Agents of Artifice: A Planeswalker Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

I’llbleed you so badly you can’t say the word ‘spell,’ let alone cast one.”
    “This is all very intimidating,” Kallist told him. “But I’d really like the chance to wash these pants before the stain sets. So if you could just get to the point …?”
    “Fine.” Semner leaned in farther still and jabbed the point of the dagger into the seat of the chair, mere inches from Kallist’s crotch. “Simple question, then, Rhoka. Answer it right, maybe you actually walk away from this.
    “Where do I find Jace Beleren?”
    Kallist felt the breath catch in his chest, his fingers clench into fists. Anger washed over him in a wave, and he felt an almost insurmountable temptation to just give Semner exactly what he asked for. Would serve the bastard right …
    But he wasn’t certain Liliana would understand.
    So instead he said, “Last time I talked to Beleren, I told him pretty clearly to pick a hell of his choice, and go. So maybe if you start there—”
    Anything else he might have added was lost in the impact of Semner’s fist against his face. Kallist choked back a cry as his lips split and one of his teeth turned loose in its socket. The chair teetered a moment before tumbling over backward, sending a second surge of pain through him as his aching skull bounced off the floor. For several long breaths, Kallist could only stare at the ceiling, trying hard to gather his wits.
    Semner rose, placed one foot on the crossbar between the legs of the chair, and shoved downward. The entire room tilted yet again as Kallist found himself flung upright once more—to find Semner’s fist waiting to meet his face this time, rather than the other way around. Blood poured from his nose to mesh with that beading up from his lip.
    “What I heard,” Semner said, wiping the blood off his hand on Kallist’s shirt, “was you and Beleren aren’t exactly friends anymore.” He began to pace, spinningthe blade between his fingers. “So why not save yourself a whole lot of pain and point me in the right direction?”
    Kallist probed the loosened tooth with his tongue, spat a mouthful of blood to the floor, and said nothing.
    “Much as I’d love to spend an evening pounding you into jerky,” Semner grumbled, “I’m on a schedule. So we’ll do this the easy way. Boys!”
    The front door slammed open, and Kallist practically pulled a muscle twisting around so he might see. Two men and a woman, looking about as disreputable as their leader, pushed through the open doorway, manhandling someone between them. Several more thugs—Kallist couldn’t get an accurate count—leered from the rainy night beyond. The bag they’d placed over the captive’s head did nothing to prevent Kallist from recognizing her; when they pulled it off, revealing Liliana’s face, it was almost anticlimactic.
    “You bastards!” he hissed at them. How had a nobody like Semner even managed to take her, anyway?
    She didn’t appear wounded, at least. Her hair was plastered to her forehead, her dress to her body. Under other circumstances, it would’ve been alluring.
    “I’m sorry, Kallist.” And damn if she didn’t sound like she meant it.
    Semner gestured, and the bravos holding Liliana released her—only so they could make a point of leveling their crossbows at her unprotected back.
    “Now,” Semner said, turning back toward his beaten prisoner, “we’ll do this exactly one more time.
    “Where is Jace Beleren?”

F avarial.” Kallist was denied even the feeble comfort of glaring at his interrogator, for his attention was fixed on the crossbows aimed at Liliana’s back. “I couldn’t begin to tell you where in the district, and I can’t even promise he’s still there, but last we talked, he lived in Favarial.”
    Semner nodded slowly and turned to the men in the doorway. “She can go. Kill him.”
    Liliana’s eyes widened; her lip quivered as though she had something to say, something she couldn’t quite voice. Three evil grins