Valusia
Gerard left Gregor’s house without so much as a look back, winding his way through the streets back to the inn. He would rest a little then try to sell off what remained of Lily’s belongings to the usual fences he visited. Poor Lily, he would have enjoyed taking her virtue but she was worth more with it intact and the money mattered more to them. Never in all the time he did this would he have thought that such a huge score would land in their laps like this, it even made all the money he spent seem paltry. And as long as she wore the bracelet there was no way for any of her family to ever track either of them down, so much for the powerful Ravenwoods of Andor.
The tight streets of Lysoria made it easy to track his prey and short jumps from building to building kept him from being seen. It had been near one of the fountain squares where he found the man and recognized him from the dock area. Gregor had many men in his employ and this one fit all descriptions of the kind he used. Unfortunately, it seemed the man was heading away from the city heart and back to the dock area probably to one of the inns there. High above him he watched knowing that soon enough he would question this target and be that much closer to finding Gregor.
After stopping for dinner Gerard went back to the Two Moons Inn to eat then get some rest before tomorrow. Gregor would want him there when he finalized the deal for Lily; already so many people had sent missives detailing how much they would pay for a Ravenwood slave. Standing at his desk and looking over what of her things remained he sighed, her crest ring and the backpack she brought were all that remained. Mario had ordered him to bring the ring so they could prove she was the daughter of Altair and Alehial. So lost in thought was he about poor Lily naked tied to the bed at Gregor’s he never noticed the form drop from the rafters and raise its arm to strike him unconscious.
Gerard awoke sometime later unsure of what had happened, but quickly realizing something was very wrong and he was in trouble. He had been strung up naked and left dangling from the rafter in the room and there was very little light to see who had attacked him, he tried scanning the room for any sign of his attacker. It was obvious the Ravenwoods must have found him here in Valusia; he had felt so smart that they couldn’t have traced him here and so he prepared himself to see the father who vowed to kill him if he touched his daughter again. As he tried to call out he could taste cotton in his mouth, the person who struck him not only bound, but gagged him as well. The sudden flare of light made him wince and stars to appear before his eyes, the person not far away had struck a tindertwig and lit a candle.
“names are unimportant so we will not use any now, I will ask the questions and you will answer them. To say anything else will make me have to punish you and it will get worse every time, do not yell out for this room is magically silenced and no one will hear you and I will have to punish you again. Do you understand what I have told you, nod your head in answer before I remove your gag and we can begin.’ The man spoke plainly and in such a way that Gerard felt ill nodding his head, there was no anger or rage there just a void like a cold, quiet whisper. The figure was shorter then Gerard and it stepped onto a chair and pulled the gag out of his mouth.
“Did the Ravenwoods send you, it wasn’t my fault what happened to her it was just a tragic accident…” The rest of his lie was drowned out by his cry of pain as a small sharpened knife sliced into his forearm an inch below his wrist and blood began to flow.
The shorter man looked almost dispassionate at what he had done and grabbed Gerard’s chin so the man had to look at him. “This is the punishment, for every time you do not answer, lie, or try anything but tell me what I wish to know I will double the punishment.” After a short while he applied something to the wound and the bleeding stopped. “Now, do you work for Mario Gregor?”
“Mario? I never heard of anyone named Mario or Gregor...aah!” He cried as two slices appeared on his other arm. Gerard tried to swing and kick away from the man assaulting him, but to no avail he was trapped. Stepping down from the chair after stopping the bleeding and adjusted his vest pulling out a second knife. “I know you met with a man named Magal the day you arrived; I saw you and the woman you say met a tragic end. My contract is to find Mario Gregor and those that work for and buy from him and deliver the justice the last victim’s father has been denied. Where is Mario Gregor hiding?” he said watching the subject of his interrogation.
Gerard’s mind swam what could he tell this man that wouldn’t get him killed other than the truth. “Alright, I worked for Gregor once, but he fired me I only saw Magal for a little while. Wait, no…” he tried to bluff before the knife cut three times into his left leg. Blood flowed freely down collecting in the tub his attacker drug underneath him. “I can’t tell you where he is, Gregor has powerful friends that will kill me.” Anything else he wanted to say washed away in pain as four cuts appeared on his right leg and more blood flowed.
