Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Two — Interrogations
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Two — Interrogations Fighting one on one was a lot easier than twelve or so on one.Which, now that I said it, was a rather obvious statement. I ducked under a swing from Big Green’s bat, then hopped back a few steps until I was closer to the back lines. A grenoil behind me was swinging a chain around, which just seemed terribly dangerous. I knew how painful a whap with a flail could be from my time in Threewells.I heard the crunch of gravel shifting as the grenoil behind me stepped up, so I hopped up and kicked back with both legs, catching him in the shin.The grenoil croaked as he stumbled forwards.I handed on my tummy, but had just enough time to spin around and bunch my legs up against my chest so that when the grenoil landed, it was onto my feet. His face was real close to mine for a bit, so I got a nasty faceful of alcohol-smelling breath. “Ew,” I said a moment before pushing a hefty chunk of stamina into my legs.The grenoil went flying away until he crashed back-first into a buddy and they went down in a heap.I didn’t have time to enjoy my victory before another was jumping towards me, knife-first.I rolled over, picked up my spade and bounced to my feet just in time to parry a swing with the haft. There were so many of them! And they weren’t being nice and taking turns either.The man, an actual human in dirty rags, probably thought I was gonna back up to make space. So he didn’t expect it when I reached up, held on to the rim of my hat, bent my bun ears back, and rammed his nose with my forehead as hard as I could.The poor man went down with a very smushed nose. “Sorry!” I said a moment before I had to dodge to the side as another grenoil came at me with a bat.I blocked his second swing, both hands on the shaft of my spade, but the impact and shaking made me lose my grip on my weapon.I watched my spade clatter to the ground and the grenoil grinned at me. He started to pull his bat back. I slapped him full-on in the face so hard that his face twisted to the side and my entire hand felt like I’d pressed it to a stove.Two more were moving at me, with knives and clubs, and I heard more moving in from behind. I jumped, used one of their heads as a springboard, then skipped off the walls of a shop to land back down behind the bulk of the group. I had my back near one of the rusty lamp posts along the side of the street. It would maybe keep them from hitting me from behind... I hopped.“Get her, dammit!” Big Green roared.Lightning shot out of the shop, nailing one of the humans in the chest and sending him down in a writhing heap. “And someone kill those two!” the man screamed.Then a couple of grenoil pulled up little crossbows and fired into the shop. I heard Amaryllis squawking in protest as she no doubt ducked out of the way.I looked around. I was down a spade and the only other weapons I had were in my pack.A grenoil tried to sneak up behind me, but I caught sight of him from the corner of my eye. With a quick half-twist and a snap-kick, I rammed the sole of a foot against the lamp.The rusty base snapped and the two-meter long pole crashed onto the grenoil’s head.That... looked like a weapon to me.I spun backwards, grabbed onto the shaft of the lamp with both hands, and brought it up and around to face off against the greater number of adversaries. Some of those I’d knocked down earlier were back on their feet, and they didn’t look very happy. “Come on guys,” I said. “Can’t we talk this out?” “I heard they love Buns at the brothels,” one of the men said. “I wonder how much you’d go for.”Lucky for me, he was one of the closer ones, and he was so busy being a big mean jerk that he didn’t react in time to stop the heavy twin-lamped end of the pole from crashing onto his head with a resounding clang and a shattering of glass. Another grenoil rushed at me, so I twisted the lamp around and poked it at his head so that his neck was caught between the two lights at the end. He made a weird sound when his mouth smashed into the bar joining the two lights, and an ever stranger one when I pulled him towards me and delivered a stamina-heavy Spartan-kick to his tummy. I yanked the pole back, then spun the base around in a wide, sweeping arc that had the other thugs backing off a step or two. I counted eight left around me, and three more farther away flinging magic and bolts into the shop.Amaryllis must have gotten tired of ducking because the next thing I knew a deafening boom shook the street and forks of lightning that were as big around as tree trunks flashed into being, each one connecting to different parts of grenoil across the street.The three ranged thugs went down as smoking heaps. I’d need to check on them later, but Amaryllis’ move reminded me of something. I had magic too.Grinning, I pushed mana into my hands and saw them start to glow. The extra magic interacted weirdly with the aura of my Cleaning spell, making a bubble around me start to glow with little motes of happy light.