Chương 18

A commotion of disbelieving laughter broke into the hideout. Erden and I paused mid-sentence, heads turning to the entrance.

"Holy shit!" Tonir rejoiced through a heavy breath. He tossed his mask aside, revealing a wide grin.

"Who wants a level two purple core, boys?" Erden and I glanced at each other with the look of oh god, what did they do?

"A purple core?" Norin asked in surprise.

"For Sallir?"

"That core," a new deep voice said, "is going to my mages, Tonir." The masked figure of Rend walked in with none of Tonir's enthusiasm, followed by five more masked gang members.

"Researchers. We've found some help." My heart skipped a beat at the sight of a red-haired girl strapped over his shoulder like a backpack. Rend cast Levitation with his palm to command the target, and he moved Vaela's body off of his back, tossing her to an empty edge of the room. She tumbled before colliding limply against the wall. Rend turned to us. Or specifically, the spellbook we were holding.

"Hand it over," he said to Erden.

"If all goes well, we'll solve it right now." With two hands, Erden offered it to him and smiled. The moment Rend turned away, the smile fell, and Erden eyed Vaela's limp body.

"You got blocker cuffs here?" Rend asked.

"One pair down below," Tonir said.

"I'll grab them." Everyone else stood or sat back to watch. Rend pointed a palm at Vaela's body, his mana gathering around her, and he used another spell I couldn't identify. With his fingers together as if gripping something, he ripped open thin air, and Vaela's uniform tore apart. With the same contactless spell, he pulled the rags off and tossed the uniform aside. A sick feeling pressed down my stomach. If there was empathy in Rend's movements, I couldn't feel it.

"Can I lift her up?" one of the masked men asked. Rend snorted and said, "You dirty rat." The man let out a little laugh. He moved to lift Vaela to a sitting position. His next move made me turn my eyes away before I puked—or before I let the vile disgust in my stomach to turn into magic. Mana simmered in my core, urging to be cast at the man's unprotected core to kill him on the spot. I'm with an underground gang right now, I reminded myself. Of course they're not going to be moral people.

I forced myself to sit still and ignore what was in front of me. I needed to get stronger. I needed more power. Because right now, if I had anything to say about how I wanted captives to be treated, it would be me getting tied down with the same treatment. Rend was more than strong enough to overpower me. How could I help her? I couldn't. Not yet. I'd need to wait for a better opportunity.

"That's enough," Rend called, and his slime of an underling left Vaela's unconscious body sitting by the wall. Rend cast another spell, and a mana rope twirled around her stomach and arms, tying her down. Tonir came back with pieces of metal that resembled handcuffs quite closely. Engravings had been carved into the metal for a spell. He clamped them on Vaela's hands, then pushed mana into the patterns, which prompted the cuffs to shape his mana straight to Vaela's core.

A thick blockade formed there, like a lock shutting her from accessing her mana core.

"All ready," Tonir said. He noticed her uniform on the ground and asked, "You want me to talk to her in her underwear?"

"That's best for fear," Rend said.

"She'll know she's in danger, and we can threaten to take off the rest if she doesn't cooperate."

"Yeah, no, that's too much," Tonir said.

"I have a girlfriend, you know." With upset motions, Rend handed the spellbook to Tonir.

"I'm telling you, this will get the point across so much faster." Tonir sighed.

"Well, she's covered enough, I guess." He then cracked his fingers and accepted the spellbook.

"Everyone, put your masks on, please." Despite the weight in my stomach, I grabbed my mask from my satchel and put it on. If they harm her, how can I help her? I wondered, yet my options made me bite my lip. I just wasn't strong enough to fight the gang yet. Tonir's cloud of mind magic enveloped her head. He pulled back, and whatever effect had placed Vaela unconscious was reversed. She snapped awake, head flinching. She blinked, and I could see in real time as her pupils adjusted to the new environment.

She gasped, momentarily freezing. Then she looked around, spotting only gang members. A silent look of fear etched on her face, though she managed to avert panic.

"Hello, Ellaris girl," Tonir said. She kept staring at him aimlessly. Voice wavering, she asked, "Where is he? You kept your promise, right? If I let go of my barrier, you promised he would live."

"Oh, the officer is alive and well," Tonir said.

"Somewhere, where he won't bother us. Now…" He poked a finger at Vaela's forehead, then showed her the spellbook.

"Let's make this quick. Do you know what this is?" Vaela's eyes turned to it.

"Our spellbook…"

"Yep. And it's full of traps." With slow steps, Tonir walked back and forth in front of her. Ever so slowly, as some fucked up way of generating tension. He reached down and squeezed his grip around Vaela's earring, and forced mana into it. A crack came. Unwrapping his grip, the earring was shattered to pieces. Tonir did the same on the second earring, while Vaela sat absolutely still. Her eyes looked so thin, like a helpless veil trying to contain panic.

"Quite simply, you have only one purpose to me, woman," Tonir said.

