"What are you doing out here, Madrik?"

"Out here in the middle of the desert? I'm just here to enjoy a day out in the sun."

The demon-goddess glared at him, then shook her head in disgust.

"Again?"

Madrik shrugged. For some reason he wasn't afraid. He knew he should be, but that thought hid in the back of his mind, overwhelmed by anger, revenge, and the general feeling that he really wanted to punch someone. Not her, of course. Tailfin mostly, and Discreet. In any order.

"You've been poisoned," sighed the demon-goddess. "Again! I suppose I can help."

Madrik felt an unusual tingling sensation under his skin. It felt... different. It felt... good.

"You aren't going to try to seduce me again are you, Lytette?"

"Depends," she said, gesturing to Talyreina who was still sitting on the sand.

"I don't think I want to know what's going on here," said Talyreina, hands swinging defensively.

Whatever Madrik had done in the past – or whoever – well that was his business. She couldn't care less. Although, this girl did seem rather... pretty. No, Talyreina refused to be jealous.

"But," she added, "if you can help us out of this desert alive, I'd be prepared to watch you slap the idiot out of him."

Madrik recoiled ever so slightly. He was suddenly wedged in between two women, both ruthless and vicious. He was supposed to be the ruthless, vicious bastard. He was supposed to be in control of the situation. He didn't need this.

"That's not how this works, ladies. I'm in charge here, and what I say—"

"Oh shut up, Madrik," said Talyreina.

She had learned the hard way that Madrik had a habit of talking too much. Mostly about himself. He wasn't half stupid, but the other half of him was. Brazen, foolish, impulsive. Running into situations without thinking. Getting himself into trouble. Getting her into trouble. Madrik glared at her, uncharacteristically dumbfounded.

"So you can help us... Lytette, is it?" asked Talyreina, ignoring Madrik's glower.

The demon-goddess eyed the two former crime lords, shook her head again, and sighed her agreement.

"Fine, if you tell me how you ended up here again, I might consider helping you out."

"I'll tell you," barked Madrik. "It was those godsdamned bastards!"

Anger welled up just thinking about it. He'd ended up in the desert, again. All because of those godsdamned bastards. He'd had enough of them. He was going kill them. All of them. But not before creating a few exceptionally unpleasant sensations resulting from broken bones.

"Yes...?"

"Well, you see—"

"Can we do this along the way?" interrupted Talyreina. "His story is likely to ramble on for a long time, and involve frequent profanities that will unnecessarily extend it even further."

She knew him too well. Could predict his every move. That's why they were out there, in fact. She wasn't the only one. Tailfin, Arynlock, Discreet, they'd all played Madrik for a fool. They'd played her. Next time, she should be in charge of making the plans.

"Fine," agreed the demon-goddess. "Follow me. But can you two just..."

"What?" they asked in unison.

"Look, just one at a time, alright?"

*    *    *

Madrik was sitting in his comfortable chair with Talyreina right next to him. The two of them were sharing a desk that was just a little too small for them. The office was very spacious. Well, it was Tailfin's office before. Problem was, he wasn't feeling all that comfortable at that particular moment.

Discreet was there. He had been explaining that Tailfin (whom Madrik had sent to his death in the depths on the end of a chain) was a little less dead than the average person, who'd spent a week submerged in the bay, should be.

"So, Discreet was telling us about Tailfin, you see."

"Discreet?" asked Lytette.

"Arynlock's man. Very discreet. But dangerous, evidently."

"Interesting. Go on."

"He told us to do whatever Tailfin asked," said Talyreina. "He said we should agree to kill Arynlock."

Discreet gave her the creeps. She had the feeling that if he wasn't actually talking out loud, nobody would even notice that he was in the room. But he had taken out Tailfin and his lackey on the boat without a problem.

"We waited for Tailfin to arrive," she continued. "He was fuming, of course. But just as Discreet predicted, Tailfin told us to kill Arynlock. And we accepted, of course."

"Of course," agreed Lytette. "But how did this... Discreet, know what Tailfin would ask?"

"Who knows?" said Madrik with a nonchalant shrug.

Not all details were necessary. Minor details could be overlooked with little consequence.

Having left Tailfin's gambling den, the two of them wasted no time in making their way to the mansion. They didn't talk much on the way, both of them considering what the hell they would do next.

"So we went to go meet Discreet," continued Talyreina. "Madrik complained all the way to Arynlock's mansion. He would not shut up about how he was going to get his revenge on everyone."

"I will get my revenge!"

