Chapter 40 That Wasn’t So Hard.

  Topaz’s eyes slowly fluttered open. Her entire body ached and the world was spinning from blood loss. Her bleary eyes scanned the dimly lit room as her mind tried to piece back together what had happened to her. There was a simple bed that was big enough for two, a small desk with a chair, and a wardrobe. ‘An inn.’ She thought to herself. ‘The one across from the Guild, I think, it’s been a while since I’ve been in that one.’ She blinked a few times at an odd looking armor stand that was dressed in a nice but practical suit, like something a waiter from a high end restaurant in the capital would wear.

  Something about the armor stand’s eye holes were giving her the chills. It took Topaz a moment to get her eyes to truly focus on them but the small orbs of black flames that seemed to perpetually burn downwards caused her to physically shiver. “Creepy.” She whispered and tried to move. Her hands and feet were tied but other than that she was free. She ran her tongue around inside her mouth to try and moisten it with little success. It took her a moment to force enough saliva into her mouth for her to be able to adequately wet her lips. She took in a deep breath and focused some of what little mana she had regenerated into her throat, tongue, lips, and the air moving through them. She focused on the image of a small slice of compressed air resonating with the sound she was about to make, how it would arch around her and into her bindings behind her back where her hands were tied, and readied herself.

  Topaz let out a short, sharp, and high pitched whistle but was left dumbfounded as the spell was crushed before it had even fully formed. “Huh?” She questioned aloud and struggled to force herself into a sitting position so she could look around better. Behind her was nothing but a wall and everything else in the room seemed dormant and non-magical. She took another deep breath and focused on feeling the mana in the world around her and where it was going. Her gaze slowly moved back towards the odd mannequin in the suit. “You?” She asked what she thought was an inanimate object.

  “Yes.” A young but mature voice, probably from a man in his late teens or early twenties, replied. The voice was a tad higher than average but not high enough to be of any special note. It did mean that it was probably coming from someone that was not built like her brother though, so that was probably a good thing. Also, the fact that it was only similar, but not exactly the same, to the double platinum level adventurer that she hit with everything she had was probably a good thing as well.

  Now that she thought about it, she was surprised to be alive. If she had actually succeeded in killing the man known as the Lord of Darkness then there was no way that his mate would have let her live. That meant that she was definitely his and his mate’s prisoner. ‘I need to get out of here before they return.’ She thought to herself. “Where are you?” She asked the voice. “Who are you? I am Topaz.”

  “Standing in front of you. I am Shamesh, retainer to the Lord of all that is Dark and servant of the V’Nova Wexler household.” The mannequin spoke while taking a step forwards and bowing like a butler greeting a guest.

  Topaz’s shriek could be heard from the hallway through the ‘sound proofed’ room. Pure fright and terror at seeing a lich for the first time, while bound and locked in a room with it, overwhelmed every other facet of her mind, and for a moment, she could do nothing but scream. “W-wait, don’t eat me!” She pleaded. “Ah! Y-yes, I can get you souls, lots of souls, liches need souls, right?” Her voice cracked on the final word even as mana swirled inside of her. She skipped the incantation and focused on appearing four feet below herself. That would put her solidly inside the room directly under them and hopefully in front of someone who could untie her. Even if there wasn’t anyone there, she should at least have enough time to free herself and cast another teleportation spell. Her mana reserves were low but not empty. She would be able to do that much. If she could find a guard then at least an alarm would sound and she would be able to slip away in the ensuing chaos. Her mana surged and then… nothing. Her mana was gone as her spell was once again smothered and blasted apart by another unseen and unheard counter.

  “I am afraid that you are not permitted to leave, Madam Topaz.” Shamesh spoke with an apologetically deep nod. “I am-” He continued only to be cut off by another escape attempt as Topaz tried to chain teleportation spells together. “under orders to keep you-” He silently countered her once more. Every time he did so, he was forced to focus on that instead of speaking so his voice cut off momentarily. “here and preferably-” Topaz wobbled from side to side as she bottomed out her mana pool again. “alive.” Shamesh finished as Topaz toppled onto her side, unconscious, again. “She could have at least stayed conscious for a conversation.” Shamesh spoke aloud to himself. He stepped backwards half a step to return to his previous position. If he could have sighed, he would have, but instead, all he could do was accept the current circumstance. “Well, it cannot be helped.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  —

  Isaac and Lenna walked into their room, in the inn they were staying at, to see Topaz sitting against the wall and Shamesh glaring at her from half a dozen feet away. An empty cup of what was probably water was clutched in Shamesh’s hand. Upon hearing Isaac and Lenna enter, Shamesh turned to them and bowed deeply. “Wel-” He began but instantly cut himself off as Topaz looked like she was hit with a sudden bout of drowsiness. “Welcome back, my Lord, my Lady.” He finished and then straightened. “How was your outing?”

