my age; she looked older.
I entered the bronze-barred cell, Rurik and another guard behind me. I crossed my arms over my chest and swallowed my misgivings. I was Eugenie Markham, badass shaman and slayer of Otherworldly miscreants. This was no different from any of my other jobs.
“Okay,” I told the prisoners, my voice harsh. “We can make this easy or hard. Answer my questions, and it’ll go a lot faster and smoother for all of us.”
The woman glared at me. “We don’t answer to you.”
“That’s the funny thing,” I said. “You do. You’re in my land. You’re under my rule, my jurisdiction.”
She spat on the ground. “You’re a usurper. You stole the land from Aeson.”
Considering the way power was always shifting in the Otherworld, I found that statement ludicrous. “Everyone’s a usurper here. And in case you haven’t heard, I didn’t steal the land from him so much as blow him up.”
Her face remained hard, but I saw the slightest flicker of fear in the guy’s face. I turned to him. “What about you? You going to be reasonable? Are you going to tell me where the girls you kidnapped are?”
He nervously glanced at his companion. She gave him a hard look, its message easily interpretable: Don’t talk .
I sighed. I didn’t want to resort to torture. All-powerful ruler or not, it was just an ugly thing I didn’t want to dirty my hands with. I had a feeling my iron athame pointed at their throats would go a long way to get them to communicate. Instead, I opted for another solution.
Producing my wand, I stepped away from the others and spoke the words to summon Volusian. The momentary cold descended upon us, and then the spirit stood before me. Rurik and the guard were growing accustomed to this, but the prisoners gasped.
“Volusian,” I said. “Got a task for you.”
“As my mistress commands.”
I gestured to the prisoners. “I need you to put muscle on them. Get them to talk.”
Volusian’s red eyes widened slightly, the closest he ever came to looking happy.
“But you can’t kill them,” I added hastily. “Or hurt them—much.”
The pseudo-happiness disappeared.
“Start with the guy,” I said.
Volusian sidled across the cell and was only reaching his hand out when the guy cracked. “Alright! Alright! I’ll talk,” he cried.
“Stop, Volusian.”
The spirit stepped back, his glum expression growing.
“I don’t know anything about girls disappearing,” the man said. “We aren’t taking them.”
“You’ve been preying on people,” I pointed out. “And girls have been vanishing near your base of operation. Seems kind of suspicious.”
He shook his head frantically, eyeing Volusian warily. “No, it’s not us.”
“Have you heard of them disappearing?”
“Yes. But it’s not us.” His words were adamant.
“Yeah, well, I find it hard to believe they’re all running off. If it’s not you, then who is it?”
“You’re a fool,” the woman snapped. “What would we do with a group of girls?”
“The same thing men usually use girls for,” I replied.
“We can barely feed our own people! Why would we take on more mouths to feed?”
That was kind of a good question. “Well, you still haven’t really given me another explanation.”
“We heard a monster’s doing it,” the man blurted out.
“A monster,” I repeated flatly. I looked over to Rurik who simply shrugged. I turned back to the prisoners. “Any details on this monster?”
Neither responded. It was strange, particularly considering how some prejudiced part of me still regarded most gentry as dishonest, but I believed them about not taking the girls. I thought the monster explanation was bullshit, but they might honestly have believed it to be true. Volusian took a step forward without my command, and the guy hastily spoke.
“The monster lives in our land. In the Ald—Thorn Land, that is.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“Because only girls from the Thorn Land
I entered the bronze-barred cell, Rurik and another guard behind me. I crossed my arms over my chest and swallowed my misgivings. I was Eugenie Markham, badass shaman and slayer of Otherworldly miscreants. This was no different from any of my other jobs.
“Okay,” I told the prisoners, my voice harsh. “We can make this easy or hard. Answer my questions, and it’ll go a lot faster and smoother for all of us.”
The woman glared at me. “We don’t answer to you.”
“That’s the funny thing,” I said. “You do. You’re in my land. You’re under my rule, my jurisdiction.”
She spat on the ground. “You’re a usurper. You stole the land from Aeson.”
Considering the way power was always shifting in the Otherworld, I found that statement ludicrous. “Everyone’s a usurper here. And in case you haven’t heard, I didn’t steal the land from him so much as blow him up.”
Her face remained hard, but I saw the slightest flicker of fear in the guy’s face. I turned to him. “What about you? You going to be reasonable? Are you going to tell me where the girls you kidnapped are?”
He nervously glanced at his companion. She gave him a hard look, its message easily interpretable: Don’t talk .
I sighed. I didn’t want to resort to torture. All-powerful ruler or not, it was just an ugly thing I didn’t want to dirty my hands with. I had a feeling my iron athame pointed at their throats would go a long way to get them to communicate. Instead, I opted for another solution.
Producing my wand, I stepped away from the others and spoke the words to summon Volusian. The momentary cold descended upon us, and then the spirit stood before me. Rurik and the guard were growing accustomed to this, but the prisoners gasped.
“Volusian,” I said. “Got a task for you.”
“As my mistress commands.”
I gestured to the prisoners. “I need you to put muscle on them. Get them to talk.”
Volusian’s red eyes widened slightly, the closest he ever came to looking happy.
“But you can’t kill them,” I added hastily. “Or hurt them—much.”
The pseudo-happiness disappeared.
“Start with the guy,” I said.
Volusian sidled across the cell and was only reaching his hand out when the guy cracked. “Alright! Alright! I’ll talk,” he cried.
“Stop, Volusian.”
The spirit stepped back, his glum expression growing.
“I don’t know anything about girls disappearing,” the man said. “We aren’t taking them.”
“You’ve been preying on people,” I pointed out. “And girls have been vanishing near your base of operation. Seems kind of suspicious.”
He shook his head frantically, eyeing Volusian warily. “No, it’s not us.”
“Have you heard of them disappearing?”
“Yes. But it’s not us.” His words were adamant.
“Yeah, well, I find it hard to believe they’re all running off. If it’s not you, then who is it?”
“You’re a fool,” the woman snapped. “What would we do with a group of girls?”
“The same thing men usually use girls for,” I replied.
“We can barely feed our own people! Why would we take on more mouths to feed?”
That was kind of a good question. “Well, you still haven’t really given me another explanation.”
“We heard a monster’s doing it,” the man blurted out.
“A monster,” I repeated flatly. I looked over to Rurik who simply shrugged. I turned back to the prisoners. “Any details on this monster?”
Neither responded. It was strange, particularly considering how some prejudiced part of me still regarded most gentry as dishonest, but I believed them about not taking the girls. I thought the monster explanation was bullshit, but they might honestly have believed it to be true. Volusian took a step forward without my command, and the guy hastily spoke.
“The monster lives in our land. In the Ald—Thorn Land, that is.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“Because only girls from the Thorn Land
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