“Oh World,” one of the thugs whispered.Then I started thinking hot thoughts and suddenly everything was a lot warmer and a haze of fiery mana started to make the air shift around me.The thugs didn’t seem so sure anymore.Big Green, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care. “Are you lot cowards? Zis is just some uptight rich girl,” he said.“Actually, I’m pretty sure my family was always in a lower tax bracket,” I corrected him.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.He moved towards me, so I flung my lamp at him as hard as I could and watched him catch the pole awkwardly in the crook of his elbows.While he stumbled back a step, I ran over to the nearest thug, wrapped a hand around his where he was holding a knife and pulled him closer so that my knee could get better acquainted with the spot between his legs where those safety courses told girls to hit bad guys.The man crumbled with a wheeze. I swung my fists forwards in a quick one-two jab towards the next two, sending two tiny and rather lame fireballs at them.One of them batted his out of the air with a club, but the other caught the fireball full on in the chest. His raggedy jacket went up in a burst of flames that smelled vaguely like fish oil. I gasped as the thug screamed and twisted around, working hard to take off his coat while also flailing.“Stop, drop and roll!” I screamed, but I didn’t think he heard me over his own cries of alarm.The thugs looked real nervous now. Maybe I was doing a good enough job that they’d cut their losses and run? Some of them certainly seemed to be thinking about it.“You’re still not done?” Amaryllis asked.A few heads turned towards the shop where my harpy friend stomped out. Her feathers were well and truly poofed, and little snaps of static were going off in the air around her. I could almost smell the weird tang of electrified air from where I was.“There are a lot of them,” I said. “And I don’t want to hurt them too much.”“Oh? Don’t worry. I can hurt them for you!” I saw a pair of grenoil, younger ones off to the side who had been skirting the fight more than anything, start to edge away. When Awen burst out of the shop, shards of glass spinning in the air around her and crossbow primed, they turned heel and ran.“Awen?” I asked.“Awa, I figured out some Glass magic!” she said from within her teeny tiny blizzard. It wasn’t that big, maybe two dozen pieces of glass all spinning rather lazily and wibbly around her, but it was still kind of impressive. I looked at the thugs, and felt that the odds were a bit better now. A lot more of them looked nervous too. “You guys can still run, you know?” I said. “Um, it would probably be best before Cholondee comes. She’s a dragon, and dragons are a bit weird about eating people that slight them.”“Just, shut up!” Big Green said as he leapt for me.A bolt of electricity connected with his back, and a glass-tipped bolt speared through his leg. The grenoil, already moving forwards, crashed face-first into my heel as I spun into a tight heel-strike.He crashed to the ground like a particularly lumpy sack of potatoes.His buddies ran, some of them saying some very rude things as they decided that a life of crime wasn’t for them. At least, that’s what I hoped. They at least paused to pick up their buddies that had been knocked around a bit, all save for Big Green who was left on the ground where he groaned into the cobbles.“Should we finish him off?” Amaryllis asked.“Amaryllis!” I gasped.“What? The least he can do is give us a bit of experience.”I frowned at my friend until she rolled her eyes and looked away. “I was kidding... mostly. This bag of dirt has cost us a quarter hour already, and could have hurt you, or any of us. He can at least have the courtesy to answer some questions.”Amaryllis pushed Big Green over with the top of a talon until the grenoil was resting on his back, right next to the lip of the sidewalk. “I’m not, I’m not telling ya anyzing,” he spat.