In the empty inn, Vagraad sat in a chair while Jesse sat on a barstool.
“It’s your fault.” they said coldly, their voice raspy from the yelling.
Jesse didn’t answer. His heart was so heavy and burdened with guilt that it buried his words before he could even pronounce them.
“If you hadn’t helped that human Cecilia would still be here!”, their voice broke from the sudden shout.
Jesse felt even worse, sitting there on a barstool, unable to do anything but listen to Vagraad’s words cut through him like a knife.
“She’s going to be executed with those charges, you know that right?”, Vagraad’s eyes started watering again. “She fought so hard to get respected by everyone in Outer-Alvoort so she could finally be herself and happy and now you’ve made her lose all of that.”
Jesse couldn’t face Vagraad’s stare for more than a few seconds.
“You put a death sentence on her the second you talked to this girl.”
Vagraad walked upstairs knowing that if they talked more, their voice would crack and they would end up in tears once again. They didn’t want Jesse anywhere near them right now so they went to their room.
Jesse’s coat and pants were full of dried dirt and anything that could have been in that alley. His eyes were lost in the void, listening to a deafening silence. Like a body empty of a soul, Jesse stood up, locked the door of the inn, turned the ‘Open’ sign around to ‘Closed’, and walked up the stairs to his room. Each creak from the stairs and crumpling sound from his clothes felt far away from him as if he was in another world entirely. Jesse stood in the middle of his bedroom for a few seconds. His feelings came back little by little, boiling up in his body until an enormous wave of rage crashed on him. He took his closet and threw it to the ground, screaming all his anguish out. He did the same with the objects on his bedside table. His bowl of water fell to the floor, the sound of it breaking into pieces barely echoing making it to his ears.
As the water spilled on the floor and seeped through the cracks, someone coughed from under the hardwood floor, tearing Jesse out of his blind rage. The demon approached the puddle of water, squatted down, and found a weird bump, one on which he usually tripped over when he wasn’t paying attention. He awkwardly clasped his fingers around it and removed an entire part of the wooden planks.
Leo sprung up from the shallow space, coughing the water out of her lungs and nose. Her coughing stopped after a few seconds. Jesse was now standing over her, observing her; she had put on the clothes he had given her, two long cornrow braids had replaced her wild tight curls and someone had added ribbons to decorate it and tie them together at the base of her neck. He would recognize that style anywhere: human families in the far south-western lands of Dobrin, near the Elven forests, would wear those constantly, or at least that’s what Cecilia had told him. She used to wear it often during the first decade he lived with her. The thought made him tear up again. He blinked it away and then inhaled deeply to tell the news to Leo.
“They took her.” his voice came out in a whisper.
“I’m sorry-”
“It’s not your fault.” he harshly answered.
Jesse sat down on his bed and sighed, rubbing his face with his hands in a soothing motion, “I need time alone. There’s an empty room on the other side of the corridor, take it, no one’s going to be in here for a long time.”
Leo walked out the door without a sound.
Jesse sat on the edge of his bed for a long time. His feelings were too hard to listen to and suddenly came crashing over him in a gigantic wave. The tears came back. The thought of losing Cecilia was too much for him to bear. He could feel his heart tear in two in his chest, making him panic. As a reflex, he put his left fist on it to ease the pain, as well as his right hand on his mouth to mute himself. He pressed on them with force, the same force with which he closed his eyes, praying the pain would just go away. After what felt like an eternity, Jesse relaxed and looked at himself. He felt pathetic and disgusting as he looked at his pants soiled by the alley’s ground. The young demon stood up and changed his clothes into looser pants and a warmer shirt.
Jesse was putting his closet back up against the wall when he heard metal clinking in the corridor. He dried his eyes, took a big breath in, and opened the door. Vagraad was in the hallway trying to open the door of the bedroom in which Leo was in, a bag overflowing with confiscated weapons at his feet.
“Vagraad, what are you doing?” Jesse asked, his voice rough from the silent crying.
