Stoneweaver

Stoneweaver - Chapter 7

Irritable from being woken, Thortus' anxiousness to confront his enemy increased his temper as he reached his offices. Danath followed in his wake, showing little signs of tiredness, or of having been woken. He also showed mild indifference to their task, which further irritated Thortus.

"Try and look intimidating," he growled.

Danath gave a nod, deepening his brows into a glare.

It'd have to do. He felt certain he could muster enough intimidation for all of them, anyway.

After clambering up to the fourth floor, he had to halt to catch his breath. He couldn't have Welden seeing him winded. Danath stood nearby, his gaze fixed on the door ahead. Thortus couldn't help consider how vulnerable he was in the boy's presence. Even with a couple of enforcers nearby, a Stoneweaver would have little trouble disposing of him. He shook it away. He was letting his paranoia get the better of him again, and that would only serve to drive others away.

His breath recovered, he stormed on towards the far room, slamming the double doors open. A handful of thugs loitered around the edges of the room in menacing poses, a couple of his Stoneweavers among them. Elgren looked back from the open window, moving to meet Thortus.

But his attention focussed on the man standing nonchalantly in the middle of the room, arms folded over his chest. He looked older, more grizzled, but also leaner, more a fighter than the scholar he had been. The sight did little to ease Thortus' concern.

Elgren spoke in a hushed tone as he reached Thortus' side, turning to watch their guest. "The tip proved accurate. We caught him when he returned from a late night walk, dressed as you see him. He didn't put up much of a fight."

"And Zienna?"

"No sign of her, and the neighbours claim it was just him there. Nothing much in his room, other than a change of clothes, some way more expensive than someone staying there would be seen in."

Nodding, Thortus strolled forward, coming to a halt a few strides away from Welden, who met him with an indifferent gaze. Danath moved to his right, as Elgren took up position to his left.

"I seem to recall sending you away."

Welden said nothing.

"Where's your woman?"

"Dead." There hadn't been as much as a flicker at that. He couldn't be that cold about it, surely. More likely he was lying.

"How?"

He hesitated this time. Was he making it up, or dealing with the memory? "Mine flood." The main cause of death for miners, and the reason only slaves were used for the job, it wouldn't be unexpected.

"But you survived?"

No response.

"How did you escape Lord Narvon's mines?"

Nothing. But it occurred to Thortus that when they got him talking, they may be able learn something about Lord Narvon's operations. He guarded his knowledge closely, no one even knowing for certain where he was based, but always managed to have precious commodities available for trade, some of which should no longer be available. A number of attempts had been made to learn more, but never with a hint of success. It could wait, though. The proper 'questioning' would come later, but he wanted this opportunity before they broke him.

"Will you at least tell us why you came back here?"

"Revenge." He said it simply, but every man in the room tensed at the word.

Thortus allowed himself a faint smile, and held his arms wide. "Well, here I am. Will you take your revenge?"

"Why do you assume it's you I want revenge on?"

"I'm the one who sold you and your wife into slavery, aren't I? Who else here would you want to revenge yourself on?"

"To be honest I assumed you'd have died of rampaging syphilis years ago. You can imagine my surprise to find you still above the waves, even in this state of decrepitude."

Controlling his temper with Herculean effort, Thortus held his place, signalling the thugs who'd started to move back to their places. "Now that just isn't nice," he growled from between gritted teeth. "So, tell me, now you know I'm still around, completely unfazed by your woman's passing, will your plan for revenge be changing to include me?"

"Why would it?" His tone remained calm and conversational. "I can hardly hold you responsible for what you did, can I. You don't know any better. You're just a big fat beast swatting away anything that annoys him. It'd be like blaming a fat bird for soiling itself in fear whenever someone gets too near."

Having had enough of his goads, as he obviously wasn't ready to answer questions yet, Thortus waved to his thugs, who moved towards their prisoner.

Welden didn't acknowledge their approach, keeping his gaze fixed on Thortus' as he continued speaking. "I mean, how was I to know your pustulous little scab still oozed over civilization's..." He stopped with an abrupt dart towards the thug between him and the window, catching him off guard and swinging him around to stumble into the path of the others.

Elgren and Danath moved defensively in front of Thortus, going for their gemstones, but Welden didn't stop, sprinting for the open window, and diving through it.

After a moment's shock, everyone darted for the opening, and Thortus pushed his way through to find no sign of their prisoner. Light flooded from the ground floor windows, showing a complete lack of splattered, or even limping, bodies. No sign of him at all.

Pushing back from the opening, Thortus screamed at the room. "Get out there and hunt him down. And I want bars in those windows the next time we question someone here."