Run

I ran for it making my way through the building and out the back door. I didn't see Kasar or Nuru but I could hear guards coming. I ran down an alley behind the building hoping to put as much distance as I could.

"There he is." A guard yelled. I looked behind me to see them catching up. They wore some armor plate that rattled as they ran but they mostly wore leather. I gave it my all as I ran and cut down another alley toward the street and made my way through the market crowd and down another alley running as fast as I could while I weaved in and around corners trying to do everything I could to loose them. After a few minutes of running non stop I had to stop and catch my breath. I looked and listened for guards but I apparently had lost them. I went over to a well behind a building and pulled up the bucket and poured some on me while I drank then shook out my head. I had no clue what my next move was. I had just lost my only lead and my ride back home.

Suddenly I heard a noise above me and looked as a figure lunged off of a roof top at me. I dodged and they landed and rolled then came back up. However it was they wore a mask over there face except for the eyes. The only thing I could tell was it was a woman. She grasped something that wrapped around her shoulder and slung it sideways to reveal it was a whip. She swung and I blocked as the whip struck my arm causing it to bleed.

"vites firmiter impediant." I pointed at the ground and vines grew around her feet. I went to run for it and fell forward as she caught my ankle with the whip and jerked it back. I rolled and drew my knife cutting myself free.

"Look I don't want to hurt a woman." I shook my head.

"Pity. That will just make this easier for me to kick your ass." She said as she drew a short sword and cut the vines away from her feet and came at me. I dodged and swung at her and she blocked then kicked me back. She came back at me swinging as I dodged the first and grabbed her wrist as she swung back at me and she kicked me back again. I had been in my share of fist fights against people bigger then me but she was faster then any of them. She was backing me up toward the alley where I would have less room to maneuver. I swung and she ducked underneath and brought her foot around kicking the knife from my hand.

"Caro ligna durescere" I said and my hands and arms turned to wood. On her next swing I blocked as her sword cleaved into my arm. It hurt a little but it was better then loosing an arm. I grabbed her and swung her against the wall. I slammed her knife hand against the wall forcing her to drop her sword and then I grabbed her other arm while she was stunned and pinned her against the wall. She struggled against my grip but my wooden hands left little wiggle room.

"Impressive. For a human." She shrugged and drove her forehead into my nose and kicked me backwards as I stumbled out of the alley. I fought to get up and stumbled forward. My vision was blurry as my eyes watered. I felt my feet go out from underneath me as she tripped me. I felt her whip wrap around my throat. I grasped to pull it away and she planted her foot right in the middle of my back. My world slowly faded to darkness.

I felt a splash of water hit my face as I woke up and looked around though it took my eyes a second to adjust to the darkness. I was in some room. It was dim. No windows. Just a torch on a wall. I hung by my hands above my hand. Cold metal at my wrist and ankles. I managed to stand at least.

"That woke him up." A voice said in the dark and came toward me. A dark elf man. "Hello, I will be your interrogator today. First ground rule, I wouldn't try any magic lad. The collar around your neck will burn you." He said in a chipper voice. I saw an orc behind him.

"Where am I?"

"Hmm, it is usually me who ask the questions but I will give you this one. Your in one of our finer prison cells if you couldn't tell by the decor. Best get comfortable, you may be here awhile but we will stay to provide entertainment." The Elf smiled. "You are charged with trying to buy illegal information. Least that is what Nuru said. We caught him with the merchandise but you didn't seem to have the money on you. So I want to know where you have it stashed? We checked your room in the tavern but it was empty." Shit. What about the girls had they made a ran for it or did someone take them?

"I was just in there to have drink. I am a merchant looking to establish trade with the empire. You can check my papers. I knew nothing about any money or information. You have the wrong guy."

"You hear that? We have the wrong guy." The elf laughed and looked at the ogre he did as well. "I hear that a lot. Best make sure first. Better gag him I hate when they scream." The Elf smiled. The Orc came over and gagged me. I tried to fight back but the chains provided little room to use my legs or arms.

"Don't worry. I will heal you after he is done and you can tell us what we want to hear." The Elf grinned. The orc hit me in the stomach knocking the air out of me. He landed another shot after another to my body. I fought to breath but the gag made it difficult.

