CHAPTER 11
SOLLEL SHIVERED involuntarily as she entered the red-light district together with Hakken. It was a good thing that she was covered with a cloak from head to toe, but her eyes...she couldn't believe she was seeing obscene acts from left to right as they entered a large establishment filled with beautiful women, disorderly drunk men, and red lights.
Never in her long life did Sollel thought that a time would come that she would enter such a place in her own accord.
When they entered the large building, human women immediately flocked around them, especially around Hakken. With his tantalizing eyes and ripped body, it was not surprising. But what surprised Sollel was that when Hakken was pulled away from her by one of the human women surrounding them, she immediately grabbed Hakken's hand to stop him.
Hakken stilled and turned around to look at El's hand grabbing his tightly, as if she was telling him not to leave her alone. Feeling how tight Sollel was holding him, Hakken smiled and then spoke to the women around them. "Sorry, ladies, but my companion and I just want to drink and relax for the night."
All the women around them scowled, and someone even said, "Then you should've gone to a tavern."
As the women dispersed, a woman wearing a revealing dress went to greet them. "Good evening, gentlemen." Her voice was melodious and sultry. "I am Ishya, the manager. Your first time?" The woman smiled seductively at Hakken. "May I help you?"
Sollel was still holding Hakken's hand, so he felt it when Sollel gripped his fingers tightly like she was sending him a signal.
Hakken smiled and moved his hand to interlock his fingers with Sollel's. "Could you guide us to a vacant room? My companion and I just really want to drink."
Ishya's eyes fell on Hakken's and Sollel's intertwined hands, and she immediately realized that the person wearing a cloak was a woman. Must be one of those couples who like to spice things up, Ishya thought and smiled before motioning her hands toward the staircase. "Please follow me."
Sollel let out a breath of relief and pulled her hand from Hakken's hold, but Hakken didn't let her hand go, surprising Sollel. He even tightened his hold on her hand as he followed the woman to the staircase.
"My hand, please," Sollel subtly whispered, enough for Hakken to hear, but Hakken just innocently smiled at her, enjoying whatever was happening at the moment.
But Sollel was not an easy woman. When Hakken didn't want to let her hand go, as the Mistress of Flame, it was easy for her to make her hand feel like it was scorching. And within seconds, Hakken freed Sollel's hand.
Pulling her hand back inside her cloak, Sollel saw Hakken giving her a "Really?" look, and it brought a smile to Sollel's lips. Maybe if Hakken had seen that smile, he wouldn't mind if Sollel burned his whole hand, but too bad Sollel had her hood on and her smile was hidden.
Ishya guided the two toward a vacant spacious room. It had a large bed, a dining table, and its own bathroom. But what caught Sollel's and Hakken's eyes were the platform at the center of the room.
"What is that for?" Hakken asked after Sollel nudged his arm.
Ishya smiled mysteriously. "It's for our other guests. Do not worry about it."
Sollel nudged Hakken's arm again, so Hakken continued asking, "We're new in town and new to this place. Is there a way to fully enjoy our night here? We've been married for so many years, and we just want to spice things up a bit, you know what I mean?"
Sollel took a deep breath after hearing Hakken's explanation. Why is it that he always uses the words "we're married" to lie?
Ishya raised her left eyebrow at what she heard, glancing at the woman clad in dark red cloak before looking back at Hakken. Maybe it's the reason why the woman is fully covered—because she was embarrassed with her sexual appetite, she thought. "You have something in mind? Perhaps I could help?"
"If you can arrange a halfling and a demi-human for us to play with," Hakken said, smiling maliciously, and then handed Ishya a pouch filled with gold coins, "it'll be so much appreciated."
"I will arrange it personally." Ishya accepted the small pouch full of gold coins with a pleased smiled. "Would you like to have a meal before playing? It's on the house."
"Thank you, but we're okay with alcohol and some snacks to go with it," Hakken answered.
Ishya nodded and stepped out of the room. The moment the door to the room closed, Sollel sighed heavily and faced Hakken. "We should act like a couple when that woman returns to avoid suspicion."