"Yes, yes," sighed the demon-goddess. "Can you get on with the story?"

"So we arrived at the mansion," said Madrik, "where Discreet met us at the gate, and we were escorted from the main entrance by two dozen armed guards. The cheeky bastard. I could have taken them, of course, but I decided to show restraint."

"There were four guards, Madrik, and when you tried to punch one of them they knocked you out."

"No, they—"

"So I remained walking while one of them carried Madrik slumped over his shoulder, and we were taken to a fancy room in the mansion. Discreet was very gentlemanly, offering us a cup of tea before he locked the door behind him."

Days passed as they were kept as prisoners in Arynlock's mansion. It was frustrating. The luxury room was spacious and well decorated, with a sea view, en suite bathroom, and a king size bed. They had three chef-cooked meals a day, and tea service on demand. And the tea never tasted like bloody salt. But apart from their guard-escorted trips to the swimming pool, they were kept locked in their room all day. The only thing they could do to keep themselves busy was...

"I was a gentleman, of course."

"No, you weren't!"

"Right, I don't need the details here."

"Okay, so one day, that bastard Discreet comes to our prison cell," said Madrik. "I lost track of time, but it felt like years!"

"Well, I saw you around six weeks ago," said Lytette. "Based on your story, I guess it wasn't more than a week or two."

"It felt like years," insisted Talyreina. "So Discreet comes in with a cup of tea, and sits down as though we were all old friends."

"I must apologise for the inconvenience," said Discreet as he calmly took a sip of tea. "There has been a lot going on lately and, aside from your initial involvement, you really had little to do with my plans."

"Your plans?" barked Madrik. "What are you on about?"

Madrik didn't like getting messed around. He especially didn't like getting messed around by some rich lady's butler that seemed to think the world danced around the end of his pointy finger.

"I am expecting company," said Discreet, unperturbed by Madrik's temper. "Some faces you might not like much. And you might be tempted to... interfere, potentially with your characteristic lack of elegance. I therefore think it would be to all of our advantages if I were to transfer you to another location. Somewhere a little further away. Quieter."

"Transfer?" yelled Talyreina. "We're not godsdamned prisoners. You're supposed to be keeping us safe! I'm not going anywhere. In fact, I want nothing to do with whatever the hell is going on here."

Talyreina had reached her limit. She'd somehow found herself involved in things she wasn't sure she wanted to be able to explain. They had been Arynlock's puppets, running Tailfin's business while the crime lord failed to die from drowning, and now they were Arynlock's prisoners, and Tailfin wanted to kill them. She had wanted revenge on Tailfin for betraying her in Rhytheport, but everything had just gone a little too far.

"Indeed. You will be transferred to a... familiar location."

"Over my—"

"You may have noticed your vision blurring? Maybe you are feeling a little weaker?"

Madrik stared foolishly at his half-drunk cup of tea. He couldn't quite focus on it. Couldn't quite hold it up. He never drank tea. Why had he started drinking tea?

"Try not to spill, would you?" requested Discreet with a wry grin.

"I don't know how you two ever thought you were the most powerful crime lords in Helen's Bay," interjected Lytette.

"Can I finish the story, please?" snapped Madrik.

"That wasn't the end?"

"No!"

"Fine, so what happened next?"

"The tea was drugged. We passed out, and woke up in the desert," uttered an annoyed Talyreina.

"No, Tally. Before that. Tell her what I said."

"I don't remember what you said."

"Think."

"I don't know."

"Think."

"Godsdammit, Madrik," sighed Lytette. "What did you say?"

"I looked into that man's eyes, and I said: 'I'm going to find you. And I'm going to kill you.'"

"That's it?" demanded Lytette. "I've listened to you two prattle on for half a day, when you could have just said 'we were poisoned and left for dead'."

"Well... we have time," said Madrik "I thought you should know the whole story."

"And you did ask," added Talyreina.

Lytette sighed deeply, quickening her pace so that Madrik and Tally were forced to hurry to keep up.

"I'm a demon-goddess," she hissed. "I shouldn't have to deal with this. When did I start being nice? If it wasn't for The Three..."

"Good point," said Madrik. "Last time I saw you, when you lured me into your private paradise, I got the distinct impression you were planning on killing me. After you were done using me for your pleasure, that is."

"That's true. Not sure you would have lasted very long."

"What?" interrupted Talyreina. "Hang on. How exactly do you two know each other?"

Tally and Madrik's Tale continues in A Tale Of Two Villains part 2 >>>