A Long Time from Home Ch. 29

"Ita erat quando hic adveni! (Baylon: 'It was that way when I got here!')" I quoted with a grin.

The classic excuse made her giggle slightly and nod. Either she was an excellent actor, or she was getting tipsy from the wine. My guess was on the first since it seemed unlikely that she would this relaxed.

Time to put it to the test.

I ate some more dates, while I activated all combat orientated Ars Mentalis I could think of. Power surged through my body as I stretched and stood. "Well, you have had a long day, so you better get some sleep. Please follow me."

With a thought, the bracelets that tied her ankles to the chair opened.

Again, I seemed to have caught her by surprise, but she quickly regained her wits and walked around the table.

As soon as she was clear, she snatched the two eating knives and looked at me. "You know... I could kill you now if I wanted to."

Since I had been expecting an all-out attack, the clear statement surprised me pleasantly. She had a keen brain under that red hair.

"Hmm... That is a possibility... but it won't get you out of here." I said with a slight smile. "And that is most likely the reason why you didn't attack and decided to test me instead."

She nodded silently and placed the knives back on the table before she followed me to the door. I had mentally warned the two guards, that we were coming out and they were ready.

"Lead her back to her cell." I told them and looked at her. "Thank you for today. I will talk with you later."

That caused the guards to look at me strangely, but they were taught to follow order and a moment later, she was being led away.

Thoughtfully, I cancelled the illusion of Fishers, walked upstairs and out in the courtyard.

Judging from the sun, it was afternoon and I sat down on a bench to enjoy the heat from the sun for a while.

A mental call disturbed the peace. "< Captain Spectre, this is Adept Marcius, with the information you requested. >"

"< Good afternoon, Adept. What do you have for me? >"

"< According to the waiters at Fishers, the woman's name is Chuzara or something close to that. She has been there at least two times and each time she ordered the fish. However, according to the waiters, the fish is the most popular dish, so I don't know if that is of any help. >" He paused a moment. "< She was seen in the company of two other men,*two mental pictures followed* whom she called Kruse and Piler, but they didn't seem romantically involved in any way. >"

"< Impressive memory those waiters have >" I remarked with a mental chuckle.

"< Yes sir. Our people thought the same, but apparently, one of the waiters had a weakness for redheads and kept close to the table in hope of getting a date. He eventually did get around asking her, but she politely declined >"

"< Well, that explains a lot >" I thought back. "< Anything else? >"

"< Not yet, sir, but I will notify you immediately, if anything shows up >"

"< Thank you. Oh... Send a description of all three of them to the other chapters and see if anybody knows anything >"

"< Right away, sir >"

"< Spectre out. Have a pleasant afternoon >"

"< Thank you and likewise, sir >"

The connection closed, and I took a deep breath of the fresh air.

One of the things about being in a dungeon is that since there's no natural light, it screws with your sense of time. I was pretty sure that Chuzara thought, that it was late night, when I sent her to her cell. That also meant that I could wake her up in about ten glasses and she would think that it was morning.

The bench squawked as somebody sat down and when I looked, I discovered it was the prison warden and he looked dissatisfied.

Without saying hello, he said, "I hear from the guards that your 'interrogation' involved healing, food, wine and polite conversation."

I nodded. "Yes, sir, and if the Imperial Guards hadn't beaten the crap out of her during the capture, it would have involved a massage as well."

"Funny way to treat a criminal." He said with a sneer. "And an even stranger way to conduct an interrogation."

He must be really pissed, I decided. Not many government officials had the balls to talk that way to an Inquisitor, who had the power to get them arrested. That meant that he was most likely an honest and competent prison warden that worried about the way things were done.

I leaned back again and gathered my thoughts.

"Your prisoner is about twenty years old and from her lack of taboo against nudity, she's used to talk while being naked, which means that she's most likely used to frequent a public bath. Along with her speaking Baylon without any accent, that makes it likely that she's from the Island of Baylon itself and not one of the colonies. She has been to the capitol twice recently on business unknown, but most likely connected with the criminals. Judging from the calluses on her hands, she is trained in both armed and unarmed combat, but not archery. She's mentally tough and can take a lot of pain, but she's not trained in wearing armor."

