Yhaag snarled. “Who’s this little Aldarian?”

  The man smirked, revealing a nasty scar near his mouth. He had many on his face, but the one near his mouth was the most notable, due to appearing only when he moved his lips.

  Fhalis rubbed his two sets of hands together. “Perhaps he is one of us? No, haha. Lets not wake m’lady.”

  He pointed to a woman sitting on a velvet chair near the fireplace. It was an odd chair, really. It was fashioned from fish skin of some kind.

  Yhaag twisted his head one-hundred and eighty degrees to look at the woman, then quickly snapped it back to his view of the summoned.

  What a smart thing you are… You dare not take your eyes off me… The Aldarian thought mindfully.

  Fhalis chirped. “She awakes. She will be happy!”

  Yhagg gave Fhalis a pitiful look. “Oh, you think you are her favorite? Silly thing. She would roast you on a spit and eat you if she were hungry.”

  Movement caught their attention. A slender hand with a hand attached beckoned them.

  “She’s calling for me, her love!”

  “She isn't, and you are stupid, Fhalis.”

  What idiots… Can they not see she has been wide awake for the past ten minutes? The Aldarian rubbed his temples.

  “The summoned. Come forward.”

  “Him!?” Fhalis squawked.

  “Shut up, or I will choke you out.” Yhagg shot back.

  I will slaughter both of you if you dare embarrass me in front of my client. The Aldarian thought again.

  The Summoned approached, feeling the warmth of the fireplace. The woman wore a red dress, adorned with golden silk, perhaps from the endangered goldworm. She rested one arm on the chair, the other, held a glass of wine. A snake with glowing eyes wrapped around her body. It hissed upon seeing him.

  “Apologies for my little one. He doesn't like Aldarians all that much.” The woman said, softly.

  “None taken.” He replied smartly. “What is your name?”

  She smiled at him. “Wiscah.” She motioned to a wine bottle sitting next to her. “Wine?”

  The Aldarian smiled back. “I don't drink on the job, sorry.”

  She pouted. “Shame. It’s High Elven wine. Thirty years old.”

  I am still older than wine.

  “I see you’ve met Fhalis and Yhagg?”

  “Yes, that I have. They are very endearing.”

  “Oh, shut up. Fhalis is hopelessly smitten with me, and Yhagg is dumber than a bag of shit. If they give you any trouble on your assignment, you can kill them.”

  The Aldarian nodded, glad that they were getting to the topic of his assignment, but mentally recoiled at the possibility of the creatures joining him

  “Speaking of the assignment,” She continued; “Just to give you some context, my brother, Fillard, a member of that Raven clan, recently was killed. I loved him so. But he had a slave very valuable to him. One that escaped upon his death. It is now supposed to be my property, you must understand. I want you to track it down and bring it to be. Do so if there are other accomplices as well.”

  The Aldaraian nodded again. “I hope you do not mind, but I hope you have some weapons… You see, I have depleted many of mine.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  He pulled up his sleeve slightly, revealing another terrible scar. This one, going up his arm, lengthwise.

  “Armored Centipede.” He said.

  Wiscah’s mouth hung open for a moment before snapping back into place. “But of course!” She motioned to a room on the side.

  The Aldaraian began moving in the direction of the room, when Wiscah spoke again.

  “Before you leave, I have something to show you…”

  He turned to look back at her. “Yes-”

  She opened her robe.

  The Summoned stopped.

  “I've never had an Aldaraian before… I wonder what it's like…” She looked at him expectantly, as if he would suddenly leap forward and embrace her.

  He did no such thing, instead focusing on keeping a rubbery smile on his face, rather than the disgust and confusion he felt by looking at her bare body.

  She reminds me of that snake lady from the legends of Adonis, only, you would turn to stone if you looked at her body. He thought, rather cruelly. Disgust, changed immediately to amusement, which he found even harder to suppress than the one before. He was the kind of man who could change his emotions quickly to suit the situation.

  He tried to get his mind off this woman, and her… body… but he looked at the wine and thought about grapes.

  I could really go for some grapes, no…

  He stole another glance at Wiscah, just to make sure what he saw was what he saw.

  Raisins…

  Suddenly, he couldn’t do it anymore. A small chortle escaped his mouth.

  Oops.

  A look of humility overcame Wiscah after a long moment of silence. She pulled her robe back slowly.

  “I’m terribly sorry…”

  The Summoned waved his hand. “It's alright, you're not my type. May I see myself out?”

  Wiscah pulled her robe tighter, looking away. “Yes.”

  The Aldaraian entered the room. Many weapons lined the walls. Spears, swords, exotic, and even experimental weapons. But only had one in mind.

  His eyes rested on a chain with a clip. He beamed, scar twisting. He took it off the shelf and weighed it. He pulled out his old chain. It was rusted and old, on the brink of snapping, it seemed. He tossed it over his shoulder, landing it in the garbage container behind him. He attached his blade to it and swung it playfully.

  The Summoned walked back to the lobby. He was met by Yhagg and Fhalis again.

  “You disgusting human!” Fhalis squawked. “Rapist! You might have manipulated her, but I can see what you're doing!”

  The Aldaraian ignored the avian creature and made his way to exit. But two hands pulled him back.

  “If you want her, you have to go through- ARG!”

  The Aldaraian whipped his chain around Fhalis’s neck and had the blade to his face.

  “Don't touch me.” The Aldaraian seethed, tightening the chain.

  “Urrrk…” Fhalis wheezed.

  Yhagg belched, narrowing his eyes at the Summoned. “Unhand him, little Aldaraian.”

  The Summoned released the loop and Fhalis fell to the ground, gasping.

  But the Aldaraian wasn't done yet. As Fhalis was catching his breath and getting back up, he stomped him, sending him face first back onto the floor. Yhagg made a movement towards him but he whipped around and pointed the blade at the Toad-beast.

  “From now on, you follow my orders. I know of many servants and slaves who would give anything to serve an Aldaraian such as myself.” He motioned to Fhalis, who still laid on the ground, taking slow, labored breaths. “Creatures like you are obviously unfit to make your own decisions, lest you require a leader who is a valuable person, and not just a pathetic attempt at emulating…” He glared Yhagg in his eyes.

  “The divine.”

  Yhagg licked his eye.

  “We will see about that, human.” He mumbled to himself. Hoping that the man wouldn’t hear him.

  But Aldarians had exceptional hearing.

  So when Aldarian got to the door, wagged his finger. “If you call me a human ever again, I will rip out that blasphemous tongue of yours and hang you with it. But for now, I will omit your stupidity, you are, after all, an inferior, and I shall treat nothing you say with significant weight. Come now, I am your new master.”

  When the aldarian was standing in the front yard. Wiscah called out to him.

  “I never did get your name.”

  “You may call me… Lee.”

  Then he headed off.