Unfortunately, time was ticking down, and I only managed to kill two more horned rabbits before I had to call it a day. Even that last fight with the beast was pushing it. Seriously, because of how much longer I spent in Fallens Cry than I planned, my schedule was tighter than a bull’s ass in fly season. That’s what my mom used to say. She came from the countryside.  

Anyway, I had a lot to get done. Earn some money, take a bath, do some laundry, and then off to Aspen for a magic lesson, so I could learn Standard from Ria afterward. But first and foremost, I had to get through Deckard’s tutoring on how to skin a beast and butcher meat.

Fighting rabbits in bloody battles, I thought I was ready. Yet when Deckard skinned the beast, my stomach turned upside down, and I threw up when he started cutting the meat.

I may have ended up as a florist, and I loved greens on my plate, but I wasn’t one of those all-year salad eaters. A proper steak was something I enjoyed very much every time and prepared many of them myself. Touching the meat and preparing it has never been an issue for me. So why the hell did I have to put up with Deckard’s shocked face?

“Something wrong with the skewers?”

Yeah, he didn’t have to remind me that what I hadn’t digested of that delicious meal was now on the ground in the grass as a gross pile, despite my best efforts. I simply couldn't help it and so all I was left with was an empty stomach, nasty aftertaste in the mouth, regret in my heart and eyes wet with tears.

Spitting out the rest of the bile, I growled: “The smell, it's...”

“Strong, sure! No different from when you cut the beast with your claws, though. Plus, there’s no need to gut it. That would make it much worse.”

Since I was kind of lost as to why it made me sick, all I gave him was a shrug. “I-I don’t know. In the heat of the fight, it’s different.”

“Don’t worry. You’re not the only one. When you fight, it’s the enemy that’s trying to kill you. The more it bleeds, the better for you. Now it appears to be just a harmless animal that you killed for fun.”

Yeah, truth. “Just a moment ago, it was breathing and grazing peacefully in the meadow.”

“Conscience. It makes you feel guilty, disgusted even,” Deckard said, pointing the bloody knife at me. “If this isn't for you, maybe you should join a company. They have people for this kind of job. As a solo, you have to handle it yourself.”

“Do I have to be…solo if I have Squad Four?”

He grunted. “No, you don’t. You don’t have to follow in my footsteps simply because you’re my apprentice. For now, you’ll be delving into the Labyrinth with your squad, but who knows how it will be after a few months or a year. You won't go down with them every day either. Let’s say you leave this job to your squadmates. What will you do when you’re here alone? Are you gonna leave the beasts here, or are you gonna drag them across the square every time?”

No, that was why I stood here and watched him skin and butcher my kill. “I get it, okay?” I said, raising my hand to stop him. “I never said I wouldn’t do it. I-I just have to tackle it.”

“Good, because you’re doing the other one,” he said, pointing to the dead horned rabbit lying in the grass a few meters away. Even though I found the beast a few hills away, the fight didn’t go as smoothly as the previous ones, and somehow I ended up killing it not far from where I took down the one that Deckard was butchering.

Oh, man. The skinning was a blast for my stomach. For a moment, I considered whether to give in to the beast and let my instincts take the reins. Sure as hell, I’d do the whole skinning thing without blinking an eye then. Still, I held off. Why? It was the easy way, the coward’s way. So I barfed one more time while skinning the beast but did the job and, under Deckard’s guidance, carved out the most valued meat of the horned rabbit.

Wrapping it in two skinned furs then was the easy part. 

If Deckard wasn’t wrong, I shouldn’t get any less for it, and that went for the rabbit I did, too. In other words, I should get some serious coins, at least double what it was yesterday. If only that were true. My budget was already stretched so thin.

A few more days, and I’m afraid I’d be broke.

In a bit of a hurry, with the rabbit goods slung over my shoulders like sacks, I said my goodbyes to Deckard as we stepped out of the light onto the platform up at the square and rushed to sell it.

 

***

 

“I must say I was quite looking forward to seeing you drag another beast behind you,” said Tarlo, the bear-terran merchant from whom I had sold my latest catch, as I placed the meat wrapped in two furs on the counter.

“Sorry to disappoint you.”

“Don’t be, instead be proud. It didn’t take you a day to figure out a better way,” he said, gesturing to the meat on the counter. 

“Well, speaking of which, this is what my mentor did, and this is my work. Please take a look,” I said, noticing his frown at me rushing him. “Sorry, I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

“Obviously. That puts you in a weaker bargaining position, though.”

“I’m not trying to rip you off. I hope we’re on the same page here.”

