Burned

Chapter Four

     “Come on, you damn elf!” I growled, grabbing Alric by his ankles and giving him a good shake. “Give her up or I’ll shake you until your ears fall off!”

     Alric let out hissing and spitting noises like a cat, trying to claw at me but I held him far enough away that he could dig his pointy nails to my legs as I held him upside down. He’d been unlucky on thinking I wouldn’t go through with my threats—and between Valin, Tidal and I we had managed to get our hands on him.

     “I already told you,” he hissed, clawing again and trying to attack my hands. I shook him again and he let out a growl. “I can’t get her out of the river! Things aren’t that simple! You don’t just take someone out of the river Acheron. The only one who can do that is the Ferryman!”

     My eyes narrowed to slits.

     I’d heard of the Ferryman—rather, legends. The only ones to ever see him were the people who drove the gondolas along the river. Which meant Alric had seen him at least once in his measly little life.

     His eyes widened and he scrambled around, shouting obscenities as I gave him a few more good shakes, hitting his shoulder against a tree. The little elf tried my nerves and shaking him out like a dirty rug was more than a little fun.

     “Stop,” Valin interceded. “If you do that he won’t tell us anything. You have to use smarter methods.”

     Valin’ hand tangled in Alric’s hair and he lifted the elf’s head, pressing a silver blade to his throat. The elf let out a small sound of angry and I felt his body trembling with the emotion. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was feeling a bit of humiliation as well—no one ever treated him like this.

     “Now.” He paused long enough to press the blade deeper. “How do we get her out of Acheron? I know you know how to find the Ferryman. I’m not an idiot.”

     The elf kept his lips pressed firmly closed, eyes glowering at Valin despite the knife pressing deeper. It was easy to see that he wasn’t about to give and I knew Valin wouldn’t hesitate to kill him—even though we needed the stupid little rat.

     I dropped Alric and he scrambled up a tree like a cat, hissing down at us. Somewhere behind us, I heard Tidal snickering at the sound and I crossed my arms, ignoring Valin’s glared.

     “Put it this well, Alric,” I said evenly. “Unless you want ‘witchy’ to start taking over everything, we need you to tell us how to get Clarity out of the river.”

     “I have special plans for her,” he replied, standing on the tree limb, pale hand smoothing over the thick bark of the trunk. “That requires her in the river and you three gone from my area. I really have no desire to try to help you all when I have things of my own to do.

     “Now, if you would like to change that little fact by making a deal, I would be willing to compensate.”

     “There is no chance of that,” Valin said thinly, his knife landing in the trunk of the tree. I had a feeling he’d thrown it more out of annoyance than anything. “There is only one of us here that is idiotic enough to barter with a demon. Right, Jack?”

     “Right.” I paused. “Wait! I am not—”

     “Boys,” Tidal interjected. “Now really isn’t the time to be feuding like children! Or are you forgetting that we have a bitch on the edge of everything who is about to take over the lands?”

     “You better hurry with your decision making,” Alric called out from above, crossing his arms and returning out attention to him. “Because as things stand, the Icen Queen is nearly on the edge of the Firen Lands.”