Tinamoc was not a man used to fucking up, he was also not used to killing, and he was definitely not used to plotting mass escapes. He drew a bath and cleaned himself up even more thoroughly. Though his current dress would hide blood well, he was not a man prone to reckless chances, so he stripped and began to cut the clothing apart into strips, then the strips into squares, then the squares into even smaller pieces and he repeated this process until no square was larger than the nail of his thumb. After that he drained the tub and kept the water flowing, and one by one he dropped the tiny patches in to be washed down the drain, until none were left. When his elf attendant eventually arrived, Tinamoc sent the female immediately to Neia's room to summon Skana to him.
When she arrived, he quickly explained the events of the evening, all the way up to the murder and the measurements of the wall. He was still shaking with anxiety from having killed the guard. He looked down at his hands from where he sat, shaking his head, "I can still see the blood, I swear...everybody will know...I'm fucked, I'm totally fucked." He said softly.
Skana however was a veteran of death and remained cool and calm, she touched his shoulder and said, "Look at me, Tinamoc." He gradually raised his face to hers, he looked into her one good eye, and she continued, "Nobody was there, nobody knows, and they're not likely to find the body any time soon, and even if they do, they have no way to trace it back to you. But you're in no shape to go out today, stay here in your room, I'll send a Black Justice fighter to keep an eye on you if that will make you feel better..."
"Yes, that." He said softly.
"And we'll handle everything from here, I'll get the elves in the warehouses started making ladders and climbing ropes, and we'll be ready to get the fuck out of here in no time. Its still very, very early, nobody else should be awake yet, or have found the man missing so I have time to at least sort of fix this, just stay here, and do not leave, not for anything." She said.
He nodded grimly and just went to the bath and ran the water again, and held his hands under the rushing torrent without moving, waiting for the nonexistent blood to disappear from his haunted vision.
Skana was no fool, she was quick to act, she rushed out of the hotel as quickly as she could without drawing attention to herself. She made her way to the tower Tinamoc mentioned and climbed the stairs as quietly as she could, the darkness had been her ally on the way there, and it remained on her side as she got to the top, nobody had found the brutal scene yet, so she took out some coins from her pouch and laid them down quietly in the blood, carefully staining both sides and leaving only a few. Then she lightly dropped her money pouch into the stain on its side, staining it with blood as well, and then took out some higher value coins and dipped them in the blood, then put them back in the pouch. She shook it lightly to spread the blood around inside, then took out a cloth from her pocket meant to clean her blade, and dipped it in the blood as well, and then she rushed back down the way she'd come.
She walked the streets for awhile searching for a target, and fortune favored her when she came across two guards whose route seemed to be taking them past the site of Tinamoc's murder. She felt a brief pang of conscience about what she was about to do, but that vanished when they pointed to one of the punishment places and laughed as one talked about how a particularly buxom elf woman had screamed there the other day.
She crept up behind them and took the bloody cloth, and then slapped it to the back of one man's shoulder as if she just happened to overhear them, and shared in their laugh. They glanced at her briefly in surprise, but seeing that she shared their demonic humor, thought her only an idle passerby, and she for good measure said, "OH yes, I saw that, the way she bounced around like a ball, it was hilarious, those big ones are always the best sport!" Skana said, suppressing the bile in her throat as she forced out the vile words and hated her own sadistic laugh.
"Aye it was fun to watch." The guard said, "I even paid a few coins for a go with the whip."
"I wish I could have done that." Skana lied, "Sadly beer costs money, but screams are still free!" She said and prompted some good natured laughs from the hearts of darkness she was chatting with, "Well you guys have a safe patrol." She said, "May I pass by you?" She politely requested.
"Aye of course." The guard said, happy to oblige someone as sinister as himself, and as she went around the other guard she palmed the bloody pouch of coins and dropped it softly into the guard's kit, and slapped him gratefully on the back with the palmed bloody cloth.