"Enough." A voice said.

"Magistrate." The Elf said. I glanced up and saw a female figure approach. It took me a second to make out who it was in the dark but as she got closer I could see her face as Raven stared back at me.

"So this is the supposed buyer." She touched my chin and held it. Just when I thought the day couldn't get any worst.

"Yes. though we found no gold on him. All he had was an empty coin purse. We only just started to question him."

"So I could hear. Are you sure the purse was empty. And remember don't lie to me I can tell." She glanced back. The elf nodded in response.

"Did you check everywhere?" She said running her hand down my body stopping just short of my crotch.

"Well no not everywhere." The Elf replied. She grabbed my crouched with her hand and run her hand down to my balls.

"No gold but quit the hidden package. It seems he might be innocent but I will question him myself to make sure." She pulled out her knife and nicked my on my chest. "Heal him and take him to my quarters and tie him to the bed. Leave the gag." She smiled and I felt my body begin to go numb. They moved me up stairs. Next thing I knew I was lying on my back looking at the ceiling. I slowly began to regain feeling in my body and could move again. I could feel ropes around my hands and feet but they allowed very little room to move.

"Please don't get up." Raven said. I looked at her as she came over drinking from a goblet. She had changed out of her normal attire into a robe.

"You seam to be having a bad day. You where set up by a cat who informed us of the meeting and you were almost sold fake merchandise by a known criminal. Well she turned on Nuru I guess you could say, and you just happened to be the unlucky bastard to get caught in the cross fire. We arrested her yesterday in exchange for her freedom she would lead us to Nuru. Seems you make it a habit of getting fucked over by people love." She smiled as she sat and drink from her goblet. I tried to speak but the prevented me from doing so. "What? Oh right, sorry. You can speak freely. No one will hear us. I made sure of that." She said setting down her goblet and removing the gag.

"What are you doing here?"

"You mean how does a spy become a magistrate. Seems my cover was blown when I left a witness alive. Fortunately I brought home a pretty large trophy. Valuable enough to warrant a promotion to a position of prominence were I can use my skills to route out the criminal elements in the city. Turns out if you live in the shadows long enough you get really good at seeing in them." She smiled and picked up her cup.

"You left me alive to blow your cover on purpose?"

"Yes. I did it to get the one thing I really wanted." She smiled and drank the last of her drink.

"And what was that?"

"Every spy in the empire has one of their family kept as a hostage to ensure loyalty. If we or ever captured or turn that family member will be killed for our failure. For me it was my sister. Luckily I had the succubus to trade for her release." She shrugged and got up and sat her cup on the table. "So you can hate me all you want for using you but I would do it again if I had to do it to protect her. Which I plan to do again tonight."

"I don't suppose I have a choice in the matter?" I asked knowing I was at her mercy at the second.

"You always have a choice. I am just trusting you will make the right one. I sat the key to your collar, your coin purse that emanates magic and my knife that is laced with a paralyzing agent on the table beside you. All of which will help you escape." She smiled and I glanced over to see them both lying there.

"You will untie one hand and use it to cut me when I am distracted. Any little nick will do. You won't kill me because you know what will happen if you do when they catch you. I will be knocked out for awhile as you have experienced. You will go down the hall to my sisters room and take her to the lighthouse. She has wrote such a lovely letter about meeting you and falling in love but the empire would never... You get the picture. You only meet with Nuru to get false papers to smuggle her out of the empire. You will both wait at the light house. No one will come looking for you over something so trivial as forbidden love unless I give the order which out of respect for my sisters happiness I will not. You will take my sister back with you to your kingdom were she will be safe and she can go wherever she wants from there to be free."

"And why should I do all of this?"

"Because I know you are a good person. Plus I have your slave girls. Can't say I would think you would need a slave as handsome as you are. If that isn't enough though I am really good at my job as magistrate. I may be the only person in the city with a copy of the information you need to save hundreds if not thousands of lives. So you will do exactly what I say and we both will get everything we want and Nuru and Kasar will go to the mines and get what they deserve. So are we in agreement?"