CHAPTER 12
AFTER SPENDING the whole night in the red-light district, just talking to Anya and Figa, Sollel and Hakken went back to the inn just before sunrise and a displeased-looking Cira welcomed them back. "Where have you been, Your Highness? What were you doing with that perverted hunter? He's dangerous!" Cira interrogated Sollel like a mother worried about her daughter the moment they entered their room.
Sollel took off her cloak and faced Cira. "We investigated the Duves family," Sollel explained to stop Cira from worrying as Sollel sat on the edge of the bed. "Don't worry, Hakken didn't do anything inappropriate to me."
Cira scowled. "He's still dangerous. Don't lower your guard around him."
Sollel nodded. "I won't."
Sollel's answer made the worry in Cira's eyes disappeared. "You should rest now, Your Highness. Don't worry. I will guard you with my life! That Hakken can never enter our room to seduce you."
Sollel smiled awkwardly. "I don't think he's that kind of a man, Cira."
Cira's eyes widened, and her jaw went slack. "Oh, my deities! You like him already, Your Highness?!"
Sollel quickly waved her hand to deny Cira's assumption. "No, it's not like that. It's just that we've been traveling with him for a couple of weeks now and he had done nothing but help us. I just don't think it's fair for Hakken, but of course, we still shouldn't lower our guard."
Cira looked at Sollel. "You say that, but you trusted him already, right, Your Highness? I can tell just by looking at you two."
Sollel looked down at her clasped hand. "I won't deny that Hakken is a dependable companion, but do I trust him completely? No. I don't. He had to move heaven and earth to earn my trust."
Cira bit her lower lip, her face filled with sadness. "Do I have to move heaven and earth to earn your trust, Your Highness?"
Sollel smiled at Cira, and then she got up to tap Cira's head to reassure her. "I left the moonrite in your care, didn't I?"
Cira's eyes widened, a happy smile appeared on her lips, and her eyes had become teary. "I'm so happy! Yey! Thank you, Your Highness!"
Sollel chuckled softly before she went back to sit on the edge of her bed. "By the way, Cira, remember when I still couldn't talk and I wrote on the ground to converse with you?"
Cira nodded. "What about it, Your Highness?"
"The words I wrote back then...you understood them clearly. But when I tried to converse with someone last night using paper and pen, she couldn't understand—no, more like she couldn't read the words I wrote. The whole night, I kept wondering why. Do you have any idea why you could understand it and she couldn't?"
Cira sat on her own bed and looked at Sollel, studying her while thinking deeply. After a little while, she nodded, as she finally had an answer. "This person must be young."
Sollel blinked at Cira. "Enlighten me, Cira."
Cira explained clearly. "Your Highness, the human language you used to write on the ground is what they call an old language. After Yther's destruction, a lot has changed, especially the language. The Ytherians helped the humans before with their language, and after the siege, humans didn't want anything that has something to do with Ytherians, so they completely changed the language. The only race who understands the old language now are the long-lived ones, like the elves."
But Hakken can read and understand it. "I see..."
Cira smiled. "It's a good thing that you can also speak and understand the new language."
Sollel didn't show Cira how surprised she was. I could speak and understand the new language? That's impossible. All this time, I've been using the old language to converse with everybody. Did that mean that even if she spoke the old language, people around her heard the new language instead and vice versa?
Sollel closed her eyes and massaged her temple. Her head hurt because she had no idea where this ability was coming from.
But come to think of it, when she was in her moonrite person, there was a time when she couldn't understand the words the people around her were saying. She thought it was because she had become weak, but maybe it was the new language.
Her memory was hazy in prison, but she was certain that she only started understanding the words people were saying around her again maybe a few years before she escaped. She couldn't really tell since time was not really something she could measure inside her prison, but she was certain that it just happened recently.
Does my freer have something to do with this? If she was right, then her escape was well planned and premeditated. Her freer did not just bring her out of prison; her freer also made sure that she could communicate well, which was very important.
Sollel took a deep breath and looked at Cira. "How was the bread I gave you?" She gave half of Hakken's bread to Cira for analysis. Elves were a smart race; analyzing food and inanimate objects was a child's play for them, and Sollel was hoping that Cira could provide her some information about Hakken.
Cira shook her head. "It's just a normal bread, Your Highness."
Sollel didn't know why she felt disappointed. "I should rest. Wake me up before lunch, Cira."
"Yes, Your Highness."
♕♕♕
CIRA AGREED TO wake Sollel up, but Sollel woke up on her own, a few hours before lunch. Not wasting any time, Sollel went to the bathroom to clean herself and her garments, and then she put on a different dress and cloak while waiting for her former clothes and cloak to dry.
Stepping out of the room, Sollel looked for Cira, but she found Hakken in the wagon instead, cleaning his sword and sharpening it.
Sensing Sollel, Hakken immediately looked up from his sword to greet his lady. "Good morning, my la—" Hakken's eyes fell on Sollel's new cloak. "What happened to your old cloak?"
"I washed it, and I'm waiting for it to dry," Sollel answered before climbing into the wagon's front. "Where's Cira? I haven't seen her."
"She accompanied Len to get her sister," Hakken continued polishing his sword. "I wanted to accompany them, but Cira firmly told me to stay here and guard you while you're sleeping."
Sollel was not comfortable letting Cira roam around alone, but remembering her bow-and-arrow skill, she was sure that Cira could take care of herself. Cira had been looking after herself on Beastrela before they met, so she'd be fine.
Sollel jumped off from the wagon. "Let's eat, Hakken. I'm hungry."
Hakken immediately sheathed his sword, strapped it on his back, and followed Sollel to the inn's tavern.
