I awoke peacefully. My body cold from the lack of a blanket though the room felt as warm as ever. For the the mid-summer heat had struck Cravenholm with it's full fury once more a testament to Hagsby's skill at growing rice in that dilapidated marsh.

Seconds rolled by as I stared blankly at the sloped ceiling. I willed my limbs to move but there was no answer. Fingers tingling from the numbness of sleep paralysis that attacked my body still, I waited, waited some more than with a deep yawn all four appendages stretched out tearing the tingling away replaced by a morning vigor.

Left arm lined itself over the pillow, dangling at an awkward angle off the edge of the twin bed I yawned once more scratching my stomach through my armor with my right hand. I could already tell that it's straps had loosened and shifted to uncomfortable positions. Had I been wiser I would have taken it off before falling asleep, something Master always reminded me of. Prepare now, save myself the discomfort later.

Sitting up I threw my legs over the side hearing the frame creak under my movement. For a second I expected the wood to give out from underneath me but it held strong. I stretched my arms, righted my belt and stood up letting the lull of sleep shake from my weary limbs.

It was time. Though calm, the steady beat of my heart did not betray I was nervous to meet with Lady Katharine. I hadn't quite met her on my first trip through merely relegated to a woman of myth talked of by the servants and soldiers alike. From what I understood she was a reasonable woman, one who might hear what I have to say. Though if I were to speak truth was still a matter of conflict in my mind.

Downstairs the house felt empty. Children slept in their beds, completely ignorant of the world beyond their four walls. Sister Mary had settled down in her bed and the Farmer Hagsby slept comfortably in his rocking chair, a tiny string of spittle dripping off his lip and onto his shoulder where it shined brilliantly in the sharp light of the morning sun that pierced the windows.

A part of me wanted to say good-bye for I wasn't certain yet if I should ever see him or the children again. They were interesting having gifted me far more family time than I had ever known. How incorrect that thought was. I didn't have a family in the normal sense, certainly a dozen orphans a cranky old man and a rather intriguing Sister of the Faith weren't normal, but my family were the Slayers now. And soon I would enter their esteemed ranks after taking the Trial of Glass.

The door latch felt awkward to unlatch, it's body bent inward as if it had taken a thousand impacts from a large object. Something or someone had tried to get in many times before, all that stopped them was this thick piece of splintering wood. I was sure there would be many more attempts. I wondered if the culprits even knew who lived here.

' Going so soon?' Droned the old haggard voice of Hagsby, blinking crust from his weary eyes. You could see age pull at his skin, the eyelids loose and dropping over his eyes but for the time being he could still see and he saw me. My hands still wrapped over the board's edges I turned to him.

'Figure I'd leave while everybody was still asleep.'

'Have business to do, do ya?' The farmer grumbled drowsily.

'I must go speak with Lady Katharine. Then I'll be on my way home to take the Trial of Glass. Whatever that may be.' (Not to mention investigating Master's purpose to the Ruined Powers)

'Did you apologize to Sister Mary?' He asked, his old eyes turning on me sharply.

I nodded. 'Yes, I did. We had a decent chat before I went to bed. Not to say we'll ever be on good terms being who we are but it's what it is.'

The old man remained silent for a little while then spoke. 'Good.' He closed his eyes ready to sleep again when I lingering curiosity hit me.

'Before I go,' I mused with a bit of a hum, Hagsby's eyes shot open. 'How did this arrangement come about? With so many people starving and you sacrificing what food you can grow so that these orphans might eat. The world is a cold place, it's rare to see such a selfless act...especially since you get nothing in return....'

'I know your type, Slayer. You've seen things no mortal man should ever see. Am I wrong?'

I mused over the many haunting memories that crowded my dreams, that infested every waking moment. Not just what I'd seen but the things I'd done. It made me question why they called me Sinless among the Slayers. I could only shake my head.

'I was a soldier once. I was tough. I was strong. But I was weak for one person. My dear sweet Emma...,' I saw the corners of his eyes twinkle with a tear that refused to fall. 'She was my wife for many years. I knew the old bat since I was three. A lovely woman her. Always smiling and laughing smart as they come with looks that could kill a bull. She used to call me a bull. In my youth I was thick headed though I could take on the gods themselves. Though I very nearly met them many times over. Yet each time she was there to nurse me back to health then do it all over again. Each time she would sit at my bed side. A bowl of soup in her hand that she had made herself. She would spoon that stuff into my mouth and tell me how much of an idiot I was.'

'Boy was that putrid liquid horrible to taste but I ate it. Every last damn drop of it! Because she made it! Because it was her soup! I think a small part of me wanted to always go back to that. But as time rolled on I grew older and wiser and life became easier. Except for Emma,' Hagsby looked at me earnestly, 'See Slayer some time ago I realized something. The gods, they're cruel bastards. To survive in this world you don't need a strong sword arm, you need to be wise. Emma. Oh, she was wise. She was wisest of them all but her body was weak. See I believe they made me strong and stupid so that she could make me wise. And she did!'

'This was back before she wore her dress and Sister Mary would never speak of this but when she first started caring for the orphans there was already no food in this city so a few lads downtown, all they see is this beautiful woman going door-to-door begging for food. Well, men being what they are- monsters, they saw opportunity and they took it. They forced young Mary to undress. Ripping her clothes off screaming obscenities at her as they beat her naked body in the middle of the street. But just before they could rape her along came Emma. I don't recall why she was in the city that day but boy was it ever a bad time to do something so horrid.'

'Emma beat the two men senseless with a plank of wood. Gave them nasty scars on their faces. Boy I wish I'd been there that day to see the looks on their faces!' He smiled with pride then his lips curved in a deep scowl.

'When Emma learned of poor Mary's plight she convinced me, who only sought to take care of us, to train my hand at growing more rice. See up till then I grew only enough for her and myself. Never enough to let people think we had food. Letting others know you have food during a famine is a good way to get killed.' He paused.

'I never should have let myself be convinced by her!' Hagsby began to quietly hold back his sobs that pained his blood shot eyes so. 'I had worked myself too hard to the point I couldn't get out of bed for days right when I needed to bring the rice to the orphanage. Emma, with her good heart couldn't bare to let the children starve another day so she said she'd bring it herself....' Hagsby tried covering his mouth with an erratic hand but could only maintain composure enough to shift his weight in the chair.

'I agreed reluctantly and....they caught her....they fucking caught her... those two bastards who tried raping Mary. They wanted revenge and I wasn't- Oh, Gods- I wasn't there to protect her. Oh, Emma I'm so sorry.....'

'They strung her naked corpse up in the middle of the square. No one did anything to help her. They let her die. They just let her-' Hagsby broke out into full on crying. Where he someone else I might have embraced but I knew what kind of man he was. He was a good man. With his own rough edges and thick pride. He wouldn't accept a hug no matter the circumstances.

I let a few moments pass as he collected himself.

'After that Knight Aldwin heard of the situation and volunteered to bring the rice himself. But he never could find the murderers and would-be rapists even with the scars on their face.' It was strange hearing of that man's exploits once more. For the man I had met was a prideful and somewhat intolerant creature but even still his morality at least held true. Even in death I could still hear his last words.

“Don't let the madness take them.” I wonder if this was what he meant.

'I'm so sorry, Mr. Hagsby. I truly am.'

'Emma lead a good honest life. That she died and I lived is the greatest tragedy. And that is why I do what I do Slayer. And I will do it until the day I die or Mary no longer needs my help.'

'She's been through a lot more than I thought.'

'Don't judge her too harshly.' Hagsby said softly.

'I don't judge her, I think I almost admire her now.' I smiled. 'Thank you, for sharing.'

'You asked. I told.' Hagsby breathed in deeply. 'Now begone. I want to sleep some more and dream of the old days with Emma. And you standing around doesn't help that!' He shouted at me to leave returning to the sharp edge he will have for the remainder of his days.

I gave a soft chuckle, shook my head and left as the old man fell asleep on his rocking chair once more. For a moment as the door swung shut I worried about leaving it unbarred until I heard the faint sound of wood scratching wood. I pressed my ear against the door only to hear Hagsby snoring wondering who was awake to shut it.

