Iskara Ch. 04

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Iskara watched through Madar's eyes as Dask writhed in pain on the table, trying not to tell Madar what he wanted to know. She wanted to cry as Madar brought out the hot irons from the fire and applied them to the inside of Dask's leg near the groin. Dask's scream of agony was torture to her who had known only love and comfort from his kind man.

"Dask! My... My name is Dask!" he stuttered out through clenched teeth. He wanted to sink into oblivion but every time he started to loose consciousness Madar injected him with a stimulant to force him awake again. The smell of his own flesh burning made him gag.

"You are stronger than most that I have had in here, I am impressed! Now for the information I really want. Where is Iskara?" His face was the picture of seriousness and that scared Dask more than the crazy smile had. He felt Madar probing his shields again, trying to make sure he was telling the truth.

"I don't know, she left me 6 months ago, in the night, didn't tell me where she was going" He let his shields fall enough to show he was telling the truth. Blood ran off the table onto the floor and his skin was pulled back from his chest, exposing the muscles underneath.

Madar's eyes narrowed on Dask as he felt the truth of his statement. "Why did you send her the message through me then? Is she coming here?" The glowing tip of the brand was awfully close to Dask's cheek now. He could feel the heat emanating from it scorching the sweat covered hair plastered to his face.

"I don't know. I don't even know if she got the message." He strained as far away from the brand as his bonds would allow. Madar suddenly thrust the brand onto his cheek, burning the flesh. As Dask screamed his mental shields collapsed, leaving him wide open to Madar's mind. Madar saw his own memories played out for him from a strangers mind, saw a small child trustingly following Dask into the Barrens, her green eyes wide in fear and her fiery hair plastered to her head from sweating. The girl, now a grown woman, shuddering from yet another nightmare vision, Dask trying to comfort her, to train her to block them out. Dask, waking and finding her gone, knowing where she would be going, and following to try and protect her. Dask, being caught without a pass tag on the outskirts of a settlement, and being knocked out by a large P.M. Madar withdrew. He pulled the brand away and stepped back away from a glazed eyed Dask.

"She truly is something, too bad her mother didn't stick around to let her know me, I would have been able to save her then, but she had to run off just after she gave birth. I should have raised her, not her mother. I could have given her everything, made her up to follow me, but her mother corrupted her, now I have to kill her. So much Talent, wasted because of one woman's folly." Madar was talking to himself, pacing the floor.

"Why would Nihar have turned her over to you?" Dask asked weakly from the table.

"You didn't know? Nihar was my concubine! Iskara is my daughter."