Tia and Tina dropped the guards at the same moment. Their short knives entered each throat, Tia through the left, Tina through the right. Though they were at opposite ends of the field shrouded in darkness, a sharp ear might have heard the little gurgles of death and tearing skin as if it were one end, not two.
With the guards dead, the short blonde twins with stern, blank faces, swept deeper and deeper into the space of the black dust operation. A village lay there which they did not enter. Instead, while the people slept, they circled the outskirts to search for one thing.
The underground chamber. There was always one, a place where the leaves could be dried in a cool environment, readied for grinding into powder. The cool air caressed their skin and, as if they were favored by the four gods, the night sky was covered by clouds, hiding a bright moon that might have otherwise given them away to some unexpected talented watcher.
They swept farther and farther from the village, their tiny feet and tiny steps moved so quickly that they ate up the ground around them, far from random, they were engaged in a complex grid search that they’d done a thousand times in hunting living prey. It served the twins well now, as Tina found what they sought.
In front of her stood a tree right at the edge of the little woods the village harvested wood from, and at first glance it was like any other tree. Tina pursed her lips and made a simple noise. “Who Who! Who Who! Who Who!” She repeated the noise of an owl in a double sequence, and waited until her sister joined her.
Tia didn’t have to ask, Tina pointed down. Footsteps in the ground led to the tree, but not around it. They stepped back, crouched on the earth, and began to dig, sweeping the earth out of the way. The dark rich soil flew back as if it were being dug up by dogs, and for a half a moment, Tina wondered if she made a mistake. ‘Surely they…’ She began to doubt, until she felt her hand scrape over smooth wood. ‘Cautious,’ she thought. It was quiet praise for the futile effort, and within a minute they cleared the covering of dirt aside, then threw the board off that concealed the hole beneath.
Down they went into the darkness, but it was no barrier to their trained assassin eyes, they saw clearly what lay beneath. Long wooden shelves stacked eight high, with row upon row of leaves covering every shelf, set to drying. ‘Expensive. Very expensive.’ Tia acknowledged, and she was right, converted to dust after processing, they were looking at thousands of silver coins worth of material.
The pair walked to the far end of the long cellar and began to douse the leaves in oil. Droplets flew through the air and soaked or stained the drying materials, and when they reached the ladder they’d skipped climbing down, Tia turned, drew out a bit of tinder and flint, then struck a spark.
The bright spark jumped into the air like a shooting star, caught the tinder, and began to burn up its life. She cast it from her slender fingers against the wooden shelf, with everything dry or tainted with oil, the flame leapt to life and began to roar through the underground chamber.
The twins exited, and went back to the fields. Behind them smoke was billowing into the darkness, the light hidden by the ground over the chamber, only the smoke revealed the truth of the lost fortune, and nobody would find it till morning.
When the twins reached the fields, pushing through the soft green leaves of the waist high plants, the twins enacted the second stage of the plan. They crouched down, yanked a few plants out by the root, then bound them up into a bundle.
Sparks lept from flint again to catch on the plant stalks, and as one, the pair rose to their feet, and began to sprint through the fields letting the fire catch as they went. At their backs the crackling began low, and the light was little, but within a minute the little crackling that was like that of a comfortable hearth, became a roaring flame and the comforting light, like walking on the surface of the sun. The blaze caught and in the light breeze, easily spread. Fire spread from plant to plant, and night became like day. Within the village, some soul began to shout and raise the alarm.
Fear and panic spread to the little population, they would rush out to fight the flames of the crop they were required to grow, but neither of the twin petals of Blue Rose remained to watch.
With ninja speed, they blinked out and were gone.
‘We’re done, evil boss.’ They said as one through their message to Lakyus.
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Lakyus drew her sword out of the body of the thug that lay staining the stone red at her feet. A crude mattress stained with blood and other less noble bodily fluids lay off to one side, along the wall, various young women and boys were chained into position with nothing to cover themselves. Their teeth chattered with fear and they pressed themselves against the stone at their backs, quietly pleading for the blonde death bringer to be sated with killing only a few. Behind her lay other corpses adding the smell of their own blood and bowels to the pits of this hell within the city.
