Chapter 44: Best Served Cold

One looked at me for a half-second before nodding.

"Yes, I recognize this one," she said, draping the veil back over one of the dead men's faces.

My face twisted into a rictus grin. "Good. Well. They want to play this way. Perhaps I'll do so myself."

I turned and strode back into my room and dug through one of the trunks where I knew I had packed it, always on my body. I had plenty of weapons, but pulling out a long, thin blade from a plain black sheath, I strapped it over my shoulder. There were times to be incognito, and then there were times to be as efficient as possible. And as much as I loved my knives and poisons, sometimes you needed a little bit more leverage.

One and the other Numbered exchanged nervous looks and muttered words, but none of them made to stop me.

Five whispered something to One, and when I gave her a look, she repeated herself out loud. "Should I go scout the way and make sure they're not laying a trap for us?"

I shook my head. "No. It doesn't matter if there's a trap or not. We are going to finish everyone in that group, and then we will have the votes. If we don't, well, then we will finish the next group."

One looked at Five and said, "Go on the roof and keep watch. Follow us from a distance to make sure that you can turn any trap." And turning to Four, she said, "Go with her. Five, keep Four out of too much danger unless it's necessary."

The two looked at me, but I didn't countermand One's orders. They slipped out the window half a second later, barely slowed down by her wounded arm. Six was already stripped bare from her elegant dress and was pulling up some black tights in a move that somehow failed to distract me. One didn't make any noticeable changes, but right when she was helping Six lace up the back of her suit, a knock sounded on the door.

We all froze for a half-second before I started downstairs, but One beat me to it and dashed past me to check. Based on a tricky mirror setup, she had to look out the window to see who was at the front door. Her face paled slightly, but she didn't stop me as I opened the door.

Standing there was a pair of the least likely women that I would ever see: a short, slightly tanned tomboy who, with the bright clothes. Her figure might be able to pass for a teenage boy if dressed right. She looked up at me with a brilliant smile and mischievous dark brown eyes. She wore a colorful coat, knee-high boots of soft leather, and pale tan pants that emphasized the swell of her hips as she shifted from foot to foot.

One sharp dogtooth showed in the half-smile she flashed me as she gave me a courtesy before lunging at me and wrapping my waist in a hug. I instinctively plopped my hand down to where it was buried in my sternum and ruffled her hair. Despite her diminutive stature, she seemed to fill the doorway up with her personality.

"Funny seeing you here, Master. I was like three. 'There's no way they're there yet. But no. Did she listen to me?' No, well, it's a good thing no one ever listens to me because I'm never right!" The stream of words never quite stopped, but they did get muffled as I pressed her head into my chest.

"Hey," I managed to keep my composure and blinked. Behind what could have been only Two based on One's description was Three.

Three was a woman who would never have been overlooked and would dominate any room she was ever in. Except for that, she was standing behind the little Two. I had to look up as she stood at least two inches taller than me. She was perhaps an inch taller than Doja, but her face was similar: high cheekbones, exquisite jaw, close-cropped curly hair, and a piercing in one ear, dangling a black stone against her almost as dark skin. Her face was impassive, but the slow smile that spread across her wide lips peeked out the extremely contrasting pearly white teeth as she gave me a formal bow. "Master."

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I stepped to the side, allowing her to walk in. From a bag she carried at her waist, she pulled out a book and handed it to One.

One bowed over the book. "Thank you, Three. Excellent work, as always."

As she flipped through the book, Two pulled her head out of my chest long enough to make her next couple of sentences intelligible. "Oh. Nice work, Three! Did anyone actually say who found the book? Who got the book?"

"No," One replied. "Good job, Two. Of course, you did good," she smacked the little woman's rump. Two squealed and buried her head back into my chest.

"I'm sorry for disobeying, Master. I will accept any punishment you deem necessary," One said.

"Explain," I said. My patience was short, but I was willing to hear One out. So far, she had never really done wrong.

"Well, I wanted a contingency, and so I contacted Two and Three. Uh, it was before we talked about it, and I hadn't expected that you would want to limit our presence here, especially with Seven, Eight, and Nine out and about. But you told me I didn't resend my request for them, and they brought me this." It was a letter. She held up the leather-bound book, which had no title and was full of handwritten notes.

"And what is that?"

"Well, it's a nice piece of leverage. I think we have to get on the Khaganate South with this. We can flip the vote now. We can still go after the Shunul. But I think that it might be best if we wait. We will have a puppet as Grandmaster, and we can punish them without any possibility of continuation of the feud."

I paused to think for a bit, and Two pulled her head back from my chest. "Hey! What happened?"

One let out a whistle, and within a few moments, Four and Five returned from the roof and stepped in from the front door as well.

"Oh, hey," Two said, leaving me to go hug Four and carefully inspect her bandage. Greetings were exchanged all around, and only then did Two seem to notice my sword hanging over my shoulder.

"Um, Master's getting serious," she said, licking her lips in obvious excitement.

I wasn't sure what to make of Two, but I could see why One had warned her about me. Warned me about her. She did seem especially... fervent.

"All right," I said, rubbing my forehead. The shock of meeting Two and the apparent well-being of Four had surprised me out of my anger enough that I could listen to reason.

"Tell Doja to set up another meeting, this time with Khaganate South," I requested with a sigh.

Both Three and Five slipped out the door, looking at each other. I suppose now that there were more of them, they would be best if they moved in pairs, and it would be natural for Three to go see her sister. I went to sit down on a couch, but before I even made it all the way down, Two was in my lap, her head resting on my thigh, her hair tickling my chin. I sat and shot an exasperated look over at One, who just smiled as she sat on the arm of the loveseat and petted Two's head.

Six walked over to the kitchen and lit the stove while Four sat in the chair across from us. Four looked at Two with a bit of calculation in her eyes as if she was trying to understand what was going on. Was I doing something different with Two than I normally would? Two certainly seemed content. She practically started purring as she rubbed her cheek against me, her affection only seeming to escalate.

I realized then that allowing this was rather out of character. Perhaps she was expecting to have been tossed off or punished. I wasn't exactly sure what her deal was, but if anything, she seemed to be enjoying it more, and she was light enough that I wouldn't complain. She felt nice. I shifted her so she was sitting more next to me rather than on me, but as she rested her head in my lap, it was different than when Five did it. There was a certain type of crazy innocence to her, as she just used my thigh as a pillow while she stretched out on the loveseat.

One took advantage of this to lean in and said, "Four is appreciating the affection you're showing Two. And Two is lapping it up. Normally, she would have been spanked by now or something.

"Well, she does enjoy a little bit of that sort of play. She really does seem to care for you. Perhaps telling her an abbreviated version of the truth would not go as poorly as I first thought. Especially now that you are still clearly in control in a way."

I frowned. "We'll talk about this later. We have a lot to discuss, I think, but first, we need to finish up here."

One nodded. Soon, the smell of fresh cooking from the kitchen wafted over, and Two stirred. But even as she sat up, Six called out, "No, Two, wait for Three to get back."

She pouted and climbed back into my lap.