That made his sister laugh. “I like the honesty. So...” She took a breath and looked at my goods. “Still on the same floor?”

“Today, I moved to the second. This is from the horned rabbits living there.”

“Congrats. However, it doesn’t make a dent in the quality of the materials. This one,” she said, pointing to the fur and meat worked by Deckard. “We can give you eight silvers for that. Decent processing, all it takes is a little work for us. On the other hand, this one...is gonna take up a lot of cleaning up. There’s no need to dispose of the rest of the corpse, though. Six silvers.”

“Deal.” After I gave it some thought, it seemed like a fair offer. 

Of course, I expected more, given the toll it took on me. The work and time involved, was it worth it? Even with Deckard’s experience, I only got two more silvers for the rabbit. But was it really too little? A third more, in fact. Plus, that gut-turning job allowed me to sell materials from two rabbits, so essentially, I made eight more silvers. Fourteen fucking silvers in total. Almost double the amount of my hoard. How could I say no to that? Instead, I had trouble holding back my glee when I got coins from them.

Should I bargain for more despite what Tarlo said? Nah, it simply was not my thing, the haggling, I mean. It involved intense emotions and arguing. So when it came down to it, I usually preferred to pay the price, and if it didn’t seem fair, I just didn’t buy the product. Simple, stress-free, like now.

That is, except for that weird feeling on the back of my neck. 

Either someone else besides Sah was watching me, or he was giving me a really, really hard stare. Usually, when I was in the city, his oversight lightly tickled my hairs. It was annoying, yet something I was able to ignore. Oddly enough, his presence was strangely non-intrusive. Him watching me was certainly weird, but given the circumstances, for most of the time, I didn’t mind it so much I assumed I would. 

Not this time, though.

This vibe gave me goosebumps. If only because it wasn’t the first time I’d felt this kind of staring at my back. Actually, it felt like déjà vu and brought back bad memories. How could it not? It was also here in Labyrinth Square, after I left Fallens Cry alone, that I was attacked and kidnapped.

You’d think I’d have learned my lesson, huh?

Did I get over what happened to me here? Did I actually forget? No! I didn’t! It was only five days ago, for fuck’s sake! Then why was I walking around by myself? Well, I wanted to face my fears, so I didn’t have to ask Deckard to accompany me every time like a little wimp. Sure, it would make me feel more secure, but it would also make me rely on his presence. Not the thing that would help me get back on my feet. Not as fast as I needed, at least.

Now in my heart, gripped with distress, was regret at my decision. 

The only consolation for me was knowing that Sah was there, somewhere if anything should happen. He would have intervened, wouldn’t he? Wait! The Agent watched me last time, too, and let the slavers do their rotten business. He was the reason I got a collar around my neck. That said, I’m the reason he was stuck here. 

Shit! I could only hope he wasn’t holding a grudge; otherwise, I was screwed.

Going with my instincts telling me that I was not prey, I calmed my mind with [Indomitable Will], straightened up, and stopped myself from looking around. It wouldn’t do me any good anyway. There were simply too many people here for me to find a would-be attacker.

Not too fast, not too slow, I headed out of the square. 

Yet, déjà vu came to me once more.

“Korra Grey!” the woman called out from behind me, and I got goosebumps when I looked at the two guards approaching me.

[Guardswoman: lvl ??]

[Guardsman: lvl ??]

They couldn’t be that stupid and try the same trick, right? I know I was still a slave to others, but calling me an escaped slave couldn’t work twice. Or was I wrong?

Discreetly checking my escape path, I confronted them with my guard up. “Yes, and you are?”

“Here, just say hi.”

“W-what...sorry, what?”

The woman paused, as confused as I was. “Yesterday, Drunken Filly, does that ring a bell?”

Oh, they were there? What the fuck was I doing with them?! They were master guards.

“I don’t know how to say this...I don’t remember most of it.”

That made the man laugh. “No wonder. You’ve had enough to give ‘me’ a decent hangover.”

“Yeah, I had a pretty rough morning,” I awkwardly admitted while trying to figure out what they wanted with me. “Sorry, but what did we do yesterday? Do I owe you anything?”

The guardsman smirked. “A piece of advice. Never ask that.”

“It’s easy to say yes,” added his partner. “To your question, what did we do? Not much. You told me how lovely my eyes were, quite smooth.”

What the f-fu....actually they were. Big round and yellowish-brown, streaked with golden veins. Wet as if the woman was on the verge of tears, yet full of energy and youth.

