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“What is that?” I asked Sakkar. My guard pushed a plain white note into my hand. I stared him down as I took it and unfolded it.
“Throw the fight or you leave me no choice. I have your songbird. Lose the match or you’ll never hear her sing again.”
“Fuck. Serena.” I felt a chill cross the sweat on my shoulders and curve across my body. In the second it took for my blood to rise, the sweat on my skin boiled anew with rage. I had no time to lose.
“Where are you going?” Sakkar asked.
I gruffed an answer in haste. “I’ve only got one lead. And he’s already sitting in a cell waiting for me to beat some answers out of him.”
I didn’t waste time getting to the hidden downstairs of Alkard’s club. The terrified Fanaith cowered on the other side as I shoved open the door of the cell.
“The hell, man!” Erznet yelled, still cowering. Rage boiling in my blood. I grabbed the little Fanaith by the throat and lifted him until his feet dangled. His dorsal fin flapped around his body, searching for aid to his escape. Too bad there was no getting between me and the answers I needed to set Serena free.
“I think you left out a few details from our talk the other day, Erznet.” I saw his eyes grow wider with the accusation. He tried to speak, somewhere between a gurgle and a belch.
Sakkar came up behind me. “He might need to breathe a little.”
Reluctantly, I eased my grip, and his amphibious body fell in a lump at my feet. Sakkar stood over him and squatted to eye level. I saw my friend pull him by his shirt collar until he was upright.
As far as good cop and bad cop, this was as close as Erznet was going to get. I flexed behind Sakkar, growling as the Fanaith came to and realized he had one of two options.
“It’s like this, buddy,” Sakkar said, dusting him off. “My friend here would love to beat what you know out of you. But I’m a nice guy. You can talk to me.”
I saw panic in Erznet’s face, but nothing budged from his lips. Sakkar sighed and stepped out of the way.
“Have it your way, friend,” he said. I stepped back up to grab him and squeeze the answers out of him. I pulled my fist back for the first blow, but the Fanaith screamed mercy at the last second.
“Okay! Okay!” he yelled, shivering from where he sat on the floor. “I wasn’t the only person interested in Serena. There was another.”
He paused, and I put my fist up again. “Keep going, fish face.”
“His name was Laxon. He’s a fighter, like you. He kept encouraging me.”
“Encouraging? You’re gonna need to be more specific than that.” My anger reached a pinnacle. The more time this Fanaith wasted, the more danger Serena was likely in.
“He kept encouraging me to send her messages. He said he needed me to speak for the both of us. I didn’t believe him. I just wanted to be close to Serena for myself. But he kept giving me messages to send to her.”
“And you sent them?”
“Yes, but by then, they were from me. Don’t you see? She wouldn’t have to know.”
“Shut it, scum. I want to know where to find Laxon. Where did the two of you meet?” This time I couldn’t stop my grip from reaching his face. I held his cranium in the palm of my hand and squeezed.
“I—It’s a bar! A club! Just before the Narrows. Laxon’s the owner. He used to say he was too busy to send Serena his messages, so he sent me instead.”
The Fanaith seemed angry all of a sudden. “What did he do to her? What has he done with my beautiful songbird?”
“He’s taken her, Erznet. And you helped him do it.”
“He used me!”
“Yeah, he did. But maybe you can help us figure out why. Why take Serena? What would he have to gain from it?”
The terrified alien shook but said nothing.
“What kind of club?” Sakkar asked out of the blue. I didn’t see why it mattered, but any idea was a good one at this point.
“A fight club,” he said quickly. Now it made sense. I remembered the note and pulled it from my pocket, shoving it into Erznet’s face.
