Once they were inside his big command tent, Samuel flagged them down. His frown was something to behold. “This is the assassin? Korrag, may I see him?”
The big zarovian lowered the still unconscious man again, holding him out like a baker might extend a long loaf of bread. “You know?”
Samuel pulled back the man’s hood, and in the light of the tent, Drake got a better look at the asshole. The man who had murdered Thak and almost murdered the rest of them was a handsome man with tan skin and long blond hair, but there was a cruelty to his features that was impossible to deny. He had a small scar on his lip, but no other notable features.
“We have never hired him,” Samuel said. “Lord Crow employed many assassins, but he rarely paid a premium. Can this man really target people through silverweave?”
Drake nodded. “He did it to half the people here.”
“Then whoever hired him absolutely paid a premium. That means he is likely a member of the Gilded Blades. Your enemy is even more wealthy and powerful than we feared.”
Drake sighed. “What else is new? Let’s just tie him up and get some answers.” He looked to Lydia and Emily, who were walking but pale. “You two? Go lay down.”
Lydia frowned. “I don’t think we should leave you alone now, lord.”
“And I want to watch the interrogation!” Emily added eagerly.
“I’ve got Val and Nicole to watch over me, and you two need rest,” Drake said calmly. “Get some rest, get some food and sugar, and get that blood back up. That’s an order.”
For a moment, he was worried they might argue. Drake was relieved when Emily sighed and nodded, and while Lydia didn’t look happy about this order, both of them headed off to get some food and, hopefully, relax. Drake glanced at Valentia and Nicole. “You’re up.”
“Hooray,” Nicole said darkly.
They headed into Drake’s command tent. Valentia brought a chair over and slapped it down in the corner of the tent. Korrag lowered the unconscious and blindfolded blond man into it, then held him there as Valentia trussed him up and to the chair. Drake was unsurprised at how good she was at tying people up.
Drake looked to Sachi. “Take some zarovians and do a full sweep. We have to be sure this dickhead is the only assassin out here. If you smell a wolf, kill it. It’s probably an assassin.”
Sachi left with a grim expression on her face. That left Drake, Korrag, Valentia, Nicole, and Samuel in the tent with the assassin. Korrag spoke up next.
“Thak still back on road. Xutag mourns there.”
Drake felt like an ass for forgetting they’d lost a man tonight. “Go get him. Do whatever you need to put him to rest.”
Korrag slapped a clawed hand to his chest, then hurried out of the tent. That left only his two battlemaids and his butler. It was time to get some answers.
“Nicole?” He glanced at her. “Wake him up.”
As she advanced and drew a glowing spirit knife, Drake grimaced. “With your gloves.”
She sighed. “Oh, fine.”
As they waited, Nicole ran her glowing fingers over and around the giant bleeding welt on the man’s head. Drake would swear he heard a small snap inside, which suggested some part of the man’s skull had just uncracked. So if nothing else, Drake knew he could swing a club.
Nicole tended to the man a bit longer, then stepped back. The blindfolded assassin tensed, visibly tested his body to see how tightly it was bound, and then smiled.
“How did you live through that? I sucked three men worth of blood out of you.”
“I had a big lunch,” Drake said. “Who sent you?”
“I can’t believe you’re the lord of Gloomwood Manor. You’re so young.”
“I’m also the guy who’s going to murder you if you don’t give me a reason not to, so let’s have less age discrimination and more answering my questions.”
“We should not be rash,” Samuel cautioned.
“Listen to your man,” the assassin said with a smirk. “Killing me now gains you nothing, and you’ll get a sizable bounty for turning me into the authorities in Korhaurbauten. I’m sure you could make some good coin by handing me over to them.”
“I’m not interested in your bounties. I want to know who hired you.”
“Then I am afraid you’ll find your night just full of disappointments, lord.”
Drake wasn’t ready to give up yet. “You know a lot about us. Did your research?”
The assassin said nothing.
“And this isn’t the first time you’ve seen us, is it?” Drake thought back to a house full of poison gas. “You’re the one who killed those three rangers in Skybreak Manor, then pumped that poison gas into Lord Skybreak’s guest house.”
Still, the assassin remained silent.
“You failed then. So you’re what, zero for two on killing me? Seems like you’re kind of a shitty assassin.”