'Best of luck, Agarn.' Mary whispered through the door, barely audible even to my ears. I grinned from ear to ear.

'Thank you.' I returned but I could already hear her tiny feet stepping away beyond earshot.

She was a good woman. Her heart was in the right place but she was most certainly in the wrong world. For some reason I felt my spine tingle ominously. There was something coming and I was going to be there to face it.

As the morning sun rose high and the few remaining participants of Cravenholm's fractured society shambled from their homes to enact their pitiful routines I made my way through the streets. Passing boarded shops and crumbling homes. Were it not for the living pouring through the dirt road I would have sworn a mage had teleported me back to Iory.

But the people did as they always did though on my journey towards the keep I had the misfortune of playing witness to a string of muggings. Some random stranger had held the poor bastard at knife point who had consequently only just received the gold pouch after mugging another fellow two streets back. It was almost an endless parade of debauchery soaking the streets.

Some gentlemen nearby, sitting on a wooden railing outside a lively tavern with pints of beer in hand watched on bellowing immoral laughter. Though I suppose I was no better, doing nothing to help the victims. But where the line of victims and muggers ended or began was beyond me. And it was not my job to keep the peace. Whatever peace still lingered in that broken city.

Yet on I traveled, past the more inhabited sections of the city into areas that were devoid of life entirely. Houses were burned to the ground, corpses littered the street. A few as fresh as the morning air laced with the pungent smell of rotting flesh like onions gone sour entwined with human excrement. To think this section of the city laid right before the Keep's front gate.

If they were actively trying to scare away potential help from visitors then they had already began with a bang. That's when I came upon it. Down a long singular road leading straight through this wealthy section now destroyed and abandoned I saw it. The Keep's front gate wide open. Certainly they needn't fear bandits or thieves not with the city's worth less than a farm hand's cock but to so boldly prop open the front gate such as it was? That was not bold nor was it wise. Something was wrong.....

Approaching the cocked gate I noticed a few strange things about it. The gate was unlocked, entirely as if on purpose. The two guards that ordinarily would be placed outside flanking it's arches were gone, not a trace of them in sight. Then there was the sound.

Master Holom always taught me to pay attention to the sound. Sometimes when things were just too quiet where you could still hear the world a hundred yards away you knew something just wasn't right. It was as if everything in that particular spot decided to stop in that very moment. And in that moment I couldn't even hear the whisper of the wind.

'What the fuck is going on?' I breathed gently nudging the gate open with the tip of my sword stabbed into the iron plate that masked the wooden body. 'Where are the guards? Where's the help?'

'Hello? My name is Agarn of the Thornwood Slayers. I have come under contract to House Collifer to report on my mission!' I yelled past the gate hoping to hear a voice call back but none did.

Glancing over my shoulder back down the street I noticed how barren Cravenholm now felt to me. Something wasn't right here and as I walked into the gatehouse a chill ran up my spine. Someone was watching me. I could feel their eyes on my back. Yet they didn't not move to reveal themselves.

I proceeded through the second gate and out of the gatehouse into an open courtyard where I caught my first concrete hint that something was wrong. He sat staring at the gatehouse, his broken back pressed into the tight corner of the dry fountain.

At his feet lay his dangling heart and lungs dropped out of the distressingly deep wound cut into his chest having completely cloven his chest plate in two. Lifeless eyes stared at the gate, sword dropped a few feet away from him. Hand still limp where he had tried to reach out for it. A violent but quick death.

Warm water tickled the back of my neck. I could feel it slap my skin like droplets of hail beating down on the earth. I looked up in time to dodge the next speck of blood to fall from the guard's body. His head gored through with three deep gashes, body impaled on a horizontal flag pole that lacked it's flag I could reasonably say that whoever did this wasn't human.

'There's guard number two.... whatever attacked the keep got in fast. They couldn't even sound an alarm.' I knew this by the lack of response to the intrusion. There were no other bodies and the second guard was killed in a manner to ward off those seeking to flee. '...It toyed with them. But was quick to the kill, strange. It was in a hurry but wanted to play....someone sent it here...why? Lady Katharine?'

Leaving the gutted remains of the guards behind I found myself walking through the main building's front door unopposed. Smeared in blood I quickly found who's. She lay on the ground, face gored by a gaping hole that dripped brain matter onto the marble floor. Judging by the simple dress she wore this was not Lady Katharine, just a maid who chose the wrong day to come to work.

Next to her another woman lay dead. Left arm cut clean off pouring cold blood onto the floor, her jaw sliced upon so deep I could see the back of her throat. Bits of shattered and cut teeth dangling from her mouth dropped out carried away by the profuse amounts of blood.

'The wounds and cuts are clean. Something very sharp did this. Sharp and fast.'

I walked down the hall slowly every so often glancing over my shoulder. Eventually it opened into a Y intersection where at the crook of the fork there was a small archway leading into a diamond shaped courtyard filled with trees. Brilliant light filtered through the trees, Dying but not yet dead they were probably the last living trees for miles around.

At the split I spotted a trail of blood leading to the right. I always thought it a bit funny how any normal person would walk away from the blood but I, as a Slayer, well I had to follow it. And that I did, to another corpse. A guard, his back completely ripped open through his chest. Organs cut to ribbons spilled across the ground, a thick layer of coagulated blood laying underneath him like a crimson carpet.

'Toyed with-' I turned the man's head seeing his severed neck artery. Almost hidden completely by the blood. 'He took it to the neck. Survived and ran.' Looking back down the hallway he'd barley made it twenty feet. 'Poor bastard wasn't fast enough. But whatever it was was faster. Got ahead of him and gored him on something sharp then ripped him open through his chest. Couldn't be a weapon. Pried him open with it's hands......sharp...fast...toys with it's victims to a limited extent....It's a Lotwai. A type of demon....an invisible demon....' Glanced over my shoulder. 'If it's still here it could be anywhere.' Looking about there were no hints it was nearby but that didn't mean I couldn't feel it's eyes on me.

'It's here. But why? Why here? They stalk bogs and marshes far from civilization. They don't stalk keeps in the middle of a city. It's after something. Or it's after Lady Katharine. Why? Who would send it? The Ruined Masters? They already had Holom what else were they after?'

Picked myself up I noted a blood smear leading further down the hall. All this death the Lotwai must have gotten soaked. Though I had no reason to suspect it wasn't clean if I followed it's trail I might just figure out why it was there; if it didn't kill me first.

Lotwai are invisible demons. Their bodies are weak and thin but what they lack in endurance is supported one hundred fold by their immense attacking power, lighting speed and absolute malicious nature. Known to toy with their victims, gutting them, flaying their skin those caught by one rarely escape. For it's speed and invisibility make it impossible to outrun. But Slayers, with the the Trial of Glass, a ritual of witchcraft gain the power to see them. I however had yet to take the Trial. Meaning my only hope was to make sure it didn't catch me off guard.

My hand tightened around the pommel of my sword. It's black leather crunching readying to relay to me the feel of it's blade cutting through flesh once more. My heart began to beat just knowing I was being watched. Or maybe I wasn't. Maybe the Lotwai had finished and was already long gone. Whatever the case it didn't help my nerves knowing it had been there.

Following the general trail of carnage I passed another dozen guards. Eviscerated. Torn to shreds. There were only so many ways you could mutilate the human body and yet found myself gagging at the sight of it. To think I'd seen it all. I was wrong.

The Lotwai had left the majority of them to bleed out. Slaking it's urge for torture by killing two guards and mismatching their limbs. I can only imagine how much they screamed as they were broken and twisted into a single creature, arms split down the length, legs broken and twisted around the thigh of the other. All the while their companions laid dying around them unable to help. The last sight and sound they ever heard was the monstrosity before me. Profuse amounts of blood had warped the malicious art-piece into a lump of crimson flesh broken up by bits of silver armor poking through.

Then I understood why it had done such a thing. Down the hall stood the doors to what I assumed to be the main study. Even from afar I could see the deep claw marks digging into the thick wood but it could not be broken. Someone had barricaded themselves in but the open door left little hope as to their survival.