She swept her sword out, casting the blood away and put it back into position over her shoulder. ‘Good. I’m just finishing up here.’ She said, and killed the link as soon as she acknowledged the receipt of Tina’s message. She turned her sky blue eyes to the wares on display. “Relax, I’m Lakyus of Blue Rose, we’ve been hired to rescue you… sort of.”
Teeth stopped chattering, and stares became wild with hope, arms yanked forward and the sound of a dozen chains snapping taut was so loud it briefly drowned out their cries for freedom. Lakyus didn’t answer their questions right away, instead she addressed the more immediate matter. “I’m going to cut your chains, then I’m going to take you somewhere safe, you don’t have anything to worry about anymore. Everyone that put you into this hell, is as good as dead. They just don’t know it yet. Now be quiet.” She said, and going from one to the next, she cast simple healing spells to ensure they could move when she needed them to.
‘Gagaran, how is it going for you?’ Lakyus asked, casting her own message spell while she finished up.
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Gagaran brought her hammer down and crumpled the door. It became splinters that wouldn’t stop a fly that desired entry, let alone the moving mountain of an armored woman that barrelled through with a battle cry. Unlike Tia or Tina, she had no care for whoever might be caught in her path. A roaring crowd calling for the blood of the fighters below, began screaming in fear of the shedding of their own blood when the behemoth began swinging her hammer. Bone crunched inside of bodies and tore through inner flesh like crude knives.
Her meaty fist passed through hard heads and out the other side, spreading viscera and brain matter on those whose dirty faces became twisted with terror. Some too frightened to scream. “Die already!” Gagaran roared and swung her hammer in a wide arc, arms bent the wrong way and bodies were flung wildly into others. Skulls cracked against skulls and rough bodies fell atop one another, some living, others uncertain if they were or not, and still others dead before they hit the ground.
Some tumbled into the pit where bruised and bloody captive fighters could only watch in shared confusion at the events in the space above. When understanding dawned on their faces, that their oppressors were being slaughtered, it was the turn of those within the pits to cheer on as horror unfolded above.
Gagaran tore through the crowd while it struggled to find its way around her. Most died, a few fell and were trampled into mush by those indifferent fellows who rushed with thoughts only for their own lives. None were dressed very well, thugs and degenerates, gambling addicts, petty criminals excited by the visceral thrill of watching others shed blood in their stead, ‘I have no reason to spare any of them. There are no humans up here.’ Gagaran told herself as red began to cover her pale face and its coppery taste touched her tongue whenever droplets made their way through her clenched teeth and into her mouth.
It was over in minutes, a few made it out, she knew what they would find. ‘Guards all dead, or if any of the other fighters I freed lingered, they’ll find someone else to kill them.’ When it was only she and the pit fighters alive in the room, she took a better look around. It wasn’t a large place, a low pit dug twenty feet below and with a sand coated ground, it was an improvised arena. Walls built up around the rim were crude but effective barriers that kept spectators from falling in when pressed, and glow stones dotted the room to ensure adequate lighting. There were nearly three dozen bodies scattered about the room, none moving. Most with caved-in skulls or chests, many with broken arms or legs twisted in the wrong ways.
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She approached the edge and looked over the wall. “Stay there, my name is Gagaran, from Blue Rose. I’ve been hired to get you out.” The fighters were bloody and bruised, gnarled and damaged flesh showed them to be pit veterans that had survived many clashes in the past, around their necks were heavy iron collars secured to chains that ran long enough to go from one wall to the next. ‘Extra security to keep them in place. Ugly way to go.’ The sand on which they stood was stained deep crimson, and came from no beach Gagaran had ever heard of. ‘Red sand… never heard of that.’ An idle part of her brain contemplated until she saw a drop of blood fall from the rough beard of one of the pit fighters and land on the ground beneath his feet. ‘Oh, that’s it.’
For the mountain of a woman who faced countless battles, this was personal, her blood raged at her to end the lives of those who treated combat like some sort of cruel sport, a few cries, pleas, and gurgles, reached her ears from the direction she’d come. ‘Some stayed behind.’ She thought with satisfaction.
The message came in from Lakyus just as she smashed part of the wall and began dropping bodies into the pit below. “Just climb up these, I’ll break your chains and take you somewhere safe.”
