>>14511812His voice was as soft as ever as he began. "When the Nightmare recruits, the youth gather at the lowest levels of Icelus Primus. The challenge is to reach the Fortress Monastery."
"So you recruit anyone with legs, then."
"No. The aspirant has to arrive with a token--an intact flower from the--" Mikhail's guffaw echoed off the walls at that. With a sideward glance, Gordon motioned for their companion to continue.
"... A specimen of Night-Scented Gilliflower. It grows around the hive. Some families import them, though the chapter keeps watch to make the challenge difficult for all comers."
"You said 'intact.' What are the rules?"
"There are none. The aspirants may do anything and everything they wish, so long as they arrive with their flower unmarred."
"Unless perhaps you tripped, I don't see that being an issue. How did your trial go, then?" The Wolf still snickered as he asked.
"My flower was lost when another aspirant broke my arm." Mikhail was about to make another jibe when Fionnel continued. "He hit me with a truck."
"...What?"
"A loading truck. He had commandeered it. When he reversed, I jumped onto the hood and strangled him through the window."
The others had gone silent.
"He had started trying to shake me off as he backed up. After he lost consciousness I jumped off before it crashed into a wall. When I landed, it was on my broken arm, and my flower. I had to find another after I made it out of the hive."
Mikhail was the first to speak. "So what did you do with your posie? Frame it?"
The Nightmare was silent for a moment. When he spoke, it was with the faintest trace of emotion in his always gentle tone.
"Brother Laertes crushed it."
