theninjagoose

  Viktora curled into a ball as the blned down upon her. She had not mao finish ing the lord's bedchambers before his es awoke and, when they had seen the freakish young woman, they had done as every other member of the court did; they punished her for existing.

  Viktora felt them bruise the few unmarked portions of her skin, deepen the already-bruised parts, and even crae of her ribs before they were satisfied. If she had any tears left to cry, she would have. Her life in Emberhearth Castle had robbed her of her sensitivity to pain. It was her stant panion; her silent ally in the hopeless struggle. Her pain reminded her that she was still alive, that this was her life, not her nightmares, and that she must escape it.

  When she heard the door close and their footsteps begireating down the hall, she uncurled herself and rose to her knees. Her back, id open by the lord's dagger, had wept blood onto the smooth, tiled floor. If she didn't get it up soon, it would dry and she'd have to scrape it off with her fingernails. If she tried to wipe it up now, she would be forced to lick it from her skin to keep from smearing it onto anything else while she ed, and there wasn't an inch of her skin that she wanted anywhere near her mouth. She had not been allowed the privilege of bathing herself since before her e seven years ago.

  Viktora looked at the sap of her veins coating the floor, ahe urge to weep again. The tears would not e. She didn't have a.

  A haed lightly upon her shoulder. She flinched, curling into a ball again on instinct. The only time anything ever touched her was to cause her paihis hand had felt somewhat different. When no ensuing strikes ected with her vulnerable, naked body, she hesitantly looked up. It was one of the lord's es, now fully dressed in a, silver gown.

  She was a new addition to Emberhearth Castle; the lord had found her only a few days ago as he ied his nds. She was the miller's daughter, a oner uo the ways and wherefores of the vampiric courts. Her eyes were kind and fused, shining silver like her dress in the dawn light. Her hair was honey-blonde, an unusual characteristi vampires, who were usually raven-haired or redheads. Her features were not the most attractive Viktora had ever seen, though they were rather cute in their ht, and she had to assume that Ronak had taken her from her family because of her golden locks alone. He had his pick of the most beautiful, enting women in the kingdom, but variety is the spice of life.

  The e, Cassandra was her name, looked on Viktora with pity and remorse, though her nose wri the stench of the sve's filth. She reached down again, heedless of the smears and stains c every inch of Viktora's skin, and touched her gently once more. Viktora had seen this before; newers to the castle who were unaware of the rules. oners all, who did not know about the lord's shame which scurried about the castle, covered in grime and ing, stantly ing.

  "You should not touch me so." Viktora whispered croakily.

  Cassandra immediately withdrew her hand, tears welling in her eyes. "Why?"

  "You will get yourself dirty."

  "But... how could they treat you like this?"

  "It is at the lord's mercy that I am allowed to live." Viktora responded monotonously. This was the line she'd had beaten into her, the only reason she could give if someone asked about why she was treated the way she was.

  "I don't uand. What have you dohat is so terrible the lord would permit such abuse?"

  In response, Viktora moved her thigh to expose her cock to the e. Cassandra's eyes widened in uanding.

  "I had heard rumors, whispers that a member of the third sex lived among us."

  Viktora said nothing.

  "Would you like to bathe yourself?"

  Viktora's eyes snapped up to Cassandra's. This woman had no idea what she was getting herself into, here.

  F the years of ditioning down, Viktora opened her mouth to respond. Before she could say anything, the door burst open and Lord Roered the room. He saw his new e, kneelio the worthless sve and he raised an eyebrow.

  "What have you been telling her, Viktora?" His voice was icily cold, and his eyes fshed dangerously as his hand nded on the pommel of his dagger.

  "She has not said a word, yrace." Cassandra replied, standing and curtsying. Ronak g her, but his hand fell away from his dagger.

  "What are you still doing in here, Cassandra?" The i his voice had melted in a sed. Viktora was shocked to see his eyes had also mellowed as he looked upon his e. A master of tone, Ronak had never quite mao school his eyes. His eyes always told the truth, always alerted Viktora to danger when his temper was high. Now, she might even mistake the emotion tained within for affe, though she khe moo be incapable of any such thing.

