Remember... Ch. 06

"Just try, ok?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll see ya guys later," With a wave, Chris ran out of the hidden armory, leaving Mark and Andrew alone in the stone chamber.

"What did Hek do?" Mark asked as he donned his masked helmet. As he did so, his voice became distorted and metallic.

"Some Magus found an undocumented shipment of strange magical plants in a caravan from Hek a few weeks back. The driver gave some bullshit story about how he couldn't remember where they came from, and in the end some other Magi came and burned it all."

"Huh. Smuggler?"

"Yeah, though they usually smuggle these kinds of thingsintoHek, not out of it."

"Eh. Wherever there's a buyer, I guess. Anyways, Andrew, you're going to want to hear this: I think I have some news about Mamet for you."

"Oh?"

"There's a new cult in Norfald, and Empress Grendaline is... not pleased."

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The darkened corridor of the Society's dungeons was not a place that Mari frequented, especially in the pre-dawn hours of the morning. Being alone in such a large anti-magic field made her nervous. Well, she wasn't really alone: there were always a couple Enforcers within eyesight, but she didn't really know any of them. They did know her though, often smiling and nodding as she passed by.

Finally, after getting lost and asking for directions several times, Mari arrived at the warden's office. She knocked.

"Come in," a woman's voice called from the inside. "Ah, Miss Izer! What are you doing down here? Your father isn't making you run errands for him, is he?"

"Hello Warden Bartlet," Mari smiled slightly for her benefit. The warden always creeped her out a little bit; Mari would sometimes catch her staring. Not in a sexual way, or so she thought, but it was definitely a predatory stare, which would disappear as suddenly as it had appeared. "No, I'm here for personal business."

"Oh? How can I help you then?" She asked as she pointed Mari to a chair across from her desk.

"I've heard that there was an incident about an elf being kidnapped in the city last week," she began, "and that the Rogues were involved in the incident. Were any of them captured by the Society?"

"Hmm... yes, I do believe so," she said, flipping through some files on her desk. She stopped on one with perfect accuracy. "Yes, here, a man named Rufio Steegle. Why?"

"I was wondering if there's a chance that I can ask him some questions?"

The woman raised an eyebrow. "What questions?"

"I want to know where they're keeping the elf they kidnapped. She was a friend of mine."

The warden shrugged. "Sure, I can allow you to ask him that, but Inquisitor Cain is not in today, so can you wait until tomorrow?"

"What about Inquisitor Herschel?"

"He got transferred to our Hek office just last week."

Mari frowned. She had promised Mark an answer from her soon. "What if I just went to question him myself?"

"Um, you're welcome to try, but that's not how interrogation works, Miss Izer," she laughed. "They're not just going to tell you if you ask them nicely enough."

"I know that, it was just a manner of speech; but since I don't have much experience in this, how would you normally do it?"

"We have our ways," the warden shrugged mysteriously as she once again stared at Mari as if she was a piece of meat. "It's not very nice."

"Well, just let me try. Please?"

"Ok, go for it. I'll tell someone to bring him out to the interrogation room for you."

Minutes later, as Mari paced the hallways outside of the warden's office wondering just how she was going to persuade the prisoner, she realized that she really didn't have much in the way of leverage. Sure, she could go in and hurt him, but she'd learned enough from Mark and his brothers to know that physical pain rarely brings about true or useful confessions. This was doubly true when under time pressure.

Suddenly, a thought struck her.What if it wasn't actually pain?She mused.

Sprinting down the corridor, Mari only paused long enough to shout, "I'll be back in half an hour! Get him ready for me!"

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Mark sat alone in a small room with a window overlooking the palace gardens outside. There was barely anyone out there at this hour except for the gardeners. He absent-mindedly flipped through a few sheets of a report, part of a series of weekly reports he receives from each of the regional heads of intelligence. He was currently reading was from Mise, which was uninteresting as usual. Elves, whether it was because they were good at keeping secrets or because they just had fewer drama-prone officials, rarely had notable stories.

Maybe there'll be something this time,he thought hopefully.Maybe there's something worth telling Andrew-

His thought was interrupted by a knock at the door. Only a few people knew of this door and those who did know generally entered without knocking.

"Yes?" Mark said, puzzled.