“Cecilia isn’t dead yet. The next full moon is in a week and a half, we can break her out but the only person who can prove she did nothing has locked herself inside. Open that door Leo!” they shouted, banging on the door, their voice still broken from the screaming.
Jesse couldn’t believe his eyes; Vagraad was actively searching for a fight? Jesse put his hand on their shoulder.
“Stop.”
“Shut up,” they snapped back, pushing Jesse’s hand away and banging on the door again. “Open that door you filthy human!”
Jesse’s blood made one turn and he couldn’t control himself anymore. He violently kicked Vagraad’s bag, which slid far away from the floor, breaking the small hlêg’s attention off of the door. Jesse grabbed Vagraad’s shoulder, forcing them to turn around and blocking them against the wall, Vagraad wincing at the sudden pain in their shoulder. At the exact second Vagraad looked into Jesse’s mismatched eyes, their anger turned into pure fear, regretting everything they had done wrong in the past hour.
“I know you lost everything but all of us did. Being desperate doesn’t give you the right to harass and insult Leo. She fled from the palace for a reason and I won’t let you put her in danger.”
Jesse felt the numbing sensation of anger wear off when he saw tears going down Vagraad’s face and how hard he was grabbing their shoulder. Pure fear filled their eyes, he felt like a predator about to deal the killing blow to his prey. He let his hand fall to his side and backed away slowly, mumbling ‘I’m so sorry’ and ‘I didn’t mean to do that’. Vagraad ran to the bathroom, their hands on their mouth to hold their uncontrollable reflex. Jesse walked back to the wall, leaned on it, and then slid down to sit on the floor, looking at the hand that was holding Vagraad’s shoulder. He had hurt them, probably bruised.
“Thank you.”
Jesse’s head shot back up; Leo had opened the door and had put her face in the crack. He didn’t say a thing and bent his head back down. Leo observed him and seemed to think for a minute.
“I can help you but you have to promise me one thing.” stated Leo.
“Which is?” he answered, his mind lost in a void.
“Don’t force me to do anything I don’t want to do.”
Jesse looked up at her and slowly nodded, unsure of what she was even talking about.
“Do you remember the charges that were held against her ?” she came out of the room and closed the door behind her once she was sure the hlêg was gone.
“That one guy with an ugly mismatched hair and beard talked about kidnapping the princess and murdering her,” he answered.
“She is in Ravenwood then.”
“But that’s-,” Jesse cut himself off, his thoughts racing in his head.
Leo only nodded. Jesse lowered his head, thinking. Ravenwood was an island, far from the coast, but close enough to do the trip in a few hours by boat. Jesse lifted his head, a newfound determination in his eyes, far from the anger and sadness that had fueled Vagraad’s.
“I know exactly what we’re going to do, but first I need to do something,” he explained, standing up.
He walked to the bathroom where Vagraad was, followed by Leo. He let out a sigh, guilt overcoming him once again. He knocked on the door, a sniffle answered.
“I’m sorry I grabbed you this hard and I got mad, I shouldn’t have acted like that. Will you forgive me?”
Jesse heard another sniffle, the sound of the door unlocking, and a pair of black eyes appeared behind the door. Vagraad had traces of fresh tears down their bluish-white cheeks and a look of shame and guilt covered their face.
“I’m sorry I acted so wrongly towards you Leo. Jesse is right, the situation and how I feel do not justify what I did and said.”, Vagraad looked up at Jesse’s face, “And I forgive you Jesse.”
The demon opened his arms and Vagraad rushed in for a hug, letting all of their sadness melt away. It took a few moments for Vagraad to calm down, but once they did, Jesse brought everyone to a table downstairs to talk.
“We’re going to break her out,” he announced.
“That’s exactly what I said earlier.”
“You wanted to go in with Leo, who’s obviously trying to flee for her life right now and use force. I want to do it in a more… dignified way.”
“How?” asked Leo.
Vagraad already knew the answer.
“Easy, I’m going to distract with the guards while you break her out.” said Jesse, leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head.
Leo looked at him, baffled, while Vagraad was far from surprised.
“An orgy. That’s what you call dignified?” asked Vagraad, lifting an eyebrow.
