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Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)


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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

Vezina's father managed to awaken after a few hard slaps from his daughter. Despite the drunkenness he soon had a look of abject horror on his face as he struggled to his feet. Perhaps he had seen such things before or maybe the drink was making him seem more frightened than usual as he urged Vezina to get inside to safety. He even resorted to dragging her as best he was able to avoid the scene that was playing out.

Vezina could only catch glimpses through the pain as she felt herself dragged inside. Near the castle gate stood her master his fist deep into the ground as he kneeled, with both Tarbus and Scorylo on his flanks. Gyulu had saved her from a fate possibly worse than death.

Just as she felt herself dragged inside she saw the earthen claws release the three soldiers. Though the words she heard from without her hovel almost feel pity for her tormentors. She understood little about their armored leader's tirade against the men's sins, but she did understand when he ordered their crucifixion. Vezina knew little of Christianity but she understood the torture and pain involved in such a way of execution. Soon after this she felt herself pass out.
 

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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

Vezina's memories dimmed at that point. She recalled that she had rapidly succumbed to the weariness of her condition. Truly, she had been prone to all the weaknesses of the mortal frame.

Of most significance had been the apparent answer to her prayers. Lord Gyulu had saved her, and even if in her heart she knew he did it out of no particular love for her, or even for his people, it had mattered not. She had seen him command the very earth to crush the scum that had beset themselves upon her, and it was perhaps at that very moment that she had first thought of him in the way a mortal woman might think of a noble man.

He was a warrior prince, a mighty sorcerer, her lord and master, and yes, he was a fiend as well. A devil to mock the distant Lucifer of the Christians, for he was among them in the flesh. She would be forever from that moment drawn to thoughts of him.
 
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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

Vezina awoke with a start, the pain in her face was almost unbearable. So great was the swelling that it hurt to even speak. Not that there was anyone to speak to, her father was far to busy sleeping away the drink loudly in his own bed. Her arm hurt as well but she would live and eventually heal.

Judging by the trickle of sunlight peaking through into the hovel it was sometime in the afternoon. The fire had died down during the night but she could soon have it returned to a roaring flame. The stew she had made the previous night sat uneaten where she had left it.

Despite the pain and the hunger in her body, her thoughts immediately drifted to the image of her savior from the night before. Lord Gyulu, her master, had come to her rescue. A true noble he was, no matter how fiendish he seemed to many of the village. If only she had been born to something more than being mere food for the master, but alas she had and little would change that.
 

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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

Vezina would spend the waning daylight in repose, not having the strength nor the inclination to leave her bed. She bitterly cursed her father for being an uncaring lout when it came to over indulging himself in drink. Surely he could have woken up by now and seen that she needed tending to. She was starving and not one to nitpick over the quality of what sustained her, and so she would take to cold uneaten stew and sip at it through her swollen lips, for she could not chew the dried meat that flavored it.

Without anything else to do or eat, she fell back to sleep, wishing away the cruel light of day and dreaming once more of her lord and wishing for the fantasized caress of the night.
 
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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

The stew was good despite its coldness and being unable to chew the dried meat. She drifted back to sleep once more after eating, more than warm enough in the soft furs of her bed. She never noticed her father leaving to check his traps as the moon began to rise into the sky.

Suddenly she felt herself being shaken impatiently, through her swollen eye she beheld the voice of her master. Tarbus stood over her his cold eyes surveying her where she lay as he tried to awaken the girl. Seeing her eyes flicker open he spoke quickly.

"Come along now, wake up and get dressed. The master wishes your presence in his castle. We must hurry now move, girl."

Tarbus quickly tossed some clothing her way. The dress was an improvement over her normal clothing, though not by much. Though considering the state of her old dress after the previous evening it was a great improvement.
 

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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

Vezina moaned at the shaking, thinking it to be her father in another bout of carelessness. Instead she woke to see through one good eye the shape and form of Tarbus, the so-called voice of her master.

She sat up as best she could and let the dress he tossed hit her full in the face and drop into her lap without a word. She used the arm that was still connected to its proper shoulder socket to manipulate the clothing, taking off her old torn rags and slipping the dress over herself, with her bad arm hanging loose and needing to be painfully moved out of the way of the dress' straps. Once garbed in the provided outfit, she moved behind Tarbus without question or hesitance. Like Scorylo, this man was unquestionably favored by their master and his will was as good as the will of her master's as far as the peasants who dwelt in the shadow of Gyulu's manse were concerned.

