Chapter 34 - Interrogation

Skyle’s expression was one of forced indifference as his eyes took in the corpses littering the ground. There was a cold fury that burned inside his gaze, but it smoldered quietly, smothered by the presence of another emotion that was stronger still: disgust.

It was hard to tell just how much of it was directed at the dead bodies, at the man with the burned off stump sitting up from the ground, or at Skyle himself. After all, there was a natural resistance towards the act of brutally taking another man’s life that was still difficult to circumvent, no matter how much rage and justification his mind held.

After all, the heart seldom listens to the mind’s logic arguments. Instead, often emotions which were outside an individual’s conscious control would bleed their insidious way into their thinking.

Still, even with the anger and disgust contending with one another within his eyes, Skyle didn’t miss Leon’s smug smirk as the bigger boy glanced at the newly arrived Skyle.

Although the look annoyed him, Skyle chose to keep his peace and simply nodded his acknowledgement to Leon before standing off to one side. In turn, Leon turned his regard toward the man on the ground, who had barely spared Skyle a glance before returning his anxious gaze to the ball of fire swirling in the summoner’s hand.

“We were only following orders to intercept a specific caravan, retrieve a certain item, and eliminate all witnesses,” the man reluctantly began, sounding as though each word had to be forced past the constriction in his throat.

Just as well, as Leon quickly interrupted him.

“There’s obviously still an unfortunate misunderstanding here. Out of the kindness of my heart, I will clarify an obvious misassumption you seem to be operating under,” Leon sighed, sounding rather vexed and without a hint of any kindness whatsoever. “If liquefying your flesh and burning your bones to ashes takes me less time than listening to some vague, generic information anyone with half a brain could deduce, I will save myself the trouble and just light up one more funeral pyre just like that.”

Leon snapped his fingers, and the ball of fire suddenly flared up with a tongue of flame that rose a couple feet into the air. Although the words were spoken in a casual, indifferent tone, it was perhaps this blithe indifference combined with the brutal threat that made it all that much more effective.

“In fact, the less questions I need to speak, the higher your chances of keeping your other limbs intact,” Leon noted indifferently. “Now, stop wasting my time.”

The man seemed to struggle visibly for a moment longer, but there was defeat in his voice when he finally began to speak once more.

“I’m the captain of a team of hunters contracted to the Seras clan. Ten days ago, we received orders from headquarters to intercept a caravan from the Greenwood clan in Dalorn. Upon arrival, we discovered nine other hunter teams already laying in wait, all with the same orders. Retrieve a specific package, eliminate all witnesses and make it look like a raid gone bad. A day ago, we finally discovered the caravan, but the package was nowhere to be found. We.. convinced one of the survivors to confess that the package had been given to a girl for safekeeping. The girl was not among the bodies, and one of our teams returned with word of a group of kids who had escaped into the red zone. Four teams entered the red zone shortly after while the rest of the teams established a perimeter.”

Skyle’s eyes narrowed to slits as he spoke softly, “What was the package?”

The man shook his head. “It was a map, along with an unmarked medallion the size of a palm. We were not told anything else about the items.”

Leon and Skyle quickly exchanged glances, recalling the treasure Emil had mentioned. According to this man’s words, Leena should be the girl all the hunters were looking for.

“Where does the map lead?” Skyle demanded.

“I don’t..” the man’s answer abruptly cut off as he glanced at Leon. After swallowing loudly, the man continued in a low voice. “Ah, I wasn’t given that information. I only heard a couple other captains talking about Ashkandoren. That’s it.”

“Ashkandoren?”

The man shook his head. “The Lost Ruins. Countless hunters and seekers have lost their lives searching the red zones for the supposed treasure of Ashkandoren, but no one’s ever come even close. It remains nothing but a rumor, but every year more fools will rush to their deaths to chase after it.”

Skyle frowned in thought as he pondered that they truly couldn’t afford to get mixed up in some idiotic treasure hunt. “What about the medal?”