'They must have held up in here with Lady Katharine.' I was quick to note the guards corpses laying at the door. Prepared with shields they seemed to have withheld the Lotwai for some time. But what I found most interesting was how I could still feel the heat raising from their blood when I crouched next to them.

'They barricaded themselves in then tried to make a break for it hoping the shields would hold the Lotwai back. Not a bad plan but ultimately worthless. Lotwai can traverse walls. Strike from any direction. Would get behind them before any normal man could react....'

Suddenly the sound of a painting sliding down the wall, that scrape of it's frame scratching the wallpaper stopped my heart. Sword raised in sweaty palms I turned to face the sound but there was nothing. Just a misaligned painting that fell off it's hook. But the chill growing on my spine refused to leave.

Then I saw a blood red foot print on the wall, three elongated toes each razor sharp and ready to kill, then another followed by a pair four fingered hand-prints. I knew it had paused. It was staring right at me, sizing me up, assessing the danger I posed. That is to say I didn't pose any danger. It would attack in a moment and I needed to be ready. Shuffling back with my eyes trained on that one spot I watched the wall bend underneath immense pressure.

It didn't take any time at all before I spotted the blood soaked footprints land to my right. To hear the whistling wind slip through it's splayed claws or to listen to it's feral screech as it's unseen claws lashed out towards my throat. Instinct drove me back. Instinct and fear. It drove my legs to jump back, to shuffle out of the way doing everything I could to track the bloody prints left behind.

I drew my sword up just connecting with a lashing claw feeling my whole body go numb as my joints compressed violently under the attack. Breath hissed through gritted teeth I forced the lashing claws away swinging my sword wildly. Momentum bore itself in the creatures limbs as it dashed around me to my back before I could turn.

Rather then face it head-on I hoped Vishnurr would guide my movements as I tucked my head and dove forward feeling the lightning fast claws cut a slice of my armor from the nape of my neck. Almost thought my heart would give out I'd never felt it pound so hard.

Landing with a thump my chest greeted a fallen shield. Frantic hands grabbed it's edges letting me roll onto my back raising the thick slab of wood up just in time to catch the creature's lunging claws. They speared the wood like water and I stared up through four equal size holes looking at the ceiling despite the fact I knew it was on top of me. I could almost feel it's body move into place to tear my guts out with it's hind claws. Wasting no time I quickly twisted the shield catching the monster's body and throwing it off of me then scrambled for the study door.

With barely a second to spare I rushed into the room slamming the door shut hearing the Lotwai slam against it but the falling latch held. A few furious scratches later and the sound of it even trying to claw through ceased. The study appeared to have been a safe room long before it housed chairs and shelves lined with countless books all around. Meaning even that beast's overwhelming ferocity couldn't topple the foot thick door.

'Fuck that thing!' I whistled. 'Why the hell is it even here?' I looked around the room seeing a few other guards, their blood flooding the ground.

There was no way out. I wandered over to the desk hoping to find a switch or mechanism.

'A safe room like this, even if it's a study now, has to have a secret exit.' My fingers traced the edges of the desk, rubbing against it's underside. There was nothing. No bump, no crease.

Frantically I pulled out each drawer hoping to find something and generally unwilling to search the each and every bookshelf. I combed the desk until I was flat on my knees, my eyes level with the desk smooth brown surface. That's when I saw it. Lady Katharine's signature on a piece of parchment just barely sticking out from a stack of books.

Pulling out the crinkled paper I took a moment to study what she had written in her impossibly curvaceous handwriting. It looked good in person but the practically of it was baffling. How was anyone supposed to read such a thing?

To Lord Donovin Sosis of House Sosis

Despite my father's refusal I write to inform you that I have agreed to accept your offer of asylum for the people of Cravenholm and it's eight outlying villages. All village elders have agreed to this act and have already made their preparations to leave. I however will remain until my father returns from his trip to meet with my younger brother who has until now been staying in Ragstad Manor in Noviger. He said he plans to return within a few days time. Hopefully by then he will have thought over your offer and changed his mind though whatever his decision may be the people of Cravenholm will leave with me.

The remainder of the letter was scribbled out in a hurry. 'Must have been the first draft.'

I pray every night and day for the opportunity you have given my people. Your loyalty to our House will never be forgotten.

Sincerely, Lady Katharine Collifer.

They had a deal. Lady Katharine had arranged asylum for her entire country behind her father's back who's singular idea to save his people was to offer his son in sacrifice to the Ruined Masters. The temptations of the Ruined Gods and their unholy power was never to be underestimated. A lesson I was beginning to understand as the Lotwai threw itself at the door trying to break the iron latch. But it would not give. It would hold. For a time.

Underneath her letter I found another. This one written much more plainly, in a man's handwriting, signed Lord Donovin Sosis. I was not familiar with that House, though I knew they were far to the north. It seemed this was his reply to whatever her second draft was.

To the young miss Katharine Collifer,

It pains me to hear of your father's refusal to accept my offer. I know him to be a prideful and headstrong man.

Lord Donovin didn't know the half of it. His pride had lead him to refuse such a blissful offer of help and instead lead him to deal with the Void so that he directly might attain power. He was a man afraid to give it up to another man, unwilling to owe the hospitality of a friend's open hand.

I do not wish there to be any bad blood between our families. As such the moment this letter leaves my hand by raven, I and a hundred knights and thirty wagons will arrive to personally help and supervise the evacuation of Cravenholm. Perhaps,I also hope that by pleading with James in person I might convince him to concede his position for the sake of his people. I know this is a hard time but you are strong and wise for seeking my House's help. The Collifers have been there for Sosis many times in the past. I'd be a fool not to support our oldest ally.

Sincerely, Lord Donovin Sosis.

I noted the wax seal on the bottom of the parchment. It appeared to be pressed by a ring with a centaur on it.

So the Lord was coming? Or was he here? It couldn't have been him to send in the Lotwai? What purpose would such a move serve? Could he possibly be tied with the Ruined Ones? If so that means not just Lord Collifer but the whole House was in their grips. Or maybe it was just ill timing? Regardless I wasn't given much time to contemplate the possible outcomes for the Lotwai did not cease in it's pursuit.

Throwing itself at the door with reckless lack of self preservation I began to see the iron latch bend, the door hinges begin to buckle and my sense of safety wear thin. In only a few moments that demon would bust in like a tornado of spinning swords looking to slice me to messy ribbons. My intention was to be long gone by then.

'Right, the passage. There has to be something.' I glanced at the four dead guards, neatly stuffed in a semi circle in the far corner near the door. 'If I'm lucky they chose to die near the hidden passage. Cause if Lady Katharine was in this room she would have never made it out that door. The charging guards were little more than a distraction. That has to be why they were offed so quickly. It wanted into the room.'

Placing the letters back (I had no need to carry them) I made my way over to the furthest bookshelf in the corner, around which it appeared they had died defending it though a demon wouldn't have been able to tell. But I could and though it held nearly a hundred books I knew a tried and true method of figuring out which one was the secret lever.

I tackled the fucking thing.

Though my shoulder met a corner rather painfully my body-weight crashing into the shelf caused a vast majority of the books to fall, even some of the shelves themselves fell off their pegs. Backing away I let the books fall though some remained they were all for the most part misplaced from their original position. All except for one. A black book with a green spine and the name of some children book I didn't care to read. I plucked it's spine and heard a gear clink and crank before the shelf began to slowly sweep open. Another thud as the Lotwai collided with the door and I heard the iron scream and buckle.

I slipped through the hidden door then pulled on the inside lever to reverse the gears. It closed in time for me to witness the door shattered into splinters but by then it was too late for the demon to get me. I was already safely hidden in the inside passage.

'That was too close....Now, is there any light?' I whispered into the suffocating dark.

I'd almost just died and the first worry to pop in my mind was whether or not I could find a torch. It still struck me how odd my life had become. Here I was, searching for the daughter of the man that turned my Master over to the Ruined Gods and my biggest problem was being able to see in the dark.

'If I had just taken the damn Trial before Collifer's message I wouldn't have this problem.'

The Trial connected an apprentice with a witch's power. It was their witchcraft that gave us abilities to aid us in our fight against monsters. It was that same connection to dark magic that was the true origin of our nickname as Sinners. Our origins as criminals not withstanding.