She stumbled and grunted with the effort of simply walking in her battered state, but she knew the road to the castle well, and found her way with Tarbus to the front gate, and beyond. She could not fathom what her master would want with her, but a part of her wondered if perhaps her damaged state meant that she was of no further use to him, other than as amusement.
 
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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

Erected before the castle near the small camp set up by the mercenaries sat three empty crosses. A cruel but befitting punishment awaited her attackers and Vezina idly wondered if she would get to watch. Her focus was on what awaited her within the castle walls.

Her master was terribly cruel but could he decide that Vezina was of no further use. More importantly what would he do to her if she was of no use to him anymore. She would soon find out as she followed Tarbus into the gates. Her master's servant said nothing as she was lead to the dungeon beneath the castle.

They were much as she had remembered them the previous day and her mind raced with thoughts of what might be in store for her. They passed deep into the earth for what seemed like forever. The earthen floor made it difficult for her to walk with her wounds, but she managed well enough. Eventually Tarbus stopped before a heavy wooden door and pointed with a cruel look on his face.
 

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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

Seeing the crosses did molify Vezina's distressed and anxious mood somewhat. To know that the men who attacked her would suffer for their actions gave her a deep-seated satisfaction, such that even if she died as well, at least those bastards would die regretting ever having laid eyes upon her.

She knew from previous visits that she was being lead deep beneath the castle, down to where even the layers of the earth could be seen in place of walled stonework. They were far below any place where the loudest wail could escape. They were in her lord's playground.

The uneven floor did not help her aching body's progress, but she had no choice but to overcome the pain in each step and the throbbing that came from her dislocated shoulder. When they reached the large wooden door and Tarbus had indicated for her to go through, she moved forward, knocked twice, as though instinct had told her to announce herself, and then she pushed through with her good arm and the full weight of her meek form.

The heavy door creaked loudly as it gave way and she slipped through the narrow space, coming to stand haggard and alone in the room beyond.
 
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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

The smell of fresh blood filled Vezina's nostrils as she entered the dimly lit room beyond the door. Two torches filled the left side of the room with warmth and light though there was something off about the scene. There was too much shadow to the right as if the darkness was alive and could fight back the light.

Though Vezina had little time to study the strange sight as her attention felt drawn to the center of the room where her master stood. He faced one of the three men condemned to die on the cross. It seemed as if her master were teaching someone in the shadows. The door closed as her master turned to fix his glare on Vezina.

The look pierced Vezina straight through her heart like a stake of wood, paralyzing her with fear. Gyulu simply stood there staring as though he were studying the girl before him. It was almost the same way she had studied animals she was about to slaughter.
 

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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

Vezina stood transfixed by the stare, yet at the same time, the weariness in her body, the pain with which she had been dealing with for a full day, had resigned her to the possibility - or even the bliss - of death. Still keeping her one good eye glued to those of her master, she used her good hand to shut the door behind her and then, with great effort, took a step towards him.

She understood that she looked a mess. And she knew that quite possibly a fate worse than death or even the tribulation that she had escaped at the unworthy hands of the three condemned men was something that might have only been delayed for a day.

Again, she could not help but notice the aura around her master. The curious array of pale, dark colors radiating around his majestic, intense figure. He was to her at once handsome and terrible, a savior and a sadist, and she a meek lamb invited to be his pet or his dinner. She was too tired for fear. If this was her fate, then she could at least have the dignity to not flinch from it.

She took another step, which might have been like a tremendous leap. She tipped forward to a halt, and then with trepidation grabbed at the hem of her dress with her good hand and dipped slowly in a curtsy. She knew that she should dip her eyes too, but that she could not do, for she was still transfixed by his soul-delving gaze.

She said nothing, as peasants did not presume to speak to their masters unless spoken to. She knew that much from having seen others tortured and beaten and killed for less.
 
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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

Their gazes locked as Vezina curtsied before her master, try as she might she simply could not pull her eyes away. Even knowing that her master might have her flayed alive couldn't prevent her from looking. It was the same curious stare they had shared long ago, right after the master had drained her mother's life. Gyulu reached down and picked up a thin dagger from the table beside him.

He turned breaking his eye contact with Vezina and brought the dagger to the eye of the soldier chained before them. Popping the eye-ball from its socket without the smallest hint of emotion. He seemed to study the screams as though they could offer some hidden truth. He let the screams continue even as he knelt to the earth and traced a rune of sorts with the dagger.

