Truth or Daring - Alenea

Walking over to her desk she pulls open a drawer and flicks open the false bottom. The compartment is nearly full, a stack of papers and a dagger taking up most of the room inside, she pushes them aside and stashes her coin pouch. Loot hidden she drags herself up and falls into bed, fully dressed and head pounding.

As she begins to drift to sleep the banging in her head intensifies as a voice shouts through her door, "Town Guard! Open up!" Her stomach lurches as she rushes to her feet, steadier than before but still not sober. She shuffles over to the door and turns the handle.

As the door opens two men barge in, the first grabs her whilst the second slaps manacles on her wrists. They drag her from the room, parading her through the Ettin's bar and out into the street. The warm night air hits her and she wretches, the night of drinking coming back to haunt her.

An eternity later they stop outside of a large building. She looks up and sees the symbol of the city watch emblazoned on the wall above her; They've arrived at the city jail.

The guards hurry her inside and towards a wing reserved for drunks and vagrants, YakYak and Ziarae's faces peering at her through the bars as they pass. They reach an open cell at the end of the corridor and she stands staring, unable to grasp her situation. "But... what?" A hand pushes on the centre of her back and she falls into the cell. The door slams shut behind her as she struggles to her feet and looks around at the stone walls.

-----

A light squawk from YakYak's cell pulls Alenea awake the next morning. She sits up on her cot as two guards appear in front of her cell and unlock the door. "Come with us."

They march her back down the corridor and through an unmarked solid wood door. They gesture towards two chairs sat facing each other over a small table in the middle of the room, "Sit."

As she sits down they pull a chain from under the table and hook it through a loop on her manacles. A padlock clicking closed to leash her down. They turn away and leave her, closing the door behind them.

The room fills with silence as Alenea slumps down in her chair and stares down at her hands. She wraps the chain around her hand and yanks on it to test the strength of the lock. It doesn't give. The door to the room swings open, she drops the chain and looks up. A brown-haired man fills the door-frame.

He strides in, pulls out the chair opposite her and sits down. His uniform is fresh and his beard neatly trimmed. His eyes flick over her before he begins, "Hello Alenea, I'm Frederick. I'm here to ask you a few questions. First off, just a simple one, I hear you've been staying at the Ettin?"

"Yes, I've been renting a room to study in."

"What are you working on?"

"Magic, wizardry, spells. That sort of thing."

"Doesn't seem like you were able to get much studying in yesterday. It seems you were quite active."

"I don't have anything to say about what happened yesterday," she says, sitting back in her chair and staring at the wall.

"We don't need you to say anything, we've already heard from a dozen other people about your day. But the story so far doesn't look very good for you."

A flash of concern passes over her face, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I've spoken to more than half a dozen people who say they saw you jump out of a second story window from the Gilded Mirror clutching a bag. They've also told us you weren't alone."

She opens her mouth to speak but he cuts her off and continues, "Along with that a guard saw you at a mugging across town with the same group of people. When he approached to question you, you and your friends attacked him and fled."

A panicked look crosses her face as he recounts her evening back to her, "I didn't rob anyone in that tour group! Or attack any guards! I was just..." her voice trailing away.

Frederick's face relaxes before continuing, "Look, we know you were there, we have more witnesses than we would have time to go through. I don't want this to end badly for you, so lets run through the day and find out what actually happened. Okay?"

Alenea relaxes, letting out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding, "Okay, sure."

"First off, what are the names of the people you were with today?"

"You already know that, you've got them all in cells."

"I want to hear what you have to say."

"Okay, fine, there's the bird... YakYak, plus Ziarae, and there was a half-orc too, something Pennyfoot."

"And where did you meet these three?"

"Near the Ettin? I saw a flier on the notice board about someone wanting to play pranks around Daring Heights. I turned up and they were all there."

"What do you mean pranks?"

"Pranks. Fun. Throwing water on someone. Tripping them up. Harmless stuff."

"Okay, okay. Let's continue. So what happened at the market, how did fun and pranks end up with an unconscious tour guide?"

Alenea leans back on her chair, "We were all standing around trying to figure out the best way to mess with people. We were there a while before someone suggested that we could put people to sleep then mess with them. Before I knew it the entire tour was lying on the floor and we were all drawing moustaches on them, like you see on wanted posters." She bends over forwards and covers her mouth, chuckling at the thought of the tiny tour guide with the comically oversized moustache.

Frederick frowns as he looks down at her laughing, "So who was it that put these people to sleep?"

She sits up straight, pushing the hair out of her eyes, "I don't know. It all happened before I could see what was going on."

"Okay," tapping his fingers on the table, "So why did you run from the guard when he approached?"

She gestures around the room, "It's just not worth getting tangled up with the town guard, you're always getting the wrong impression."

"So how did you end up fighting him?"

"I didn't fight anyone. I was hunched over in a garden trying to hide. I heard some squawking and a yell but nothing else."

"That would explain the trespassing complaint then."

"Probably, yeah," she says, scratching the back of her head.

"Back at the alley, what happened next?"

"Pennyfoot had joined us at that point. We decided to head to the Gilded Mirror and try our luck on the tables, maybe mess with a few people at the same time."

"What happened after you head to the Gilded Mirror?"

"We headed in, and had some drinks. Ca..." she pauses, "Pennyfoot ordered a round for everyone at the bar."

"Everyone?"

