"You''re not sneaking away again," Quaraun said to ZooLock, who had crawled under the table and tried to get to the front door.


    ZooLock glumly came back to the table and sat down next to his Elven captor.


    "Now then," Quaraun addressed Mallac again. "Ellreekii. When I asked, what she looked like. I meant, describe her to me. Was she tall? Short? Pale? Dark? Blond? Redhead? Green eyes? Blue eyes?..."


    "Blue."


    "She had blue eyes?"


    "No, she was blue."


    "Explain yourself."


    "Every inch of her was blue."


    "How so?"


    "Blue skin, darker blue hair, blue eyes, really, really, wicked long blue ears. I mean long ears. Her ears must have been a foot tall above her head. Just like yours. Always wore blue gowns, all embroidered in silver and trimmed in white fur..."


    "She''s from the Deep North," Unicorn said as he came back to the table eating what appeared to be the arm of a waiter. "What ya is describing is the traditional dress of the Moon Elves."


    "Except she was blue, not white," Mallac said.


    "Which is Frost Elf."


    "No," Quaraun corrected Unicorn. "Frost Elves are white like us. Crystal Elves are blue."


    "What she was, doesn''t matter," Mallac said impatiently.


    "Yes, actually, it does."


    "Why?"


    "Because the people you have named are Thullids."


    "No they weren''t."


    "You gave Thullid names."


    "No I didn''t."


    "Yes. You did."


    Mallac protested Quaraun''s assertion that he was speaking Thullid, but Quaraun had once again stopped listening. Quaraun''s mind was drifting again. He was troubled by the things Mallac said. Not the murders, but rather the inconsistencies he described about the victims. Mallac''s story wasn''t adding up right. He had said he had never seen an Elf before. Yet he was describing several dead Elves. He said only two half-Elves were in town and then said they had problems with a large ban of half-Elf thieves. And he struggled to describe the murder victims without randomly speaking Thullid words, that he was apparently unaware he was saying.


    "Summoner of Darkness?" Quaraun once again joined the conversation but, doing so by responded to what Mallac had said a half hour ago.


    "What?" Mallac was uncertain what Quaraun meant.


    "You called him The Summoner of Darkness?"


    "Who? HellBorne?"


    "Yes. You called him the Summoner of Darkness."


    "Yeah. That''s what he calls himself."


    "What''s does that mean?"


    "I don''t know. He runs around saying he''s summoning some ancient elder god demon thing..."


    "An Elder god? You mean a Chaos Demon?"


    "Yeah, something like that. I don''t know. I never paid much attention. He just keeps talking about how he''s calling up some god Demon thing."


    "Indeed. And is he?"


    "Like I said, the man''s crazy."


    "When one finds dead bodies along side the home of someone who claims to be summoning Demons, I would think they would be your first suspect."


    "You''d have to believe in Demons first."


    "HeelBorne obviously believes in Demons."


    "So you believe in Demons?"


    "That''s not what I said."


    "Listen, HellBorne''s crazy. He runs around the town saying he''s bringing some sacred demon god to town. He''s nuts. He''s not involved in this."


    "You are certain he jas nothing to do with the murders?"


    "Yes."


    "Because he''s crazy?"


    "Yes."


    "And yet he has a Demon in his employ?"


    "Does he?"


    "Gremlin is a Demon."


    "Gremlin? Who''s that?"


    "GhoulSpawn''s future self."


    "Future...what?"


    "GhoulSpawn''s a time traveller."If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "What''s that?"


    "He''s from the future."


    "Future?"


    "1974, he said."


    "The year?"


    "Yes."


    "He''s crazy."


    "I believe him."


    "What? Why?"


    "Because, I have meet him 3 times in the past year and he''s been vastly different ages each time. Glintar is very young. Just a boy. GhoulSpawn''s a young adult, not very old, but not an Elfling anymore. And Gremlin is an old man. He must be 750 years old, at least."


    "It''s probably just his younger brother and his grandfather."


