Chapter 10: The Interrogation

Five minutes later, Alcar, Olynka and Etienne were back inside the main lounge of Maulhk’s tower. With them were the demonic woman, who had grudgingly introduced herself as Golgrasanna, as well as a lone blond dwarf kidnapper. The others had gotten away, and taken the captive sorcerer with them.

Having dragged the dwarf up the steps and into the tower, the four wannabe apprentices had tied the dwarf to the lone chair in the lounge, pushing several charred books out of the way.

“We need to interrogate him,” said Alcar. “His clansmen have kidnapped my master.”

“He’s my master too, remember,” said Golgrasanna. She spoke in a growling, gravelly voice that reminded Alcar of the sound of a crate being dragged across stones.

Golgrasanna now pulled a long pencil-thin dagger from a sheath at her hip and began to stalk around towards the back of the chair. Aside from her horns, she was very much the figure of a woman, and a curvaceous one at that. She was dressed in light leather armor. Her skin was the color of anthracite, however, and she had large, beautiful but very unusual purple eyes, and long turquoise hair.

“Hold on,” said Olynka, raising one hand. “He said interrogate – not torture.”

Golgrasanna narrowed her eyes. “That’s no fun,” she hissed. But she put the blade away, and took a step back.

Alcar moved closer, leaning down close so that his face was only an inch from that of the dwarf. “So – what’s your name?”

“I’ll tell you nothing!”

“Damn,” said Alcar. “No dice.” He had suddenly realized that he wasn’t feeling too good; his stomach was churning, and the room was starting to spin once again. Hoping that he could suppress the urge to vomit, he sat down in the dark corner of the room where Olynka had previously stood.

“Come on, now,” said Olynka, stepping forward to take her turn. “I know your name already – it’s Trumore, isn’t it?”

“Hahaha. More like ‘lie more’,” said Etienne with a snort.

Olynka shot him an angry glare, then looked back at Trumore. “I know that you’ve been sent here. You and your... brother? Your twin, perhaps?”

“I’ll tell you nothing, human!” snarled the dwarf.

“Very well,” she replied. “Then let me tell you a story – stop my if I am getting anything wrong. Maluhk here is a famous sorcerer, but not a rich one. He was hired to do...” She peered at the dwarf again, then reached out to take hold of his blond beard. “Something? You tell me...”

The dwarf just grunted at this.

Olynka shrugged. “And for this job, I guess he was paid. Perhaps a down payment, perhaps the full sum – I dunno.”

“The full amount,” snarled Trumore.

Olynka raised her eyes, and released the beard. “Good. Very good. So, now, after this deal, a disagreement arose. The dwarves of Clan Ironrock believe that the money should be repaid, I suppose. I’m guessing that whatever Maluhk did, they didn’t feel that they go their money’s worth. But he disagreed.” She glanced around the room again. “I am getting the impression that Maluhk is someone who is quick to anger, doesn’t suffer fools gladly, and well turn his back on friends if they offend him.”

Golgrasanna moved closer, placing one hand on the restrained dwarf’s shoulder. “Woman – how do you know all this?”

“Just piecing it together, my demonic friend. In large part from what Maluhk himself told us earlier.”

“That’s right,” said Etienne. “The half-orc distrusted the dwarves from the start. He told us as much.”

“I see,” hissed Golgrasanna. She appeared to be pondering the matter fo a moment, her big purple eyes drifting from one companion to the next.“Then we know the motive. We don’t know where the dwarves have taken my master, but we do at least have our own hostage. Perhaps they would be willing to trade.”

“Perhaps,” grunted Alcar, still sitting in a dark corner. He thought that his stomach was settling a little, but then, just as he began to stand up, a wave of nausea came over him again. He turned his head and vomited into the corner of the sorcerer’s lounge.

“Ugh,” murmured Golgrasanna.

“Better out than in,” said Etienne. “Now, let’s move the dwarf’s chair over to that corner.

“I’m gonna take a look around this place to see if Master Maluhk has any herbs that could settle your stomach,” said Olynka, while Etienne began to drag at the back of the chair. “Come with me if you like.”

“Uh, yeah,” said Alcar. “Sure.”

“You’ll probably feel a bit better now anyway,” she added, as they walked from the room. “As Etienne says, ‘better out than in’. And that is particularly true when it comes to ale from places like the Black Mackerel.”

“You knew of it before?”

She shook her head with a smile. “Nope. In fact, there is only one inn back in Lorn, and it’s a good place. But the reputation of the city taverns goes well beyond Katresburg.”

Outside the lounge was a small square antechamber. The main door led directly ahead, and to the right was a stairway leading both up and down.

“I think he said his study was upstairs,” said Alcar. He could now see that his friends had been right – his head was already feeling clearer.

The stairs were narrow, and they wound around once in a complete circle, and then further still, entering the landing at the top at a different angle from the one below. Again, it was a small square area that they had reached, and poorly lit, though a tiny window high on one wall gave them enough light to see by. There were again two doors ahead; the one on the left was closed, and the one on the right was sufficiently far open to reveal a bedroom beyond.

“So, this is where the great master sleeps,” said Alcar, walking to the open door and peering in. There was very little in the bedroom besides a broad bed with a red cover, and a very large wooden armoire on the opposite side. A tiny wooden table was beside the head of the bed, a snuffed-out black candle on a bronze holder sitting neatly upon it.

“The other door must lead to the study,” said Olynka from behind. She tried the door of the other room, but it didn’t move. “Damn. You wanna try?”

Alcar stepped forward and rattled at the door handle, but it didn’t budge. He crouched down and peered at the catch. It was clearly locked.

“No supplies and no drugs, then,” he said, standing.

Olynka was looking back towards the stairs. “Unless...”

“What do you have in mind?”

“I’m just thinking that one of our friends might have the skills to pick a lock like this.”

She hurried back down, and soon Etienne had come up in her stead. “A lock needing picked, I hear?” he said brightly, pulling a small set of tools from his jerkin pocket.

Alcar frowned in response. “You really are a thief.”

Etienne blinked at him, the little halfling’s brown eyes wide in the darkness. “Do you want this door opened or not, my man?”

”Yeah – that’s true. But... Oh, I dunno. Just don’t steal anything.”

“By the gods, I swear it,” replied Etienne with a grin.

“Which gods?”

“All of them!”