Maligor flicked his wrist and a gnoll guard slammed his fist into Willeth's stomach. The tharchion let out a rush of air and doubled over as much as the chains allowed.
"I advise you to cooperate," Maligor instructed. "Otherwise, your dying could take a seriously long while and be excruciatingly painful."
The tharchion raised his head and glared at the zulkir. "The foul ones take you to the scum-filled belly of the underworld!" he cursed. "You'll gain nothing from me. Nothing!"
"Dear Willeth, I do admire your resolve. The council chose well when they selected you. But I am low on patience today." He nodded to the gnoll guards, and in unison their large, hairy fists smashed into Willeth's chest. They repeated their blows until Maligor heard the soft crunch of ribs. Then the wizard motioned for the gnolls to stop.
"I want to know about the gold mines, Willeth. How many slaves work there? How strong is the guard force? How many foremen? Where and what are the magical defenses?"
The Red Wizard knew all the information he wanted was spread out among the members of the Council of Zulkirs. That was so no one wizard would know too much and become tempted to take over the mines. But Willeth was the one single person who harbored most of that information, and Maligor intended to extract it from him.
"Talk to me!" Maligor persisted.
Willeth coughed, and saliva and blood trickled from his mouth. "I don't know all of the magical defenses. I intentionally kept myself ignorant of such things to prevent something like this from happening. And even if I told you what I know, the Council of Zulkirs would stop you. They'd see you gathering your gnolls to march on the mine. They'd join forces if they had to-just to stop you!" He coughed again and Maligor beamed.
"You are indeed a simpleton, Willeth. Yes, I am gathering my gnolls. I have been for weeks-three garrisons, one in the city and two nearby. But they won't be attacking the mines." Maligor paced in front of the man.
"My sweet associate Asp-you wouldn't know her, but she will soon know your mines intimately-is in charge of drilling my gnolls. That is no doubt drawing the attention of nearby wizards, including the council. The gnolls are practicing long and hard, thinking they will be marching against another Red Wizard. Asp thinks so, too." Maligor laughed, a throaty chuckle that echoed off the cell walls.
"Maybe I actually will have to select a Red Wizard somewhere to attack, or perhaps some stuffy baron who offended me years ago. After all, I shouldn't waste my gnolls' training. Nor should I disappoint the Red Wizards who will be looking for me to do something. Do you have any suggestions? Anyone in Thay you particularly dislike?"
"You-you wretched, evil dog!" Willeth was trying to goad Maligor. The tharchion, who was in agony, considered himself a dead man now, and he hoped the wizard would get angry enough to kill him before gaining any information about the mines. "You are… not fit to… walk on Thayvian soil! You are-"
"Tsk, tsk, Willeth," Maligor said. His tone was condescending, like a teacher lecturing a misbehaving child. "I'm no more evil than the rest of the wizards… just a little smarter, perhaps. And insulting me won't help your condition."
Willeth's chest heaved. It was getting difficult for the tharchion to breathe. He wondered if his shattered ribs were poking into his insides. He decided to get the wizard to keep talking, hoping he would be dead by the time Maligor finished his crazed discourse. "If you… take your gnolls… to attack someone else… how will you… get the mines?"
"I have power and forces you could only dream of," the Red Wizard said evenly. "My gnolls are numerous, one of the grandest armies in Thay. It is probably only because of their great numbers that Szass Tam or another Red Wizard hasn't already attacked me. But my gnolls are nothing. My true army is much stronger, and it is that army that will seize the mines for me."
"And if you… do take the mines?" Willeth posed, his breathing becoming shallower still.
"When I take them," Maligor corrected.
"When you… take the mines… the other Red Wizards will band together…and seize them back from you. No one Red Wizard… has the power to hold the mines."
"Willeth, you do count me for a fool. My plan is so intricate and sublime that no one will even know I control the mines." Maligor looked at the puzzled expression on the tharchion's face. "The precious flow of gold to the country won't stop, at least not for a few years. You still don't understand, do you? And I can see that I don't have the time to explain it to you. My gnolls struck you too severely. I fear you haven't long to live."
The Red Wizard stopped his pacing and moved closer to his captive, just far enough away so the man's chained arms couldn't reach him. "So you'll have to talk now-quickly. Tell me about the mine's defenses."
"Go to… the underworld!" Willeth spat.
The gnolls moved to strike the tharchion, but Maligor held them back with a glance. The Red Wizard mumbled something Willeth could not understand. It was magic, the tharchion knew, as Maligor's hands began to glow, radiating a soft, pink haze that stretched in rays from his fingers to Willeth's eyes.
"You will beat me to the underworld, tharchion," Maligor said, his voice a singsong chant that mesmerized Willeth. "But before you go, you will be my friend. My closest, dearest friend. Friends share secrets, Willeth. I am your very best friend, and you will share all of your secrets with me. Tell me about the mine, friend Willeth. I want to visit the mine. And since I'm your friend, you wouldn't want me to get hurt there, would you? Tell me about the defenses-where the magical traps and spells are placed. I mustn't get hurt, friend Willeth."
The tharchion's eyes glazed over, and the pupils became small and fixed. "My friend," he croaked. "Can't let… my friend be hurt… when he comes to visit me in the mines. Be careful, friend, the mines… are very dangerous if you do not know where to walk."
Then the words began to pour from Willeth's bleeding lips, detailed summaries of the spells and creatures that protected the mine, facts about the number of guards and their weapons, and descriptions of the foremen who directed the slaves and other workers. Deep in his mind the tharchion screamed, rebelling against what he was helpless to stop. But still the words continued to pour forth, and part of Willeth was happy. It was such a good thing to help a dear comrade.
"I need to know more, friend," Maligor purred. "You know so much about the mines, and I'm so very proud of you for that. No one knows more about the mines than you do. Tell me how much gold is mined each day. Where are the strongest veins? Only you can tell me these things, my friend. Only you know so much."
Willeth babbled on, reciting production figures, quality of the veins, the expected life of various tunnels, and the names of the foremen who shared some of that information. Maligor memorized everything the tharchion said, filing the statistics away for later use.
Then Willeth divulged something unexpected. The tharchion wanted to please his friend, and he hoped this tidbit would make Maligor particularly happy.
"Today," Willeth began, his voice showing as much enthusiasm as his dying body would permit, "a foreman took a slave force… to the deepest part of a tunnel that we thought was mined out. The force… was to close the tunnel, but then the strangest… and most wonderful thing happened. A portion of the mines collapsed. A dozen slaves were… killed in the process, but we had used… the most expendable slaves for the task. And when the dust cleared… a cavern was revealed. It was an underground cave, and the walls glistened. See the gold powder on my clothes? It came from there. We found a new vein… bigger than any previously discovered. I was saving the information, friend. I was… going to tell the council about it when I returned from Tantras… with a request to buy equipment. I thought… the wizards… would let me buy new mining equipment then."