Chapter Nineteen
They settled in her office to begin. She removed the mirror from one of her guarded safes she had been keeping it in and placed it on the table. Borreal looked decidedly uncomfortable which, given his normal serenity, was a true indication of how deep his aversion to what they were about to do ran. He’d entered one of her manifestations before and come out fine but the experience was unnerving at best.
“I won’t let you get lost. If you trust me, trust that you’ll be fine. This is a creation of my own and I control everything in it.”
He made a visible effort to relax and nodded.
“Place your hand on the table,” she instructed him.
He did so and she placed her hand on top of his then looked into the mirror.
She heard the soldier inside sobbing and in a rush of color their awarenesses descended into the mirror towards him. As the blur receded and the picture sharpened she found herself standing with Borreal on the path of the maze. The archer knelt in front of her, sobbing but aware. She released Borreal’s hand and stepped forward, motioning for him to stay behind. The man stopped sobbing and looked up, his tear streaked face towards hers.
“Please,” he begged, “please help me.”
She dropped to her knees in front of him and stroked his hair, “Shhhhh,” she said soothingly, “I’m here to help you but I need you to stay quiet for a moment. They’ve damaged your mind and I need to set it right.”
It was partially true. At least he wouldn’t die screaming like his comrades. A lie to ease his fear and gain cooperation was kinder and easier than telling him she was the one who’d trapped him here anyways.
She looked into his eyes and gently searched through him for the trap. She found it lurking, buried deep within his memories. The sick, pulsing light made it easy to locate once she knew what she was looking for. Here, on her own ground, it would be child’s play to remove it untriggered. She merely willed the energy comprising it to a dead end in the maze and walled it off. Then she gave his mind a gentle push that released his own natural pain relievers and mood enhancers.
“Th-thank you,” he stammered out, “I feel wonderful.”
She nodded, “We can get you out of here, but we need to know what happened to place you here. Can you help us?”
“I hesitate to ask after the kindness you’ve shown me but duty and loyalty to my commander require me to: what are you?”
She smiled warmly and lied through her teeth, “You are wise to ask, I am Mari and you have been trapped in my lands by an enemy. I heard your suffering and came to release you. This man is my warrior and he will lead you out once we have discovered your path.”
His eyes glazed over and he bowed his head to her. The time spent in her maze had weakened his psyche enough that any semi-plausible story relating to his release would be accepted.
“Goddess Mari of hope and dreams I humbly beg your and your consort’s favor, I feel lost in a nightmare.”
She nodded serenely as she blocked the memories of his capture and laid a fog over the one for the night of the capture.
“Indeed. Now tell me, how did you come to be here?”
“It is difficult to recall. Last I remember clearly I fell asleep after being assigned to retrieve a target with intelligence valuable to my commander.”
She stroked his hair again, “There was something terrible placed in your mind, who did that? I sense the same man cast you here.”
He stiffened but she continued to stroke his hair and she leaned ever so slightly on his inclination to trust her.
“A man called Ahriman, goddess, he said that it would hurt but that they’d be able to wipe my memories were we to fail and be captured.”
“Yet you still have your memories so you must not have been captured.”
He nodded, “It would seem so.”
“What could this man have wanted with you then?”
“I was not to know. I was only to retrieve an enemy soldier.”
She was annoyed with this answer but maintained her serene expression. Mari was always depicted as if permanently in a pleasant dream state.
“Could you have ended up in one of this man’s traps?”
He looked puzzled, “It seems I have.”
She forced herself to look mildly concerned, “But I simply must know what kind of trap that is or how am I to help you out of it?” The logic was thin but his automatic agreement with her last two prompts indicated that he was far enough gone that with her leaning on his trust he’d accept it.
He did, “Goddess, I am not very clever but I did hear him speaking of making our force stronger, enhancing our abilities. Could it be that he’s attempt that on me and failed?”
She looked at Borreal. He nodded, it was enough for him to work with and probably all they were going to get out of him. She looked back at the man, “Yes, it would make sense given that you are here. If your abilities were too much for your mind to handle you would break and lose connection with the physical world,” she invented.
“Knowing this I can send you back to your body if you would like but I sense that you will not like what you find.”
“Mistress, could I stay with you? I would serve you faithfully.”
She looked at him, he was in a pathetic state and she disliked manipulating him because eventually his sanity would break and he would be gone. To be fair, he’d probably be executed unless she could use him. She steeled herself and replied.
“Service given to a god is no light thing. Would you swear yourself to me even knowing that a hard road lies ahead?”
“Mistress, I would serve you. Nothing could be worse than being forever lost in this nightmare and you have rescued me from that fate.”
“Very well then, I will have need of you in the physical world so you must return to your body but fear not, for I will ensure that you are soon released and suffer no lasting harm.”
He fell onto his face, prostrate before her. “Do as you please with me, my life is yours.”
She waved her hand in a gesture she imagined a goddess might use and he vanished. Then she allowed the maze to dissolve away and she was once again seated across her office table from Borreal. His mouth twisted into a smile.
“Your consort?”
“Hey I can’t control what he assumes. I take it you’re flattered.”
He gave her a mocking bow, “I am yours to command, Mari.”
“Very well then my warrior, return to your prisoner and instruct the guards to pretend like they are in Ahriman’s employ. When the time comes that we find a use for a weirdly brainwashed zealot we’ll release him.”
He backed out of the room, head bowed low, “It shall be as you say, my goddess.”
She smirked as she replaced the mirror in her safe and sealed it.
She leaned against the wall as utter exhaustion hit her. Damn, she really needed a nap. The last few days had not been easy.
She rubbed her head. She needed to deal with the damage manipulating the sickened blood had done to her as well. The longer it went unattended the more likely it was to scar her psyche. Sleep or mental health? She opted for mental health, the healing she did would sink in and deepen as she slept.
She walked to her room, entered, and closed the door. The bolt was still off the wall so she placed a chair against it, hoping that Kenny wouldn’t pick the next hour to come talk to her. It wasn’t likely, he should be occupied with his full time job of being a captain but you never knew and she really liked that chair.
She turned on the tub, stepped in, and slipped her neck and shoulders under the tap. Running water helped to remove negative energy and ground any stray psychic energy. Plus water in general was a healing element. She let herself soak there until the tub was full then she turned off the tap, sank into the bath, and entered her own mind.