“Peace, friend,” the hooded elf said once more, his staff lowering slightly until the glowing blue gem fixed in its head shone down on the manticore.
The groveling creature relaxed slightly and looked up. “Please, Master! Please take me back! I want to forget. I want to go back and forget everything I ever was or did. I had no part in this rebellion, I swear it! Please. . I don’t want to remember any more!”
“In time,” the elf replied calmly. “When you have finished your task.”
“My task?” RuuKag asked as he pushed himself up. Even kneeling his head was still nearly level with the elf’s chest. “But, Master, I have done all that was expected! I have led you to me. You have found me!”
“You are not the one I seek,” the elf said softly. “Until I have taken him, you will not have peace.”
RuuKag stood suddenly.
The elf’s staff shifted menacingly.
“But. . Master!” RuuKag grumbled. “I’ve done all you asked of me! I stayed with the rebels, dropped the beacon stones as I promised. .”
“And where are they now?” the elf demanded. “I could have taken you any time I wished. . but just getting recaptured wasn’t your task, was it? You were supposed to lead me to the rest of the bolters. . not just you! The entire point of having beacons planted among the slaves is so that you will lead us to all the other escaped slaves, not just yourself.”
“Please, Master,” the manticore said, wringing his large, fur-covered hands. “I just want to go home.”
“Home?” the elf spat. “You have no home, RuuKag. . it’s burned to the ground, its walls caving in on itself as a ruin because your companions wrecked it all. If you’re going to have any home at all, it will only be after you finish your task by leading me to the bolters with whom you’ve been traveling.”
“I don’t know where they are!”
“What?”
“They. . they moved on,” RuuKag said. “That Drakis human said something about going east-maybe finding a ship or something. They’ve probably left by now. .”
“Then find them!” the elf insisted. “By the gods, you’re a manticore!”
“But, Master,” RuuKag asked with uncertainty in his voice. “I know you are powerful, but they have magic of their own. . powerful and deadly. How many of your brothers are with you?”
“It’s just me,” the elf replied. “And it will go a lot better for all of us if it remains just me.”
“I don’t understand,” RuuKag said, shaking his head.
“Listen to me, manticore!” the elf was losing patience. “There are three-maybe four full Quorums of Iblisi on the plains who are trying to keep up with me. They are hunting me in order that they may be led to you. When they find us-should they find us-then I can promise you as certainly as the sun will arise in the morning, things will go much worse for all of us-you included-if you do not get me to this Drakis friend of yours first.”
“I don’t. . please, Master, I’ve got to think. .”
“Think!”
The manticore flinched at the elf’s shouted word.