Chapter 7 - Interrogation

Chapter 7

Salran Mountains, Starnor Imperial Border Territories

Salran Mountains

"You know, if we want to accumulate wealth, this might be the way to go." Said Stellyra as she looked over the pile of loot in the cave. Much of it was damaged or outright broken -having a dragon rolling over them was a bit beyond their stress limit-, which was a bit annoying, especially as no bow had survived, and whatever acid or poison the leader had used on her had its flask smashed, and none of it was recoverable, having eaten its way through its user body.

Airah stepped towards the gleaming pile of loot. One of the good things about the soul crystal was that they had a light source now, and she wasn't just seeing in monochrome. Thankfully they were deep enough, and behind enough bends that it wouldn't be visible outside, and garner unwanted attention.

Airah chuckled as she grabbed a coin, and flipped it.

"I suppose so. Rob the bandits. Eh." She put the coin back into the bag it had come from. "Still, I feel like we got short changed by the young lady. These men had, what, a hundred and thirty gold coins?"

"And a few hundred silver and copper coins, yeah. We don't really know what those are worth compared to the gold ones though. But we got ten platinums, and they had none. Platinum is still the rarest material on habitable planets you know. At least the ones humanity can live on, not the hellscapes the Conclave prospered on."

"I know. Part of why we need so much orbital industry and asteroid smelting." After all high tech systems required industrial quantities of the stuff. Supraconductors, molecular computers, hell even tachyon cannons, they all required some of it. "So you think they might be worth a lot?"

"Or they are some kind of premium currency, rarely used by the general population. That would explain why these bastards had none."

"Right. Reminds me." She walked over to the bound body of the captured bandit, and nudged him with her foot. No reaction. She'd stuffed his ears with bits of cloth so he couldn't overhear them if he woke up, and she'd bound him quite thoroughly with ropes fashioned from the clothes of his fallen comrades, as well as covered his eyes with a makeshift bandana. Bondage was something of a kink of hers, and while her experience was mostly with women, it still applied there, although a few bonds might be in some pretty uncomfortable places for him.

Which was fine by her, he was the one making a living off of robbing people after all.

"Looks like he's still out. Think he'll ever wake up?" Asked Stellyra.

Airah shrugged.

"I think so. I didn't hit him hard enough to cause catastrophic internal damage, I don't think. And if I did, well, I'm no surgeon."

"Fair enough, I guess. So, remember that warmth surge you felt from your crystal, that you'd asked me about?"

"Yeah."

"I found some oblique references to that in the briefings. Apparently when you kill a foe, you absorb a part of their power."

"That's....nice. But how come I didn't feel that when I, you know, crashed into the guys when we saved Lenna?"

"Probably because we were too distracted. Also, it affects everyone in the area, not just the killer."

"Ah. So it go diluted."

"Yes. The soul crystal being deployed might also amplify it, but the documents aren't clear on that."

"Right. Well it's good to know." Airah sighed. "I have a feeling we'll need every bit of strength we can get."

"To accomplish our objective?"

"Yep. We have five great sages to take out, remember? And how much do you want to bet that if they have this entire world dancing to their tune, they're powerful beyond measure?"

Stellyra winced. Deeply.

"I'm not taking those odds."

"Neither would I. So yeah, I think we're going to have to forget about our overall 'mission' for a while. Shit, we don't even know who our targets are beyond a vague title and that they manipulate stuff from behind the curtains! This is like trying to hunt down the free masons!"

Stellyra chuckled. Many governments, for a variety of reasons, had tried to track down and eradicate the quasi cults of the free masons. All had failed to some degree. The Empress just left them alone. As long as a particular group wasn't breaking the law, disturbing the peace, or arguing for an insurrection, the Galactic Empire as a whole couldn't give less of a shit. Still didn't prevent some from sticking to the shadows, and doing their best to influence entire planetary governments!

"Fair enough. Well, we already have much to learn to begin with. Speaking of which, ready to crack open our first book on magic?"

Airah nodded. She could do with a bit of a break. Sorting through the blood soaked possessions of people she'd just killed wasn't as draining on her as it would be other people -she had distinct flashbacks to slaughtering the population of entire planets after all-, but it still took a toll. Especially when trying to extract some of the torn or liquefied fleshy bits out of stuff she'd like to keep.

She was going to need to head back to town at some point, if only to pick up some hygiene and cleaning supplies.

She grabbed some of the books, and settled down.

*****

Airah closed the book with a clap, and gazed at the bound bandit.

He'd woken up half an hour ago, and although he'd tried to be sneaky about it, she could practically smell his fear.

No, wait, she could smell his fear. Uh. Interesting. She forward the sensation to Stellyra, before raising her voice, to make sure the bandit could hear her through the makeshift ear plugs.

"You know I know you're awake, right?"

The bandit's breathing stopped, and the aroma of fear was replaced by that of terror -and urine-, causing Airah, in her human form, to wrinkle her nose.

"Well, are you going to say anything? I didn't gag you."

"W-W-What d-do you want with me? P-Please spare m-my life! I-I beg of you!"

Airah chuckled, and walked over to him. She knelt down, and pulled out the ear plugs.

