Anything else he might have added was lost in the impact of Semner's fist against his face. Kallist choked back a cry as his lips split and one of his teeth turned loose in its socket. The chair teetered a moment before tumbling over backward, sending a second surge of pain through him as his aching skull bounced off the floor. For several long breaths, Kallist could only stare at the ceiling, trying hard to gather his wits.
Semner rose, placed one foot on the crossbar between the legs of the chair, and shoved downward. The entire room tilted yet again as Kallist found himself flung upright once more-to find Semner's fist waiting to meet his face this time, rather than the other way around. Blood poured from his nose to mesh with that beading up from his lip.
"What I heard," Semner said, wiping the blood off his hand on Kallist's shirt, "was you and Beleren aren't exactly friends anymore." He began to pace, spinning the blade between his fingers. "So why not save yourself a whole lot of pain and point me in the right direction?"
Kallist probed the loosened tooth with his tongue, spat a mouthful of blood to the floor, and said nothing.
"Much as I'd love to spend an evening pounding you into jerky," Semner grumbled, "I'm on a schedule. So we'll do this the easy way. Boys!"
The front door slammed open, and Kallist practically pulled a muscle twisting around so he might see. Two men and a woman, looking about as disreputable as their leader, pushed through the open doorway, manhandling someone between them.
Several more thugs-Kallist couldn't get an accurate count-leered from the rainy night beyond. The bag they'd placed over the captive's head did nothing to prevent Kallist from recognizing her; when they pulled it off, revealing Liliana's face, it was almost anticlimactic.
"You bastards!" he hissed at them. How had a nobody like Semner even managed to take her, anyway?
She didn't appear wounded, at least. Her hair was plastered to her forehead, her dress to her body. Under other circumstances, it would've been alluring.
"I'm sorry, Kallist." And damn if she didn't sound like she meant it.
Semner gestured, and the bravos holding Liliana released her-only so they could make a point of leveling their crossbows at her unprotected back.
"Now," Semner said, turning back toward his beaten prisoner, "we'll do this exactly one more time.
"Where is Jace Beleren?"
CHAPTER THREE
"Favarial." Kallist was denied even the feeble comfort of glaring at his interrogator, for his attention was fixed on the crossbows aimed at Liliana's back. "I couldn't begin to tell you where in the district, and I can't even promise he's still there, but last we talked, he lived in Favarial."
Semner nodded slowly and turned to the men in the doorway. "She can go. Kill him."
Liliana's eyes widened; her lip quivered as though she had something to say, something she couldn't quite voice. Three evil grins formed around and behind her, and three evil bolts shifted their aim to Kallist's chest.
Kallist felt his heart race and his palms grow clammy. And then, as though doused with a bucket of snow, he cooled. He felt calm, collected. He'd faced worse situations; hell, he'd subjected people to worse situations.
"Bad, bad idea, Semner," he said, his voice level. "I didn't think even you were that stupid."
Curiosity warred with anger on the ugliest face in the room, and curiosity beat the stuffing out of it. Semner raised a hand, halting his men even as their fingers began to tighten on their triggers.
"Meaning what, exactly?"
"Favarial's an awfully long way away," Kallist told him. "That's several days before you know for certain if I'm lying or not."
Semner ground his teeth. "Are you?"
"No." A smile. "As far as you know."
"Damn it, Rhoka…"
"And what if he's left?" Kallist plunged on. "Obviously, you found me more easily than you could find him, or we wouldn't be having this lovely heart-to-heart. He could be anywhere." He might not even be on Ravnica anymore. Of course, Semner wouldn't understand that. "We may not talk anymore, but I still know the man a lot better than you do. If I'm lying, or if he's moved on, how do you plan to find him without me?"
The grinding in Semner's jaw grew to almost tectonic levels. But Kallist had him, and he knew it.
"All right." The mercenary finally relented. "You get to keep breathing." He gestured toward the chair he himself had occupied a few moments before. "Tie her up. Make sure she's secure."
"What?" Kallist scowled. "You just told your men to let her go."
"That was before you pointed out that I was being stupid," Semner smirked. One of the thugs departed to locate more rope; Semner turned toward those remaining. "Errit, you and Rin stay here. Sleep in shifts; I want someone watching them at all times.
"I may not be a mage," he allowed, with a bitter glance at Kallist, "but I can hire people who are. Once we've reached Favarial, I'll find a messenger who can send you word, let you know if he told us the truth.
"And if he didn't," Semner added darkly, "your job will be to scar the woman up good."
Kallist snarled in frustration. He was not, however, the only one present to take issue with that plan.
"Urn, boss?" the one named Errit interjected, his voice uncertain. "You really want us to watch these two? For days? Just two of us?"
"They'll be tied up."
"But, uh… Didn't you tell me they were witches? What if they put a hex on Rin, or turn me into a gobber, or something?"
"Then you'll have a better chance of attracting women!" Semner growled, though his expression had grown uncertain.
"You'll have to take us with you, Semner," Liliana taunted. "All it takes is the right word, even the right look. There's no way your goons can keep the both of us confined for days."
"The hell they can't," he snarled back, grinning suddenly. Liliana winked at Kallist, who had to struggle not to laugh out loud.
"Gag them," Semner ordered his men, "and find something to blindfold them. That should keep them from casting or aiming much of anything. And if not…"
Slowly he turned to Liliana, looking her lasciviously up and down. She shuddered, her skin crawling as though he'd actually run his hands across her body. Kallist wished desperately for a knife, or even a piece of broken glass.
"One of them makes even the slightest suspicious move," Semner told Errit. "Cut something personal and irreplaceable off the other one. That should keep 'em in line."
The door swung open and the other returned, a coil of rope slung over one shoulder. He dripped profusely as he crossed the floor, and the sounds through the open doorway suggested that the steady drizzle had become an honest downpour.
"Food?" Errit asked Semner as the man with the rope moved to the chair and began uncoiling his burden. "Water?"
"Eh. We'll only be three or four days. Won't kill them to go without food. Water… Just soak the gags every few hours, let them suck the water out of 'em."
"And if they have to relieve themselves?" Clearly he was still nervous about the notion of having an unrestrained mage in the room.
Semner just grinned. "It'll cover the scent of Rhoka's vomit."
Shoulders straight and head held high, Liliana strode across the room and sat in the chair herself, rather than allowing herself to be manhandled into it. Even as Errit and the woman-Rin, presumably-began wrapping the ropes around her, her eyes locked on Kallist's own. Slowly, deliberately, they drifted down to indicate the ropes, and back up. Ever so slightly, he nodded in turn.
Without the slightest hint of sound, Liliana's lips began to move.
In a matter of moments, she was tied as thoroughly as Kallist himself, Semner had offered them another handful of snide and threatening comments, and the house had slowly emptied out. All that remained, now, were two bound prisoners, two nervous captors, and the sound of the ever-increasing rain.