Vezina felt the earth engulf her completely, she had no chance to react at all as she felt herself enveloped. Her mind raced with horror as she realized that she was completely entombed within the ground.
 

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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

The break of eye contact came as though a spell had been lifted. It was as if she had been asked to stand on her tip toes for a very long time, and at last the command had been given and she could rest and relax. Her body and senses teetered back into a state of relative calm as her master turned to regard his victim, plucking an eyeball from the living man's socket with such casual grace that it had already been out a moment or two before Vezina's understanding caught up to her and she comprehended fully the tempered cruelty that it would take to pull off such a feat without so much as a shake or care.

Only her fresh hatred for the screaming scoundrel kept her from flinching in sympathy, and instead she set her jawline in a mask of righteous judgement. She regarded the way Lord Gyulu merely listened to the man's screams, as though he were studying him and reading a book.

Just as there had been no forewarning about the taking of the man's eye, there was a similar lack of hinting as to what came next. The earth of the stony floor opened and sucked Vezina down into its bowls. She grunted in surprise, any further cry catching in her throat. She sank into the ground with such speed, and was rapidly covered up again. Suffocating darkness surrounded her, and she waited for the moment when she would lack air to breath, or perhaps to feel the rocks and dirt to compress and crush her broken body into a red paste. Terror gripped her and paralyzed her as equally as did the earth.

Yet as the moments passed, her palpitating heart slowed its maddening pace, and she attempted to breath normally.
 
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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

The cocoon of earth around her did not compress or even seem to harm Vezina at all. She found herself able to breath even if the feeling was entirely uncomfortable. She felt the pain in her face and body slowly leach away as the earth seemed to heal her. Fixing even blemishes that she had never known she had. It fixed her and just as quickly as she had been swallowed she found herself back on the floor of the room.

Her master stood once more entranced by the screams of the scoundrel's torture. The thought did occur to Vezina that her master may merely have wished to torture her himself or even that he maybe felt something for her. She knew deep down that it was more a matter of him needing his flock to stay healthy. As cold and as logical as Lord Gyulu might be it did not prevent her from imagining the other theories however.
 

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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

The womb of earth turned out to be gentler than she had initially feared, and though the breathing was difficult and stifled, she found that she could, with minimal effort, acclimatize to it. Her flesh began to heal miraculously. She felt her bad arm slip painlessly into its socket, and the intense inflammation around her shoulder, her stomach, and her face all faded away, leaving smooth, unblemished skin. In fact, in very little time at all, Vezina felt healthier than she had ever felt in her young adulthood - for malnourishment and harsh climate were always taking their toll upon Gyulu's flock. The feeling of life-giving earth radically changed Vezina's mind about her predicament, and she found herself pressing against the earth almost as if she were a babe inclining its mouth to its mother for succor.

The abrupt expulsion brought her repose to an end, as her body was coughed up unceremoniously. She crawled from the pit, covered in dirt, but underneath this, feeling like a woman born anew, and she watched Gyulu now with wide eyed awe once again, from where she knelt. She knew that logically what the mystic lord had done was from a practicality, but emotion began to supercede this process of thought. He had spared her as a child, and now tonight he had saved her from defilement and cured her of her ailments. Though his nature as a cruel tormentor was obvious she felt stirring within her the passion of a young woman for a man of power and wisdom. So what if he tortured enemy scum? Or even those who were disobedient to him? It was his right as a lord to do so.

She crawled toward him for a few paces, then slowly rose to her feet again. Still she stared after him, now with adoration flowering in her heart. Here in front of her was proof of godly power. A dark master who protected his own. She felt the urge to worship him, or to proclaim his greatness to the others of the town and make them worship him too. She also felt a great need to understand him. To be closer to him.

Gently now, she advised herself. You are like a moth who adores a flame.

She approached no further, but would watch silently and without turning her gaze away from the acts of torture that Gyulu unleashed upon the man in front of her. Maybe it would be that Gyulu tortured her as well, and if he did so, she resolved to bear it, for she was in the presence of something far greater than herself.
 
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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

Vezina watched as her master coldly and methodically tortured the soldier before him. For the first time Vezina noted there was another in the room with her master. He stepped forward as the strange shadows peeled back to show the leader of the mercenaries. Vezina finally realized that she had seen Jourdain long before she had left the old country, perhaps her memories held some useful knowledge about the ambassador to Mithras' court.