  “Annoying.” Isaac replied. “How was the prisoner?”

  “Our guest has been uncooperative at best and malicious at worst.” Shamesh replied. “The most recent incident was an attempt to freeze me using a mouthful of water as the catalyst for a Cone of Ice spell.”

  “I see.” Isaac replied. Lenna had closed the door behind them and the pair were now staring down at Topaz who looked like she was struggling to stay awake. “Topaz, I need information. Give it to me and I won’t start torturing you.” Isaac told her which got a half focused glare as she tried to blink away the drowsiness to little effect. She was slowly regaining her bearings as mana continued to trickle into her but it would take another minute or two. Unlike Isaac, she couldn’t recover from bottoming out her mana pool in a matter of seconds. “I’ll admit, I’m pretty bad at it, so I’ll just skip straight to taking off your fingers. That has worked in the past so I never bothered to learn any actual torture techniques.”

  “Fuck you.” Topaz replied almost drunkenly.

  “Lenna does tha- ow.” Isaac’s comment was cut off by a solid elbow to the bicep from the woman in question. “Not helping.” He told her.

  “Neither was your comment.” Lenna retorted calmly. “Let’s get this over with. I dislike torture but I doubt she’ll cooperate.”

  Isaac nodded and walked over to stand in front of Topaz. “Hold.” He ordered her shadow and knelt down. She tried to spit in his face but the shadow he cast on the ground in front of her reached up and blocked it. “Rude way to start.” Isaac commented. “Arthur said that you were originally a double agent. He also said that you’ve been playing him. I want all of the information you have actually acquired so we can complete your original mission. You are going to give it to me and I am going to make sure it is correct while you stay here with Shamesh, who really doesn’t seem to like you by the way, while I do that.” Isaac told her and then glanced down at her bare feet that were blackened with a burn that would not heal naturally. “If you are really cooperative, I might not kill you once we are done. You did try to kill me, so I am incredibly inclined to end you, but I think that some good ol’ jolly cooperation could buy your survival, maybe even some healing.” Isaac offered her as he looked back up to meet her actively clearing gaze.

  Topaz searched Isaac’s eyes for a long moment and saw not a shred of empathy or hesitation. There was no false bravado or sadness either. No, he was telling the truth and she was entirely sure of that fact. There was no way that she was going to live through the situation she found herself in without being as helpful as physically possible, and maybe apologizing to the lich that had been lording over her. Topaz swallowed hard. “You swear not to kill me, if I am completely cooperative?” She asked Isaac.

  “I swear that if you are completely cooperative I will not kill you.” Isaac replied simply with a nod.

  “And those two?” She questioned with a glance at Lenna and Shamesh.

  Isaac looked over his shoulder at Lenna. “I will not kill her.” She spoke calmly. “But if she is not one hundred percent cooperative, I will take out some of my anger, at our last engagement, on her face.”

  “Fair.” Isaac agreed and then turned to look at Shamesh.

  “No harm was done, even if she was incredibly rude, I will defer to your judgment as always, my Lord.” Shamesh replied with a slight bow.

  “There you have it.” Isaac spoke as he turned back to Topaz. “Deal?”

  “Deal.” Topaz said and took a deep breath to begin. “The building you were checking out before we met, inside, in the back left, there is…” On and on Topaz went as she spilled everything she knew about the underground operation, the people involved, the people adjacent to the people involved, the corrupt guards and bureaucrats she had on her payroll, and how they were getting elicit goods through customs on the docks. She told them where the underground bank was and how to access it. Topaz even went as far as drawing them a map of the entire complex, a pretty poorly done map, but a map nonetheless.

  “Now, that wasn’t so hard.” Isaac told her with a pat on the shoulder. “Shamesh, we will once again be leaving her in your care.”

  “As you say.” Shamesh replied with a bow.

  “Ah, before you leave.” Topaz said with a slightly raised hand, her hands had been unbound to allow her to draw the map and there hadn’t really been a reason to retie them. Isaac and Lenna turned to look at her with raised eyebrows. “How do I go about using the ladies room?”

  “Untie your ankles and go. Shamesh will accompany you, while invisible.” Isaac replied.

  “It-” Topaz began.

  “He.” Isaac corrected her.

  “Even worse.” She spoke under her breath. “He, will be in the room with me?”

  “Of course.” Isaac replied like she had just asked him if the sun was bright. “You are still a prisoner. At least until this is all over. After that, well, that’s up to Arthur.” He replied and walked out.

  Lenna just shook her head at Topaz. “You had better hope he still has a soft spot for you.” Lenna told the woman as she followed Isaac out.

  It was time to let Arthur know everything they had learned and get ready to raid another criminal organization for all of their members and everything they were worth. ‘Hopefully none of the duke’s men cause any problems.’ Isaac thought to himself. ‘Who am I kidding? That’s exactly what is going to happen.’

  Amaranth Serentia V'Nova Wexler