Aurelie stood by the window and looked over the back garden while some of the witches on duty grew vegetables for breakfast. Birds chirped outside, and the sun highlighted the mountain in gold.
Sasha stepped down into the garden and gathered a basket from one of the girls. Elise, a caramel-skinned witch with puffy black curls and eyes yellow as a cat's cupped a yellow tomato flower in her hand. Her lips moved, and a green pip formed out of the center of the flower. The small, green fruit grew, turning yellow, and finally, a ripe red tomato filled her entire hand. She plucked it and placed it in the basket beside her that had already been filled with peppers and onions for the morning omelet.
A sadistic laugh echoed from below the floor. Aurelie gritted her teeth and felt nagging anger in her chest. She had tried her best to ignore him all morning. In fact, the reason she currently stared out into the garden was to calm herself down with the peaceful morning routine of the inn.
He had kept her up half the night, with his laughter, screams, or both. Her lids were heavy, and her body swollen. She straightened her dress and made her way down the steps, counting down from a hundred in her head to settle the anger and keep herself from outright killing him.
People were gathered around the entrance to the basement where Daerious had tied up their prisoner. His hyena hoots reinstated a headache she had only just slept off. Aurelie pushed through the crowd of meddlesome residents and leaned against the door frame. Daerious stood over the man, his fist bloody. The prisoner was bleeding from the mouth, and his right eye was barely able to open. He laughed, spitting out drops of blood.
Aurelie tapped her foot, her hands folded. One more sound from the man, and she would smash the basement doors to pieces. She was in one of those moods again, and today, she knew exactly who to take her rage out on. "This is clearly not working, Daerious. Can you at least shut him up? I can't stand it," she said the last part through clenched teeth.
Daerious's head spun to her. Large bags hung below his eyes. "Good morning," he said and rubbed his bloodied hand along his pants.
"No, it isn't," she replied and pushed herself off the doorframe, slowly approaching the prisoner. "Do you know what happens when I lose my temper?" she asked him, eyes blazing with fire. The fire was natural now. She did not need to call upon her eyes to glow.
He laughed again, the noise slashing into her eardrums.
"Very well then, let me show you," she said, her hand blazed with fire, climbing as high as her elbow. She lifted it toward her mouth and blew. The fire swirled and stopped inches from his face. She heard the sizzle of his beard as it melted. Ash fell onto his shirt and pants.
She let the fire slide from her hand and surrounded the chair that he was bound to.
"Do you see now?" she asked.
"Who are you?" Daerious asked, trying his luck. He kicked out and caught the man's shin. The man gritted his teeth through the pain and shook his head, stubbornly declining to answer.
They tried to gain information from him each day for the next week, but he always refused to tell them anything. His body was clear of bruises from Daerious's fist, dagger, or burns from Aurelie's fire.
Groshal stepped forward a couple of times and forced the air out of the room until the prisoner's face turned blue, but still, he remained silent.
Sasha tended to his wounds every day after they had finished with him, trying to keep him alive as best she could. It was growing harder as their patience wore thin and the supply of herbs grew scarce.
It was as if he had become numb to the pain. He had even started laughing when Aurelie set him on fire. Each day she had to control herself more. She wanted to go back on what she had said and end his life to get away from his constant maniacal laughter. It followed her everywhere. She had grown so used to it that she even heard it in her head when she was outside attempting to practice her fire.
Her fire could reach high up into the sky when she wanted it to now. It was like taking a breath. She rarely had to focus on having to summon it; it just came when she willed it.
Aurelie could understand her grandfather's adventures searching for more power and why he had single-mindedly become so consumed by it. It came with being a dragon. The more you had, the more you wanted. The power was intoxicating. The amount of fire inside you was never enough, it clung to her senses, and she wanted it to grow larger and more destructive. Having to control it was becoming very difficult. Sasha came out one night, concern vivid through all her warm features.
"Aurelie, your magic is growing too quickly." She observed as Aurelie charred the last of the hay men Kirin had made. The piles of ash left by the others were now scattered all over the field by the wind. "Won't you rest a day or two?"
"It is nothing that I cannot handle," Aurelie assured her.
Sasha sat on the steps, tapping her feet from heel to toes. "That is the same thing Emile said when your grandmother made the same observation," she told her. She had always been careful about calling him Aurelie's father for some reason. Everyone else was mother or grandfather, but Emile had always gone by name and not title.