The man shook his head. “I really don’t know anything about that, other than the fact that it is smooth to the touch and impossible to scratch. It must be important, because they scrambled a 10 teams to retrieve just two items.”

Left unspoken was the fact that a whole caravan full of innocent people had been slaughtered for the items. Clearly, clan Seras valued them highly.

Skyle and Leone exchanged a quick glance, recalling one of the items taken from Fierro’s chest. It was the metallic disk that they hadn’t been able to figure out. The description given by the man seemed to match perfectly. Was it just a coincidence?

“How many men per team?” Leon asked.

“Six to eight, like my team,” the man replied.

“How were you supposed to contact the other teams?” Leon pressed.

“Using that,” the man answered gruffly, pointing to a small whistle hanging from a thick leather cord hanging around the neck of one of the corpses on the ground. “It will emit a distinctive sound that will carry for a long distance, only we weren’t able to even sound the alert.”

The man glanced towards the arrows jutting out of his fallen comrades’ corpses helplessly.

“How did they know about this package from the Greenwood clan?” Skyle spoke up.

The man shook his head. “We’re just paid receive orders and follow them.”

Skyle frowned. “Who is the man in charge of the contracted hunter teams in the Seras clan then?”

“That..” The man’s eyes flickered back and forth from Skyle’s face to the flame still dancing in Leon’s hand. In the end, he shuddered as he closed his eyes. “His name is Grimwald, the huntmaster for the clan. Look, I told you all I know, you must keep your word.”

Leon’s eyes flashed with a dangerous light. “Are you doubting my word?”

“N-no, I just, I really don’t know anything else,” the man raised his hands helplessly.

“How long until you check in?” Leon twisted his mouth in distaste.

“At dawn and dusk of every day.”

After a few more questions, the interrogation finally drew to a close.

“Very well, we’re done here. Now, strip.” Leon directed.

“Huh?” the man stared stupidly at Leon.

“Strip and place all your belongings on the ground,” Leon repeated emotionlessly, but his fingers began to trace small circles around the surface of the fireball he held in his grasp in a mildly threatening gesture.

While the man slowly began to remove his equipment and clothes, Skyle laid a hand upon Leon’s shoulder, drawing him back a few steps.

“You can’t kill him,” Skyle whispered, his eyes serene though the words were barely audible.

Leon’s left eye twitched. “Like hell I can’t! Just watch me, I’ll roast the swine in his own juices.”

Skyle shook his head. “You gave him your word.”

“A noble’s word is only given to equals, not to animals like him,” Leon sneered.

“Your word is your word, period. Whom you give it to does not change its value. Only you can do that,” Skyle countered.

“What’s the matter with you? You just killed all his men without batting an eye, and now you’re complaining about one more?” Leon growled.

“It’s not about the act of killing, it is about the integrity of the man I would call my friend,” Skyle calmly replied.

A silence ensued during which only the sounds of the man throwing his gear and clothes on the ground could be heard.

“It’s too much of a risk to leave him alive. It makes no sense to let him contact the other hunter teams and have them come after us,” Leon finally shook his head.

“I smeared dracoling poison from one of the glands onto each arrow. He should begin to feel it soon enough. According to what Leena told us about the poison, an adult will die within a day unless immediately treated.”

“It’s a needless risk,” Leon muttered. “Your squeamish conscience is going to get us killed.”

“You should have thought of that before giving that scum your word,” Skyle shrugged.

“You mean the one you’re trying so desperately to save? And how else was I going to get him to talk? Tear off his fingernails and burn his fingers off one at a time? You want to play torturer now? Be my guest.”

Skyle pointedly didn’t glance at one of the man’s limbs, which ended a charred stump. Instead, he held Leon’s gaze without a word.

In the end, it was Leon who walked away with a disgusted growl.

Approaching the man who now stood completely naked, Leon ordered him to turn around. No sooner had the man complied, Leon stepped up behind the map and delivered a vicious blow with the flat of his sword to the man’s head.

