An Owl's Rise

"What is that thing?" Evelyn asked.

"I am not completely sure." Melisandre grumbled.

Most of the time with her long years of experience she was able to easily figure out what a magical device was capable of, but the in front of her held many secrets that she could not decipher.

"Whoever, imbedded this in your brother did a very good job of hiding it. I almost did not it at all when searching his body with my magical energy. If I had not been being very through I would have passed right over it without a second thought." Melisandre said, sounding frustrated, but also impressed with the magic tool she had ripped out of Verrader's chest.

She then explained that what tipped her off that something was there was not actually that she sensed the magic device but that it felt like there was a small hollow space where her magical energy could not reach.

However, the item had been placed right next to Verrader's beast core which helped to mask it even further and it was actually only a hunch that Melisandre had that there might be something there.

"So, have you figured anything out about it, now that you have ahold of it?"

"No, it refuses to activate at all. It is completely locked up and shutdown." Melisandre said, shaking her head." None of its properties are currently active and it refuses to react to anything I have tried so far. I am not sure what it is made of, but this outer shell likely is able to keep any magical energy from coming in or going out. I imagine that this device only activates whenever your brother leaves the Roost. Otherwise, it likely would have been detected as a dangerous object when he was first emitted."

Melisandre continued to examined the device with her magical energy, but even when she bombarded it with a huge amount, enough to increase the pressure in the room and nearly cause Evelyn to pass out, she was still unable to make any progress.

"Damn it, I am not getting anywhere with this thing." Melisandre said, her frustration showing.

If it was just a magic item she had picked up randomly she would not care so much about revealing its secrets right away, but this item had been imbedded in Evelyn's brother who had been acting as a spy. Evelyn's safety relied on her finding out what this thing does.

"If it will not activate while inside the Roost, couldn't you just take it outside and see if it will start working again?" Evelyn said, making what she thought was a sound suggestion.

For a moment Melisandre contemplated this, but ultimately shook her head.

"No, we have no clue what this thing is. Taking it outside poses far too great a risk. Now that it has been removed from your brother it will likely send a signal of some kind to whoever put it inside him. As of right now they think that everything is going according to plan but will figure out something is wrong if this thing activates in the outside world. I may not be able to examine it with my magical energy but the master of Inscription Hall is an expert on magical items. If I pass this along to them, they are likely to be able to uncover its secrets."

Unable to get anything out of the item herself, Melisandre placed it into one of her storage items, and planed to give it to the Roost's best expert on magical items later.

"Now what are we going to do about him." Melisandre said, fixing Verrader with a suspicious glare.

While he may have somehow won over the normally cautious Evelyn, Melisandre still held many doubts about him.

Despite him supposedly having opened up about everything to Evelyn, he had not mentioned the device imbedded in his chest.

Though when Melisandre brought this up, Evelyn defended him, saying, "He probably did not know that it had been placed inside him."

This shocked Melisandre, since she figured that Evelyn would be at least a bit skeptical after witnessing what had just happened.

"Why do you place so much trust in him all of a sudden?" Melisandre asked, unsure of where Evelyn's faith in her brother came from.

"I told you that he spilled everything to me, and we worked through our shared trauma together. I am not sure there is an actor good enough to fake the emotions that he displayed. It all seemed genuine. Plus, if he was planning something, telling me about it would not do him any good. He already had a perfect chance to give me up, but instead spent his window of opportunity in turmoil, unable to figure out what to do." Evelyn said, confident in her assertion that Verrader no longer planned to betray her.

Melisandre was still skeptical though, feeling it was her duty to investigate further. Especially when Evelyn seemed to be completely won over.

"You certainly have gotten better at reading people and your cautious nature means you normally can tell when someone is trying to pull the wool over your eyes, but in this case, I think you might be too close. I will integrate your brother when he wakes up and get to the bottom of this. If he manages to pass even my scrutinization, then I can be certain he means you no harm." Melisandre said, leaving no room for objection.

Nodding her head, Evelyn did not try to argue with Melisandre. She knew that this was necessary for Verrader to be accepted.

"But when will he wake up?" Evelyn said, looking at Verrader's still unconscious body.

Even during their entire conversation, he had not stirred once, and still wore the pained same pained expression as when he passed out.

"I am not sure, but it could be a few hours or even days. I may have been a bit too rough with him when extracting that magical device." Melisandre said a tinge of regret on her face.

Had she taken some more time and made proper preparations she could have extracted the magical device without causing nearly as much trauma to Verrader. However, just in case she did not want him to knew what was happening in case the device could be used offensively. Plus she felt he probably deserved a bit of pain after deceiving Evelyn and nearly giving her up to the humans hunting her.

"For now all we can do is let him rest. Go join the others in the kitchen and unwind a bit. I will keep watch over your brother." Melisandre said, waving her hand and beckoning Evelyn to leave.

Doing as her master wanted, Evelyn moved towards the door to leave the room, but before she did, she turned around and said, "Thank you Melisandre."

After that she left her brother in her master's care and flew directly towards the kitchen. Coming up with an explanation to tell everyone else that would be believable and conceal the truth about what she and Melisandre had been doing with Verrader.

Once Evelyne was gone, Melisandre let out a deep sigh and glared at Verrader.

"You certainly have caused me a lot of trouble."

Unfortunately, Verrader was not able to respond since he was unconscious.

Thankfully he only stayed asleep for a couple of hours before waking up with a long groan.

While his body was not damaged anymore, his brain was still sending him signals of pain from the hole tat had been ripped into his chest.

"Good you are awake. We can fianlyl get started." Melisandre said, a scarry glint in her eyes.

Verrader's Intetics told him eh was in danger and he jumped up and tried to escape.

Yet he found himself unable to move far. He was shackled to Melisandre and there was no way he was going to escape.

Of course, he was not trying to run because he felt he had something to hide, he was simply terrified of Melisandre. Last thing he remembered she had punctured his chest with her hand.

"Don't think I am going to let you get away until I am satisfied. You may have been able to win over Evelyn's trust, but you have a long way to go with me. Now start at the beginning and tell me everything. I want to here it from your mouth, and know that I can see through any of your lies." Melisandre said, fixing Verrader with a stern look.

Unable to resist Verrader told, Melisandre everything, even things he had not mentioned to Evelyn. Such as some of the tortures he had been subjected to in order to break him.

When he finally reached the end, Melisandre gave a satisfied nod. She had not detected any lies in what Verrader had said.

"Good, I believe you now, but there is one last thing I need to do in order to make absolutely sure that you are not going to bring harm to Evelyn." Melisandre said, a smile on her face that made Verrader shudder.

"This stuff is technically outlawed within the Roost, but just this once I think it will be necessary for me to use. Once I administer this, you will be singing like a canary. Not even your subconscious thoughts will be hidden from me." Melisandre said, pulling out a needle and syringe filled with a black tar like substance.