Chapter 72: Chapter 72
Gaius raised his right hand. "This wound would be fatal to an Aspirant such as yourself. Impressive," Gaius commended. Nolan despised the smugness in Gaius's voice.
He rubbed the tears out of his lone eye.
Gaius took the end of his tabard and wiped his blade clean. Blood and the remains of Nolan's eye either dribbled down to the floor or stuck to the cloth. Nolan ground his teeth.
"Please, princeling, wear a more pleasant expression on your face," Gaius weighed the sword in his hand and nodded at it, "for only the strong have a right to fury."
Nolan rushed at him, sword raised.
He swung it down. Gaius parried it, but Nolan had prepared for it and stepped in and pulled his arms back, pulling the sword back to Gaius's neck. With speed Nolan had not seen of him before, his foeman ducked under the blade.
He kicked Nolan down to his back. Nolan saw the gold of his hollow eye reflecting on the sword and could do nothing when Gaius hacked off his prosthetic hand.
[Your attribute has been destroyed.]
He cried out as his arm began to flail about as the electricity within lost all order. A stray spark jumped onto his cloak, and quickly, it was all aflame. His flesh burned. The red of fire consumed his attention. He tried to roll on the ground and put it out, but Gaius kicked him in the side. "Enough of that folly. I asked you to dance with me, not mud."
Nolan crawled onto his feet, white-hot anger burning away the pain for a moment, or perhaps the pain fueled the anger. He picked up his sword once more. He could barely hold it, having only four fingers.
He cut the fastenings of his cloak off.
Before it fell to the floor, he caught it with his stumped arm. With a rotation of his shoulder blade, he rolled it around the stump. The fire blazed all the hotter.
"What madness has befallen—" Lurching forward, Nolan used the cloaked arm to somehow support and thrust the blade. Gaius struck it away. Ah, the joy. The boy may have been Awakened, but he was still a boy. He should not have done that. He let go of the sword, and there was nothing between Gaius and him.
He pushed him to the floor and pressed his blazing stump into Gaius's face. Gaius screamed and flailed for a moment, but then he stopped. He caught Nolan's shoulder, painfully twisting it, and pushed away his arm until he could see.
The fire still licked away at his face, but he did not care. There was respect in his eyes. While Nolan hoped to hell that somehow he could kill him, Gaius let himself be burned in silence for a few more seconds, and then he vanished.
With a gasp, Nolan threw away his cloak. His skin had begun to peel away. Red and black, it shook madly. It was over. Death was not far.
He stumbled and turned, looking for a way to escape. Demos stood over Richard's corpse, sporting a painful wound on his side, while Jayne was nowhere to be seen. Her opponent was missing too. She must have made a run for it. Good for her.
Demos swaggered over. "My, my, you're hurt, m'lord!" The smile on his face was excruciating to bear. The traitor pointed his sword at Nolan. "You struck me…now you're going to pay for that."
He swung at Nolan.
Nolan staggered back, reaching for the sword on the ground.
"Oh no you don't." Demos jumped forward, swinging wildly. Nolan rolled out of the way but rolled over his stump in the process. The pain was horrendous, and he froze. The sword drew an arc through Nolan's stomach. Nolan fell. Demos stood over him, clearly pleased. He smiled as Nolan struggled to breathe as the lightning coursed through his new wound, cauterizing it shut.
"I did not think it possible for one to be so…lacking." Demos laughed in that grating voice of his. "Like father, like son."
Nolan's fist clenched. He knew he was mocking the father of the body he had taken over, but he was talking to Nolan nonetheless. He hated it. So much.
Demos pointed his sword down at him. "Tell your father I said hi!" He thrust it. Nolan threw his arm forward. The blade cut through palm and bone and in and out of his arm, but it did not reach his neck, where Demos wanted it.
The electricity moved once more. It was not an Awakened on the other end this time. Demos fell to the floor instantly. His body would not stop shaking. Nolan smiled a blood-red smile.
[You have slain a dormant human, Demos.]
[You have received a Memory.]
A memory. How grateful he was, now that he was an inch from death. He heard footsteps. Come to stand over him now was Gaius. A good portion of his neck and jaw was burned, skin peeling and the flesh beneath it black as char.
