He pulled up a chair and sat facing me, crossed his legs, leaned back. He could have chosen to be in that position when I regained consciousness, but I guess he liked dramatic gestures as much as I do. "You are alive," he said, "because we need some answers from you."
"Ask away," I said. "I'm feeling awfully cooperative."
He nodded. "If I told you that we'll let you live if you give us the answers, you wouldn't believe me. Besides, I don't like to lie. So instead I will tell you, quite truthfully, that if you don't give us the answers, you will very badly want to die. Do you understand this?"
I nodded because my mouth was suddenly very dry. I felt queasy. I was aware of all sorts of spells in the room; probably spells that would prevent any sorcery I might try. I still had my link to the Orb, of course (which told me I'd only been unconscious for ten minutes or so), but I doubted I could do anything with it. Still…
He said, "What is your connection to this group of Easterners?"
I blinked. He didn't know? Maybe I could use that. Perhaps if I stalled, I could try witchcraft. I'd used it before in situations where I shouldn't have been able to. I said, "Well, they're Easterners, and I'm an Easterner, so we just sort of naturally—" Then I screamed. I can't, now, recall what hurt. I think everything. I have no memory of some particular part of me hurting, but I knew that he was right; this would do it. I wanted to die. It lasted for such a brief time that it was over before I screamed, but I knew I couldn't take more of it, whatever it was. I was drenched with sweat, and my head drooped and I heard myself making small whimpering sounds like a puppy.
No one said anything. After a long time I looked up. I felt like I had aged twenty years. Bajinok had no expression on his face. He said, "What is your connection to the group of Easterners?"
I said, "My wife is one of them."
He nodded. So. He had known. He was going to play that kind of game with me—asking some questions he knew the answers to and some that he didn't. Wonderful. But that was all right, because I knew I wasn't going to lie any more.
"Why is she with them?"
"I think she believes in what they're doing."
"What about you?"
I paused, my heart pounding with fear, but I had to ask. "I… don't understand your question."
"What are you doing with those Easterners?"
A sense of relief flooded me. Yes. I could answer that. "Cawti. I don't want her killed. Like Franz was killed."
"What makes you think she will be?"
"I'm not sure. I don't yet—that is, I don't know why Franz was killed."
"Do you have any theories?"
I paused again, trying to understand the question, and I guess I waited too long because they hit me with it. Longer this time. Eternity. Maybe two seconds. Dear Verra, please let me die.
When it stopped, I couldn't speak for a moment, but I knew I had to had to had to or they'd do it again again again, so, "I'm trying. I—" I had to swallow and was afraid to, but I did, and shuddered with relief when it didn't happen. I tried to speak again. "Water," I said. A glass was tipped into my mouth. I swallowed some and spilled more down my chest. Then I spoke quickly so they wouldn't think I was trying to stall. "They were cutting into your—Herth's—business. I'm guessing it was a warning."
"Do they think so?"
"I don't know. Kelly—their leader—is smart. Also I told one of them I thought so."
"If it is a warning, will they heed it?"
"I don't think so."
"How many of them are there?"
"I've only seen about half a dozen, but I've been told that—"
I was staring right at the door when it burst open and several shiny things came flying through it past Bajinok and past my head. Their were grunts from behind me. Someone had probed the room and found the position of everyone in it. Good work. Probably Kragar.
Bajinok was fast. He didn't waste any time with me, or with the intruders, he just stepped over to one of the sorcerers and they began a teleport. Sticks, who was standing in the doorway, didn't spare more than a glance at him, before moving into the room. Something else shiny flashed by me and I heard another grunt behind my right shoulder, then noticed that Kragar was also in the doorway, throwing knives. Loiosh flew into the room then, and Glowbug was right behind him.
Glowbug's eyes were shining like the lamps at the Dragon Gate of the Imperial Palace. The thought, "You're being rescued," flashed into my head, but I couldn't drum up more than a passing interest in whether the attempt would be successful.
Watching Sticks was interesting, though. He was dealing with four of them at once. He had a club in each hand and a look of concentration on his face. The clubs became a blur, but never invisible. He was very graceful. He would bounce a club off a head, then hit a side while the other club crossed over to the top of the first head, and like that. When they tried to hit him he would work the attack into his actions as if he'd planned it all along. He started moving faster, and soon their weapons flew from their hands and they started to stumble. Then Sticks, as if culminating a dance, finished them. One at a time, both clubs to the top of the head, not quite at the same time. Ker-thump. Ker-thump. Ker-thump. Ker-thump. The first hit the ground as he nailed the third. The second hit the ground as he got the fourth. As the third fell, Sticks stepped back and looked around, and as the last one fell he put his clubs away.
Glowbug's voice came from over my shoulder. "Got 'email, Kragar."
"Good." His voice came from right next to me, and I saw that he was working on the chains.
"You all right, boss?"
The chains fell off my arms, and I felt the ones around my legs being worked on. A lady in gray and black came into the room. Kragar said, "We'll be ready in a moment, milady." I thought, Left Hand. Sorceress. Hired to teleport us home.
"Boss?"
The chains were gone from my legs now, "Vlad?" said Kragar. "Can you stand up?"
It would be nice to collapse into bed, I decided. I noticed Glowbug collecting my clothing.
"Boss? Say something."
Sticks looked at me, then looked away. I think I saw him mouthing an obscenity.
"Damn it, boss! What's wrong?"
"All right," said Kragar. "Glowbug, help me get him standing. Gather round." I felt Loiosh clutching my shoulder. I was dragged to my feet. "Go," said Kragar.
"Boss? Can't you—"
A twist in my gut, a massive disorientation and head-spinning, and the world went around and around inside of my skull.
"—answer?"
I threw up on the ground outside of my home. They held me, and Sticks, now holding the bundle of my belongings, stood close by. "Get him inside," said Kragar. They tried to help me walk but I collapsed and almost fell.
"Boss?"
They tried again with no better results. Kragar said, "We'll never get him up the stairs this way."
"I'll dump these things inside the house, and—no, wait." Sticks vanished from sight for a moment and I heard him speaking to someone in low tones. I heard the words, "drunk" and "brothel," and what seemed to be a child's voice answering him. Then he came back without the bundle and took my legs and they carried me into the house.
Sticks dropped my legs at the top of the stairs and clapped. I heard a child say, "I'll leave these here." There was a rustling sound, and the child said, "No, that's all right," and there were soft footsteps descending. After waiting for someone to answer the clap, Sticks opened the door and I was dragged inside.