Chapter 356

Hazeh didn't truly have time to process it, his eyes saw the rubble, the dust and splinters, but before he truly understood what was happening or why, he felt himself choking. His feet kicked at empty air, and his own body's weight held him inexorably against a hand of steel.

He gurgled and gasped, his own hands came up to claw at the one to hold him there, but prying those fingers free proved to be an exercise in futility. "What… were… you… doing… to… my… daughter!" Brain bellowed the final word, and shook the feeble man like a rag doll.

The cane, he'd dropped, and it landed on the table, Hazeh's fingertips teased at it, sought it out, urging it closer. "Can't… breathe… hurting… me…" He choked out, beyond him, he could see a woman with black and white hair who, in crude terms, was busy kicking the shit out of Lady Grel.

"You were supposed to look after her! Is this what you thought we meant?!" Brain bellowed up, his face a twisted mask of wrath and fury, he twisted at the hip and slammed the old man's back down against the table. It shattered from the force and Hazeh gasped and coughed as any remaining wind was knocked out of his lungs.

Layali jumped against him and wrapped her arms around his waist, various small heads came up to watch the impossible scene. Brain put his arm down over her shoulder and against her back. "Did he hurt you?" Brain asked, his eyes going from Layali to the old man.

"Uh huh… bad… it hurts to sit, an they were going to make us work for them, all day long, and they made me dunk freezing water on me, an they took my things and they made me sleep on a busted bed and old straw and all they fed me was one potato! I hate this place and I wanna leave!" She shouted it all and began bawling… Brain only glowered down at the figure that still hadn't formed words.

Not far away, Zesshi, having heard Layali start to bawl, raised her foot and stomped… hard… on the woman's elbow.

The crack was audible, as was the cry of pain. "You were paid a fortune to take care of her! And this is what you do?!" Zesshi snapped and brought her foot down on the knee of Lady Grel.

"Which hand did he use to hit you?" Brain asked, and down below, Hazeh felt the eyes of a reaper of the battlefield looming over him.

"That one…" Layali pointed to the right hand of the old man. Other than Zesshi, he was sure nobody saw his sword move, only the act of returning it to its sheath.

Hazeh blinked his eyes, slow confusion followed, he brought his arms up to guard himself, "Don't-" The plea died in his throat when, after holding up his arms to protect himself, he saw that his right hand was missing and a stream of blood was coming out.

"That means he used the other hand to hold you in place…" Brain stomped his foot down on the arm that still had a hand, pinning it to his chest.

Layali could not see what he did when he crouched down, but the audible crack of snapping bone after snapping bone was enough to make her wince… even if not one wince had pity to it.

"We're taking you out of here… I'm sorry we left you here…" Brain said, ignoring the broken, howling figure who would not be moving again for quite some time.

"My hands…!" Hazeh's voice was beginning to fade.

"Layali… bind the hand, I don't want him to die. Not yet." Brain said when the old man began to fall limp.

Quick as a whip she took a pair of scissors, cut the cloth she was expected to work with, and began to bandage and bind the hand to cut the blood flow off.

Brain put his boot down on Hazeh's neck, the pressure was light, but terrorized eyes bulged with the dread that the pressure was coming. "Do you have any idea just how thoroughly you've screwed yourself?" He asked when Layali rose and went back to clinging to Brain's side.

Gurgles were Hazeh's only answer.

"That," he pointed to the half elven woman who was dragging Lady Grel over, the old woman moaned and tried weakly to protest, but with Zesshi's hand on the end of her hair, dragging the old woman across the floor was easy, "is Zesshi Zetsumei. She's an official representative from the Slane Theocracy, and you've just beaten her daughter."

Even the groans stopped as the fear redoubled. "She has direct ties to their elite forces, and when they find out what you've done?" Brain's voice rose an octave and he put a little pressure on the old man's throat, then lifted it away as the thudding and slamming and desperate flailing of a broken hand and a handless arm slapped against his boot.

"But it's their way to give their prey a head start. We're leaving, and we're taking her with us, and you… as soon as we've finished business in Arwintar, you're the next business." Brain hocked his spittle as loud as he could, and then spat, hard, directly into Hazeh's eye.

"How'd you do that?" Zesshi asked while she put herself at Brain's side.

"What? You've never hocked one on somebody before?" Brain raised an eyebrow at her while Zesshi's hand unconsciously drifted to stroke Layali's head.

"No… no, I haven't… tell me how." Zesshi almost demanded.

"Hork it back through the nose, like breathing really hard so it's at the back of your throat, then spit it all out at once." Brain explained.

"Can I try… momma?" Layali asked and looked hopefully up at Zesshi with big, puppy dog eyes.

"Please do." Zesshi answered with a wink, and the two half elves began. 'Gagghghk' like noises went up as they tilted their heads back, and then two large wads of mucusy spit arced through the air to land on the face of Lady Grel.

"You'll live. Long enough for us to chase you… and I'll be reporting this place to the King of this country." Zesshi said with icy hate as they squirmed on their backs.

Countless small faces looked at them with a mix of fear, hope, confusion, dismay… but the pair had eyes only for one.

"It's terrible here… can we just… leave?" Layali pled, "I don't wanna be here anymore."

"Yes, we're leaving." Brain said and picked her up in his arms, she was warm to the touch, and with the danger clearly passing away and reunited with the pair in safety… she began to tremble like a leaf as her adrenaline rush wore off.

Her face began to redden as she was carried out and she began to cry with tears of happiness. "They said you wouldn't come back… they said they were my parents now… I didn't like it… I knew you'd come back…"

"We never should have left…" Zesshi acknowledged when they descended the stairs. "How long do you think those two will run for, once they're able to move again, that is?"

Brain rubbed his chin and scooched Layali a little higher up so she could hold her arms around his neck. "I would say… the rest of their lives, just at a guess. And that will do. Still it's strange that nobody interrupted us."

"Probably the noise." Zesshi said with a dismissive shrug, when they reached the place where their horses were tethered.

"Shouldn't that be the opposite?" Brain inquired, he set Layali on his horse, inching her up toward the mane and taking care to place her as gently down as he could.

"Not really, once when we raided a vampire lair, I 'interrogated' a vampire minion for a good while, his screams didn't draw any attention. Raymond told me it's because they were used to screams. That place was probably used to all kinds of ugly noises and anyone who heard it, assumed just one kid snapped and put up a fight."

"Convenient for us at least, it'll be hours before anybody realizes anything is wrong unless the kids in there say anything… but still, we should pick up the pace, we still have a tournament to get to and even if it is going to run for weeks, I'd rather not miss it all." Brain gave a wolfish grin to the half elf, "I look forward to seeing how I do against you next time. Maybe I'll even win!"

Zesshi threw back her head and laughed, "That'll be the day." She said, wiped tears of laughter from her eyes, and without a word, they spurred their horses and began to ride north as fast as their horses could carry them.