Aurelie stiffed, a pain settling in her stomach. She agreed, but it had been much too late to stop it now. The fire was beginning to take her over, and she wondered if it wasn't controlling her more than she was controlling it. Ever since she had started using magic daily on the prisoner, she forgot to eat and drink, and some nights she could not sleep without using magic prior.
Sometimes she would sit on the field and play with her flames, forgetting that there were still people around her. It was just her and her power. All that mattered was getting it to increase in strength. Aurelie did not respond to Sasha but sat quietly, passing fire from one hand to the other.
Sasha crossed her arms and leaned her back against the steps. "Don't let it take control of you, dear. I will not lecture you about it any longer, but please be careful."
Aurelie nodded and let the flames die down in her hand.
Orken stepped outside, his foot tapping against the door frame. He had grown uneasy, as had the rest of him, but he remained on her side. "Do we leave him then, bring him food and drink, and nurse his wounds? He has still told us nothing, not even his name. People are growing frustrated," he said, frustration pulsing through each word. He looked through Aurelie. His mind focused on a solution.
"Well, what else can we do? He's already here, and I don't see volunteers jumping up at the chance to kill him," Sasha said. "None of us will touch him. There is already unrest about the torture. Killing him now will send people on their way."
Orken bit his fingernail, his foot tapping faster. "There's something that we can try." He was focused on neither one of them, his eyes tracing the fields. He seemed to be pondering aloud rather than engaging in conversation.
Sasha rose and hit her hand against the rail. "Orken, no!"
He snapped out of whatever trance he was in and glared at Sasha. "You said so yourself. We're out of options. This was, at least, we would get something out of him."
Sasha bared her teeth, her eyes blazing with fury. "If you want your mind to end up like mashed potatoes, go right ahead. I will have no part in this," she barked and stormed up the steps.
Mashed potatoes? Aurelie's thought on Sasha's comment a moment. Then her eyes flickered with shock. Orken was going to attempt to read the prisoner's mind.
"Is that the spell the dream realm was created to stop?" Aurelie asked him, but he was once again locked within his own thoughts.
"Yes, yes, that is the one," he answered eventually. "But I wonder," he added and fell silent once again. Aurelie watched him, waiting for the next thought to fall from his lips accidentally, but she waited in vain.
Orken jerked and walked inside. Aurelie followed him to the basement, stopping shortly behind him as he entered and stood over the prisoner with a certain hunger in his expression.
Daerious sat next to the prisoner, his knees up and his head tucked between them. He peeked up at them and dropped his hands again. "If he doesn't stop, I'm going to kill him," he muttered grimly. "And I couldn't care less about what you'll say or do. I'm going to kill him."
Orken gripped the man's wrist and placed his fingers on his pulse. "Good." His fingers moved up to the man's temples. Orken closed his eyes, his fingers whitening and denting into his temples. He gasped and stepped back, catching his breath.
"What is it?" Daerious asked.
Orken interlaced his fingers and bit his lip. "This is fascinating," he said and looked from Aurelie to Daerious and then back once more to the prisoner.
"What is?" Aurelie asked, wide-eyed.
Daerious stood and stopped Orken from going closer to the man, his face in a constricted crease. "Orken," Daerious called. When he did not respond, he shook him by the shoulder.
"Stop it!" Orken snapped. "Do I have to explain every single thing? He is protected by magic that has a certain similarity to the magic that created the Dream Realm. I cannot read his mind . . . yet, but the spell is only bound by one end, unlike the Dream Realm magic. That means I can break it, or I can do something worse."
The prisoner sneered, loudly and with a hint of desperation that Orken had not noticed, for his eyes flared at him angrily and accepted whatever challenge he thought the prisoner had presented him with.
"You've underestimated me, son. For if you hadn't, you'd hardly be laughing," he said, looking down at him.
The prisoner struggled against the rope of his chair, his eyes avoiding Orken's and his laughter fading into a quiet moan.
Orken roamed around the man, power quaking from him. "You see, the spell protects you from the art of mind-reading. However, it does not protect your whole mind. To be exact, your thoughts are only protected from others, but not from yourself. Being a wizard, I hope that you understand what my conclusion is to this magic," he said, a sly smile spreading across his face. "I don't intend just to break the spell."