“Oh! I’m offended you don’t think my body wouldn’t dignify these guards," joked Jesse, “But I won’t hold that unto you, you are but a child my Liege.” he teased.
“I am old enough to have a job, thank you very much,” replied Vagraad, offended.
“You’re 16, still a child.” noted Jesse.
“I’m not a child!”
“Yes, you are.”
“I’m not! You’re more childish than I am!”
Leo had a lot of patience, but not as much as Cecilia. As the two of them continued their argument over who was the most childish, she could feel an urge, a pressure from inside of her that was so close to exploding.
“Stop!”, she shouted as she stood up and slammed her hands on the wooden table and stood up, towering them both. “I can’t believe you two think you can break Cecilia out of the most secure prison in all of Dobrin. Have you seen yourself? You,”, she said, pointing to Vagraad, “are an unstable 16-year-old, and you,”, now pointing at Jesse, “Are a walking libido that would be executed on sight.”
“You can’t even disguise well.” mumbled Jesse.
“I was short on time!” she snapped back. She sighed heavily, vivid memories of the night she fled coming back to her. “If we really want to do this, we need help. First with disguises, then with the trip.”
An idea sprouted in Jesse’s head.
“I know someone.”
Leo had kept her burlap cloak on, flapping in the wind just as her ribbons did. Next to her was Jesse, a smile on his lips, and on his right was Vagraad, a satchel full of food on their shoulder. They were all standing in a line in front of a crooked door that made most of the size of the front wall of a tiny house, sandwiched in between two brothels that were closed to customers for the daytime. Jesse made a step forward and knocked on the door. After a few seconds, a young woman opened the door. She had beautiful big and round green eyes, freckles all over her face and shoulders, and very long and unkempt wavy blond hair, full of small braids and dainty flowers. She wore a thick off-white dress, clumsily embroidered with plants, a brown apron with pockets, and a thick green woolen shawl on her shoulders. Her gloves and boots failed to hide a slight green tint that faded to her very light skin tone. The young woman brought her hand to her hip, her other hand occupied with a peeled orange quarter, looking at Jesse with a harsh yet gentle look in her eyes.
“Hello Angel.” greeted Jesse with a bow.
“You said we would never talk again two days ago,” Darya remarked, squinting her eyes. Her voice wasn’t as soft as it had been the last time that they had talked, but something in her eyes told Jesse her expression wasn’t nearly as tough as she wished it was.
“I know and I’m sorry but we need your help,”
“Is someone going to get hurt?” she asked.
“Probably.”
“You’re lucky I’m not anyone else.” she sighed.
Darya let them enter the small house. Herbs of all kinds were hanging from the ceiling. They had painted sigils of all sorts on the walls around paintings of different gods and goddesses. Incense was burning on the dinner table, and bottles and carved candles filled the shelves. Vagraad and Leo tensed up. Jesse had led them to the house of the people you least wanted to seek help from. Eastern witches.
“What do you need me for?” asked Darya.
“We are going to travel for a while and I need a disguise.”, explained Jesse. “And a healer,” he added.
“Well-”
“We can’t help you!” shouted an old raspy voice from the back of the house.
A little old lady, a red shawl on her shoulders, a black veil on her white hair, black markings all over her hands, and holding a cane covered in carved sigils, walked fast towards the group, shooing them away with her hand.
“Shoo! Shoo!”
“Ma, maybe we can do-”
“We don’t accept clients right now!” yelled the grandma, disgust in her voice and on her face, almost ready to spit at Jesse.
“We’re that kind of client ma’am,” mumbled Jesse.
The grandma stopped, thinking for a second before calming down and looking at Jesse’s mismatched eyes.
“Why do you want that disguise?” asked the grandma, squinting her eyes.
The old woman was watching Jesse like a predator who was delighted to see its prey from up close. A cold sweat ran down Jesse’s back at the thought of it.
“We want to break Cecilia out of Ravenwood,” said Leo confidently.
Darya’s eyes grew wide, and she almost choked on the juice from the orange slice she had bitten into.