‘I’m finishing up too, boss, just a few more to get out. We’ll have to buy a drink for Sir Momon and Lupu the next time we see them, I’ve wanted a crack at these bastards for a while.’ Gagaran replied, then killed the connection. The fighters below stacked the bodies up like cordwood, and clambered over dead flesh, their chains dragging through red sand until they reached the top.
Gagaran held out her thick hand, and took the bruised and broken flesh of the captive, he was clearly relatively young, she could only guess how he ended up there. ‘A peasant captured on the road, someone in debt to Eight Fingers?’ She wanted to know, but only for herself. So Gagaran didn’t ask, she helped him clamber up over the wall, then did the same for his companion, before standing up to break their chains.
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Evileye broke into the building with ease. Situated in the warehouse district, the intelligence she received told her that the goods housed here were not the usual sort. It was human capital. She licked her lips behind her mask, a ‘talent pool’ of sorts, a safe house for the worst of the worst, which paid a sum to Eight Fingers to smuggle them into the city, house them safely, and smuggle them out again. A lucrative practice that kept bandits out of the hangman’s noose and allowed them to live well off of stolen goods and stolen lives.
The building was, from the outside, a perfectly ordinary warehouse, nobody went in, nobody went out. But as soon as she went in, she knew it was different, crude walls went up to create many different rooms everywhere. Her vampiric senses told her how many people were present, and she counted them off. ‘Seventy… there are probably two or three bandit gangs here right now, all over this building.’ She went to the first door, the sound of snoring went on as she expected.
Her superhuman strength allowed her to turn the knob and break the lock, then there she was, standing over a human. ‘Feed.’ Her instincts told her, ‘Feed.’ She restrained herself, then put her finger to his ear, and pushed it down, the body spasmed and gurgled as her finger went straight through and into his brain. Evileye’s finger wiggled around inside to be sure, and then she removed her finger and wiped the brain matter and fluids on his blanket, then went on to the next one.
Room by room, she went to the bandits who paid good money to sleep safely, and she ended their lives before they knew she was even there. Floor by crudely built floor, she ventured, killing silently and counting them off. Sixty-five. Sixty-four. Thirty three. Thirty two… down and down the number went.
Till she was descending to the main floor. The aura of the living and the warmth of their lives were clearly visible to her. But one thing gave her pause. ‘There are more voices than auras… undead. A vampire.’
[Maximize magic] [Fly] Evileye quietly cast the spell and floated down the steps, she could hear the sound of their chatter.
“You’d better not be cheating…”
“I only cheat on my wife, never at the table.”
“If you’re cheating on your wife with mine, I’ll tell the boss to let Zule eat you…”
Evileye shot the rest of the way, coming into view to see the place that served as the ‘lobby’ for the operation of the crime hotel. [Shard Buck Shot] Evileye shouted, and a slew of crystals appeared out of nothing and shot toward the ‘staff’ of lightly armed figures.
Two were torn to shreds immediately, the third however, dove out of the way and rolled to both knees. “You made a bad mistake girly! You think you can stroll into Eight Fingers territory, hurt our business, hurt my job, and there won’t be consequences. You’re facing a vampire now, bitch.”
Evileye descended slowly to the ground, in front of her the man to survive bared his teeth to reveal his fangs. Behind him, blood was already flowing in a spreading, broad red stain. A chair held up by the corpse, toppled to the floor with a crash.
Evileye pointed up, “Notice you don’t hear anything up there even after all that noise? They’re all dead. Your hotel is shut down.”
The vampire snarled, his claws were bared, “Then I’ll be the lone survivor…”
He broke into a charge, bellowing his fury and putting his fangs on display. He wasn’t an overly large man, but vampires didn’t need to be large to be deadly or strong. Evileye swept back the hood of her face, and possessed by what she admitted was probably a childish impulse, she removed her mask to bare her face.
Her blood red eyes brought a look of shock to that of the charging foe, but before he could do anything more, the hero of legend was inside his guard, grabbed his arm at the wrist, and flung him head over heels down to slam hard into the solid stone floor. [Crystal dagger] She said, and the shard shot from her hand and into his heart, piercing body and stone to lodge itself into the floor.
Understanding and unlife left the eyes of the vampire living among people, and it was done. Evileye slid her mask back into place, put her hood back over her head, and walked out the front door casting her message spell as she closed the entrance at her back. ‘I’m done here, Lakyus, do you think Momon will be impressed?’ She suppressed her giggle of enjoyment at the prospect.