Neither of the kindred before her seemed to notice that Vezina had emerged from the earth. They were far to interested in their discussion on torture and pain. Judging by the conversation they were both well-acquainted with the means of meting out punishment. The method was the same but the end goal was different, one tortured for knowledge the other to punish. Jourdain was far to focused on punishing what he referred to as sin. It's impossible to sway a fanatic and her master must have realized this even then. For instead of trying to convince the other of his roads merits he turned to Vezina with his cold glare and spoke.

"But perhaps we need to learn a different perspective on pain to truly understand it. Show us how one who still has feeling tortures another."
 

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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

I presume that Jourdain and Gyulu were speaking in the old Romanian dialect? If it was in English or Latin, then Vezina would not understand the topic of their conversation at this point.

Vezina listened to the shadowed one's opinion and compared it to that of her master. What was the purpose of torture, she asked herself. Just a way to pass the time before you die? To get information? To make the punisher feel good? Feel superior? Those seemed like rather dull reasons, though perhaps all were valid purposes to use cruel implementations to inflict pain. If the man in the shadows had the better claim, then he tortured in order to somehow redress a cosmic balance - a debt of sin, atoning for what is owed. Vezina decided that she didn't agree with this sentiment. It was, in the end, too akin to appeasing the torturer's need for vindication. It was pleasure for the pain-giver, just taken to an abstracted sense: the pleasure of rights wronged and the pleasure of seeing the condemned suffer for perceived slights. It would be all too easy for Vezina to fall into that way of seeing things, especially regarding the men in front of her. Certainly there were personal wrongs to be settled between her and them.

It was her master's point of view that gave her true pause for thought. Pain for the sake of knowledge. This seemed to her to be in a sense, the most shared possible experience between the torturer and the tortured. Learning what will break a person... learning how far you can go before you break... learning how little or how much control you have within a confined microcosm of sensual experience. There was something almost spiritual to be found in it.

Of course, at this point, Vezina lacked the vocabulary even in her native tongue to express such thoughts, but she perceived them nonetheless, in some ambiguous, instinctive way she saw her master's view as the more enlightened, and at his request, she moved forward, meeting his eyes for as long as he stared at her, or until she passed him and stood in front of one of her attackers.

She scanned the array of implements for something simple, whose use was obvious. She settled on a small, sharp blade with a slight curve at the end.

"I have not done this before," she told the chained man. "At least, not with a man. But I have had a dying rabbit in a snare before. Its back was broken, but its heart still beat within its chest, and its eyes still could follow me. I was barely a girl of ten years, but I thought that I would skin it while it was still trapped there..."

She ran the curved tip of the knife down the man's ribcage, not yet pressing it to pierce the skin. She let the knife trail down the 'v' of his pelvis, heading toward his manhood. She sense him twitch and tense, and she could read the flash of color in his aura. She felt a giddiness inside of her. How now had the tables' turned. Would he flail as hard as she had? Would the shock threaten to overwhelm him?

She turned the blade over and sliced swiftly across his inner thigh. Four cuts, two vertical, two horizontal. The pain would not yet be very much, but when she used the tip of the knife to slide inbetween the muscle and fat and the skin and begin to pull... Then the screams would come. She would feel his body shudder, and she would need to wait a while as his senses calmed before she could take a firm hold of the skin with some iron tongs and rip the patch of skin clean away from his leg.

She looked up at her victim and took a step back. Her eyes were hard, and she fought to keep a smile from her lips, telling herself instead to focus on how he reacted, to consider how long it would take for him to stop howling, how long before it would be just as effective to remove another piece of skin? How many pieces would she need to take before it would be worthwhile to take his balls and show them to him? How long would it take before he respected her? Before he came to look at her as some angel who - if he begged her - could end his suffering? Not that she would... but it would be interesting to know what exactly it took for his mind to be reshaped by pain.

After his screams and moans had begun to die down from the initial flaying, she turned to look back at her master, to see if she had done well. Had she pleased him? Her heart raced a little at the prospect of his approval.
 
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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

I hadn't even thought of that, honestly. So we'll go with the Romanian like you said.

The man said nothing as Vezina stepped forward to scan the instruments at her command. A look of fear crossed his face as the one good eye never lost sight of the knife. The fear only grew as the knife traced down his body and toward his manhood. Like the rabbit she had skinned alive so long ago he never made a sound, though the aura that played about him told her everything she needed to know.

