Pool of Radiance_ Ruins of Myth Drannor - Carrie Bebris [30]
“Perhaps a little sorcery will loosen your tongue. Shall I turn you into a rodent?”
Kestrel felt the blood drain from her face. This malevolent being was a sorcerer?
He struck the prisoner in the back of the head with his claw. The skeleton nearest them mimicked the movement, hitting the captive with the flat of its blade. The mage grabbed the fighter’s hair and jerked his head up to look him in the face. “Who sent you here? What were your orders?”
“No one sent us.”
“Liar!” He slapped him with his open hand. “You saw what we did to your companions. I’ll give you one more day to come to your senses. If you put any value on your pathetic little life, you better start singing.” He hit him once more.
Kestrel slowly backed down the corridor. It sounded as if the sorcerer were about to leave, and she didn’t care to encounter him in the passageway. After the fight with the naga, she could happily live out the rest of her life without battling another spellcaster, and she intended to try.
She returned to the others. “There’s one prisoner, a warrior. He’s in chains. Used to be part of a larger group-it sounds like he’s the only one left.”
Ghleanna gasped. “One of Athan’s band?” The half-elf’s face brightened.
“Possibly. He refused to tell who he works for or what he’s doing here. But the-”
“We’ve got to free him!” Ghleanna said. “Is it Athan? What does he look like?”
“Who cares what he looks like? You should see the interrogator! He’s some sort of sorcerer, a big guy with lots of tattoos. One of his hands is a claw!”
Corran looked at her as if she’d gone daft. “What do you mean, a claw? Is his hand shriveled?”
“No, I mean the end of his right forearm looks like it belongs on some other creature, like a bird-or a dragon.”
Corran raised his brows. “Oh.” He digested this bit of information, then inquired about other guards.
“Six skeletons. The sorcerer sounds like he’s leaving soon. I figure if-”
“Once he leaves, I’ll take care of the skeletons. Durwyn, you try to break the prisoner’s chains.” Corran looked to the mages. “Unless one of you can get them open?”
Kestrel clamped her mouth shut. She’d been about to suggest a plan of her own, but apparently Corran thought he was the only person capable of devising one.
“I’ll have to look at how heavy they are, but I’m sure I can break them,” Durwyn said.
“Good. Kestrel, you keep watch.”
Keep watch? She ground her teeth, biting back a retort. The lowliest apprentice rogue could spring the locks on those irons. She’d mastered the skill as a child, when Quinn hadn’t been quite fast enough to outrun some of the city patrols they’d encountered. Corran’s arrogance made her want to spit. She hoped the high-handed paladin was the first to die when Durwyn’s blows alerted the sorcerer to their activities.
The clang of iron signaled the sorcerer’s departure. Kestrel watched as the threatening mage locked the door behind him and walked down the hall-thankful he went in the direction opposite from that where the party waited. Four skeletons stood sentinel outside the cell; the other two presumably remained inside with the captive.
When the sorcerer’s light faded from view and they deemed him out of earshot, Corran led the group toward the cell. He held his holy symbol before him. “Leave us be!” he commanded the skeletons.
The creatures backed down the passageway about ten feet afraid of Corran but apparently unable to abandon their post. The two inside the cell greeted the party at the door, thrusting their blades through the bars, until Corran repelled them, too. They retreated to the far corner of the cell.
“Who’s there?” the captive called out.
Ghleanna’s face fell. Apparently, the prisoner’s voice wasn’t the one she’d hoped to hear. “Friends.” Despite her obvious disappointment the half-elf injected a note of cheer into her tone.
Durwyn raised his axe to smash the padlock.