It had been a rough dozen of days for Garrett. While he was still doing jobs for the few rich in Doessenhof, he had received a letter via a contact of his, from Elissa. She told of three thugs searching the hut. While it was initially thought to be a ploy by the Communion of sanctified trade, she also had the suspicion that the girl's former owners were behind the attack, as well as the spirit. He hurried along to get from Doessenhof to Prannten as fast as possible. Every day he was away from the girl and Elissa without having solved the issue put both of them further at risk. But he was back in this stinking hole of a "city".
Prannten had nothing a city should have. The walls were old and ruined, the wards no longer existed, not a single building rose higher than three or four floors, and in absence of even a rudimentary sewer system, shit was just splattered onto the street and maybe cleaned up by an enterprising night soil peddler. It did have a trading post though, which was frequently used by slavers, for this was one of the most southern of places that still allowed slavery on this continent. Compared to Prannten, Doessenhof was a clean jewel of virtuous values and newest magical applications.
Here he had planned most of Nannade's extraction. And so far, it had worked out almost completely flawlessly. But his oversight caught up to him. His insistence on not killing except when necessary has made him forget that sometimes, it's necessary from the beginning, not just if they keep attacking. He wouldn't make that mistake again. But the enemy's engagement to get the girl back also meant an entire apparatus had been engaged. An apparatus Garrett had to find and disable as well.
The man who used to own the girl and her parents was a local crime lord and mage known as "Doraleus the Pompous". He ran almost all crime and most of legal business in the city as well. Cities without powerful people educated by the virtuous and strong, would quickly fall to corruption. Doraleus was no different. Similar to the great Pachu, he would simply extinguish all competition and then just carry on as any other crime lord with a monopoly.
It was night, still warm despite fall having come a while ago. He would probably miss the festival of Harvest Thanks, but it was worth it. Garrett was sitting on the roof of the inn where Nannade was originally held. Soon, a fat guy with a whacking stick would come back out. When he did, Garrett would be prepared.
The fat man eventually came out, yawned and made his way home. Garrett followed him on the rooftops, carefully to not make a wrong movement and risk detection. Without any high buildings, it was also hard to spot anyone climbing around on the roofs from above, so Garrett felt safe, for now.
Eventually, the man entered the dilapidated hut he called his home. It was just one room with a corner to shit in a bucket, a table with a single chair, and a bed.
Garrett went in through a small glassless window directly under the roof. He went down between the beams and spotted his target in the dim light of the candle on the table next to him. Without a sound, Garrett landed behind the man and put a gag over his mouth, then he pulled him to the ground and set on his chest, knife in hand and held to the fat man's throat.
"Alright, fatso, here's the deal." He said with a whispering but aggressive voice. "you either tell me everything that happened that night I took the girl away or you die here and now, understood?"
The man nodded hastily with eyes wide open.
Garrett let the gag go, but put his blade closer to the man's throat, already poking the skin. The man started talking immediately.
"After we broke down the door to the storage room, we tried to follow you, but we couldn't find you. Then a guard on the wall said he's have seen two people walk down the path to the forest to the southwest, but when we got there, we couldn't find anything in the dark. The boss had used some magic but couldn't find anything of value. He put out a bounty on you two, you dead or alive, the girl alive."
"Who picked up the bounty?
"I don't know, only the boss would know something like this."
Garrett moved his face closer to the stinking mouth of the stinking man. "I warn you, lying will not help your longevity."
"I swear, please, I'm just the guy who takes the coin and opens the door, honest, please don't kill me, ser!"
Garrett came to the conclusion that he was a too low-value target. He sunk his blade into the man's throat. One less witness.
Garrett decided he would go to the big man up top directly. He knew that he would be in his study tonight. There was a building right next to his mansion that he could use to reach the lower roof and gain entry via a window.
The adjacent building had a tiny unused room with a window, a proper one with glass this time, where Garrett had sat down on the floor and planned his move on Doraleus. Garrett's initial scouting had revealed that he still stuck to the same routine. He would need to make an entrance unhindered by any wards. One Arcane Lens. He would need a lot of alone time with the guy, unbothered by anyone. One reinforced Door Seal. One Sphere of Silence. He also needed to make sure Doraleus told the truth. One Pain of Compulsion. He needed a quick way out in case something went off plan. One Fog Cloak. One Traceless Step. There was a slim chance that Doraleus would put up a proper fight. Two Invisible Fists. Two Explosions. One Nullifier. One Chill Spear. And just out of habit. Three Constrictors.
He tucked the pieces of paper under his belt and put the ring of his flux flask on his left hand. Then he left his room through the window and with a quick boost from flux, he catapulted himself over to the roof of the mansion. Quickly, he managed to get around on the roof and to the spot directly above the window to Doraleus' study. Then he laid down and waited for the cue.
