Elowyn, Aminia and Vel had gathered at Galatea’s office to go over the plans for the raid. Elowyn was surprised to see Monkai and Zera there. “I didn’t think you got actively involved, Monkai,” Elowyn said.
“Galatea is persuasive,” he said gloomily. Elowyn smiled sympathetically and stopped herself from patting him on the shoulder. He flinched as she drew back her hand. He seemed a little twitchy. There were dark circles under his eyes. Zera didn’t look so good, either. Elowyn wondered what was going on with them.
She noticed that Galatea was checking Vel out, and Vel was eating it up. He seemed to bloom with female attention. His dimples got deeper, the cleft in his chin more pronounced, his voice more seductive. It was fascinating to watch. ‘Being jealous would kill him,’ Elowyn thought to herself. ‘He’d wither without all that flirting and those appreciative looks and compliments.” She had also noticed that any time he got to flirt with other women, he became more affectionate with her as well. It got his blood moving, she supposed.
She brought her attention back to what Galatea was saying. “The brothel is the Juggernaut’s Pizzle. The proprietor traffics in young girls and children, most of them elves, but a few of the other races as well. Whatever he can get his hands on. There are guards at both the front and back entrances.”
“What about customers?” Aminia asked.
“Concentrate on the guards. If customers cause problems, you have my permission to deal with them. Nothing like getting caught with your pants down to put the fear of the Maker into the hoi polloi. Zera and Monkai will cause a distraction and deal with the guards in the front. Aminia and Vel will take out the guards at the back.”
“What about me?” Elowyn asked.
“You go in through the back and send the slaves out to the alley – I’ll be waiting with a cart. You might have to go through the private rooms to clear everyone. The others will back you up, but you can slip in while they’re keeping the guards occupied.”
“What about the proprietor?”
“Vel will handle him. Keep him alive and bring him out to me – we can get a good ransom for him.”
“What should we do if any of the slaves don’t want to leave?”
“Knock ‘em out. If they’re kids, bring them out to the cart. If they’re adults, leave ‘em to their fates. Everyone’s got their assignments. Let’s move out.”
***
The Juggernaut’s Pizzle was in the meat district. Most of the neighborhood was deserted at night. The brothel itself was in a nondescript building that blended in with its neighbors – it didn’t even have a sign, just a large object hung up under the eaves. Elowyn didn’t examine it too closely. The neighborhood smelled disgusting. Blood and offal ran through the open sewers.
Monkai and Zera peeled off – they planned to pose as a drunken couple getting into a shouting match in the street at the front entrance. Galatea dropped Aminia, Vel and Elowyn off at the end of a narrow alley. Vel squeezed Elowyn’s hand. “Ready?” he asked.
“I’m glad you’re with me,” Elowyn replied, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Aminia took out a magical device. “It can sense living creatures,” she said, looking through it. “There are only two guards in the back – normal-sized. Probably elves or humans.”
The two mages hung back while Vel stealthed and slipped behind one of the guards and slit his throat. “Hey!” yelled the other guard, but Elowyn cast paralysis on him, and Vel dispatched him straightaway. The back door was locked. “Easy peasy,” said Vel, taking out a set of lockpicks. They could hear a commotion at the front of the building, Monkai and Zera yelling obscenities. Elowyn was sorry she was missing the show. Vel got the door open, and she slipped inside, staff in hand. There were a couple of unoccupied storage rooms off the back hallway. Vel did a sweep and pocketed a few items. They headed up the hallway and peeked through a curtain at the large reception room. Most of its occupants had jumped up and were trying to see what was going on at the front of the building.
Elowyn tapped an elven boy on the shoulder. He jumped, and she put her finger to her lips. “We’re liberating you – go out the back way,” she said to him quietly. He looked suspicious. Elowyn took his hand and traced a symbol on it, Shartan’s Arrow, with her finger. The boy nodded and headed quickly for the back door.
One of the customers was giving Aminia a hard time. “See here, you blackamoor, what’s all this?” Vel appeared behind him and silenced him.
“Did you kill him?” Elowyn whispered.
“Nope, he’s just unconscious – Crow technique,” said Vel.
“Elowyn, check the upstairs rooms – I’ll get these kids out,” said Aminia. Elowyn nodded and went to the stairs, while Vel headed to the office to find the proprietor. Galatea had assured them that the proprietor was a coward and wouldn’t offer any resistance once his guards were dealt with.
The first room Elowyn entered contained a man in a diaper being spanked by a boy dressed in a pair of high heels and a feather snake. The man blubbered when he saw the mage. Elowyn picked up a cloak and threw it at the boy. “Freedom is out back,” she said, and he kicked the man in the diaper and ran out of the room. Elowyn trapped the customer in the room with a fire glyph. “Don’t cross that!” she warned. “Someone will get you out… eventually.” The man nodded mutely and hid behind the bed.
The second room contained a customer who was trussed to a frame. Two women were taking turns whacking him with riding crops and gossiping with each other in Orlesian. “Liberation time,” Elowyn told them. One of them raised her eyebrow, but they grabbed some satchels, took the customer’s coin purse and left. “Mmmmmmpppfff mmff!” said the man through his gag. Elowyn went close to him and looked him in the eye, but a stream of urine ran down the man’s leg. ‘Am I really that frightening?’ Elowyn asked herself, amused.
