Elaine's swords jutting from his chest. 'Has she taken something that nullifies our potions?'
Wendric shrugged. 'Either is possible. Or both. For the latter, we may need to just wait for the effects of the counteragent to subside.'
'We should increase the dosage,' Elaine said flatly.
'No,' said Lucius. 'She has already taken more than you or I could bear. And I want to know what she knows.'
Folding her arms, Elaine regarded the other woman. 'She's playing us. We should move to more direct means.'
Lucius guessed that Elaine had been itching to say that since they had brought Jewel into the bowels of the guildhouse two days ago. A few yards above them, in the common room and throughout the permitted areas of the guildhouse, thieves still celebrated, getting drunk and retelling stories of their rise to victory. The tales grew with each telling, but no one objected. From daring hits on the Guild's enforcers to the final assault on the guildhouse, every thief had the opportunity to become a hero.
Elaine had granted the Hands a week of celebration, but had made it painfully clear that open Council sessions were a thing of the past and that anyone defying her law as guildmaster would answer for it. She had been accepted smoothly enough, and even Lucius had avoided too many awkward questions, such was the elation throughout the guild. That, he knew, would likely not last.
Picking a knife off the single table in the small, dank room, Elaine crossed back over to Jewel and held the blade in front of the woman's face.
'It will do no good to work on her face,' Elaine said, trying to goad her. 'You already worked her over well, Lucius. She might have been pretty once, but now she looks like a freak. Like one of those creatures we slaughtered. Remember those? The ones we threw back into the sea.'
Silently, Lucius shook his head. He had a fair idea that Jewel had never concerned herself with looking good and that, if anything, those scars aided her line of work. For her part, Jewel just held Elaine's gaze, her face completely neutral and without emotion, except her eyes, which spoke of nothing but promised agony.
'No, we must do something more… permanent, I think,' Elaine declared. 'Perhaps a few tendons cut, or the loss of a few fingers. That would bother you, wouldn't it, bitch? Not being able to kill any more. Life wouldn't be worth living.'
Jewel muttered something then, but it was lost by Wendric's caustic comment. 'I think she could learn to kill if you removed all her limbs. And maybe her head too.'
Lucius held up a hand to silence him, and leaned over Jewel. Though she was tightly bound to the chair they had placed her in, he still did not get too close. He did not expect her to spit acid or poison into his face, but it would not surprise him if she did.
'What was that? What did you say, Jewel?'
With utter contempt, she stared back up at him and, for a moment, he thought she was going to fall silent again.
'I said, you are all dead and you don't even know it.'
'We were the ones that won the war, Jewel,' said Elaine. 'You might have trouble recognising defeat, I realise, but what you are feeling right now, that is it. Wendric, give her another dose.'
'I told you, she is already dangerously high.'
'Apparently not,' said Lucius. 'Go on. Risk it. She's no good to us silent.'
Grabbing a small opaque vial from the table, Wendric stood over Jewel, and regarded her as he held the vial aloft.
'We've done this before. You can have it easy, or have it hard.' As he reached down, she twisted as far as her straps would allow.
'Hard then,' Wendric said, grabbing Jewel's nose and wrenching her head back. For a minute he held her like that, waiting for her to draw breath through her mouth, but she remained resolutely still. Losing his patience, Wendric punched her hard in the stomach and, when this elicited the required response, drove the vial between her teeth, emptying its contents before slamming her mouth shut.
Still Jewel held out, twisting to break his grasp as a trickle of the potion ran from the corner of her mouth. She was finally defeated by the basic need for air, and Wendric finally released her when they heard her swallow.
For a moment, she gasped for breath, then spat at their feet. For a few seconds, her eyes lost focus and her head began to sway.
'It's beginning to work,' Lucius said, taking a step forward. Then, as if a torch had been snuffed out, the dullness disappeared from her eyes and she snapped back in her restraints, staring past them as if watching something a great distance away. Both Lucius and Elaine looked at Wendric, but he just shrugged.
Lucius crouched until he was at her eye level, but she just seemed to stare right through him.
'Jewel, how did you contact those creatures?'
'They contacted us.'
'What did you offer to get them working for the Guild?'
'Idiot.'
Behind Lucius, Wendric smirked. 'If the truth drugs are working, I would say that gives you little credit.'
Ignoring him, Lucius pressed on. 'Jewel, what are they.'
'The power of the ancients, the rulers of the past,' she said, then added an afterthought. 'And the future.'
'I don't understand.'
Jewel sighed then, long and exaggerated, as if failing to get through to an ignorant child. He decided to try a different tact.
'What do they want?'
'Everything.'
'What do you mean, everything? All the gold in the city? The city itself? The Empire?'
'Everything.'
'That doesn't make sense, Jewel,' he said, wishing the others would join in. 'Why would they fight alongside you? What could you offer?'
'Revenge. A tip in the balance.'
He stopped, thinking that one through. Turning, he faced Wendric. 'Does she have to be this literal?'
'It works differently for everyone,' Wendric shrugged. 'Some appear drunk, others desperate to please. I always thought it was a reflection of the personality, though I am not sure what that says about her.'
Scratching his head, Lucius confronted Jewel again. 'You said they wanted to tip the balance. You weren't paying them in gold or goods, were you?'
'Of course not.' Again, that exasperated tone.
A thought struck him as he saw her head begin to sag. 'Jewel, listen to me. They weren't working for you, right? You were doing their bidding.'
'We served them.'
'But why?'
'Idiot.'
'She presumes the answer is obvious,' said Wendric.
'Yes, thank you Wendric, I am beginning to get that,' Lucius replied testily. 'They served something more powerful than them because they would be rewarded. I withdraw the question — happy?'
In response Wendric shrugged as Elaine pushed past him. As Jewel's eyes began to close, she slapped the woman hard across the face. The sharp sting of pain seemed to revive Jewel and, for a moment, she seemed lucid.
'What are they, Jewel?' Elaine asked. 'What do we have to fear from them?'
'They have been here forever,' Jewel said slowly. 'They commanded us and we obeyed, for that is the only way to survive the war.'
'The war is over Jewel,' Lucius said. 'You lost.'
'No, the war has gone on for centuries, and will continue until every man and woman is dead or lies enslaved at their feet.'