    "No. All three were the same person. Of that I am certain. He walks through dimensions like they were swinging doors. He threw a trio of HellHounds at me just outside of town. Thus this bite on my leg. He calls himself a Chaos Wizard. Do you even know what a Chaos Wizard is? It''s not a wizard at all. It''s a sorcerer who has Demon blood and uses demonology - Demon magic, to get things done. GhoulSpawn may be a half-Elf, but he''s also a half-Demon and if he''s powerful enough to open portals and walk through time and space, he''s one damn powerful wizard, that I personally wouldn''t want to get on the wrong side of. Especially not when GhoulSpawn is his real name, and implies the Ghoul himself is his father."


    "You''re saying GhoulSpawn is a Ghoul?"


    "No. The Ghoul was a nickname people gave an old Demon who went missing a few decades ago. Cold hearted, blood thirsty, evil bastard of a Demon. Noted for having invented Portal Magic and time travel. He left trails of dead bodies in every town he entered. The Guild used his own portals against him. Seeled him up in a Hell Dimension."


    "But aren''t you the world''s most powerful wizard?"


    "Let''s not go through that again. It bores me."


    "But you just said... you said you couldn''t fight GhoulSpawn in battle."


    "I said nothing of the sort."


    "You said..."


    "What I said was, I wouldn''t want to be on his bad side. There''s a very powerful sorcerer hiding inside that nervous little half-Elf. If he can bend time to his will and cut holes through dimensions, than he''s dealing with very high level magic. Not something a young beginner like himself should even attempt to be learning yet. And he''s wielding it with the expertise of an ancient wizard. That''s troubling."


    "But that doesn''t help us."


    "How doesn''t it?"


    "We''re looking for a murderer."


    "And you still cast no suspicion towards HellBorne or GhoulSpawn?"


    "No. Why should I?"


    "You''re stupid Mallac. GhoulSpawn has openly admitted The Ghoul is his father and that he''s trying to find the portal the Guild tossed him into. You''re telling me you have ritualistically murdered bodies showing up in your village, while some old wizard is running around calling himself The Summoner of Darkness, claiming to be about to resurrect a Demon God and you are just going to completely discredit the possibility they might be the ones killing your villagers?"


    "Yes."


    "Why?"


    "They couldn''t do it."


    Unicorn leaned over to Quaraun, pointing to ZooLock, and whispered: "Psion."


    "What?"


    "The Thullids are Psions."


    "I know that."


    "There be Psionics at work here."


    "How so?"


    "Mallac''s struggling to disagree with ya."


    "Is he?"


    "Aye. I been watching him. Him try to say one t''ing to yas. Him mouth not matching what him brain trying to speak. Ya noted voice change un inconsistency yarself."


    "What are you thinking?"


    "I t''inking Mallac begging for help, on account of Thullid''s have control of town un him can not tells us truth cause Thullid got him locked in mind control."


    "Why would you think Thullids have control of the town?"


    "I Illusionist. I see t''rough Illusions. There ain''t no many Humans in dis here town."


    "What do you mean."


    "I mean we meet ZooLock just outside of here un I do not t''ink it coincidence. Gremlin told us to no come to dis town. Him say it trap. Him tell us to get GhoulSpawn un run far from here. Remember?"


    "I do."


    "I t''ink de Thullids set trap for us un we walk right into it. Un t''ink Mallac trying to tell us but him have Thullids blocking him un no letting him say what him want to say."


    ZooLock interrupted them just then, placing a plate of food on the table, then throwing himself at Quaraun''s feet.


    "Your food my Ladyship."


    "I told you stop calling me that... ZooLock. Summoner of Darkness, what does that mean to you?"


    "Summoner of Darkness? I know it not, my Lady."


    "Of course you don''t, which means you know all about it, seeing how you are incapable of telling the truth."


    "As you wish, my Lady."


    "STOP WORSHIPING ME! I CAN''T STAND IT ANY MORE!"


    Quaraun kicked the squid headed priest sending him sprawling on the floor.