Skana gave them a wave as she walked past them and into the darkness, then she turned down an alleyway and was out of sight. She threw the cloth into a sewer grate as soon as she was alone, and made her way back to the hotel before the sun rose.
The alarm was raised in the city when the sun crested the hill and the next shift came and found the bloody spot on the wall and the guard from that evening missing. The investigators quickly concluded it was a robbery and called together everyone on patrol that evening to see if anyone saw anything.
When the two Skana had encountered were called forward, they described their evening in uneventful terms when the guard standing behind them said, "Wait...why do you have blood on you?"
They appeared confused and the investigator's eyes narrowed, "Seize them and show me!" Weapons snapped down and the two men protested, but when more of their fellows arrived they had no choice but to acquiesce, and they were turned around for the investigator. "Yes, you both do have blood on your clothing, and its not even dry yet. Why?" He asked.
"I don't know?!" The first man said.
"Neither do I! We didn't do anything! We didn't see anything!" The second one said.
"Search their things!" The investigator shouted, and several other guards closed in on them, and though they flailed and protested as fingers fumbled for the straps on their armor, their kits, etc, they were gradually separated from their equipment. A guard began rummaging through the first man's pack.
"This one is empty." He said, and the first man snapped, "Of course it is!"
But no sooner were the words out of his mouth than a guard rummaging through the second pack pulled out a blood soaked coin pouch, he dumped the coins out on the stone floor and many of them were stained with fresh blood. The second man protested, "I've never seen that before! I swear! I swear! I didn't do anything!" He tried to turn and run, only to be tackled by three of his comrades who brought him down in a tangle of arms and legs.
"I'm innocent! I'm innocent!" He shouted.
"Where did you dispose of the body?" The investigator asked them both.
They looked at him with terror in their eyes and protested their innocence again.
"Do not insult me by denying what you've done, its painfully obvious, you went to the tower, killed him for his coin, took it, and planned on dividing it up after your shift when nobody would notice. But your victim left his mark, and left his blood on your clothes in the struggle.
"NO!" They shouted together, practically wailing their innocence.
"Take them away, have them crucified for murder." The investigator snapped.
They struggled and pulled and tried to escape, but with so many other guards present, there was not a chance of escape, and they were dragged away screaming. Word spread rapidly through the city of the greedy murderous guards, and many turned out at the square where they were still screaming their innocence.
They didn't stop screaming their innocence as they were stripped, nor as they were strapped to the cross, indeed they only stopped screaming their innocence when the screams turned to unintelligible screams of pain, and they only intensified as their arms and feet had iron spikes driven through them, and that did not change until they had screamed enough that their vocal chords allowed them to scream no more.
Skana stood and watched with the crowd as authorized vendors held up whips and people got in line for a chance to whip the murderers.
As their screams redoubled at the first lash of the whip, Skana let a dark grin grace her face. "Nameless female elf...wherever you are, I hope you rest in peace, knowing that at least some of your abusers suffer what they did to you." She whispered and moved away, leaving the two unfortunate wretches to their fate.
It was cold comfort, but Tinamoc's fuckup was at least fixed for now, unless or until they fished the body out of the water and found that the poor fool still had his coin pouch on him.
When she made her way back to the hotel, she stopped off and informed the elves in the warehouses of what was needed in terms of ladders and ropes, and she ordered some of her people to go and acquire the necessary materials for them to work during the day in order to make what was needed for the escape. When she returned to Tinamoc's room hours and hours later, he was still staring at his hands while a Black Justice fighter sat at the table.
"Its done." Skana said with a sigh of relief as she closed the door.
"What?" Tinamoc asked.
"I said it's done." She replied. "I bloodied a few coins, transferred some blood to a few guards, put a bloody pouch with blood stained coins into one of their kits, and it looked like they'd killed their colleague for money. When the investigator saw the blood on them and found the coins and pouch, he must not have waited long, they're now hung up on crosses and being whipped to death." Skana said.
Tinamoc withdrew his hands from the water and turned it off.
"So...that was quick." He said.