“Darling you don’t need a disguise for that.’’, said the grandma, “You just need a witch.” She had turned her head towards Darya who had a very puzzled look on her face, slowly shaking her head ‘no’. “My Dari can find you food in no time and she is a great healer.”
“I’m sorry, I need time to talk with my Ma.” awkwardly chuckled Darya with a polite smile on her face as she took her grandma to the back of the house.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The group stood there, still standing in the narrow entryway, not knowing what to do.
“Well, that seems to be going pretty well,” commented Jesse.
“Witches?!” shouted Vagraad, trying to hide it by whispering it at the same time.
“What? You know I sleep with anyone.”
“Not with witches! I knew you were stupid, but that’s stupid, even for you.” they replied.
“Don’t act like it’s the lowest of lows, the worst for me would be a human, THAT would be stupid.” he argued back.
“Her mother has black markings, are you sure about that?” whispered Vagraad, panic spreading throughout their mind rapidly.
“Times have changed,” Jesse tried to explain, “they don’t do all that evil stuff anymore.”
Vagraad wanted to argue back but got cut off when they heard a few yells muffled by the thick mud walls. After a few back and forths, Darya came back with her grandmother, a reluctant and saddened look on her face and a wonderful smile on her grandma.
“I’ll go with you tomorrow at the first lights. Take the rest of the day to pack some bags, we have a long road in front of us.” announced Darya, who looked almost hurt by her own words.
“May Tomag protect you on your journey!” the old lady lilted.
The group walked out of the door and stopped right outside; the door closing right slowly behind them.
“I don’t trust that old woman.” stated Leo.
Vagraad and Jesse nodded.
“She was weird,” she added, talking more to herself than to anyone else.
“Yep. I don’t trust her one bit.” stated Vagraad.
“You’ve never trusted a witch in your life.” replied Jesse.
“Well, at least I’m not sleeping with one.”
“That was a one time thing! And you’re a literal child in the eyes of the law, you have nothing to tell me about who I sleep with.”
Leo sighed heavily at the sight of Vagraad and Jesse arguing like children again. She wasn’t sure if she could bear their bickering for the entire trip. Once the group walked back to the Night Elf inn, they prepared bags of clothes and food for the morning and put them in a corner of the dining room. They made a sign to attach to the door and signal to the customers that the inn would be closed until further notice. They spent the evening in silence. Even if they all joked or seemed to not take this seriously, they all knew that they could get executed for even attempting to break someone out of Ravenwood. This mission was extremely risky, and with a group in which only two people barely knew how to fight, this was a suicide.
That night, Jesse didn’t feel like going out to find someone to sleep with. The guilt from Cecilia’s arrest was still weighing on his shoulders, he thought that if only he hadn’t run away with Jack and hadn’t stopped in that alley, he could have prevented the raid and Cecilia would still be there, scolding him for still acting like a child at his age. Jesse barely had any memories of his parents, Cecilia’s flamboyant red hair, her green outfits, and her baby blue eyes filled most of them. He had cried in her arms countless times. She had gotten angry at him, healed his wounds, and showed him that being respected worked by respecting yourself and others first. She had let him room to grow and explore, a little too much at times; causing him to put her in uncomfortable situations, like the time he slept with Miss Jenkins’s husband. Cecilia was a mother to him, one he loved to irritate and joke with. A flash of pain coursed through his heart as he remembered the bath he took once she had found him. He had refused for her to see him, and since then, their relationship had become colder. He spent his time outside or in his bedroom, and she always had the patience to let him have his space. Jesse’s heart filled with dread at the thought of her being in a cell and waiting for a trial that would definitely end in an execution.