Hakken showed his slightly burnt hand. "After you gave me this?"
Sollel looked away. "You didn't let go of my hand when I asked you to. Serves you right for holding my hand like that without my consent."
Hakken tilted his head to the side, trying to peek at the face inside the hood, but when he didn't see anything, he offered his other hand that was not burnt at Sollel. "Then may I hold your hand, my lady?"
Sollel answered Hakken by placing her hand on his palm, "Just don't interlock our fingers. It's uncomfortable."
Hakken couldn't help the smile that graced his lips as he held Sollel's hand. "Is this okay, my lady?"
"Yes."
"May I continue holding your hand, my lady?"
"Why?"
"To be more believable, of course." Hakken had an innocent smile, but Sollel was not buying it. "We're married after all—and very intimate, I might add, my lady."
Sollel just sighed at Hakken's coquettishness.
"What's with the sigh?" Hakken was having a good night that he couldn't help teasing his lady. "Am I not to your liking, my lady?"
Sollel knew Hakken was just playing around, and she couldn't help playing along. Two could play his game. "I admit you are a very attractive man—easy on the eyes, witty, smart, and strong." Hakken beamed until Sollel added, "But still not enough to charm and captivate me."
Hakken's smile disappeared for only a second before a playful one stretched his lips. "Then I must work hard to charm and captivate my lady."
Sollel just stared at Hakken's determined face, and even how much she tried to read and understand him, she just couldn't. Hakken was like a ball of mystery to her. She wanted to unravel him, but she had a feeling it wouldn't do her any good, so she just let him be most of the time. But at that moment, as Hakken took a step closer to her—close enough that Hakken could see the outline of Sollel's lips under the hood—Sollel had the strong urge to know this man, to unravel the mystery around him.
"What are you doing, Hakken?" Sollel asked firmly when Hakken's body was nearly touching hers.
"I want to kiss you, my lady," Hakken answered honestly.
"Are you that desperate to die by my hands, Hakken?" Sollel inquired. "I'll burn you."
Hakken just smiled before he leaned in. Sollel was ready to release her flame if Hakken dared, but instead of a kiss on the lips, Hakken kissed the back of her hand.
Sollel didn't know how to react that she felt gratitude to Ishya when she knocked and entered the room together with two individuals wearing cloaks and holding a tray with alcohol and snacks.
Ishya smiled at Hakken and Sollel before motioning her hands at her two companions and signaled them to take off their cloak—one halfling and one demi-human, both wearing slave collars made of pure iron. "They will serve you thoroughly. You can play with them however you like. If the play became rough and they died, you will pay an extra fee worth one hundred and fifty gold coins per head. But if the damage you inflicted on our goods is reparable, then the fee will be lessened to half."
"Do you mean I can kill them as long as I have the money?" Sollel couldn't help asking after hearing Ishya's explanation.
While the two slaves winced in fear when they heard Sollel's question, it was nothing new; in this establishment, their life was not their own.
"Yes," Ishya answered Sollel. "As long as you pay the fee, everything is good." Then Ishya looked at Hakken. "Is everything to your liking, my lord?"
Hakken nodded. "Yes. Leave and don't disturb us."
Ishya bowed her head and left the room.
Seeing the fear on the halfling's and the demi-human's eyes, Hakken stepped back and let El handle them. "I'll sleep a bit, my lady," Hakken informed Sollel as he walked to the bed. "Call me if you need me."
Sollel smiled with gratitude after guessing Hakken's reason for sleeping. He's really not so bad. Flirtatious and impudent, but a man of honor.
Sollel looked at the halfling and the demi-human who were trying to be brave to not anger their client. The two knew that the more they struggled and cried for help, the more the client would hurt them, though it was their first time having a female client and a male client who didn't immediately pounce on them.
"What's your name?" Sollel asked the two as she sat on the table.
"Anya," said the halfling.
"Figa," said the demi-human from the tiger tribe.
"Please sit, Anya, Figa," Sollel said as she pushed the plate full of snacks toward the two who meekly sat on the table. "Please eat."