"Stand."
Nolan tried, but he could not. Gaius sighed, squatted, and lifted Nolan to his feet by his shoulder, careful not to touch the sword that still had electricity dancing on it. Roughly, he pushed Nolan back. Luckily, he did not use enough force to make him fall.
"You wounded me thrice."
Nolan spat, "Are you angry?"
Gaius clicked his tongue. "Not a bit."
He took a step back. "I will offer you mercy. Run for your life. Through the field of pikes and to your freedom. My men will not touch you," he said.
Nolan laughed. "Your father, is he not the king?"
"He is."
"And did he not want me to die a most pathetic death?"
"No. He wanted everyone to know you met a most pathetic end. In a sense, you will. Cut halfway to death, running with your tail between your legs, and likely to die on the road somewhere. A pathetic end, and even if you survive, nothing will have changed. Go. Live a little longer."
Nolan was tempted. He wanted to run. But the words, nothing will have changed, rang clear in his mind. Indeed. To Nolan, this Nightmare's 'conflict' had been in the air for some time. He had previously considered it was related to escaping prison or killing someone important, but maybe…maybe the truth was in his Aspect's description.
He summoned the runes.
***
Aspect: [Deposed Prince].
Aspect Description: [A prince is the son of a monarch, destined to wield authority, wealth, and power. A deposed prince is one whose destiny was ripped away and is left with nothing.]
***
…it had to do with his destiny. The destiny of a prince. He had been deposed, and he would be judged on how well he regained his 'destiny'. Yet, was it worth the gamble? Maybe. He looked at the field of pikes…at the lightning that fell repeatedly on one pike in the distance. Chances were, he would not get through the field.
Demos had cut his stomach well, and there were internal injuries. If there wasn't, why would it hurt so much inside? A less-than-favorable chance of survival coupled with a terrible appraisal was not worth it. Yet, there was a way to get a higher appraisal…and maybe he wouldn't die immediately. Even if he did, he hoped against hope, for people had been known to die in their Nightmares but survived due to that death being part of the conflict. Maybe…
Nolan looked Gaius in the eye. "Gods forbid that I live as a prince without a kingdom to inherit. I shall die with the city. Place me on a pike, Gaius, for as you say," he grinned, "I am a princeling."
Gaius showed no emotion but that ever-smug smile that did not reach his eyes. He obliged. "Follow me." Gaius turned. "For wounding me, I will give you the honor of not being dragged."
Nolan did. The impaled people of the city watched him follow Gaius into the maze of pikes. "Take me to that pike."
Gaius hummed.
Along the way, a group of soldiers garbed in black encircled them. A prince's execution needed a procession, after all. Nolan turned his neck, looking back at the city. From behind the walls, many people, the frail, the weak, and the old, were watching.
They stopped just shy of the pike Nolan mentioned. On it was something you could hardly call a man. His arms and legs were silver, and his face was burnt. Inside his gouged eyes and slit throat was coursing lightning. And on his head was a silver crown. It coursed with unnatural lightning, and it seemed to be attracting every bolt of lightning in the storm.
"Impale me by the king," Nolan said.
The soldiers didn't move. Gaius gave a nod.
Two of them moved to the king's pike, a fresh pike in hand. They angled it down. Another pair moved to hold him, but Gaius raised a hand. "Do it yourself, princeling."
"I will," Nolan said, though inwardly he was gulping. He prayed to every God he knew of and hoped this gamble would work. He walked to the pike and turned.
Before he could say a word, they impaled him. He bit on his tongue so he did not scream. He had screamed enough for a day. Grunting, they lifted the pike and drove it into the ground. Other soldiers carried large rocks and placed them around the pike to stabilize it.
Nolan was struggling to breathe. Lightning wreaked havoc within his body, and it was getting harder and harder not to scream. But he couldn't. He had to play the role of a prince, and the people were watching. Eyes were on him. He reached out for the king's crown and grasped what was his.
Under the hissing breaths of the onlookers and Gaius's laugh, he crowned himself. A bolt of lightning fell on him. All went black. Thunder knelled…and in the silent darkness that ensued, a voice rang out:
[Wake up, Nolan! Your nightmare is over.]
[Prepare for appraisal…]
***
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