. This must be Doctor Quandro. She gells a chill eminating from him and the wind picks up. �So, you want to see my cave, lad? I can take you in, but you�ll never come out if you do. Well, not the same that is. He-he-he-ha! Taste my sweet liquor and nothing will be bad again, nearly indestructible you will be.� The evil doctor doesn�t even give her a chance to resist. He puts a sleeping spell on her. He then picks her up, carrying her into his cave. He shackles her to the wall, between two men. One of the men is new to there. However, the other has been there almost long enough to be a N�maton, well to the point of weakness where the Doctor can delicately pierce the necessary vessel in his neck. If the person�s head is restrained, too much stress is on it and it ruptures too easily. Quandro had ruined too many subjects because they were unwilling and strong enough to resist his attempt to change them. He wouldn�t do that anymore. Besides, even if they were almost dead before they were changed, their N�maton strength would come almost instantly and revive them. Although Delinia is enchantingly asleep, the two men aren�t. �Oh, Denervick, how�d you let them capture you too? I thought his was only after one of us, did you try something pointless like try to save me�?� Tears stream down Ol�n�s cheeks. �If only you could but see your long lost love. I wished that you could succeed in your quest. If only your brother Venderick�� �I don�t have a brother,� the other man shackled there chokes out the words, �Who is Denervick?� Venderick is in shock. Someone knows him and is here. He strains his neck to glimpse his new companion, but his efforts are futile. He is so weak his vision is just a blur. �Denervick is a fellow warrior with me in Tiercal�s army. He joined us at the Falls of Rum. From Doria he had ridden where his brother was slain and love stolen away. I would have doubted that she could possible be alive, but he possesses a Heart of Farathon and wears it�� �Heart of Farathon� Doria� Do you know what color it shines� My love and I each got an enchanted pendant, with each other�s life force�s echo in it. She with a green heart from me, and I a blue star from her� Strange, mine feels like it�s burning now� Ow�� He trails off, in pain. The Doctor has come back. He then chants a few more words and Delinia comes out of her trance. When she does she screams. Then she chokes out one word. �Venderick�� But he cannot even hear. He is so weak that it is impossible to lift his head. The chains in the wall are all that keep him from entirely collapsing. The Doctor removes them, catching his shriveled body as it falls. He lays it then on a table in the middle of the room, made of stone blacker than black. He takes a vile of clear red liquid out of his cloak. �See, this is what you two are in for!� He takes out a very fine point knife. Delicately, he pierces the specific vessel in Venderick�s neck. Blood spurts out. But before too much flows he empties the contents of the vial on it. A little steam rises as it all evaporates away. Venderick�s color fades even more than it had in his long captivity. Strength, however, flows now through his veins. It�s unnatural, like the fire-red of his eyes now. A N�maton lies there. The Venderick Delinia knew no longer exists. Dr. Quandro talks to him. �Hello new member, I hope you enjoy being a semi-invincible fighter. But don�t worry, not many will ever come close to that precious vein in your neck, your Achilles heel. Oh well. Now I control you, you who used to be Venderick of Doria.� He, the N�maton rises up. At the doctor�s bidding, he walks over and snarls first in the face of Ol�n, then in Delinia�s. It is agony to the real Venderick, helpless within himself, seeing that Delinia is there, powerless like he, and suddenly he can feel the blue star underneath his tunic glowing. The sorrow within his heart is so great that he wants to cry, but it is even worse that he cannot even do that. The pain and fear in her face aren�t as bad as her eyes, green and blazing, still full of hope, hope he knows she shouldn�t have� The Doctor�s next bidding is that he leave and be outfitted. Unwillingly he walks out, but Venderick has no way to resist, leaving behind his love, lost to him. Then someone else comes into the chamber, from further back in the cave. She has raven-black hair, pale skin, and blood red lips. They seem to actually be bleeding, that so much blood flows from them. The most horrifying part about her is the eyes she looks out upon the world with. They are of such a blue that one gets a chill to look on them. Delinia makes the mistake of glancing at them. She shudders. Laughing, the woman moves over to her. �So lad, you fear the eyes of Abaran�a?� She comes within a few inches of Delinia�s face. �I personally would think that you would be more wary of these lips. Only the strongest can survive their touch against their own. Ha-HA! But soon enough you�ll be the N�maton, strong.