Inferno Ascended

Though his baser instinct urged him to flee, he couldn't do it. Not without at least a plan to reverse the situation.

"Sorry, Zotikos. But I didn't do anything wrong. I'll explain myself to tagmatarchis right now."

"Lord Glax, don't do this. Lord Oenopides has completely convinced him that you are a threat to Marbium and will put the Aegeons' name in the mud again! Lord Arsenio sent Lady Pidna and Kal to escort him to Rusa, and I suppose…"

"…He did this to get them out of the way." Glax completed Zotikos's thought. Again the sounds of soldiers searching the upstairs hallway made his heart race.

"AAARGH! BASTARDS SONS OF A THYRIAN WHORE!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! LET ME GO!" Alexander's voice, possessed by a fit of anger that Glax had never witnessed before, echoed from upstairs.

This sped up his decision. "Lord Arsenio will have to listen to me. I can't leave Alexandre."

The Rhoas grimaced in resignation at this, while Glax turned on her heel to go give his explanations to the tagmatarchis.

::::::::::::::::::::

"SONS OF BITCHES! LET ME GO! I did nothing wrong!" Glax screamed as they tied him up in the pillory. His armor and clothing were ripped off on orders from the tagmatarchis, and thrown beside him in the mud. Only his sandals and his mask were left. He knew that for superstitious reasons no one intended to take off his mask, it was taboo.

The Valosian was certain that Lord Arsenio would listen to reason when he heard his arguments that the Cauldron of Valya was a dangerous artifact. But the officer in charge of the Marbium fort regretted having listened to Glax, in the first place.

"My goodwill to the widower of Lady Chriseis was a mistake!"

"It wouldn't be possible to win without the weapons we use!"

"Nonsense! I was lenient and lazy once, relying on your good background and fame! But you are undisciplined and arrogant, Lord Glax! You stole and disobeyed! You incite rebellion and disorder! You are a bad example, contrary to what I thought! According to the law of the Echelian Army, you must be corrected!"

"You will regret this!"

"ENOUGH!" Lord Arsenio decided not to explain his judgment anymore. Not that he needed it, as he was the ultimate authority on Marbium. 

Although it was the middle of the cold night, the soldiers who were not on watch were gathered to watch the punishment. Even the refugees from Stimhena were huddled in the courtyard, in deep anguish, awakened from their sleep by all the commotion.

Alexander was hoarse from screaming and threatening, and had been chained. He was officially not an Aegeon, and had therefore not offended the laws. 

Glax was sure that if he had been a non-krios, his pupil would have been killed for all the resistance and insults he pushed on. But only the most stupid and merciless of leaders would have punished the young krios for being loyal to his master.

"The Imperial Decree prohibits us from using foreign military technology. The Vselys and the Prometheans are enemies of our Empire. They are enemies of our clan! All material pertaining to them belongs to the empire, so your crime goes beyond us Echelians! You smuggled an item to a vselys, and you don't even regret it! You stole an item from within an Echelian fort! You used your position as Lochios to do this, betraying the clan's trust for shady purposes! You infiltrated a strange agent into two strongholds, and condoned his false identity to perpetrate a fraud! By the authority given to me, I condemn you…"

"CLEMENCE, LORD KROTON!" someone yelled. 

Glax was kneeling in the mud with his head and fists bound by the pillory for the flogging, and he did not recognize the voice. But soon after, other voices joined the first.

"Don't do this, Lord Kroton. Lord Glax saved us!"

"If not for him, we'd all been dead!"

"INJUSTICE!"

Thersos also shouted, filled with rage, "If spears were enough, other groups would have succeeded sooner! You are committing an injustice!"

In a romantic novel, the popular appeal might move the tagmatarchis's heart and mind. But Glax knew that Echelian krios, in general, would not admit to taking advice from non-Krios. The tagmatarchis would lose face if he kept changing his mind. Also, he had a suspicion that Lord Arsenio had perhaps been threatened by the powerful iatromancer for his soft heart and lack of control.

And the tagmatarchis proved his suspicions were correct.

"ENOUGH! SHUT UP! Official, it's 30 lashes and a month of detention for the lochios. He will be tried later, his crimes will be reported directly to the great General.

"Uh-oh!" Glax was sure this was worse than the 30 lashes.

Well, he had never been flogged before, but he suspected his father-in-law was expecting his fall and salivating to receive such news from Marbium. 