"Not ideal maybe, but good enough, nobody will be looking for you anyway." She said. "I'd like to get to the body and take his coin pouch off of him just to be safe, but if they bother to even look for him, well maybe they won't find his pouch, or maybe the person who finds it will just keep it, or maybe they'll figure he had two, its very unlikely that they'll realize...or admit...that they put two innocent...sort of...guards to death." Skana said with a shrug of her shoulders.
It was then that Illyana entered after a brief knock, "Mistress Skana, I am ready to train again." She said.
Skana sighed, she didn't much care for the term 'mistress'...but Illyana had promised to stop using it when she was free soooo...what could she do? She shrugged it off and they took position.
They tumbled about as Illyana learned more new throws and grabs and holds, and learned to incorporate sword and dagger into her routine so that she could handle more powerful opponents.
That was how the next few days were spent, Skana and the other Black Justice members would teach the elves in the hotel who would in turn teach the other females who had less kind guests or who were not in service, those who acted as public servants would carry the knowledge to others in secret, and a designated party would travel to the warehouse and train others. Arms and armor would be stored in the warehouse, and every day saw a little improvement.
That was still the state of things when Neia Baraja & CZ returned to the city, right to her hotel room. She slept through the night and in the morning held a formation for her warriors on the common grounds, quietly took a roll of how many slaves they'd 'purchased' and were hiding and training, and then dismissed them for the day. She met with Tinamoc and asked him to go to her room for a more in depth discussion. Then when they parted ways, she went to Skana's room and knocked. When Skana opened it and saw Neia there, she jumped into the woman's arms and gave her a very tight embrace and a welcome touching of lips to lips. "Welcome back." She said softly, prompting a very deep blush from the surprised Neia.
Behind Skana, Illyana knelt politely and said, "Welcome back Mistress Neia."
Neia rolled her eyes and looked at Skana. "She's still doing that?"
Skana let her death grip on Neia go, stepped back, and matched the rolling of her eyes, "Yes, she still says she won't stop until she's truly free."
"Well we're going to get to that very...very...very soon." Neia said. "Come with me to my room, Tinamoc is waiting there."
They followed Neia to her room and when Illyana entered last and closed the door. Illyana made to go prepare drinks, and CZ took what seemed to have become her favorite seat at the table. By now they were all used to Illyana insisting on providing at least some form of service to them and had stopped fighting her over the issue since she seemed to actually feel the need to do something for them.
When the drinks were served to all at the table, Neia explained what had taken place, when she got to the siege Tinamoc spoke in a hushed whisper..."Five thousand...at least?" He shook his head.
"Yes, and after they were finished off, almost by pure dumb luck, it turned out that the priests, not only in Kedyn, but in a great many places, are actually Slane Theocracy agents, its not just the ones who were more obvious like Justicar..." She paused as Illyana let out a snarl of hatred, then resumed, "There are others who blend in very well, and they've been active for awhile over most of the South and at least part of the North, and from the documents I was provided, they're working with Remedios Custodio, it wasn't just coincidence that those priests were helping the attackers, this is much bigger and much worse than I had imagined." Neia said with an ominous voice. "Anyway, after we finished them off, the survivors fled South. Since people flee the routes they know, that means they almost certainly came from the South, and their camp was very well supplied, I am certain Remedios is directly receiving Theocracy support, and that she has a much, much bigger army out there somewhere. We absolutely cannot stay here." Neia said.
There was silence around the table. "Are the elves ready to act?" Neia asked.
"Not yet." Skana said.
"They just started making ladders and climbing ropes early this morning, it won't take long to make all that we're going to need, give it two days, but there isn't a chance in hell that they'll defeat the city guard without much more extensive training and much better equipment than what we could get our hands on here." Skana said.