“Magal tried lying to me as well, in the end I had to end our time together and start looking for you. Believe me this can get much worse, I can stop the blood flow and open new cuts and let them flow as well. And just as quickly I can heal you and start again; my training is quite extensive in the areas of getting information from unwilling subjects. Now, you will tell me where Mario Gregor is and how many men are with him.” Looking up he twirled the blade in his left hand around and in his right took more of the powder to stop the current flow of blood.
“Wait, listen I’ll give you all of Lily’s equipment I have left just let me go. I’d even try getting you her if Gregor didn’t plan on selling her.” He cried out again as the knife drew across his foot then ankle and abdomen drawing red lines. And the longer this torture went on the more desperate Gerard got, finally almost an hour later he lashed out. “You stupid fool, Gregor works with The Circle! They will rip you into tiny shreds and sprinkle you to the four winds, I will not report you if you let me go now!” More cuts flowed almost as richly as his blood across his back and even the backs of his legs.
“I welcome them to come for me, they are part of my contract and I feel a source of karma for my soul in the end. Now, where is Gregor hiding and how many men does he have protecting him?” the comment was not needed and the question flowed from his lips in the same tone and dispassionate way it had the whole time. Again he sprinkled the powder into the wounds after letting them bleed for a little while. Setting the knife down he picked up a goblet of water and lifted it to the man’s lips to replenish some of what now pooled in the tub below him. “Tell me what I wish to know and I will show you mercy and even give you a measure of absolution to perhaps save your soul.”
Gerard spit the water back at the assassin, “I know who you are Da’Karis…” any remaining curse again disappeared in an agonized cry as more red lines appeared. Gerard then began to cry, real tears flowed down his face, “I can’t get her back, can’t you tell the Ravenwoods something maybe set the after whoever buys her?” The man stopped and looked at him as if a little confused about what he meant, Gerard continued, “Lord and Lady Ravenwood your employers, they could submit a bid to buy their daughter back..” he cried out as a deeper cut opened and bled . Then Da’Karis said the only words that terrified Gerard, “I do not work for anyone named Ravenwood.” The clotting powder burned as it stopped the bleeding and Gerard began to despair.
Again the questions rolled in the same tone in the same way and then Gerard was marked again and again. Soon his body was a crisscross of bloody lines and blood still he cried out and begged, pleading with this monster to let him go that he too was a victim in all of this. Da’Karis’s eyes were those of a predator who knew that the prey was cracking and had no pity or mercy for the ranger’s situation. He took up a rag, wetted with the juice of a lemon and wiped Gerard down and the room again echoed with tortured cries and begging. Even when Gerard lost control of his bowels and bladder, even when he threw up the contents of his stomach, the interrogation never stopped.
Finally three hours later with no more area of his body that did not have a cut or slice on it he cracked, “Please, please Da’Karis no more, I will tell you what you want to know. Gregor is at an Estate on the far side of the city, halfway up the Lizerian Way it’s where we meet and exchange property and handle the sales.” Da’Karis nodded and took a wand out of his coat, “And I will heal you before your reward, Gerard.” He touched the healing item to Gerard and all the lines vanished and a feeling of warmth and the erasure of pain left him. “Oh, thank you sir, I thought you were actually going to….” Again the sentence never finished.
“Your reward is a clean death; you will be buried without the scars and marks of my questions. I fear though I can offer you no peace or absolution, I could not offer it to Magal either.” Da’Karis put his coat on and left Gerard with a wound that let his air escape and opened the window, he needed to hurry to Lizerian Way and the target of his contract. Gerard wanted to struggle, to try and save his life but his strength was fading and the candle left burning was dimming. His last thought was he never got his money, and what he had done to Lily got him this punishment, the gods were not without irony.
And then he felt nothing.
Valusia II
Stumble!