Anya played with her nails as she nervously asked, "Are you not going to...do anything?"
Figa pressed her lips and couldn't hold back her anger anymore. "Whatever you're planning with us, just get on with it. No need to play nice. We know how rotten you humans are!"
Sollel's expression tightened. "Yes. They are rotten."
Anya and Figa was surprised to hear an agreement from their client, but they were more surprised when their female client slightly pulled back her hood to show her face.
Bloodred eyes and hair. Unlike the last time when Sollel just escaped her prison, the color of her eyes and hair had changed from dark red—that it looked black sometimes—to blood red. And it would continue to change as she recovered her strength. Someday, she would get her bright crimson-red hair and eyes.
Figa stuttered. "Y-you're—"
Anya's eyes widened. An Ytherian? "You ..."
Sollel put her forefinger over her lips to signal Figa and Anya not to identify her out loud. "I'm actually here to get information about the Duves family."
Figa's face became ugly with rage at the mention of the Duves family. "Those inhuman scums! They hunted all the women in our tribe and used us to subdue our men! They're cowardly and pathetic. That's what they all are!"
Sollel understood Figa's anger, so she didn't tell her to calm down. "I need information about them. Can you help me?"
Anya held her hands together. "We know a little, but if we divulge any information that could be used against them, our collar will tighten, and it'll suffocate and kill us."
Sollel couldn't hide her horrified expression. "What..."
Figa gritted her teeth. "It's part of the slave contract." A tear escape Figa's eyes in anger and frustration. "We can't help you."
Sollel put her hood back on. "Hakken."
On the bed, Hakken—who was lying there and listening—got up when he heard his lady and went to the table. "Yes, my lady?"
Anya and Figa both froze in fear at the sight of Hakken, but Sollel calmed them down. "It's okay. He's with me."
"B-but he's human..." Anya said, her voice trembling.
"Doesn't matter what I am," said Hakken as he stood beside Sollel's chair. "You need anything, my lady?"
"Do you have something to write on?" Sollel asked, and Hakken was quick to provide his lady what she needed from his leather pouch.
Accepting the parchment paper and the steel pen from Hakken, Sollel stared at it for a split second. For Hakken to have these items on the go in his pouch ... Sollel took a deep breath and focused her attention on Anya and Figa.
"Can you read?" Sollel asked.
Figa shook her head, but Anya nodded. "I can. A little. My mother taught me."
Sollel immediately wrote her question on the paper and showed it to Anya. "Blink twice if it's a yes."
Sollel waited for Anya's answer, but instead of a blink, she got a frown from Anya.
"What is that...language, my lady?" Anya asked in bewilderment.
Sollel blinked and looked at the words she wrote on the paper. She was sure that this was the common language humans used to converse and write.
Wait...did it change while I was imprisoned? Sollel squeezed her eyes shut. I messed up.
"This was the old language," Hakken commented when he saw what El wrote. "Let me translate it." Hakken took the paper and pen from Sollel and translated Sollel's words into the language now.
First question: Does the Duves family have a thousand armies? Blink twice if yes.
Anya didn't blink, so Hakken changed it to "hundred army," earning two blinks from Anya.
Second question: Do they have sorcerers? How many?
Anya blinked twice and raised her hand to show her two fingers.
Last question: Who holds the slave contract? The head of the Duves family?
Anya shook her head, so Hakken wrote an additional question on the paper: Who?
"I don't know," Anya said and sighed. "Nobody knows. It's a secret."
Hakken folded the paper and put it back on his leather pouch together with the steel pen. "Do you have any more questions for them, my lady?"
Sollel was too distracted to answer Hakken. Her mind was questioning herself why her writing couldn't be understood. Hakken called it an old language, and it seemed that nobody knew or understood it anymore, but she had been speaking with everyone using the old language since her escape, and she could communicate just fine.
Even now, to her, Figa, Anya, and Hakken were all talking in the old language, but they're saying that the language she'd been speaking and hearing from others had become obsolete. How did it happen?
What's happening? she asked herself. If that is true...then how on Azitera can I understand them?
CECELIB | C.C.