� She feels Delinia�s cheek. �But I can do a lot more than just kiss, if you know what I mean. Personally, I wish that Doctor Quandro would let me take you off the wall and do everything but kiss you. I can give you pleasure beyond your wildest dreams�� �Abaran�a! Go and find the newest one and work your ways on him. I�ll make sure he does everything the way you like it. And leave this one alone, not ready yet. Come on, have you lost your sense of time and ripeness of your prey? He�s not aged enough, and like Amontillado, it�ll get much better in time�� She leaves, flashing an evil, tempting smile at Delinia. Now the room only has three, Delinia, Ol�n and the Doctor. �How do you control them anyway? Why don�t they just turn on you?� She doesn�t even know why she said it, regrets it once it is out of her mouth. �You�ll find out when you�re one.� He then turns and leaves, walking away to the chamber the pale woman had come from. Ol�n and her are left alone in the room. They hang there in silence. Water drips from someplace. A few sounds are heard from outside, but there is a stillness as the moment seems forever. Yet even though she�s silent, Delinia is crying. Ol�n notices. �Why cry? It doesn�t get you anywhere, Denervick. By the way, you was he to you, that Venderick, now N�maton. I guess he�s not your brother�� She doesn�t answer, just cries harder. �Denervick? Don�t worry me like this�� After what seems forever she speaks. �I am not Denervick, the vicious warrior. I am but a peasant girl, in love with Venderick. I have pretended to be something that I am not so I�d have a chance to find him since I knew he was still alive. I�m sorry for deceiving you and everything else. I am really only Delinia, who has lost a younger brother and my love to the evil of the throne of fire.� �I don�t believe it! You, the one who slay that N�maton with seemingly no fear, who was brave enough to trek into the unknown to save me, you but a woman? Ha, if only there were more like you Dener�err�. Delinia. Kaiscond couldn�t stand up to an army full of people like you�� Ol�n is dumbstruck and mute now. �So Delinia, you pretend to be a man. Well, now I know the truth but I�ve expected it all along. Now I can have my fun with you. Then all the N�maton can too. It�ll be a treat to them, they grow tired of Abaran�a�s odd old ways. Nothing new ever, but by the throne, they feel good, believe me I know.� Dr. Quandro enters. �I heard all you said. Oh this shall be so much fun!� He walks over to where she is on the wall. She looks fearfully at his face. There is a scar on his left cheek. �Why couldn�t you have slain me then?� He pretends to look confused, but then smiles a smile that shows he always knew. �It was you that I was going to have then. But although I wanted to shed some blood, I couldn�t because your friend came along and I had my next victim for my wonderful changing potion. Soon after you ran away I put a sleeping spell on him, the same one I put on you. Then I took him here and did what you just saw.� He moves closer, pressing his body against hers. �Is this the way you like it?� but before she can even begin to speak, he pushes his lips against hers, nearly smothering her. Rubbing his hands along her body, he slowly loosens her cape and takes it off. He pulls his head back and chants something else and she goes into a trance. He unshackles her from the wall, takes her, leads her to the table. �Come, let�s do it in front of him, torturing him because of his inability to do anything.� On that table he uses her, the charm he placed on her makes her do what he wishes. She gives him pleasure while he does the same to her body, but her soul, spirit and mind are in anguish. Ol�n is tortured in that he wants to look away, but is shocked by the beauty of his comrade, although he knows he shouldn�t be seeing it, no not like this. Although the rest of her body is not, her eyes evince so much fear, and they look at Ol�n, begging for help it seems. He turns away now. He wants it to be over with already, have her perfection tarnished. Then everything else will seem less drastic and severe. He can�t stand the pain in her eyes. It makes him cry. It brings memories flooding back that he wishes he didn�t have� Her eyes were green too. But her hair was the color of straw. Her lips were pretty, a soft pink, bright enough to be different, yet not so strange that they were shocking in any way. She had a sense of beauty. She walked gracefully, always smiled, and everyone who saw her had joy flow through their heart. That is why Ol�n had fallen for her. He was in love, blind and foolish. He courted her, gave her flowers and kisses. But she refused his proposal, �I love you, but I cannot marry you. You are but a farm boy and I am the princess of Lynchuria, heiress to the throne. It would do no good for our land in these troubled times for Lisaricha to marry a commoner. I�m sorry that�s the only fault I can find in you. Otherwise you are perfect, and I know you will make a perfect husband one day, just not for me. Please try to understand�� Of course he understood. He wasn�t good enough for her, probably would never be good enough for anyone. Why bother with women, none could ever capture his heart like she had. He gave up at trying to be a kindly gentleman and just drank himself away every night. That is, until one night when a stranger came to his usual pub. He was a warrior and confronted Ol�n. �Stop trying to drink it all away, your pain won�t go away like that. It doesn�t get you anywhere except a worse place than where you started. Come and join us, fight in the army under Tiecal. I am Hakabree, and my tent-mates Charango and Ajoran and I want someone else to be a fourth in there. Please come. If you join us, you can become more than yourself and defeat Kaiscond with us!