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  [colpse]Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Two - Interrogations

  Fighting one on one was a lot easier than twelve or so on one.

  Whiow that I said it, was a rather obvious statement.

  I ducked under a swing from Big Green’s bat, then hopped back a few steps until I was closer to the back lines. A grenoil behind me was swinging a around, which just seemed terribly dangerous. I knew how painful a with a fil could be from my time in Threewells.

  I heard the ch of gravel shifting as the grenoil behiepped up, so I hopped up and kicked back with both legs, catg him in the shin.

  The grenoil croaked as he stumbled forwards.

  I handed on my tummy, but had just enough time to spin around and bunch my legs up against my chest so that when the grenoil nded, it was onto my feet.

  His face was real close to mine for a bit, so I got a nasty faceful of alelling breath. “Ew,” I said a moment before pushing a hefty k of stamina into my legs.

  The grenoil went flying away until he crashed back-first into a buddy and they went down in a heap.

  I didn’t have time to enjoy my victory before another was jumping towards me, knife-first.

  I rolled over, picked up my spade and bouo my feet just in time to parry a swing with the haft. There were so many of them! And they weren’t being nid taking turher.

  The man, an actual human in dirty rags, probably thought I was gonna back up to make space. So he didn’t expect it when I reached up, held on to the rim of my hat, bent my bun ears back, and rammed his h my forehead as hard as I could.

  The poor ma down with a very smushed nose.

  “Sorry!” I said a moment before I had to dodge to the side as anrenoil came at me with a bat.

  I blocked his sed swing, both hands on the shaft of my spade, but the impad shaking made me lose my grip on my on.

  I watched my spade ctter to the ground and the grenoil gri me. He started to pull his bat back.

  I spped him full-on in the face so hard that his face twisted to the side and my entire ha like I’d pressed it to a stove.

  Two more were moving at me, with knives and clubs, and I heard more moving in from behind.

  I jumped, used one of their heads as a springboard, then skipped off the walls of a shop to nd back down behind the bulk of the group. I had my baear one of the rusty mp posts along the side of the street. It would maybe keep them from hitting me from behind... I hopped.

  “Get her, dammit!” Big Green roared.

  Lightning shot out of the shop, nailing one of the humans in the chest and sending him down in a writhing heap.

  “And someone kill those two!” the man screamed.

  Then a couple of grenoil pulled up little crossbows and fired into the shop. I heard Amaryllis squawking in protest as she no doubt ducked out of the way.

  I looked around. I was doade and the only other ons I had were in my pack.

  A grenoil tried to sneak up behind me, but I caught sight of him from the er of my eye. With a quick half-twist and a snap-kick, I rammed the sole of a foot against the mp.

  The rusty base snapped and the two-meter long pole crashed onto the grenoil’s head.

  That... looked like a on to me.

  I spun backwards, grabbed onto the shaft of the mp with both hands, and brought it up and around to face off against the greater number of adversaries.

  Some of those I’d knocked down earlier were ba their feet, and they didn’t look very happy.

  “e on guys,” I said. “’t we talk this out?”

  “I heard they love Buns at the brothels,” one of the men said. “I wonder how much you’d go for.”

  Lucky for me, he was one of the closer ones, and he was so busy being a big meahat he didn’t rea time to stop the heavy twin-mped end of the pole from crashing onto his head with a resounding g and a shattering of gss.

  Anrenoil rushed at me, so I twisted the mp around and poked it at his head so that his neck was caught betweewo lights at the end. He made a weird sound when his mouth smashed into the bar joining the two lights, and aranger one when I pulled him towards me and delivered a stamina-heavy Spartan-kick to his tummy.

  I yahe pole back, then spun the base around in a wide, sweeping arc that had the other thugs bag off a step or two.

  I ted eight left around me, and three more farther away flinging magid bolts into the shop.

  Amaryllis must have gotten tired of dug because the hing I knew a deafening boom shook the street and forks of lightning that were as big around as tree trunks fshed into being, eae eg to different parts of grenoil across the street.

  The three rahugs went down as smoking heaps.

  I’d o che them ter, but Amaryllis’ move reminded me of something.

  I had magic torinning, I pushed mana into my hands and saw them start to glow. The extra magiteracted weirdly with the aura of my ing spell, making a bubble arouart to glow with little motes of happy light.

  “Oh World,” one of the thugs whispered.

  Then I started thinking hot thoughts and suddenly everything was a lot warmer and a haze of fiery mana started to make the air shift around me.

  The thugs didn’t seem so sure anymore.

  Big Green, oher hand, didn’t seem to care. “Are you lot cowards? Zis is just some uptight rich girl,” he said.

  “Actually, I’m pretty sure my family was always in a lower tax bracket,” I corrected him.

  He moved towards me, so I flung my mp at him as hard as I could and watched him catch the pole awkwardly in the crook of his elbows.