The man slumped to the ground with hardly a grunt, out cold. Leon spat disgustedly to one side, and began to search through the man’s possessions. Skyle didn’t say a word as he did the same with the rest of the corpses in the small camp, while at the same time retrieving the arrows he could salvage.

The men were bearing packs that each contained basic food rations and water skins. The food rations consisted of dried meat jerky and hard biscuits. They each also had a purse filled with small stacks of identical square notes with an intricate red seal on them. Bold letters stamped across the top read, “Seras Seal of Exchange - Guarantee for 1 ration”. A few of the notes said 10 rations instead, with a slightly more complicated seal.

What was far more fascinating were the weapons the men had been using. Only one sword and three knives were made of crude iron. The other blades were made of a grey material similar to bone that had been sharpened to bear an edge. Although it was much lighter than steel, it felt too light to land a hard blow and too brittle for sustained combat. Small cracks and chips could be seen along the length of the blade, proving Skyle’s suspicions.

The captain’s belongings were a little more interesting. He wore a sword made of iron and a dagger made of steel, though both looked to have been worn down by hard use and age. Still, they were polished and well taken care of, showing that the man had valued the weapons greatly even though the craftsmanship didn’t seem anything exceptional.

Skyle recalled that Leena had mentioned rifters bearing excellent weapons. He now reflected that perhaps it wasn’t that the people arriving through the rifts had any exceptional weapons. Instead, examining the quality of the materials used for weapons here, or lack thereof, Skyle concluded that there must be a chronic lack of basic essential metals such as bronze, iron or steel.

The captain’s purse held a couple notes of 100 rations in his stack, along with lower denominations. He also had four essence crystals of various sizes wrapped carefully in cloth, though the largest was only the size of a large pea. Finally, there was a medal with a design similar to the one in the seals found upon the notes. Upon closer study, the design seemed to resemble an elongated S.

Skyle speculated that this might be the symbol of the Seras clan. It seemed logical to conclude that the Seras clan dominated New Seras, though they would have to confirm it. If so, then why would the foremost power in New Seras target a small, insignificant clan like the Greenwood clan? What kind of treasure were they after? How had they found out about it?

Skyle glanced towards the unconscious captain lying on the ground, and shook his head ruefully. When the man had been interrogated by Leon, Skyle had been reading the subtle changes in the man’s aura with the True Sight. To his delight, Skyle had been able to see consistent patterns whenever the man struggled between telling the truth or not, and Skyle had been able to confirm that the man seemed to be honest when he said he had told all he knew.

In truth, Skyle could have used the threat of the poison to effectively obtain answers from the man without having to resort to torture or lies. After all, the man should have been feeling the initial symptoms of the poison, and an experienced hunter would know that without immediate treatment he would be doomed. Time would have been in Skyle’s side, not the man’s.

Examining the blood still spreading out under the man from the deep wound to his stomach, Skyle wondered idly whether he would live. In truth, though his aversion toward taking another person’s life was still there, buried deep inside his heart, his logical mind only had to recall the brutal images of little Bryan’s final moments to feel little to no compunction at striking back against these cruel men.

After all, how many helpless men, women and children from the Greenwood clan had they slaughtered? It was also unlikely to be their first job. How many other clueless caravans had they raided before, perhaps in this very same route? How many more would they continue to victimize in the future?

As he looked down at the unconscious figure of the man at his feet, Skyle realized that the more he thought about these facts, the more comfortable he grew with the idea of this man dying. After all, hours later when the man finally awoke, he would be weak with bloodloss and the poison would have spread to every corner of his body. By that time, even if he received help it would likely be too late.

If the man would die by Skyle’s hand anyway, then why let him sully his friend’s honor and good name? Even if Leon himself did not care, Skyle found that he did. His father had always taught him to be a man who stood by his family, his friends and his word.

Doing two out of those three for the price of one more death added to his tally, Skyle found that he did not mind this bargain at all.

Thus, they slowly made their way back to the red zone, and the tree where the girl and the treasure awaited.