#avendal

[taonpest]

Avendal my babygworl..................

(Avendal belongs to @dongtopus)

[dongtopus]

thinking deeply about the initial C&S arc. About Avendal, eyes focused on his future as the crowd in the market splits

I wound up writing a bit about Avendal under the cut

“I want every syllable of information squeezed from their throat and not a letter less. Do not come to me until they are slipping from sanity.”

“With respect, Sir.”

“Captain” Avendal snarled, placing a boot forward and lifting his club from it’s ring at his belt.

“Captain! With respect, I do not believe we have sufficient evidence  to detain and draw information from this individual. Hearsay is not considered evidence and never has be-”

A lightning fast fist to the mouth caused the soldier's head to whip back before they crumpled into the floor like a beaten child. Captain Avendal stood over them with his club. He raised it high, and brought it low.

The solider covered their face with a whimper and froze.

There was no pain, though a rush of air blew down past them.

they opened an eye with caution and terror. The club was a hairs breadth from touching them.

The captain of the guard straightened up, and placed the club back in the ring on his belt before kneeling down, one arm resting across a knee, and the other reaching out, placing a reassuring hand on the shoulder of the shocked soldier.

“You see, this is why I was made Captain, Isidoros. The powers that be agreed with my assessment that the regiment had gotten lax. Discipline must be instilled. Your role is to be an extension of the will of the city. to keep her safe from the venomous outside forces that seek to corrupt everything we have worked so hard for. Here-”

Avendal reached into his back pocket and brought forth a handkerchief

“-We can’t have you getting your own blood on that uniform now, can we?”

Gently, Avendal dabbed at the corner of the soldiers mouth before bringing them back to their feet.

The Captain rolled the handkerchief in his hand and placed his arm behind his back, looking the solider up and down with disgust.

“Brush yourself down, Isidoros, you’re filthy” He sneered

The solider blinked, and hurried patted their uniform down. A lower ranking member of the regiment, no armour covered his body. The light linen was heavily prone to picking up the dust that flowed through this city, and it was a matter of pride that they be kept immaculate at all times.

Isidoros gave himself a once-over and looked eagerly to his Captain

“Very good.”

Isidoros raised a fist to his chest and his gaze only momentarily met Avendals as he did so. His eyes darted away, toward the door.

Avendal took half a step the the left, covering the sight of the door.

“And where do you think you’re looking? I am the only one here. You should be looking in my direction, and my direction only. Or does this lesson also need reiterating?”

“N-No si- Captain!”

Avendal raised his head and took a deep breath.

“Good. Now, draw that information from that heratic and do not return until you have done everything.”

Isidoros ran through all the noise in his head before blurting out,

“Captain- Will you permit me to give them some blood to keep torture effective?”

Avendal stoked his beard and regarded him intensely.

“Now, now. We don’t ‘torture’ here. We extract information. I will return in one week. If you give me nothing, you too will join the heratic on the wall.”

Avendal turned and placed a handle.

“Captain, What if-”

“You have your orders.“

The door shut behind him, leaving Isidoros in the near pitch black.

The chains rattled slightly behind him, and an exhausted, husky voice murmured out.

"Two dead men in the dark, only one can walk but both are chained.”

[dongtopus]

Once i'm done with the Corpse & the Spider re-write nonsense (we're at ch10 now so not far to go), perhaps I ought to try my hand at the scene in the blood pools with Marion & Avendal, as it's canon + the smut will trick people into getting invested. I have no idea how far that scene would go tbh but i'd post it as a separate piece as it predates the start of C&S by quite a while.

[dongtopus]

Throat.

The arrow loosed and hit the target in the shoulder.

“Again. More to the left.” Avendal pulled the arrow free, holding it behind his back as he strolled back to the archer in training.

“I’m used to the firearm Sir, I apologise.”

“I do not want excuses. Fire again.”

“Yes, Sir.”

The archer nocked his arrow and drew again.

Shk

Avendal squinted. “Shoulder. Again.”

“Sorry, Sir. I’m still getting used to it, maybe it’s the bow?”

“Are you saying our fletchers make bad bows, Nasser? Will you give me an excuse for every arrow, Nasser?”

The archer felt the muscles in his shoulders freeze up.

“N-no, Sir.”

Another arrow nocked. As his fingers rested against his lip, something flashed in into his vision, followed by blinding pain. Nasser cried out, unable to relaxe the muscle.

Avendal plunged the arrow he had held onto into Nasser’s forearm, wedging it between the bones.

“Fire.”

Nasser cried out once again as his fingers uncurled from the bowstring.

The arrow missed the target completely, smashing against the red stone behind it and shattering.

“Nasser.” Avendal grabbed onto the arrow embedded in the archers arm and yanked at it, “Remove your wrist guard. You will learn to fire with this-” he shook the arrow once again, but the archer was in too much pain to cry out. He gasped, dropping the bow and reaching out across to his arm.

Avendal caught Nasser’s hand, crushing his fingers.

“-You will remove the brace and fire until I can see the muscle of your bow arm.”

The others in the yard had taken note of what was happening. Avendal was known for his harshness but not this.

“Remove the brace. Pick up the bow, and Fire. The arrow will not kill you.”

Terrified and in agony, the archer did as he was told. He fired under close supervision for three days non-stop.

Blood trickled from Nasser’s arm. the last half-day of agony was particularly bitter, with his body slowly regenerating the layers of skin over and over, thinner and thinner each time.

Finally, he bled. He could rest.

“s....ir....”

His mouth was dry, his will broken, his vision unfocused.

Avendal dug his fingertips into Nasser’s forearm as he turned it in the light. with a sneer, he threw the arm away from himself and yanked the arrow free from Nasser’s right arm and pointed it inches from his eyes. He was too tired to even seethe from the pain.

“Fire again. Throat.”

Nasser took a shallow breath as Avendal handed him the arrow that had been in his arm for the past three days. Torn veins clung to it and smaller, dried chunks of flesh.

Nasser slowly nocked, raised his arm and pushed out as he drew the string back.

He took a breath, and uttered a silent prayer.

Thunk.

The arrow his square between the eyes of the target.

Avendal’s lip twitched. The rings on his fingers ground together.

Avendal strode toward the target and turned it around. the arrowtip jutted out from the face of an emaciated slave, a gag browned with old blood tied around his mouth now drenched a deep red.

“He died too quickly! Untie him and remove the arrow!”

Nasser had no time to take in the suruprise as his feet moved without him.

Avendal dissapeared from sight as he knelt down and began pulling at the ropes around the slave’s wrist.

An aggrivated shout came from behind Nasser as a spear hurtled down into his throat from behind. Nasser gurgled and clutched at the shaft protuding from his windpipe and down into the body of the slave.

“THROAT.”

Avendal turned to the onlookers, who proceeded to take multiple steps back.

“Do not help him outside of dragging him to the sun!”

He pulled a handful of coins from the pouch tied to his belt and threw them at Nasser as he chocked and gargled on what remained of his blood.

[dongtopus]

Originally, Avendal’s villainy was going to be more subltle, more conceited.

I’m still pleased with the Avendal we now have. He is such a bastard.