A Prince of the Nobillo
Chapter 20: Discipline
"That little piece of eroki!" Boz fumed.
Rivuk moved some figures on his screen, pretending not to notice as Boz stormed down the corridor followed closely by Elihim. "It is the fourteenth bil of Princess Lindsay's incarceration, but, in light of the new evidence that's come forward, people are asking, hasn't she been punished enough?" Yasolina said on the miniature viewing screen next to a report on the Western Plateau.
A few video bots flew around as Lindsay spoke to a Nobillo man on the street. "It wasn't like she meant to do anything to hurt us," he said. "I don't know why we're in this war, anyway. Seems like a waste of hecares if you ask me."
"We love you, Princess Lindsay!" a gaggle of young women shouted in unison.
He turned down the volume to listen to his brothers.
Boz spun on his heel causing his older brother to almost crash into him. "She laughed at us! Laughed!"
"And you silenced her," Elihim said, clearly trying to calm the raging storm.
"But I didn't break her," he hissed through clenched teeth. "I could still see her laughing at me in those ugly mud-colored eyes! Guard, summon my concubine, I don't care which one. I just need something to beat. Something that will cry and beg me to stop. Ugh! I want to watch her crying and weeping for mercy at my hands! I want to break her like a riragdon! I want to see that shattered look in her eye!"
He grabbed a guard's spear and, without even a second thought, stabbed the large Child through the head with it. The guard fell to the floor, dead. "I need something that would hurt her. Something she cares about that I can use to destroy her. Like watching me skin her precious Bona Serat Corsar alive."
"Please don't kill the guards," Elihim said.
Boz kicked the guard's head, staring at its large, open mouth, long tongue dangling from the side. "We should cut off their faces, they're so ugly. Why can't they make them at least look tolerable?"
"It is difficult enough to breed them as it is."
"Don't even talk about that! The only thing more disgusting than they are is the idea of them breeding. Can you imagine having sex with something that looked like that? I'd gouge my own eyes out. I'd cut off my tessect and scour myself with salt." He paused and looked at the guard again, then at his brother. "Well, I suppose you can imagine it quite clearly."
"I'd rather not discuss that," Elihim said.
"Oh, but I never felt closer to you than in that moment when I watched you put that one from the barracks in the hospital. For a moment, I thought you might actually kill her. I was so pleased father let me come along to watch your little rebellious streak be quashed by the destruction of the very thing you loved the most. Remember that look in her bloody eye when she realized she was all alone and her prince wasn't coming to help her? That the one she cared for was the one destroying her. You wouldn't even look at it after that." A chilling grin rose on Boz's features. "Oh, I know," he said.
"Scouring her with salt?"
"No." he said simply. Then he laughed. "What's the poor little princess going to do when everyone she loves can't bear to look at her?"
It was a laugh Rivuk knew well. Even though it had been lancs since he'd last heard it; a shiver shot through him. He must hold Lindsay extra tight, tonight, for she was about to face something evil, and he would be powerless to stop it.
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Lindsay lay in her cell, listening. There was nothing else for her to do. She could hum. She'd smirk but it hurt too much to smile. The pain had become a dull ache enveloping her entire body as long as she didn't move. Whenever she did, whenever she even breathed too deeply, it was like someone stabbing her with a huge rusty knife. She couldn't even sleep. All she could do was wait.
"I'm here to see the princess," Carak's voice carried down the hallway.
"Again? Why do you even come here every day, anyway? She's a traitor. She doesn't deserve your pity," the loud voice of the guard said.
"I am permitted to. Thank you." Carak replied.
She heard his heavy footsteps approaching her cell. Staggered, as they always were, his limp giving them a distinct cadence.
"He's in love with her, that's why," the other guard said, likely to the first.
"You think so? Hey, you in love with the princess? Ugh, that's too disgusting to even think about. Especially today. Did you see her when they brought her back?"
"It's not like he'd ever have the chance, anyway. You've heard how his grace goes at the little whore every night. Oh Rivuk! Ohhhh!"
She did not like hearing her voice mocked like that.
"I'd like to have her suck my telson," the guard said more quietly. "Oh! Eroki!" he shouted. He sounded terrified.
She heard Carak's voice, soft and deadly. "I will report your desires to his grace."
"No! Please don't!"
But Carak didn't respond, his shuffling step continuing toward her door.
Lindsay winced as the handle turned. He was going to be upset. She knew he was. And she couldn't even warn him to spare him that horrible moment. He'd know what happened the second he saw her - who had happened.
The door opened. Horror flashed across the part of Carak's face she could see without moving her neck. In a heartbeat, he was kneeling beside her, slicing through the string that bound her lips with his claw. His eyes were murderous.
"What did he do?" Carak demanded.
"He lost," Lindsay said, glad to have the ability to speak again. "But he didn't rape me, if that's what you're asking. He gave some reasons but I think he just couldn't get it up when I laughed at him." She ran her arm across her mouth, smearing blood and vomit across it. She winced. It felt good to get that crust off, but damn those holes hurt.
"Thank the Immortal!"
"Can you fix it? I really don't want Rivuk seeing me with a bunch of holes in my face, it's bad enough you have to."
"I think they're recent enough. Hold still."
She surrendered herself to Carak's care. She winced as he reset her bones, but tried not to cry, though a few tears did escape when he reset her wrists. She didn't want him to feel like he was hurting her. That was Boz, and he'd been nothing if not thorough - every one of her arm joints had been pulled out of place. It took almost an hour for Carak to put them back to right. Then he covered her arms with special cloths he'd used before that were supposed to take down the swelling and bruising.
"What did Elihim mean when he said they had to keep me intact?" Lindsay asked as she swung her arms back and forth, glad to have the motion back, even if they still ached.
"Just what he said. So long as you are a princess, it is illegal to do any long-term or permanent harm to your body that might affect your duties as a wife and mother. Unfortunately, with medical technology as it is, the definition of long-term harm is rather vague. So long as it can be healed within a bil, it is allowable." Carak answered.
"So they can whip me all day, but they can't cut off my toe?"