I glanced at the warden, who was looking at me with lifted eyebrows, and continued. "Put that together and we're looking at someone trained in Lescarian fighting styles, which worries me greatly, since you don't normally train these alone. That means that there are more people out there with the same fighting ability. Most likely, the criminals she is connected with and we need to find those as well. Fortunately, I know her name and I know the names of some the people she relates to." I smiled to him. "Do you still think it's a strange way to conduct an interrogation?"

The warden swallowed something. "I apologize."

"No need for that, sir." I said, "We all have our area of expertise."

"And obviously, this is yours." He replied. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

I thought for a moment and nodded. "Yes sir, I need a room that doesn't resemble a dungeon, but it must be below ground and somewhat soundproof. In that room, I need a table with two chairs and a bed. All of the items must be suicide proof and have places where reinforced leather bracelets can be connected... and I need it in about eight glass if that is possible."

He looked like he went over the list in his head and finally nodded. "Consider it done."

While the warden arranged for the things that I needed, I went to check on the prisoner. Not that I was really worried about her, but sometimes it pays off, to do that little bit extra.

As I looked through the little window in the door, I was suddenly extremely glad, that I had decided to go down here. I had expected her to be asleep on the wooden bed, but instead she was sitting cross-legged on the bed with the blanket draped over her shoulders and her hands in her lab, meditating.

I turned and leaned against the wall, while swallowing a curse.

Mentally tough, intelligent, quick, trained in Lescarian fighting styles, excellent acting skills, and the ability to use Ars Mentalis. Add that to training in meditation, which perhaps even included training in Vis Vitae, and the result was... a person with some of the same skills as a member of Ordo Gladius.

Somebody out there was extremely well informed, had excellent organization skills and was giving at last some people some rather advanced training, which took both time and a lot of money.

All in all, it was bad news.

I turned and looked at the meditating woman again. She had the information I needed, and I had to pick it from her brain.

Unfortunately, that would take time and required building a certain level of trust.

Seeing her meditate gave me an idea. Unless you had a lot of practice at mediating, the muscles tend to become stiff after a while. Especially when meditating for a longer period of time or if you meditate in cold places. Meditating, instead of sleep, was a fast way of regaining one's strength, but it took time and the quickest meditation I had been able to do, took about eight glasses, which left her with at least seven glass of meditating.

Quietly I opened the door and silently walked into the cell.

Since meditating put the mind and body in a condition much deeper than normal sleep, I wasn't really worried about being heard, but it is always wise to be careful.

When I reached the middle of the room, I knelt, touched the floor, and used Ars Mentalis to cool it down to just above freezing, where it would stay for four glass.

I could see my own breath in the cold when I walked out again.

Unless I missed my guess, she would really need a massage when she came out of that meditation and that would fit my plan perfectly.

Now it was time to inform the local chapter of Ordo Praesidium, that the danger was much worse than they thought.

---------------

I was severely disappointed when I walked back into the prison six glasses later.

Not only did the captain of the local Ordo Praesidium not believe me, when I reported my suspicion about the prisoner, he had even laughed at me, refused to beef up the security at the prison and denied my request for moving the prisoner to another place.

I had even considered taking out my Inquisitorial Seal, but unfortunately, this wasn't about a magical threat, so I didn't have any authority.

There wasn't much more I could do there, so I said, "Yes, Captain." and walked away, silently cursing his arrogance.

Instead, I had contacted Ordo Gladius relayed the information to them and while they seemed to take the danger seriously, they would need a few days, before they could overrule the captain.

Unfortunately, that left me with the feeling of not having enough time to get the information I needed, to prove my claim. If I was in a group, acting against the will of the High King and one of the members were caught and held for interrogation in an ordinary prison, I would have broken the person out as fast as possible.

Looking around I checked the security and sighed. Good as it was, it wouldn't be enough if her friends had the training that I feared they had.

Varro, Verina and I could have liberated the prisoner in two glass. Three glass, if we had to kill all the guards to make sure that nobody sounded an alarm until we were long gone. There was nothing I could do about the security, so I pushed the thought away and went to work.

