48 Run All Nigh (2/2)
It was good to know that he was an officer in his unit. That meant he knew some of the details I needed to know.
”And your brother?” I asked.
”Connor,” he answered.
”Is he an officer too?”
”No... he doesn't believe in the cause. He's just here because I am...”
”So... you dragged your brother into the Fayne?”
Collin scowled, but it wasn't anger in his eyes. Just misery. It was the same kind of misery Luca had.
”No... I didn't drag him anywhere. He wanted to come here and prove himself just as much as I did...”
”Prove yourselves?”
Collin glanced over to look at me. His eyes scanned me up and down.
The fact that he was at least a head taller than me and possessed that scrapper aura common in Southside kids might have made me wary of him if I hadn't beaten him once already. Plus, I carried a sword and he didn't.
”Where are you from, shorty?” he asked me.
I pulled hard on his thread and caused him to stumble, but I didn't care.
”Did you just call me short?” my voice was calm, but the menace in my eyes was clear.
”Bad move mud-boy,” Qwipps called. ”Commander doesn't like it when you mention his height.”
”Shut up, Qwipps,” I said through gritted teeth. ”I don't have a problem with my height.”
”Su~~ure. You keep telling yourself that,” Qwipps laughed.
I refused to comment on his statement because I wasn't affected by my height in the least. Nope. Never. Well, maybe just a little. Still, I promised myself that I was going to get my revenge on Qwipps Daggerby when the war was over and we'd returned to Fort Darah.
”Before we were rudely interrupted...” I took a breath and resumed my interrogation. ”You were telling me about your reasons for going to the Fayne.”
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”You from Starlight?” Collin asked.
”Yup... you're Southie... I recognize the accent,” I replied.
”And you're from Midtown... what's a wise-ass kid like you doing here?” He asked in a very mocking tone.
”I ask the questions here...” For effect, I pulled on his thread which caused him to stumble again.
That was the great thing about elf rope. The silver threads may look as slim as pasta noodles but they were as tough as titanium and far more durable than hemp.
Collin gritted his teeth. ”Can you stop doing that?”
”Then cut the wisecracking and tell me what I want to know,” I countered.
Back on Mudgard, the teens of Midtown and southside weren't exactly friends. To put it mildly, Romeo and Juliet's families didn't hold a candle to how much we didn't like each other—and yes, that was mild even after we factored in that Romeo and Juliet's families caused their kids to commit suicide.
It mostly had to do with our two schools, Midtown High and Southside Tech, being rivals since their birth. Whether it was in athletics or academics, Midtown and Southside always went to war for the prize. And in my time as a member of Midtown's Academic Decathlon team, I'd had my fair share of brush-ups with Southside kids.
”My grandad...” Collin's face turned downcast. ”He sent me and my brother here to prove ourselves worthy of the family name.”
”Mccord...” My forehead creased. ”You related to Starlight's Mayor?”
Collin nodded. ”Yeah... Mayor Christopher Mccord is my grandad.”
This was a huge revelation for me because this Southie was basically admitting that fairies were so embedded in Starlight City that one of the clans even had a hold on the most mayor's office. The thought of it just blew my mind so much that it took me a while to ask my next question.
”Hold on... so your grandfather, the Mayor, sent you into the Fayne so you could go to war?”
”So we could serve,” Collin's sigh was heavier than any sigh I'd ever made, ”and be of use to our family's benefactors...”
My eyebrow went as high as it could go. ”You're saying the Magesong Clan is so strong that they've got their hooks deep into Starlight's political system?”
I really didn't see it. The Magasong Clan was smaller than the Trickster Pavilion. There was just no way their influence outstripped ours even on Mudgard.
Collin shook his head. ”I don't serve the Magesong Clan...”
”You're wearing Magesong colors...” I argued.
”Yeah... I know,” he chuckled. Then he shook his head. ”I guess we're on loan to the Magesong for the duration of this war.”
Now that was a scary thought. If the Magesong Clan was borrowing soldiers from another clan then there was only one group they'd ask help from. I
”You said you're unit's called the Black Wand... I'm not familiar with it...”
”That's exactly how our commander wants it to be... That way you don't see us coming when we come for you.”
”I think we saw you coming a mile away,” I pointed to the wagon at the rear of our caravan. ”Your commander didn't seem so special to me...”
Collin laughed out loud at my comment. ”Kelfer's just a lieutenant... A high-brow and arrogant bastard who thinks that anyone who isn't an elf is tainted goods...”
”Yeah right... if he was just a lieutenant, then why does he have that self-healing skill on him?” I argued. ”The only immortal I know is a thousand-man commander named Azuma.”
At the mention of Kelfer's healing powers, Collin immediately clammed up. ”I-I don't know what you're talking about...”
Right after he said this, an electric surge erupted out of the silver threads. This sent a massive shock into his hands that traveled up and down his whole system. Imagine getting shot by a taser at low setting. Still, it must have hurt really badly because Collin crumpled to his knees afterward.
”See... that's how I know you're lying to me... Whenever elf rope is tied onto a living being an enchantment is automatically placed on it.” I tugged lightly on the silver thread in my hand. ”I know this because Aura tied one around each of my hands back when we used to train so I wouldn't lie about how tired or hurt I was...”
I pointed to his bound hands. They were still shaking.
”It can't make you tell me the truth like a certain Woman of Wonder's lasso... but it can sense a lie...” I knelt down so we were eye-level because I needed him to know I was dead serious about getting answers. ”The enchantment activates whenever the one tied to it tells a lie... So, you're going to—”
The high-pitched shrieking sound of a drow horn broke the silence of our march. Just like that, the interrogation was over.
The warning forced me on my feet and sent my gaze searching the hillside behind us. What I discovered made the hairs on the back of my arms stand on end.
There were at least a dozen swifthart riders galloping out of the exit we'd taken. Each of them wore dark grey cloaks. The enemy was here and they were coming for us.