'I'll be fine.'
Karishk braced herself for the next blow. She knew it was coming, and sure a enough, a second later she was gasping for breath as the man withdrew his fist from her stomach.
"If you don't let me go you will severely regret it," she glowered at the man. He was large and burly, but Karishk knew he was stupid. The young woman was chained in a dungeon, her arms pulled up above her head, just letting her feet touch the ground. She had been on a job to steal a very valuable artifact from some rich person and had been caught while sneaking in. Usually Karishk was good at sneaking around, though it wasn't her specialty. She knew nothing of the person she was stealing from, if they were good or evil, and if they would approve of the way she was being treated. She had just been hired by a little man who had offered her money. He had paid half up front, so she had taken the job. Karishk wasn't perhaps the most honest citizen, but she would do her best to get the artifact for the man who had hired her. She was not one to run off with the half-payment she had. She had some pride left.
"Get your master down here, I want to talk with them," Karishk said.
"I'm not doing anythin' you say, girlie!" the large man growled.
"I'm sure that your master will be happy to find you've killed me, especially since I have something of the utmost importance to tell them." A lie, and not a very good one, but the brute bought it. He backhanded Karishk across the face and then turned and left the cell, locking it tightly behind him.
Karishk didn't think lying any more was going to get her out of here, what could she say? She accidentally was climbing through one of the windows? Even the dumb guard wouldn't believe that.
Karishk sighed, and leaned her head back against the cold stone wall, her two curving horns clacking against the stone. Her long tail twitched in anger, she would get out eventually, but how? Or she would be killed.
'Not me. I've lived this long,' she thought savagly. 'What am I anyway?' she asked herself. 'I have never seen anyone who looks quite like me, am I a mutant? I have no magic I know of, but I have rams horns and a donkeys tail!'
She shook he thoughts from her mind. It was rare that she felt so insecure as she did now, she was a strong woman, and usually was firm with her life.
'Now, I have to devise a way to escape,' she told herself, but her thoughts were cut short as she heard someone approaching the cell.
The master of the house was not nearly as far away as the prisoner seemed to think. While Emyr allowed another to weaken his newest acquirement, he awaited outside the cell door, listening intently as she was questioned. The guard's arrival only received a curt nod from the nobleman before he was dismissed.
The tall man entered the cell with the grace of a hunter. He did not even bother to close the door behind him as he entered. Seemingly soulless black eyes stared at the woman with a hunger that always signaled danger to those that new the man.
"Well now," he purred as he stalked closer, but not near enough to be within her reach. "What have have the gods seen fit to gift me this time?"
When the man walked into the cell Karishk knew immediately he was a force to be reckoned with. He was not one of the petty lords who did nothing but sit around and do no work, no, this man was a sophisticated and dangerous noble, and Karishk doubted he was 'noble' in the least. He was obviously very rich, from the building he lived in to the jewelry all over him Karishk knew right away.
"It is not the gods who have brought me," Karishk said, looking coolly at the man. "It is the demons."
Karishk knew she was potentially in great danger, this man had her completely at his mercy, and there was nothing she could do about it. Her wrists were chained high above her head and her ankles were chained where they were as well. This man could stab her and there was nothing she could do about it.
She was slightly afraid of him, those eyes. . . But there was no way she was letting him see her fear.
Emyr chuckled darkly, a sound filled with forbidden promises as sinful as it was delightful. His head lowered so that he viewed her through his dark lashes, a faint smirk curling the corner of his lips as he focused on the prey. "Are they not the same?"
He clasped his hands behind his back before getting down to business. "Come, come don't be shy now. You claimed you had information for me, pet?"
"That is a matter of opinion," Karishk said. He was scaring her, but not enough to let it show in the least.
She raised her eyebrows when he asked about the information, though she really was scrambling for something to tell him. "Information? I was sent here by a man named Calks to steal from you, but that's not why I came here." Calks was the man she had been hired by, and she was willing give up his name if it would save her. "I came here to warn you about someone, but I'm not telling until you prove to me you'll pay me something worth it."
Karishk knew this was a dangerous game, and that he was likely to kill her at any moment, but she had to try, what else could she do? Now, at least, she had a lie she was going to tell him, that Calks wanted to kill him, of course, this was not true, but if she told the noble, he believed her, and he let her go, it was a hundred times worth it.
"And why should I pay a thief with no loyalty? You are quick to sell out your employer which implies you cater to the highest bidder. Jebidiah Calks is a pathetic low-level black market dealer with a debt that reaches from here to Zantaric. If you wish to throw names around little girl you would do best to learn the ones that matter."
