Grabbing a small opaque vial from the table, Wendric stood over Jewel, and regarded her as he held the vial aloft.
"We've done this before. You can have it easy, or have it hard." As he reached down, she twisted as far as her straps would allow.
"Hard then," Wendric said, grabbing Jewel's nose and wrenching her head back. For a minute he held her like that, waiting for her to draw breath through her mouth, but she remained resolutely still. Losing his patience, Wendric punched her hard in the stomach and, when this elicited the required response, drove the vial between her teeth, emptying its contents before slamming her mouth shut.
Still Jewel held out, twisting to break his grasp as a trickle of the potion ran from the corner of her mouth. She was finally defeated by the basic need for air, and Wendric finally released her when they heard her swallow.
For a moment, she gasped for breath, then spat at their feet. For a few seconds, her eyes lost focus and her head began to sway.
"It's beginning to work," Lucius said, taking a step forward. Then, as if a torch had been snuffed out, the dullness disappeared from her eyes and she snapped back in her restraints, staring past them as if watching something a great distance away. Both Lucius and Elaine looked at Wendric, but he just shrugged.
Lucius crouched until he was at her eye level, but she just seemed to stare right through him.
"Jewel, how did you contact those creatures?"
"They contacted us."
"What did you offer to get them working for the Guild?"
"Idiot."
Behind Lucius, Wendric smirked. "If the truth drugs are working, I would say that gives you little credit."
Ignoring him, Lucius pressed on. "Jewel, what are they."
"The power of the ancients, the rulers of the past," she said, then added an afterthought. "And the future."
"I don't understand."
Jewel sighed then, long and exaggerated, as if failing to get through to an ignorant child. He decided to try a different tact.
"What do they want?"
"Everything."
"What do you mean, everything? All the gold in the city? The city itself? The Empire?"
"Everything."
"That doesn't make sense, Jewel," he said, wishing the others would join in. "Why would they fight alongside you? What could you offer?"
"Revenge. A tip in the balance."
He stopped, thinking that one through. Turning, he faced Wendric. "Does she have to be this literal?"
"It works differently for everyone," Wendric shrugged. "Some appear drunk, others desperate to please. I always thought it was a reflection of the personality, though I am not sure what that says about her."
Scratching his head, Lucius confronted Jewel again. "You said they wanted to tip the balance. You weren't paying them in gold or goods, were you?"
"Of course not." Again, that exasperated tone.
A thought struck him as he saw her head begin to sag. "Jewel, listen to me. They weren't working for you, right? You were doing their bidding."
"We served them."
"But why?"
"Idiot."
"She presumes the answer is obvious," said Wendric.
"Yes, thank you Wendric, I am beginning to get that," Lucius replied testily. "They served something more powerful than them because they would be rewarded. I withdraw the question — happy?"
In response Wendric shrugged as Elaine pushed past him. As Jewel's eyes began to close, she slapped the woman hard across the face. The sharp sting of pain seemed to revive Jewel and, for a moment, she seemed lucid.
"What are they, Jewel?" Elaine asked. "What do we have to fear from them?"
"They have been here forever," Jewel said slowly. "They commanded us and we obeyed, for that is the only way to survive the war."
"The war is over Jewel," Lucius said. "You lost."
"No, the war has gone on for centuries, and will continue until every man and woman is dead or lies enslaved at their feet."
Wendric cleared his throat. "I recall hearing stories of the Older Races, those that came before man, and the great empires they built. Is that what you mean?"
"Idiot," Jewel spat. "They were ancient when elf and dwarf walked this world. They fought them too, and won. Now it is our turn."
"But why?" Elaine asked.
"Because they understand hatred. Because they know it is not enough to simply exist."
"What do you mean?" Elaine pressed, but Jewel's head was beginning to hang to one side, as if it were too heavy for her neck. When Elaine shook her, they all saw a slither of froth between her lips.
"She's going," Wendric said. "I warned you."
"Stay with us, Jewel!" Elaine demanded, shaking her harder. "What do you mean by that, why is it not enough for them to just exist?"
Jewel coughed, flecks of bloodied spittle flying across Elaine's face. Her words were barely more than a whisper, forced from her throat by the power of the drugs alone.
"Our presence is an affront to them. War has come, but now they can join the old power with the new. Now, they are unstoppable."
"I don't understand," Elaine said. "What do they want? What are they, Jewel?"
She slapped the woman again to bring her back to consciousness, then shook her when she failed to respond, until Lucius laid a hand on her arm. Jewel had stopped breathing.
"It's too late, Elaine."
"Damn her!" Elaine spat, as she pushed away from Jewel's body and stalked across the room in frustration. "She told us nothing!"
"She told us little," Lucius corrected her, but Elaine was in no mood to be placated.
"Riddles and fairy tales! And you Wendric," she said, turning on her new lieutenant. "You should know better than to spout myths about goblins and elves!"
He seemed ready to respond, but wisely kept silent. Lucius was lost in his own thoughts as he tried to piece together what Jewel had told them. Could her words be trusted? If she had the power to resist the truth drugs, did she also have the power to defy them outright? Still, he had witnessed the power the creatures from the sea wielded and that scared him more than he cared to admit to either of his fellow thieves.
Either way, he had just got this guild back onto its feet, and he was not about to let anything tear it back down. Even if the threat lay at the bottom of the ocean.