The Yellow Silk - Don Bassingthwaite [48]
"Why? They were just fine when I gave them to you, weren't they?"
The response was a little too fast, a little practiced. "Did I say there was something wrong with them?" Tycho set his bow against the strings of the strilling and began to play a soft, droning melody. "What would make you think that there was?"
"N-nothing," Jacerryl stammered. He swallowed and seemed to summon up a bit of courage. "Neither of you are particularly welcome around here," he said. "All I have to do is yell, and Mard will be in here with a squad of guards instantly."
Tycho kept playing. "Mard isn't home right now. And there is exactly one guard in the house."
"The servants will come! You might have conned one of them into letting you in-"
"-and getting you up here," Tycho reminded him.
"-and tricking me," Jacerryl agreed between gritted teeth, "but one treacherous servant won't be able to help you when you're found assaulting me in my own chambers. You've already been arrested in this house once today!"
''Stop posturing, Jacerryl." Tycho gathered his concentration, focusing on the music. "Tell me what you did with the beljurils!"
It was the same spell he had worked on Desmada, backed up this time with the music of the strilling as well as the song of his voice. He focused his will as the magic washed through him, bending the enchantment toward Jacerryl.
The other man just tensed, his face screwed up. "I won't tell you anything!"
The carefully woven magic faltered, frayed, and fell apart. Tycho struck a discordant note on his strilling in surprise. Jacerryl cracked open one eye then the other. "Ha! Was that the best you could do? I passed the beljurils on to you and that's all! Now get-"
With a muted growl, Li reached out, spun him around, and hit him hard with a backhanded blow. Jacerryl swayed once and slipped to the ground.
Tycho stared at him then glowered at Li. "I know we had a plan worked out this time!" he said in Shou. Li shrugged.
"He resisted your magic. Were you just going to keep playing until he gave up?" He grunted. "Besides, he was annoying me."
Tycho sighed. "I guess I should be glad you didn't kill him, then. You've got a temper on you, you know." Li snorted.
"/have a temper?"
"I am the essence of calm!" Tycho slid his strilling around to his back, hopped down off the bed, and nodded to a high, well-stuffed chair. "Help me get him up in that."
Jacerryl moaned and stirred as they heaved him up off the floor and deposited him in the chair. His eyes opened and focused on them. Abruptly he stiffened, sucking in a lungful of air. His mouth opened wide, but Li's hand shot out fast and wrapped around his neck, pinning him to the back of the chair. Jacerryl's shout emerged as a strained gurgle. Li glanced at Tycho. "Maybe we need to try a more physical form of persuasion?" he suggested in Shou.
Tycho threw up his hands. "Fine. I give up." He leaned forward and met Jacerryl's gaze. "Jacerryl," he said bluntly in Common, "my friend here thinks we should just twist off your head right now."
Li gave him a look of disgust, but their captive's eyes went wide. He flailed out suddenly, arms and legs lashing at Li. The Shou batted them away and poked him sharply in the abdomen. Jacerryl let out a pained squeak. He stopped struggling. Tycho squatted down to face him. "Don't worry," he said soothingly. "I think I can persuade him to just dislocate your shoulders instead. I might even be able to get him to let you go if you come clean with me on the beljurils. You took them out of the tube and replaced them with gravel after I was arrested. Then you took the tube down to the guard station with my other belongings. Am I right?"
Jacerryl's eyes rolled. Tycho tapped Li's arm and Li eased the pressure on