"Now, that wholly depends on how cooperative you are." She bent over, and whispered in his ear. "And remember boy. I am perfectly aware that you didn't show mercy to your victims. So anger me, and you death will be painful. And slow. Very slow."

The bandit nodded convulsively, and Airah straightened back up, satisfied, before sitting back down to her old spot. It was complete bullshit of course, she knew nothing of his crimes, and torturing him would have no point whatshowever. Still, having him worried about that kind of retaliation would hopefully get him talking more easily.

"Alright, let's get started. What is your name?"

"D-Damien. Damien Highmountain."

"A lofty family name."

"M-My folks w-were native to the high m-mountains m-milady!"

"Oh, 'milady'? My, how polite." Airah smiled. "Alright. So, Damien, what were you and your friends doing there."

The smell of terror intensified, and Airah rose an eyebrow.

"W-We were just trying to r-rob people, m-milady." Said Damien, pathetically.

Airah didn't even need to smell the man's fear to realize he was lying. Something terrified him. Even more than her, that was.

"Damien, Damien, Damien..." She said as she picked up the most damaged sword, and slowly made her way towards him, making sure to drag the tip against the ground from time to time, before pressing the sword against his throat. "I thought I'd been quite clear on the consequences of angering me..."

Damien gulped audibly, and opened his mouth to answer, but stopped in a strangled cry as she put enough pressure on the sword to draw blood.

"Think about what you're going to say next very carefully." She said, and dragged the sword down onto the bandit's torso, then lower...until she reached his nether region, and tapped his package with the tip.

The spike of terror in the air told her the message had been received and understood.

"I-I....Our leader was c-contacted. I-I don't know w-who it was exactly! T-Tall woman, white hair, that's all I k-know! S-She offered him payment. V-Very generous payment, a-and a pardon, if we just s-shifted our operations to the s-south west, and started raiding t-the Empire! R-Rumor was..." He lowered his voice. "She was a Republic agent."

Airah nodded, although the bandit couldn't see the gesture with the blindfold. That made sense. Throwing bandits and pirates at your enemy was a tactic as old as human history. Probably older, actually.

"I see...And this republic agent, did she happen to mention other groups of bandits?"

"W-Well, I-I didn't hear about it, but a-a lot of bandits moved d-down here at the same time as us! E-Even the bandit lord!"

"The bandit lord?"

"S-Some exiled noble and military officer. H-His men followed him into exile. H-He proclaimed himself the bandit lord w-when he confederated s-several other groups. He's been e-expanding his operation ever since, t-trying to absorb everyone!"

Airah nodded. Self made bandit kings weren't exactly rare in Earth's history. It was, in fact, how a depressingly high number of nations had been founded.

"I see. Tell me more about this bandit lord."

*****

Airah didn't even twitch as the bandit finished off his last bond, and slowly rose into a crouch.

It had been about six hours since they'd began the interrogation, and they were well in the middle of the night. Unfortunately for the bandit, Stellyra had noticed when he'd gotten the hidden blade out of his sleeve, and began cutting his bonds before Airah had even gone to sleep.

So she'd stood watch, pretending to slumber while keeping a partially opened eye on him.

She could have just ripped his head off, and tossed the body down the slope, but as much of a scumbag as he was, he had answered her questions. She was at least willing to give him the chance to try and slip into the night. He probably wouldn't make it, what with the human eating beasts apparently roaming the area, but that wouldn't be her problem.

Except that he readied his dagger, and started sneaking towards her. Yeah, he was going to try and kill her.

Then he stopped a few meters away from her, and considered the cloth ropes he had been tied with, then her...and then stared at her chest and her legs. Obviously he was considering doing to her what she had done to him, except he was quite clearly contemplating raping her instead of interrogating her.

Airah opened her eyes.

"Wrong choice Damien."

Before he could react, she turned back into her dragon form, and grabbed him with one of her hands.

She listened at his desperate pleas for mercy as she slowly shook her head.

"You had your chance Damien. You had your chance."

Then she squeezed. And Damien stopped struggling as his head was reduced to a pulp underneath her grip.

"Well, that solves what to do with him." Said Stellyra.

"Yeah." Airah sighed. "Fucking hell, what a moron. What was he thinking, tie me up and have his way with me? I could have just turned back into a dragon and snap him in half!"

"He wouldn't have been a bandit if he had been the sharpest tool in the shed to begin with." Stellyra looked at the small pile of loot that was still resting on the cavern floor. "Should we try to return some of this mess to their rightful owners?"

Airah yawned.

"First, we get some sleep. And no, I'm fairly sure a civilization of their tech level wouldn't be able to find whoever that loot belonged to, and the government would probably just seize it. I'd rather just keep it." She looked at the stuff, and shrugged. "Selling some of the swords and armor might be a good idea though. Most of it is pretty trash, and I only have one human body to arm anyway."

"Right. We're going back to town then?"

"In a few days. I'd like to finish the books on magic. The principles in them..."

"Are insane. But if it's insane and it works..."

"Then it's genius, I know." Airah moved, and coiled into a tight package for sleeping. "Good night Stelly."

"Good night Ari."

Airah felt herself drift to sleep, strangely feeling a bit better from the pile of valuables near her.

For the first time in a long time, she didn't dream of shattered worlds, and fleets of ships reduced to atoms, but instead of wealth and possibilities.