Elfin (31 page)

Syndra was quiet and it brought the two King’s attention to her because of her uncharacteristic silence.

“What is it my love?” Tamsin asked her.

“I’m trying to reach into the magic of our realm. You know that sometimes the wind will speak. Maybe it can tell us why Cassie left.”

They waited as Syndra sought out her answers.

Several minutes later Syndr
a was rushing towards the storeroom door. She called out for Lisa as she walked into the store.

“LISA!”

Lisa came around the counter to see the three elves standing there. The two males looked fierce and angry while Syndra appeared frantic, very un-Syndra like.

“Syndra what’s going on?” Lisa asked with worried eyes and a shaky voice
, knowing that it couldn’t be good.

“Where is Elora? Has she seen Cassie lately?”

Just then the store’s front door opened and Elora came walking in. Her eyes widened at the sight of the elves.

“What’s happened,” she asked immediately registering that something was definitely wrong.

“Have you seen Cassie?” Trik asked before Syndra could.

Elora’s lips tightened and her
eyes narrowed. “What has happened? Where is she?”

“So you haven’t seen her?” Trik asked without bothering to acknowledge her questions.

“No, I’ve been at school, why would I have seen her?” Elora looked over at her mom. “What’s going on Lisa?”

Lisa shook her head
, obviously not knowing anything more than her.

Syndra closed her eyes and her brow scrounged in frustration. “
Cassie received a text from you about a week ago, and agreed to meet you in this realm at a coffee shop,” she told Elora.

“
A week ago?” Elora asked outraged. “She’s been missing for a freaking week?” Elora shook her head. “I can’t believe we are just now realizing she’s not here. I haven’t been able to make it to see her and she hasn’t returned my text, but I figured she was just pining over him ,” she said pointing at Trik. “The best thing to do when Cassie is in a mood is to just leave her alone. Damn if I’ll ever do the best thing again. If I had just checked on her we would have known sooner. I wouldn’t have let her come here.”

“It’s not your fault
, Elora,” Syndra stepped towards her. “We all had been giving her space. She’s been hurting and we all thought it best to let her grieve in her own way. If anyone is at fault it is Tamsin and I. We promised to protect her and we failed.”

Elora’s
eyes had begun to tear up and she wiped at them angrily. She hated to show emotion, especially in front of other people. Without another word, Elora turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” Trik asked after her.

“To the coffee shop, I want to know who she met.”

They all followed after Elora and Lisa turned the
‘open’ sign in the window to ‘closed’ and locked the door behind her. They hurried after Elora who was walking at a pace that would rival the speed of an elf.

They arrived at the coffee shop and as they walked in
, heads turned and eyes stared. Though the elves had put on their human guises, they were beautiful and their presence commanded the attention of the room.

Elora headed for the counter and saw that one of the girls who Cassie and she saw on a regular basis was working.

“Megan,” she called out to the girl.

Megan smiled and waved.
“Hey Elora, how’s it going?”

Elora
ignored the question and asked one of her own. “Has Cassie been in recently?

“
Uh,” she thought for a second. “Not since you both were here about a week ago, but I haven’t seen her since then,” Megan told her with confusion written across her face. She looked past Elora and saw the elves and her eyes widened.

“W
ho are the tall, too beautiful for words, people who came in with you?”

Elora rolled her eyes.
“Distant relatives,” she said dryly. Trik stepped around Elora blocking her from Megan.

“Did Cassie look alright when she was in here?” He asked the girl.

Megan took a step back as the intensity and power from Trik’s worry and anger reached out to her. Trik tried to leash it and managed to tamp it down slightly.

“She um, she,” Megan stumbled.
“She looked fine.”

Trik nodded and turned
, walking quickly through the door not bothering to walk around people just heading straight for them and not worrying if they got out of his way, which they did.

The others followed Trik as he headed back for Lisa’s store. He opened the door without Lisa having to unlock it and she decided now wasn’t the time to ask how in the world he managed it.
He walked back to the storeroom and began to pace.

“What now?” Elora asked.

Before Trik could respond a body crashed into the wall, having been flung through the mirror and Taegan emerged behind it. He looked over at Trik and smiled.

“He wasn’t too hard to find;
he’s been following you.”

Trik moved swiftly as his anger flared. He grabbed the slumped form that was Alok
and threw him in a chair. The dark elf was unconscious and Trik slapped him hard across the face immediately bringing him around. Trik’s eyes began to glow intense silver and the glory that was his kingship, his blessing from the Forest Lords began to radiate from him. He wrapped a hand around the elf’s neck and began to squeeze.

“Where is my Chosen?” He growled menacingly.

Lisa gasped. “Trik!” She had never seen someone so angry with a look so cruel on his face. She was sure that he was going to murder the man sitting before him.

Trik’s head whipped around at the call of his name and his eyes narrowed. A soft glow began to hum around him and he took a step towards her.

Trik watched as Syndra placed a hand on Lisa’s shoulder to prevent her from moving any closer to him. He looked around the room at the shocked faces. To his surprise, Elora had sat in a chair; her usually indifferent stare was gone as tears streaked her cheeks. Lisa too had begun to cry as tears streamed down her face and they suddenly both looked exhausted, as if they had gone days without sleep.

His eyes snapped
back to Alok.

“Where.
Is. She.”
Trik’s words were clipped and vibrated with rage.

Alok
started to speak but there was a commotion behind Trik. He turned to see one of Tamsin’s light elves step through the mirror, dragging a woman behind him. Trik realized quickly that it was Vashti, Lorsan’s transmuter. He turned back to Tamsin.