  While he stumbled back a step, I rao the hug, ed a hand around his where he was holding a knife and pulled him closer so that my knee could get better acquainted with the spot between his legs where those safety courses told girls to hit bad guys.

  The man crumbled with a wheeze.

  I swung my fists forwards in a quie-two jab towards the wo, sending two tiny and rather me fireballs at them.

  One of them batted his out of the air with a club, but the other caught the fireball full on in the chest.

  His raggedy jacket went up in a burst of fmes that smelled vaguely like fish oil.

  I gasped as the thug screamed and twisted around, w hard to take off his coat while also filing.

  “Stop, drop and roll!” I screamed, but I didn’t think he heard me over his own cries of arm.

  The thugs looked real nervous now. Maybe I was doing a good enough job that they’d cut their losses and run? Some of them certainly seemed to be thinking about it.

  “You’re still not done?” Amaryllis asked.

  A few heads turowards the shop where my harpy friend stomped out. Her feathers were well and truly poofed, and little snaps of static were going off in the air around her. I could almost smell the weird tang of electrified air from where I was.

  “There are a lot of them,” I said. “And I don’t want to hurt them too much.”

  “Oh? Don’t worry. I hurt them for you!”

  I saair of grenoil, younger ones off to the side who had been skirting the fight more than anything, start to edge away.

  When Awen burst out of the shop, shards of gss spinning in the air around her and crossbow primed, they turned heel and ran.

  “Awen?” I asked.

  “Awa, I figured out some Gss magic!” she said from withieeny tiny blizzard. It wasn’t that big, maybe two dozen pieces of gss all spinning rather zily and wibbly around her, but it was still kind of impressive.

  I looked at the thugs, ahat the odds were a bit better now. A lot more of them looked nervous too. “You guys still run, you know?” I said. “Um, it would probably be best before Cholondee es. She’s a dragon, and dragons are a bit weird about eating people that slight them.”

  “Just, shut up!” Big Green said as he leapt for me.

  A bolt of electricity ected with his back, and a gss-tipped bolt speared through his leg. The grenoil, already moving forwards, crashed face-first into my heel as I spun into a tight heel-strike.

  He crashed to the ground like a particurly lumpy sack of potatoes.

  His buddies ran, some of them saying some very rude things as they decided that a life of crime wasn’t for them. At least, that’s what I hoped. They at least paused to pick up their buddies that had been knocked around a bit, all save f Green who was left on the ground where he groaned into the cobbles.

  “Should we finish him off?” Amaryllis asked.

  “Amaryllis!” I gasped.

  “What? The least he do is give us a bit of experience.”

  I frow my friend until she rolled her eyes and looked away. “I was kidding... mostly. This bag of dirt has cost us a quarter hour already, and could have hurt you, or any of us. He at least have the courtesy to answer some questions.”

  Amaryllis pushed Big Green over with the top of a talon until the grenoil was resting on his back, right o the lip of the sidewalk. “I’m not, I’m not telling ya anyzing,” he spat.

  “e now, just a few little questions,” Amaryllis said.

  “Awa, my, my uold me stories about how he got some bad people to talk, um, maybe I could try what he told me,” Awen said.

  That sounded way better than whatever Amaryllis had in mind. “Sure! I’d love to see you try,” I said.

  Awen flushed and moved closer to the big grenoil before dropping onto her knees o him. “Um, are you okay?” she asked the guy.

  “Screw you, human,” he said.

  These thugs were so rude. Were they raised... I looked around ahe thought drop.

  Awen, in the meantime, opened up her little shoulder bag and pulled out a pair of pliers. She set them on the grouo her.

  “You think you torture me, girl?”

  , she pulled out some screw-drivers.

  “I’m not telling any of ya nothing.”

  Awen pced her heavy hammer o the pliers. “It would be nice if you did talk,” she said. “Then we could give you a potion and you could leave us all alone.”

  “When my damned coward boys e back, I’m gonna teach all of you a lesson!”

  Awen sighed and reached int. She grabbed something, looked down, then shrugged and pced it o her hammer.

  The wand of cure hysteria stood tall and proud o Awen’s other tools. It retty big. I was surprised it even fit in her bag.

  “I... I... what are you going to do with that?!” Big Green asked.

  Blinking, Awen picked up the wand. “This?” She obviously pushed some magito it because it started to humm as it vibrated.

  “I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”

  I looked to the side where Amaryllis had her face covered by her arm feathers. The poor thing, for all her bravado she couldn’t look at someone being tortured, even if it was clear that Awen wouldn’t actually do anything.

  “So, mister Big Green,” I said in as intimidating a voice as I could manage. I poio him. “Why were you so mean earlier?”

  “I, I ’t say,” he said.

  Awen’s wand buzzed louder.

  “Rai! It was Rai!”

  ***

  AnnouDon't fet the art test! We have a few days to go before the 31st!

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