Every evening he was in his office, Doraleus' would ring for the servant and ordered a last can of coffee. He would then tell the servant to go rest for the night and after that, he would do paperwork and orders as far as he could before getting tired. He may be criminal, unscrupulous and pompous, but he was also diligent in his work. In a better, stronger environment, he would have been a capable civil servant or even an achieving mage. But here he was just another piece of human scum, swimming with the stream of effluence.
Garrett heard the cue. The door clunked shut. He inched closer to the edge, looked at the window and got ready.
The window was quickly opened from the outside. Doraleus hadn't been smart enough to apply any magical wards. He wore countless golden and silver jewellery, a red vest, and blue trousers. He was a bit old, probably in his fifties, but still looked halfway robust, even if a bit thin. His face was cleanly shaved and his grey hair kept short. Through the open window, Garrett shot his Constrictor. The magic hit Doraleus with a spectacle of sparks flying off in all directions from him. When Doraleus noticed that his carefully placed shield had dissipated a spell directed at him, he jumped up, took his staff and got ready for battle. Garrett quickly jumped through the window and enacted the Sphere of Silence, to make sure Doraleus could not call for help.
"Dirty bounder!" Doraleus screamed as his hand shot forward. "PROJECTILIS" He screamed and a bright pink orb shot forth to where Garrett was. He managed to dodge, but the projectile seemed to curve towards him. Where the projectile impacted, the fine red carpet had been torn apart and the underlying floor was as if grinded into dust.
"What is it this time, you degenerate plebeians want from me?" Doraleus screamed while firing more projectile at Garrett.
Garrett imagined a barrier in his mind, he weaved the right patterns and send them into the crystal pommel of his dagger. Then it manifested in front of him, a huge translucent shield, reaching from toe to crest. The projectiles glanced off and dispersed without leaving as much as a ripple one th surface, but each of them sucked a bit more flux up the yarn. Garrett had enough to last a while, but he intended other uses for it.
"If you would just let me speak, I could offer you a deal!" He yelled towards Doraleus, who was still unwilling to let up his barrage.
"Screw you. I don't take deals with sneaky folk like you!" Doraleus seemed to take genuine pride in his deeds.
Garrett went closer, but he couldn't do anything if he couldn't find an opening in the mage's attacks. He was almost close enough to stab Doraleus, when he suddenly shot several projectiles to the sides, past Garrett's shield. He turned his head to see where they were heading and only now saw that they were making a large turn, almost scraping on the wall of the study, and flew back towards Garrett. He quickly ducked beneath them, keeping his shield faced to Doraleus, but missed the opportunity to keep an eye on him.
Doraleus had jumped over his desk, to Garrett's side, and screamed "SAGITTAE!", upon which several glowing shafts formed in front of him, zipping towards Garrett after hanging in the air for a heartbeat. Garrett tried to move his shield around, but did not make it in time. One of the arrows pierced his side, another one his upper arm, he let himself fall backwards, barely evading the other arrows, they impacted on the wall behind Garrett, leaving scorched holes.
Garrett lay on the floor, his shield had dissipated, and Doraleus was already preparing another spell. Quick, Garrett rolled backwards. His wounds hurt badly, but he managed to pull a Chill Spear from his belt and cast it. An icy white wedge formed in his hand then shot forward, being scattered by Doraleus shield. Whatever this shield was, it was too powerful to batter through.
Garrett re-established his shield and went back to the strategizing phase, accompanied by the sound of magic projectiles shattering on his shield, not dissimilar to metal and glass rupturing under great strain. He pulled the arcane lens from his belt and cast it front of him, then he dropped his shield.
Doraleus was surrounded by a complex lattice of arcane weavings, interacting with one another and reacting to the environment. It was a multi-layered shield that had so many fail safes and backup components, that Garrett doubted it would ever fit on a single palm-sized paper. It would be impossible to even counter it without seeing the full formula written out. Garrett had one spell that could tear through, but it was also guaranteed to kill the target, if it broke through. He dodged another projectile and pulled a second blade from its sheath. He could probably overpower, break or otherwise penetrate the defences with a large enough mundane force, he just needed to harness and store enough kinetic energy. While jumping from side to side, he jumped towards his target, trying a purely physical, head-on approach.
He launched himself with a few drops of flux, turning into a murderous projectile himself. Doraleus saw his approach and tried to conjure up a spell, but was too late. Garrett impacted on the mage and sank both blades into his abdomen, arcane sparks flying off the surface of his clothing, like a grinding metal mechanism. His momentum and mass pushed them further backwards, together, and slammed them against the back wall.
