Chapter III.XXII (3.22) - The Crone

  The stone disassembled itself and created an opening in the wall. Taroe entered first. Kizu looked over at Ione.

  She set a hand on his shoulder.

  “You’ve got this. I’m here as backup if you need it.”

  He entered.

  The crone’s prison was a white stone cube. The cube’s floor had absorbed her legs before they entered, pinning her in place. She looked unchanged since Kizu last saw her. Though she now wore a white prisoner’s outfit and a large metal collar, her hunched back and sickly green hair remained the same. Her yellow eyes twinkled slightly at the sight of Kizu and a nasty smile formed on her face, showing off her blackened teeth.

  “Kizu,” the crone said, as if testing the name. She licked her bloody chapped lips and widened her smile.

  “Crone,” Kizu replied.

  “Not blood nor wine naught marred my honest hands.

  Yet villains are neighbors beneath the ground.

  I thought you’d journey seeking out the sands.

  Instead on my cell your feeble fist pounds.”

  Kizu closed his eyes. He hated it when she rhymed. It was always a precursor to danger.

  Nobody bothered commenting on her insistence that her hands were clean. Even a toddler could instinctively know that was a lie.

  “How nice of you to join me in my new home. Can I get you a drink?” The lack of a rhyme or cadence made Kizu relax. Then she bit into her shoulder and ripped at her skin with her teeth. She brought her face back, taking a chunk of her skin with her. Blood flowed down her exposed shoulder, staining the white clothing. She chewed the flesh, picking out chunks caught in her teeth with her tongue.

  “An intimidation tactic?” Taroe said, unimpressed.

  The crone swallowed and let her smile slip as she examined Kizu.

  “Nothing? Not interested? Hm. How off were my projections? I thought certainly…” she started muttering to herself, too quiet and jumbled to make out.

  “What do you know about a plot to kill the Emperor?” Kizu asked, he kept his voice flat, but he knew she smelled his fear. The crone always knew.

  The crone ignored the question.

  “There’s something tagging along on your soul. Unexpected. Mort still exists there as well. That’s good. Perhaps I misunderstood something. Where did that chunk of your soul go? Perhaps someone ate it? I know a few suspects. But…no, it’s not like their bite marks. Interesting.”

  “I-I don’t know,” Kizu said.

  “That missing piece must be key. You should find that thing. It’s important if you want to protect your niece.”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “My niece?” Kizu’s eyes widened. “You know about Anata.”

  “Idiot boy. Of course I know about the girl. I orchestrated her creation.”

  “You know Otochi?”

  “An easily manipulated fool. Just like the rest of you. You all pretend to know what’s happening. Like blind tortoises with your legs amputated. Half a mind to put you all out of your misery. If only that wasn’t such a dull end to the tale.”

  “Refocus,” Taroe said to Kizu. “The assassination.”

  “Right. Who killed the Emperor?”

  “Oh? So it’s going from an attempt to a successful assassination?” The crone cackled. “Giving me information. You’re not cut out for interrogations, boy.”

  Kizu bristled. He felt Ione place a hand on his shoulder, reassuring him.

  “Who killed him?” Kizu repeated, calmly.

  “Answers you wish to pry from pretty lips,

  Of dangers and enemies abound.

  What you have witnessed is only the tip,

  I warn of my lessers’ brood’s foolish frown.”

  “Hm. Then there’s a group of them,” Taroe said. “A terrorist organization acting out of the Hon Basin.”

  The crone ignored the Elite.

  “Why are you here?” Kizu asked the crone. It had been a question bothering him for months. “You saw them coming, didn’t you? Why allow yourself to be captured?”

  She ran her tongue across her lips, spat blood. Then she slowly nodded.

  “Not a complete fool. Enough? Maybe. This is a peaceful, safe place to watch the end of an era.”

  That last response was actually comprehensible without the fog of her usual speech. Kizu launched on the opportunity, hoping to capitalize on the chance.

  “What do you know about the Harbingers?”

  “Many a lizard stir, look to the west,

  Those creatures endure, I wish you to see.

  Insist on a wish to destroy Hon’s new pest,

  Call on my friend and his little zombie.”

  He wanted to bang his head into a wall in frustration.

  “Crone, please just speak plainly for once.”

  “Did you come here just to badger me with questions, boy? Hm. Bothersome. I know more than any mortal. How’s this for a nice simple answer? Leave Hon. The Harbingers will bring the inevitable doom of the world.”

  “Lies,” the voice in Kizu spoke up. It spat the word with venom in Kizu’s mind.

  “Ha! I knew that would lure you out,” the crone said, delighted. “What exactly are you? One of the old heroes? I never expected you old wretches to show your faces. Don’t you prefer to sit back and pretend to help humanity? Your game ended many millennia ago. Go back to forging oil lamps and leave my pawn.”

  “Is she speaking to you, Kizu?” Ione asked.

  Kizu just shook his head. He didn’t know how the crone could hear the entity attached to his soul, but he wasn’t surprised either. Thankfully with the amount of nonsense the crone spewed, that last bit might be overlooked.

  “I want more details,” Taroe said. “All we have is a tentative name and description of someone connected to the organization. Who exactly struck at the Emperor? I want their exact identities. Are there more attacks planned? What abilities do they have?”

  “Tedious questions,” the crone responded. “You expect me to do all your work for you? Do your job and figure it out. You government agents are all the same, no matter the century or nation. The boy shouldn’t be here now, but if he must, just make him do all the work. You’re all either too lazy or too stupid to gather information on your own. But do that and begone. There is an infinity of more interesting things I could be doing with my time rather than speaking to you.”

  “We could kill you,” Taroe said without emotion. “The greatest consequence for me killing you right now would be paperwork.”

  The crone cackled. “I suppose you have a solution for the death infestation in the west?”

  Taroe’s eyes flickered to Kizu.

  “Oh? Does my protege not know what came of his sister? Good. Keep him in the dark. I approve.”

  “Death infestation?” Kizu asked, his mouth dry. “My sister?”

  The crone bore her yellow teeth at him and leaned in as close as her chains allowed her, as if about to tell him a secret. He smelled her familiar foul breath as she opened her mouth.

  “Now we part ways, foolish boy watch your niece

  Else Otochi will take her, piece by piece.”

  Taroe attempted to keep the interrogation going, but the crone spat in his face and cackled madly. She answered no more questions.

  Ten Blood Curse Academia chapters (5 weeks) ahead of Royal Road.