Claws of Truth

Interrogation

Hunter squirmed back and forth, pulling his conjoined wrists which were secured to the chair, behind his back, up towards his head. Despite his best efforts, the restraints refused to budge, and instead just caused him pain in his wrists, evident by a sharp hiss.

Above him was a large floodlight; an ingenious idea thought up by Luz by multiplying the effect of a light spell exponentially by looping the spell upon itself. A dark cone was being used to funnel all of the light towards Hunter and away from the other witches, and King, who stood in a semicircle in front of him, each with varying degrees of disapproving looks. Eda shifted the light into his eyes, earning another small hiss from the witch.

"Welcome to Eda's Disheartening Adventure!" She bellowed out, much like how she attracts customers to her stand. "Here I'll be slowly breaking down your emotional and psychological barriers until all you want to do is cry yourself into an early grave! Too bad I won't let you die before you tell me everything I want to know. Too bad for you, that is." She shooed everyone back a few steps so that she had ample room to do whatever she would like to the young man in the so-called spotlight. After hearing mixed steps retreating a pace, she continued with a grunt.

"Now, I'll give you one, and I mean one, chance to avoid my meticulously thought out plan of torture. All you have to do is answer my questions directly and honestly." After parading around with much pride, Eda was now at eye level with Hunter, her hands grasped firmly around the unoccupied armrests of the chair.

Hunter eyed her back, defiance so readily evident in his gaze before his expression changed to that of a playful half-grin. "Go eat voles, feather brain."

With a small grunt and a rush of air expelled from her nostrils, Eda returned to a standing position, her one hand placed firmly on her hip as she leaned into it. "Have it your way, Goldilocks." Eda drew a small spell circle, opening up a tiny pocket dimension. Out of the small portal of swirling orange dropped a little metal box, similar to those old lunchboxes which Luz brought around a few times. On top, in big bubbly letters, there was some writing: "Eda's Torture Box" with a few small hearts and skulls dotted about.

Hunter seemed to notice what the lettering said because his face began to drain of color. "W- well you don't s- scare me." He tried to force it out in a strong tone, which ended up falling flat, convincing not even himself. Eda hummed sarcastically back at him.

Eda grabbed a nearby table and pulled it closer. With the flick of her wrist, she conjured up a brown spell circle and extended the legs on the table so that it was now waist-high to her. She placed her torture box down and popped the lid open with a click. She started rummaging through different knives, ropes, fire-starting materials, and a few other sharp objects when Luz came up next to her.

She looked a little nervous, her eyes darting from Eda to Hunter to the small crowd in the living room, all of whom were preparing for something dark to happen. After a few moments of what Eda suspected were mental arguments on whether or not to ask a certain question, Luz leaned in towards her beloved mentor and whispered in a hushed tone, "what're you gonna do to him?" She almost seemed worried for him. As though he wasn't just caught spying on them and wasn't a high-ranking member of the coven who was currently trying harder than they ever have before to capture her; a coven who was hell-bent on committing genocide against Luz's own people, both Isles and Earthen alike. Stupid human compassion.

"Oh, 'ya know," Eda said while waving an airy hand in a circle by her head, her voice now in a whisper so that only Luz could hear her, "just give him a little scare into spilling what we need to know. Don't want any more people getting hurt if we can help it."

But Eda's words were not as reassuring as she thought they would be, as evident by Luz's persisting frown. She was a good kid. Well, actually, she was one of the very best Eda ever had the pleasure of meeting. But sometimes she could be a little short-sighted. This, being a time where breaking a single egg now could help make the Isle's best omelet, certainly constituted a bit of force. Not even that lovable face could change her mind on the subject this time.