FOUR MONTHS AGO [hider=The Prisoner] For the first time since he could remember, Daichi was in a hurry. His usual measured pace, a consistent tap, click, drag; right foot, cane, left foot; was almost frantic now. Sweat was beading his brow despite the cold emanating all around him. Gone were the white paper walls with their fragile bamboo frames and the polished teak floors. In their place was black volcanic stone, the cracks between blocks the size of wagons filled with green moss; water dripping here and there or running in small rivulets down the stone. [i]I always expect it to smell of the ocean down here but it never does. At least the floor is smooth. I should thank whoever built this.[/i] The same stone had been used on the floor, gleaming beneath lanterns that hung from the ceiling. [i]Tap. Click. Drag.[/i] Behind him, moving with a lethal silence, came Mamiko. If it hadn't been for her shadow flickering across the walls, Daichi might have thought he was alone in the black corridor. A corridor broken every twenty paces by iron banded doors, the wood treated with honey and ash to preserve them amid the damp. He thought he could detect screams behind some of the doors as he passed but encountered no one else in the long passage. [i]Tap. Click. Drag.[/i] No passages branched off anywhere and he often marvelled at how the effect of the volcanic walls and floor made it look as though the lanterns were nothing more than small fireflies glimmering away into the pitch darkness. "Here, Daichi-sama." Mamiko broke in on his thoughts. [i]She has quite a habit of doing that. I wonder if she does it on purpose.[/i] He stopped abruptly in front of the final door in the long corridor. Beyond the small of pool of light he now stood in was a single iron gate was set into the rock. The very end of the passage. It led to a cave many steps below large enough for a single boat to access. The only way any of the prisons ever arrived. He turned to the wooden door and tapped his cane on the wood. It was opened at once by a man who looked as though he had been carved from granite. Like Mamiko, he wore the deep red kimono and half face mask of the Kempeitai. He bowed low. "Kai-san." Daichi nodded a greeting as he limped into the room. It was not more than twenty feet across, completely square and even the cracks between the stones had been cunningly sealed with a mixture of volcanic ash and plaster. In the middle of the room, on a platform raised a single step off the ground, was a large stone table. To one side was a wooden chair with pillow. He had never been so glad to see a pillow. Across the table was a matching chair and, slumped in it, head lolling against its chest beneath a woollen bag, was an Elf, still in the uniform of an Imperium officer. [i]I would drool in anticipation if I didn't think it would just dribble down my chin.[/i] It took him a moment to ease into his chair. He shifted around for a moment or two, his neck clicking and his hip popping, until he was as comfortable as he was going to get. Kai had moved behind the prisoner and was watching Daichi for a sign that he was ready. [i]At least I have the attention of someone. No grimaces or looks of pity from either of my trusted watchers. I wonder if he can smile. I thought I was a serious one.[/i] He nodded and Kai took the bag between finger and thumb before whipping it off the elfs head. [i]I always expect them to sit bolt upright when that happens but not once has it ever happened.[/i] The elf did not move. Dried blood crusted the corner of his mouth and an impressive black eye was forming. Daichi knew that he had been captured by Wokou, or pirates, in the Eastern Sea. It was no secret that Sadatake Daichi paid gold for such prisoners. The Wokou had made contact a day earlier and, in exchange for a license to hunt the enemies of Akaiba, they had turned the elf over to the Kempeitai. Daichi ran his tongue over the broken stubs of his molars and clenched the fingers of his right hand until they hurt. There had been a time when he would have tortured the elf simply for the fun of it. Now, however, he needed information. "Wake him up." Daichi glanced at Kai who nodded, his face still impassive behind the black mask. The big man stepped in front of the elf and gently began to pat the prisoners cheek. It was a tender touch, almost like a mother trying to wake a sleeping child. [i]He does that so well. He has no children as far as I know. Perhaps he is a closet father.[/i] Daichi would have giggled at the thought if he wasn't in public. The patting worked. It always did. The elf began to nod his head, his eyes blinking in the light cast from the lantern above him. He coughed once and the spittle came out clear. [i]Good, no internal injuries then, perhaps a cut cheek.[/i] Daichi felt the scars on his own cheeks and relished the coming conversation. "Who..." The elf didn't get another word out as Kai suddenly pulled back his hand and administered an open palm slap to the side of the the prisoners head. The elf gave a surprised scream of pain as the blow lifted him and out of the chair, which rocked for a moment and then remained in place. [i]How does he do that? To knock a person out of a chair but leave the chair in place. That is skill.[/i] Daichi waited patiently as Kai knelt and easily lifted the elf back into the chair. The elfs eyes were rolling widely around the room now as he took in the two masked Kempeitai, the black stone and finally Daichi who stared back without expression. Fear blossomed in the prisoners eyes. "Your name?" Daichi asked the question carefully. Getting smacked upside the head tended to disorient prisoners. "Who..." An open palm slap interrupted the question. Not hard enough to knock the elf from his chair this time but enough to snap his head back so that the blue skin of his throat gleamed in the light. "Your name?" "Xilra..." The elf muttered the name. "Fleet..." The slap again. "Just answer the questions I ask you, Xilra." Daichi noted Mamiko out of the corner of his eye taking notes. Good girl. "Who are..." This time the blow was strong enough to toss the elf from his chair again. Kai moved quickly to prevent Xilra from hitting his head on the ground. He did nothing to prevent the elfs shoulder from striking the edge of the platform, eliciting a sharp gasp of pain. [i]Music to my ears. And this is only the beginning.[/i]"Just answer the questions I ask you, Xilra." Daichi repeated himself slowly and this time the elf nodded. [i]A shame. I would have liked to see you get smashed out of that chair at least once or twice more.[/i] "Your rank?" The elf looked at him with something akin to exasperation before replying. "Fleet-Captain." "Good." Behind him the quill scratched on rice paper. Daichi thought he detected a whiff of rose water with the movement. Interesting. "Fleet Captain Xilra. You are going to die down here." Eyes bulged in Xilras head. "The only thing you have a choice in right now, is how long that is going to take and how much pain you wish to undergo." The elf licked his lips but didn't speak. [i]A fast learner. Will wonders ever cease.[/i] Then a nod. Poets and storytellers always portrayed the subjects of torture as brave and courageous right up until the bitter end but Daichi had always found things to be quite the opposite. [i]Tie someone up in a chair in a dank dungeon, slap them a few times, tell them they are going to die slowly, and most will tell you anything you want to hear.[/i] "In case you are wondering what the alternative is..." A heavy wooden chest had been placed at one end of the table and Mamiko set aside her scribing tools to open the case. It had been built so that the back was raised, allowing anyone to look into the interior with ease. An array of tools lay before them. "Unlike some of my colleagues elsewhere in the world, I am not one for pulling finger nails or gouging eyes. No. I learned from your people that the teeth are a wonderful conduit of pain." The elf paled as Daichis lips peeled back from his broken teeth into a snarl. The closest his he ever came to smiling. The movement alone caused his own gums to flare with pain and he grimaced. He cracked his jaw with a deft movement of the lower mandible and the elf shuddered at the sound. "So. Keeping all of this in mind. I want you to tell me all about your fleet, Fleet-Captain. Spare no detail. I intend to compare it to what I already know and, who knows, if you know something useful I haven't learned already, I might even let you see the sun one more time before you die." [/hider]