The demon took off his pants to sleep, not only with Cecilia on his mind but the words of the old lady, too: her disgusted face had struck him the most, even if he was used to the spitting and the looks. He couldn’t escape what he was, after all this time denying his appearance and wishing for another face, another body, or even another life, the parts of him that reminded him of his race were still there, hiding under his layers of clothes. The appendix that came out from the end of his spine sprung free for the first time in two days. The bruises had been gone for years, but it felt raw as if they still covered it. For the first time in five demon years, he looked at it instead of trying to ignore it with all his might. The tip was a flat diamond shape that looked pointy enough to hurt someone. Cuts peppered its length and the beginning of it on his back. Feeling it free felt heavy to him, that night had attached so many terrible memories to it. Jesse waved his tail from side to side to shake away the pain from having it stuck in his pants, but regretted it instantly. The waving made him painfully aware of the patch of burnt skin right above it. Jesse knew what his melting skin smelled like and it would never go away. Something broke inside of him that day, and he knew he could never put it together again. He shuddered at the sound of the leather gloves and laughter that had come back to his ears. The young demon decided that now was the best time to get himself to bed. He laid down, slipping into his linen bed sheets that he tucked under his chin in a comforting movement. His heart clenched fast and with such force that the tears came to and fell from his eyes in a matter of seconds. As a reflex, he put a hand on his mouth to avoid waking up anyone and cried silently until his body felt too weak to stay conscious. Jesse closed his eyes for the last time that day on a pillow drenched with his tears and a heavy head weighed down by his guilt, the rest of his body feeling relaxingly numb.
The blue morning light brushed on Jesse’s purplish skin, barely heating it but hitting his eyelids enough to wake him up, hurting his eyes and brain. He sat up in his bed, passed a hand through his hair, and sighed at the thought of his puffy eyes and headache. He yawned and stretched out his arms. He got out of bed and put on his clothes from the day before, keeping his jewelry on and adjusting his necklaces. He washed his face, and then walked downstairs, thinking he would see Vagraad and Leo waiting for him. Instead, Jesse was frozen in place as he understood the situation. Four soldiers in green uniforms and light armors were standing in the restaurant part of the Inn. A soldier or two restrained Leo, Vagraad, and Darya. The soldiers had their hands over his friends’ mouths to stop them from making any noise; they had thrown the bags in the middle of the room. Jesse was terrified, but he got his composure back pretty quickly. They had already taken Cecilia already, they better not touch the rest of his family.
“If you wanted to do some roleplay, you should have told me earlier.” taunted Jesse.
“Shut up, demon!” yelled one soldier, threatening him with his one-hand sword, shaking.
“Hoo, we have a bossy one, don’t we?”, teased Jesse, walking towards the man, swaying his hips as he did so, mustering all the insolence he had inside of him. “What if I don’t shut up? Will you hurt me, little man ?”
Jesse had his head right up to the soldiers that had spoken up, a mocking pout on his face and he kept the soldier’s sword away from his body with his right hand. The soldier almost dropped it. There was something in Jesse’s eyes, not just the usual ‘come and get me look’ he got from bandits and thieves; under the surface, he could sense a rage without limits, patiently waiting for its moment to be unleashed.
“W-We’ll arrest all of you and execute you!” the soldier said with trembling knees.
“Oh yes, arrest me, Daddy.” groaned Jesse with a low and raspy voice.
“Come on Abusaid, just kill him already!” said one soldier that was holding Jesse’s friends.
Leo took the distraction given by Jesse to signify to the others to follow her lead. She suddenly bit down as hard as she could on the soldier’s hand while bowing down and then, using her full force, head-butted the soldier behind her. Vagraad and Darya did the same thing a few seconds after her. They each took a bag and ran for the back door, Jesse following close behind. The laugh that bubbled up his throat sounded hysterical because of the amount of stress he was under. The group ran for a short while, pushing people off the way. Jesse even took some buckets of waste to throw at the soldiers while he laughed in their faces. Leo was running in front of them and made a sharp left into a large alley full of boxes, counting on the number of people in the streets to confuse the soldiers about where they had gone. They all hid behind boxes and crates, trying to calm down their breathing to not make any noise while Jesse could barely contain his laughter. Vagraad was about to faint or throw up from the adrenaline, the latter happened a few seconds later. Darya and Leo were squatting down, trying to get their breath back.
“‘Arrest me, Daddy’?! Are you serious?” whisper-yelled Vagraad as they wiped their face clean from their vomit.
