Two laughed. It was a bitter, nasty sound that made Mordred want to punch him in the face. “You’re going to be nice to us? That’s your plan?”
“Oh, sorry, no, you misunderstand,” Mordred said. “My point here is this: you either tell me where Nate and Arthur are, or you’ll die. And you’ll die long and slow. No torture for answers, just for pain. I know I said your lives were full of pain and suffering, but I bet I can find a new level you’ve never experienced.”
Two laughed again. Mordred knocked on the door, and one of the guards opened it. “Can I have a dagger, please?”
The guard looked at the three prisoners before drawing out a dagger from the sheath on his hip and passing it to Mordred.
“Thanks, I’ll give it back in a minute.” Mordred closed the door and went back to the prisoners. “Right, let’s try again. Where are Nate and Arthur?”
Two exchanged a look with the other elves. “None of us will speak. We are servants of My Liege; we will watch his enemies burn.”
“You’re in charge, yes?” Mordred asked. “A higher rank, or some such.”
Two nodded, pride evident in his eyes.
“Excellent.” Mordred walked around the blood elf and used the blade to remove one of his fingers. The blood elf yelled in pain, and Mordred took some of the elven blood and smeared it on his hand. “Want to talk yet?” he asked as he returned to face them.
“If that is the worst you people have, we have nothing to fear,” Two said.
“No, this is the worst,” Mordred told him, and tendrils of blood magic shot from his hands, wrapping around Two as the elf screamed in pain. Mordred squeezed the tendrils, doing all he could to ensure that he didn’t lose control of his magic, that it did no harm to the other elves. The tendrils wrapped tighter and tighter, like a constrictor, knocking the elf to the floor as his scream continued to fill the room.
“You said no torture,” Three said.
“No, I said no torture to get answers,” Mordred said, concentrating on his magic to remove it from the quivering mass of pain that writhed on the floor. “I don’t care about answers. You have one chance, and then you die. He had his chance, and now he dies. Once you’re all dead, we’ll find Nate and Arthur another way. There is always another way. Now, excuse me, I have a matter to attend to, after which we’ll move on to you two.”
The other two elves were silent as Mordred dragged Two across the room, slamming him against the wall. “You’ll be more useful dead than alive,” he whispered, and plunged the dagger up into his throat, twisting the blade and pulling it free, then let the blood elf’s corpse fall to the ground.
He turned to Three. “You’re next. Where are Nate and Arthur?”
Three took a deep breath and tried to look as stoic in the face of danger as possible.
“Canada,” One said. “I don’t know the name of it. It’s a compound near a place called Toronto. Abaddon has been using it as a staging area for attacks.”
Mordred expected Three to berate One for saying anything, but instead he just looked relieved. “We found a lot of used bracelets around the city from those who had escaped, but you were caught without bracelets—why?”
“Not everyone was given them. Some of us came through the mountain into the tunnels under the city. We waited down there until the others arrived by using the bracelets. But not everyone who arrived here was given a bracelet to get home. We were meant to stay, cause terror for a long period until My Liege could return with Avalon approval.”
“Merlin is still going to pretend he needs it?” Mordred asked, more to himself than anything else.
“My Liege is replacing people with those he trusts,” Three said. “I hate you, I hate all you stand for, but we were left here to die. I love to fight, I live for it, but we’re not fodder.”
“How many blood elves are there?” Mordred asked. “You can’t have all come from the dwarven realm.”
One shook his head. “We were trapped under a mountain in Siberia. For a thousand years we lived there, underground, until My Liege came a few years ago. Most pledged their allegiance to him there and then.”
“You’re different from the dwarven-realm blood elves.”
“We only fought amongst ourselves,” Three said. “No dwarves or outsiders to lead us one way or another. No one to call an enemy. Until My Liege arrived and showed us one.”
“So, how many are there?” Mordred repeated.
“Thousands,” One said. “Eventually we’ll take control of this realm and make it ours once again. That’s what My Liege offered us.”
“You’ll murder innocents just to get your home back?”
“Why not?” One asked. “It’s our home.”
“Not anymore, it isn’t,” Mordred said. “And you both won’t be there to see it become anything else.”
“You’re going to kill us?” Three asked.
“Not my call.” Mordred left the cell, returning the blade to its owner. “One dead, two alive and chatty.” He turned to Hades, who stood slightly away from the guards. “Merlin promised them this realm.”
Hades nodded. “Merlin will have promised many people a lot of things he can’t deliver. Despots always do.”
Mordred and Hades left the prison and walked out of the palace, where Leonardo, Selene, and Diana greeted them. “Nate and Arthur are in a compound near Toronto,” Mordred said. “They didn’t know more than that, and yes, I believe them. Any idea how we get them out?”
“We can’t,” Hades said. “Not yet. We have no way of getting in and out, and no way of knowing exactly where he is or how many guard him. We have to wait for word.”
“And what if that word comes too late to save them?” Selene asked.
“We’ll find them,” Hades said. “I promise you that. We’ll get them out, but if we rush in Merlin could just kill them or kill anyone else who’s there. A rescue could become a bloodbath.”
“So, we wait and see?” Diana asked. “Not my favorite thing to do.”
“Oh, we’re not going to be doing that,” Hades said. “I have a plan. Several of us will need to move to a safe location outside of this realm. I want to be ready to go in a few hours. We’ll need to move fast once we find Nate and Arthur’s exact location.”
“Even if we know it, what’s going to change?” Diana asked. “He could still be impossible to extract without a large-scale military operation.”
“My man knows what to do,” Hades said. “We have to have some faith in Nate’s ability to withstand whatever Merlin does, and my man’s ability to get both Nate and Arthur to a safe place without too much trouble. Merlin is eventually going to attack my people. They’re prepared for this, but I’d rather Nate was out before it happens. Merlin’s going after everyone who stood against Hera or any of his other allies over the years. He fired Olivia and moved Lucie to another job, although no one has heard from her in several days. The head of the LOA is said to be Ares.”
Diana whistled. “That is incredibly bad news in a day filled with shitty news.”