"Mister Lindorf, good afternoon," a slimy voice greeted us wearing a black cowl and robe. Unlike most Imperium he didn't wear a mask and revealed an ugly smirk. Behind him were two other Imperium who looked like assistants. "Beautiful timing. Just got finished with questioning the last gal. Real screamer that one." A clear pit of disgust swam into my stomach. This man didn't deserve to exist in this world.
The higher ranking Imperium snatched Marley's chains from me, "We have a priest of the Goddess. Apparently she is able to cure the artefacts binding on the slum."
"Oh, quite the young beauty as well," the slimy man rubbed his hands across her face, smelling her hair. "Her mana is lovely. I'll make her talk and afterwards she'd make a lovely puppet." I was beginning to think I'd have to cook for an entire month to make it up to Marley after this. "Strap her down."
I did as I was told and began to push Marley onto the table, binding her. As I did so I drew close by her ear and whispered, "Get their attention."
As I finished Marley laughed, "Do you think this will make me talk? I'll never betray the Goddess."
"We shall see," the slimy man took out a whip and cracked it. "Don't worry I'll start easy." The Imperium watched with content expressions as I slipped behind them. I bided my time as he snapped the whip against Marley's arm. She tensed up in pain. The torture continued as I waited to strike, at times averting my eyes. It wasn't pleasant to watch as Marley's clothes were torn and her skin cut apart but I needed to wait till they were all distracted. Eventually Marley released her voice unable to hold back from gasping.
The slimy man grinned, "Now on to the next one. Don't break now." He picked up a pair of pliers.
"Wait," Mister Lindorf stopped him and stepped closer to Marley. "Girl do you feel like talking yet?"
"Okay!" Marley cried. "Please just stop. I've had enough."
"Good, now tell me. How did you cure them?"
"I prayed to the Goddess, that's all I did I swear," she cried and tears fell.
"Liar!" Lindorf grabbed her hair. "The Goddess has no sway on matters of magic. Even your prowess in healing is granted by our research. Now tell me what did you do!?"
"I-I," seeing I was done, Marley spat on his face. "I'm going to enjoy crushing you."
"You bitch!" he slapped Marley who just let out a vengeful smile. "Krant I command you to break her…. Krant?" he finally turned around.
"Hey there," I waved my knife at him. The bodies of Krant and the two other Imperium laid on the stone. Their blood joining those they tortured. Before he could react I jumped towards him, grabbed his arm and snapped it back, forcing him to the floor. As expected he was quite skilled and continued to form the mana within him. "No you don't." I shoved a powder into his face, causing him to gasp and sputter. A burst of electricity shot from his body sending me into the nearby wall. The force surprised me and I coughed falling to my knees.
He struggled to stand up spitting out puffs as he did so, "You pesky little rat. Who are you?" His finger pointed at my heart. "Speak before I smite you down."
"Try it," I laughed challengingly.
"So be it," his finger lit up only to explode as the mana went out of control. It wasn't a pleasant sight. He screamed in pain holding the remains of his hand. Luckily the room we were in had been chosen for a reason and no sound escaped.
"You're pretty daft to use magic after ingested an unknown powder," I managed to stand wobbling on my feet. My muscles had been paralysed somewhat by his attack.
"I'll- I'll kill you!" he regained his composure and picked up the large knife on the bench. As he stepped towards me a hammer swung into his side causing him to convulse to the floor. Marley stood over him broodingly. Her wounds already healed.
"My turn to ask the questions," she kicked away the knife.
"Hang on, heal me first please," I reached out to her.
"Suffer as punishment for a while," she smiled to me a little too sweetly.
"Fine," I steadied myself and sat down in one of the nearby chairs. I didn't have many potions on me and my injuries weren't that severe.
"Now tell me, where is Ardent and the Archmage?" Marley swung her hammer down on his remaining good hand.
The man squealed in pain and sobbed, "They're in the sanctuary!"
"What are you doing to them?" she raised her hammer again.
"Please- the pain… make it stop," he began to beg.
Unfortunately he was barking up the wrong tree as Marley looked down at him with a creepy grin, "Don't worry I enjoy it." Now I thought about it she probably had a lot in common with the slimy man I killed earlier. "Your name was Lindorf right? Speak before I make it so you never can again."
He struggled to compose himself, "We trapped them. We paid off some of the higher members and with their helped trapped the rest."
"And?"
"We're trying to drain them slowly," he sobbed, face becoming pale.
"Marley he's going to bleed out," I said.
"Tch," she spat and a glow spread from her hand to him, sealing the wounds but leaving him in torment.
"What about the other people in the guild?"
He calmed down substantially, "We sealed the trouble makers in the great hall. The rest of them are being kept elsewhere." I frowned. So to the rest of the guild it was being seen as a struggle for power at the top. It didn't really concern most of them. As long as they got to continue their research they didn't care who the Archmage was. The Imperium winning over some of the higher ups would have definitely helped.
"How do we free the Archmage?" I asked glaringly.
"I'm asking the question here Rain!" Marley snapped at me and I raised my hands in peace. She was getting way too into this. "Tell me, how do we free the Archmage?" She lowered hammer again, this time high up on his arm, breaking the bone.
"Goddess be damned you bitch!" he screamed.
"Did you just spite my Goddess?" Marley frowned.
"No- please. I don't know. I don't rank that high. I just know that they're using some kind of artefact," he cried and became a sobbing mess. "Forgive me."
