Whatever Ntoru and Karth tried, it must have backfired.
My armor was stripped from me, and I received a tatty, sackcloth dress that made me remember that I did actually have feminine curvature. I spent the next two nights chained through the bars to a guard. Ntoru's conjured food was all that I received, and when I complained of hunger in the middle of the next day, I was laughed at. The guard, although he was down one hand and apparently not allowed to leave me, took great pleasure in eating his rations- which had been doubled either for his inconvenience or to prolong my agony. My bodily functions were entirely dependent upon his own- when he had to urinate, I was taken out and commanded to do the same, as it would be the only opportunity I would receive until he felt as though he needed to go again. Concerned about the way I'd become used to the stench that I'd hardly been able to breathe in when I first arrived, I asked when he intended to bathe.
He didn't.
He snored when he slept, smacked when he ate, and broke wind at every opportunity. I learned that while I had to shout at him to turn around when I needed privacy, there was little need for him to do the same, since he was incredibly hairy- everywhere. He told me painfully awkward stories of the few times when he'd broken the law, and after a few of them, I realized that he was not at all truly attempting conversation. He was touting his inability to complete a crime properly as proof that he was a better creature than I.
It wasn't very long after this realization that I at last cried out, "By Baator, you disease-pocked gnome-sack, cram it or I'll choke you!"
Not only did most of the guards and prisoners laugh, some even clapped. But I got mine later that day- when the guard deigned to hand me his water flask, already more than half gone, he spat in it first. When I paused before taking it, he decided to throw the water in my face instead.
I hadn't gotten much sleep the first two nights, but by the third, I was exhausted. When I was unchained from that idiot, gagged, and brought into a room full of covered objects with my hands chained up in front of me, I barely had any energy left to object. In the center of the covered objects sat the first town guard, armor-plated arms crossed over his chest.
"So are you ready to tell the truth?" he asked simply. Of course, since I was gagged, I couldn't give any kind of smart answer. So I shrugged. "That's fine, fine," the guard replied. "Bring him in."
And in walked Aleksei, easily towering over the three guards that were chained to his arms. I tried to look alright when I caught his one functioning eye, but the attempt clearly failed, since the guards had a bit of trouble convincing him not to walk directly toward me.
"Glad you could join us, Voyonov," the guard said brightly, walking over to a table and throwing the cover off. Various metal instruments gleamed as they caught the torchlight. "Ever seen thumbscrews at work, old soldier?"
"Nyet," Aleksei replied simply.
"Didn't have use for these in Arkhosia? Well, here's a primer." The soldier picked up a set of thumbscrews that had small studs on the insides, where my fingers were supposed to go. "These are my darlings- get things done twice as fast. Most sets just crush the fingers, but these puncture them as well. Pickpockets and lockpickers don't like these much, since it damages the goods, as it were. They can't get things done like they used to." He turned away from Aleksei, whose gaze had already begun to get icy, and crossed the room toward me with a slow stride. "And the ladies especially dislike the scars caused. Get that gag out of there."
The guard to which I'd been chained didn't untie the gag from the back, but instead ripped it upward, so that it caught on my horns and snapped my head back. I stood, not moving a muscle as the thumbscrews were lightly brushed on my knuckles.
"You lied about being pregnant. Lied about not knowing that girl. Lied about your relationship with this Dragonborn. So I've got very, very little reason to believe anything that comes out of your mouth," the guard began, tapping my knuckles lightly as he spoke. "Let's start slow, get you used to honesty, shall we?"
"If you're going to hang me, do it," I grunted. Across the room, Aleksei huffed his dissatisfaction.
"The fingers go into the apparatus like so," the guard began, forcing the first two fingers of my left hand into the thumbscrews. "You went to the docks to find that boat, which was undoubtedly laden with illegal cargo of all kinds. What was that poison? Where did it go?"
"Go ask your mother. It's what gets her through the bad nights, when no one will pay her," I snarled.
"And when the prisoner tells you something you don't like, you just turn these knobs here-"
"Why must you use such a thing?" Aleksei demanded, nearly dragging two guards behind him as he moved forward. "Would not the innocents confess to things they are not doing, so that you will stop hurting them?"
"Watch," the guard replied. "I ask you again, what poison was on that boat that you were looking for?"
"I don't know anything about it," I shrugged. "You won't catch me opening an apothecary any time soon, if you hadn't guessed by now."
"You see?" the guard asked sweetly, turning over his shoulder to Aleksei, who'd crossed his arms over his chest. "Perhaps innocents would avoid the pain, but toughened criminals like this one need a bit of- convincing, let's say." And with this statement, he tightened the thumbscrews until the studs were pressing on the skin, but not yet tearing into it. "I would think nothing, you filthy bloodrag, nothing at all of crushing your fingers until they were jelly for my bread. My captain was killed with a black poison that stained his skin and almost crippled the hands of the man who prepared the him for burial. So tell me the truth- do you know what poison was on that boat? Was that the substance used to kill the captain? Did you use it?"
