Unbound Book 1: The Failed Duke

CHAPTER NINE: HOW FAR ARE YOU WILLING TO GO

Victus made his way through Lichtenfeld, and used his bar mace to turn any enemy in his way into a fine paste.

After he shattered the skull of another poor soldier, he arrived at a stone building.

Victus pressed several of the stones in a certain order, and part of the wall began to move upwards, which revealed a ladder that led into the secret underground tunnels.

He jumped down, and reinforced his legs so that he didn't break them when he hit the ground.

Once he landed, he pressed another stone and the wall went back down.

Victus held out his hand and a green light formed in his palm.

He used it to guide him through the passageway.

*

As he walked through the barely illuminated hallway, someone swung a sword at him, but instead of trying to block or dodge out of the way, he simply reinforced his entire body with magic so it harmlessly bounced off.

Victus smirked as he watched Elena regain her footing. "Be lucky I know how much that sword means to you."

He looked beyond Elena to see a large open area where about three thousand of Black Blood's soldier's had amassed.

Black Blood himself paced back and forth, where he occasionally looked upwards.

Victus walked over and patted him on the back. "Don't get yourself all bent out of shape. It'll work."

Black Blood bit his lip. "I know, but still."

"Have faith Black Blood, she's far more capable than you give her credit for."

*

Victus pulled out that small potion and placed it in front of Carter. "Now, it wasn't until I was assigned to this mission that I decided on what your punishment would be."

He motioned towards the main castle structure. "You see the castle there, it's actually a trap. We're planning to wait until it's full of Duke Nothgard's men, and then we're going to blow it to kingdom come."

Carter began to try and force himself to his feet, but Victus stepped on Carter's right hand and crushed it. "Not so fast."

He screamed in agony as his bones were crushed under Victus's foot.

Victus walked behind Carter and proceeded to stomp on his ankle. "That potion bottle I placed in front of you is a little concoction I cooked up. Killed a few hunters nearby, and used their blood to make a healing agent. It's not terribly strong, but it would be enough to help keep you together. I want to see how much you care about your fellow soldiers. Hopefully you feel a stronger connection to them, then you did to your own parents."

As he walked away, Victus pulled out his bar mace and began to beat several of Duke Nothgard's soldiers to death.

Carter laid there, as the pain in his busted up hand began to taper off as the adrenalin kicked in.

He knew he didn't have long before the pain returned, so he eyed the potion bottle, and using the bottoms of his right palm, as well as his intact left hand, dragged his broken body over to it.

Carter attempted to force his broken fingers to open the bottle, but with only one functioning hand, it was impossible.

He cried out in anger, as he tried to get that damn cork off.

Finally, he let his head hit the floor as he slammed his one good hand onto the ground.

It didn't take long to think of a solution, but he hesitated, only for a moment, because the thought of Hilibrand, Rousset and any of the other soldiers dying in that castle made the decision simple.

He raised his intact hand into the air, where he reinforced it with whatever magic he could, and then smashed it into the bottle as hard as he could.

It didn't break, and while he didn't feel any pain, Carter knew he had fucked up his hand.

Carter remained undeterred though, and repeatedly smashed his hand into that damn bottle.

It didn't matter when the skin on his hand began to peel off. It didn't matter when the sounds of bone crunching could be heard, he smashed his hand into that bottle until it finally shattered, and his hand was stabbed with hundreds of shards of glass.

With whatever parts of his hand were left, Carter dragged himself closer to the bottle, and began to lick the liquid off the ground.

Once he licked it however, Carter's entire body went cold, as the liquid tasted like normal river water.

He laid there, his breathing becoming shallower and shallower, until finally, his eyes closed and his head hit the floor.