Regardless such abilities were especially effective against demons such as Lotwai that were born of dark magic, for it would allow us to see the creatures that lurk in the Fade. It also allowed us to see in the dark. A very useful ability. I've known more than one Slayer to use it to spy on naked women, said I'd join them if I lived through the Trial. If. Those that have completed the Trial were forbidden from speaking of it, only what came after.

I shrugged and ran my hand along the wall hoping it might guide me to an exit. Eventually all I found at the end of the passage was a stone wall.

'Another hidden door. Lever must be here somewhere....' I scanned the wall with my hands until I found something wet. At first I couldn't quite tell what it was. I had assumed it was water dripping through the dirt though I would be baffled as to where it was coming from.

Just next to it I found a rock that jutted out abnormally from the smooth wall. Pushing it in with a huff I heard old gears crank and thud as they awoke to let the second person through that day. Slowly the wall swung out spilling light from an overhead window into the mouth of the cave.

Two dead knights flanked me on either side. Their throats perfectly slit spilling blood across the green centaur on their chest-plates.

'So the Lord did make it. Or at least his knights.....But the Lotwai didn't do this. Their was no struggle. No resistance. Taken completely by surprise. Couldn't have been done from the front. Cut's too clean for that. A human did it. A very skilled assassin perhaps? Hid as one of his knights to get close to Lady Katharine. But her body is not here. Nor is Lord Sosis's. Maybe he did it. Or he's not here. Either way, she's not here. She was kidnapped. Explains the keep. Kill everyone inside. Leave no survivors. If I wanted to kidnap someone and sneak in that's how I'd do it. So maybe this Lord Sosis did do it.....fucking hell...this just keeps getting more and more irritating. At least make it a challenge.....maybe Holom taught me too well.....'

I continued out of the cave making sure to close the hidden door on this side. Sure I was leaving the corpses of those poor loyal knights in there, most likely to rot until they withered to bone but I was no priest. I'm sure they'd take it as an insult to have a Sinner such as myself to bury them.

'Sorry guys. Buried where you die. May Vishnurr protect your soul.' I told them as the door hissed shut.

To my surprise the passage ended in a rather mundane house. There was nothing special about it but a few pieces of furniture. Near as I could tell it was even just a single story. There were no corpses inside so I could count that as a plus but any trail I was following ended at the door. It was rather alarming and concerning to walk into the empty street and see nothing.

The house was one of many stuck in an endless row that seemed to have been built on the side of the keep's wall. Most were in various states of disrepair except for the one I had left. All abandoned though I was not surprised. It provided ample opportunity for this Sosis character to spring whatever trap it was he had laying in wait.

Which made me wonder why the Lotwai was sticking around. Perhaps to kill any witnesses who wandered into the castle. That's why he killed his own knights. They weren't in on it. An almost mirrored position to Lord Collifer who lead his own knights to their deaths in a cowardly act of betrayal.

Just before me I spotted four deep groove carved into the damp malleable ground. Between the lines the unmistakable shape of a horse shoe plodding along. But there were other signs too. A pair of footprints belonging to Lord Sosis and Lady Katharine that extended out from the doorstep met by two others.

'So he had accomplices?' I studied the tracks noticing their rather peculiar direction. Glancing quickly over my shoulder I knew I had to make sure. From the sight of derelict towers in the distance it was immediately apparent that the wagon had traveled further into the city away from the city's only gate. 'Why didn't they try to leave?'

Staring down the street gave no immediate answer but regardless that only gave me a better chance of retrieving the unfortunate Lady. That she had fallen into the Ruined God's plans, what did herself and my Master offer that could tempt them to cross over the Empty Plains? A mythical dimension between us and their prison; The Abyss. The Void. It goes by many names but regardless of what it is called it is feared equally among Peasants and Kings even the Forty-Two who cast them out of reality at the beginning of time.

Further down the road I let my thoughts run wild when a distant worry took root and grew. What if Lord Sosis wasn't the one being controlled? The Broker had greeted Lord Collifer in the very castle looming quietly to my left. What if Lady Katharine had already perverted to their cause? Then what reason would she have for kidnapping Lord Sosis? The thought was asinine but it paid to cover all possibilities regardless of how far fetched they might seem. Perhaps this was why Slayers weren't trusting of outsiders. Everyone was a suspect.

By the time I saw any signs of where the cart was heading the sun already hung overhead. Noon had come and was quickly going when I stopped in front of a ruined building. It's windows boarded up, door chained shut. Yet there was the unmistakable presence of wagon tracks digging underneath it's outer wall as if it had just passed through the wall like a ghost.

'The wall opens out like a gate.' I said spotting the drag marks on the ground and chipped edge. Pressing my hand against it's face I could feel how flimsy the wall stood requiring it to be thin and light otherwise it'd be impossible to move. 'There must be a door.'

Sure enough in an empty wynd around back I found a locked door. Two quick glances about me and I was clear to kick the door in. Bolts, hinges and nails exploded forth raining across the floor inside as I put all my weight behind my boot into the area around it's doorknob. Moments later the staggering slice of thin wood joined them landing with bang that had surely announced my arrival.

'Master Holom always said I was good at making entrances.' Stepping into the gloomy house I realized it was more of a warehouse than a proper living quarter.

Rows upon rows of shelves lined the two bays. When better days permitted two wagons might have stood there loaded with goods by faithful hardworking men. Now dust claimed everything for it's own. No wagons. No goods. And no Lady Katharine.

Grey light filtered through thin horiztonal windows crowning the ceiling just underneath the roof. Were it not for those I might as well have been mucking about aimlessly in the dark. But it helped me see what I needed to see.

Bits of dust disturbed by a constant stream of movement lead in from one of the bays to a plot of wood. Next to it I spotted a rather suspicious lever. With a quick tug the wooden handle glided seamlessly down until I heard a click and the sound of grinding gears. That empty space of polished wood split in half slowly cranked upwards by groaning gears to reveal a rather shoddy lift with a hand winch fashioned into it's body.

'A cargo lift....' I stepped onto the wood platform feeling it sway ever so gently under my movement offset by the heavy mechanism that would propel me slowly down if I was wise enough to gently nudge the lever.

Appearing to be nothing more than a table leg slotted into the winch's body, it's original lever long since broken, I took the arm tightly in my grip. Slowly revolving it's length around the crank the lift descended slowly gaining speed as I dropped twenty feet down into the dark abyss below.

But it was not to be dark for long. Another ten excruciatingly slow feet dropped away giving way to a large room used to hold merchandise that would otherwise find no space up top. Lit by dying lanterns I felt my nerves begin to burn. Alcohol laced the air so thickly I felt I might become drunk merely from breathing. With little choice I pulled my undershirt up over my mouth and stepped off the swaying lift hearing it groan with relief to be rid of me.

With a nearby lantern removed and held in my outstretched right arm I pushed further into the cellar finding cobwebs and broken crates but little else until I came upon a long and dark hallway. At it's furthest point the faint flicker of a dim light could be seen. Seeing as I had no other options I waded into the darkness, guided only by a dying flame and a light at the end of a dark hall. My mind wandered to the horror stories the other Slayers would tell me as a child.

But I was no child anymore. I had nothing to fear in the dark. Not eve the lingering worry of a second Lotwai skulking the shadows slowed my pace. Then my lantern died.

In the pitch black I stared at it's body, cursing such horrid luck. That's when I heard it.

'Look at you.... Tied up like a back alley whore. What kind of Lady are you? When Big Lou gets here Imma ask him if I can fuck you senseless.' The words crawled over my skin as I spotted a shadow pass over the far lantern. Someone was up ahead. A guard?

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

'You'd like that wouldn't you? Get fucked by a real man...Yeah? You'd like that. I heard you fucked twenty men at once in the capital. Is that true? You must fuck like a naughty little goddess don't you?' I heard the telltale sound of flesh smacking bare rock and the squeal of a frightened woman. 'Answer me you fucking whore!'

With my knees bent every muscle in my legs propelled me forward as fast and as silent as I could until I found myself staring at the back of a bald man's skull reflecting the lantern light that shined down upon his sweat stained skin. I drew my sword and readied.

