Page 68 of Elven Lies

Tusks roared, spewing even more flying spittle as the last wisp of charred black smoke rose from the raw and bloody bridge of his nose. The ropes binding his wrists to his ankles behind him while he lie on the marble on his belly made it impossible for him to move.

“Or maybe yourfriendhas more to say…” Rowan pointed at Shorty, who blubbered and scrunched his eyes tightly shut.

“I don’t know a thing about it, I swear!” Shorty wailed. “H-honest! I d-d-didn’t do it!”

“So you had nothing to do with the kidnapping in the amusement park, either,” Rebecca clarified.

“Yeah, lady, yeah! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

“Then who the helldidsend you?” Rowan asked, flicking a finger toward them in warning while golden sparks flickered to life at his fingertip. “I’m only gonna ask that once.”

“Who s-sent us?” Tusks asked, looked quickly back and forth between his elven interrogators, then glanced at his buddy tied up on the floor beside him. “I mean, we… It’s… We work for someone…”

“This is the part where you tell us who,” Rebecca prompted.

“We can’t!” Shorty shrieked, his eyes clenched shut as he furiously shook his head. “We can’t tell you. We can’t!”

“It’s really quite easy,” Rowan added. “You just open your mouth and say the name.”

“Easy for you, maybe,” Tusks spat. “Not us. We’re bound.”

“What does that mean?”

Rebecca sighed and rolled her eyes. “Bound as in they literally can’t say the name. The ability’s blocked.”

“Huh.” Rowan folded his arms. “How perfectly convenient for them.”

“Forget the name, then,” she continued. “Why are you here? Why did you attack us?”

The orcs shared another look, then Tusks struggled to readjust his position and failed. “I-it weren’t supposed to beyou.”

“Excuse me?”

“Youweren’t supposed to be here. We were l-looking for someone else to show up with the k-key to that d-d-door.”

Rebecca took another step closer. “Who?”

“L-listen! The job was simple, okay? Look, the changeling was supposed to show up for a meeting with our boss.”

“The boss you oh-so-conveniently can’t name for us?” Rowan asked.

Tusks nodded fervently. “But s-see…the thing is, Aldous ain’t never showed up to the meeting. Blew our boss right off like he don’t give a shit. And the boss don’t take no disrespect like that.”

“He s-s-sent us here to wait for him when he came back for his stash,” Shorty added. “It’s the right door, on the r-right level. Just…the wrong changeling.”

“Or no changeling at all,” Rowan murmured.

Rebecca sighed again, then dipped her head to pinch the bridge of her nose against an oncoming headache fueled by yet another figurative pain in her ass.

“No shit he never showed up,” she said. “Aldous is dead.”

Both orcs gaped at her, their mouths dropping open simultaneously.

“Come on, lady,” Tusks said with a nervous laugh. “Don’t jerk us around like that.”

“It’s true. Aldous Corriger is dead. Has been for a few weeks. You wouldn’t have gotten anything out of him here anyway, and you’re not going to.”

Both trussed-up magicals revealed matching expressions of dawning realization and subsequent horror. Then Shorty started to hyperventilate.

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