Jesse had to suppress another laugh. Their face was a beautiful mix of surprise and confusion, making it the perfect reaction to his earlier line.
“I can’t help it, I’m eternally funny.” joked Jesse between labored breaths.
“We should start walking, they could be back any minute now.” Leo reminded them.
Jesse nodded, and they all grabbed a cloak from one bag, putting them on, Jesse making sure his hood wouldn’t fall easily. Out of the four of them, he was probably the easiest to spot. Not everyone sees a demon every day.
Before they could get out of the alleyway, a tall and large orc covered in tattoos and scars blocked their way out. Their heartbeats sped up instantly, especially Jesse’s, as he recognized one of his onetime lovers.
“Torg?”, asked Jesse, “I’m sorry but I rarely do anything during the day-”
“Let me go!” yelled Darya.
Vagraad, Leo, and Jesse turned around to see Darya being held up by a second orc that instantly put a rag over her mouth, causing the young Eastern witch to struggle even more. Before any of them could react, they all met the same fate as their world turned dark and they entered a deep sleep.
When Jesse woke up, he found himself propped up on a chair, his brain still foggy from the drug. Once he could open his eyes fully and could have a straight thought, he took in the room in which they had put him. A few candles dimly lit the place, bookshelves were covered in books, ornaments, and trinkets, but most noticeably, a wooden carving of Kleodora, the nymph goddess of pleasure and alcohol, which would only be found in almost every brothel of Outer-Alvoort. The chair the young demon was sitting on was richly made of leather in an intricately ornamented wooden frame. What surprised him was that his hands were not tied.
“I see you’re finally awake.” a rather small goblin in a very fancy suit entered the room, followed by the two orcs that they had seen in the alley. The one covered in traditional orcish tattoos, Torg, almost waved at him, breaking his tough exterior for a second. Jesse had recognized the orc as one of his recent lovers, but he never expected to see his employer, Mr Kelb. This small goblin was influential enough to have most of Outer-Alvoort under his thumb.
“Do you know why you’re here?” the goblin asked once he sat on his large leather seat.
“Because I slept with your bodyguard last month?” said Jesse, unsure.
“No. Torg found a husband and calmed down his anger issues, he’s even more useful than before, thank you for that.” the goblin propped up his elbows on his richly decorated desk and leaned on them, “You’re here because both you and Cecilia fucked up.”
Jesse’s blood froze in his veins. The nice and benevolent energy of the goblin had vanished in a second, replaced by a stare he wished he wouldn’t see ever again. Jesse didn’t even dare to let a snarky remark pass his lips.
“With the mess you’ve caused, soldiers are circling the streets, and that means my clientele will not come in. Do you know why, Jesse?” his words felt like venom to the young man.
“Because they’re scary?” he asked with a small voice, feeling like he was shrinking in his seat as the goblin’s anger grew bigger.
“It’s illegal to frequent brothels in Dobrin, Jesse!”, he shouted as his greenish skin became red with anger, “Soldiers means no clients, no clients means no money, and no money means that all my workers will be in the streets when I promised to take care of them!” he finished by banging the table, causing the wooden carving of the goddess to wobble around.
The goblin calmed down in a sigh as he leaned back in his seat, interlacing his fingers together, trembling with rage, his large golden rings clinking against one another.
“I’m going to give it to you straight, the only reason we allowed you and Cecilia to stay here was to prevent the soldiers from coming, but since both of you were dumb enough to host a runaway human girl from Alvoort-”, he forced a breath out to calm himself down again, his skin turning from a deep red back to its natural green, “inside your inn, you’re not useful anymore.”
Jesse’s heart sank as he awaited the man’s words, convinced he was going to get killed without being able to see Cecilia one last time.
“Luckily, I’m a man of generosity, so I’ll make a deal with you. Get Cecilia back in Outer-Alvoort and get actual powers or I’ll make you wish you never came back, and that goes for your friends too.”
Jesse couldn’t do anything but look at the goblin as he felt his brain freeze up with denial.