She moved on to a room at the end of the corridor. There was a tiny sliding window set into the door. She carefully slid it open and peeked through. She gasped as an eye peered back at her. The door was flung open. A male mage stood there wearing only a hooded black cloak.
“Ah, they’ve outdone themselves this time!” he exclaimed, grabbing Elowyn’s wrist and pulling her into the room. He slammed the door.
“I’m not –“ she started to protest, but he put a finger to her lips and pointed. Suspended from the ceiling were two people. They appeared to be caught in a giant spiderweb, but upon closer inspection, Elowyn realized that the people were tied together in an intricate series of knotted ropes. Elowyn was transfixed: it was like an artwork with the people as living sculptures. She felt the mage put a hand on her shoulder. He turned her around and put a hand under her chin, inspecting her face.
“Perfect! Perfect!” he exclaimed. “Now, disrobe please, and we’ll get started.”
“You don’t understand,” said Elowyn. “I’m here to take these slaves away.”
“I’ve paid for this room through tomorrow,” said the mage.
“I’m afraid there’s no reimbursement,” Elowyn said prettily and smiled. “Take them down, please.”
“I’m afraid you don’t understand, elf,” said the mage, casting a paralysis spell at Elowyn. She raised her staff and blocked the spell, a neat little trick she’d discovered it could do. Before he could attack her again, she put him to sleep. She looked around for a knife to free the captives. One of them spoke to her, “There’s one key knot which will unravel the whole, but only he knows which knot it is.”
Elowyn doubted the mage would be cooperative if she woke him up. She would have to enter his dream and find the answer as quickly as she could. She could feel a curious kind of magic in this room, as if it had been used for many rituals. The Veil was thin. She barely felt it as she entered.
In the Fade, the room transformed into a forest of blackened trees. Bodies hung in the trees, suspended every which way. It was completely silent. Each person was missing their eyes, and their tongues had been cut out. Their mouths were crusted with dried blood. When Elowyn put her hand on one of the trees, she could feel screams trapped inside. She needed to find the mage’s dream.
There was a faint path through the trees. A bloody red sun was setting, casting its light through the black lace of the branches. Elowyn came upon a mansion standing in a clearing. The red light reflected in its windows like flames. This must be the mage’s dream.
She climbed the steps and pushed open the front door, which swung inward silently. The front hall was dark and empty. Rooms opened off to the sides, and a grand staircase led up, twisting once in its flight. Elowyn felt a presence above her and went up the stairs. She gripped her staff, kindling veilfire at its end. The white wood shone in the darkness, revealing a long hallway. Black doors lined each side, but Elowyn could feel that the dreaming mage was all the way at the end of the hallway. She pushed open the doors and entered the room. The walls were covered in red silk, the floors in plush carpets. A fire burned in the fireplace. It would have been cozy if the hairs hadn’t been prickling on the back of Elowyn’s neck. At the center of the room was a reading stand with a large book set upon it.
Elowyn approached it. The book was covered with fine-grained burgundy leather. The title was embossed in gold: The Binding Staff
She looked around. Where was the mage? He should be within his dream somewhere. She turned back to the book. Her fingers itched to open its cover. She touched the leather. It was soft and buttery. She leaned down and smelled the book – after all, there was no one to see her. She loved the scent of old books. It couldn’t hurt to peek, could it?
She opened the book. Her eyes widened as they took in the richly-colored illuminations. They depicted all sorts of people, clothed and unclothed, in various positions and situations. “I didn’t know people could bend that way!” she exclaimed. She turned a page, and there was a picture of a female elf stretched out on a red velvet chaise longue, her arms and legs bound with silken cords. The elf’s long, red hair hung down over the edge of the chaise. Her white skin gleamed against the velvet. Elowyn looked closer and gasped! The elf looked just like her.
“What trick is this?” she asked the empty room, and started to close the book. But she couldn’t move her hands. She was lying on a red velvet chaise longue, her arms and legs bound with silken cords. Her legs were stretched apart, exposing her sex. She attempted to call up fire to burn her bindings. But even though she could feel her mana swirling around her, nothing happened. Her hair hung down, loosed from its pins. Her staff was missing.
She heard a door open and looked up. The mage! He came in holding her own staff in his hands. He was stroking it. Fury rose in her that he was touching the staff Caius had given her. She tried to shape the Fade to free herself and cried in frustration when she couldn’t change anything. The mage contemplated her, a satisfied smile on his face.
“How is it that you see me? Are you a somniarus?” she asked him.
“I? No, not I. Did you not feel the thinness of the Veil when you entered? Why do you think a squalid brothel contains such a special room?”
“Was it built on an ancient ruin?” she asked.
“Good guess, but wrong. Do you know what happens when the living experience extreme emotions?”
“If they are mages, the demons grow curious.”
“Indeed. And if one such as myself, a person with certain… skills… practices those skills frequently, he begins living partially in the Fade.”
“Not dreamer skills?” asked Elowyn, confused. “Are you here physically? How did you capture me?”