“I am curious,” the assassin said. “I will admit I saw you in Skybreak Manor, but only because I must know how you escaped. Tell me that, and perhaps I can offer you information.”
“Like who hired you?”
“Not that, lord. But other information. You will find I am a fountain of such.”
“I’ve already told you what I want. Your employer. Will you tell me?”
“Of course not. Please ask something intelligent.”
“Everyone?” Drake looked around at those gathered. “I need you to give us the room.”
Valentia frowned. “It is unwise for you to interrogate this man alone. Even blindfolded and tied to a chair, he is exceedingly dangerous.”
“I just proved out on that road he can’t do a thing to me. And if he tries, I’ll hit him in the head with my club.” He looked around at his now tense people. “I need to speak to this man alone. Clear the tent. Even you, Samuel. Make sure no one’s around to eavesdrop.”
“And just what do you plan to offer him?” Samuel asked calmly. “You cannot be considering negotiating with him without first hearing the thoughts of your advisors.”
“I am the lord of Gloomwood Manor.” Drake put some steel into his voice. “You serve me, not the other way around, and I don’t need you to make decisions. I allow you to suggest. Now do I need to compel Valentia to escort you out, or shall we do it the other way around?”
He didn’t actually want to be an asshole here, but it was important the assassin hear him sounding like an asshole. He needed this man to know he was serious. He wasn’t going to get anywhere in this interrogation if the assassin thought he was soft.
Samuel frowned, gaze moving to the blindfolded man tied to the chair and then returning to Drake. “I would simply ask that you not offer any deal to this assassin without first weighing all the possible ramifications.”
“I won’t. Now go.” He motioned to everyone in the tent. “All of you, right now.”
Casting curious or confused looks his way, they filed out one after the other, Samuel first and Valentia last of all. As she glanced back, he smiled and winked.
She stared a moment. Then, almost grudgingly, she nodded back. It was a relief to realize that, even without knowing what he planned, Valentia finally trusted him to handle his manor lord business. How far they’d come.
Once Drake was certain he was alone, he returned his attention to the man in the chair. “We’re alone now. Nothing you say will be heard by others. So, ready to talk?”
“You seem quite new at this,” the blindfolded, blood-sucking assassin said languidly. “Would you like some tips? I’ve served dozens of your kind over my long career, so if you’d like to know a few good ways to threaten your thralls, I’d be happy to help you out.”
“By dozens of my kind, you mean other manor lords?”
“No one else pays as extravagantly as your kind, lord, and the challenge is always equal to the coin. When you are as skilled at your job as I, the challenge is all that matters.”
“Doesn’t seem like it’s all that hard to suck the blood out of people.”
“The murder, of course, is easy. Still, I must catch them unawares. Unsuspecting. Often in places filled with people who might not wish them dead. Targets like you, lord, are among the most challenging of all, yet even you would still be dead if not for your curious rarity.”
“Or maybe I’m just better than you.”
The man laughed. “Your attempts to prick me are delightful.”
Drake rolled his eyes. “Look, I have to call you something if we’re going to negotiate. Even if you won’t give me your real name, don’t you have an assassin name or something? Some edgy and pretentious title like Bloodrazor, or the Eager Edger, or Suckerfish?”
“None who hear my name live to tell it to others. So it shall stay.”
“All right, I’m just going to call you Suck, then. Because you suck.”
“If that is supposed to be an insult, I can offer advice about those as well.”
“No thanks. Now, Suck, who hired you?”
“If you’re simply going to repeat the same simple questions, please, kill me now.”
“You say that. You act brave. But I still get the feeling you don’t really want to die.”
“Then you are a fool.”
“I don’t think so. You say the words and talk the talk, but deep down, I don’t think you’re ready to die just yet. Before I clubbed you, you flinched.”
“It was a club, lord. These things happen.”
“It wasn’t just your reflexive reaction. I saw your eyes widen, and I saw your little moment of fear. You thought you were going to die, and you weren’t okay with that.”
“No one wants to die, lord. Even a man who sees death as often as me. Yet I am sworn to the Blades and to my profession. To answer your question would violate my oaths.”
“If you’re truly ready to die for your guild and your beliefs, and you’re not just full of shit, I will end you. Make no mistake. I’m not going to let a man like you come at me twice.”
“I would not. I have failed to kill you, so another Gilded Blade will come in my place. So long as our guild is tasked to end you, lord, you will be ended... today, or tomorrow.”