“What the hell is going on
, Tamsin?”

“Elora, Lisa, I think it would be best if you left the room,” Tamsin told them in a calm voice though his eyes never left Trik.

Elora rolled her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere, not until Cassie is back.”

Tamsin told Vesperr, the
elf who had dragged in Vashti, to put her in the chair next to Alok. Trik slapped her across the face just as hard as he had Alok and watched in growing anger as she awoke. He held them in their chairs by his will alone. Their eyes widened as they took in Trik and then they both began to struggle against his hold.

“I’m going to ask one more time. Where is my Chosen?”

At his words of claiming
,
Elora felt the shock and pain and anger bubble up to the top and she could no longer contain herself. She jumped up and ran towards Trik. Her fist slammed into his chest and she let loose of all of it.

“THIS IS YOUR FAULT! IF YOU WOULD HAVE JUST CHOSEN HER, SHE WOULD BE
HERE WITH US! YOU SELFISH JACKASS! SHE’S GONE! THAT PSYCHO OF A KING THAT YOU WORSHIP HAS HER!” Elora collapsed at his feet, her breathing was ragged and the tears poured freely down her face. “You could have kept her safe,” her voice was barely a whisper. “You could have protected her. Nobody dares to mess with Mr. Bad Ass assassin, huh? Well you can’t protect her if you are not with her.” Elora rose back to her feet. “So this is on YOU!” She jabbed a finger at him.

Lisa stepped forward and pulled Elora into a hug. The fact that she allowed the physical contact was a testament to the amount of pain Elora was feeling at losing her best friend.

Trik stared at the human. She was so small, so breakable, and for a moment he was tempted to remind her that he was not one to be trifled with. But he knew that she was hurting for her friend and that hurt brought about anger and anger caused people to often do things they would not normally do, so he would let her insolence slide. Not to mention, she was exactly right.

He looked back to the two prisoners
.

“Alok,” Trik said his name softly.

“It’s been a while Trik,” Alok said
as he composed himself and tried to tamp down his fear. His words were conversational though his voice shook.

“I’ve been busy.”

Alok seemed to gather his courage. “Busy being a deserter? A traitor to your people?” He spat at his former leader.

Trik simply stared at him. Alok’s eyes shifted nervously.

“I’m going to ask you some questions,” Trik said calmly, too calmly. “You have one chance to answer them.”

Alok simply stared back.

“Where is Cassie being kept?”

No answer.

“That’s one,” Trik told him. “Has she been hurt?”

No answer.

“That’s two.” Trik’s voice never raised, his composure never wavered. “What does Lorsan want with her?”

No answer.

“That’s three.” Trik stepped back.

“Just get it over with
an
d kill me, Triktapic,” Alok snarled.

Trik ignored him. He looked over to Lisa. “Do you have a tool box?”

Lisa slowly nodded her head.

“Could you please bring it to me?”

“Trik,” Tamsin warned.

Trik looked up at the King. “She is my Chosen, what would you have me do? What would you do to find Syndra if she had been taken?”

“Anything,” Tamsin answered without hesitation.

Lisa returned with the tool box and handed it to Trik. Trik set it down on the floor next to his feet. He then looked over at Lisa, Elora and Syndra. “It would be best if you closed your store and left.”

Syndra rolled her eyes. “I’m not leaving Trik.
I’ve seen it all. But I agree Elora and Lisa should not see this.”

Lisa started to pull Elora from the room but Elora pulled away and walked over to the chair where Alok sat. She looked into his eyes , her mind registering that this elf knew where Cassie was, knew what was being done to her. Before she had even made the decision she slapped him hard across the face. She then turned to the female.

“Who is she?” She asked the room.

“She is one of Lorsan’s warriors. She’s a transmuter; she can mimic the appearance and voice of another. That is who lured Cassie away,” Trik explained his voice deceptively calm as he watched Elora.

Elora looked deep into the
she-elf’s eyes and it took everything in her not to punch the woman in the face.

“If we don’t get Cassie back I will personally beat the ever loving crap out of you. I don’t care who you are or how black your soul is. If my best friend comes to harm because of you, you will know what evil is because I will rip you apart myself and smile while I do it.”
She turned to look at Trik. “Get her back.”

Everyone in the room was silent and their mouths had dropped open at the sight of the human girl threatening to do unspeakable things to a dark elf, and she meant it. There was not a doubt in their minds that Elora was not bluffing.

Trik bowed his head to her a
s a show of submission to her wishes.

Elora turned and left the
storeroom without another word, Lisa following behind her, the shocked look still plastered on her face.

Trik knelt down and opened the tool box. He found what he was looking for and stood back up.

“I told you that you had one chance to answer my questions. I never said I was going to kill you.” As he spoke he took Alok’s hand and held it steady. The needle nose pliers he held, guided by his experienced hand, latched onto the first fingernail. They were short so he had to push the nose of the pliers under the nail to be able to grab it. Without any warning he ripped the nail from his finger.

Alok
screamed in pain. Trik didn’t appear to hear him as he moved to the next nail and then the next. He stopped after the third nail had been torn away. Alok was writhing in pain, breathing heavily. His face was red, his brow damp with sweat.

“Three questions not answered. Three nails ripped from your hand.” Trik set the pliers down on the counter and stood before Alok, just as calm as before he had tortured the elf.

“I am going to ask you some questions. You have one chance to answer them.” Trik repeated his earlier words.

Alok groaned and gritted his teeth. “I won’t betray my race as you did, Trik. I won’t betray my King.”