This was a problem. Celes strained against the bindings on his wrist, looking up to see his arms bound to the pillar above him with rope. He yanked, but to no avail. Even if it weren’t enchanted rope, the sorcerer possessed no such strength to break free.
A chill ran down his neck when he heard the door at the end of the room creak open. The candles lining the wall in the dark room slowly illuminated one by one in an eerie green glow, syncing with the sound of his captors’ footsteps.
Finally, he stopped in front of Celes. The sorcerer saw a glint of metal, shutting his eyes tight as he felt the dagger’s tip tease up his neck, gently lifting his chin.
“Look at me. No need for such an attitude in your position.”
Celes opened his eyes, taking in the traitor. The visiting diplomat’s accompanying magical adviser.
“I don’t know what you want, but surely…it could have been done in a more civil manner?” Celes asked, his throat felt tight. He was thankful as the other dropped the dagger from his neck. Celes was already dripping with sweat.
“Does the name Amethyst mean anything to you?”
Celes’ eyes went wide and he looked at the other in confusion as he strolled to the middle of the room. Now with the room illuminated, Celes could see a cauldron there within a magic circle.
“My mother…” Celes said, his mouth dry. “She was my mother.”
“Yes. It’s unfortunate she perished at the hands of that dragon. Though I heard you made it into your familiar, after some trial and error,” he laughed. Celes gritted his teeth. “You’re a strong sorcerer.”
“What does any of this have to do with her or me?”
“She owed a debt to me, Celes. Amethyst came to our country, I sacrificed myself to save her,” he said, pulling his robe open to show his arm at the shoulder was completely artificial. “I expect her next of kin to repay the debt.”
“What? You want my arm?”
“No,” he said, stepping closer, seizing Celes by the throat once more. “I want you.”
Celes shivered and gulped hard. The other wasn’t squeezing hard enough for him to be in danger of asphyxiation, but it didn’t mean he was safe.
“Surely…. we can some to an agreement,” Celes choked out.
The dagger came up to him again, he took in a sharp breath and shut his eyes as he felt it graze close to his neck, then he felt the other yank at his braid hard and in two swift movements, cut off his braid and cut down the ropes. Celes fell to the floor, watching some stray stands of black hair float down. He held a hand to his throat, gasping for air.
“See? Not so hard, was it?” the man asked, holding the length of hair at his side.
Celes raised his glare to the other. If he had his staff…No, he thought. The pain would be worth it to kill the other if he had to forgo his medium. He felt lightning run through his arm and he got to his feet and cast a bolt of lightning at the other. It hurt immensely, but the lightning hit some sort of forcefield and bounced back toward him. Celes fell backward, glad to have just barely ducked. The man stalked over him and grabbed him by the collar.
“It’s fine. I got most of what I need.” He threw Celes back down and stepped back to the cauldron.
“Celes!” He could hear Wulf’s voice call him.
“I’ll see you soon, sorcerer.”
“Celes! Where are you?”
Like waking from a bad dream, the room seemed to crumble apart into darkness and Celes found himself falling through the trees in the forest, landing thankfully on something that broke his fall. It was Wulf.
“Gods…Are you trying to kill me?!” Wulf snapped, rolling Celes off of him. The incubus halted, dropping Celes’ staff to pull the other into his arms. “What the hell happened to you?”
Celes was still trying to regain his senses. He rubbed his eyes and groaned as the pain shot through his arm. They had only been separated for a short while. Was what happened merely a dream?
“What happened, talk to me!” Wulf said, giving him a shake. Celes gasped and shoved the other away.
“Not so rough!” He ran a hand through his hair, confused as it didn’t go far. He held both hands to his head and gulped hard.
“Seriously. What happened? I mean your hair is…short. It’s cute but sort of shocking given how long it was—whoa!” Wulf’s rambling was cut short as Celes bolted past him to the nearby stream to look down. It was short. He remembered now, that man had sliced his whole braid off. He wanted him to repay a debt...
“We need to get back to the palace. Olive is in danger!” Could be, Celes assumed. If they were lucky, that prince was harmless. His adviser however, Celes feared that man would be a much bigger threat.