'Stupid bitch!' He spat turning around to see me.

I think it was the look of complete surprise that really got to me. This twisted look of agony and acceptance that passed through his eyes as my sword skewered his open mouth pinning him against the door. Having pierced his throat he gurgled a few unintelligible words as his body twitched and shortly thereafter death took him. It was not clean. Not by a mile for his dead weight slid his body down my sword sawing through his skull until without even trying it fell free landing with a wet plop on the floor.

Sword glistening red, handle gripped tight in hand I couldn't help but stare at the corpse diffusing copious amounts of crimson over the stained floorboards. Having cut the nose bridge clean in two up the center two lifeless eyes now stared up at me from either side of an inch gap in his skull that by all rights should not be there.

My stomach had no taste for the sight. No matter how many men I kill it'll always be the same. Lord Collifer wasn't even the first. This thug wouldn't be the last. That didn't mean their faces wouldn't haunt my dreams.

'Who's there?' Asked a strained voice ravaged by hours of crying.

I flipped the bolt up and slide it away from the frame. With a loud echoing creak the door opened up shedding a sliver of pale light into the room beyond it.

At first the thread of light revealed to me her pale legs. Removing the lantern from it's rusted peg I hung it over a cell barely big enough for a dog. She sat there with her legs fixed underneath her small frame. Two delicate hands rubbed raw by the cell bars she must have gripped so tightly held over her face shielding her unaccustomed eyes to the blinding light.

'My name is Agarn, Lady Katharine. I am here to rescue you.' I told her and as if she had met the Forty-Two in person she dropped her hands revealing the face of an angel and fixed a steely stare on me.

'How do I know I can trust you?' She asked cautiously recoiling with every step of mine that drew me closer to the lock.

Bending down with the lantern placed beside the cell I noticed her legs thick with shallow cuts where they had beaten her with a sharp, light malleable object. Seeing where my eyes drew she pulled the over-sized shirt she wore over her wounds wrapping herself up like a ball a look of shame on her face. Looking away I studied the lock hoping it were possible to pick or even break it.

'If you're worried I'm somehow in league with Lord Sosis I can assure you I'm not. I'm a Slayer from Thornwood. My allegiance is to the Rumbling Thorns, not to some Lord whom I've never met.' Plucking a pin from my armor, notably from a place it wouldn't be missed I twisted the thing metal barb to a slight angle and pressed it into the keyhole slowly working it until I found the pins.

'I know you. You were to be with my father to Noviger. Is he here? Does he know of Lord Sosis's betrayal?' Her parched throat squeezed the excitement from her throat causing her to cough but the light of hope in her blue eyes burned brightly. When I hesitated to answer that light waned and died.

'Just keep quiet. I need to listen for the falling pins.' I told her avoiding eye contact. The innocence in her eyes kept my mouth shut but she wasn't an idiot. Idiots don't study at the Royal Academy since the age of seven.

'He's dead...isn't he?' She whimpered. 'Was it Lord Sosis? He knew about Father's leave. Was it him?' She asked me more questions than I cared to answer nor did I have any solid answers to give. I kept my silence but to her that was as good as any answer.

'No....Maurice and Father....I-I-I-I- Why did this have to happen?' I paused in my work as I watched her wrap her arms around herself desperate for comfort. After today whatever partying, no care in the world sort of girl she might have been would be violently torn apart leaving a shell of a woman in it's place.

Katharine laid her head back against the cell bars trying to gather her wits. But the suffocating dark made that an impossible task. So in the silence, save for my occasional scrape of metal as I picked the lock, the sole surviving ruler of House Collifer began to cry.

Finally with a deep click the lock let loose it's prize. Without a moment to spare I swung the screeching cell open and reach into it's black depths pulling Lady Katharine into my arms. Forgoing any sense of status the young lady wrapped her arms around my neck and began to cry into my chest. Looking down at the dirty mess of long black hair my heart began to drop. If only she knew what I had done.

'Lady Katharine we must go.'

'Go where?' She cried out then looked up into my eyes. There was a certain joy to her having someone to hold. Though I suspect a stuffed animal might have been as worthy a thing to cuddle as myself. 'I cannot return home. Once Lord Sosis knows I've escaped that will be the first place he'll look.'

'No. Of course not. It's unsafe there with the Lotwai still prowling about.' I brushed my hand over her head as though she were a child needing consoling. But she wasn't. She was a human being like any other. Scared beyond her wits. And when we're scared we're all like children. 'I know a safe place. As safe as this city can be for you.'

She looked up at me with hope. Tears glistening across the edges of those bright blue orbs. I didn't deserve those eyes.

I couldn't recall the pattern but that didn't stop me from trying. After avoiding any populated zones for the past hour it didn't sit well with me to have our efforts ended simply because I couldn't remember exactly how Hagsby had knocked on the door. I could almost picture Sister Mary sitting with the kids waiting for the stranger at the door to leave. Eventually my impatience got the better of me and I slammed on the door with the back of my curled fist.

'Sister Mary! It's Agarn, open up!' I shouted causing Lady Katharine to jump. With her arms wrapped around her she looked to me to be terribly frightened by the ordeal. Not that I blamed her, she was subjected to all manner of torture.

The familiar scrape of wooden boards being hauled away pierced the door and with one giant heave it swung open revealing the shocked face of Sister Mary who stood silently staring at me. I almost thought I saw a smile.

'Agarn?' She breathed but before I could explain my body turned to grab Lady Katharine and throw her into the orphanage.

'Inside quick!' I told her uselessly as I'd already thrown the poor woman inside. Quick to follow I slammed the door shut behind me replacing the boards.

When my flurry of actions ceased I turned to face a dozen quizzical looks. The children had gathered in a small semi-circle behind Sister Mary. Their tiny hands gripped her gray dress almost afraid until they saw who I was.

'Slayer!' They all swooned at my appearance.

'Agarn, what are you doing here I thought-,' The Sister's eyes shifted quickly to the woman I had brought and with a look of shock recoiling as she gasped, 'Lady Katharine!'

'Sister. I apologize but I don't believe we met.' Lady Katharine gripped my back. With a slight rotation of my head I caught her worried stare.

'Don't worry, Lady Katharine. You're safe here.' I told her but behind those big blue eyes I don't believe she trusted that.

'Agarn, what trouble have you brought this humble home?' Mary sneered angrily causing the children to snicker.

'Oh, he's in trouble again!' They giggled.

'Kids, go upstairs.' She told them earning disappointed whining in return. 'Stop your whining. Upstairs. Go. Go. Go.' She shooed them off then turned to me. 'What's going on here?'

'A lot of things.' I told her showing Lady Katharine to a seat.

'Agarn if you brought problems into this house...I will have to ask you to leave...' She took a once over of Katharine's bleeding legs where a whip had torn away flesh. That's when her stance faltered with a deep sigh. It was not in her nature to turn away those in need. 'What happened?'

'I only have assumptions. Lady Katharine has to fill in the blanks.' I told her.

With a defeated look the young Lady glanced at us both. There was misery in her eyes. Disbelief coiled around her very being as if the very idea of betrayal was foreign, a ghost story told around campfires. Obviously she was no more a player in the grand game of politics than I but unlike her I had the choice to relinquish any involvement. Sadly, she was already too far into the plot to be pulled from it's corrupting clutches.

'Lord Sosis betrayed me and-' She chocked on her words.

'But it's not just that is it?'

'He came here with his honeyed promises of helping Cravenholm's people when in the end he unleashed a monster in the castle that slaughtered everyone. He slit his own knight's throats and took me prisoner.'

'Do you have any idea why?' Sister Mary asked offering her a cup of water.

I watched her take the cup and drain it's contents. Happily accepting the liquid down her sore throat. She took another sip and another until the wooden cup was drained. Content she handed it back to Mary who filled it once more from a barrel struck through with a pipe that I assumed lead down from the roof where a collection bin filtered rain water down. They might not have food but there was no lack of water. If anything there was too much of it. Drowning crops and carrying disease which had lead to the city's sorry state but in that moment Lady Katharine did not think on such matters. All she knew was the relief afforded by the cool liquid.

