Foxfire (The Blood Oath) old version

Chapter 8: The Keeper of Mystics (new inclusion)

. . . Shadowstealer . . . 

Three suns have risen and set since she killed the Shade. The old man's gaze had tortured her since then. She had hoped it would pass, like the faces of the many men she had murdered. But it had lingered persistently in her mind, vivid as the night sky that was above her.

It felt strange. She had never once paused to think of the men whose life has been ended at the edge of her blade. This one seemed different. Perhaps it was because she felt responsible for the chaos that had stirred in the world since the death of the famous Peace Keeper.

Her mind must be playing tricks on her. It didn't matter though, there were three more political leaders on her list. The next has been a bit difficult to track, but that was why she was standing before the most popular tavern in the Atlantian city of Scepsis.

Seaman's Sirens, a large sign post read.

A man stumbled through the inn's door in his drunken stupor. Each of his arms was wrapped over the shoulder of two girls in lewd dresses. Zelos followed closely and then pulled away into a stable behind the tavern. She removed the silver clips that held her dark hair together and let it loose. Her black cloak and hat were thrown on the floor. She pulled her dagger and slit her robe from waist down so that it can open to reveal her legs and give her the appearance of a harlot.

Men loved to talk when they are happy. The art of seduction has always been a basic training to all Sisters in the Night cult. Though it would be so much easier to break every finger on a man's hand until he gave away information or poison his ale with Yellow-flower.

Zelos stepped into the tavern. Most of the city's prominent figures came there at evening hours to spend the bribes they had extorted from citizens on ale and the supple pleasures of a woman's touch.

Torture has always been a necessary tool for the Nightsisters and even though she loathed it, she could not deny its impressive results. That way, she had received information from a local tax collector that the leader of the city's Crime Guild, a man named Leman Lezzar, spent a considerable amount of his blood coins on the inn's harlots.

The inn's hall was everything Zelos had expected it to be. A garish fire burned at the centre where several men sat around it, turning roasted pig on a cooking spit. They made loud noises out of happiness and mocked each other.

Several soldiers and city guards were seated around tables, drinking from their tankards, swords dropped on the floor but close in proximity. Zelos walked past them and headed towards the inner rooms that held the warm pools. Men paused at moments to stare lustfully at her figure. She paid them no mind until one of the men groped a cheek of her buttocks.

It was the first time someone had done that to her. It felt odd and for a moment she wanted to break his neck with her fists. There was no man in the Nightcult except for the Nightfather. Along with her sisters, she was brought up, free from lustful desires and lechery of men. Zelos restrained herself and flashed a smile at the man.

The man swallowed his horn of ale viciously. He believed her smile to be a go ahead and grabbed Zelo's hand. He pulled her towards the hall, but she pulled him in the opposite direction.

"Not that way" she smiled, "this way." She pointed towards the pools.

Happily, the man led her past the guards that guarded the rooms and on towards the pools. There were two men already occupying the pool in the company of several harlots. They were all naked and half immersed in the warm water.

"Hurry," the man shouted excitedly pulling his boots, "take off your cloths, love."

Zelos identified the Guildmaster. A battle scar stretching across his left eye had given him away easily. He was resting at one end of the pool with two girls rubbing the hair on his chest.