"Mark! Here you are!" A silver-maned girl pushed open the door, looking relieved, "You know how long it took me to find you? I went to your house, found that you weren't there, then I had to jump here and look around and still couldn't find you and finally I had to ask Jaraad. He told me that you might be here."

"Heh, hey Mari. Sorry, I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd try to do some work."

"Well, I need the charms and collar that you have. You know,thosecharms."

"Oh. Err. Why? I hope you're not thinking of using them with Andrew... actually, don't answer that. I don't want to know what you do with Andrew," he laughed.

"Shut... shut up, Mark," she said, flustered. "We haven't... done anything yet."

"Then why do you need them?" he smirked.

"I need them to interrogate a guy we have at the Society."

In an instant, Mark's smile faded. He thought for a moment before reaching into his pocket. "You know, normally I would say that interrogation doesn't really work... but your Enforcers at the society have had amazing results in the past, and I've never tried interrogating anyone with these charms before. Here are the keys to my house. The charms are in the nightstand by my bed."

The sorceress took the keys from his hand and smiled. "Thanks. I'll be back with the good news soon," she said encouragingly as she closed the door behind her.

Alone again, Mark took one look at the summary on Mise in his hands, and put it aside. He needed more interesting things than the elves to keep his mind occupied. He quickly flipped to the one on Hek.

Half an hour later, he had finished the reports on Hek, Mamet, and Azin, when there was another knock at the door. Before he had even looked up, Mari had already run inside. "Mark! I got it!" she beamed. "Warehouse 106, east docks."

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In the dawning sun, the warehouse seemed just like any other that lined the Misspi River, with the sandbags already piled along the bank in preparation for the upcoming flood season. In the distance, three gaunt men busied themselves with offloading large barrels from a ship.

"Ma'am, we've checked here before," the dock guard said to Lena. "Just yesterday, in fact. We've been making regular patrols around here."

She looked to Mark, who nodded confidently.

"Well, it doesn't hurt to check again," she said as she marched on, with Mark close behind.

As they approached the doors of the warehouse, Mark noted one of the workers disappeared, leaving only two in view.

"You should stay out here, and let us handle this," Lena said to him.

"No, I need to see-"

"Mark, I need to work with people I trust. I trust my men. They know how to work with me. I don't quite trust you enough for that yet," she said to him evenly. "I promise I'll get you if there's anything in there at all."

"But-"

"Mark! This is an order! Just because the Major said to take you along doesn't mean you can just do whatever you want!"

Mark fell silent. He nodded after a moment.

Lena shook her head in annoyance, and knocked on the door.

A few moments later, a small man opened the door a crack and peeked outside. "Uh... Can I help you?" he asked.

"I'm Captain Banks of the Royal guards. We're here to conduct a search of the premises."

"Of course, of course," the man said as he opened the door fully. He looked rather messy, seemingly having dressed himself in a hurry, and despite the fact it was only just past noon there was an unmistakable stench of cheap beer in the air. As Lena and some of her men marched in, he approached her again. "May I ask why are you conducting this search?"

"We received word that there may be illegal goods being stored in this warehouse," Lena said as she looked around the entrance. Barrels lined the corridor, along with a random smattering of empty bowls and dishes. Her men were already spreading out in twos, into other unseen rooms.

"What kind of illegal goods? We are rum merchants from Hek, but I assure you that we're not carrying anything that is considered illegal in Rancer."

"No, not rum," she shook her head slowly, keeping her eyes on the man. "Elves. Elven women. Would you happen to know anything about that?"

"Goodness no! We're not stupid enough to bring slaves into Rancer!" He said in shock. "We would never stoop that low!"

"Good to hear that. Now I'll just wait for my men to confirm, and we can be out of here," she nodded.

The man visibly smiled and relaxed.

"However," Lena continued, "that's only under the assumption that we won't find anything."

Minutes passed as Lena stood in the entrance corridor. Eventually, her men returned one by one, empty handed. Signaling her men to stay, Lena walked outside.

"Mark, none of my men found anything. Are you sure this is the right place? They just seemed to be Hekian rum traders."

"I hope so..." he muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing. Say, can I take a look around?"

Lena shrugged. "I suppose. The Hekians inside look harmless enough."