'Thank you. And all I know is what he told me. He couldn't risk me emptying the city as if he had big plans for it. Which admittedly made little sense to me. Considering he and I struck a bargain for asylum in Solheim.'

'Bargain? I know of the deal from a letter I found but what bargain did you strike?' I asked her.

'Simple. Solheim's economy was growing and it needed workers. Men for it's army even. In exchange for granting each citizen of Cravenholm citizenship to Solheim we would be allowed to live, work and even die there. Not only that but House Solsis has been a long standing ally since my grandfather. For him to just throw that all away....Father would scold me for trusting such a man.'

I gave an uncomfortable sigh. 'That is a bit odd. What about the other men he said he would bring? A return letter mentioned one hundred knights and thirty wagons. Where are they?'

'Camped to the west of here. He came only with the two knights to discuss logistics. That's when he, well-' She stopped but had no need to continue further.

Leaning up against the wall I wondered for a moment what to do when I noticed someone was missing. Particularly an old fool who spoke in swears and referred to the weak-willed as Glass Spines.

'Sister Mary. Where's Farmer Hagsby?'

'He left an hour after you. Said it was wisest to return home and work on his rice fields.'

'Oh. That's a pity.' I shrugged. 'Now then. Why did he bother to take you prisoner? If he wanted to make sure you didn't uproot your people, well, he could have just killed you. Honestly, it would have been easier.'

'Is that supposed to comfort me?' She scowled.

'No.' I told her bluntly. 'I'm just stating.'

'Lord Sosis intended to give me off as payment. The guard you killed was a part of a gang lead by someone called Big Lou. From what I understand he's been gaining power in Cravenholm's thriving underworld do to my House's inability to fund the required guards and feed it's people.'

'How can a starving land like this hope to support anyway. Even criminal organizations?'

'They bring in food and export slaves. Families have sold off their children for a month's ration. And my father's decree for the Law of Equality did little to slow the final nail hammered into our coffin.'

'This Law of Equality. I saw something rather peculiar occur do to it. Two guards came to a farmer's house recently forced their way in to search for food. Claimed it was due to the Law? Is that how it works?' I asked her.

'Not every province has the law. It's only during times of great famine where all food is collected then divided equally among the people except my father's ignorance to Cravenholm's criminal realm only made things worse. Those guards were most likely on Big Lou's payroll. They might have brought some of it to the exchange but most found it's way to their boss's vault used as leverage to force people to his will.'

'Smart man. If not immoral.' I commented earning a rather dirty look from Sister Mary. There was a fire in her eyes that reminded me of hate and for a second an emotion she was forbidden to bare danced freely through her.

Nervous hands tickled their way up her sides where she hugged herself ever so subtly. Certainly not enough to draw Lady Katharine's attention but I saw it and it made me wonder. That name was what had set her off. Was he the man that tried to rape her two years ago? The same bastard that robbed Hagsby of his wife? From her reaction- he was.

'I'm sorry if my opinion there offends. I grew up among thieves, murderers and rapists. He's using an otherwise abysmal situation to his advantage. In the Capital he would be considered a shrewd businessman.'

'Agarn's not wrong. And the fact this scum has come to my home to pick at it's carcass....This city might be dying but it doesn't deserve to be ran over by a horde of marauding thieves. Not when it's people still cling to the hope that Cravenholm's glory might return with my father. But even now, that hope has been dashed-' Lady Katharine's wet eyes glared at me. For a moment I felt them judge my actions but she knew not what I had done. Sister Mary, anger yet burning in her eyes caught the implication of her guest's words.

'What does she mean? What happened to Lord Collifer?' She asked me.

I hesitated for a moment to even mention it but even to Lady Katharine all she knew was he was heading to Noviger to retrieve his son.

'Lord Collifer and the young master, Maurice, are both dead. Save for myself, there were no survivors.' I didn't bother to mention Djerik. His survival wouldn't interest them much. I wondered how he was doing?

'Was it quick?' The Lady asked behind her quivering hands, violently sloshing the water over it's tip. Beat red eyes stared at me readying at any moment to break out into tears, her scarlet lips curled down with a soft trembling.

All I could remember was Maurice's face of pure horror staring up at his father who slit his throat. That look of utter disbelief as he desperately clawed for his distant father hoping for all the pain to vanish in his strong embrace. Then I saw the rabid sneer permanently pulled across his face as his own actions enacted their brutal repercussions. Sure, I had a hand in turning him into a feast for a zombie horde but what else did he expect? Slayers were not pure in any sense. But Lord Collifer; his own greed hurt so many.

'Yes, it was.' I lied through my teeth. The act was as common to me as breathing. Nor did she have any need to know the truth.

'Good. I would hate for my little brother to have suffered.' She gave a grim smile to which all I saw was Maurice's dead eyes locked on his father.

I sighed deeply. 'Now that you're safe. I must know something. Did your Father or even Lord Sosis mention anything about having met with a man. Specifically someone called the Broker?'

'Hard to say, Slayer. My father became increasingly erratic since my mother's death. And his recent mental health before his death was not sound. I often found him locked in his personal study. Sometimes I thought I could hear him speaking to someone but whenever he came out he was alone and the room was empty.'

'Loss can often prove dangerous to anyone's mental health. Even Lord's cannot replace love that has been lost.'

'Love doesn't end with death, Agarn.' Mary pointed out. I nodded with a hum.

'So another dead end. Unless I find Lord Sosis and ask him on this matter.'

'If you did I'd ask you stab him for me.' Katharine spat angrily. 'And the only way you'll find him now is through Big Lou. If they have some sort of agreement Id' imagine Big Lou would know where he was. He knows where everyone in the city is.'

'And do you know where Big Lou is?' I asked her.

'No. If I did I would have had the guard shut him down long ago-'

'He's in the East Quarter. A rundown manor on Bayelor Ave.' Sister Mary stated angrily. Her fist shaking in frustration.

'How-' I cut Lady Katharine off.

'Lady Katharine can I have a moment with the Sister?'

She looked at us both before agreeing. 'I'll go greet the children then....'

I waited some time before training my attention on Mary. Her downcast eyes avoiding me for a time as several minutes of silence passed. Soon her thoughts began to bubble over.

'You must be wondering why I'm so angry?'

'It's crossed my mind.' I said. I wasn't one to show such open emotion. Anger, perhaps, but only to get the point across.

'I heard Hagsby tell you the story....do you know what my biggest fear is? Especially now.'

I shook my head. 'I wouldn't even begin to know, Mary. I'm guessing it has to do with how Big Lou almost raped you. Him and his accomplice.'

She nodded with tears flowing down her pale cheeks spearing into the cloth that lined the edges of her face.

'Everyday I stay trapped in her with the children. I fear for them outside these walls. And I fear that one day Big Lou and his men will come barging through that door and I'll be powerless to stop him just like before.'

'So you live your whole life in fear? Trapped in her like an animal? Were it not for Hagsby you'd have died of starvation long ago.' I said coldly but it was the truth. A necessary truth. I chose my words carefully.

'And how can you seem so distant? Do you even think of helping this city or just helping yourself?'

'I'm a Slayer, Sister Mary. By very definition of what I am. I am and always will be a loner save for my brethren and sisters. The Coven is my family and I will do anything to save them. But outside of that I'm expected to be a monster. A heretic warped by the witch's sinful magic. For the crime of witchcraft. Is that not why in the eyes of the One Faith we are labeled Sinners?' I paused and took a deep breath before belting out. 'Have you ever thought of just leaving?'

She eyed me harshly for trying to change the subject. I had grown tired long ago of explaining myself. Thus I tended to limit my interaction getting to know people. That was Master Holom's strange shtick. I never got close to others outside the Coven save for a special few. Cause I never knew if I'd ever see them again or if I'd die causing them grief.

Sister Mary sighed. 'Of course I have. But alone with twelve children? We would never survive. The Faith would turn us away and I could not support them on my own...Where could we possibly go?'

'I'm sure orphanages in the Capital would have room for them.'