"I can get some out by the main gate." Tinamoc said. "Nobody will check the wagons going OUT, so if I load it with the untrained and the children, and turn the goods I was going to use at the next stop into coin, well I can get a great many out, then all I have to do is turn North and head for Prart. If I leave early in the morning and we disguise a large number of elves as Black Justice warriors, and other mercenaries, I can get another hundred or so out. That way you can stay behind and help in the escape. Give me a day or two head start, then make your break for it." He said.
"I can send out advance riders to gather support from farther North to come and meet you as close to the border as you can get in that time." Tinamoc added.
"I'm not liking this." Neia said.
"Too many variables." CZ said.
"Got any better ideas?" Skana asked.
"No." CZ said.
"Then I'll convert goods to currency tomorrow." Tinamoc said, "And get to acquiring and disguising as many elves as I can. Day after tomorrow I'm getting out of here and I'll make my way past Yanana, I'll send a scout a head to see if they have a Black Justice branch there yet, and if they do I'll get help, if they don't, I'll bypass the city and head straight for the border and send someone to Prart to get people sent down here to get help to you."
Illyana started shaking, so much so that she spilled her drink on the table, her eyes took on a horrified look.
"You're going to leave me." She said softly. "Oh by the gods you're going to leave me..."
Neia and Skana looked at each other in confusion.
CZ said flatly, "She's right."
That prompted the two women to look at her in surprise. "What?" They said at the same time.
"She's right." CZ repeated.
Illyana spoke up, "When he leaves, you have to clear out the hotel, the other slaves your people have bought can be hidden at the warehouse, all he has to do is pay for a few days more of 'storage.' Her voice trembled as she managed to get the words out, her voice only just audible. "But I can't leave, if I run, they'll look for me, they might find the warehouse, or torture me to find out why I thought I could escape, and they're very good at torture, they might break me again, if they do...nobody will get out...you're...you're going to leave me here."
She shook more and more violently and her eyes went glassy with tears. "I'll be given to someone again...someone will make me do things I don't want to...but I've...this...it was a taste of freedom. How can I go back to...that." She said looking at the bed and finally breaking down so hard that she fell to the floor in sobs. "I can't...I can't go back. You'd do better to kill me than leave me, please believe it would be the greater kindness, if you'd never come, maybe I could have kept bearing all this, but I can't anymore, not anymore...not anymore." She choked out as she looked up at the women.
"Do it quickly, and I'll be free." She whispered. CZ pulled out her spell gun and leveled it inches away from Illyana's forehead.
"Wait!" Neia snapped. CZ didn't squeeze the trigger.
Skana was breathing hard, and Tinamoc sat stunned at the turn of events.
"There is another option." Neia said. "What if you got sick?" She asked.
"Sick?" Illyana asked.
"Yes, we can mix a low grade poison, something that mimics an illness, it only has to last for a day or two, you can say you got it from something you were made to do, will they pay to heal you right away?" Neia asked.
Illyana thought for a moment and then shook her head. "No, I'm expensive enough that they would pay for it, but not so irreplacable that they wouldn't wait to see if I get better on my own, there are plenty of us...but I guess...someone else will just suffer another two nights in my place." She said as she looked down in shame and dejection.
There were no happy faces at the table, but CZ moved to reholster her gun.
"It can't be helped, frankly you're the best trained of the Vines and we can't pull this off without you, we can't risk you getting hurt by a client and being unable to function." Skana said.
"She's right." Neia said, "But when the elves escape here, see if you all can bar the doors and burn the place down."
"With pleasure." Illyana said hatefully as her shaking began to subside ever so slowly.
...In the capitol of the Roble Holy Kingdom...King Caspond's chambers...
Caspond stretched out as he walked to the bed, it had been a very productive week, and a very productive day. The black book by his bed was a marvelous thing, and the 'dopple Caspond' had been duly impressed with the work of Neia Baraja, she had almost perfectly encapsulated what the Sorcerer King wished for the world at large, at least as far as a mere doppelganger could understand the will of a Supreme Being. He almost wished it didn't have to come to this, he'd have been overjoyed to drive the Kingdom headlong into the religion of the Sorcerer King, but it was what it was, and the matchless planning of his masters was finally coming due. He listened carefully, they were already climbing the tower, he could hear the 'clink, chink, clink, chink' of climbing spikes striking into the gaps in stone as the assassins hauled their way up. The guards below were definitely dead, he'd heard them die a few minutes ago, and now it was his turn to play his part, just as the assassins themselves unknowingly played their own role to perfection.
