The woman took his sword and his storage bag, tied his wrists together, and then picked up the man who had collapsed. Thankfully, she led him through the alleyways, instead of parading him through the city proper, holding onto the rope connected to his wrists and pulling him along. She’d glance back at him often, glaring intently. As if she expected him to try to make a break for it and try to lose her in the alleys or in the crowd. He followed along obediently, trying not to give her an actual reason to fight him. He can assume that she realized by the fact that came out of being slammed into the wall unscathed - that he had plenty of aura to spare or a magical shield. She probably wanted to make sure that he didn’t try anything while her back was turned.
He had no intention of getting in trouble with the guards. Unfortunately, this wasn’t even something like in Balrech where a specific group put a target on his back and the knights went after him for it. He wanted to know what this spirit mage was doing. Whether or not he attacked people and guards specifically or if the spirit he’d made a pact with simply possessed him and went wild. He also had no intention to antagonize the guards unless he suspected some foul play. He’d keep his eyes and ears open, and he also had Mikharma watching through his eyes, so they’d be able to follow him to their eventual destination.
The building she led him to looked grander than he expected. A city hall of some kind, maybe? Or a similarly important building. He didn’t think his captor was in much of a mood to talk, so he didn’t bother to ask. She handed him off to a few more guards in this building, who moved him to an underground space. He thought they’d bring him to a jail cell right away, but instead they brought him into some kind of interrogation room. Entirely stone walls, with a short table and a couple of chairs. Taking a seat and waiting, it didn’t take long for him to start hearing voices nearby. Muffled, muted voices of a man and a woman, loud enough for him to pick up but impossible for him to tell what they were actually saying.
Unable to make out the conversation happening nearby for the moment. Tahir’s thoughts turned inward, as he went over the information he had on this situation so far. A spirit mage’s spirit rampaged in the square just outside Nagyermend’s grand library. His soul sight told him that it was around tier two in terms of power, which explained why it went down with the direct hit of a single advanced spell. It seemed to rely on physical attacks, which made Tahir doubt that the summoner was possessed because he used magic. The only thing that convinced Tahir that something was up with that bond was the backlash the summoner experienced.
Backlash that occurred if the summoner overtaxed themselves on the summoning - such as if the spirit used more than half of their aura or mana to bring forth, and that spirit's body was destroyed. A similar backlash occurred to aura and mana users if they used more than half their pools too quickly. Something Tahir himself might have experienced with those advanced spells if they hadn’t taken around twenty seconds each to cast. That backlash implied that the spirit took a dangerous amount of resources to summon, but as Tahir thought on it, a tier one spirit probably wouldn’t have presented that much of an issue for the city’s guards. It wasn’t after the library, since it likely wouldn’t have been rampaging around in the square and would have rushed for the library instead. Additionally, the mage only interfered when Tahir cast his first spell to restrain the spirit. Tahir probably would have noticed him before, when he first came upon the scene and when he started casted the first spell otherwise. He wanted the spirit to draw attention.
“Hmm. Did he summon it as a distraction for something?” Tahir pondered aloud. A sudden uncomfortable silence interrupted his thoughts on the matter. The people nearby had stopped talking. Of course, he couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they could probably hear him clearly. This was some sort of interrogation room. Less than a minute later, two people came into the room. Tahir recognized the woman from before - the one that brought him in, and beside her stood a man that he didn’t recognize. He had red hair, straight but cut just above the shoulders, with slightly pointed ears peeking out the sides of his head, and green eyes covered by a pair of glasses. He dressed in a gray suit, notably lacking the golden bangles that would mark him as a member of the guard.
“I’ll have to apologize for our rather cold reception.” The man spoke. “According to my friend here, you’re a spirit mage who is exuding quite a bit of the same energy that she’s seen other spirit mages radiating with her divine sense. More than most she’s seen, in fact. Can we take that to assume you’ve summoned a rather powerful spirit, and if so, where might it be right now?”
Quite a bit of questions to ask as soon as you walk in. Tahir thought, but he had no reason not to answer. “Probably on her way here-” He barely got the words out when the priestess rushed forward and grabbed him by the throat, sharp claws digging uncomfortably deep.
“Now now, I’m sure he didn’t mean that as a threat.” The man stepped forward, grabbing the priestess’s forearm and gently pulling it back and away from Tahir. “You will have to excuse her. The past few weeks has had her dealing with quite a bit of hostile spirit mages. You having some of the strongest spiritual energy she’s observed is likely putting her a bit on edge, but for my part I have to assume that someone who so proudly displays their platinum Redcloud watch wouldn’t intentionally cause such a commotion. With that in mind, would you be willing to speak under magic that compels you to tell the truth? It would help this process go much more smoothly with that assurance.”
“It’ll just prevent me from telling lies, not force me to speak, right?” Tahir had heard of this kind of magic before. Handy for an interrogation, but the stronger versions of it bordered on mind-control.