Emyr moved in closer, invading her personal space to the point that he was a single breath away. His eyes roamed over her form as if assessing her and appraising her worth. A hand came up to cup her cheek, his thumb tracing the shape of her bottom lip as he leaned in close. "I think you're lying to me," he whispered before drawing back and crossing his arms.
Kariashk internally shuddered as he stepped closer to her. She refrained from closing her eyes as he touched her, and she held back a sigh of relief as he stepped back.
"And what if I'm not lying?" Karishk said, glaring at him. "What if I do have something to tell you that is important? What if it is worth your time and your money? You won't know unless you agree to free me."
Karishk knew she was losing this battle, but she didn't know what to do to gain the upper hand, to at least get out of here and away from this creep!
Emyr shook his head slowly, clearly amused. "No little woman, the true question here is, is it worth your life?" Dropping his act of assessment, he donned a more businesslike approach. "I could keep you here for eternity if I so desired. I have no incentive to pay you. The information you speak of if such a thing exists can just as easily be obtained in time. They say insanity comes quickly to those left on their own with no hope in sight. Surely you do not expect a rescue if you work for Calks as you claim."
Looking very much like the tomcat that ate the pet parakeet for the briefest of moments, Emyr turned to keep his smile to himself. "Tell me then the price you expect me to pay for your information. How much money do you hope to bleed from me when I have all the time in the world? Well?"
Karishk could see her plan crumbling around her, there was no way Calks was going to rescue her, she knew that for certain, and she was confident the man spoke the truth about people going crazy, especially down here. But there was still hope, at least a little.
"No money," she said at his question. "I know you're not going to give me any, so, no money. Just let me go and I'll tell you. Let me go and let me live."
"Now where is the fun in that pet?" Emyr sighed, looking quite displeased that his little game had been cut short so soon. He opened his mouth to speak again when a sheepish guard appeared in the open doorway, clearing his throat nervously but refusing to meet his master's eyes.
Emyr turned the full force of his displeasure upon the intruder as he approached the other man. The pair conversed quickly and quietly before Emyr was stalking back towards the prisoner, his lips pressed into a fine white line.
"It appears you have some use yet. Your partner seems to have succeeded where you have failed. His name," he demanded, once more invading her personal space. The time for play was over.
Karishk cocked her head to the side as the guard appeared, he looked guilty, and the woman wondered what he'd done, or what had happened. As the noble walked over to talk with him Karishk tried to hear what they were saying, but their voices were too low. When the noble came back over to her and told her about her 'partner', Karishk almost frowned, but she kept the expression back. What? Her partner? She didn't have a partner, but it was possible she could use the noble thinking she did as an opportunity to escape.
"Why should I tell you?" she asked when he stepped forward, but this time she wasn't perturbed, and she looked right into his eyes. "If I do, how do I know you won't kill me and then go and kill him? I have no reason to forfeit my life to help you."
Emyr shook his head, a tight smile curling his lips still. "Oh but your life is forfeit if you don't. Would you really choose that certainty over uncertainty? Because I can certainly assure you what fate awaits stubbornness."
He looked her in the eye with his own dark, emotionless pair while hissing the next word, "death." Emyr remained within her personal space, his soulless eyes boring into hers in a silent demand for the answer to his question. "What is your partner's name?"
Karishk's mind was working faster than it ever had before. She really didn't know who this other person was, but she really believed that this man would kill her if she did not tell him.
She glared at him for a moment, to buy herself some time, to think. Then the pieces snapped into place.
The man she had been hired by, Calks, had a great rival, a crime lord named Jorick, and they had both been looking for a specific artifact for a very long time. It was a magical item, and very powerful. Jorick must have figured out where the artifact was at the same time Calks had, and Karishk knew the thief that Jorick would have sent.
Darrick, he was a thief who worked for Jorick, he must have been the one who had stolen the artifact.
Karishk mentally took a deep breath. if she was wrong about this, if she had completely misread the situation, she could, and probably would, die.
"Okay," she said, making it sound as if she ha been debating the whole time whether to tell him or not who the other thief was. "It's a man named Darrick, Darrick Soken." She swallowed.
"A start," he commented with an incline of his head. "Continue. What were your orders little rat? Where were you to take my property to? Where is he taking it to? Remember your silence will ensure your death. Mark my words, I am a man of business and you cross me you will pay. Aid me and I will make it worth your while."
"All I was told was that if I got the artifact, I would get money," she said, thanking the gods that this at least seemed to be working. "And I was simply told that once I got the artifact to meet a man at a street corner. I would give him the artifact and he would give me the money."
That was all true, but then Karishk said no more, she would only answer the exact questions the man gave her. She would give out no more information that could be used against her.
