Fic: The Power of Suggestion
I'll get back to The Summer Intern shortly. This just came up in my head and I had to get it out.
"Ah, Rider Avanar. How unfortunate to make your acquaintance again." Tez looked down at the White Rider, who was currently forced into a half-bow by virtue of Maria twisting his right arm behind his back, the left one with its sprained wrist held carefully to his stomach. The Rider's namesake immaculate white tunic was looking considerably less immaculate now, covered as it was in dirt and blood.
"Eldest," Avanar spat.
"Did I not tell you to leave me and mine alone?" he said silkily. "Did I not? Why do you feel so compelled to trouble us?"
"You threaten the Moot, the entire Elven nation with your actions!"
"If by "threaten" you mean "drag kicking and screaming into the current century" I suppose I am."
Avanar twisted in Maria's grip, wincing in pain as she forced his arm up higher. "The humans threaten to build their damned metal roads right to the border of elven territory! We've seen what they're doing! It's binding and sapping away our magic."
Tez sighed. "I told you before, it's not the humans' doing. Haven't you read the oldest of the stories? The Magic Goes Away, as the sun set and rises again. It happens. You just need to adapt."
"You blaspheme!" Avanar screamed.
"And you attacked me without provocation. You might want to note that I'm not in the most forgiving of moods right now, so I suggest you quit yowling at me."
Maria looked at with concern. "What are you going to do to him, Tez? We can't have him following us, and taking him with us would slow us down horrribly." Implicit in her question was the deeper one, Are you going to murder this idiot right in front of me, for the sake of our mission?
"Quite right, my love. We'll have to hobble Avanar until his friends come to rescue him. Assuming they can find him." Tez went back to the horses and dug through the saddlebag, pulling out a small metal box locked with an expensive combination lock and a pair of heavy leather gloves. He walked back in front of Avanar and made a show of pulling the gloves on and then opened up the box, carefully removing a spool perhaps two inches in diameter, rubber coated wire wrapped around it. "Do you see this? I'm sure you've at least heard of Old Wire, if not handled it yourself in a museum."
Maria looked at Tez in confusion, while Avanar's face paled. "What's Old Wire?" she asked.
"The thinnest substance in the universe," Tez explained. "It's a wire exactly one molecule thick, which is so tiny its invisible to the naked eye. This protective coating over it is thicker than the wire itself by several orders of magnitude. It also has two very interesting properties. It's both immensely strong, and it can slice through anything, from bone to metal, like a hot knife through butter." He gestured towards Avanar. "Do me the favor of bringing both his hands behind his back, would you?"
Maria nodded and grabbed Avanar by his left forearm, bringing it behind his back and holding it there, ignoring the White Rider's cries of pain as Tez wrapped the wire loosely over his crossed wrists. Then she pushed the Rider down to his knees as Tez ran the wire down to his ankles and bound them as well.
"Now then, Avanar," Tez said. "In a few hours, or days, you companions will probably find you, assuming their going to even bother with a search given the current situation. If you sit very still, the Old Wire will remain safe in its sheath. Struggle too much, it will with slice through your wrists and ankles like they weren't even there, and you can look forward to very rapidly bleeding to death. Either way you won't be following us."
Avanar gasped in pain, flexing his good hand. "You... you're lying. The making of Old Wire is one of the Lost Arts! This can't possibly be what you say it is!"
"Perhaps you're right. Perhaps I am lying," Tez said affably. "Of course I am the Eldest, so with me no Art is ever really lost, and there's only one way to really test the theory, isn't there?" He let a smile cross his lips. Avanar flinched. "Goodbye, Rider Avanar. Pray your partner Kavin has more sense than you ever did."
As they rode away, leaving a quivering Avanar by the side of the road, Maria looked over at him and asked, "That's just ordinary telegraphy wire you roped him up with, isn't it?"
"Possibly," Tez agreed. "The likelihood of me being able to produce Old Wire on my own is astronomical. But he doesn't know that does he? It should be interesting to see whether he finally gives and struggles out of it, or just sits there until he dies of dehydration."
She shook her her head. "You're a bastard, Tez."