“I understand that, but you’ve just described every day of my fucking life. It’s not like you can threaten me with death. Now, answer my question. Are you ready to die?”
“Everyone who undertakes my prof—”
“That’s not what I asked. Are you, personally, willing to die, right now? Not a hard question.”
“It is always a possibility in my line of work.”
“And there you go dodging it again. That’s how I know you’re full of shit. But fortunately for you, we don’t have to do this dance all night. Instead, I’m ready to make my offer.”
“I will listen, lord, though out of amusement more than any true interest.”
“Tell me who hired you and I will release you unharmed. Moreover, I will hire you to kill someone else. Someone I very much want dead.”
“Is this torture, lord? Asking questions to which you already know the answer?”
“Let me be very clear here, Suck. I want you to tell me who hired you. Only me. I will not ask you to testify, nor will I tell anyone else you told me. Not even my own blood thralls. Do you understand? I want to know who hired you to kill me, but once you tell me, no one other than the two of us will ever know you told me. Not even my own people.”
“This is a strange offer.”
“Yet you haven’t said no. You see a way to live now, don’t you? Just tell me who hired you. I won’t even send you after them. I have multiple people I need dead, so if one of those is the person who sent you to kill me, I’ll hire you to kill the other one.”
“You truly are a foolish lord if you think I will take this deal.”
“Yet there’s my offer. Tell me, and just me, who hired you. Live and accept a new contract from me for a nice fat bounty and go on about your business. Do so knowing I will never tell anyone you revealed your client to me. Not if you agree to my deal.”
“No manor lord would make this offer.” Yet Suck still didn’t tell him no. “What kind of lord are you?”
“A kind you’ve never met before. I’m not from your realm, nor your land. I came here from another world entirely. Now, I’m going to walk across the room and pick up my crossbow. You have until I get back to accept my offer. Otherwise, you’re going to be target practice.”
Making sure his footsteps could be heard, Drake walked across the tent and lifted Magnum off the table. He walked back. He stopped a few paces from Suck, then flipped the safety with a menacing click. The sound inspired the response he’d hoped for.
“Wait,” Suck said.
Once they were inside his big command tent, Samuel flagged them down. His frown was something to behold. “This is the assassin? Korrag, may I see him?”
The big zarovian lowered the still unconscious man again, holding him out like a baker might extend a long loaf of bread. “You know?”
Samuel pulled back the man’s hood, and in the light of the tent, Drake got a better look at the asshole. The man who had murdered Thak and almost murdered the rest of them was a handsome man with tan skin and long blond hair, but there was a cruelty to his features that was impossible to deny. He had a small scar on his lip, but no other notable features.
“We have never hired him,” Samuel said. “Lord Crow employed many assassins, but he rarely paid a premium. Can this man really target people through silverweave?”
Drake nodded. “He did it to half the people here.”
“Then whoever hired him absolutely paid a premium. That means he is likely a member of the Gilded Blades. Your enemy is even more wealthy and powerful than we feared.”
Drake sighed. “What else is new? Let’s just tie him up and get some answers.” He looked to Lydia and Emily, who were walking but pale. “You two? Go lay down.”
Lydia frowned. “I don’t think we should leave you alone now, lord.”
“And I want to watch the interrogation!” Emily added eagerly.
“I’ve got Val and Nicole to watch over me, and you two need rest,” Drake said calmly. “Get some rest, get some food and sugar, and get that blood back up. That’s an order.”
For a moment, he was worried they might argue. Drake was relieved when Emily sighed and nodded, and while Lydia didn’t look happy about this order, both of them headed off to get some food and, hopefully, relax. Drake glanced at Valentia and Nicole. “You’re up.”
“Hooray,” Nicole said darkly.
They headed into Drake’s command tent. Valentia brought a chair over and slapped it down in the corner of the tent. Korrag lowered the unconscious and blindfolded blond man into it, then held him there as Valentia trussed him up and to the chair. Drake was unsurprised at how good she was at tying people up.
Drake looked to Sachi. “Take some zarovians and do a full sweep. We have to be sure this dickhead is the only assassin out here. If you smell a wolf, kill it. It’s probably an assassin.”
Sachi left with a grim expression on her face. That left Drake, Korrag, Valentia, Nicole, and Samuel in the tent with the assassin. Korrag spoke up next.