‘I think so.’ Lakyus answered in her business voice, ‘But we’ve still got a dozen more places around the city to hit, so don’t get too excited, we do this enough, they’ll gather their heavy hitters together, and that could be a problem, even for us.’
‘That’s probably why Sir Momon and Lupu want us together, we’ll go together and take them down.’ Evileye suggested the practical solution, but the connection was already cut.
‘Ahhh Momon, I hope I’m right, they say the bonds of those who fight together are strongest of all… and I…’ Evileye then drifted off into thoughts that began to make her blush. ‘If he wants a child, maybe Lupu can bear it for him… but as long as I get to be with him…’
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CZ Delta and Entoma stood outside the manor, behind them, Demiurge stood giving his instructions. “There are roughly thirty guards around the estate. Your job is to kill everyone but one person. The woman, Hilma. Bring her to me alive.
“Of course.” CZ answered, her targeting reticule was already picking out various points of entry.
“Can I eat?” Entoma asked.
“As much as you like. As long as they’re dead and eating doesn’t let anyone get away.” Demiurge explained.
Entoma raised her hands within her flowing robes. “Yay.”
“Now go, I will wait here.” Demiurge said and pushed his glasses up the length of his nose.
The manor was quite large, with various exotic woods used in its construction, an expensively maintained lawn held statues of stone and large fountains that kept a constant flow of gurgling water flowing through the air. The broad bay windows would let abundant light in during the day, though for the night the view within was closed behind thick curtains.
CZ was the first to act, she raised her spellgun and identified those in windows, then began to pick them off one by one. Dropping them where they stood with a heavy thud, while Entoma took a more stealthy approach.
[Carving bug] Entoma summoned an insect to hand with sharp jaws, and cut her way through the glass window to climb inside.
When there were no more targets visible from the outside, CZ strode to the window and climbed in after her sister.
Demiurge had only to wait. His sharp demonic senses told him what was happening. Life after life was extinguished, and all he had to do was wait. ‘Glory to you, master, for this cunning plan. I am happy I could at least guess this mere one percent of what you have envisioned!’ He sighed with the happiness of the servant who has absolute faith in his lord, and waited on.
CZ and Entoma came together again at a large white door, the gentle sound of rustling sheets and thrashing limbs reached through the barrier of wood to their waiting ears.
A traded glance between the battlemaids settled on a stealthy approach, and Entoma summoned another bug, which wiggled its way into the tiny space of the lock, and a moment later there was a click, the lock was undone, and no barriers remained.
CZ turned the brass handle and opened the door in silence.
There in the bed, a woman lay crying in her sleep, thrashing and pleading. “Noo… nooo… not again… not again… please no…”
CZ raised her spell gun and put it a few inches from the thrashing face that lay twisted and tortured on the proof of her great wealth.
Entoma’s arm came out in an instant and cracked the woman across the face, the sound slap woke the blonde immediately.
Hilma stared up into the darkness where she could see only the shadowy outlines of two figures.
[Lightning bugs] Entoma summoned them, and amidst the air came many glowing green lights winking in and out and illuminating her, CZ, and Hilma all at once.
“You are Hilma?” CZ asked.
Hilma froze, ‘Who are they… they got back here, to my room… that means my guards are probably gone, dead or bribed, help won’t come…’ She bit her lip and nodded. ‘If they’re not killing me right now, they want something, better to cooperate.’
“Good.” CZ answered, and the weapon snapped down and fired twice.
Pain exploded in Hilma’s mind and she let out a shriek of pain as she felt her legs severed at the knees. “Gyaaaah! Why! What are you doing?! Who are you people?! Please! My legs! My legs!” Hilma screamed as she was dragged into the darkness.
“You won’t die. We won’t let you. Don’t worry.” The young girl with purple hair and a strange, expressionless face replied before she grabbed Hilma by the hair near the base of her skull.
“No. She should worry. She will wish for it.” CZ contradicted her sister, and Hilma’s screaming only grew worse, the missing parts of her legs disappearing from her view when they dragged her out of her room, did nothing to help Hilma to stop her cries. Her one mercy, the expensive carpet being stained by her blood, did not hurt to be dragged over. It wasn’t much, but it was all she had.