'That would require us to travel there. Two weeks journey through untamed wilds and unsafe roads. We would never survive the trip...' Sister Mary's eyes turned dark with disappointment when a really stupid idea came to mind.

'…..fuck....' I breathed quietly.

'Agarn?' Her eyebrow cocked. She wiped the tears from her face.

'Depending on how things go after I'm done with business here you're more than welcome to accompany me back to the Capital. I wasn't planning on going there right away but I can pass through it on the way to Thornwood...'

'You mean the Rumbling Thorn?' She smirked.

'That's the coven's official name. The actual place is called Thornwood....'

She stayed quiet for a moment as she mulled the offer. 'Thank you. Agarn. I graciously accept.'

'…..you're welcome....' Truthfully I don't know what compelled me to pitch such an offer after all it benefited myself little and only harmed further plans to investigate Holom's abduction but seeing her eyes light up with even a hint of hope told me exactly why it was the right thing to do.

'Now I have to go see this fellow- Big Lou or whatever.'

'Agarn, please be careful. He's a criminal. A horrible human being.'

'Perfect. I grew up around criminals. This shouldn't be anything new.' I took a deep breath and made for the door. 'Mary? If Lady Katharine gets any ideas of leaving make sure she stays here. It's hard to say who is an ally and who is an enemy to the young miss now. So as far as she should be concerned, everyone save myself and you is an enemy.'

'You expect me to restrict a noblewoman? That's grounds for kidnapping.'

'Trust me, Sister. There's a lot worse going on right now than just that.'

Begrudgingly she shrugged with a nod. 'I can only do my best.

'That's all I ask.' I gave her a cocky smile as if it that meant everything would be alright but my heart did not mirror that same lofty feeling.

Something felt wrong. There was this thickness to the air. As if all the questions in my head that needed to be answered had trapped me in a game that I had no understanding of. I felt all these pieces were scattered about and just how they stitched together was a feat beyond my comprehension. I suppose that was the point of investigating and my next lead would bring me before a criminal boss who I hoped would provide some concrete answers. Assuming of course, he didn't kill me first.

They certainly didn't try to hide their whereabouts. Two thuggish looking characters stood outside the outer door guarding the derelict manor's front door. From my vantage point just around the corner twenty yards down I could see their toothless grins and gleaming bald heads. Clad in thick clothing they excreted exuberant amounts of sweat creating deltas of dirt and grime around their collars. I could almost imagine the smell of them. Unwashed and a salty smell so strong I could taste in on my tongue. Just the thought made me gag.

'Well, Sister Mary got the place right. Now do I sneak in or go through the front door? Act like a thief or come as a friend?' I contemplated the two obvious choices then cursed my fate. My life as a Slayer left me in a more advantages position when dealing with criminals but as I would soon find out this lead me to a false sense of ability.

Approaching the guards slowly they were quick to bare down on me shouting for my co-operation. To show my wish to see things through peacefully I unclasped my belt and held the scabbard in front of me. One of the guards was quick to take it away in his dirty fat fingers.

'I come looking for Big Lou.' I told them trying my best to make my voice as unimposing and soft as possible.

'Big Lou? What's a man like you want with Big Lou?' One of them asked hooking his index finger under my chin, angling my head about as if he was inspecting merchandise.

I shook his dirty hand off glaring at his brown eyes that had succumbed to a murky gray building in the corners from years of drug abuse. Judging by his attire, rags upon rags laced together with ancient threads the man was clearly not paid in gold. Then again no amount of money could keep even the most loyal thug in this city. Only the unbearable thirst to fuel his addictions. From his shaking he was already a few days past without a hit.

'I'm a friend of Clayton Ramon's. Here on terms of business.'

'Clayton Ramon? The Black Plague?' He blubbered nervously.

'The one and only.' I stared at him. The man backed away and looked at his partner.

'Go tell Lou he's got a guest, Namen.' He ordered the other who appeared taken aback at the sudden request.

'Excuse me? Why do we have to let this guy in?' The man barked back earning himself a rather vicious backhand from the other.

'Don't fucking question it! Go tell Big Lou!' Without further argument, his will to do so literally smacked out of him, the man left in a huff soothing his red cheek. Turning back to me the junkie appeared to bow as if in awe of my presence. 'Any friend of the Black Plague is a friend of Big Lou's. Come let me show you inside.'

And then there I was. A seemingly random stranger being welcomed into the belly of a criminal boss's hideout simply over the fact I knew a man by the name of Clayton Ramon. Or as his short-lived enemies would call him, The Black Plague. Sure, it was a play on the man's skin color but that didn't hide his hideous nature.

See Clayton had a bit of a problem. He liked to kill. And not just by the standard methods. No, such things were too brutal and barbaric for him, those being his exact words. In place of a blunt object, a knife or even a sword Clayton's weapon of choice was disease. Often times ones that were fast acting. Sometimes to really hurt his enemies were they lived he would employ slow reagents. Diseases that took days, weeks even years to fester.

It was his more precise methods and love of biology that made him so dangerous. He was a smart man with a dangerous mind that fell in love with crime. Now he ran the criminal underworld permeating the Capital's back alleys. If you wanted to build an organization you needed his permission first. Find yourself on his bad-side and chances are you're already dead, you just haven't died yet.

Slayers knew him personally. Whether through their previous lives as criminals or in matters of business. Criminals had a nack for getting places they weren't supposed to be, finding people that didn't want to be found and attaining items that should never be obtained. That was why Clayton Ramon was a friend. If ever I needed something he would get it.

Suddenly I realized that bringing Sister Mary and the children to the Capital wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. Assuming I found Lord Sosis and he proves incapable of leading me to the Broker than Clayton would most likely have something on the mysterious phantom. A small part of me almost wanted to simply abandon my current action and head straight there.

'So what's he like?' The thug asked me like a child awaiting a story of some legendary knight. Anticipation gleaming in his murky eyes.

'The Black Plague?' I mulled over the man's personality in my mind. Finally with certainty I told him. 'He's kind. Despite obvious occupational hazards there's this kindness about him. He doesn't desire his friends to fear him but instead to respect him. Don't get me wrong. There's no one worse in all of Synn. Do anything he doesn't like, so much as speak in a manner he doesn't find pleasing to his ears and he'll have you rotting inside out hung from the rafters.'

'Sounds like a bad bad man. Is he looking for any muscle? Cause you know I'm pretty strong and I listen to orders.'

'I'm not here to recruit. I'm here to talk to Big Lou.'

'Oh, alright. In here.' The thug gripped the door handle and twisted.

When he lead me into the stone manor I had already built up an expectation of what to find inside. I thought maybe, maybe it would be filled with thugs acting tough, junkies slinking off to their corners to inhale another whiff of pixie luck, a silvery powder that was said to make you forget the concept of reality.

Yet after the first few door-less rooms, wherein women were fucked for money, some tied to the bed posts against their will only to have the next room over be filled with corpses any and all expectations I had fled in a hurry. My stomach churned with the smell of rotting flesh and unwashed bodies. The stale, salty stench of semen permeating fabric wreaked havoc on my nose and I gagged.

The thug leading me through a throng of inquisitive junkies inspecting the new arrival seemed nonplussed by the living conditions. Nor did the people I spot sleeping on top of the corpse piles, reveling in death like some mad cultist. And that is where I understood the difference between a criminal and the depraved.

Men like Clayton would have burned this place to the ground with everyone in it, innocent or not. But a man like Big Lou, well it appeared this was his idea of a criminal organization. Such pith standards, he'd never survive in a city that was otherwise capable of controlling it's crime rate. He thrived only because the city was dying.

Coming across a room I noticed a man perched over a lady. Her ass perked up in the air, face pressed into the soiled mattress that lay on the floor. The man thrusted deeper and deeper into her ass, his thick frame causing the mattress to move under his momentum.

'Yeah, you like that bitch! You like that!' He moaned in his disillusion for the woman appeared to have been dead for some time. Or maybe he knew. My mind could not comprehend which was worse.

Soupy bile washed through my teeth pressing at my clenched lips. Lungs begging for air I forced the vomit back down tearing my eyes away from the disgusting sight. I could feel the burn of stomach acid singe the back of my nostrils. One quick breath later I composed myself and focused on the hulking back of the thug that lead me in.