“Come now, just a few little questions,” Amaryllis said. “Awa, my, my uncle told me stories about how he got some bad people to talk, um, maybe I could try what he told me,” Awen said.That sounded way better than whatever Amaryllis had in mind. “Sure! I’d love to see you try,” I said.Awen flushed and moved closer to the big grenoil before dropping onto her knees next to him. “Um, are you okay?” she asked the guy.“Screw you, human,” he said.These thugs were so rude. Were they raised... I looked around and let the thought drop. Awen, in the meantime, opened up her little shoulder bag and pulled out a pair of pliers. She set them on the ground next to her.“You think you can torture me, girl?” Next, she pulled out some screw-drivers.“I’m not telling any of ya nothing.”Awen placed her heavy hammer next to the pliers. “It would be nice if you did talk,” she said. “Then we could give you a potion and you could leave us all alone.”“When my damned coward boys come back, I’m gonna teach all of you a lesson!” Awen sighed and reached into her bag. She grabbed something, looked down, then shrugged and placed it next to her hammer.The wand of cure hysteria stood tall and proud next to Awen’s other tools. It was pretty big. I was surprised it even fit in her bag.“I... I... what are you going to do with that?!” Big Green asked.Blinking, Awen picked up the wand. “This?” She obviously pushed some magic into it because it started to humm as it vibrated.“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”I looked to the side where Amaryllis had her face covered by her arm feathers. The poor thing, for all her bravado she couldn’t look at someone being tortured, even if it was clear that Awen wouldn’t actually do anything.“So, mister Big Green,” I said in as intimidating a voice as I could manage. I pointed to him. “Why were you so mean earlier?”“I, I can’t say,” he said.Awen’s wand buzzed louder.“Rainnewt! It was Rainnewt!”
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Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Three — An Old Name
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Three — An Old Name “Awa... who?” Awen asked.I scratched the edge of my nose. “Rainnewt was a guy who worked for the Exploration Guild over here. He ran away after setting up me and Amaryllis to be kidnapped by some very rude deer people.”“I think they were aiming for me,” Amaryllis said. She bent down closer to Big Green. “Tell us about Rainnewt,” she demanded.Big Green shook his head. “I can’t. He’ll kill me. He’ll kill all of you. I’ve never seen a sylph zat was zat scary.”“A sylph?” I asked. Rainnewt was a handsome older man, not a sylph. “Can you describe him, please?”Big Green shook his head until Awen waved her wand in his direction. “S-small! With wings and mean eyes. Brown hair?”I nodded while eyeing the wand. “Why is he so nervous about that thing?” I asked.“Awa, I think maybe he has hysteria and wants to keep it?” Awen wondered.“I... guess. That doesn’t seem healthy. Why would you want to keep that?” I tried to wipe my frown and smiled at Big Green. “Are you sure you don’t want my friend to poke you with her wand?”“Don’t touch me!” Big Green shouted.I raised my hands before me, palms out in surrender. “Alright, alright.” I was about to ask the girls if we should call the guard when Big Green leapt to his feet with surprising spryness, shoved me back a startled step, then started running towards the nearest alley.Amaryllis brought up a crackling hand, and Awen pulled her crossbow up and around, the glassy tip of a bolt pointing at the grenoil’s back.“No!” I said.My friends looked my way and I winced.“I mean. Don’t hit him from behind like that.”“Broccoli, he ambushed us. Did you hear some of the things his goons were saying?” Amaryllis still lowered her hand as Big Green spun around the corner, the pitter-patter of his boots echoing out for a few moments. “Your bleeding heart will be a serious problem one of these days,” she said.“Ah, I’m sorry?” I said. They had been pretty bad. But to hit someone from behind like that was... wrong. “We should still report everything to the guards.”“The same guards who are in the pockets of the Morepoles?” She gestured at the street which was in a bit of a state. “The same guards who will probably arrest us for the mess we’ve made? Do you intend to spend the night behind bars?”