Waking up the following day was strange. I was in a body that wasn't my own again, and for a moment, I genuinely thought I had been reborn once more. How long has it been since I sleep beneath a wooden ceiling? Not to mention that taking a few steps to the right from the bed I could see the streets and many houses of the city.
I looked at my reflection in a mirror on the wall and felt uneasy. Once I had dreamed of looking like this. My fair skin, my regular teeth, and my normal ears. But now, now it was like standing in front of a ghost. I hesitated but pulled out the necklace from my neck and right after the flames engulfed I felt more at ease.
Looking at my hands, their light green color...this was me.
Hulian was the only one to enter my room, to feed me and he let me know that I could look however I wished in here, for only he and I would possess the key to the door. Of course, I was advised to never leave or make my presence be seen from outside and encouraged to explore the brothel in my human form or go out, so long as I was back in my room before the night came.
The butler was a welcomed sight after the third day. He made me company and although I was hesitant at first, I ended up letting my guard down and sharing him some of my stories with him. There were few I wished to tell at all, so in the end, he mostly heard of my time living in the woods, and a bit of my life as a wanna-be leader of a war band.
He could only stay for half an hour once or twice a day, the busy man he was, and it struck me with curiosity just what type of man he was. For he never seemed to look at me as if I was beneath him, or a threat, or anything at all. He just looked at me like you would someone sitting beside you, a complete stranger offering you a smile.
Apparently, a week-long carnival was being held to "Warm the heart before the chilling cold of winter comes", so every night the city became loud and filled with people, donning colorful dresses and cloaks, music being played at different plazas, and hedonistic fervor was shared among the less refined wealthy men and women. Who poured into the brothel like blood pours on the dirt after cutting someone's neck.
My thoughts constantly went to my war band. And with each passing day, I grew more anxious.
On the fourth day, I decided to leave my sheltered room and see a bit of the brothel when it wasn't filled with moaning and laughter. With the curtains open, I could appreciate the expert craftsmanship of the walls and pillars. All are decorated in some form with depictions of demons somehow involved with humans.
The pillars often showed horned men with goat legs embracing women in an almost protective way. The walls seemed to show entire legions piercing through the clouds and descending on desperate humanity. It dawned on me that they worshiped them within these walls, and maybe outside as well.
The whores dressed normally during the day, most asleep during the morning, but some enjoyed conversation with their peers or going out. As the afternoon came the place got filled with chatter, laughter, shouting, and the occasional complete silence, whenever one of them appeared.
It was easy to distinguish them from the whores, for they were women dressed with more modesty, always with black hair and pale skin. Of course, their red irises were a dead giveaway. Witches.
Wherever they went laughter died, and chatting stopped.
Nama and Mira soon found me wandering the halls and corridors, or were told by the other whores who saw me. They made sure to let me know I could...use them, whenever I wanted. But even though it excited me, I insisted on simply, sharing their company, and Nama was more eager to do so.
She comes from a place close to Tsardom, and her father was a wicked man who enjoyed his wife during the night, and his two daughters during the day when they worked the land, hidden inside the granary. When she had her first bleeding she ran away, and lived as a vagrant who had to give her body for food and a roof anyways, but at least under her terms.
Turns out she had already had a son, but the Trallassians, followers of the Demon god of Mercy Trala, happened to stumble upon her and took pity on her situation, offering her shelter and a place among their numbers, but she chose to leave them her child instead, and follow them to the border zone.
It was in those weeks of calm and a full belly that she turned from Honta and pledged her life to the demons and their devils, but knowing she didn't have it in her to be forgiving, she followed the Succubi in secret, when an agent of Scarlett appeared one day in front of her when she was taking a piss in the woods and offered her the life she now has.
She teared up remembering the child she gave away but smiled knowing it must be growing strong and healthy in one of their temples.
Stolen novel; please report.
Mira wasn't so sharing. She simply said that she used to live in the inner territories, but after some unfortunate events, she lost her home, and wealth, and was forced into the streets, where little by little she was pushed into the border zone like so many others, coming to the brothel in desperation and being received after pledging her life to the demons, and Scarlett.
During the day, we played. Nama turned out to be a remarkable player of chess, surprisingly good, and a lousy loser and winner. While Mira taught me how to dance properly in one of the halls, at the end of the day it felt nice. I wondered, what would they think or how would they react if they knew what I was. If one day they saw me.
Once the sun sets we head up and indulge in each other until our bodies are spent. I had almost forgotten I was waiting for something when the seventh day came and Hulian stepped in the morning with a short sword in hand and told me to get dressed and follow him.
