Hit and Run (Part 1)

Sponsored Content

 MICA EARTHBORN
"Fighting you was fun, but this is the part Mica has really been looking forward to," I said, my face inches from Lyra Dreide's. I was sitting in her lap and straddling her legs, carefully watching every twitch of her lips, every shift of her eyes.
This retainer has quite the poker face.
We had returned to our hideout in the Beast Glades after capturing Lyra Dreide. It was difficult to track mana signatures here because of the S- and SS-class mana beasts everywhere, and we'd been careful to make sure we weren't followed.
The retainer was bound within a stone chair I'd conjured just for her. Well, it was kind of a chair, just not a very comfortable one. The hard stone wrapped around her legs from ankle to knee and covered her hands entirely. A collar wrapped around her throat, and there was a single spike protruding into her back. If she tried anything, that spike would pierce her mana core in a blink.
Personally, I had suggested we start with that, but Varay thought disabling her core might break her completely, and we needed information first. So we had to break her a little bit at a time.
Varay started with a toe.
She didn't ask any questions first, just slowly removed the retainer's boot, pinched her little toe between two fingers, and froze it solid. Despite our warnings not to fight back, the woman's body shimmered with mana to counteract the spell. It was instinctive, but I forced the spike just a little deeper anyway.

Sponsored Content

"Oh, that's really close to your mana core. Careful"—I booped her nose with my finger—"that you don't squirm around too much."
I heard a crack behind me and turned to see Varay hold up the toe, which she had just broken off.
I gave our prisoner a pained, sympathetic look. "Ouch. That must have hurt. So, why don't you tell us all about the Alacryans' operation, huh? Then, you can keep the rest of your perfect little toes."
Lyra Dreide, pale and sweating despite the cool air of the cave, scowled but said nothing.
"Talking is, like, your thing, right?" I asked, twirling a lock of her red hair around my finger. "So it really shouldn't be so hard."

 The retainer gritted her teeth as Varay started on the next toe. When it broke, Lyra Dreide gasped, her entire body shaking beneath me.
Varay's armor creaked as she stood, and I could feel her cold glare over my shoulder. "Move, Mica. I'll handle the questioning."

Sponsored Content

Shooting her a pout, I hopped off the retainer's lap and walked to my bed. There, I scooped up one of my dolls. It gave me an idea.
As Varay began the questioning, I focused on rearranging the doll's features. It was one of the few I had really tried to make look nice, and it already had a semi-realistic female face. I just had to change a few little things, and I had a vague likeness of our prisoner.
"I want the names of the highest ranking officials in Xyrus, Blackbend, and Etistin." Varay was standing over the retainer, arms crossed and radiating a chilly aura. Her tone was all business. She really could be scary sometimes. I was pretty sure that, if I'd been the one in the chair, I'd have spilled my guts in about four seconds.
Plus, I was really fond of my toes.
The retainer, on the other hand, seemed to have gone mute all of a sudden. She simply watched as Varay bent down, took a third toe, and froze it solid.
Behind Varay, I mimicked the action on the doll. I mimed it screaming and shaking in response, then it bobbed around as if speaking quickly. Varay asked again for the names, but the retainer held her tongue.
"Mica thinks you should move on to the pretty lady's face," I suggested helpfully. At the same time, I pinched the doll's tiny nose and broke it off with a quiet crunch.
Varay turned to say something but stopped when she saw the doll. The judgment written across her face was pretty obvious, but I didn't care. I was helping.

Sponsored Content

Aya stepped forward from where she had been half hidden in the shadows. "Varay, perhaps I should take it from here. This is my specialty, after all."
Varay met the retainer's eye and paused, her fingers tapping against her thigh. "Fine, but remember, we need her mind whole."
Moving slowly closer, Aya raised one hand and made a gesture in the air with her hand. Whip-thin tentacles of mist began uncoiling from her fingertips and wrapping around the bound retainer. Lyra Dreide's jaw tightened as unintelligible whispers filled the cave.

 "I think my dwarven companion is right. You seem like someone who cares a great deal about how you're perceived. That's why you're in this position, after all. The adoration, the fear, those moments where entire crowds of people hang on every word you say..."
Aya rested her hand on the side of the retainer's face. When the woman stiffened, I gave her a little nudge with the stone spike in her back.
"This is what we will do to you if we don't get the information we need," Aya said, her voice a low purr full of promise and threat. As she spoke, the misty tentacles wrapped around our prisoner's face, and the whispers intensified. "Can you see it? Can you see what becomes of you?"
Lyra Dreide's face had gone pale and her lips were trembling. She closed her eyes against the mist, but even that wouldn't protect her from Aya's illusions.
"Listen, Alacryan. Listen to the screams. Do you know what those are?" Aya cooed. "That is the sound you will hear everywhere you go: the horrified keening of women and children, the terrified disgust of the men, unable to stand the sight of you."

Sponsored Content

Lyra Dreide's body began to shake. I felt the surge of mana building up within her and prodded with the spike at her back. "Don't try it, lady."
Varay rested a hand on Aya's shoulder, and the elven Lance withdrew her mists.
"Trust me when I say I take no pleasure in this," Varay said as she pressed her palm against the retainer's cheek. Lyra Dreide's eyes flew open. "I do not desire to bring you pain, and would much prefer it if you simply gave us the information we need. If you make me, however, I will freeze off your ears, then your nose. I will turn your eyes to ice and scorch your flesh with frost. Mica will constrict these cuffs until your legs crack and your hands are crushed to useless pulp. Finally, if you suffer through all that and still will not talk, I will break out your tongue, pierce your core, and hang what little is left of you over the streets of Etistin for all to see, just as you did to our queens and kings."
I caught Aya's eye and silently mouthed, "Wow."
Lyra Dreide seemed to be searching Varay's cold eyes. After a moment, she sagged in defeat, and Varay withdrew her hand.
Varay sat back, and a jagged throne of ice crystallized out of the air beneath her. She seemed to sink into the frozen throne as she lounged back and crossed her legs before pinning the Alacryan with a piercing stare."I want names and titles, details on the chain of command, where local leaders are being housed. By the time you're done, I want to understand the mechanics of the Alacryans' new government as well as you do, Lyra Dreide. If you make that happen, this all stops and you can keep your life. For the moment."

 The woman seemed to deflate, sinking back against the chair so that I had to reduce the size of the spike to make sure it didn't accidentally puncture her core. "Fine. I'll tell you what you want to know."
 

Sponsored Content