Because of Aldweck’s status as a national hero, he was able to be inside the infirmary. Erick was forced to wait outside as they did everything to check Lord Warner and Zaya’s vital signs. After performing some magic and probing them with needles, the physician breathed a sigh of relief.

“So, how are things looking?” Aldweck asked the physician.

The physician turned around, his figure was stocky and well-built compared to what was expected. His eyes were brimming with unnatural confidence.

“They are stable and shouldn’t worsen in condition. My only trouble is understanding the nature of this situation. Their bodies reek of sleeping medicine, only something you would find in a far-off jungle deep on another land.” He looked back at Lord Warner.

“What is certain, is that this was calculated by someone. This may just be the first step into a dark plan enacted by a malicious party. Dark cultists wouldn’t bother traveling this far south for their own justice. I can’t help but think a nation-state level figure would do something like this.”

“Seeing as you’re the only one who qualifies for that position and that you aren’t being targeted, my suspicions and authority give me the right to detain you on account for suspicion of treachery.”

Two guards dressed in rose-flowered suits with black buccaneer hats raised curved swords to point at Aldweck. This was when Mitch’s survival instincts kicked in. Fight or flight, and he wasn’t confident in either. “I-I’m sure you’re joking right?”

“No, I’m afraid not Sir Aldweck. It’s highly suspicious of you to be skipped when Zaya was not. I think in this case, you are the prime suspect are you not?”

A man twice the size of the buff physician stormed through the door, he was even larger than Lord Warner. On his back was a butcher blade bigger than his back. His teeth were all but there, and his head was shiny and bald. One of his eyes was hidden away behind a deep scar that took half his vision.

“General Hickory, I’m glad you arrived in time. Did you discover anything?”

He sighed, “Yeah, reports are telling me minutes before Lord Warner and Zaya collapsed, there were sightings of Sir Aldweck running out of the Lord’s quarters with blood running out of his hand. One of the sailors told me that Lord Warner had been screaming right up until the incident of his collapse. This man is without a doubt guilty.”

“It would be wise of you to not resist, Sir Aldweck.” General Hickory grabbed both of Aldweck’s arms and swung them behind his back in an instant. His grip was stronger than the weight of an elephant. Mitch felt all the energy leave his body as he was restrained in magical cuffs.

“I am innocent. I have done nothing wrong!” Aldweck shouted before General Hickory sent one into his gut and made him cough up spit.

“Shut up. We will get all the answers we want from you! But not on your own terms. Now let’s go, before my anger gets any worse. You despicable scum.”

Aldweck was pushed out of the room and was immediately enshrined with tons of chatter as people surrounded the infirmary. Erick was on the ground, being restrained by some more rose suit officers.

“Master! What’s going on? Why are we being detained?” He managed to squiggle out of his mouth before they pulled him up and slapped him. One of the soldiers wrapped cloth into his mouth and tied it tightly around his head.

“Traitors to the United Islands of Cariquey have no right to speak unless spoken to.”

“Hey!? What happened to innocent until proven guilty?” Aldweck said.

“We will find out the truth. Don’t you worry.”

Those words brought dread to Mitch’s ears. His gut told him things were just going to keep getting worse and worse. Things had spiraled out of control, and what could he do to stop it? Nothing he said was worth anything to these people. They wanted a perpetrator and were determined to make it Aldweck.

After a few minutes of walking down corridors and deeper into the ship, Aldweck and Erick were put into a dark room and strapped to metal chairs with a singular light fixture hanging above them. They were facing each other and couldn’t speak. General Hickory rolled in with a metal table with all sorts of gadgets and scary-looking blades scattered across it. The pan was still stained with the blood of the last poor soul.

Erick remained calm, while Aldweck was practically trying to leap out of the chair. His chest rising and falling too quickly and his voice muffled by the rag that they had stuffed in his mouth on the way here.

General Hickory sighed, picking up a pair of pliers, “I never like doing this you know. Making people hurt more than they want to be alive, but sometimes the price has to be paid to understand why someone would do something so vicious.”

He opened the pliers and placed them on one of Aldweck’s fingers.

“When a person is tortured. Five things happen.” He put a small amount of pressure on the pliers and gave a precursor to what kind of pain Aldweck could feel.

“One, the person scrambles for ways to get out of the situation. They look left, right, up, and down. Only to realize their body is strapped in without a way to unbuckle themselves.”

He paused.

“Why were you in Lord Warner’s office and what’s this hand injury supposed to say, Sir Aldweck?” He tapped on his hand where the injury was barely visible from the healing spell.

He pulled out the cloth.

“I-I was attacked by Lord Warner. I was trying to negotiate with him to break up the alliance with the Harbrights and he stuck a fork through my hand!”

General Hickory leaned back and looked at Aldweck with a skeptical eye.