After choosing their table and ordering, Hakken spoke in a low voice that only they could hear. "I have valuable information about the Duves family. I'll tell you after we eat."
Sollel didn't voice out her surprise, but she was. After spending their night in the red-light district, they only accumulated so little information, and some of them were not even useful. But all of a sudden, just a few hours after they left the red-light district, Hakken was saying he had a valuable information?
Sollel glanced at Hakken. He can't be just a normal hunter...right?
Sollel had always been suspicious of Hakken, but she always discarded her suspicion since it was she who hired him. She was the one who approached him, not the other way around. He may be suspicious, but he won't hurt me...right? she thought.
She could deny it in front of Cira, but Sollel couldn't deny it to herself—she was starting to be comfortable with Hakken. He was dependable, smart, charming—a man with honor. She felt no boredom when she's with him. Even his coquettishness was amusing.
Sollel sighed and quietly waited for the food to arrive. When it did, Sollel ate in silence. Only after their meal did Sollel speak with Hakken and invite him to her room to talk.
"What valuable information do you have?" Sollel asked as she entered her room.
Hakken closed the door behind him, but he didn't step further into the room. He remained close to the door to give his lady an ample space to be comfortable since it was just the two of them inside.
"Based on the information I gathered, the slaves under the Duves family are divided into three. The slave workers, the slave prostitutes, and the slave warriors. The one who holds the contract for slave workers is Lord Tyon Duves."
I heard that name before. Sollel frowned when she remembered. "The one I beat up?"
Hakken couldn't help smiling. "Yes, my lady."
Sollel clicked her tongue. "I should've killed him." She glanced at Hakken. "Who holds Anya and Figa's contract?"
"Ishya."
Sollel lips parted. "The red-light district manager?"
Hakken nodded. "Ishya is not a problem, but the sorcerer protecting her is." Hakken heaved a deep sigh. "As long as the sorcerer is alive, we can't harm Ishya."
Sollel scoffed. What's so scary about sorcerers? They had powers not because they've been blessed by the deities, but because their lineage had been blessed by Yther's queens. Back when they were still caring for humans, they had blessed several families with power so they could defend themselves from beasts and other threats. These families married into another family and to another and so on, giving birth to Azitera's sorcerers and sorceresses. Some were powerful and gifted, some were not.
But to Sollel, even a powerful sorcerer was nothing but a copy of Ytherian strength. I blessed them with my flame. Who can stop me from taking it back?
"Don't worry about the sorcerer, I told you, didn't I? I'll protect you."
Hakken smiled. "You seldom fight while we're travelling that I sometimes forget that you're a flame sorcerer."
Sollel didn't correct Hakken and just let him think that she was a flame sorcerer. It's better that he didn't know. They'd part ways in the capital of Treterra anyway. Knowing her true identity would only put him in danger. Hunter or not, Sollel didn't want to drag Hakken to her mess like how she dragged and endangered Cira before.
"And the one that holds the contract of the slave warriors is the head of the family, Lord Artus Duves," Hakken continued. "Not only could he command the demi-humans and halflings to fight for him, but he also had an army of mercenaries and he's being protected by a sorcerer."
"Don't mind the mercenaries and the sorcerer. Let's focus on the halflings and demi-humans," Sollel said as if the mercenaries and the sorcerers were nothing but little insects.
"My lady, the Duves family has more than a hundred mercenaries working for them," Hakken reminded Sollel again in case she didn't hear him. We can't barge in and force our way in like we did in that small village."
"And I told you don't mind the mercenaries and the sorcerer." Sollel firmly held her ground. "They don't matter."
Hakken just sighed because he honestly couldn't follow what his lady was thinking. "What's your plan then?"
"I will enter the Duves' estate."
Hakken frowned. "And how is my lady going to do that?"
Sollel smiled. "They will invite me of course."
Now Hakken was lost. "Invite you?"
Sollel nodded and shared her plan with Hakken, and as Sollel laid her plan, Hakken could only sigh secretly. My lady has a soft heart for the halflings and demi-humans, but when it comes to the humans, her soft heart is always nowhere to be seen.
"Don't forget to look for Cira," Sollel reminded Hakken after he opened the door to leave. "She can help you."
Hakken nodded, and when he was about to step out of the room, he heard Sollel say, "Be careful, Hakken. I don't want to lose my hunter."
Short and simple words but they made Hakken's heart throb that he squeezed his eyes shut. It had always been like this since the first time he saw her. His heart couldn't relax around El. "Don't worry, my lady. I will not die without your permission."
That sounded reassuring, Sollel thought as she looked at Hakken's back.
Sollel took a deep breath and closed the door to get ready as well. She made sure that she looked presentable before she set out to carry out her plan.
Minutes later, Sollel was standing outside the Duves family estate and conversing with the guard. "Please tell Lord Tyon that it is I, the woman who unintentionally harmed him yesterday." Sollel's voice was filled with regret and sadness. "I didn't mean to do it. I was just surprised that I smacked him with a sword, and I'm filled with guilt. That's why I want to make amends and do everything I can to make it up to him."
The two guards looked at each other and secretly grinned because they knew what Lord Tyon would do to this lady. And after Lord Tyon was done with her, she'd be handed to the guards for pleasure and entertainment.
"I will deliver your message right away," said the guard while hiding his impure smile and thoughts.
Looking at the guard's back, a small smile appeared on Sollel's lips. She felt triumphant when the guard came back and invited her in with a wide smile. But Sollel's triumphant feeling disappeared when she entered the Duves' estate and she saw who was lying on the floor with a slave collar around the neck.
Cira!
CECELIB | C.C.