The Fear You Know

30 The Fear You Know

 The thundering sound of the battering ram had stopped, and a messenger had been sent to gather Adrian and bring him to the peak of the wall, where he could look down on the small army gathered outside their doors. From their midst they had produced a white flag of temporary ceasefire which snapped and undulated in the wind.

Looking down from the battlements of their university, Eli noted that the "White flag" in question was only white with the strictest application of imagination. He would have categorized it as more of an off yellow, or a drab sort of gray, the kind of color white fabric tends to turn after years and years of poor aging and dust.

Standing below this white standard, they looked out to see three men standing clustered together, or at least, he assumed that they were all men. The third man was so disfigured by disease that it was hard to tell what he might once have been. He was missing all of his limbs and had to be carried by one of his more healthy acolytes.

Next to him Stood a bear of a man in thick furs that looked like they had been cut from the hides of white winter bears. He was so monstrous in size that he towered almost a foot over the third man, who Eli knew from personal experience, had likely never met another man who could tower over him.

The king of the Revealed looked on at the university in a strange mixture of amusement and disgust.

The words written on his skin were now obscured by the application of a hastily thrown together toga of sorts, which partially blocked the scrawling of words and thoughts across his skin. From this distance Eli would have been hard pressed to read anything that still remained.

And still Adrian stood on top of the wall, A light breeze rushing through his hair, his white shirt open at the collar allowing the wind to tug at the fabric.

"My my, Adrian, it has been a long time. We were beginning to think something bad had happened to you."

His ironic concern was easily transparent despite the coverings over his body.

Adrian crossed his arms, "Well, you've found me, now what?'

The man grinned wolfishly, "Simple, you come down here, turn yourself over to us, and we let the rest of your people go. Sounds fair enough?"

Adrian laughed, "Your attempts insult me. Next time you should at least try for a little subtlety when you try and backstab me."

The Reveald's lips twisted, "I assure you, this is no lie."

Adrian stood taller, arms crossed over his chest, "Fine, if it isn't a bluff then why don't you take off that toga and let me see what you're really thinking. The last time I checked you revealed didn't have a quarrel with a lock of modesty."

The revealed lips tightened even further. Behind them, a sea of bodies pressed together with the frantic fidgeting of starved animals drooling in anticipation for the feed. Behind them, the rising sun was causing the stagnant water of the outlying lands to steam in the oncoming heat.

Adrian crossed his arms, and the revealed king sighed long and deep, "Very well. How about I make this very clear, no lies, no tricks." he stepped forward, "I plan on tearing this palace apart stone by stone, no man, woman or child will be safe. Your walls may hold forever, but your doors are not so strong. This threat is not just a threat, it is an inevitability, and when I get inside, I will take every book and manuscript under your possession and use them as tinder to light your pyre."

All around them the people on the battlements shifted, Eli turned seeing the fear on their faces feeling the fear in his own body welling up. Overhead the sky was darkened as Exclusion made itself known. A silent hovering bystander here to watch the carnage unfold. Thick twirling ropes of black smoke darted towards him, sensing his moment of weakness, but he pulled back taking a deep breath.