“Thak still back on road. Xutag mourns there.”
Drake felt like an ass for forgetting they’d lost a man tonight. “Go get him. Do whatever you need to put him to rest.”
Korrag slapped a clawed hand to his chest, then hurried out of the tent. That left only his two battlemaids and his butler. It was time to get some answers.
“Nicole?” He glanced at her. “Wake him up.”
As she advanced and drew a glowing spirit knife, Drake grimaced. “With your gloves.”
She sighed. “Oh, fine.”
As they waited, Nicole ran her glowing fingers over and around the giant bleeding welt on the man’s head. Drake would swear he heard a small snap inside, which suggested some part of the man’s skull had just uncracked. So if nothing else, Drake knew he could swing a club.
Nicole tended to the man a bit longer, then stepped back. The blindfolded assassin tensed, visibly tested his body to see how tightly it was bound, and then smiled.
“How did you live through that? I sucked three men worth of blood out of you.”
“I had a big lunch,” Drake said. “Who sent you?”
“I can’t believe you’re the lord of Gloomwood Manor. You’re so young.”
“I’m also the guy who’s going to murder you if you don’t give me a reason not to, so let’s have less age discrimination and more answering my questions.”
“We should not be rash,” Samuel cautioned.
“Listen to your man,” the assassin said with a smirk. “Killing me now gains you nothing, and you’ll get a sizable bounty for turning me into the authorities in Korhaurbauten. I’m sure you could make some good coin by handing me over to them.”
“I’m not interested in your bounties. I want to know who hired you.”
“Then I am afraid you’ll find your night just full of disappointments, lord.”
Drake wasn’t ready to give up yet. “You know a lot about us. Did your research?”
The assassin said nothing.
“And this isn’t the first time you’ve seen us, is it?” Drake thought back to a house full of poison gas. “You’re the one who killed those three rangers in Skybreak Manor, then pumped that poison gas into Lord Skybreak’s guest house.”
Still, the assassin remained silent.
“You failed then. So you’re what, zero for two on killing me? Seems like you’re kind of a shitty assassin.”
“I am curious,” the assassin said. “I will admit I saw you in Skybreak Manor, but only because I must know how you escaped. Tell me that, and perhaps I can offer you information.”
“Like who hired you?”
“Not that, lord. But other information. You will find I am a fountain of such.”
“I’ve already told you what I want. Your employer. Will you tell me?”
“Of course not. Please ask something intelligent.”
“Everyone?” Drake looked around at those gathered. “I need you to give us the room.”
Valentia frowned. “It is unwise for you to interrogate this man alone. Even blindfolded and tied to a chair, he is exceedingly dangerous.”
“I just proved out on that road he can’t do a thing to me. And if he tries, I’ll hit him in the head with my club.” He looked around at his now tense people. “I need to speak to this man alone. Clear the tent. Even you, Samuel. Make sure no one’s around to eavesdrop.”
“And just what do you plan to offer him?” Samuel asked calmly. “You cannot be considering negotiating with him without first hearing the thoughts of your advisors.”
“I am the lord of Gloomwood Manor.” Drake put some steel into his voice. “You serve me, not the other way around, and I don’t need you to make decisions. I allow you to suggest. Now do I need to compel Valentia to escort you out, or shall we do it the other way around?”
He didn’t actually want to be an asshole here, but it was important the assassin hear him sounding like an asshole. He needed this man to know he was serious. He wasn’t going to get anywhere in this interrogation if the assassin thought he was soft.
Samuel frowned, gaze moving to the blindfolded man tied to the chair and then returning to Drake. “I would simply ask that you not offer any deal to this assassin without first weighing all the possible ramifications.”
“I won’t. Now go.” He motioned to everyone in the tent. “All of you, right now.”
Casting curious or confused looks his way, they filed out one after the other, Samuel first and Valentia last of all. As she glanced back, he smiled and winked.
She stared a moment. Then, almost grudgingly, she nodded back. It was a relief to realize that, even without knowing what he planned, Valentia finally trusted him to handle his manor lord business. How far they’d come.
Once Drake was certain he was alone, he returned his attention to the man in the chair. “We’re alone now. Nothing you say will be heard by others. So, ready to talk?”
