November 21st, 2008 by Chris Frost

As she walked on the road she saw in the distance the guard walls of Solcade. Unlike most walls, they weren’t patrolled by armed guard or mounted firing placements. It was anyone’s guess why the walls around the city were truly built, but for defense against a fierce force it was not. She walked along the side of the road, a path well worn into by locals who traveled into and out of the city to their farmland homes by foot. This allowed her to avoid the few travelers riding carriages or making deliveries in carriers and carts. By the look of it, Simona surmised it was nearing mid-day, as the height of the sun and amount of people she saw roaming about, and thought it was perfect timing. Just past the entrance of the walls, she walked past a small shop with its front door and cellar entry door wide open. Two men stood outside the store yelling at each other over what seemed to be a spilled container in the cellar that was creating quite a stench. Solcade had started as a small town of farmers and barterers, but that quickly gave way to ideas of selling more than foods and trinkets. Within only a few turns of its establishment, Solcade became a bristling city of merchants hawking all sorts of wares. The city was known as one of the places where, if one could not find what was wanted then it wasn’t likely for sale. Unlike Portcrest, it was not a port town with a harbor, though a harbor of a small town sat just a short distance off the city border. A deal was in works of merging the two into one major city, a move which would profit many, thought Solcade’s council men. However the current town keeper, a man in his elder years, did not like the idea as he was opposed to allowing any and everyone through his harbor. Restrictions had been set up by a keeper some lifetimes before of what ships and belonging to whom were allowed port. It was more of an aversion to anyone non human that drove the keeper; in contrast Solcade was open to all traders, merchants, or residents.

The bag Simona had slung over her shoulder swayed slightly in time with her hips as the heels to her black shoes clicked on the stone pavement. She decided to see a few merchant shops and dealers she was familiar with on the far west side of the city. That part of town was known as the seedier part of Solcade and was less frequented by everyone, even the locals. The doorknob to her first stop was dirty as usual, and upon opening the door she saw a portly man dressed in a dark brown worn leather vest, dingy white undershirt complimented by grime smudged brown pants. His sandals looked small for the feet they were squeezed into, and were as ill kept as the toes. He was tending to a sale, but it sounded more like the buyer was trying to haggle for a better price.

“It’s of no use. He may look like a pig but he’s as tenacious with a price as a starving dog.” Simona chimed in while looking around the tiny establishment. A smirk crawled slowly across the shopkeepers face accompanied by a forced cough and straightening of the shoulder, while the bargain hunter lowered his head slightly, looking more closely at what lay on the counter. After a moment of contemplation, the shopper waved a hand in frustration, reaching into his pocket and relieving it of some weight in coins onto the counter. With no hesitation the money was quickly swiped from the table and put into the shopkeepers’ bulky coin purse which hung lazily from his belt. Swinging open and shut they, Simona and the shopkeeper, were left alone amongst all the wares. The room was dimly as if by candle light but without any flames present. Along the walls, in various places, decorative wall brackets curled upwards looking to uphold a floating stone that glowed bright yellow like the flame of a candle. No flicker came from the stones though as Simona passed her hand along a worn antique standing mirror. It tilted back and forth effortlessly under her fingers, while putting a layer of dust to her fingertips. She walked over to the counter and watched as the shopkeeper returned from the back of his shop with a large chest pressed to his stomach that he held on either side and caused his coin purse and jewelry to jingle all the way to the counter. The chest landed on the counter from a heaving grunt by the man, and a thud of fullness from within.

“Mmm.” She purred. “What have you in there Ludo?”

Slightly out of breath he spoke brokenly, “Its…been…a while.”

“Yes, all the more for you to have time to get things of worth for me to take off your hands.”

“True.” and with that he stretched, reached into a vest pocket to get a key and began to work at opening the stubborn lock. “So what have you been up to Lady Simona?”

“The usual, yourself?”

“Same. Nothing changes so long as money is precedence.”

A clicking sound came, and the struggle against the lock was over for Ludo. He knew Simona was not one for small talk so he kept the pleasantries short.

“There have been a few things I’ve come across in my dealings, lady, that I thought may catch your eye.”