"You're going to tell me what these spells do, and which ones are traps. Fail to answer, and I'll get to practice drawing patterns with your blood." He opened the spellbook.

"Let's start from page one. What's this spell right here?" I wouldn't have been surprised if Vaela's brain dissociated entirely, resorting to tears. Nearly a dozen gang members cornered her, waiting for an answer. Any tears stayed in, though, and she looked focused. Hardly composed, but she understood logic. She studied the spell quickly, then spoke quietly.

"That one is unfamiliar. I only know a few spells."

"So is it a trap?" This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"My father doesn't trust me with every spell. I don't know that one specifically." Tonir frowned. Then he cast a Mind Blast, and a pained scream echoed in the cavern.

"Let me ask that again," Tonir said.

"I can tell you everything I know!" Vaela cried out.

"I know eight of Ellaris' spells. I've never learned more than that! That's the truth!" Tonir frowned at that.

"I suppose that would make sense considering how much of a weakling you are. Let's find out what those eight are, then." Now the panic began to shine through.

"That's a trap spell!" she blurted out through a quick exhale.

"I think. The next one is a real spell."

"And the spell is?"" Undergrowth! It shoots mana underground and it finds a target from below!" Tonir nodded, and grabbed a marker to add a check to the spell and a cross to the one Vaela said was a trap. He flipped the page.

"Next one."

"That's unfamiliar." The Mind Blast came immediately, sending a twist in my heart. Was she not cooperating already? What was the point of more pain?

"What is this spell?"

"I…" Vaela whimpered. A tear escaped, and she couldn't wipe it.

"I don't know! That's the truth!" Scowling with not one bit of remorse, Tonir wrote a question mark and said, "Next one." Vaela's lips wavered. She stared aimlessly at the spell and opened her mouth, but only a whimper came out. Finally, she said, "I don't know that one." I braced myself for another scream, but that didn't come. This time, Tonir moved on. The questions continued. One by one, Vaela identified the spells listed in the book.

The next five were either traps or unknown spells, until she said, "That's Dark Enhancement… It's a pink core spell to enhance mind attacks. Cast it before the crimson core sends their attack…"

"Very useful," Tonir said, marking it.

"And this one?"

"I don't know." Another Mind Blast burst out of Tonir's core. Vaela screamed. When she calmed down, Tonir shoved the book on her face.

"You hardly even looked at it, woman. I need you to identify these spells for me, not cry that you don't fucking know what they are! Tell me, is this a trap or not?" Eyes blurry with tears, Vaela studied it further.

"I swear on my father's name, I don't know what that is…" Another Mind Blast came, and Vaela's scream squeezed my heart. It took my all not to jump off of my chair and shout at Tonir. She breathed in and out as the look in her eyes lost focus. A few more Mind Blasts, and she wouldn't be able to focus, if she remained conscious at all.

"Next one," Tonir said. Shaking, Vaela said, "That's a trap…" Tonir thankfully accepted the answer, and moved to the next. The pace continued without interruptions for five minutes. Randomly, Tonir threw yet another attack as if to remind her to pay attention. I really couldn't understand it. Vaela seemed broken already. It felt like I was forced to watch an eternity of torture. In reality, going through the spellbook took around twenty minutes. Tonir tried to flip the next page, and found only the back cover.

"Well, there we go. Wasn't so hard now, was it?" Vaela sniffled a tear, head low to the floor.

"And finally," Tonir said.

"This one is a bit costly, so I saved it for last. A lie detector." Her head remained low.

"Please cast it… I haven't lied."

"Fail to answer, and we'll kill you," Tonir said. He held his palm and cast another cloud of mind magic on her—this time a heavy one. I felt a subtle connection between their minds form. It constantly drew mana. A lot of it. With this much of a mana cost, I wasn't surprised that Tonir didn't keep it up for the whole time.

"Vaela Ellaris," he said.

"At what part in the last thirty minutes have you lied to me?"

"I have not lied once," Vaela said. She took a deep, wavering breath.

"I only know a portion of the spells in that list, and… if I said I didn't know a spell… It's because I truly didn't know them." The signal between Tonir and Vaela intensified. The spell gave a ton of input, and receiving it put a pained grimace on Tonir's face. Not an optimized spell, for sure. He took a moment to process it.

"No lies," he said.

"So the spellbook is as solved as she'll get it?" Rend asked.

"Yep. That's all we needed from her." Rend took the spellbook from Tonir. Then he said, "Nothing else?"

"A ransom to return her, maybe?" Tonir asked. Rend snorted.

"Too risky. We're not giving the cores away. I've got one with a pink core that could use an upgrade. Your coreless kid can take the level one." Vaela's head flinched up at that.

"Yeah…" Tonir said.

"So we kill her now?" Her eyes shot wide in shock, and I gritted my teeth under my mask. Fuck. Time was up.

"Do it," Benry said.

