Some time later Regina started to wake up. Keeping her eyes closed, she used her new [Blindsight] ability to look around. She learned that she was on some sort of rock or brick floor. There was a gag in her mouth, and her hands were tied behind her back. Mira, Eric, and Alexis were beside her, likewise restrained. Ramiro was also nearby but not restrained… apparently hiding somehow. There was furniture in the room. Desks, chairs, filing cabinets. They were in an office of some sort? She could hear that there were others in the room, but not close enough for her to see. She opened her eyes and looked around.

“One is awake, boss.”

Regina looked over at the man who spoke. He appeared to be an elf who had led a rough life, as there were several scars visible on his face and neck. “How do you get scars like that in a world with magic healing?” Regina thought.

“So she is,” said another man. This one was also an elf and had the leanness Regina had come to associate with them, yet he also had a presence of strength. The man knelt in front of Regina, “Pray tell, how is it that upon closing the inn's doors last eve, none of the chambers upon the third floor had been leased, and yet, come the morn, you and your companions did emerge from those very quarters?”

Regina just looked at the man. The man smiled and looked back over his shoulder to the others, “A fortitude most formidable dwells within this one.” He said with a laugh. As he turned back around, he backhanded Regina. She saw it coming and flowed with it, letting it knock her over. Rubbing her face against the floor, she managed to get the gag out of her mouth and took a deep breath before saying, “That the best you got?”

“Ah, a spirited one she is,” the man said, still acting big for his underlings who were eating up the show. He leaned down and set Regina back up. Regina slid her legs under herself as she is pulled up so that she was in a kneeling position. She could see Ramiro wanting to act, but she couldn't let him do anything yet. She wiggled her hands, getting his attention, and pointed at the binding on her wrists. Looking back up at the guy, she said, “Like to see you try that when I’m not tied up.”

The man gave her a wicked grin “Ah, and where lies the merriment in such an endeavor? I harbor no illusions of my own invulnerability. No, it is far more prudent to keep you ensnared. Now, wilt thou respond to my query, or shall we inflict more pain upon your person?”

Regina just raised an eyebrow at the man, “You are trying way too hard to sound fancy. It comes off as desperate.”

The man turned and snapped to one of the others, “Huy, give her mind a little touch!”

Huy nodded and made a motion with his hands, muttered something and then there was pain. Pain like Regina had never felt before, not in her body but in her mind. It felt like her brain was going to explode. She screamed for what felt like hours. The next thing she knew, she was picking herself up off the floor. Her mind hazy. As she tried to get her bearings she realized that her hands were no longer bound. “Did Ramiro cut these when I was screaming, or did I rip free while thrashing in pain?” she wondered to herself. She returned to the kneeling position she had been in before, noticing that everyone else was awake now, and they somehow looked both terrified and furious.

Regina noticed the men watching her but refused to react. She instead took some deep breaths while trying to find Ramiro. She couldn’t sense him behind her anymore. Now that her hands were free, she could cast some of her spells that require hand movement, but she needed not to let these guys see her do it. Sitting back on her feet, she let her arms rest behind her and started casting [Message], opening a telepathic conversation with Ramiro.

“Are you still here? Can you free the others?”

“Already did,” came the reply “Was just waiting for you to wake up.”

“When judgment comes, attack the mage first.”

The first guy walked up to Regina again. “Now, would you like to tell me how you got into my inn and who you’re working for? Or should I have Huy actually put some effort into hurting you this time?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Regina took a deep breath and tried to look nervous as she made eye contact with the man. “We… we came to deliver a message.”

“I knew it,” one of the men in the back cried out. “They’re working for The Council!”

“Shut up Nibeic!” snapped the boss before turning back to Regina. “Is he right? Do you work for The Council?”

Regina shook her head, “No. Bigger.”

“Oh shit,” said Huy, “They're with the king, aren't they?!? I knew this was bad!”