� Those were the words he had heard almost two years ago now. Ajoran was dead, lost to a N�maton in their first battle, not far away from where he is now. They had tried to attack this cave and failed. They were driven out and most were slain by the death-riders, including him. It was a tragic battle. Most of the people in the army now were replacements, from Chanoir to Delinia. New faces were added but they could never replace the old. Even though he swore he wouldn�t again, he is falling in love it feels with Delinia. He knows he shouldn�t be, it�ll be another mistake like with Lisaricha. Her heart is already taken and she has a special bond. But he can still care for her, right? Even if he�s not allowed to really love her he can at least have some affection toward he. Anyway, it really doesn�t matter at the moment, her love isn�t really himself now. And he won�t change most likely. Oh wait, that�s the fate in store for him. His vision becomes blurred as he thinks about it and he can no longer see what is happening on the table� Not too far away, the N�maton who used to be Venderick has been assigned his horse, black robes and given his cruel curved red sword. He was in the middle of changing into his new clothes when she comes out of the cave and stares at his toned body. Ashamed he covers himself up. �Oh don�t bother putting clothes on, they�ll come off soon enough. Surely you know better!� �Of course, I just wanted to tease you my lady.� Controlled by the Doctor like Delinia, he walks over to her and leads her to a place behind the stable where no one can see them. He drops his robes. He takes her hand. He kisses first it, then works his way slowly up to her lips. They kiss, him slowly loosening the ties on the back of her dress. As he begins to pull it off and down, she moves her lips from his mouth and begins to move them down, slowly, tantalizingly, teasingly short of where he wants them most. Well, at least where Dr. Quandro wants them to be placed. The real Venderick is screaming in his head to have this stop, wishing he could stop feeling this, stop himself from removing her dress, from kissing her in places he had never seen on a woman before. In his heart still his own rage boils toward her and the Doctor� Delinia lays trembling on the table. Her heart races. Feelings of pleasure run through her body as he feels up her bare legs and further up, as she finds her hands going to places where she never wanted them to go. He violates her further. The Delinia deep within cries out but cannot be heard. She closes her eyes and is glad that she has control of this miniscule part of herself. She feels her clothes going back on her. it seems he�s done with her now. She is glad. He still has her pinned down and even puts back on her belt with her sword and dagger around her waist, kissing her wherever he put pack a piece of clothing. He then says words that allow her to struggle again. The instant he does, it is a big mistake. She draws her sword. Within moments it is pressed against his neck, drawing a little blood. �Tell me, why I shouldn�t kill you, you heartless son of a crit? Why should I show mercy on you, who could be so despicable, who stained my purity?� He doesn�t answer, well not fast enough for Delinia and her short patience. She presses up and his head falls to the floor. �Delinia!� Ol�n calls to her. �Oh Ol�n! I�ll get you free in a moment!� she gets up and goes to him, slashing her sword against the cruel locks keeping him there. They fall and they embrace, crying in each other�s arms� Not far away, Venderick the N�maton is torn within himself. The real man is hating every moment of Abaran�a�s passion, while the N�maton part of him controlled by the Doctor is immensely pleasured by it. But suddenly he is alone in his body, no more presence that controls his every action. He pulls his arms back from her embrace, grabs his sword, and stabs her in the heart. She cries out in pain as he draws it out. Fire burns in her eyes, the flames of Kaiscond, no longer hidden by the fake blue. He then swings with one more stroke, detaching her head from her body. Her body and head burn away in orange and red flames. There is no trace left of the one who served the throne of flame. Venderick races to the cave, then realizes he�s not wearing anything. He quickly picks up his old clothes from where he had discarded them. He puts them on and they feel wonderful, as if they are silk, not simple cotton. He hopes it�s not too late for Delinia, he feels the star around his neck falter some� �Oh, Ol�n, where is Venderick?� She lets go and reluctantly so does he. Within a few moments he enters. They run to each other. Happily he takes her into his arms and gently kisses her forehead. She feels the tears stream down from his face to hers, then to the floor. Hers too join them and they hold each other close, wanting this moment to never have to end, to live in this instant forever, to be forever happy, safe, and content. |
| Chapter 3 |