He pretended to read the book while his peripheral vision caught the sight of a gloved hand reaching over the window's ledge, he pretended to pay no mind until the figure was already inside, then he said, "What the..." and let his eyes go wide with shock as he jumped out of bed, a second, third, and fourth man were quick to follow the first, they wore black cloaks and black masks and carried short daggers and short swords.
"Time to die, your highness." The lead assassin said menacingly.
Dopple Caspond looked to the door as if to call for help, but a brief use of a swift martial art put one of the assassins between the King and the door. "Tut-tut, no getting out of this one highness." The man said politely. The doppelganger pretended to relax. "No I suppose not." He sighed and shook his head.
"Can I ask for three small favors first?" He said.
This was new, the assassins looked intrigued and the leader nodded politely, and even bowed, "Please feel free." He said.
"The first request, I ask that you give me your names and faces so I may carry those to the afterlife." He said.
The leader shrugged and lowered his mask, at his act, the other three did as well.
"Gartin." He said.
"Ginta." Said another.
"Inaba." Said the third.
"Keylor." Said the fourth.
"Thank you." The doppelganger said. "My second request is that you spare my face when you kill me, so that I make a respectable looking corpse."
The one called Gartin nodded politely. "Accept your death with grace, and your face will be left unmarked."
"Thank you." The doppelganger said. "My fourth request is the name of the one who is behind this."
"Count Handor." Gartin answered flatly.
"My final request is that my death be as painless as you can make it." The doppelganger said.
At that Gartin shook his head. "That I cannot give to you, he requested that your death be exceedingly painful, as much so as we could make it in the time we have."
Dopple-Caspond shook his head sadly. "Then I truly feel pity for what you will be made to endure because of this."
Gartin shrugged, "It isn't us you should be worrying about." He answered.
"Your loss." King Caspond responded, "Please permit me some feeble resistence before my suffering begins." He said politely.
It was the most bizarre sentence Gartin had ever heard, it was enough to shake him up and rethink everything...but a contract was a contract, and the King charged swinging a wild fist, only to lose his hand for his trouble and fall to the floor, before he could scream, Gartin was on him and gagged him with a cloth. The King writhed on the floor holding his wrist, and the rest of the assassins fell to work on him. Over the next four hours he was cut, stabbed, poked, lost fingers, toes, achilles tendon, tongue, and EVERY appendage, they made it as painful as possible for as long as possible, though they left his face alone...before finally slashing his throat and watching his mutilated corpse bleed out on the carpet. When he was absolutely, completely, totally dead...the assassins made their way out, leaving the body to be found in the morning. On the way out, Gartin casually grabbed the Black Justice holy book and threw it into his bag, and they lowered a rope and made their way back out the way they'd come. They were long gone before anyone discovered the body.
However, as soon as they were gone, Demiurge passed through a gate and stood looking down at the body of the doppelganger. "Enough overacting, get up." The demon bard said.
The doppelganger got up promptly as his limbs were restored to their natural almost formless malleable shape. "Well, that was interesting, that would have really hurt if they'd been using weapons capable of killing me. To bad they refused my offer of mercy though." The doppelganger said as Demiurge threw the wrapped up body of the real Caspond onto the floor where the doppelganger had been playing dead.
"Never mind that." Demiurge said, "Recreate your 'injuries' on that corpse and then lets get out of here, we can retrieve those four later, let them think they got away with it all for now."
"As you wish my lord." The doppelganger said, and he quickly went to work on the corpse and finished the task, within minutes, it appeared that the real Caspond had been utterly butchered by an assassin, and the two stepped through the gate and back to Nazarick.
