Unbroken (Untouched #2)

Chapter 3

THE stubby man tore waltzed through the doorway as he shrugged out of the coat. With a flick of the wrist, he tossed it on a nearby armchair and pulled out a small box from under his arm. Ellen remained silent as he placed the box onto a table and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. The man's face was transfixed on what was in front of him and she dared not interrupt the hypnotic trance that had washed over him.

He was a short, portly man. His belly often preceded him through doorways, and his neck was thick topped with a reddened face. Whilst they had gotten off on the wrong foot and she distrusted him once, Ellen couldn't help but warm to the man. Dvorak had proven his ways and she had come to realise that his reputation was one which had been well-deserved. He was also one of the only ones of their kind that possessed the knowledge that remained largely unspoken between them; the type of knowledge which was taboo. And it was because of that knowledge that they were able to get the upper hand when it truly mattered.

"Claudia was short on the details. Do ye' mind filling me in?" He reached for the box which shimmered in the light. The velvet wrinkled as he unzipped the side and flipped the cover open. With his eyes focused on what was inside, his stubby legs carried him towards the table which took up the centre of the room. Clean sheets draped down the sides and the fallen Tempusmancer was place squarely in the center. She looked oddly at peace as she lay unmoving, never to take another breath and walk amongst them again.

Ellen took a step closer to the middle of the room. She couldn't take her eyes off the body. Had events turned out differently, that could have easily been her on the table and it was a sober pill to swallow.

"I arrived on the scene and scoped out the forest. It wasn't only until after a while that I stumbled upon her. She was strung to a tree, stripped from her clothes and had clearly passed over for some time," she recounted. Dvorak unsheathed what looked like a metal rod from the box and leaned closer to the deceased.

"Did you notice anything out o' the ordinary?" he asked without looking at her. Instead, he gently peeled back the sheet and prodded the rod against one of the expose wounds. It had been cleaned from dried blood and debris and now she was staring at a glistening patch of pink and red.

"No, nothing."

"Hmm." The man leaned even closer and paused. "This isn't just an ordinary wound. The skin is black and appears to be dead. I would say that it has been burned but how is the ultimate question."

"Burned?"

Dvorak beckoned Ellen with an arm. She took a few tentative steps and approached the table. Standing behind Dvorak now, she took care to linger behind him unwilling to get in his way. She knew the wrath that the man could channel if something got him riled up.

"Closer so you can see," he mumbled. Ellen complied and took a step next to him. "Now, see here. That skin on the edge of the wound has been blackened but it's also quite a smooth edge. If you look closer, you will also see that the blackness has a greenish tinge. That means that she has been touched by something. Something dark. Something powerfully dark. Not within our realm, I dare say."

Although she hadn't seen it before, Ellen could now make out an ominous green hue amongst the black. It shone in the dark, almost twinkling at her unnaturally. Dvorak continued with his analysis, gently working his way around the corpse. He avoided certain parts and maintained modesty for the dead.

It was a sign of respect.

"I haven' seen anythin' like this for quite a while. Doesn't happen often and I must admit, I don' like it. Not one bit." The man placed the rod on the table and gently lifted one of the eyelids open. He held it open and waited for Ellen to take a glance. "See those veins branching out in the eyeballs. Black an' green. She's been tainted, that's for sure. Pro'ly cursed even."