Doraleus was bleeding out fast, but Garrett had planned and prepared a simple healing spell, to stich up the wounds and prevent him from bleeding out. It made sure he could talk for a few more moment, but it was impossible to tell what had would happen if some of his injured interior organs were fused back together wrong. Garrett quickly cast the second Constrictor and checked the Doraleus and himself.
After the bleeding had stopped and Garret had seen to his own wounds, Garrett tied Doraleus up properly and put the metal cage on his head, for when the constrictor would run out. Finally, he also applied the reinforced Door Seal to make sure they went undisturbed even when the Sphere of Silence ran out.
He got himself a chair that was still unshattered and sat down in front of Doraleus. The room had been completely smacked at places, the magical projectiles spraying unbound energy in every direction. Apart from the destruction, the room was pompous indeed. The chairs were cushioned and the wooden furniture was carved in fine designs.
"Listen up, here's how it's gonna go." He said to the panicked man. "I will ask you questions and you will answer them truthfully. I'm the guy who liberated the girl known as Fibi from your care. Then, after I'm gone you will cease all attempts at locating and regaining control over her. Got that?"
Doraleus was just shaking his head and trying to say something. Garrett decided to sock him in the gut. After putting him back up, he talked to him again.
"With each repetition, this will just get more painful and disgusting." Garrett got out a small set of tools. Needles, blades, hammers, and various other implements of force. "But honestly, the worst is still this." He held up the paper with the formula for Pain of Compulsion. He was sure Doraleus wouldn't recognize it this quickly from this distance. Garrett had designed it himself, to maximize the effect. There were certain rules of humanity and mercy he wasn't really bound to but decided to follow anyway. But not today.
Garrett repeated his portrayal of what he intended to do with Doraleus and when he asked "Got that?" again, Doraleus eagerly nodded. Garrett removed the gag from Doraleus and started talking.
"Who did you send after the girl? Who did you hire?"
"What girl?" Doraleus asked full of panic.
"The crolachan girl in that dirty inn. The daughter of the fuck-whore you had chained up there, you piece of garbage."
He seemed to understand. "I had all investigations ceased; they couldn't find a trace of her after she had vanished."
"Bullshit." Garrett got up and took one of his smallest needles. He put it under the nail of the index finger on Doraleus right hand. Then he slowly pushed it in. Doraleus screams and squeals were so loud Garrett's own ears started to hurt.
"Now, again. Who did you hire to send that spirit after her?"
"What spirit? I just had the guard do a sweep with the hounds be they couldn't find anything! Then I put up a bounty on the two."
"What did you do with the mother's body?"
"I had them burn it."
"Did you use it to locate the girl by her blood ties? Or by some artefact containing the mother's blood?"
"I have no idea what you're saying. I didn't hire anyone. I gave up retrieving that girl. Please, she's all yours, I promise!"
Again, Garrett took the needle, but this time also a hammer.
The interrogation dragged on. Garrett had gotten no useful info out of Doraleus. The Sphere of Silence would wear off soon, so he decided to use Pain of Compulsion. "You will feel pain. Only fulfilling my requests will ease it." The moment he cast it, Doraleus started to scream in agony.
"Answer truthfully: What did you do to retrieve the girl you called Fibi?"
"I had the guard of the city sweep the area with the hounds but they didn't pick up anything. Then I gave up because anyone I could hire was more expensive than the girl was worth! I put up a meager bounty and noone even offered to collect it yet!"
"Answer truthfully: Who did you hire to find the girl you called Fibi?"
"No one!"
Garrett knew he couldn't be lying. This guy was extremely susceptible to pain and magic. A realization dawned on him. Doraleus was saying the truth. The spirit was not sent by this person or someone hired by him.
"Answer truthfully: Who else knows about the girl and would have an interest to retrieve her?"
Doraleus started listing a few people, but none of them had any involvement in or means for retrieving or even finding the girl.
"Answer truthfully: Do you know where the girl you called Fibi is or where she was taken to?"
"NO!"
Garrett turned around. He had followed a wrong lead. But not an unreasonable one.
"I'm sorry you had to endure this." He said to Doraleus before slitting his throat.
He got out the way he came in. He climbed back into the window he had accessed the roof through, and then made his way over to the still open window to the small unused room. The room was still dark, but after he had entered, he heard something. Something like a surprised gasp. As his eyes got used to the darkness, he saw a woman standing in the corner. She seemed to have been looking for something in the dim light of the moon. He walked over to her.
"I have seen nothing, Mister, please, I won't tell." She said, moments before he raised his dagger and made sure not even the faintest threads could connect him to this place. The girl had to be properly safe, now and later too.