Emyr smiled like a shark that had just scented blood in the water. "Details, pet details. Your very life depends on what you can offer me and yet you still withhold. What do you hope to gain with your silence? Who do you hope to protect? Your little companion? He's already gone and abandoned you? Your employer? I assure you, if you get out of this alive he'll never contract with you again. Now tell me everything and don't be so stingy with the details this time."
"I swear! That's all I was told." Karishk said. "Why would he tell me all of the details? So I could tell you when I was captured? Calks may not be the best, or the smartest, but he's not stupid. But if you want details, I'll give you everything I know. I was staying at the Draconi Inn, and I was approached by a man. He said his name was Calks and if I stole the artifact he would pay me a decent sum. I agreed, and he introduced me to a man named Darrick Soken, he would help me with the job. Once the job was finished, we were going to meet someone at the corner of King and Hearth Street. They would take the artifact and then pay us. Then we would all go our separate ways."
"How were you to know whom the handoff was meant to take place with? What price were you offered? Were you to split it with your friend or were you each given your own separate share by this Calks? As for this partner of yours, he obviously has no love for you. You sure this isn't how it was meant to end? He gets the payoff and you get left to rot in my dungeons? Not of course that I would allow that to happen. No, there are far better things for you than death. Mm, now there's a thought," the man mused with a dark smirk. "Yes, I know quite a few men who'd pay a pretty coin for the right to possess something like you."
Karishk's eyes widened in horror as the man in front of her spoke, but she kept her cool, at least she tried to.
"I don't know who we were supposed to meet," she said, and that, at least, was true. "And I thought that the money was to be split equally. . ." she trailed of, trying not to comprehend that she could be sold as a slave by this man. "Please," she said softly after a moment, "don't sell me," but she couldn't think of anything to bribe him with that she thought could work. She wasn't going to say she'd do anything, that would be even more foolish than saying nothing.
Emyr's eyes narrowed at what he was hearing. It was far from what he had hoped but he was not giving up on the little thief so easily. "Is that so?' he purred darkly. "You don't know," he repeated. "Well if that is the case then by all means you're free to go," he informed her jovially with a slight bow and a sweep of his arm.
That was by far the thing that scared Karishk the most. She knew he wasn't going to let her go, just like that, but what could she do?
"I-I can bring you to the meeting spot," she said, and she was grasping at straws now. "Though by the time we get there, the transaction may have already been made. If so, I know where my partner may go and maybe I can lead you to him, then you can get the information from him about who he met at the meeting spot." Karishk hoped this would work. In reality, she had no idea where Jorick would go, but if she could get out of this place, under the pretense of trying to help her captor, maybe she could escape, or maybe she really could find Jorick and earn her freedom. But sh doubted that her captor would keep a deal like that.
The merchant prince straightened slowly, his smile entirely that of a snake mesmerized by its soon-to-be prey. "I have a better idea," he declared rather quietly with a snap of his fingers to summon one of the guards closer. "You tell my man here the locations and I promise he'll cause you no harm now that you've suddenly recalled after no knowing."
Damn.
That hadn't worked.
Karishk's mind whirled, trying to think of some way out of this. "I don't know where it is," she said. "But I do know where Calks is, and he'll be able to tell you anything you need to know."
She held her breath, hoping this would work. She couldn't remember if she had said anything to contradict herself, but she hoped to the gods that she hadn't. If she had, there was no way she'd be getting away.
"Calks you said?" Emyr rolled the name on his tongue as if to taste it and get a true sense of the person who carried it. "What do you know of him, pet? Tell me everything and remember that your existence stands in the balance here. You certainly haven't given me anything worth it."
He tapped his foot and drummed his fingers against his own crossed arms. "Come, come I am not a patient man as you shall soon find out. I do not have all night to play this mousey game with you. I could leave you in the quite capable hands of my guards to torture through the night while I sleep in my nice soft bed. Best tell me all I want to know and quickly."
"Before he approached me at the inn, I only knew of him by reputation, I'd never done any work for him, but through my other work I'd heard things." Karishk said quickly. "Just that he wasn't a very accomplished criminal, but he led a small crime ring. He never did anything big, I think he must have thought stealing form you would be his big break. He must have heard about me and that's why he asked me to steal from you."
All of this was true, but Karishk didn't know if her captor would believe her, or what he would do whether or not he did.
He stared at her stoically, taking in all she had to say and letting her squirm a bit longer in the process. "Perhaps it is against my better judgement but...I believe you. Which pub did you meet your employer in? Perhaps we'll send you back to gain more information and you can work on winning back some of your freedom."