First, I made sure that a guard would come down with breakfast, if I ordered some food. Then I had a big bathtub carried into the room and had it filled with warm water.

Reaching into my belt pouch, I found a vial of oil. Besides having a pleasant smell and being an excellent soap, the oil had the ability to make the skin extremely sensitive to the touch and it was used by many nobles to enhance their sexual pleasure. Of course, anybody could use it, but it was quite expensive and thus mostly used by nobles.

I added some of the oil to the tub and put the vial back.

The last thing I did was to ask the guards to look to the prisoner and bring her to me as soon as she woke up.

Then I sat down in one of the chairs and relaxed with a cup of tea, while I waited.

About a glass later, there was a knock on the door and two guards came in, almost carrying Chuzara between them.

I didn't have to act surprised, because while I had expected her to have some stiff muscles, I hadn't imagined that it would be this bad. It looked like most of her muscles had totally cramped up.

"Good morning." I said politely to her and looked at the guards. "What happened to her?"

"I don't know, sir. She was like this when we saw that she had awakened." Stammered the left guard and the other one nodded.

"Okay. First things first." I said, as I stood up and looked at Chuzara, "Can you walk?"

"No." she said with clenched teeth.

I nodded to her and looked at the guards again. "Please place her on a chair and leave."

They did as I had ordered, and then we were alone.

I looked at her seriously. "Are you sure that nobody beat you up or something, because I've never seen anybody in that condition after they have slept."

Her whole body was stiff as a statue when she answered, "I'm sure."

"If you say so... but this needs to be healed. There's no way we can talk with you being all cramped up like that." I gestured at the tub. "I did think that you would like a bath after you have slept, but more to be clean and not to treat a medical condition. One moment. I'll heat the water."

She was silent as I walked over and used Ars Mentalis to reheat the water, before I turned, lifted her mentally and gently placed her into the hot water.

"Now relax there, while I get us something to drink. Do you want tea or cider?"

"Tea." She managed to say.

I nodded and walked out of the door.

The oil I had used in the water, needed to be absorbed into the skin before it really worked and when used in a bath that takes about a glass. She would also need some time for the hot water to loosen her muscles.

I used some time getting the tea done and walked back into the room.

She looked a lot more relaxed than when I left, so I showed her the two cups. "Right or left?"

"Left." She said and I handed her the left cup, before sitting down in the air by the side of the tub, out of reach of her arms.

"If you weren't beaten up, what happened?"

"I don't know." She said with a grimace. "I sat down to meditate and when I woke up, I was stiff all over and had cramps in muscles I didn't even know existed." She drank some of the tea. "Thanks for the bath, though. It helped a lot."

"No problem. Is it hot enough?"

She hesitated and then shrugged. "It's fine."

Sensing she would like to have warmer water, I extended my thoughts again and heated the water as I drank some more tea.

With a sigh, she leaned back in the tub. "At some point, I might understand why you're doing this... Unless it is to get my guard down."

"There're herbs that can do that both faster and better than a bath and a kind word." I said with a smile. "But I will have to interview you at some point. I'm just not in a hurry." I leaned forward a bit. "Nothing really happens here and the more time I can spend with you, the less time I have to be bored. That's why I'm not in a hurry."

"And what do you do here, when you're not bored?" She asked with a slight smile. "For a living, I mean."

"Believe it or not, I'm a doctor." I said truthfully.

She must have sensed the truth in the answer because she lifted her eyebrows in surprise. "And why is a doctor interviewing a prisoner?"

"Well, there isn't many good Mentats around here and I'm pretty perceptive." I said.

"Oh... well tell me something about me then."

"I'll try." I said with a smile and studied her, while I drank some more tea. My brain went to high speed with the focus on her. Baylon parent, sweet little girl, red hair, the colour of... of what? Sweet and dark red... the colour of ripe cherries. Cerasis (Baylon: 'Cherries').

I slowly asked. "Did anybody in your family call you Cera or Cerasis?"

She almost dropped her teacup in surprise. "Yes... Cerasis... How did you know?"