"Thanks," Mark said as he rushed inside.

As he carefully looked over the entrance corridor, he paused. Something felt off. There was a strange kind of silence that left a ringing sound in his ear. Of course, he could still hear the other guards talk amongst themselves, but... He shook his head and began to check over each room with Lena right behind him.

Moving almost automatically, he checked several barrels to confirm their contents and examined anything that looked like it could be used for hiding things. Everything seemed perfectly normal. Everything except that ringing silence.

"Lena-" he caught himself. "Captain Banks."

"Yeah?"

"Do you hear that ringing noise?"

Lena frowned. "What ringing noise?"

"It's like a ringing... whining silence... do you hear it?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Mark. I think you should probably get some rest."

"You're... you're probably right..." he sighed, and shook his head once again.

Lena looked around and sighed. "This place looks pretty normal to me. Are you sure your information is accurate?"

"I... I don't know," he frowned.

"Let's go, Mark. Let's check the next warehouse. Maybe there was a misunderstanding in the directions," she said as they walked out.

It was long past midnight when Mark finally fell back into his bed. The look of disappointment on Mari's face when he had told her that the information she had given him was a lie was still freshly etched in his memory. She had apologized profusely, and given back the small bag of charms. She had frowned and mumbled something under her breath about "make that bastard pay for it", but he didn't really pay much attention, and only thanked her for her efforts.

Staring upwards, Mark focused on the small pouch of charms he held above his head. It was not hard for him to imagine what interrogation techniques that Mari and employed. Even so, he knew the chances of success were not high.Even if the man had not lied, it would have been easy for the kidnappers to move locations,he thought,or keep Amanda in a different location than their original meeting point, and if that was the case I could probably look up the warehouse's rental logs and trace the tenants from that...

As his thoughts drifted and the weariness from the sleepless nights claimed him, his grip on the pouch of charms faltered, dropping it next to his head.

It took several moments for his sleep deprived mind to register it, but through the pre-dreaming haze, Mark heard a noise. A quiet whine. His eyes snapped open as he sat up immediately. He was sure he heard it, but now... there was nothing again.

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he lay down again. And this time, he heard it for sure. The sound of that ringing silence.

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Plink!

Opening her eyes slowly as she rolled onto her side to look at the window, Mari was sure she had just heard something there. She stared at it for a moment, almost contemplating the thought of going over to look outside before the comfort of the bed convinced her otherwise. Her eyelids, heavy with sleep, slowly closed again.

Plink!

So I'm not imagining things,Mari mused unhappily as she opened her eyes again.

Plink!

This time, she saw the tiny pebble hit her window. Yawning, she lazily climbed out of bed to check who it was that interrupted her sleep. She just reached her windows, about to open them, when suddenly a shadowy figure appeared in front of her on the other side.

A small scream escaped from her throat before she could stifle it.

"Mark! What the hell!" She shouted at the man in a hushed tone as she opened the windows.

"Sorry Mari! I tried throwing rocks at the window but you weren't responding," he offered apologetically. "I really need your help again. Here, look at this."

Before Mari could get in a word, Mark had placed a small pouch in her hands. She looked at it, confused. "Yeah? The charms. What about them?"

"Do they make a sound to you? Like, a really still silence, but with a ringing or whining noise."

"What are you talking about? The charms don't make sounds."

"No, seriously! Put them up to your ear."

Frowning with suspicion, Mari held the bag up to her ear. It took her a second to notice, but there was a definite ringing... but it wasn't from the charms.

"Oh, you mean the magic silence. It's not the charms, Mark, it's the concealer bag."

"Huh? The bag?"

"Yeah, here," she said as she emptied the pouch onto her desk before giving it back to Mark. He held it to his ear.

"Yeah! That's the noise! It's a really weird ringing."

"Yay, problem solved. Can I go back to sleep yet?" Mari asked dryly as she longingly eyed her bed.

"Actually, I have another question. What does it mean if I'm hearing this in a building?"

"Erm..." Mari tried to think as she rubbed her eyes and yawned. It doesn't seem that Mark is going away anytime soon. "Where did you hear this silence?"

"In the warehouse where you said they're keeping Amanda."