"Yes, entire bar. Huge amount of drinks. Then we head down to the casino floor and played some games."

"Seems you did quite well from the reports we've had."

"Oh yeah, a thousand gold pieces. Not much split five ways but you know, every little helps."

Frederick creases his brow as she mentions splitting the gold, "What happened after that?"

"There was a drunk Wood Elf making an ass of himself. He may have ended up pissing his pants with a little bit of magical assistance," she says, wiggling her fingers slightly. "After that his winnings were being carted upstairs so we decided to follow them."

"Why would you follow him with his winnings?"

"I'm not actually entirely clear on that" she says, sighing, "we'd drank quite a bit and I wasn't fully paying attention. I think we were going to mess with his room."

"Okay so you head upstairs, enter his room and then what?"

"I never went into his room. I stayed outside to keep an eye out while they messed with his stuff. I saw a couple bouncers heading across the casino floor towards the stairs so I went to warn everyone. When I looked in it was havoc. There were two geese. A giant tongue flailing out of a chest. And YakYak was holding an armful of slippers." Frederick raises an eyebrow as she mentions the slippers, "Yeah I have no idea," she continues.

"What happened next?"

"I rushed in, immediately got knocked out and banged my head on a table," Alenea gestures towards a deep purple bruise on her left temple. "Before I know it I'm pulled back to my feet by a golden light. Then I stab the thing and it turns into a pile of goo."

"Do you have any idea why an anti-theft decoy may have triggered?"

She crosses her arms, "I don't know, like I said, I wasn't there."

"Was anything taken from the room?"

"Nothing that I saw," she pauses, head tilted in thought, "Maybe the slippers?"

He sits back and doesn't say anything, fingers drumming on the table. Alenea shuffles in her chair, uncomfortable from sitting still on the hard wooden chair for so long.

Frederick rubs his chin before sitting up again, "I want to clarify something from before. Back in the market, you said you were with three people. Ziarae, YakYak, and Pennyfoot. Are you sure there wasn't anyone else there?"

Alenea nods, "Yes I'm sure, it was just us."

"Okay then," Frederick leans forward and rests his elbows on the table, "I'm having a little trouble fitting that together with the statements I've taken. Multiple sources have mentioned a second Elf being present. None have mentioned a half-orc."

"What do you mean?" she says, her eyes narrowing.

"It doesn't seem to add up. The baker at the market told me he saw two elves, a big bird and some holy looking bloke robbing a bunch of folks then running off down an alley. Nothing about your half-orc friend Pennyfoot."

Alenea crosses her arms, "What are you getting at?"

"We have a disappearing Elf and an Orc that you claim was there all along. There's something odd going on with these two and you're covering for one or both of them," he jabs his finger on the table, "I know you're not being honest with me and I need you to tell me what you know."

She wraps the chain around her fist again, pulling on it till it digs into her skin, "I don't know anything about that Elf! I'm no rat!" she hisses across the table.

His face drops as he recognises the underworld tone in her voice, "Why are you defending this guy? You want to get kicked out of Daring over some Elf you hardly know?"

"You wouldn't kick me out. Not over all this, nothing even happened."

He slaps the table, "Why not? You're a thief and a gambler, you think nobody wants you gone? Leocanto himself told us to get rid of you. I could throw you out the gates right now, nobody would care. See how you fare outside without your money, your weapons, your study material."

At the mention of her spell-book and notes she inhales, the chain tightening till it cuts into her knuckles.

"We can avoid that though, maybe we can come to an arrangement."

"What sort of arrangement?" she says through gritted teeth, letting the chain unravel from her hand.

"You tell me who the Elf is, where I can find the Orc, and you get out of here. Maybe stay out of town for a week or two," he says shrugging.

She reaches her hands to her face and rubs her eyes till white spots appear, "And you don't take anything from me?"

"Nothing that isn't stolen."

Sinking down into her chair she relents, "Fine," she pauses, "The Orc doesn't even exist. It was all an illusion."

"And that was the Elf?"

"Yeah, they disguised themselves after the market and stayed that way the rest of the night."

"And what was their name?

She sighs, eyes pointed downwards and shoulders slumped, "Cadfan."

"Was there anyone else with you yesterday we might want to talk with?"

Alenea pictures Idari's hands wreathed in gold and reaching down to her as she lay on the bedroom floor, "There wasn't anyone else with us."

The guard pushes his chair backwards and stands up, "Thank you for your help, you've been very informative."

She looks up at him confused, "So I can go?"

"Oh no. We won't kick you out of town but you can't go yet. The stocks haven't had a show in years." he chuckles as he pulls open the door and steps out of the room.

"The stocks?"

The door clicks closed.

--------

That evening Alenea stands over a bucket of water in her room and rinses rancid tomato out of her hair with humiliation still stinging her cheeks. Her eyes scrunch closed as she thinks of what will happen if anyone finds out she helped the town guard.

With a towel thrown over her shoulder and her hair still damp she wanders over to her desk and pulls open the drawer. As she runs her hands along the groove to flick open the hidden compartment she hears a knock on her door.

She stands up, pushing the drawer closed as she turns and heads over to the door, pausing to listen. Hearing nothing from the other side she opens the door.

In front of her stands a Halfling in simple clothes, a single plait down to her shoulders, "Are you Alenea? I'm Taffeta Thistletop. Idari's mother."

"Yes," she sighs, "That's me."