“Fool, the king would just send guards,” Nibeic said with a touch of fear in his voice. "It has to be another faction."

“Will you two shut up!” the boss yelled, cutting them off. Looking back at Regina, “Enough stalling. There will be no rescue. These rooms are soundproof and far enough below ground that no mage in the city can detect them. Either you talk now, or we can torture you and then you talk.”

Then the man’s gaze turns to the rest of her party and he grins, “Or maybe we’ll torture them until you talk.”

At this, Regina just grinned as she felt a warmth welling up inside of her. When it reached her mouth, she started to speak, the voice was hers, but the words came from somewhere else, “I work for Calore, the God of Oaths and Judgment. He has seen the oaths you swore and broke, and sent me here to judge you. And I find you all GUILTY!”

The man in front chuckled, “You think we care about the gods? What are they going to do? Huh? We all know they’re no longer allowed to kill mortals.” He had a huge smile on his face until he turned and saw that Huy’s throat had been slit and Ramiro was striding toward Nibeic, dagger in hand. By the time he turned back to Regina, she’d already stood and had a dagger in hand as well. He quickly jerked back, causing Regina to miss her first strike but Regina lunged forward a second time and sank the dagger into his right shoulder. “Guards! To me!” he yelled while stumbling back.

By now, everyone was on their feet and had hit their presets, equipping their arms and armor. A side door to the room opened, and folks started rushing in, all stereotypical toughs, many with improvised weapons such as hammers and pipes. Before they could take three steps into the room, Eric had put arrows in the chest of the first man and the throat of the second man. As they fell, more men shoved in past them. Alexis ran forward, and with a few quick swings of her sword, the next man dropped as well. But she was quickly getting overwhelmed by the shear number of people streaming in and had to focus on just keeping her shield up and pushing back. Suddenly, Mira was behind her casting bolts of magic at the men pushing against her shield. The men screamed in pain but continued to push. Eric continued to loose arrows into the crowd. Ramiro soon appeared toward the back of the toughs and started stabbing them over and over. It took less time than any of them would have thought to kill over a dozen men.

Regina saw none of this, her whole focus on the man she was internally referring to as Boss-man. He continued to back peddle while she kept lashing out with her dagger. “Not so tough now that I’m not bound up and kneeling before you, are you? How does it feel knowing you will die soon? Knowing that you messed up so royally that a god sent us here to kill you?”

The more she spoke the more Boss-man paled. Regina was sure that he was about to faint from the fear alone. But then she caught something in his hands. A movement that she had thought was trembling but now realized he had been casting a spell the entire time he was backing up. Before she could react a blast of… something washed out from the man, throwing everyone back against the far wall. Before any of them could regain their feet, Boss-man made for the door.

It took a few moments for Regina to get untangled from the office furniture and other people that were also blown against the back wall. As she stood she saw the rest of her group doing the same. Ramiro was already on his feet and quickly finished off a few of the thugs or guards or whatever they were before they could stand. Celeste was going person to person touching them and it took Regina a moment to realize that she was healing the rest of the party.

“What hit us?” Regina asked as she brushed herself off. “I thought it was wind at first but it didn’t feel right.”

“I think that was force magic,” answered Eric. “But I’m not entirely sure how I know that.”

“Whatever it was, we need to make sure he can’t cast that the next time we have him cornered; if we can even find him now.”

“He can’t have gone too far,” Ramiro said. “I managed to throw a dagger into his thigh as he was heading for the door. Pretty sure I got an artery.”

Regina looked to her husband, “Rangers can track, right? Find our target.”

They all followed Eric into the next room and then down a hallway and into a large room full of cages stacked on one another. And the cages were full of people. Several of the captives looked over at them but none of them made a sound.

“It’s like an animal shelter for people,” Eric said.

Mira was fighting back tears, “This is so wrong. We’re going to help them right?”

Regina shook her head, “Not yet. First, we kill the man responsible. Then we free them.”