Aurelie looked to Daerious to see if he understood what was happening, but his eyes were narrowed and stalking Orken with as much confusion as she was.
Orken stepped back and clapped his hands. "So, with this information, I will ask you one more time, are you willing to answer our questions?"
The wizard dropped and shook his head in resignation. A feeling of hope settled in Aurelie's chest. In all the days of his torture, he seemed calm and solid, even though his skin was torn and all his wounds severe, not once had he reacted like this.
"Very well then," Orken said. "Daerious, I need Jilpod leaves, Histos venomâ
"And dragon flesh." Sasha stood in the door frame with a round bowl.
Aurelie widened her eyes, wondering whether that was a subtle way of asking for a chunk of her skin, but she waited before protesting. She rubbed her arms with her palms. Could she refuse? She was not sure if that was an option. But they were not touching her unless they had healing herbs anymore, that's for sure.
"Relax, dear, you don't have any. I will need some blood, though," she said and took out a small knife from her pocket. "Come on." She gestured for Aurelie to stand and held out her hand. "Your finger."
"Come around, have ya?" Orken eyed Sasha with a raised eyebrow and a half-smile on his face.
"Don't make me regret it." She looked more worried than before but must have thought it better to be a part of the mess than an outside observer. "There's been enough death."
Aurelie pressed her finger against the blade and hissed when her skin popped under pressure. A thick drop of blood ran down the blade.
"That's enough." Sasha mixed the blood into the mixture and passed it to Orken. He took it without saying a word and sniffed the mixture.
Orken dipped his fingers into the bowl and rubbed it onto the man's temples. The flesh reddened, and blisters popped up, oozing with blood. Orken winced but continued.
Orken pushed his fingers onto the man's temples. As Orken bent his head backward, Aurelie saw his eyes dip until only the white of them was visible. He chanted, but half the words were in a whisper. "Reserassem . . . sinora . . . aperi."
The man shrieked.
Sasha's hand covered her mouth, her eyes skipping from man to man. "God," she murmured and made herself look away.
"Mens, aperi, ostendo," Orken's words grew louder. Blood soared from his mouth and ran down his cheeks, crimson bubbles popping from his nose.
"Orken!" Sasha snapped, banging her hand against the wall. "Enough!"
"Men's, aperi, ostendo," Orken chanted once more.
Sasha ran up to him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. The blood ran down his cheek and then his neck. Sasha shook him. "Orken! Get out of him!" His blood ran down her hand, seeping between her fingers.
"Can I do something?" Aurelie looked over Daerious's shoulder, her heart racing.
"Daerious, take his elbow," Sasha ordered and tugged at Orken's arm. They both tried to pull him away from the prisoner, but the two of them had been locked together. Aurelie ran up and tried to pry Orken's fingers off the man's temples, but it was no use.
"It's not working," Daerious said between exasperated breaths.
"I can see that," Sasha snapped and let go of Orken's arm. "You old fool," she spat and shook her head.
Sasha put her hand on Orken's forehead, muttered something under her breath, and spat three times over her shoulder. "Porta fela."
Sasha and Orken flew in opposite directions. She hit the wall with a heavy thump, and Orken traveled out of the basement's open door before crashing into the steps.
He snapped out of the spell, wiping the blood off his face. Orken's eyes came back into place. He blinked and shook his head. "It's done."
Sasha let out a breath of relief. "Never again." She pointed her finger at him. Aurelie and Daerious ran toward her and helped her up.
"No mashed potatoes." He smiled and winked at her. "We begin again tomorrow. I've entered his memories. Now I'll have to find the right ones."
Aurelie did not doubt that they would get through to him soon. The prisoner was still attempting to be strong, but Orken's magic was something he had not expected. She hoped that it would finally make him speak, but her hopes were drained when he looked up at her again and smiled. Her face darkened. He was a madman, they were so near to exposing whatever he knew, and still, he did not speak.
"Why?" she asked him once everyone else left. "Why don't you just tell us."
He straightened on the chair. Blood smeared from his nose to his neck. "Because all this does not come close to what he'll do to me if I talk."
"But we're going to find out."
"Maybe, but not from my lips."
Aurelie sighed and nodded. "Have it your way, then."