174 Into the Arms of Danger (2/2)

\”Actually, Dean was in such a panic to save Aura that he was running recklessly through the halls like a madman,\” Luca tattled.

\”Shut up, Luca,\” I growled. \”You were doing the same thing!\”

Luca gave me a smirk I wanted to wipe off him with a good punch to the face.

\”As if the princess needed you to save her,\” Edo chuckled.

He was holding the last standing blood monk by the scruff of his neck and choking the life out of the hobgoblin with one hand. It was quite an impressive feat.

Luca's eyes trailed the floor, and from the realization showing on his face, I deduced that he'd figured out what I figured out.

\”There should be more of them… at least three more different groups,\” he said the thought that was in my head.

\”Probably going after other targets,\” I reasoned as I strolled over to where Edo was. \”I don't think they're here as allies… possibly, someone put a hit out on Aura, the Patriarch and whoever else, and hired a bunch of different groups to do it…\”

\”How do you figure that, Dean?\” Luca asked.

\”The body we saw in the hallway where we fought the Claw guys…\” I reminded him. \”It was a dwarf dressed like those guards at the Under Ring auction house.\”

\”You remembered how they were dressed?\” Luca shook his head at me. \”You are so meticulous it borders on creepy.\”

\”That's another compliment by the way,\” I grinned.

\”There are two of those guys inside with Aura,\” Ashley said, pointing her thumb back toward the only wooden double doors in the entire hallway. \”She's... interrogating them.\”

\”The Under Ring assassins got here first then,\” I guessed while taking a mental note of what Ashley just said about interrogation.

I glanced down at the dead that littered the hallway's wooden parquet floor. Much closer to Aura's suite, the five extra bodies here belonged to dwarves dressed in a similar fashion to the one we'd seen earlier.

Satisfied, I told Luca to watch the front door with Ashley and Edo in case more enemies appeared while I walked into Aura's bedroom suite.

I guess I should have knocked first. Maybe then I wouldn't have been so embarrassed to see Aura in her day-gown, a dress nearly as flimsy as a pixie's gossamer wing.

\”Sorry,\” I said, and although I wanted to, I didn't avert my eyes. Not because I was a pervert but because Aura was up to something interesting that caught my attention. \”This is the first time I've seen this spell… your Crown of Fire.\”

In the last six months, Aura had devoted herself to increasing her spell list and training her mana so she could use her magic more often in a single night. One of the three spells she'd learned in that time was the Crown of Fire.

I'd never actually seen her use it as it wasn't a combat spell, but tonight was the perfect time to see it in action.

You see, the Crown of Fire worked just like Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth.  The spellcaster who donned the crown over her head could ask a question, and whoever the question was directed at would be compelled to answer.

At Aura's current mastery level, she could ask three questions before the crown's flames winked out. But three questions were more than enough if you asked the right ones.

I was just in time to watch Aura ask her final question which was, \”Who hired you?\”

The dwarf kneeling before her looked like a half-dazed puppy who was trying desperately not to grin. Given how Aura was scantily dressed, I wasn't entirely sure the dopey look he gave her was because of the crown.

\”I-I d-don't k-know,\” the dwarf struggled to speak the words.

He must have been trying to fight off the effects of the spell which might have been possible for someone with a stronger will like Darah, but certainly not some thug from a slave cartel.

\”B-boss Q-qarta usually handles the details… w-we're just c-cogs in the cartel's machine,\” he answered.

After he said this, the burning crown floating above Aura's golden locks decidedly winked out. The dwarf blinked like he was starting to get sober.

I didn't wait for permission. I dashed in there and clocked him on the head with my falchion's wooden falcon-head pommel.

There was a loud crack, and then the dwarf crashed forward. He would get a nasty bruise when he awoke but at least he was alive.

I looked over my shoulder and grinned at Aura.

\”Hi,\” I said. \”I'm here to save you.\”

Aura's smile reflected mine when she replied, \”You're late.\”