"Yes. Fool him into telling us how many more of them there are, whether there are any secret tunnels we can use, and anything else we need to know," Taennen said.
"We will not lie," Guk said as he moved toward the Chondathan, who gasped when he saw the largest formian. Guk stared hard at the man, his head twitching slightly. "Ask him your questions."
Taennen eyed the big formian but stood over the Chondathan, lowering his voice and scowling as best he could. "How many more of you are underground?"
"To the hells with you, Maquar," Rhalov said.
"Approximately forty," Guk said. Rhalov's eyes went wide staring at the formian.
Uncertain what was happening, Taennen continued. "Why are you here?"
Rhalov said nothing, but Guk spoke. "For coin." The Chondathan stared at Guk, his lips pursed, his brow furrowed.
"Why are the Chondathans here?" Taennen asked. Again, Guk spoke when the human would not, saying, "For coin."
Taennen growled at the answer, upset with himself for being so vague, and angry at the stubborn prisoner.
"Is there a way to use the tunnels to enter Neversfall?" Taennen asked, turning to face Guk in anticipation of the response.
"Yes," Guk said, eliciting a moan from Rhalov. "Where? How?" Taennen said.
Before Guk could respond, Rhalov did. "I'll speak! Just get it out of my head!"
"Speak," Guk said, though Taennen was uncertain whether he had stopped his magical reading.
"Enter the tunnel where you just exited. Take the second tunnel left, the first right and the second left again. You'll see a ladder built into the rock," Rhalov said.
"Is it guarded?" Taennen asked.
Rhalov nodded. Taennen paced, running his fingers through his dark hair.
"Who is in charge? Bascou?" Taennen asked.
The Chondathan grinned and shook his head. "You know who."
Taennen lashed out and slapped the man's face. He already knew the answer but could not bear to hear the name aloud. His suspicions confirmed, he turned from the prisoner and stared at the ground.
"You are finished with him," Guk said.
"Yes. We'll tie him up and come back later…" Taennen started to say but was cut short as a glow caught his attention.
He turned to see what looked like the bars on a prison cell, horizontal lines crossing verticals, beams of blue light floating before Rhalov. The strange, lighted lattice floated forward, pressing slowly into the Chondathan, who loosed a high-pitched scream as his torso was seared by the strange force. A sound like meat sizzling on a skillet and the rough scraping of a shovel filled his ears. Rhalov's scream was cut off as the bars faded from existence on the far side of his body and he slumped to the ground.
"For all the One," Taennen said, turning from the sight of the man's chest splayed open and the smell of burnt flesh.
"You did that?" Taennen said, facing Guk.
"He defied order. Be careful that you do not," Guk said with no hint of threat in his voice.
Taennen wanted to scream, to denounce what the formian had done, but he knew it would do little good. While he objected to the deed, he was not in a position to argue. His mind turned to his next task, and there was a pressing matter still to attend. He wondered what part of himself he had lost that might have objected more strongly. Could he get it back?
"You helped me get the information I needed. Now what? We were even, and now I am in your debt again," Taennen said.
"You will need help at the fortress," Guk said.
Taennen squinted but agreed.
"His answers, and our help in taking the keep. That we offer," the formian replied. "And what price do I pay?"
"We lost many of our kind and all of our workers. We need workers. We cannot return with fewer than we had when we left," Guk said.
"I can't give you back your prisoners. They're not slaves. They'll be freed," Taennen said, taking a step backward. "Not them," Guk said.
Taennen cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. After a few moments he understood what the formian was suggesting. The idea made him sick at first. But the idea of not seeing justice done broke his heart. He wanted an end to all the wrongdoing at Neversfall.
"Fine. Any of the invaders we capture…" he said, unable to finish the sentence. Part of Taennen was disgusted with himself, another part proud for making a hard decision that he knew was the right one. The decision had not been as hard as he imagined. That bothered him.
"There are others near," Guk said.
"Chondathans? Where, in the woods?" Taennen asked.
"Not the invaders," Guk replied.
"Who?" Taennen asked.
"Many like you and the others," Guk said.
"Maquar and Durpari?" Taennen said.
Guk affirmed, and the formian ranks began to move forward again. Taennen restrained himself from dashing ahead to see the others, to find out what had happened. Lucha's light had become brighter, and though the formians moved quietly, even they could not avoid rustling through the underbrush. He wondered how they had ever surprised the Chondathans who had been chasing him. So it came as no surprise when he heard human voices shout in warning from the west, closer to the edge of the forest.
"Peace," Taennen said.
The formians stopped their shuffling, and the woods soaked up every bit of sound. Silence reigned for several moments before a single voice called out.
"Taennen?"
It was Adeenya. Taennen smiled and pushed past the formians to step into a less crowded patch of the forest: Gasps from the darkness greeted him a mere moment before several Maquar ran to him, cheering in low voices. Joy was in the air, but the seasoned warriors knew quiet was a necessary tool. Taennen greeted his friends with hugs and claps on shoulders.
After exchanging greetings, the formians stepped out of the trees just enough to be seen by the humans. The Maquar and Durpari gasped and cursed, lifting their weapons.
"No!" Taennen said, his arms high. "They want to help."
"Help what?" a Durpari woman asked. "Help us retake Neversfall," Taennen said in a low voice.
Before the gathered humans could respond, Adeenya stepped out of the crowd. Taennen smiled to see her again. Her smile was no smaller than his, though it fled her face as she turned to face her makeshift army.
"He is right. We will retake Neversfall. We must. Go, rest," she said, pointing to a nearby clearing.
As the soldiers grumbled and walked away, Taennen nodded to Guk, whose people followed him in the opposite direction several paces away. The two officers stood in silence a few moments before Adeenya recounted her escape, never mentioning who had captured her. Taennen shared his own, and Adeenya fumed at the news of the weapons smuggling.
"Taennen," she said, "I didn't murder Marlke. I tried to stop him. I stabbed him after he attacked me, but he could have been healed-would have been healed. Jhoqo let him die. He's mad, Taennen. He-"
"I know. I should have seen it," Taennen said.
Adeenya nodded but said nothing further on the matter. "So how are we going to take Neversfall?" "I know the way in," he replied.
"That will help," she said, "but our men are disillusioned, wounded, and hungry."
"It's amazing what a lack of choice can do, and we don't have one," he said.
She nodded and glanced toward the formians. "Are they really helping?"
He followed her gaze to the creatures and said, "Yes."
She said nothing for a few heartbeats, but then asked, "Why would they help, and why would we trust them?"
"We trust them for the same reason we take the fortress," he said. "We have no choice."
She ceded the point but asked again, "But why are they going to help?"
"For payment. The same reason anyone does anything," he said.
She glanced back at the formians again and said, "They wanted coin?"
"Payment doesn't always mean gold or silver," Taennen replied.