Dragon Sorcerer 2- Chapter 75 (Patreon)

Chapter 75- Questioning

I lifted my head as I felt something through the bond. Cami was fighting. My shoulders tensed up, but then I shuddered and relaxed. She was winning. I felt the joy of battle surge through her. It was a hunt, and she was taking her prey. A resonance built between us and I willed her good fortune in the hunt and then turned to focus on blonde woman who was yelling at me.

“How could you? He threatened Cami. We needed to know what he knew, but you just had to go and kill him. Wait, are you even listening to me?”

I sighed. “Cami’s fighting. I just needed to make sure she was okay.”

Lisella’s eyes widened. “Well, is she?”

“It feels like it.”

“Is that how the bond works? I thought you could telepathically communicate with her. At least that’s what Modessa hinted at.”

“I’m not going to risk interrupting her during a fight. She is inexperienced, little more than a hatchling, and such an interruption could be the difference between life and death in a hunt.”

Lisella shook her head. “Her safety is what this is all about. Why’d you have to rip his throat out?”

I stared right back at her and took a half-step forward. She was powerful and perhaps useful to me, but I wasn’t going to be questioned like this by a human. “He offended me and threatened that which is mine. No one threatens to steal from a dragon without paying the price.”

Behind us, Liam made a snorting sound.

Lisella stared at me for a moment longer. Her face grew oddly red, and she trembled visibly. Then she wheeled around me and focused on Liam. “Oh, you aren’t much better. Was it necessary to use so much force? This would have been a good training exercise for Nico.”

The half-elf shrugged. “I got carried away. We so rarely get to cut loose, but you’re right. I’m sorry.” Then he turned towards me. “Nico, I should have allowed you the chance to fight them on your own. I’m sorry for stealing your experience.”

Lisella’s eyes bulged even more, but I said, “I did still get 1 DKP and 10 XP. Gaining XP is a new experience for me, but the notification said that the difficulty level was not enough to warrant anything more than the minimum. Apparently, I will earn at least 10 XP each time that I defeat a monster even if there is no danger.”

“Gonna take a long time to level up at that rate. Now, as much as I hate to admit it, she does have a point. We need information, and I should have taught you that. Capturing an enemy can sometimes be a bigger challenge than simply killing them.”

“Oh, you mean like playing with your food first?”

Liam laughed at that. Lisella seemed to be calming down as she smoothed her travel dress, but didn’t seem to think it was funny.

“Not exactly. We need to know how many more gnolls there are and if someone sent them or if they are just randomly appearing monsters.”

I shrugged. “They were rather on the weak side, although, I will say your little flying sticks do more damage than I would have thought. I could feel magic in the way you shot them.”

“It’s a combination of racial talents and class skills.”

“Do all races have talents?”

Liam smiled. “Elves do, but humans don’t, unless you count extreme adaptability. Humans can learn virtually any type of magic or become any class, but they don’t have any specific racial talents. It is part of why they’re always grasping for more. Or at least that is what my father always said.”

I nodded as I thought about his words, but then he continued, “Elves have talents related to bows, nature, wind and water, and nature magic, amongst other things, although no elf can have all of the talents. As we level, we get to make choices which shape our race as much as our class. What about dragons?”

When I hesitated, he continued, “I told you about elves. I’m trying here.”

I thought about it, trying to decide what it would hurt. “I’m still learning about it, but dragons have possible evolutions. So far I haven’t chosen one and have only seen the Claw evolution. Perhaps when I know more, we can talk.”

“Hey, I’m your mentor and you’re telling him more than you ever tell me.”

I spun around and started to snap back at her, but then bit my lip. She was right at some level. I wanted to learn what she had to offer. I was going to have to offer something in return. “Fine, I will try to be better. I also understand that I should have kept a prisoner alive to question. That was my mistake. Although, I can’t promise it won’t happen again.”

She smiled as though I hadn’t even said that last part. “It’s okay. I need to remember that you’re new at all of this. It’s supposed to be my job to teach you. It can be a hard line to walk. You’re far more powerful than your level or apparent age would indicate and yet for all that power you know even less about life than a human who was as old as you look would know. The question now is if we head to town or scour the woods looking for more gnolls.”

A vague memory tugged at my mind. “Can’t clerics speak to the dead?”

She stared at me for a minute before seemingly deciding that that it was a serious question. “No, perhaps if I were a servant of Erebin or a few other gods, but no, Miseria doesn’t allow such things.”