A long, low moan of fear finally escaped the man's throat as Vezina made the four slices. Than the screams came as she separated the muscle from the skin, working the knife deeper and deeper until she could pry the piece loose with tongs. First the man tried to pitifully frighten her away, then he simply screamed as the fear overtook him once more.

While the screams died down from the first flaying Vezina turned to her master. She wasn't sure if it was approval that she saw in her master's gaze for his face was as emotionless as ever. He seemed fascinated by the pain she had caused the man and nodded for her to continue.
 

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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

Taking his nod as encouragement, though saddened somehow at his lack of apparent emotion, she turned back to the man and decided upon what to do next. She wasn't sure about any methods of torture beyond what she could imagine possible with a knife. She didn't think that too much pain at once would be very productive. He might pass out, and then she would be left without a conscious man experiencing pain. It was clear to her that this was not what her Lord Gyulu desired.

She put her hand gently against the man's chest and gave him a few soft shushes, in what she approximated to be a motherly tone. She even patted and petted the man in an affectionate manner, as he dealt with the after effects of the flaying. She knelt down so that her eyes were level with the patch of thigh muscle that she had exposed. Drawing in a deep breath, she slowly let out the air so that it rippled across the muscle tissue and exposed nerve fibers, causing what was doubtlessly almost a burning sensation for the victim.

She did this to pass the time as she decided upon a follow up course of action. At last it came to her that she should start further down, at the toes. She saw that they were not in the best of shape to begin with - having been a footman in an army on the march. His biggest toenail was yellow and scraped and smelled awful. She found implements better suited to her task - a a thin, flat piece of iron and a small mallet. She immobilized the foot as best she could and then placed the flat iron inbetween the toe and the toenail. Then with the mallet, she abruptly smashed the iron into the man's toe, creating a distinct separation of the nail and an unexpectedly messy gout of blood, accompanied by the man's curdling scream.

She stood back, startled by how much pain she had caused, and watched as the man twisted and howled. Her own body was hot and on edge with adrenaline, and she gripped the mallet tightly, white-knuckled as she stared at her handiwork.

Once again she looked to Gyulu. This time there was some askance in her eyes. Should she go on? Had she caused too much pain? Was she encouraged to do more? She took a series of deep breaths, waiting for an indication or answer.
 
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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

The two vampires watched as Vezina continued her tortures of the soldier tied before her. The man calmed a bit under her ministrations, though he quickly regained a bit of his bravado at the minor torment of her blowing on the exposed flesh. Of course a soldier would be used to such minor pains she thought as she began to work lower down. This approach seemed to work better as the screams flowed from the man's lips to the other inhabitants of the dungeons.

Turning to look at her master she noticed the same lack of emotion upon his face. Though she did believe there was a hint of approval behind the cold eyes of Gyulu. Even if it was only her imagination she couldn't help but feel a swelling of pride in her breast. However he seemed to have different plans for Vezina as he gave a sign that she should now stop and spoke.

"As much as I would like to continue this experiment, we have much to prepare for. Go and find Tarbus in the village. He knows my wishes." Gyulu walked from the room as he said this leaving Vezina and the shadowy one to their tasks....

Vezina felt herself drifting back to the present as Berenice finally stood and said her good night to Vezina. Eric smiled and moved closer to Vezina as the young maiden made her way from the room. His attentions would be focused solely on Vezina now till they parted ways for the evening. He obviously had something planned though what it was didn't exactly have Vezina worried.
 

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Re: Echoes of the Forgotten Lesson (Vezina)

Back once again in the present, Vezina said her polite goodbyes to the girl, Berenice, allowing her to fade back to the shelter of whatever room had been set aside for her. This left the Tzimisce alone with the mortal nobleman, whose focused gaze left little room for interpretation about his intentions. In this day and age, for a man of no blood relation to be left alone with another woman was indeed a scandal, and Berenice must have expected this of course. Perhaps that had been the note of displeasure on the innocent one's face - assuming that this foreign woman, whatever her birthright, was merely to be her brother's conquest. Though the truth of Berenice and Eric's relations was yet to be determined, for their features did not suggest identical parentage.

"So, alone at last." Vezina began, eyeing the lordling in what she approximated was a coy glance. "A weary traveler, supping humbly upon a lord's hospitality. I suppose it would be rude of me not to offer some show of appreciation?"
 
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