His skin prickled with negative anticipation.

He didn't even have time to think about anything else before the first lash hit his bare back.

Well, he felt the sting and the burn, but it wasn't really overbearing.

His impassiveness made the man with the whip gasp, and Arsenius to narrow his eyes. He yelled at the man with the whip.

"Are you mocking us? Are you sparing the lochios? Are this some erotic foreplay?"

"Oh, I hope he's not excited, I'm not into it," Glax said.

Arsenios rushed and took the whip from the soldier, and cracked itwith extreme violence against Glax's back.

'God, ohh!' It was excruciating, in a word.

The second and third slashes sliced ​​the flesh over the first, and Glax felt his knees tremble, tears gathering in his eyes. Glax knew he needed to suffer public punishment, or that would just delay and complicate things.

With an effort, he concentrated on using his time cheat to his advantage.

'Can I make this lash happen in slow motion?' he wondered. 

SLASH!

SLASH!

'Ouch! Uhhh! I'm not doing this right…' He locked his jaw and tensed his muscles, because it just wasn't working as it should. 

One after another, none of the lashes were affected by its power. Until Glax could no longer concentrate and let it be. Though he felt his back being lacerated, he was numb.

What was going on? Why wasn't him feeling pain any longer?

:::::::::::::::

After the flogging, they threw him and Alexandre into a jail cell in the fort's basement. They were the only ones in the dank, dark place, practically just a cave with support posts for the roof, and iron bars preventing escape.

Alexander tested the bars, then returned to the corner where his master was. 

Moving was painful for Glax.

"They'll pay me for this," the boy grumbled as he used a clean piece of cloth to dry Glax's back.

"You shouldn't be here."

"And where else should I be? You were right, they were wrong. They weren't there to see what we were up against."

"Do you also think I was right to deliver the Cauldron to Damiamon?"

"I still don't know, Lord Glax. We don't know why the emperor made these decisions. But you and he are doing similar things. He's looking for Explorers who are trapped in weird containers, and you say you want to take Chriseis' orb out of the mechanical arm… The mechanical arm that sometimes tried to overpower her will."

Glax saw the wisdom in the boy's words. "Yes, we are alike in that respect, Alekos. I'm also selfish and didn't mind breaking rules to get closer to my goal. I just hope I don't get as far as he did… But look at you here, suffering because I put us in this situation…"

Before Alekos could answer what he thought about it, they heard people approaching, and they fell silent. Minutes later, the cell's door was opened and Zotikos was unceremoniously thrown into the cell.

He stumbled and fell awkwardly into the darkness, yelling,

"Hey! At least give me back my goggles! This isn't weapons technology!"

Someone threw the object through the grate, and Zotikos had to feel the ground to find it.

"By the Gods, Lord Zotikos! Why did they put you in jail?" Glax asked. Breathing hurt.

"I questioned the tagmatarchis' decisions. That's insubordination too. Looks like I'm good at getting jailed." The Rhoas approached them. "Let me see if I can help. I've never done this without actually seeing..."

Gradually the channeling of Gaia's forces, whatever it was, lit up Zotikos' hands with a soft luminescent glow, transferring the cure to the Valosian's body.

The healing effect without the anesthetic effect of drugs the iatromancers usually applied, was unbearable. When it was over, he fell asleep from exhaustion, internally grateful to have made loyal friends in this world.

Glax woke when someone shook the grates, this time to pass on bowls of food. Alexander immediately filled the jailer with questions.

"What's going on out there? Will things really turn out this way? Lord Arsenio will heed the Commander of Rusa's request and send Lord Glax in exchange for more men?"

"I don't know about that, Lord Alexandre. I just obey. Pay heed of my position here," complained the hyperetes.

"And to think my uncle trusted this wishy-washy to command a fort!"

"Get that bowl soon, by Hyperion! I have a lot of things to do! Do you think I'm just the jailer here? Everything's been in an uproar since yesterday!"

"If Lord Arsenio had not had his pride spiked by the hurtful words of the Iatromancer of Rusa..." Spoke Zotikos with rancor. "He saw that even the gods disdain Lord Oenopides, but he bowed to his words. What does he intend to do, after all?"

The officer sighed as he passed them blankets through the railing. "He's gathered all available men.. He says he's going to Stimhena Hill to retrieve the artifact. And kill the vselys revenant Damiamon Oefer!"