The Serpent & the Crow

It was getting colder.

He didn't make a sound as the spots flickered across his vision, fingers clenching until his knuckles were paler even than his flesh. A frigid wind murmured through the buildings of the village, whispering against the snow, the blood freezing as it welled up on his skin.

There was that frost in his chest. Every breath piercing, throat burning, veins bringing first pain, then numbness through his flesh.

Gaius glanced around, raising an eyebrow. Interesting. He gave the soldier a nod, and the man whipped Cornyx again. How far could he push this boy before he broke?

"Father," Regulus murmured uneasily, "is this the best idea?"

"It serves its purpose," Gaius replied. "This is an experiment, Regulus. Have patience."

((I almost forgot how much of an asshole Gaius was, just not quite lmfao))

He'd taken worse beatings. He'd been pushed to the edge of his life, the taste of blood fresh on his tongue, the cold in his flesh but not outside of it. But that had been on his own world. That wasn't after days of captivity and the knowledge that the only person who'd shown him kindness here was about to die. That wasn't when he was beyond trapped, wholly at the mercy of a man who would do anything.

Let it be the weather and not his own. Let it be something other than this. Anything other than this.

He bit back a cry of pain, holding it in his throat. Breath shallow as much from fear of what he might do as fear of the knowledge that this was nowhere near done.

(He's pretty bad)

The soldier delivered a third blow, and a woman pressed her child into her cloak. Gaius did not move, did not waver. He had taken twice as many lashes as this boy would have, many years ago now. He knew they were more painful than anyone could anticipate. Yet he felt nothing. Pain meant little to him, now, the pain of others even less.

He gasped, breathing through his gritted teeth. The snow drifted in sparse flakes towards the ground--not that he noticed. Third. Fourth. Fifth. He lost count, the snow falling harder, but it couldn't be his own. Seventh? Ninth? Why did he suffer this, agree to go into his employ?

What was so wrong with him that he couldn't even be allowed to simply exist?

The twelfth stroke fell hard, and the soldier unchained him, letting him fall to the ground. Gaius limped forward, glancing irritably over his shoulder for a second as Regulus followed. How had his children become such mother hens? He was ill, not dying!

"Rise, Cornyx," he said when he had reached the boy.

Rise. Rise. Rise to his feet, stand back up as he had so many times before, stained in sanguine to face the fucking devil. He raised his hand, grabbing the post and pulling himself to his full height, the faintest and almost undetectable lines of silver in his irises, not meeting Gaius' eyes but obeying him without hesitation.

"Are you prepared to accept the proposal offered to you by my two sons?" he asked, elevating his voice so all could hear. "Will you join my ranks as an enforcer of Venholm's law and serve me as a loyal soldier?" Gaius very much doubted it, but Cornyx didn't have much choice in refusing.

Loyal? Law enforcer? God, the irony of that. The terrible fucking joke of it. But he couldn't refuse. Refusing would mean his death now, and as much as he despised the situation, he still had a survival instinct. He didn't want to die.

"Yes, sir." His voice was somewhat soft, nowhere near as audible as Gaius', but at least stutterless.

Gaius gave a small nod. "He has accepted," he announced, resting his lame hand on Cornyx's shoulder. The skin was terribly cold, and his curled fingers twitched in discomfort. "Cornyx is an agent of the Serpent, and he will never again harm your people!" A roar of applause went up, and Gaius smiled. There. That had been remedied, now to deal with the important issues.

He flinched slightly as Gaius' hand settled against his skin, but he neither spoke nor resisted. Just waited for all this to be over. He shivered slightly in the cold--not the natural cold, but his own, the internal one that had taken the feeling from his fingers and his face and still grew.

"We will return to Serpent Keep and fully initiate him into our ranks." Gaius began to lead Cornyx toward the waiting carriage, followed by his sons and daughter. "You did well," he said when they were out of earshot. "I don't know many people who can take twelve lashes in near silence."

((Is he gonna get his shirt back))

He'd learned to keep quiet young. Screaming made things worse. Crying, worse. Shut up and stay down and don't speak lest you lose your tongue. His countenance hardened somewhat for the briefest of moments, his soft and quiet detachment fleetingly replaced with something much sterner. The thing that had allowed him to hold his tongue and survive. His demeanor was, almost perpetually, a submissive one. He'd many times been likened to a beaten dog. But if that was all there was to him, he wouldn't have been standing there before Lord Ash.

"Thank you, sir," was all he said, breath clouding in the air.

(Yeah)

"Sera will see to your wounds upon our return. We'll find you a new shirt as well." Gaius opened the door of the carriage and climbed in. Mattathias and Regulus mounted Iron-horses on either side, and Marcella followed Gaius. She glanced curiously at Cornyx.

((is Cornyx riding or walking or what?))