“Awa, maybe we should go?” Awen asked. She dropped to her knees and started tossing her things into her shoulder bag.I nodded. “Yeah, okay. We can go. We still need to talk to these mob boss people, and then... that thing with Rainnewt, I’m not the only one that thinks that’s suspicious, right?”“You’re not,” Amaryllis agreed. “The Rainnewt are an important Sylph family. I never made the connection with Mister Rainnewt because he’s, well, he was, a human.”“Could he be a shapeshifter?” I asked.“If he is, then why not change his name?” Amaryllis wondered. “It’s possible, but it sounds like a needless risk. Then again, his plan to kidnap me was hardly well-thought-out.”“It nearly worked,” I pointed out.She huffed. “I’d have gotten out.”The moment Awen was ready to move, we started heading away from the crime scene. I felt a bit guilty, but Amaryllis was usually right about things like guards and such-like. “So, there’s a second person causing trouble called Rainnewt. It could be a total coincidence.”“Yes, and I’m actually a shape-shifting mermaid,” Amaryllis said. I stared at her until she whapped me behind the head. “I’m not, you moron.”“Right, right. You don’t smell fishy enough for that. So it’s probably not a coincidence. Still doesn’t make sense. Why wouldn’t he use a different identity, like in a spy movie?”“A spy movie? One of those plays from your world?” I nodded. “There are lots with characters who spy on each other, or go on cool missions with neat disguises. They usually change their name if they’re going to work so hard to look like someone else.”“Awa, it could be a sign?” Awen asked. “Like, um, a label so that people can trace things back to him?”“I guess,” I said. “Sounds like it would just make things harder for him.”We slipped into an alley, then out the other end just as people were starting to poke their heads out of windows and step out of the shops lining the road. There had probably been dozens of witnesses. That might bite us in the bum later, my friends and I were rather distinct. We speculated a bit more on the subject of Rainnewt, but in reality we were going in circles. The moment we arrived at the far end of the Scumways, the discussion dropped though. There was a distinct shift in the style of the homes here. For one, there were a far fewer wooden buildings with moldy walls, and a lot more stone homes. Small, but in that humble sort of way that well-cared for homes were. And then the main street opened up to a large courtyard with a nice fountain and a house that was just shy of being a mansion behind it. It wasn’t anywhere near as big as Awen’s home, but it was lavishly decorated, with statues along the front, and a well-manicured garden around an oval entranceway. It would have been a lot nicer if there weren’t about thirty people gathering around the front of the building. For the most part, the eclectic mix of grenoil, humans, harpy and a few sylphs were all well-dressed. Pressed suits, nice hats and sleek black canes. But the way they held themselves screamed ‘Bond-villain goon’ more than ‘stately gentleman.’ In the middle of this group was an elderly grenoil man sitting on a wheelchair. He was wearing a very comfortable looking red sweater vest and had a blanket over his legs and a sunhat plopped atop his head. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.“So, that’s where he ran off to,” Amaryllis said.I followed her gaze to a Big Green who was kneeling next to the old grenoil and talking really fast.The old grenoil reached a hand out to one of his goons who passed him a nice cane. Then he smacked Big Green on the head with a dull ‘whap.’“Shush now, you oaf. Can’t you see zat zose girls you attacked are here now,” the older grenoil gentleman said. His voice was gravelling and rough, like the rumble of a distant millstone. I eyed my friends from the corner of my eyes. Those were a lot of possibly bad guys, and these didn’t look like street thugs. Sure, they were only armed with canes, but I didn’t doubt that fighting them would be a whole lot different to fighting those thugs earlier.