I swallowed. The more I thought about it the more I realized I had been the one to screw up. I wasn’t going to exactly apologize, but I could admit the facts of the matter. “It was my mistake, perhaps I should simply go hunt for another of them. The way he spoke made it sound like there were a large number of them nearby. We just need one to question, right?”

The answer came from behind us as Modessa called out, “Ask and you shall receive.”

It was getting truly dark, but I could see the rogue followed by Cami who was dragging a bound gnoll along the ground.

Modessa looked at Lisella and winked. “I figured that might happen, but I wanted to make sure we have backup. There are signs all throughout the woods of gnolls. I’m not half the woodsman that Liam is, but even I could see them everywhere.”

Liam was kneeling over the bound shaman, “You drugged him?”

“Cami took him out, but I didn’t want him making a ruckus and I only gave him some distilled moon daisy.”

The other two adventurers exchanged a look, and Modessa frowned. “Oh, don’t give me those looks. I know it’s frowned upon, but it’s effective. We can wake him up anytime you want, but it might help if you heal his wounds. My apprentice was pretty rough on him.”

I saw Cami beaming with pride at the praise and oddly; I felt a small measure of pride, too.

Lisella cast a regeneration spell on the gnoll and his wounds began to close before our eyes. Apparently, that was all it took to wake him up. He was soon struggling against the ropes which bound him and the gag in his mouth. In a flash, Modessa was at his side with her blade to his throat. Having been on the receiving end of her attention, I could understand how he must have felt.

Unlike me, though, he didn’t respond with anger. Instead, he responded with obvious fear. She started speaking very deliberately. “You need to know a few things. First off, I know you can speak the common tongue even if you mangle it. So don’t try to deny it. Second, if you tell me what I want to know, then I won’t kill you. But if I even think you’re lying to me, I’ll have no more use for you. Nod if you understand.”

The gnoll shaman’s dog-like face showed panic as his eyes bulged, but he nodded.

Modessa continued, “Now, my friend here is going to ask you some questions. If you speak other than to answer her questions, my knife may slip. Nod again if you understand.”

Once again, the creature did as instructed and Modessa popped the gag out of his mouth. He let out a low hacking cough, but then seemed to calm down.

Liam asked, “How many gnolls are in these woods?”

When the creature didn’t answer quickly enough, Modessa dug her dagger in just a little bit. I admired her technique. She seemed to have found a perfect level of intimidation for the creature. “Pack is strong. Five shamans. Many warriors. No pups.”

“And how did you get to Urgoi Isle?”

I expected to hear that they had sailed here. They didn’t seem like the type to have teleportation magic, but I could see them being pirates. At least I thought that was the correct word.

“Human with glowing eyes came. He told pack belong him. He killed chief. Him magic was very strong. Then make hole in air and send here. Pack fight but know when not fight.”

Modessa hissed, “Wild mage.”

Lisella says , “We can’t jump to any conclusions, but it may be the case.”

For a moment, it looked like the two were going to argue, so I took over. “Gnoll, tell us why you were sent here.”

“Cause chaos.”

I put my hand on his throat. “The warriors said they were here to kill the rider. What does that mean?”

The creature’s mouth close and Modessa pushed me aside. “Leave this to me, Nico.”

A couple of small slices from her dagger seemed to elicit a disproportionate response from the creature. I felt Cami’s stomach turning as the creature screeched, but was fascinated by what Modessa was doing. There was a tiny amount of magic on her dagger but I couldn’t determine how it was hurting the gnoll.

Finally, though, Lisella said, “Enough. I may not be Galbrecht, but I’m not going to condone torture. We will simply need to find another way to get the information we need.”

Suddenly, it hit me. That was what was bothering Cami. Torture. I understood the concept but was largely inured to the suffering of lesser beings. This gnoll was our enemy. I had no problem with inflicting pain on him. I wasn’t going to suddenly start doing it for entertainment, but if it got me the answers I needed then all the better.

“We could have Serius prepare a charm spell or perhaps a mind reading spell. It isn’t like this thing could put up much resistance.”

I looked around for a second. Night had truly fallen. We were a short way into the woods. I could smell cooking fires from the village, but it was still a couple miles away. “We don’t have to bring Serius. We simply need a clearing big enough for me to transform. Then I’ll get the answers we want.”