"I hope your stay has been satisfactory," Scarlett says as soon as I step in. She wears a different dress, but still sits in her chair near the fire, book in hand "I pride on having the best of the best when it comes to pleasure"
"What must I do?" I say as Hulian closes the door behind me. My hand resting on the butt of my sword.
"There is a wealthy merchant who has wronged me. I want his head" She looks up from her book, her black eyes falling on me "And the life of anyone who sees your face, from the moment you set foot outside my home. None must survive"
I was expecting something like this, but I'm still a little taken aback by the calmness of her voice. No different from how you would refer to butchering a piece of meat or crushing a bug beneath the sole of your boots. How many times has she decided on the lives of others?
"Where?" I speak up, there is no space for doubt.
"In another city, where the merchants have made their homes, heavily guarded at all times I must say too. He is Garront from Goldfield. A large person with golden hair who likes to dress in yellow. Find him and do as I have told you"
"Another city? But how long will it take to get there? And how will know where he lives?"
"For the first question, I will send you out right now and for the second, that is your problem to solve. Figure out who he is on your own or our partnership will be a stillbirth "She looks away from me, focusing once again on her book "And if you leave alive a single person who saw you, I will kill you instead"
I grab the handle of my blade, knowing well that there is nothing I could do right now if she wished me dead.
"Don't worry, you will receive help to make sure you know when you have been seen." She moves her hand a scroll levitates all the way to me "Open it after you step out of my office. It will take you where the one in charge of you will be expecting you"
Snapping her fingers the door opens, and I step out. Hulian hands me a dark-brown cloak and takes a few steps away. I open the scroll and it burns away, engulfing me in blue flames once more, I feel myself levitating as everything warps and changes until the flames disappear and I fall on my back, hitting the cold stony ground.
"Up" I'm told, and as I stand up I look at the person who spoke.
Dressed in leather armor, with a cloak similar to mine, a woman stands. A scarf covers half of her face, but the other lets me see her short black hair, fair skin with a few tiny scars, and bright red eyes. And for a moment, I feel a strange sense of deja vu. And the smell of cooked meat?
"Follow me," She says as she walks away to a set of stairs, I follow her as we get out of the basement and find ourselves in a pretty nice house. The curtains hide us from sight, and there is no one around "Hand" She pulls it close to her when I offer it and cut it with a knife on a nearby table "I will make sure you do as you are told. And will retrieve your corpse in case of failure" She opens her hand a small circle of blue flames appears above it "You will be able to hear me, but not speak to me. I will tell you when someone sees your face, and when you have killed the right target"
Several symbols appear in quick succession until the flames unite and form the shape of a two-headed snake that turns into iron, breaking apart into two separate snakes that wrap around our wrists.
"Done. Go out through the second floor, stick to the roofs, and do not fail. If you succeed you must return to this house and meet me in the basement" She speaks in my ear, but I know this is due to her magic.
She pushes my hand away and walks back into the basement. How is she going to see me? I suppose it will be left to her witch powers. Once I'm alone in the house I take a good look at my surroundings, immediately noticing that not only is the furniture of good quality, but the walls aren't wood, but stone.
I walk closer to the window and peek through the curtains to confirm my thoughts. I am in a city inside the inner territories of the kingdom. The streets are filled with people, carts, and wagons. As well as the intimidating tall guards with their mail helmets and large spears. I have traveled all the way here in an instant. Scarlett's powers are something else.
"Don't waste time, we run the risk of getting discovered at any time and if they do, I'm leaving without you"
Closing the curtains I go to the second floor, my nose catching on the odor of cooked meat with certainty now, that it is not a prepared meal. As I step inside a room to the right I see a man and woman hugging each other, charred into a blackened piece of charcoal. Imseina's corpse flashes through my eyes and I stagger back.
I shake my head, I need to keep focus.
"My kingdom...anything, for my kingdom" I whisper, taking big breaths through my mouth to calm myself.
"What?" The witch speaks in my mind "What did you-?...nevermind, just hurry out already"
Taking a few seconds I take a deep breath and walk up to the window, opening it and seeing it's facing an alley, I look up at the not-so-distant window from the house in front of me and make a jump for it, managing to hold on to it, then using this new angle to push myself to the edge of the roof of the house I jumped from.
I almost fall, but manage to pull myself up and stand on top of the roof. The sight of the city sent a deeper fear inside my heart than ever before.
"Nakor, right?"
"That's my name" I reply as I peek at the streets below, quickly retreating before someone sees me.
"Anaid, that's mine. You may get to use it if you survive this. Now get going"