“Oh, don’t be afraid, bun, I haven’t bitten anyone in some time. Come in. I would offer you guest rights, but doing so to someone you don’t know isn’t terribly wise.”I stepped up and into the courtyard, shoes sinking just a little into the soft grass until I was standing just a few meters away from the old grenoil who smiled up at me. So I smiled back. “Hi! My name is Broccoli Bunch, these are my best friends, Awen Bristlecone and Amaryllis Albatross.”The grenoil nodded. “I’m don Grenouille,” he said. “Now zat we’ve gotten ze pleasantries out of the way, would you mind explaining to me why you have beaten and injured so many of ze people in my employ?”I blinked. “First, the pleasantries haven’t even begun. We didn’t even get to the tea yet. And second, they attacked us first.”The grenoil croaked a laugh. “I see, I see. Well zen, perhaps some of my boys here will be so kind as to fetch us some chairs and perhaps a tea set?”A few of the goons bowed and ran off. “While they fetch that... you claim zat you were assaulted first?” he asked.I nodded.“It’s, it’s not true, don Grenouille,” Big Green said. “Zey came onto our turf and ze-”The don whapped the big grenoil on the head with his cane again. “Shush, you. Ze young lady was talking.”I held back a very inappropriate giggle. “Ah, yeah. We were on our way here, actually, when Big Green blocked our path, and then he and a bunch of others tried to capture us. They said some very mean things too.”“Hrm,” the old grenoil said. “Let’s set zat aside for ze moment. Ze issue is complicated somewhat by you being on our territory without permission. Zough, as ze saying goes, might makes right. You are obviously in ze right in zis situation as you won ze ensuing fight.”That... was so wrong. At the same time, if the old grenoil wanted to let bygones stay that way, I was okay with it, for now.“Now, you mentioned zat you were on your way here? I doubt it was to enjoy ze comforts of my gardens.”I looked around at all the pretty flowers and the well-trimmed hedges. “It’s not for that, no, but you do have a very nice garden,” I said. “I have the gardening skill, though it’s not at a very high level. Yours must be really good if you can keep so many flowers in a place like this.”Don Grenouille grinned. “Why zank you.”“Ah, but you’re right. We’re actually here because of a bit of a problem we had. See, one of our friends owned a nice little bookshop in Port Royal, and she lost it because she couldn’t meet your security payments.”Don Grenouille tapped his cane on the ground. “Are you speaking of miss Booksie?”“That’s her,” I said.“We offered her ozer ways to pay off ze debt,” he said.“A debt that should never have existed and which was little more than extortion,” Amaryllis said.The air grew thicker, but we were saved by some goon arriving to deposit a table and some chairs next to us. One of them placed a nice tea set on the table before stepping back.I moved to the set and started preparing a few cups. There was a kettle that was already filled with boiling water, and a few little jars of honey and sugar and a cup of cream. “How do you like your tea, Don Grenouille?” I asked.“Straight,” he said.I mixed in the leaves and made sure everything was just right before pouring him a cup. Then I prepared cups for my friends. Awen liked hers with lots of honey, and Amaryllis liked a splash of cream in hers.I liked mine with honey, sugar, and cream.Don Grenouille waited until we were all sat before taking a sip from his cup.His eyes widened. “I have the tea making skill,” I said before taking a sip of my own. The Don was watching me strangely as I drank. “Ah, this is pretty nice.” I waited a moment before continuing. “So yeah, if you really were extorting our friend, that needs to stop. It’s not nice at all to do that to someone. You really hurt Booksie when you made her lose her shop.”“I’m afraid you don’t seem to understand how zese zings work,” Don Grenouile said. “In zis city, if you expect to have ze protection of ze Morepoles, zen you need to pay.”“But protection from what?” I asked. “No offense Don Grenouille-and I do have the utmost respect for you and your cool hat-but rackets like that just aren’t very neighbourly.”“Don’t bother, Broccoli, these sorts don’t understand decency. Just look at how they play dress up and try to hide behind an image of nobility. It’s really quite sad,” Amaryllis said.I wanted to press my hands over my face. Amaryllis really was keen on insulting everyone she met.Don Grenouille’s face was going a nasty shade of red, and all the goons around us seemed ready to fight.And then Cholondee landed on the fountain.
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