“Two, when the pain starts to register, the person questions what they did wrong. Why wasn't their answer good enough? Was it not well said? Did they say something that didn’t line up? All of these questions are imposed by the mind to ask, ‘Why am I feeling this way?’ But the truth in that is that you are a liar. You are a national hero, you came here on official business. This is part of your plan isn’t it?”

He squeezed the pliers hard and motioned it upwards so that it broke a segment of Aldweck’s finger. Aldweck let out a throat-hurdling scream as he shook and bounced around under the leather straps. Erick was struggling under his straps as he did his best to make his disapproval known. A small glow of energy began to emanate from his palm under the strap.

General Hickory turned around and waved his magic away, “No you don’t. I know very well you are both fluent magic users, but this room is under my magical domain. Your magic is powerless here as long as I’m around.” He grinned.

He turned back to Aldweck, “Why are you conspiring against the United Islands of Cariquey and its Lord? Answer me now!”

Aldweck’s eyes were painted with fear as tears ran down his cheeks. “I-I didn’t do it! I don’t know anything, I swear. Please don’t hurt me.”

General Hickory walked over to the metal table and put the pliers back down, and a brief relief was soon followed with extreme paranoia as he put the pliers down and picked up a jagged knife.

“You really want to go all the way huh? You want me to make you hurt until there’s nothing left? Why go so far for your poorly executed scheme..”

Before General Hickory could walk back over he saw the dampening of Aldweck’s pants as a warm liquid ran down and onto the floor.

Erick’s eyes widened. Even if Aldweck was tortured, he had faced much more frightening things. This was wrong. What he was seeing was not Aldweck at all, it was as if his body and mind had been transformed into someone new. Erick felt discomfort and distress for the current situation and his master's newfound cowardice.

“You even pee yourself? To taint one’s own honor is one thing, but to stain the honor of Mariotta with this level of mockery is impudent beyond all means! You schemed this, but you fear what happens to you more if you cough up the truth? Is that it? Because I really didn’t want to go to three.”

“I didn’t...I didn’t do it! I promise. I swear. Please, just don’t hurt me. Don’t…”

Aldweck’s eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out. General Hickory was dumbfounded. He had never seen someone of this stature, be this pathetic. He had heard rumors of Sir Aldweck, and he didn’t fit the bill at all. Something was awry here. Even for a moment, General Hickory questioned if Sir Aldweck could be capable of a scheme like this.

An uneasy feeling was pitted in General Hickory’s stomach as he looked at Aldweck. The full repercussions of what was happening had not yet set in, and things could get much worse from here. He had to find out what was going on for the sake of his lord, and that was something he just couldn’t abandon.

“Hey, wake up! You don’t have the luxury to sleep!” Hickory dumped a bucket of water over Aldweck before he shot awake. His heart throbbing against the cold seawater. He tried to jump out of the chair but was held tightly by the leather restraints. His throat constricted and his eyes became smaller as he lived that terrible reality all over again in his head. Aldweck’s eyes darted to General Hickory.

“You ought to know your place, now let me tell you about the consequences of reaching three with me.”

He placed the knife’s tip under Aldweck’s eyelid and traced a small loop on his cheek. Blood ran from the opening and down his chin like a geyser. It was an uncontrollable waterfall that induced severe panic from Aldweck.

“Three is a rare case. Not only can pain be mental. It should be visual and sensual. You should feel the blood run from your body. Smell the iron in it, and crumble at the thought of bleeding out. Now you’re thinking, what else is there to say? How can I reason with him? Maybe it’s time to give him the truth and I’ll be spared.”

Aldweck clenched his teeth as Hickory pulled out a rolling chair and sat on it. He heaved a sigh and flicked the blade around in his hand. He looked down at it with a gentle eye.

“You know, I used to look up to people like you. Thought you guys were heroes. Saved lives, did things for the good of others, and made life easier for the kings and queens. But over time, I’ve started to realize you’re all as vile as the rest of us. Rotten to the core with a pretty smile to accompany for the ride.”

“I-I don’t know...how to make you believe me. I won’t admit to something I didn’t do. I really, really didn’t do it and I don’t have any evidence to back that up, but you can’t prove I’ve done anything wrong. It’s just...baseless torture. Baseless--”

“Shut up!!” He rose to his feet and put the knife down. He then lit a flame on his hand and ripped open Aldweck’s shirt. Forcing the flame onto his chest and searing him like a pork chop.

“Four! You can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. The pain is a roaring flame, and you’re going to tell me everything before five?! Why? Because five is too many! You can barely think beyond basic thoughts. All your mind does is wander to freedom. You are at your wits end!”

“I already told you! I told you everything I know and that’s nothing! He stabbed my hand with a fork because he didn’t like my proposition…” Aldweck breathed for air. “B-But I didn’t poison him or anything like that…” He said, breathlessly.

General Hickory picked up a hammer from the table and walked over to Erick.

“I guess this means we’re going to five. I hope you’re happy!” He raised the hammer and slammed it down on Erick’s hand.