97 Imprisoned

Leo drifted in and out of consciousness, but every time he was about to wake up, he was greeted by another hit on the head. He didn't know how long he was out of it, or how many times he was hit, only that he had a splitting headache. When he was finally allowed to come to, he was being held up by chains with his arms out to the sides, there was a metallic collar around his neck, and he was only wearing a loincloth. He opened one eye, and struggled to open the other, due to the dried blood covering his face. It appeared that they broke his skin quite badly when they hit him, but he already healed, simply leaving the blood coating half his face.

"I see you're awake, again. I couldn't keep track of how many times we had to knock you out while we chained you and investigated your background. About twelve hours have passed since then, and poor Praxis had to stay alert the whole time." As Leo's vision focused, he saw a few people in front of him. The king, Andrew, the man in the shiny armor, and the one who hit him, the big guy with a hammer. He also saw two faces that he instantly recognized, the innkeeper of the inn he had been staying at, and the most surprising, Curly. The horned man looked as if it was Christmas, as he gave Leo a sinister smile. Leo frowned and didn't say anything, but Andrew apparently decided to do the talking instead,

"This innkeeper was more than happy to provide us details of your companion, and we were quite happy your hear it matched the reports of my advisor, Alex, and most surprisingly this mutant. So I know that you have a female companion, with golden eyes, who along with you, might not be human. I intended to interrogate you about what happened with my daughter, but this caught my interest." As he said that he pulled out a metallic card that showed Leo's ID, but unlike the fake that Artemis gave him, this was a real one that displayed,

RACE- werewolf

In big letters for them to see. Leo was still silent, and Andrew just clicked his tongue, before saying,

"Let's just do this the easy way, tell me about these werewolves. According to this mutant, he was from the same place as her, but she was always human. Then my advisor, Alex, stated that two humans attacked his camp singlehandedly, moved like beasts the whole time, and were capable of things that should be nearly impossible for humans to do. Then as he attacked the dwarves Capitol, two beasts attacked them and singlehandedly turned the tide of battle, what he presumed to be a male, and a female. The funny thing being, that the two of you climbed up there, and that he now claims the color of the monsters fur matches the color of your hair."

He paused suddenly, as if giving Leo time to speak, but he kept silent. Andrew sighed again, before burying his fist into Leo's stomach. Leo vomited blood from the hit, and was confused as he couldn't use ki to block it. Andrew apparently noticed his confusion, and smiled. He jabbed at the metallic collar on him, and said,

"Know what this is? It's a collar designed specifically for slaves who can use ki, mana, or energy. They seal it, so that no slave can use magic. Though it hasn't seemed to seal your ability to heal, it should do the trick well enough for your strength." Leo laughed to himself, most of his strength was physical, not ki. But he wasn't about to tell them that. Apparently Andrew understood Leo was ridiculing him, as he turned and nodded at the big guy with the hammer, Praxis. Leo thought he was about to get another hit in the head when he walked behind him, but instead heard the hammer hit the floor. The whistling wind warned him what was coming a split second before it hit him.

CRACK

His skin split as the whip sliced across his back. He let out a groan, much to Andrews satisfaction. Then he heard the whistling again,

CRACK

A second year in his back appeared, as the whip cracked again. Leo only let out a small groan this time, not wanting to let Andrew have the satisfaction. He was then whipped another twenty eight times, for a total of thirty. His back was turned into strips of skin, as his blood ran freely down his legs. After a few minutes he felt an intense itching, as his back started healing from the damage. Andrew laughed again, and said,

"So here's what we're going to do, you'll tell us about werewolves and where your little wife is, or we'll continue whipping you until you tell us. Since you heal so quickly then we don't need to worry about killing you as much." Leo was once more silent at his offer, causing Andrew to sigh again and he walked away while saying to curly,

"I'll send a force to the location you told us about, there better be a settlement there. I'll leave him to you for now, but no killing or maiming. I might need to either use him or breed him so only use the whip, understand?" Curly nodded with enthusiasm, and said,

"Of course your majesty, I'll be quite content with making him suffer without killing him! And I'd like to thank your majesty once more for making an exception for a mutant like me!" The King nodded and said,

"Of course, you helped me identify a potential new breed of slave and a source for test subjects. However if things don't work as we expect, then you'll be the one working in their place." Curly nodded again, and the king finally left. He smiled evilly and turned to Leo, before saying,

"You have no idea how much I looked forward to this Leo. You ran me out of the village, and I was caught and almost enslaved after making my way south. If I wasn't brought here and caught the Knights attention when they announced they were looking for Iris, I would still be in chains you know. So I owe you, for getting me kicked out, and for getting me out of chains." Leo turned to look at Curly, and said his first words since waking up,

"When I get out of here, the first one I'm going to kill will be you." Curly had a look of contempt on his face, but there was a small flicker of fear there as well. He put it aside, and grabbed the whip, and started to learn how to use it with LOTS of practice.