The Legend Of Black Eyes 238 Inside The Emperor's Mind

Stalwart strode toward the dungeons below the keep. When he reached the room they'd prepared for Sam, he took a deep breath then pushed the door open. Sam, upon hearing the handle twist, ran to the corner of the room and curled into a ball. 

"Get away from me!" he screamed as soon as the mad wizard appeared before him. 

"Get up," Stalwart sharply ordered. "You're going home." 

Sam let out a nervous laugh, which came out as an unpleasant shriek. "I'm not falling for that again," he whispered, as though he was speaking to himself. "I'm not falling for that..." 

Stalwart whistled. "Hartwell's really played a number on you, son." 

He approached the young man and held him by the collar. Sam tried to wiggle out of Stalwart's grip, but he was too weak to put up any kind of fight. The mad wizard pulled the young man out of the cell then led him to a much bigger, slightly darker room. 

Sam shrieked and flailed as the mad wizard dragged him along the dark corridors of the dungeon. "Don't take me there again! I'm sorry auntie. I won't play nasty games with you anymore!" 

Stalwart threw the hallucinating young man on a chair then strapped him to it. Sam's eyes darted left and right, frantically looking for a way out. He tried to wiggle out of the mad wizard's grasp, but the latter was stronger, more lucid to boot. 

"This won't take long," he said. "If I didn't need you for what's to come, I would've sent you to the church in this sorry state." 

"Auntie please," Sam begged. His voice broke and tears streamed down his cheeks. "It was just a game!" 

"Yes, and I'm sure you thought this whole enterprise a game too, didn't you?" Stalwart replied. "It's nice having powers. It's just devastating when you meet someone stronger." 

Stalwart made sure his straps were strong enough to keep Empor's champion in place for what's to come. "I sincerely hope you had nothing to do with my son's death," he said as he made sure the young man's ankles were well bound. "I'd hate for my remaining trump card to go to waste." 

"I will have my revenge, mark my words!" Sam's voice had suddenly changed from whimpering and begging to throaty and vengeful. "YOU CANNOT BREAK MY WILL!" 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Stalwart lazily responded. "I've heard them all before. Just sit tight, will you? It'll be over in a jiffy." 

He stood and faced the hysteric young man. Sam met Stalwart's eyes then his face contorted into an ugly, pained grimace. He started whimpering again, like a wounded dog. "I only wanted to play with my friends..." he said. He broke into pathetic sobs in between words. His nose ran and his eyes kept watering. "Why wouldn't you let me be?" 

Stalwart inhaled sharply. Then, with tremendous speed, he inserted his hand in Sam's left shoulder. ���Let's see what you've been hiding from this world..." 

Thousands of images, feelings, and sounds flooded the mad wizard. Sam's already broken spirit was easier to read through than somebody who had all their defenses up. It was also easier to find their most troubling memories. 

If he'd let him in that room one more week, however, the poor boy would have lost his mind. There would be nothing left in his mind to salvage. There was no searching a mad man's mind. It served to weaken him, but not to break him.

Stalwart found himself in a small, hot shack. A woman with strange yellow eyes was staring at him. She was frowning and screaming her lungs out at a kid he a.s.sumed was Sam. She had tied him to a table. His feet were bare, and Agatha was holding a thin stick, an olive branch by the looks of it. 

"Why do you always have to cause such troubles?" she screamed at the top of her lungs. 

She swung the stick and it whistled as it hit the kid in the palm of his feet. He winced but didn't scream. 

"That Stalwart boy's nothing but trouble..." 

She hit him again and the boy grunted. He was determined to show his strength. Stalwart admired that. 

"You are not to see him again!" she whipped her stick and it loudly snapped against the boy's b.l.o.o.d.y feet. 

Stalwart willed himself out of Sam's memory. He looked for something else, something stronger. He soon found himself sitting on a bench in some kind of old port. He instantly recognized the place as Yanoku's Old Town. Sam was taller this time around. He was sitting at the bench, his eyes glued on the horizon, when a woman sat beside him. 

"I'm looking for someone who can sail a small boat," she whispered. "I've been told you could point me to the right man." 

Stalwart's eyes narrowed. He recognized the woman as his own Raiya. He never asked her to come to Yanoku before. What was she doing in there? 

��Show me the coin," Sam said. He was chewing on a toothpick like a hoodlum. 

Raiya produced a pouch full of silver. "Is that enough?" she asked. 

Sam's eyes widened. He s.n.a.t.c.hed the pouch and inspected the coins by biting on them. "Where d'you wanna go?" he asked. He had this nonchalant way every teenager developed once in a while. It irritated the mad wizard, and he was certain Raiya felt the same. 

"Beyond the high seas," she said. "I'm looking for the Archmage's island."

Sam's lips parted into a devilish smile. "I got the right man for ya," he said, still chewing on his toothpick. "We got an old schooner he can use. I gotta warn ya though," He flipped the toothpick using his tongue and started chewing again, as if showing his useless skill would impress the lady. "He can reach the place, but I can't guarantee the same for you." 

"I can take care of myself," Raiya said. "What guarantee do I have your captain would reach the island?" 

"Ya can meet him yourself," Sam said, jerking his head toward the port. 

A fis.h.i.+ng vessel was docking before their eyes. The name Namira was written in golden letters at the s.h.i.+p's bow. A large bronze skinned man screamed orders while men scurried around, pulling ropes and moving carts. 

"My friend's the one behind the helm," Sam said. 

Raiya's eyes narrowed. "He's just a boy!" she gasped. 

"A boy who survived the worst," Sam said with a wide smile. "He was part of a different crew, some two weeks ago. They drifted off to the high seas and met with..." 

He looked around him as though afraid somebody was eavesdropping. "They met that giant snake," he whispered. "n.o.body believes him, but he was the only one to return alive. Their s.h.i.+p was damaged, but he managed to make it all the way back with it." 

"Just get me a st.u.r.dy boat," Raiya said. She stood then shot a last glance at Myles, who was easing the fis.h.i.+ng vessel into the docks. "I'll meet the boy when he's done working. Keep the coin, but get me something better than an old schooner."