"Only one of us knows precisely what poison is in the boat that is leaving us," Aleksei responded. "I do not know where he is, but he is good with healing, and is treating some Dragonborn for it. It is not the same poison as is being on the captain, I swear to you."
"Now, now, Voyonov, you can't answer for her in the public court," the guard smiled grimly. "This is only her left hand; what will you do when I get to her right?"
"I will defend her," Aleksei replied. "because you are hurting her without reason. She does not know of this poison. It is this other male that I am telling you about that is telling all of us what the poison was. And I swear to you, this is not the poison that is killing the captain."
"You do understand that since you were utterly out of your skull drunk that night that I can believe not one word of what you say, correct?" the guard sighed, standing away from me and crossing his arms. "I couldn't even question you. We put you in the first available cell, where you slept for more than half a day."
"It- is good night," Aleksei sighed, clearly fighting the urge to do something physical about this fool who was no smarter than his captain. "But I remember everything, if it is this you are concerned for."
"It's how you got mixed up with this street scum that I'm concerned about," the guard spat back. "It doesn't do wonders for your credibility." He turned back to me and picked up the fingers that were snagged in the thumbscrews, jiggling them slightly. "How about that wound in the back of the captain's neck? We confiscated daggers from you whose tips might fit nicely. And you have no qualms with admitting that you used those blades on those gang members. So you didn't use them on the captain?"
"How could I have gotten around his sword, which had been at my shoulder, to plant a blade in the back of his neck?"
I felt the thumbscrews tighten and bite into flesh, and the fingers remembered that they had been crushed some time before, sending screams of pain that I could only stop from coming out of my mouth by biting my tongue.
"You know, I'm being inconsiderate," the guard managed through clenched teeth. He turned away from me to rip another cloth off, revealing a chair completely lined with thin, long metal spikes. "I shouldn't make you stand."
"Please," Aleksei began, moving forward again. "What will stop this?"
The guard stood straight, lifting his head slightly, with his back to Aleksei. "I want the murderer, of course. People saw this creature walking away from the site of the crime. Your kilij, be its wielder the worst of town idiots, would have taken his whole head off. It's five or six times as heavy as it ought to be- so says the blacksmith, who nearly lost a toe trying to pick it up the first time. My men tell me that the blue-hided female is a trembling slave who just barely put up resistance against an obvious request for traded favors- possibly only because a priest was standing by. But this bitch- this blood-eyed, demonkin, bastard liar-"
"Enough," Aleksei growled, his word coming out with a puff of chilly air that even I felt from across the room. "The killer you seek is not before you; let this female go, and I will find the true killer for you."
"So, let a drunk and a thief go to get, perchance, a murderer?" the guard laughed, turning over his shoulder. He looked back at me, frowning slightly, then turned all the way around, throwing the cover back on the chair in a disheveled heap. "How- precious. Take the screws off and give her a good beating- take the nine-tails and go outside so everyone hears her scream. And he will make you scream, bitch."
"There's not a male you command that could make me scream- not for pain, pleasure or money," I hissed to his back.
"The man's freedom will depend upon it," the guard answered simply, still looking right at Aleksei.
"She is right," Aleksei nodded, seeming to have understood a game that I didn't know was being played. "His bones will be white in the cell if he is doing what you are saying, because he will not draw any thing from her but scorn. But I am crushing those fingers before, and they still remember this pain I am causing. It is I alone who knows how to hurt her. Give her to me."
The guard tilted his head slightly, as though he hadn't heard properly.
"You know, I'm fascinated with you two," he said after a pause. "I haven't even gotten started, and it seems as though you're the one in agony. It's clear that you are not an evil creature, one whose conscience has been seared. But this devilspit doesn't seem capable of obeying any law at all- not even natural law, which demands that women consort with men, not other women."
"It is many people calling her names about her people," Aleksei breathed slowly. "Mishka is quite stubborn- perhaps they are thinking that she is so strong of will that she is even deciding about whether or not to be born Tiefling?"
The guard nodded seriously. "You're very defensive indeed, even of a creature that doesn't deserve it. I'll make you a deal. Give me that dedication and your sword arm, and I will give you back your demon girl- healed completely, I swear it, by the court magician. Gods only know what were doing with her, but if you will protect Urmlaspyr from her, which will in turn keep her out of my play garden here, then you can continue."
"Aleksei, I can handle this, I'm fine," I managed. "They can't hang me just because of my race and some unproven rumors."
"They will try," Aleksei replied. "But we can talk about that soon."
"Sounds like somebody needs some armor," the guard said in a grand tone, opening his arms.
"Is this uniform?" Aleksei smirked. "I do not know if it will be fitting, and besides-" Taking a knee, he reached one arm over his shoulder and let his talons click on his scales. "I am not having soft leather skin all over, as people are pretending. Bahamut is giving me perfect armor from maybe three minutes since I am being born."
"Well, you can't stomp around the place depending on that and a towel between your legs," the guard said, crossing his arms. "Maybe we can hang some chain mail with the city's crest somewhere on your arm."
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