“You gave me the same look yesterday,” the woman said, amused. “Then you asked me to dance. Well, you were terrible.”

Since when did I ask women to dance? Most of the time, I didn’t even dare to ask the guys? Was it always in me, or was it my beast part's fault? Or was it the potions, I mean the drinks? I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t have a hand in it, so to speak. Who knows what was in them and what they did to me?

But back to my dance with the fair-eyed woman. “Yeah, about that. Sorry, I know I’m a klutz. Deckard complained, too. He made me learn some steps today, actually.”

They both burst out laughing. Yet, even though I was the object of their mirth, something that would usually make me embarrassed, the attention of others in the square it brought gave me some peace of mind this time. Perhaps it was naïve to think so, but it might discourage would-be attackers. 

“Don’t take it too hard,” the man said. “Back when he was a lieutenant, he made us all take dance lessons.”

“It has its merits.”

“Yeah, I won’t look like a fool next time,” I said in jest as a response to the woman’s remark.

She raised an eyebrow. “Next time?”

“O-oh. No, that’s not what I meant. I...”

“Relax, I’m just teasing you.”

A growl escaped my throat, an amused one. “In that case, screw you.”

She took it with a grin. 

“Seriously now. Did you really just come to say hi?”

“We saw you hurrying through the square,” the man said. “Spooked as a little mouse. We came to see if everything was okay. Is everything okay?”

Shit! So my efforts to look casual were utterly useless. I’m gonna have to work on that.

“Actually, I don’t know,” I said, scratching the back of my head. The weird vibe I had was gone. “I kind of felt like I was being followed. You know what happened to me here, don’t you? It just got to me, I guess.”

“Don’t downplay your intuition. I did it once and ended up with a knife in my side. Look, we’re heading back down, but I think the Captain will understand if we walk you wherever the heck you go,” the guardswoman said, pointing behind her. There, in the crowd at one of the stalls, was a group of more master guards. The offer sounded tempting, but did I want to hold them up? Piss off the people who were willing to help me?

“Thanks, but I’m good.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, glancing in the direction I was looking. “Don’t mind them. Most of those bastards bet against you.”

“Wait! Bet? What Bet?”

The guardsman looked at his colleague. “We may as well tell her if we want to win.”

“True. Look, after your little skill discussion at Filly, we had an argument about you. Whether you reach level 200 in a year and join the ranks of the master guards or not. Ridiculous to most, I tell you. Yet some, like the two of us, have argued that it is feasible. Hence the bet.”

“So, do your best, Grey.”

If I wanted to sound bitter about it, I’d say they approached me to make sure they won. On the other hand, I was pleased that they had such confidence in me. I honestly had no idea what I did to earn it.

“Don’t worry. I will.” 

Sure as hell gonna do my best. If I don’t, I’d be dead in a year. A bit of an exaggeration, I know. Esu said he’d merely renounce me as his pup if I didn’t beat that young mossbear. Yet when I thought about it later, he didn’t say anything about letting me leave the woods alive. Sure, I could have been wrong, but it gave me further motivation not to slack off.

That was between Esu and me, though. So nothing for the ears of these two guards.

However, their presence here in Labyrinth Square brought another question to my mind. “What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you were on the walls or something.”

“How do you...” the man said and stopped short. “Right, Deckard.”

“Um-hmm. He told me there was a wave.”

The guardswoman grinned. “Yeah, that’s what it’s officially called, and some cities have to deal with waves of hundreds, beasts, and monsters. Thousands even. Here in Castiana, it doesn’t quite reach that scale.”

“Just a stray pack of iron-fanged wolves, nothing the city guards wouldn’t handle.”

“The Captain wanted us there just in case whatever is driving them to the city walls they’ve avoided for thousands of years shows up.”

“Should you be telling me this?” I asked, looking around to see if anyone was listening.

The guardsman laughed. “It’s not that big a secret. Hard to keep something like that under wraps when you have to close the gates. Rumors spread as fast as a fart through a room. Everyone knows something is wrong, feels it, smells it. They just don’t know where the foul odor is coming from.”

“If you’re a halfwit,” the guardswoman said with a sneer. “The Federation has fallen, and something is approaching Sahal’s borders from the north. Don’t tell me that’s a coincidence.”

“May or may not be. You know how every maggot holed up all year always tries to take advantage of the chaos. It could easily be something or someone else entirely.”

Okay, there seemed to be some disagreement about this, and as interesting as it was, I didn’t have time for this stuff. 

“I really, really appreciate your concern, but I have to go.”