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“Right you are. Should you wish, your lips can certainly remain sealed, though that won’t do much for earning your freedom.” He began to cast the spell, and Tahir felt its effects washing over him, choosing not to resist them. “Ah, where are my manners? My name is Merui Hartema, and my partner here is Lady Namilah Ankhta, a priestess of Odium. Since it seems you’ve been affected successfully by the magic, could you please tell us your name, current affiliations, and the reason you find yourself in Nagyermend at this time?”
Explains why she seems so eager to put me in a state where she’d need to read my last rights. Tahir thought. Almost instinctively, he brought his hands together and pulled up his sleeve to hide the mark he received from his blessing. “I’m Tahir. I’m affiliated with the Redclouds and no one else presently, and I’m in the city because I was chosen for the Redclouds’ latest sponsorship to clear out the massive ruin that appeared nearby.” The magic certainty did work. After he gave his answer, he tried saying something he knew would be a deliberate lie, and the words just wouldn’t leave his throat.
“All well and good,” Merui replied, taking out a small notebook and writing in it with a pencil. “Now then Tahir, we’ve got you pegged as a spirit mage and you haven’t particularly denied it thus far, and you have a relatively powerful spirit summoned so far - is this your and your spirit’s first time in Nagyermend?”
“Yes.” Tahir answered. “As far as I’m aware, at least. If any of my spirits had been to Nagyermend, it wouldn’t have been me who brought them there.”
“Oh?” Merui said with a tone that indicated something about Tahir’s answer piqued his interest. “You’ve summoned more than one? Could you describe the spirits you’ve contracted for me?”
“Er…” Tahir paused, and he could feel the conversation shift. Namilah leaned forward, but Merui put a hand on her shoulder as if to stop her from speaking.
“Come now, Tahir. This conversation had started off rather well. As I’ve said, you’re well within your right to withhold an answer, but we can’t help but speculate on your reasons for doing so.”
“I’m not trying to withhold anything it’s just- I’ve come to realize my position as a spirit mage is out of the ordinary, so I was trying to figure out how to explain it. Among the spirits I’ve bonded with that actually have physical forms, I have four. Two of them - including the one I have summoned currently, could be easily mistaken for mortals. The other two are a white serpent with feathered wings, and a diwata- a woman who looks like she’s made of flowers.”
“Interesting. Of course none of those match the description of the spirit found at the scene in front of the library, so you have effectively cleared your name in that regard. I have one last question for you. A little while ago you covered your arm by pulling up one of your sleeves, did you have any particular reason for doing so?”
Tahir blinked in surprise. He’d noticed that? “It’s…no reason in particular, I just thought having this visible might complicate things.” He pulled his sleeve up, revealing the mark of Odium, symbolizing a blessing on his hand. Namilah leaned forward once more and reached for his hand, with a far gentler motion than any she’d taken thus far. She held it for several seconds before finally letting go, though without saying anything she swiftly undid the bindings around his hands.
“A blessing from lord Odium himself. Those don’t come easy. If you don’t mind me asking, how did you earn yourself that?”
“That’s…not a question I feel comfortable answering under these circumstances.” Tahir replied.
“Ah, I understand.” Merui said, and Tahir felt the truth-seeking magic around him fade. “Perhaps you’d be willing to tell us another time. That being said, do you have any questions for us?”
“Right…” Tahir said. Merui seemed incredibly perceptive and insightful. It felt as if he already had an idea of what Tahir wanted, and why he decided to cooperate as much as he did. “I’d like to hear more about the spirit mages you’ve been dealing with, and help if possible, but only if it doesn’t interfere with the ruin delve.”
“Honestly, with the issues we’ve been having with them, we’d certainly appreciate someone familiar with the art. Let's discuss the finer details as we escort you out. This little interrogation has certainly concluded at this point. Give me just a moment to collect your things.”
Motioning for him to follow, Merui and Namilah led Tahir out into a hallway, and Merui stepped into another room. Shortly after, Namilah gave Tahir a short bow. “Allow me to apologize. I haven’t held spirit mages in very high regard, so I’ve dealt with most that I’ve come across lately in much the same way. Had I noticed that you were blessed by Odium, I certainly would have acted differently. If you conducted yourself in any way like the ones that I’ve been dealing with, my lord would not see fit to allow you to keep his blessing.”
He would have been lying if he said the apology didn’t catch him by surprise, but this was also the first Tahir had heard of gods being able to take away their blessings. “It’s appreciated, and I understand. I did kind of provoke you by running without saying anything. Though I’ll blame that partly on the influence of my spirit.” Her treatment of him could have been much worse, even with his eagerness to turn himself in once he’d caught the other spirit mage.
“Ah, right. We received word earlier that a group arrived asking about someone matching your description. I suppose your summoned spirit would be among them?”
As he nodded in reply, Merui rejoined them in the hallway with Tahir’s storage bag. “Here you are. You’ll find the ring and blade we confiscated from you within this bag as well. Now let’s get going. As Namilah spoke of just now, I'm sure your companions are getting antsy, and I have no desire to get on the bad side of three platinum and one mithral Redcloud.”
Three? Unless Mikharma picked up someone’s platinum pocketwatch somewhere, who was the third? Tahir kept his expression blank, noting Merui’s observant nature as he agreed and began the walk down the hallway to bring him back up to the surface.