Devil's tale

Devil's tale, Chapter 4

Avarice went completely still, just staring at the man's open eyes. "Um... hi?" He whimpered slowly. He heard Jazz facepalm somewhere in the background and he felt himself blush. For his part, Jazz had a bag full of what seemed to be coins in his hand. The goblin glanced from Avarice to the door and back again. Avarice began to flash back to that faithful day back at the capital, when he'd though he was going to graduate. His heart beat faster for a few agonising seconds as Jazz's eyes kept flying between the devil and the door.

Avarice's eyes narrowed and it felt like a switch had been flipped in his brain. He drew his dagger, holding it to the man's neck and clasped his other hand over the mayor's mouth He said in a calm, commanding voice.

"How many men do you have guarding this city? Hold up your right hand slowly and show us counts of fingers until you've reached the number."

The mayor slowly held up his hand, showing all five fingers. He did this around twelve times.

"Sixty? For a town this small?" Avarice asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms.

The mayor looked defeated and held up his hands again, this time only six times.

"Good, and can you communicate directly with the capital? Say, via a cleric or a wizard's magic?"

The mayor shook his head.

"Jazz, the next time he lies, stab him." Avarice said calmly, internally shocking himself with his words. He added, hastily and much less commandingly in goblin. "Not in a vital spot, please!"

The goblin looked at Avarice with surprise, he walked over, drew his dagger, sat atop the mayor and sneered. "With pleasure!"

The mayor's eyes widened with utter fear.

"I'll ask again. Can you communicate with the capital?" Avarice asked.

The mayor nodded.

"Circles of hell! Then even if we make it outta here, we're screwed unless we take fatty here hostage." Jazz cursed.

The mayor shook his head violently and desperately.

"No one's taking anybody hostage!" Avarice insisted, speaking goblin and praying the mayor couldn't understand him.

"It's either that or we kill him, and neither of us want that." Jazz replied.

"Just... just follow my lead, I think I have a way out of this."

Avarice turned his eyes back to the mayor and slowly drew his own dagger. The man whimpered softly and closed his eyes, clearly afraid of death. The devil began to speak slowly and clearly. "I think there's a compromise to be reached here. If we simply make you promise not to rat on us and let us run away with your money in exchange for your life, you'll break that promise the moment we're out of the village. But luckily for you, I noticed that your town doesn't seem to be doing so well. Your people look malnourished and sickly, while you've got a nice, healthy tummy." Avarice softly poked the man's belly with the tip of his dagger and the mayor let out another whimper. "What happened? Was it a bad harvest? Just nod or shake your head to answer." Avarice said. The mayor shook his head.

"If I tell my friend here to let go of your mouth, so you can explain the problem to us, will you promise not to scream? Remember that the stabbing-threat still stands." Avarice asked.

The mayor nodded quickly and Jazz removed his hand.

"What do you want? Riches? Connections? I can give them to you, just-" The mayor started.

"Upupup! You'll speak when I tell you to. And I don't want riches when they could be used to track me once I leave and you go blabbing to the royal guard. I want to survive, as I'm sure a good man like yourself wants the villagers of your town to survive, right?" Avarice asked.