Obsidian Ridge - Jess Lebow [82]
"How?"
"He's the one I crossed."
"You're saying Pello Tasca sent you here, to the Cellar?"
Evelyne nodded. "A did a job for him and his brother, and when it came time to be paid, they only gave me half of what they promised."
"And they sent you here because you were unhappy with their payment?"
"No," replied Evelyne. "I got even by burning down their storehouse."
"I see," said Quinn, but he didn't really. "How did they manage to send you to the Cellar? When you said you crossed someone, I figured it was someone official, not an underworld boss."
"When the brother and his men caught up to me, they dragged me to this woman. They called her the Matron. She sent me here. Had some sort of a device."
"Right. So the Matron has unfettered access to the Cellar." It was all starting to make sense now. "That's how Mariko was sent here. And now the Matron thinks she can run her Elixir operations safely from inside."
Quinn watched the activity down below. They all seemed preoccupied with their individual tasks, no one walking patrols or even guarding the entrances.
That's when he caught sight of the horned man, and another realization struck-Jallal Tasca.
It was him. No doubt. Though his beard was gone, his face and body transformed, Quinn could clearly see the resemblance to his brother and to the man he used to be. Jallal was supposed to be dead. Quinn had punctured his neck and had watched him bleed out on the floor of the slaughterhouse. But something or someone had brought him back, and whatever or whoever that was had drastically disfigured the eldest Tasca.
"Let's sneak down the side, over in the corner. That'll get us close to the princess and-" He turned to Evelyne as he spoke. But she was gone, replaced by a pair of Tasca's burly guards.
A heavy club hit Quinn in the face, and his vision wavered. He tried to block the second swing with his right gauntlet, but he was not yet use to the lack of blades. The club hit him again, and the world went black.
+++++
A bucket of cold water hit Quinn in the face, and he started awake.
"Welcome to the Cellar."
He had been stripped to his smallclothes and was being held by the arms between two men-the same two he'd seen before being knocked cold. His head throbbed, and one eye was swollen, partially closed.
"We've been expecting you."
Shaking the water from his face, he looked up into the grinning, pointed teeth of Jallal Tasca.
"I thought you were dead," said Quinn.
Jallal nodded, a look of fake contemplation on his face. "I hear that a lot."
"I'll bet."
"What was it that made you finally recognize me?" asked Jallal. "The water?" He slapped the side of the bucket with his hairy palm.
"When I saw your brother and your Elixir operation here," said Quinn.
"Oh this?" taunted Tasca, turning to look at the glass vats as if he'd just realized they were there. "This is just temporary, until we've dealt with you and put the king on the payroll."
"And how do you intend to do that?"
"Oh, I don't know," replied Jallal. "For you, I was thinking simple torture. Nothing fancy, just some good old fashioned pain, stretched out for our enjoyment." His eyes revealed his elation. "A little payback for the marks you gave me."
Jallal ran his fingers over his neck and the smooth purple scars that had been left by the Claw's blades.
"And the king? You can't bribe him. Your coin and your favors are no good to a man of principles."
"Maybe so," replied Jallal. "But we have his daughter." He pointed to Quinn's left.
On the ground, beside and behind him, sat Princess Mariko, bound and gagged. She looked up at him, her eyes wide and alert.
"Are you hurt?" He tested the two men holding him, but they were both very strong, and they held him fast.
Mariko shook her head. She shot a nasty glare at Jallal, which told Quinn the whole story.
"The king's not the only one who wants her," replied Quinn.
Jallal chuckled. "That's very sweet. Showing your devotion as you go to your death."
Quinn gritted his teeth. "Perhaps you were dead when it arrived,