"I'm being perceptive... and your hair have the same colour as cherries." I said with a grin. "Let me guess: You name is close enough to Cerasis for them to use it often?"

She hesitated, but then nodded. "Yes. I guess it won't hurt to tell you, that my name is Chuzara, so yes, it's close."

"Nice to meet you, Chuzara." I said with a little nod, and placed my feet on the floor again, so I could walk over and put the empty cup on table. "Are you done with the tea?"

She nodded.

"Excellent." I said and used telekinesis to lift her out of the water and over to the bed, where I gently put her down.

Alarmed she asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm a doctor, remember? Hot water might have helped somewhat, but your muscles are still stiff, and I will give you a massage to loosen them up." I took a flask of oil from the belt pouch. "If you don't get a massage, they will continue to be that way for almost a week."

"And if I refuse?"

"Why would you want to refuse medical aid?" I asked innocently. "That really doesn't make sense to me."

She looked at me, considering the situation.

While she thought, I found a towel and threw it over to her. She caught it, but the fast movement made her wince.

I shook my head. "This is ridiculous. Lay down on your chest."

Resigned she did it and I walked over to her with the flask of oil.

It was ordinary massage oil, but mint had been added, which would not only warm the skin, but also interact with the oil, that was now absorbed in her skin, enhancing the effect a lot.

I poured some oil on her back and started to spread it gently. At first, she was stiff as a board, so I let my hands work her muscles, until she relaxed. Then I started to dig a little deeper, hitting the nerves that were connected to the pleasure-centers, while seemingly doing a normal massage.

That made her squirm, but I pretended that nothing was amiss and continued the massage.

Her breathing was becoming heavier, and I could smell that she was becoming aroused. Most likely against her will and better judgment.

I moved down her body and started to massage the soles of her feet for a while before I moved to her lower legs.

It didn't take long, before she was breathing raggedly as my fingers found the right pressure points along the backside of her leg, sending pulses of pleasure to her brain.

By now, her backside was covered with oil and I let my hands slide over the firm muscles of her butt, applying just enough pressure to make it a massage and not a lover's touch.

The gliding movements made her inhale sharply and finally she said. "What the fuck are you doing to me?"

"Well, at the moment I am massaging the largest muscle on your body." I replied calmly. "When I'm done with that, I will start on your back."

I noticed her hands gripping the edge of the bed tightly, as I dug my fingers into her buttocks, massaging them, but she didn't say anything.

She moaned almost silently, while I worked my way up to the small of her back, hitting pressure points all the way. Her self-control was excellent, as she still didn't say anything even as she must have been close to an orgasm.

I kept her in that state, massaging the upper part of her back, her shoulders and finally her neck.

Then I stopped and took a step back. "Try moving now. Isn't it better?"

Surprised by the sudden stop, she did what I said and nodded. "It is better."

"Excellent." I said and gently lifted her up with my mind. "Then I will continue with the front of the body."

"No!" she said quickly, causing me to stop while she was still hanging in the air.

"No?" I asked. "But didn't you say that it is better now?"

She sighed. "Yes, but I don't want any more massage."

With a shrug, I placed her on the bed again.

"For a bright woman, you really don't sense." I said with a smile and walked back to the table, where I sat down in the chair. "But as I have said before, it's your choice. Are you hungry?"

"What?"

"Do you want some breakfast?" I asked. "And no matter what you say, I am going to eat something, so you can join me or not."

"I'm hungry." She stated, but I continued to look at her, since it wasn't an answer and finally, she said, "Yes, please."

"Good. It's boring eating alone." I contacted the guards and asked them to bring in breakfast with tea. That done, I looked at her. "You might as well come over here. I don't think I can persuade the guards to serve you breakfast in bed."

That actually got a little laugh, as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, but then she grimaced at the pain in the muscles on the front of her body.

Saying nothing, I watched her while she slowly crossed the floor and sat down on the chair with a sigh. Then she stiffened again. The oil had done its job and I knew that the feeling of the chair against her skin, must have felt like the gentle touch of a lover, sending a shiver to pleasure to her brain.