  "I apologize, yrace. I slept in after our activities st night. I must have had too much to drink." Cassandra bobbed her head in a meek bow, a ving blush creeping up her neck.

  "Do you require a hangover cure?" Ronak asked, extending a hand to her.

  "No, thank you, yrace." Cassandra smiled radiantly. Her smile. That was why he had chosen her. It enhahe rest of her features until she was more beautiful than any woman Viktora had ever seen.

  "Very well, I should like you to apahis m. We are going to your father's vilge, and I thought you might enjoy seeing him again."

  "Thank you, yrace. It has not yet been a week, but I do miss him terribly."

  Ronak ughed softly. "Yes, homesiess pgues us all. We shall visit him together, and you may put your heart at ease."

  He made to steer her to the door, but she held back for a moment. Rather than the usual look of anger he got when defied, Ronak merely appeared fused.

  "Pardon me, yrace. I wish to make a request of you."

  "Anything, Cassandra. and it is yours."

  "I wish for this sve to be washed. She smells awful, and it actually make me quite nauseous."

  Ronak's eyes narrowed, and he looked betweewo of them suspiciously. Cassandra, however, had perfect trol over her dispyed emotions. She merely looked a bit ill as her nose wrinkled slightly. Finding nothing amiss, Ronak smiled again at Cassandra, then frow Viktora as his eyes narrowed in disgust.

  "Of course. Viktora, when you are done in here, you will bathe yourself in the servant's quarters. Whenever you offend Lady Cassandra with your stench, you will bathe again."

  "Yes, Lord Ronak." Viktora said, looking at his feet.

  "Very well, e along then, Cassandra. They're all waiting on us."

  The door closed, and Viktora began scrubbing the now-dried blood from the stoh her fingernails. The game Cassandra had just entered into, merely to afford Viktora the ce to herself, was a dangerous o was a game of life ah, and Viktora would o ehat the kind young woman survived it.

  ***

  Shiloh and his party members arrived ba Chattery with high spirits. They had all gotten signifitly stronger after the Trial of Hera, as well as signifitly richer. Shiloh had wao look into purchasing a small house for them, si would be cheaper in the long run thaing rooms, but Elnor had assured him that even the chest of gold and silver Hera had given them would not be enough to buy a home in a city as rge as Chattery.

  So, they rented a room and spent a couple days resting, refueling Shiloh's Lust, and gearing up for their expedition to the north. They would be passing through no other cities between Chattery and the Bo Mountains, which Elnor had pointed out as the peaks on the horizon as they walked back to the city after Hera's Trial. Thus, they o make absolutely certain they had all the supplies they would need before setting out.

  The Bo Mountains were home to freezing cold temperatures, frost drakes, ice trolls, yetis, and other dangerous creatures. Crossing them would be a harrowing experience, and the other side was home to a fiefdom made entirely of vampires. For this cause, Twil spent most of their time in Chattery at the Adventurer's Guild, reading every monster manual she could find in hopes of disc a trick to defeating the "demons of the night", as Ara called them.

  Elnor and Ara piled an enormous list of materials and tools they would need, which Shiloh initially ughed at. He couldn't see how they would possibly carry all of that until he remembered that iories were quite useful. He and Beck decided to check out a few bcksmiths and enters, looking for anything that would help deal with the ice-based enemies and freezing temperatures of the mountains.

  They were successful, to a degree. The bcksmith was almost a total bust, since he didn't have any ons with a fme aspect, but Beck still got a mace each for her and Ara, expining to Shiloh that most ice-based enemies had brittle ots susceptible to crushing attacks.They found a Staff of Fireballs at the enter, but it was ludicrously expehey ended up buying an Obelisk of Warmth, which was a ruby pendant worn on a neckce that provided heat in a thirty-foot radius when active. It took fifty mana fht hours of warmth, so Shiloh would be able to charge it every day, since he rarely used his mana at all.

  On their way back to their rented room, again at the same tavern si was cheap and the owner already khem, they ran into Elnor and Ara returning from their outing. Ara looked fuming, and Elnor eaking in hushed torying to calm her down.