"Thank you for your time," Tonir said as he lifted his palm. There were no dramatic speeches. Vaela provided all the gang wanted, and that was all the gang required for the decision to kill her to go through. Vaela shed a silent, shocked tear, as Tonir's spell shot at her unprotected head. I cast Gust of Mana. A strong burst of loose mana hit Tonir's spell, pushing it aside. A tiny bit still hit Vaela's head, but it wasn't nearly enough for the effect to go through. Tonir's spell dissipated into the air.

"Huh?" he asked.

"I would like to make a case," I said, "to keep her alive instead." Everyone's heads turned to me. I kept my mask on to hide the hateful grimace on my face. I stepped forward, next to Vaela in case someone tried to murder her again.

"Most of the spellbook is still undiscovered," I said.

"It'll take a while to get it done without help. Vaela doesn't know much, but she still knows Ellaris' patterns. There are a lot of patterns we just don't know yet. She can help."

"That's true!" Vaela managed to say.

"I can tell you exactly what the patterns do!" Tonir shot another spell. From its quick cast time, I gambled that it was a just a Mind Blast. Vaela screamed, and I was thankfully right. She wasn't dead yet.

"Silence, woman." Tonir said.

"If we don't need the core upgrades immediately," I said, "I can make use of her to solve the spellbook in under a week." Tonir glanced at Rend, who spoke to me.

"That's far-fetched. She told us all we needed to know."

"How familiar are you with spell engineering, boss?" I asked. My tone came across as argumentative, which could have been a mistake, but I couldn't hold it in. Rend's masked eyes faced me, and I knew that he wasn't fully confident. Most likely, he didn't know jack shit. He also appeared to be surprised that I was talking back at him at all.

"We can kill her right after the spellbook is deciphered," I said.

"It's not like keeping her alive for a week will change things. The only reason why I'm making this request is because I genuinely believe this will benefit us."

"She is a mage," Rend said.

"Containing them is not as simple as you might think."

"That's true," Tonir said.

"We'd need someone pouring mana into the containment cuffs at all times. We are also looking for a pink core right now, Vora." I turned to Erden, who was masked, so I didn't mention his name.

"We could keep adding mana to the cuffs. That wouldn't be a problem. I'll stay here for the nights."

"Even if you could," Rend said, "I would not trust you to not let her escape. Step aside." You fucking monsters, I thought. What could I do? Fighting was suicide. I was overpowered and by a lot. I could possibly cut Vaela's cuffs free to make her fight with me, but that would still end in disaster. Was it worth it to risk getting myself killed over her?

"Look, I'm trying to help you guys," I said.

"I'm just trying to hunt down Ellaris. It took a lot of effort from you guys to capture Vaela. It would be wasteful to not make the most out of the opportunity."

"We hear you," Tonir said.

"But to be honest, we need the pink core. We're raiding the treant next, straight after we've habilitated the core. Then we can finally expand our territory. That needs to be done before our wards are found." I frowned at him. Fucking hell. Behind me, Vaela was shaking, her face a mess from the makeup smudged by tears. Think, I told myself. Fucking think!

"So that's how it is," Tonir said, and ended the argument with a burst of mana at Vaela's head. Another Gust of Mana pushed it aside. Tonir stared at me.

"Vora, what the fuck is up with you?"

"This is stupidity," I said.

"I refuse to accept you guys are this short-sighted. Just listen to me for a second, please. Don't you think she knows secret entrances to the keep?"

"I know many!" Vaela said. Rend's hands glowed yellow, mana forming in his palm. I cursed internally. These fucking blockheads! I drew the pattern for Mana Barrier.

"Guys, just—" I tried to say, but Rend flicked the spell at me. A yellow chain fired at me. I activated Mana Barrier. The chain wrapped around me, squeezing the barrier tight. Rend lifted the chain, his whole body rotating as he flung me against the wall. The stone behind me cracked from the impact. Tonir's palm shone with mana, and for a third time, he cast the spell to kill her. Through a pained grimace, I cast Gust of Mana from across the room with just enough power to push his spell aside.

His hateful stare turned to me.

"Vora? What part of our argument wasn't fucking clear?" You're about to kill a helpless girl, I thought, while my mind raced through excuses on how I could buy time. There was a moment of silence while Vora's brother faced me with pure anger. A deep crumble came from above, and attention snapped there. The mana of multiple presences began seeping into the cavern from above. I sensed at least two clear mana cores, one of whom was level two.

"That's not an ally!" Tonir said. The argument was forgotten in seconds, and everyone went into a defensive stance, ready to blast the chokepoint above. Then I felt mana from below. A presence that overpowered everything above combined, coming from just one mana core. I felt chills from just the sixth sense alone, as if the entire tunnel below was full of hot lava. With calm steps, the presence walked up to the hideout.

The level three mana core of the second red-haired Ellaris sister appeared, and the room filled up with magic of all colors.