Adventure of Maurice Headsman 3

Celia keeps the curse stretched along Tavin’s black seam, above the lean body of a young adult man with sallow skin, cropped brown hair, and a torn gray tunic, guiding Maurice through the sickroom corridor. He still grips Tavin’s separated wrists; Elianor follows close behind, guarding her healing gift.

The chamber doors stand open. Beside the Duchess’s bed, an elderly man in dark physician’s robes, with iron-gray hair, a gaunt build, and a crooked scar across his chin, with iron-gray hair, a gaunt build, and a crooked scar across his chin turns sharply, his narrow face reflected in a silver medical basin.

The Duchess, an elderly woman with a heavy build, waxy pallor, and sparse silver hair, lies lies rigid beneath embroidered sheets, her eyes fixed and empty. Darkened veins web her throat and hands, matching the command pulsing through Tavin’s exposed seam.

Maurice wrenches Tavin’s separated wrists aside, then hurls the contestant across the chamber. Tavin crashes into Physician Marrec Voss, carrying both men into the medical basin.

The impact buys the needed instant. Tavin lies stunned against the physician, while the black seam across his ribs stretches toward the Duchess’s darkened veins without his hands closing.

Elianor raises both hands. Her healing gift answers as a contained flame, pale gold around her fingers, held just beyond the curse’s reach.

Celia plants her palm above the Duchess’s chest. Deathly radiance threads through the darkened veins, finding the command and beginning to pull it free.

The Duchess’s empty stare flickers. Beneath the floor, the hidden pulse answers once, but Celia’s radiance holds the curse between her hand and the exposed seam.

Celia’s radiance follows the Duchess’s darkened veins back through the exposed seam in Tavin’s ribs. The two curses answer as one, bound to the physician’s mark.

The physician drags himself from the shattered basin, one hand clutching his robes. At Celia’s words, the Duchess’s veins flare black, then pull sharply toward him.

His warning comes too late to conceal the consequence. The blackened veins retreat from the Duchess’s throat, exposing a narrow sigil beneath her collarbone that points toward the chamber floor.

Celia’s light holds the connection taut. The Duchess draws a full breath for the first time. Celia senses the curses power leads back to the tournament grounds.

Maurice crosses the chamber in a single committed stride. His executioner’s sword arcs through Physician Marrec Voss’s guard and completes the sentence before the physician can turn away.

Marrec’s life ends at once. The sword’s follow-through wrenches Maurice’s bruised shoulder, sending a sharp weakness down his arm, but the blade remains in his grasp.

The black sigil beneath the Duchess’s collarbone shudders. Celia’s radiance tightens between her palm and the exposed path in Tavin’s ribs, holding the severed command in place.

The Duchess draws another breath, shallow but conscious. Across the chamber, Tavin remains unconscious beside the shattered basin while Celia braces against the curse’s renewed pull.

Maurice’s executioner’s sword rises and falls in one controlled stroke. Marrec’s head is removed from his dead body.

The impact jars Maurice’s bruised shoulder hard enough to weaken his arm. He keeps his footing, but the sword dips before he steadies it.

Celia’s pale radiance clamps the black connection between the Duchess and the seam in Tavin’s ribs. The sigil beneath the Duchess’s collarbone pulses toward the tournament grounds.

The Duchess’s eyes focus at last. Tavin remains unconscious beside the shattered basin, while the severed command beats once beneath the estate and falls quiet.

Elianor crosses to Maurice without hesitation. She sets her hands around his bruised shoulder while keeping her pale healing flame carefully outside the black sigil’s reach.

Warmth sinks through the joint. The weakness loosens, and the bruised shoulder steadies beneath Elianor’s controlled gift, while Celia maintains her deathly radiance over the Duchess.

The Duchess draws another measured breath. The pulse beneath the estate remains quiet as Celia works, and Tavin lies unconscious beside the shattered basin.

Before Tavin can stir, Maurice drops beside him and gathers both wrists, keeping the unconscious man’s hands separated from the black seam beneath his ribs.

Maurice draws Tavin’s arms across the stone and pins his wrists firmly beneath one knee. His bruised shoulder protests under the sustained hold, but the restraint does not loosen.

Tavin’s fingers twitch once, then fall still beneath Maurice’s control. The dark seam pulses faintly, unable to draw his wrists together.

Celia maintains her deathly radiance over the Duchess, while Elianor watches the sigil and Maurice keeps Tavin securely restrained before consciousness can return.