The mention of the elf girl's name seemed to have cleared her foggy mind just a little bit more. "I guess it means that you're in a giant conceal..." she paused. "It means that there's an anti-magic field inside the building."

"An anti-magic field," Mark narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah, it stops magic from being cast from the inside and detection magic from finding it from the outside. It's how concealer bags work."

"Then, if the warehouse has this, then..."

"Mark, we need to go see this warehouse. Now!"

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A series of loud gasps and moans pulled Amanda from her dreams. Ellisa sat against a pillar, restrained only by the damned collar, and a length of chain that leashed her to the pillar itself. She panted and moaned as she continued to fuck herself with a large dildo, not seeming to care whether or not she could free herself from the torture. As Amanda turned her back to her guardian to try to go back to sleep, she shook as her imagination ran wild with what horrors awaited her when she met the mysterious dark lady again. If a woman as strong as Ellisa was left in such a wretched state in just a few days at the hands of these humans, what hope would she have in the clutches of that lady?

Suddenly, the door on the far side of the room opened. Amanda froze, pretending to be asleep. She swore at herself for not hearing the footsteps earlier. It was only because Ellisa's climax had made her turn around that she was saved from the harassment from the men.

"I need you," Amanda heard Ellisa moan to the group of men that entered. "Please, I need your cocks!"

"I know, you cock hungry slut," A man growled. It was the voice of the ponytailed man. "But I'm not here for you tonight."

Amanda tensed as she felt the skin on the back of her neck crawl.

"She wouldn't know what to do with you. Fuck me instead!"

"You boys take this slut upstairs and do whatever you want with her. Just leave me and the fresh one down here," he slurred to the men behind him as his voice came closer to Amanda's cage.

"Hey boss, I thought that drow bitch told us not to touch her?" Someone asked.

"Fuck you, and fuck that cunt!" Amanda could smell the alcohol now. It was almost as if he was drenched in it. "She won't know about this, because none of you are going to say a fucking word. And that includes you, my sweet."

Amanda hugged herself tightly as he addressed her.

"Oh come on, I know you're awake. At least look at me," he said as he unlocked the cell door. Turning around to look behind him, he yelled, "and all of you, take that slut and go upstairs. This little thing here is mine."

Sitting up and turning around, Amanda hugged her knees to her chest, and stared past the ponytailed man, at Ellisa. There was a desperate and pained expression on her face as their gaze met. "I'm sorry," Ellisa mouthed to her silently. "Be strong."

The men mumbled something, unchained the elf from the pillar, and finally led her upstairs.

With the heavy clunk of the door latch, the ponytailed man turned around and stared at her lecherously.

"Spirits, I've wanted to fuck you the moment I laid eyes on you."

Amanda knew what he wanted. The past days spent seeing everything that he and his men had done to Ellisa gave her an all too good idea of what he wanted from her: to scream, to cry, to beg for them to stop. He would laugh, then rape her. She suppressed a shiver. Steadying herself, Amanda met his gaze and willed herself to face him, even as her heart raced in her chest and a part of her screamed for her to run away and hide. Even if she could not avoid her fate at his hands, she would not give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had cowed her. She wanted to tell him to just get it over with, but she didn't trust her voice not to betray her fear.

"What's with that look?" Ponytail frowned as he walked to her, and pulled her to her feet. He pinned her body against the wall with his as he roughly groped her.

"You smell like shit," Amanda said with what little spite she could manage. It wasn't much, and her voice shook a little as she said it, but in his drunken state, the ponytailed man didn't seem to notice her fear. To her surprise, the man stepped back and shrugged.

"Yeah, I know. That idiot Norman spilled a whole fucking pint of that shit beer on me at the pub. Cost him two of his teeth for that fuckup," he said as he demonstrated an imaginary punching motion.

Amanda frowned in confusion, but said nothing.

"Fuck, now that you've brought it up again, I can't stop smelling it," he sniffed his sleeves. "Fuck, this is horrid." He swore as he wandered over to the corner of the room with the water hose they used to clean their captives, pulling off his clothes as he walked. "You just sit tight for one minute, and I'll be right back."

Amanda looked at him strangely, not believing her luck. She slowly, quietly walked out of her cell, towards the door on the far side of the room.