“Torg, take our guest back to his friends and show him our way out to the fields, please.”
The tattooed orc walked towards Jesse but the demon cut him by standing up and walking towards the door himself.
“Goodbye Jesse, let’s hope you come back soon,” said the goblin.
“Goodbye, Mr Kelb.” answered Jesse with a small voice as he passed the threshold of the goblin’s office.
Torg escorted Jesse back to his friends. They walked the corridors decorated with bright green tapestries, wooden decorations, and trinkets everywhere their eyes could land and the noises of the early customers filled the air. Torg wanted to chat with Jesse for a bit, talk about how he had found out about his love for men the night Jesse brought him to the Night Elf inn to tumble together in his bed. How he had finally accepted himself as who he was, someone who has a rich emotional life instead of what other people thought he was: a giant brainless beast that smashes everyone and everything his boss tells him to. It was hard for him to see the young demon empty like this. Jesse felt like a giant wave had just crashed on him, that moment of calm after a storm, still unsure if the wave was coming back again. He followed Torg mechanically, effortlessly avoiding the sex workers and the clients, only seeing them as faceless ghosts in front of him. Two choices soon filled his thoughts: he could talk about it with the group and add to the stress of the situation, or he could keep it secret and not worry anyone. He hadn’t planned to do anything with his life, and he already felt weirdly surprised to still be alive, even more so to live what sounded like the start of an adventure.
“Here are your friends, Mr Numen.” said Torg in his low and cavernous voice.
Jesse’s eyes lifted for the first time since he had walked out of Mr.Kelb’s office. Darya, Leo, and Vagraad were all sitting at a table, waiting for him. Vagraad was visibly trying to not look at all the half-naked people around them, keeping their eyes glued to the table as they awkwardly drank from their cup. Darya was slightly blushing at the sight of the men but her face went redder as a sex worker with cascading beaded braids, skin as dark as the night itself and dressed in a sheer jeweled white fabric winked at her, causing Darya to drink from her cup awkwardly to avoid the intense eye contact, the green tint of her hands slightly showing as she did so. Leo, unlike Vagraad and Darya, was completely impassive, unphased by the people around her as she looked right into Jesse’s eyes.
“Can we go now? We have lost almost two days already and the next full moon is in less than a week and a half.” she stated.
“Y-yes.” stuttered Jesse as he came back to the present.
“Follow me,” said Torg.
All but Darya seemed happy, or at least wanted to leave the brothel. Darya was still shooting some glances at that sex worker that had winked at her while the young witch was blushing madly, slowing her pace and ending up behind the group.
“Faster, Darya,” demanded Vagraad with some venom in their voice, snapping Darya out of her gaze.
She picked up the pace, and they all followed Torg through a lounging area to a backroom hidden behind the bar. The room was small and oddly lit, and crates of different types of alcohol were stacked almost to the ceiling. Torg effortlessly moved two towers of crates to reveal a trapdoor. He opened it and looked back at the group.
“Follow the torches until you get to the end of the tunnel, then you follow the line of clothes to the fields. You should be able to find a farm with horses in there.”
Leo nodded before passing in front of Jesse to enter the dark tunnel. Vagraad did the same, although intimidated by the tall and muscular orc in front of them.
“Could you…” started Darya as she seemed to fumble in her dress’s pockets.
She took out a seed and a little dirt from her two little bags which were hanging off of her belt, signed a sigil for ‘eternity’ and ‘growth’ in the air above her hand, closed her gloved hands on it, a soft golden glow emitted from it and she opened her hands. A beautiful violet had formed, the pistils still lightly glowing from her magic.
“Could you give this to the woman who winked at me?”, she said with a soft blush on her cheeks, “It’s an eternal violet, I had a hunch she would like it.”
“Of course,” said Torg as he gently took the flower and put it in a pouch that was hanging off of the belt he had wrapped across his torso.
On these words, Darya bowed slightly to thank him and walked down the tunnel. Jesse was the last one left of the group to face Torg.
