"Yes…" she whispered. So that was why he wanted everything dark as night. He wasn't going to want her to see his face.
Another candle came on, this one on the opposite side of what she realized was a vast room.
"My father had it done to me. Right after I almost killed him."
Jane inhaled sharply. "Oh… God."
Vishous stared at Jane but saw only the past and what had come after him taking his father down to the ground.
"Bring me my blade," the Bloodletter said.
V fought against the soldier who was holding his arms and got nowhere. As he struggled two more males appeared. Then another pair. Now three others.
The Bloodletter spat on the ground as someone put a black dagger into his hand, and V braced himself for the stabbing that was coming… except the Bloodletter just streaked the blade across his palm, then sheathed the knife in his belt. Bringing both hands together, he rubbed them one against the other, then slammed his right one into the center of V's chest.
V looked down at the print on his skin. Expulsion. Not death. But why?
The Bloodletter's voice was hard. "You shall be ever unknown to those who dwell herein. And death shall come to any who aid you."#p#分页标题#e#
The soldiers started to let Vishous go.
"Not yet. Bring him into the camp." The Bloodletter turned away. "And get the blacksmith. It is incumbent upon us to warn others of this male's evil nature."
V bucked wildly as another soldier swept up his legs and he was carried like a carcass into the cave.
"Behind the screen," the Bloodletter told the blacksmith. "We shall do this afore the painted wall."
The male blanched, but took his rough wooden tray of tools around the partition. Meanwhile, V was laid out on his back with a soldier at the end of each of his limbs and one holding his hips down.
The Bloodletter stood over V, his hands dripping bright red. "Mark him."
The blacksmith looked up. "In what manner, great one?"
The Bloodletter spelled out the warnings in the Old Language, and the soldiers held V down as his temple and his groin and his thighs were tattooed. He fought the whole of it, but the ink sank into his skin, the characters permanent. When it was finished he was utterly drained, weaker than when he'd come out of his transition.
"His hand. Do it upon his hand as well." The blacksmith started to shake his head. "You will do it or I will get another blacksmith for the camp, as you will be dead."
The blacksmith shook all over, but was of care not to touch V's skin so the marking was completed without incident.
When it was done, the Bloodletter stared down at V. "There is one more necessary task, methinks. Spread wide his legs. I shall do the race a favor and ensure he never procreates."
V felt his eyes pop as his ankles and his thighs were yanked apart. His father once more unsheathed the black dagger from his belt, but then paused. "No, something else is needed."
He ordered the blacksmith do the deed with a pair of pliers.
Vishous screamed as he felt the metal clamp onto his thinnest skin. There was a spearing pain and a tearing and then—
"Sweet Jesus" Jane said.
V shook himself back to the present. He wondered how much he'd said out loud, and decided that, going by the look of horror on her face, it had been pretty much everything.
He watched the candlelight flicker in her dark green eyes. "They weren't able to finish."
"Not out of decency," she said softly.
He shook his head and raised his gloved hand. "Even though I was about to pass out, my whole body lit up. The soldiers who were holding me down were killed instantly. So was the blacksmith—he was using a metal tool, and it conducted the energy right into him."
She closed her eyes briefly. "Then what happened?"
"I rolled over, threw up some more, and dragged myself to the exit. The whole camp watched me go in silence. Not even my father got in the way or said a thing." V cupped himself loosely, remembering the mind-numbing pain. "The, ah… the cave floor was covered with this loose, powdery kind of dirt that had various minerals in it—one of which must have been salt. The wound sealed up so I didn't bleed out, but that's how I got the scars."
"I am… so sorry." She lifted her hand as if she wanted to reach out, but then dropped her arm. "It's a wonder you survived."
"I barely made it through that first night. It was so cold. I ended up using a branch to help me walk, and went as far as I could in no particular direction. Eventually I collapsed. My will to keep going was there, my body was not. I'd lost blood, and the pain was exhausting.