“You seem quite new at this,” the blindfolded, blood-sucking assassin said languidly. “Would you like some tips? I’ve served dozens of your kind over my long career, so if you’d like to know a few good ways to threaten your thralls, I’d be happy to help you out.”
“By dozens of my kind, you mean other manor lords?”
“No one else pays as extravagantly as your kind, lord, and the challenge is always equal to the coin. When you are as skilled at your job as I, the challenge is all that matters.”
“Doesn’t seem like it’s all that hard to suck the blood out of people.”
“The murder, of course, is easy. Still, I must catch them unawares. Unsuspecting. Often in places filled with people who might not wish them dead. Targets like you, lord, are among the most challenging of all, yet even you would still be dead if not for your curious rarity.”
“Or maybe I’m just better than you.”
The man laughed. “Your attempts to prick me are delightful.”
Drake rolled his eyes. “Look, I have to call you something if we’re going to negotiate. Even if you won’t give me your real name, don’t you have an assassin name or something? Some edgy and pretentious title like Bloodrazor, or the Eager Edger, or Suckerfish?”
“None who hear my name live to tell it to others. So it shall stay.”
“All right, I’m just going to call you Suck, then. Because you suck.”
“If that is supposed to be an insult, I can offer advice about those as well.”
“No thanks. Now, Suck, who hired you?”
“If you’re simply going to repeat the same simple questions, please, kill me now.”
“You say that. You act brave. But I still get the feeling you don’t really want to die.”
“Then you are a fool.”
“I don’t think so. You say the words and talk the talk, but deep down, I don’t think you’re ready to die just yet. Before I clubbed you, you flinched.”
“It was a club, lord. These things happen.”
“It wasn’t just your reflexive reaction. I saw your eyes widen, and I saw your little moment of fear. You thought you were going to die, and you weren’t okay with that.”
“No one wants to die, lord. Even a man who sees death as often as me. Yet I am sworn to the Blades and to my profession. To answer your question would violate my oaths.”
“If you’re truly ready to die for your guild and your beliefs, and you’re not just full of shit, I will end you. Make no mistake. I’m not going to let a man like you come at me twice.”
“I would not. I have failed to kill you, so another Gilded Blade will come in my place. So long as our guild is tasked to end you, lord, you will be ended... today, or tomorrow.”
“I understand that, but you’ve just described every day of my fucking life. It’s not like you can threaten me with death. Now, answer my question. Are you ready to die?”
“Everyone who undertakes my prof—”
“That’s not what I asked. Are you, personally, willing to die, right now? Not a hard question.”
“It is always a possibility in my line of work.”
“And there you go dodging it again. That’s how I know you’re full of shit. But fortunately for you, we don’t have to do this dance all night. Instead, I’m ready to make my offer.”
“I will listen, lord, though out of amusement more than any true interest.”
“Tell me who hired you and I will release you unharmed. Moreover, I will hire you to kill someone else. Someone I very much want dead.”
“Is this torture, lord? Asking questions to which you already know the answer?”
“Let me be very clear here, Suck. I want you to tell me who hired you. Only me. I will not ask you to testify, nor will I tell anyone else you told me. Not even my own blood thralls. Do you understand? I want to know who hired you to kill me, but once you tell me, no one other than the two of us will ever know you told me. Not even my own people.”
“This is a strange offer.”
“Yet you haven’t said no. You see a way to live now, don’t you? Just tell me who hired you. I won’t even send you after them. I have multiple people I need dead, so if one of those is the person who sent you to kill me, I’ll hire you to kill the other one.”
“You truly are a foolish lord if you think I will take this deal.”
“Yet there’s my offer. Tell me, and just me, who hired you. Live and accept a new contract from me for a nice fat bounty and go on about your business. Do so knowing I will never tell anyone you revealed your client to me. Not if you agree to my deal.”
“No manor lord would make this offer.” Yet Suck still didn’t tell him no. “What kind of lord are you?”
“A kind you’ve never met before. I’m not from your realm, nor your land. I came here from another world entirely. Now, I’m going to walk across the room and pick up my crossbow. You have until I get back to accept my offer. Otherwise, you’re going to be target practice.”
Making sure his footsteps could be heard, Drake walked across the tent and lifted Magnum off the table. He walked back. He stopped a few paces from Suck, then flipped the safety with a menacing click. The sound inspired the response he’d hoped for.
“Wait,” Suck said.