“I’m really sorry about what happened to Cecilia,”, sniffled Torg, tears in his eyes, “She felt like a mother to my husband and she was so nice to me the last time I saw her.”
A shadow came across Jesse’s face before he looked back at Torg and put on a confident smile.
“She’s not dead yet, we’ll save her.”
Torg felt the tears fighting to fall down his face. He lost the fight, but his heart felt lifted by Jesse’s smile, merging both emotions into a hideous face.
“It’s okay, Torg,” comforted Jesse as he went to hug the orc.
“Jesse!”, shouted a voice coming from the tunnel, “Stop flirting and get in there already !”
Jesse chuckled, recognizing Vagraad’s voice, “Have a good life with your husband,” Jesse wished him as he walked down the tunnel.
Torg waved at him with one hand and dried his tears with the other one, still sobbing slightly.
The tunnel was dark except for the few torches lighting it up from time to time. The air was damp and cold, much colder than the air on the surface. Jesse fumbled around to find the rest of the group when he felt a hand on his wrist. The grip was gentle, one that he had kept in mind, especially because it was the softest he had ever felt in his life. Jesse jerked his hand away at the thought of her leather glove, breaking the hold Darya had on his wrist, leaving her silent for a second.
“This way,” whispered Darya.
“Why are you whispering?” asked Jesse as he too whispered.
“I don’t know,” she answered, still whispering,
All Jesse saw for a few seconds were Darya’s back and her long, flowing hair, lit by the torches a few meters in front of them.
“Stop flirting, you two- Ouch!” whispered Vagraad.
“Are you okay?” asked Jesse.
“Yeah, I just hit my forehead on a torch.” answered the young hlêg as they rubbed their forehead.
Jesse chuckled. Only Vagraad, the smallest of them, could hit their head on something. The group followed the torches until they arrived at another trap door. Vagraad pushed it open with Jesse’s help, since the little hlêg was barely tall enough to push it properly. Jesse helped everyone get out of the tunnel before finally going out himself. His eyes were hurting from the sudden sunlight, almost blinding him. He then turned around and closed and covered the trapdoor behind him. The group walked the crooked roads of the very edge of Outer-Alvoort, a strange place stuck between the vivid streets and the quiet fields, mostly full of drying clothes and other various fabrics, the smell of the dyers mordant and wet wool filling the air. After walking for a bit, they found a stable away from pretty much everything. There were only three horses, but they were sturdy enough to support the weight of much more than one person at once. The group each took a horse and mounted them, Jesse and Darya taking one for both of them, putting the bags equally divided between Leo and Vagraad, and started galloping away to the rhythm of the farmer in his field yelling at them to get off of the horses. Jesse felt Darya’s head fall on his back, causing him to straighten up to avoid having to touch her more than he wanted to. He felt Darya loosen her hold on him, suddenly feeling very awkward. His eyes fell momentarily on her gloved hands, knuckles tight from the sheer amount of stress the last few hours had put her under. When he met her in that wild flowers field, picking up herbs, he had first thought about telling her to walk back off into the horizon. Jesse had little to do during the day, especially since Vagraad kept taking all his chores to prove they were worthy of staying with them, and he hadn’t had someone to sleep with the night before, therefore had nothing to occupy his mind and make him forget his demons for a while; so he had slept underneath an old and gigantic oak tree. First, it was her shadow that had awoken him from his nap, then her slight and adorable blush made him decide he wanted to spend the night with her. After some well-spoken words, a passionate monologue about her magic, and a clear yes coming from her he had brought her back to his place and learned her body and reactions by heart to be sure it would be a night well-spent for both of them. Contrary to what Vagraad or Cecilia could believe, Jesse remembered every person he had slept with, their reactions and actions to each of his movements as well as what their skins felt against his. They all felt real, but none could replace the horrible sensations of that one night for more than a day. Darya’s skin felt like soft silk against his and her long blond hair had tickled and caressed his face and torso like soft feathers for the entire night. He distinctly remembered her green eyes going darker with pleasure and her shy attitude fading quickly to a rather commanding one, transforming her blush into a warrior’s paint.