He smiled and touched his collar. "As you well know."
The End
"Ah, Rider Avanar. How unfortunate to make your acquaintance again." Tez looked down at the White Rider, who was currently forced into a half-bow by virtue of Maria twisting his right arm behind his back, the left one with its sprained wrist held carefully to his stomach. The Rider's namesake immaculate white tunic was looking considerably less immaculate now, covered as it was in dirt and blood.
"Eldest," Avanar spat.
"Did I not tell you to leave me and mine alone?" he said silkily. "Did I not? Why do you feel so compelled to trouble us?"
"You threaten the Moot, the entire Elven nation with your actions!"
"If by "threaten" you mean "drag kicking and screaming into the current century" I suppose I am."
Avanar twisted in Maria's grip, wincing in pain as she forced his arm up higher. "The humans threaten to build their damned metal roads right to the border of elven territory! We've seen what they're doing! It's binding and sapping away our magic."
Tez sighed. "I told you before, it's not the humans' doing. Haven't you read the oldest of the stories? The Magic Goes Away, as the sun set and rises again. It happens. You just need to adapt."
"You blaspheme!" Avanar screamed.
"And you attacked me without provocation. You might want to note that I'm not in the most forgiving of moods right now, so I suggest you quit yowling at me."
Maria looked at with concern. "What are you going to do to him, Tez? We can't have him following us, and taking him with us would slow us down horrribly." Implicit in her question was the deeper one, Are you going to murder this idiot right in front of me, for the sake of our mission?
"Quite right, my love. We'll have to hobble Avanar until his friends come to rescue him. Assuming they can find him." Tez went back to the horses and dug through the saddlebag, pulling out a small metal box locked with an expensive combination lock and a pair of heavy leather gloves. He walked back in front of Avanar and made a show of pulling the gloves on and then opened up the box, carefully removing a spool perhaps two inches in diameter, rubber coated wire wrapped around it. "Do you see this? I'm sure you've at least heard of Old Wire, if not handled it yourself in a museum."
Maria looked at Tez in confusion, while Avanar's face paled. "What's Old Wire?" she asked.
"The thinnest substance in the universe," Tez explained. "It's a wire exactly one molecule thick, which is so tiny its invisible to the naked eye. This protective coating over it is thicker than the wire itself by several orders of magnitude. It also has two very interesting properties. It's both immensely strong, and it can slice through anything, from bone to metal, like a hot knife through butter." He gestured towards Avanar. "Do me the favor of bringing both his hands behind his back, would you?"
Maria nodded and grabbed Avanar by his left forearm, bringing it behind his back and holding it there, ignoring the White Rider's cries of pain as Tez wrapped the wire loosely over his crossed wrists. Then she pushed the Rider down to his knees as Tez ran the wire down to his ankles and bound them as well.
"Now then, Avanar," Tez said. "In a few hours, or days, you companions will probably find you, assuming their going to even bother with a search given the current situation. If you sit very still, the Old Wire will remain safe in its sheath. Struggle too much, it will with slice through your wrists and ankles like they weren't even there, and you can look forward to very rapidly bleeding to death. Either way you won't be following us."
Avanar gasped in pain, flexing his good hand. "You... you're lying. The making of Old Wire is one of the Lost Arts! This can't possibly be what you say it is!"
"Perhaps you're right. Perhaps I am lying," Tez said affably. "Of course I am the Eldest, so with me no Art is ever really lost, and there's only one way to really test the theory, isn't there?" He let a smile cross his lips. Avanar flinched. "Goodbye, Rider Avanar. Pray your partner Kavin has more sense than you ever did."
As they rode away, leaving a quivering Avanar by the side of the road, Maria looked over at him and asked, "That's just ordinary telegraphy wire you roped him up with, isn't it?"
"Possibly," Tez agreed. "The likelihood of me being able to produce Old Wire on my own is astronomical. But he doesn't know that does he? It should be interesting to see whether he finally gives and struggles out of it, or just sits there until he dies of dehydration."
She shook her her head. "You're a bastard, Tez."
He smiled and touched his collar. "As you well know."
The End