“So many questions,” said the mage, sitting on the end of the chaise and fondling her naked body. She flinched and tried to pull away.
“Stop touching me!” she yelled.
“But you have such beautiful skin. It would be a shame for it to remain untouched.” He began stroking between her legs. She felt ashamed as her body responded to his touch. Her lips swelled, and moisture trickled down her thighs. The mage inserted his fingers inside her. “That’s the way,” he said. His own rod poked out of his cloak, and he began stroking it with his other hand as he continued to arouse her against her will. Tears of frustration filled Elowyn’s eyes. The mage bent forward, forced her legs apart and licked her. She gasped, trying to pull away from him.
He stopped, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She’d been close to coming, despite her anger at her own helplessness. But he wasn’t done. He inserted himself inside her and began moving, the most intimate of acts. She tried to look away, but he turned her head so she was forced to meet his eyes as he f***** her. His breath grew hoarse. “You wanted this, or you wouldn’t have opened the book,” he told her. She wanted to spit at him, but her back arched as she felt her ecstasy ripple through her body. He pulled out and sprayed his c** all over her breasts and belly.
Humiliated, Elowyn writhed, trying to loosen the cords that bound her. The mage admonished at her. He walked over to her head and grabbed a fistful of her hair, pulling her head back. He took out a small silver dagger and traced the tip over her throat. Elowyn held completely still, lest the dagger pierce her. A wound here would kill her, because it would plunge into her physical body. She looked into his eyes, hoping to find a trace of humanity in them. His green eyes gazed back at her. She realized with a shock that he was elf-blooded.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
The mage smiled. “Your new Master,” he said, cutting a symbol into the skin of her throat.
***
Vel manhandled the proprietor into the wagon. The slaves waiting inside kicked and spit on the proprietor, who protested, “Don’t put me in here with them!”
“Shut up!” said Galatea.
Aminia came running up. “That’s the last of them!” she said.
“Where’s Elowyn?!” Vel demanded.
“I don’t know – she went upstairs, but I didn’t see her come down.” Just then, Monkai and Zera came running around the corner.
“We have to scoot!” said Galatea. “Elowyn can find her own way home.”
“I’m not leaving without her!” shouted Vel.
“Ely’s missing?” asked Monkai.
“You go on,” Vel said to Galatea, “I’m going back to find her.”
“I’ll come with you,” said Monkai. “You and Aminia should go with Galatea,” he directed Zera. The women looked strained, but obeyed his command.
Vel and Monkai went back down the alley and inside the building. Any customers still alive had cleared out. They went upstairs and freed the diapered man and the gagged man and told them to skedaddle if they knew what was good for them.
“Did you see a red-haired elf?” Vel asked them. They told him she’d come in and freed the slaves, but had left again. Vel’s mouth dropped open when he saw the intricate binding in the third room. Monkai seemed unfazed. “Cut them down,” he told Vel, who hastened to slice through the ropes with his razor-sharp daggers. The slaves fell to the floor and rubbed their limbs to bring back circulation, then limped out of the room.
Monkai had found the sleeping mage. Interesting! Said Scorn. I like this one. “Another poncy Vint,” snarled Monkai, noting the man’s aquiline features and long hair. He shook the man, but couldn’t wake him. “Is she in the Fade?” He asked Scorn.
“Why would she be in the Fade?” asked Vel. “Wouldn’t we see her body here?”
Monkai realized that Vel didn’t know Elowyn was a Dreamer. He must have thought she’d traveled into the Fade in the usual manner when she’d rescued him from his demon-father.
Scorn took a cursory look around. She hated Elowyn and was glad she was gone. She’s not here she told Monkai. He didn’t have to know that Scorn hadn’t looked very hard.
“We are so f*****,” said Monkai. Caius was going to kill all of them. They’d been hoping to keep the raid secret from him, but if they returned without Elowyn, he’d demand answers.
“I’m not leaving until we find her! She has to be here somewhere,” said Vel angrily.
“She must have gone out another door,” said Monkai. “We have to go – the city guards will be here any moment, and I refuse to spend another night in the Archon’s prison.”
Vel felt his eyes fill with tears of frustration. They’d checked the entire building – she wasn’t there. She must have left on her own. Why would she have gone without him? Was she angry that he’d been flirting with Galatea? Vel cursed under his breath.
“We’re going to have to tell the Magister,” he said.
“You can do that,” said Monkai, “I’m going home with Zera. Vel sighed.
***
“You did WHAT?” Caius roared. Vel shrunk before the Magister’s wrath.
“I- I thought she’d be here when we got back. She wasn’t anywhere in the building,” he said.
“Go to your quarters, before I kill you myself,” Caius said menacingly. Vel scurried out. Caius called for his guards and marched them to the brothel, Archon be damned. What a mess! Vel hadn’t told him the name of the abolitionist ringleader, but Caius would get it out of him one way or another. He had to find Elowyn first.
He marched his guards down to the brothel, but it was completely empty, Even the sleeping mage was gone.
Retour en haut
. Elowyn will get a change to delve deeper into Caius mind soon, I need to do some scribbling.
