The Marked People

Interrogation

Indigo

"He can lie by the way."

My words has Coulson raising his eyebrows "I'm guessing you mean more than just the fact that he can form words that are untrue?"

I nod while taking a bite of the stew that was prepared for tonight's dinner. Since I'd gotten back with Phoenix I'd barely seen my uncle until now. The day had been filled with making sure people didn't try to kill Phoenix and I'd also caught up with Demon, letting him in on the details of how I'd escaped the tracker.

I elaborate, "Phoenix has the ability to prevent his markings from turning white."

Coulson sits still for a moment thinking "Any idea how he does it?"

I shrug "It's something about his family line, apparently only descendants of the royal family can hide the fact that they're lying."

Coulson nods "I've never heard anything about this, though I suppose those who have the ability guard the secret, in a civilisation where lying is practically unknown it must come in handy to be able to lie when no one else can."

Sipping some water and say "It will make getting information out of him a lot harder."

The thought of someone torturing Phoenix has my stomach churning but Coulson waves his hand "I doubt it. He's use to easy living, I doubt he even knows what pain really is, a few punches to the stomach and face will have him spilling everything he knows."

I scoff "Give him a little credit."

Coulson shrugs "No I've seen it before, those not trained in the art of resisting interrogation give in quickly, I don't think it's the pain that does it but the intimidation. Why do you think I've left him down there for so long without sending anyone to ask him questions."

Coulson half smiles "The longer he's alone the more his mind will conjure up gruesome images of torture. By the time we ask him questions he'll fear the worse and tell us everything we want to know without us even having to spill a drop of his blood, it's amazing what the mind does in a dark cell."

I tear of a piece of bread "Don't be so sure."

Coulson shrugs "Anything else I should know about him?"

I shake my head "No, not that I can think of."

My uncle nods his head "right, well I'll give it a few more hours before sending an interrogation team down there."

I frown "Are you sure that's wise? After all it seems everyone here would be happy to kill him."

Coulson nods "Can you blame them? He's a high-ranking person in their society; he owns the farms that use human slave labour. He connected to thousands of deaths and many people here have lost loved ones in those farms."

I sigh, "Even so, we can't let someone down there who wants to kill him."

Coulson nods "I agree, which is why I want you to ask him the questions."

I think about it "I suppose that could work, just give me a list of what you want to know."

My uncle grins while handing me some paper "I already wrote one."

I look down the questions before saying "From these questions I'd guess you'd be planning on staging a breakout?"

Coulson gives me a secret smile "Your guesses would be right, Phoenix's family owns several of the biggest farms around here, if we could figure out how to get into one we'd be tripling the number of people who would fight for our cause."