They both look at me. “Are you sure you don’t want to...?” the woman asked, gesturing they would walk with me.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. The weird feeling on the back of my neck was gone, and it was not my intention to delay them any longer. I was sure, and so with thanks, I bid them farewell and briskly made my way to the Broken Mug for clean clothes.

I mean, as clean as they could be after a night of partying. Regretfully, the laundry had to wait yet again. There just wasn’t time. Even the bath I intended to take had to be short.

Luckily, the bathhouse was on the same street and wasn’t far, just a few buildings further to the city center. In much better condition than the Broken Mug and yet the bathhouse offered no greater luxury than the inn. Sure, maybe if I paid more than 30 coppers, I’d get more than a wooden tub filled with hot water in a room with five of them. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, as they say.

Well, because I was so tight with the coins, I had to put up with one older woman enjoying her bath already. Picking the one furthest from her, I stripped off at lightning speed and stepped into a tub of hot water, quite eager to get the grime and sweat off of me.

With warmth spreading from feet and calves already immersed in warm water, I was about to sit down and enjoy my moment of bliss, when the hairs on the back of my neck bristled up. Not a heartbeat later, a tall, lanky woman appeared in my domain. The dagger in her hand said it all. She wasn’t here to get the filth off of her.

Without time to think about it, I turned around and put my hand in front of the attack aimed at my back. Not a wise move as the blade went through my hand and pinned it to my stomach. Neither [Unbending Resilience] nor [Wrought Hide] slowed the edge, let alone stopped it.

A painful growl tore from my throat before the woman grabbed me by the neck so tightly I couldn’t breathe.

[Trickster: lvl ?]

Hammering my panicking mind with [Indomitable Will], I prepared to change, to go through tier two best to tier three [Beast]. She was not an opponent I could take lightly. Judging by the question mark, at least level 151. Level one seventy, according to my instincts.

As my fangs lengthened, she leaned towards me and whispered. “Tell Deckard that Fletcher sends his regards.” She twisted the dagger to add a punch to her words, making me squirm in pain as a man’s voice reached my ears. 

“I wouldn’t go any further if I were you!” I knew him, Sah. Focusing on the beast change, I completely missed his arrival. So did the Trickster, though. To her credit, even with the dagger at her throat, she kept her cool. 

“I don’t know who the fuck you are, but piss off! This is none of your business!” she spat, twisting the dagger a little more. 

“Well, that’s where you’re wrong,” Sah said, drawing blood from her neck in response to my painful moan. For a moment, I actually thought he was gonna slit her throat and end her life here. It turned out to be just a warning, a small cut on the skin. However, it did not yield the desired impact. Judging by the determination in the woman’s eyes, she wasn’t about to give up.

The trickster was up to something.

I racked my brain trying to figure out how to let Sah know, only to notice too late the woman eased her grip on the dagger. Fortunately, the agent wasn’t me and moved before she could do anything. Without me knowing what he actually did, she slumped unconscious in his arms. 

“I’ll take this,” he said to the dagger embedded in my hand, pinned to my stomach as he slung the trickster over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Ready?”

W-wait! What? Was I? No, but I gave him a nod and whimpered a little as he pulled the blade out. It hurt, all right! Compared to when the woman twisted the dagger in my guts, it was nothing, though.

“We’ll talk later, Grey,” Sah said, and despite my expectation that he would use some classy skill and disappear into the shadows, he walked out the front door with his baggage over his shoulder.

As soon as the door closed behind him, I slumped into the tub, feeling more wrecked than after a full day of training. Seriously, what the fuck was that all about?! Who the hell was she, and who the actual fuck is Fletcher?!

“Are you okay, sweetie?” It was the older woman in the tub on the other side of the room. There was genuine concern in her eyes. “You look pale.”

No shit!

“I-I’m good, just tired,” I said, wondering if she actually hadn’t noticed anything or if it was a mundane thing to her. In all that time, the old lady never once screamed out. 

In the end, it didn’t matter.

What mattered was I was okay, relatively speaking. Still bleeding, yet alive. 

Looking up at the ceiling in thought, I found some relief in this mess. The trickster wasn’t one of the slavers, as far as I could tell. Her attack was not related to me at all but to Deckard. As much as it pissed me off, I was glad for it.

On the other hand, what really irked me was that my bath was now ruined. Even before I could get any of the grime and sweat off me, the water was red with my blood and since taking a bath in that stuff wasn’t my thing it meant buying another tub of clean hot water. 

Well, once my regeneration does its thing.

So for a moment, I just relaxed while letting out a sigh: “What a crazy world.”