"Marley I think that's enough. We got more than I thought we would anyway," my muscles were better now and I pulled her away slowly. "Sorry about before, I didn't mean to get you tortured."
To my surprise she smiled pleasantly, "Actually I kind of enjoyed it. It's not so bad to be on the receiving end once in a while." I stepped away from her unconsciously.
"I've got you now!" Mister Lindorf suddenly shouted as a mass of mana built up in his body. Instead of his magic being released however, his skin began to dry out and beads of blood popped across his body. He struggled to cry out in panic but it was too late.
"Idiot totally forgot that he was poisoned…," I sighed as he became a husk of a corpse. Whatever magic he tried to use it was big enough to kill him almost instantly. Marley's hand touched my shoulder and the remaining muscle pain I had faded. "Thanks."
"You still owe me," she sifted through a pile of discarded clothing and pulled on a robe to cover herself.
"I know." I began to check if the remaining potions I had on me where still intact. They seemed to be fine despite the shock I had taken earlier. It was a bit of shame I had to use the mana poison on the now dead Mister Lindorf. The ingredients were expensive, though then again a truly experienced magician should have been able to counter it. I had two more bags of the poison, three general healing draughts, a few antidotes, and some powdered explosives. Due to our disguise I couldn't bring my full set.
"You good?" Marley asked as she tidied herself up.
"Should be," I looked around the room, my eyes following the trail of blood leading to another door. "Stay close to me."
It was solid and sound proof like the rest of the room, built to withstand large impacts. It seemed most of the Guild had been built this way to prevent accidents from spreading. As much as it stopped the screams releasing from torture, it had kept us hidden during our counter attack. The question now however was where to go from here and what to do with the bodies. I opened the door slowly hoping for an answer.
A waft a thick infected air passed into me as the seal on the door was unleashed. The sight matched the smell. Men and women had been chained to the walls and ground, the hum and glow of magic binding them in place. They were the torture victims before Marley, broken battered and bloody, some had already passed to their next life.
"Marley…," I looked at the girl conflicted. They needed healing but that would take time and energy we couldn't spare.
"We're helping them," she stepped past me into the room. "Even for me this is too much." Her hands quickly moved to the worst of them, a young women covered in more blood than clothing. A slight regret built inside my heart for killing the Imperium's torturer so cleanly. He had deserved to suffer. I shook the thought away.
"Get them stable, but don't ware yourself out," I squatted beside her and did my own work to comfort the victims. Thankfully there were medical supplies in the previous room, their purpose however had been to prolong a person's life for more pain.
"I know," Marley nodded grimly as she began to heal the wounds that could become fatal if left alone.
An older man wakened as we reached him. His eyes still had a firm light. "You… you're not Imperium. Who are you?"
"We're friends of Ardent," I replied.
"Ardent…," he smirked painfully. "You must be the Hero's companions."
"Pretty much," I held out some water for him to drink. "Listen we can't stay here and it would take me far too long to free you all. What I need is information, can you help?"
He coughed as he drank, "It would be a pleasure. I am Master Jasper, aid to the Archmage. Not even four days ago things here were like normal, though really if we had paid attention we could have seen the trouble brewing." He laughed spitefully. "We were betrayed by a group of influential Masters. Under the promise of funding and power they attacked us with the Imperium's help sealing most the rest of us Masters away. The rest of the Guild fell into panic not sure what side to take. People like me who remained tried to retaliate and well," he gestured to himself, "I got out easy."
I nodded along, "I heard that the Archmage is in the sanctuary, how do I get in?"
"The path should be open so that's easy. Fixing this situation… not so much."
"Do you know anything about any artefacts? There should be a few, one is being used to puppet the people in the slums, another to seal the Archmage and one to control the Hero."
"So that's why they stole it," Master Jasper groaned, "we lost an artefact that could control a person's will, but the mana consumption to use it reached amounts bordering insanity. As for the first two, I did see them close by the sanctuary. Stop them, release the Archmage and the other Masters and we might be able to fend off the Imperium."
"And how do I do that? Is there a switch?"
"Sorry, it's not my area of expertise. What I do know is if you hit something hard enough it always breaks."
"Great," I sighed. "How many people am I dealing with here?"
"A few dozen Imperium and traitors plus whoever else came from the Empire. I'd help but I'm stuck here." He hefted his chains as they glowed ominously. "Like you said, it would take too much time to free me. You have an hour at best before you're found."
"Is there anything else I should know?"
"Watch out for the Imperium with the golden masks, they're considered Masters. Even worse are the buggers who betrayed us. They shouldn't be too hard to spot. Noble bastards to a tee."
"Thanks, I'll keep note of that," I shook his hand firmly. "Hopefully we'll save you soon."
"I'll count on it," he sighed and slumped against the wall. "Thank you for healing my colleagues and I… it was hard enough as it was."
"No problem," I stood up. "Marley are you done?"
She wiped the sweat from her forehead, "This should be enough for now." Despite my warning from before she was looking pale. It was no wonder considering the beating she had taken before.
I placed my hand on her shoulder. Her muscles were weak and I could feel her mana waning. "Stay here and rest up."
"But," she began to complain.
"It'll be easier for me to get around without you anyway. Just don't do anything stupid and once you feel better find the others." I let her go and headed for the door, "Oh right and be a darl and clean up the bodies outside. Can't have them being found."
Her lips curled into a tired smirk, "Fine but don't die. I promised Taylor."
"Don't plan on it," I strapped the Imperium mask back onto my face and pulled up the robe's hood.