    "Mallac," Quaraun said. "Why did you approach me?"


    "The murders..."


    "I''m a complete total stranger. You don''t ask a total stranger to help you solve a murder. What''s really going on here?"


    "We need your help..."


    "Why?"


    "Please."


    "Why me?"


    "You''re the world''s most powerful wizard."


    "I never told you that."


    "You''re a Necromancer."


    "I didn''t tell you that either."


    "You''re Quaraun the Insane."


    "You said you never heard of me. Why did you decide to walk through those doors, march up to this table, and ask me to help you?"


    "I...uhm... I don''t know."


    "You don''t know."


    "No."


    "What were you doing before you addressed me?"


    "I was looking for my men."


    "And why did you come in here?"


    "I don''t know."


    Quaraun turned back to Unicorn.


    "You may be right."


    "I knowns I is."


    "If there''s Thullid mind control going on here, why can''t I feel it?"


    "Ya been kind of looply de past few days."


    "Someone drugged me."


    "Aye."


    "It wasn''t ZooLock."


    "Ya sure?"


    "I am. He wouldn''t hurt me...or..."


    Quaraun stopped talking.


    "What?" Unicorn asked.


    "Is everyone in this tavern a Thullid?"


    "Just about. Not Mallac. A couple of the barmaids. The prostitutes is Human still. Mallac''s men is still Human."


    "And everyone else?"


    "Everyone else in town is Thullid."


    "Everyone?"


    "Everyone."


    "The whole village?"


    "Entire village."


    "It''s a hive."


    "Appears to be."


    "How did we walk into a Thullid hive and I not know it?"


    "Whatever that drug was, it messed up yar senses for a few days. Did no wear off good."


    "When did you notice they were not Humans?"


    "After I notice Mallac seem like him struggling against invisible force not letting him speak hims mind."


    "Why didn''t you notice, before?"


    "I were focusing on yis loopiness. Ya been running away from pumpkins un flying cats un river boat men women all week."


    "You saw the river boat man woman too. Didn''t you?"


    "Aye. I did."


    "How do you explain that? Were you drugged too?"


    "I t''ink not. Thullid mind control me t''inks."


    "How? You''re supposed to be the best there is at illusions and stuff like that. I thought you were impervious to mind control?"


    "If it were one Thullid, aye. Maybe even a few. But dair is few hundred Thullids in dis town."


    "A few hundred?"


    "At least. Un dems just de ones what still look Human. Have no yet sprouted their squid heads."


    "Meaning somewhere in this town, there''s more. Not spawnlings, but full fledged squid heads."


    "Aye. Un Gremlin mentioned cave systems. If dey is underground, dair could be thousands of dem under our feet un we never know it."


    "And I can''t see them? Why can''t I see them? Are there so many, that''s they''re blocking my ability to see them? Oh my! Then this isn''t a hive... it''s a central nerve system... there''s an elder brain nearby."


    "Aye."


    "It''s in the tower."


    "Why ya say dat?"


    "That''s what''s calling me. The tower... it speaks to me. The tower itself is alive. The tower, is not a tower. It''s sentient. I can hear it. It''s calling me."


    "Is tower Demon?"


    "Yes. A giant Demon, disguising itself as a tower."


    "Why would it call ya?"


    "I''m the Sacred Pink JellyFish... the Thullids think I''m their god. They''ve somehow gotten in my head and tricked me into coming here."


    "Why would dey do dat?"


    "I''m pregnant."


    "I knows."


    "ZooLock knew before I did... They want my eggs. ZooLock said that. He didn''t say he was protecting me... he said he was protecting the eggs. He said protecting the eggs was his priority. ZooLock didn''t drug me. He wouldn''t risk hurting the eggs. He said that. I remember. He said, he was scared for the eggs, after he found out someone had drugged me. Which only leaves GhoulSpawn... GhoulSpawn drugged me."


    "Why would him do dat?"


    "I don''t know, but I want to find out."


    Quaraun turned back to Mallac.


    "Take me to the murder scenes. I want to see them."