  "It's not like it's the first time that's happened. We know some people are like that. I'm sure we -" Elnor cut off as Shiloh hailed them.

  "What's up? What's wrong?" He asked, notig Ara's hardened features.

  "Assholes." She snapped.

  "I generally thought you were in favor of those." Shiloh smirked. "You certainly seem to like mi least."

  That cracked the exterior, and Ara let slip a grin. She punched Shiloh on the arm. "You know that's not what I meant, Shy."

  "We were attempting to purchase an ented tent, which would keep us warm no matter how cold it gets, and the mert refused to sell to us. He had a registry with our names and descriptions." Elnor expined quietly.

  "A registry?"

  Beswered him. "An ented list of all the Thirds whurly visit a certain locale, desigo alert you if someone on the list is in your viity. Anyone who spots a Third write their description in the registry and, when enough reports of the same person are made, the registry dispys that person for everyoo see. It makes it incredibly difficult for us to blend into any oown or city for very long."

  Shiloh didn't fully grasp the means behind this "registry", but it sounded an awful lot like a gold star with a serial number pio someone's clothing. He schooled his emotions, not wanting to make the issue worse, before he asked Elnor for dires to the shop.

  "Shiloh, it's okay. We find another one somewhere else." Elnor responded.

  "Please, just tell me where he is. I'm going to use Aphrodite's Advocate to persuade him." Shiloh insisted. He had put the skill to shamefully little use ever since he acquired it, and this seemed to be the perfect opportunity to test it out. Especially on someone who was already predisposed to not liking them. Elnhed, ahem back through the streets to the mert's shop.

  Shiloh pushed the front door open and, to his satisfa, his girls followed him ihe shop ristihere wasn't a speck of dust on anything, as if the owner of the establishment spent all his free time sc the ers for miniscule bits of filth. There was a bell hung over the door, which rang as they stepped in. A short, fat, balding man stepped through a curtain behind the ter, saw their party, and immediately scowled.

  "I already told you two to scram." He said in a wheezing voice. He sounded like an accordion which had been pushed together the wrong way and couldn't fully e apart again. "I'll not be harassed by your kind! I deal with whomever I please and if you don't leave, I'll call for the guards!"

  Shiloh stepped up to the ter with a smile which did not reach his eyes. "You'll be dealing with me, then."

  "Not if you're with them, I won't!" The man replied sharply.

  Shiloh suddenly felt the words e out of his mouth without him sciously deg to say them, as if his body kly what to say without his input. "It would be... u to sell to me."

  The cool tohe slight hesitation, and the wide smile his mouth twisted into at the end were all... a bit creepy, to be ho. The man looked halfway ready to call the guards anyways, and Shiloh tried to softeatement a bit. He wao tell the man that it wasn't a threat, that they meant nobody any harm and just wahe supplies for a dangerous journey, but his lips would not obey him. They remained fixed in the grin that so unhe shopkeeper until he finally spoke.

  "Fine. What do you need?"

  Surprise flitted through Shiloh at the sudden success, but he merely pointed back towards Elnor and Ara. "I only want the tent that my panions were attempting to purchase."

  The man shuffled into the main portion of the store and pulled a bundle off the shelf. He came bad pced it on the ter, not meeting any of their eyes.

  "Thirty gold." He said evenly. Shiloh pced the money on the ter, picked up the tent, and the four of them exited the shop.

  "That was so cool!" Beck gushed. "We shop wherever we want now, if we bring Shy along."

  "It was kind of scary." Elnor admitted. "It sounded like you were threatening him."

  "I couldn't trol that." Shiloh replied. "The words came out without me trying to say them and, when I tried to walk it back a bit, I couldn't say anything else. It was like the skill kly what, aly how, to say what o be said for it to work."

  "That could definitely get you in trouble." Ara ented with a grin. "But oher hand, think of how many more clothing shops we have access to now!"

  Shiloh felt the color drain from his face. Clothes shopping. With four women, which he was now forced to apany. Great.