'You're going to love it here. Big Lou has got the local guard by the balls and anyone that tries to be an upstanding citizen gets thrown into the jail down below.'

'You have a jail?' I asked him trying to move my mind past that disturbing image. 'What do you do with the prisoners?'

'Nothing. They rot down there.' The thug relented on his words. 'Well, that's not true. Sometimes we sell them off. Good money in slaves.'

'Good money....sure...' I said looking into another passing room.

In it naked menials worked on manufacturing more drugs with thick cast iron chokers locked around their necks. Each held that same hollow look in their eyes, almost every eye milky white from intense drug usage. That's how they kept them in line. Keep them dependent. Compliant. A smart method if not unseemly.

That's when the idea hit me. I had entered this manor unarmed and without help. I needed something to give me an edge in case things did not go as planned and so far nothing had been going well.

Behind the thug's back I slipped into the manufacturing room. The menials going about their business didn't care for my presence but didn't move to eject me. This gave me ample opportunity to set something up that would save my ass in case Big Lou turned into a much bigger threat than previously imagined. Finishing what I could before the thug noticed my absence I hurried back up behind him, his inattentiveness leaving him none the wiser.

'We're almost there. I think Big Lou is going to like you.' The thug said with a cheery smile.

'Really?' I said out of the corner of my mouth the manufacturing room disappearing behind us. 'You think so.'

I felt a strange sense of aggression to his words thus causing my hand to settle on the sword that was no longer there. I groaned in my stupidity allowing myself to be disarmed so easily in hostile territory.

'I really think so! He loves new business. And if you're here for The Black Plague that can only be good news. Ah, here!' Without another word his dirt black fingers curled around a rusted iron handle re-slotted lazily into the body of a thick dark oak door. Two bent nails curved out desperately holding the handle in where it had been hastily repaired.

'Whenever you're ready.' I told the man who grinned then opened the squeaking door and immediately I saw him.

Broad back towards me with a naturally bald head that poured sweat trailing down his thick neck and soaking the collar of his loose brown shirt. He held something in his hands, small, from the way his shoulders spread. With a quiet hum he turned towards the opened door and I noticed the red leather bound booklet he held. Quickly he slammed it's browning pages shut, removed the half-oval glasses that hung at the tip of his nose and smiled pulling at the nasty scar tearing across his right cheek.

'Gum? Who is this?' He spoke sweetly, betraying the brutish appearance his thick body birthed upon him. I could see why they called him Big Lou. His small kind eyes dropped down to a table separating us and I could tell whatever he looked at forced him to recall something. Whatever it was was hidden by a dozen stacks of books.

'Oh, right,' Big Lou sighed. 'You're the man sent by the Black Plague.' He sized me up, eyes turning sharp and observant. 'I've never dealt in business with the man personally but I've heard stories. And you don't resemble any of his “Plague Bearers” whom I've heard so much about.'

'Plague Bearers are known to strike long after their presence is absent. Diseases don't operate in the short-term. At least if you want to wipe out rival operations.' I told him allowing myself in.

'And a rival operation we are not. Please, sit.' He motioned for the thug, Gum, to bring up a chair that I cautiously accepted. 'Worry not,-'

'Agarn.' I told him.

'Agarn. You're in good company here. As I have said we are not a rival operation and willingly seek a partnership with the Black Plague.'

'You assume I'm here for a partnership?'

'What other reason might a man such as yourself have to come to this forsaken city?' The man asked me with intrigue whilst slipping his red booklet into the back pocket of his trousers.

'I'm looking for someone.'

'Aren't we all?' Lou laughed taking a seat himself. 'Who? Family? Friend? Miss perfect?'

'Nobody is perfect Big Lou. We're all just monsters masquerading as people.'

'What a funny anecdote. Whoever this person must be, surely they are of great importance to you. And by extension The Black Plague?'

'More-so to myself.'

'And I'm to help you find this person?' Big Lou shrugged.

'I can help set up a partnership between you and Clayton Ramon.'

'In exchange for helping you find whoever it is you're looking for I presume?'

I shifted uncomfortably feeling Gum stand right behind me. His eyes burning a hole in my neck. The air was growing thick with tension and I just couldn't peg why.

'Yes.' I said. 'If you want to deal with him I can help set a meeting up.'

Big Lou chewed his cheek mulling over the offer. Truthfully, I knew what kind of scum he was but I needed Lord Sosis who might hold a clue to finding this Broker Lord Collifer mentioned. And for that reason I wasn't worried about trying to end this slime's life. But my own inexperience lead me into a dangerous position.

'Gum, if you'd be so kind?' Big Lou's eyes flicked down at me and before I could react thick arms wrapped around my neck pulling tight as every muscle fought for a breath of air to fuel my kicking legs.

'Shhh. Shhh. Don't struggle. Otherwise I'll order him to snap your neck like a twig. He might not be the brightest of my....employees...but he's strong.'

I could feel the muscles tense in Gum's arms pulling me down in my seat. His weight pushed into my shoulders keeping me pinned leaving my legs free to wag about if I so chose but elected it wiser to save my strength and breath.

'I can tell.' I hissed through clenched teeth, neck muscles bulging to relieve the pressure.

'Gum. Let the man breath.' Big Lou ordered his thug who did as asked maintaining a firm enough lock to abolish any thoughts of escape. The sudden rush of blood fleeing my straining face felt cool until I noticed Gum's hot wet breath washed over me.

'Could you not breath on me?' I asked, Big Lou laughed to which I shot him an apologetic look. 'It's unnerving.'

'So calm despite the fact your life hangs on my whim.'

'Let's just say I'm used to living in peril.' And I've always had Master Holom to save my skin. But now I had handed myself over on a silver platter. I needed to play this smart.

'And you're very candid how you speak, even when faced with your own inevitable demise. But then again, aren't all Slayers like that I suppose?' My eyes opened wide. The bastard knew.

That's when from behind his wall of books his left hand lifted my black scabbard complete with it's stowed blade. His warm eyes scanned the length of it before his right drew the sword and twirled it overhead blue runes burning brightly in it's fuller.

'A beautiful sword....Capable of slaying monsters and men equally. Never before have I see such a weapon. What do they call it – Witch's Steel, right? Absolutely gorgeous.'

There was indeed a marvel to my sword that outclassed all others. Surely it was not as unique as the sabers smithed in the shady oasis kingdom of El Elysi nor was it as brutish as the two-handed weapons made by the Vos in their mountain home far to the West. Taking homage to the basic longsword that has permeated knight culture since it's inception long before Synn's formation after the Coalition of Crowns, a Slayer's blade was simple. Defined only by it's black leather grip and the witchcraft that caused it's inlet runes to glow a bright blue my sword was a rather simple thing.

'It is said that only the smiths of a Coven can forge such an exquisite blade. It is also said that those Slayers who have yet to fully complete their initiation must wield Witch's Steel with a black grip made from the skin of Soul Geists. Lest they touch the black magic imbued within and find their bodies corrupted. Or so the stories go.' Big Lou smiled contemplating touching the blade. For a moment I wished he would if only to discover that stories were in fact just stories.

'Go ahead, touch the blade,' I coaxed him on aware I wasn't playing it smart.

'I think I'll pass.' The crime lord grinned defiantly.

Stowing the sword in it's scabbard Big Lou stood up once more portraying his name perfectly. Thick bulging muscles kissed the sleeves of his shirt. Tightly cutting into his tanned flesh. A broad, armor like chest threatened to split the poor fabric at his v-neck. And though the man was as big as a house as he moved towards me with startling grace.

'See, I know who you're looking for. Four knights came through earlier with the same purpose. Before they could stir the hornet's nest my whores brought them here. And now they're receiving the extended tour of my prison down below,' Lou rounded up to me with a big smile. 'Because I'm not one to risk the hero foiling my plans I'm going to extract what I need from you now and toss your corpse into the street.'

'No, wait! I can-' An absolute brutal feeling of being thrashed attacked me. Something hard had smashed into the back of my head and I knew it wasn't Gum. The taste of iron filled my mouth. Fuck.