“And my money as well, yes?”

“Of course my lady, but with your interests in mind firstly. Oh, like this here!” Ludo said pulling out a sack that was half full of vials of various colored liquids. He explained how he had gotten them from an oils and perfumes maker in Ujuros and each color represented a mixture of oils taken from plants, common and rare, from all over the world. Further he went into his sales pitch by telling Simona that each had their own particular beautiful smell, but warned her though just as he was warned that some had peculiar reactions and that not all were tried out fully. The seductress was always weak for things such as these, placing them back into the sack and pushing it to the side. Ludo smiled knowing this was a sign of her approval.

“These. I got these from an unscrupulous man on the docks of Tuaro.” He said holding up a pair of fist daggers. The handle had a blade protruding from each end, curving around towards the direction of a third blade from the middle of the weapon. The edges were sharply serrated like thousands of beast-like teeth. Longer than the other two, the middle point was longer and straight edged, which was meant for piercing rather than cutting. Ludo pointed this out along with the well wrapped tan leather handle. Unimpressed Simona waved them off, and quickly they were put down only to be replaced by a pair of bejeweled gold earrings, claiming they were owned by Norheils former royal family’s daughter whom lost them whilst being chased from her lovers place by her fiancé whom was none too pleased to find out about her indiscretions. Once again she waved her hand and grew impatient, tapping her high heeled shoe on the floor.

“Is this all? I shouldn’t have wasted my time…”

“No no! Wait. This I was saving for last as it is the best.”

Simona tilted her head inquisitively. It took a moment before Ludo held up his final item of sale. Pushing the chest to the side, what he held in hand further unfolded from the chest, resting onto the counter. The piece of clothing he held in his hand looked close to a dark brown dyed full length corset made in two halves, an upper and lower, both of different materials. The upper, more elaborate part, was not made of any material to give the idea of flimsiness or delicacy, but rather looked to be made of an unyielding leather or scale. Attached to the bottom of the article was a length of cloth of somewhat similar color which piled up softly on the counter. Simona put the bag that was slung over her shoulder gently onto the floor at her feet and began to rub the crumpled up cloth in front of her. She was pleased with the quality of the fabric; this was shown as she began to smile. In-between her fingers she rubbed the material back and forth, feeling its smoothness like that of the finest silk, with no tears or stains. Her left hand then trailed up to the front to the rounded edge. All along the edge was detailed embroidery, of which she had never seen before. It looked as though they were words of some other language, though the room was too dimly lit for her to get a better look. Ludo put the garment on the counter and backed away, letting Simona take a better look, hoping to reel her in for a buy.

“It’s a bit rigid, Ludo.” She said.

“I know. Supposedly it belonged to the former queen of Durnst.”

“Former?”

Ludo grinned; claiming not to know the details other than the queen was murdered. Rumor was that her husband, the king who by tradition as was passed down through time held less authority than the queen, was behind the death. No proof was found though and at this very time the city lay in civil turmoil.

“Ludo, come now. You know more than you let on. If you didn’t you wouldn’t have your hands on this.”

“Don’t accuse me! I didn’t lay a hand on the woman.” He said with a bit of laughter mixed into his tone.

He was not lying, though he was not telling the whole truth. Simona shared a friendship with this trader and had to only prod him for the story. Surprisingly the whole event unfolded without his planning, he told her. Passing through the city to do his usual routine of wares hunting and trading, he was propositioned by a local to make a garment just like the queen was seen to wear. Not being familiar with the item in question he requested to know why and was told that it was a gift to a woman he admired. After a bit of negotiating price the task was undertaken. Ludo was not a master tailor but had skilled people in is employ and was known far and wide to have many materials at his disposal. The hard part was not the material as he came to find out, but rather finding out the design pattern. Without thinking, he managed to gain audience with Ei’shia’iz, the queen, though upon asking for the garment in question he was promptly told no for any reason at all and was escorted out of the palace. After much inquiry he heard a tale that the full length corset was the source of the queens’ power in Durnst. It had been in possession of the royal family going back six generations or so and with it a secret that stayed with them only. As with any long lasting thing stories and tales grow larger, losing a large amount of truth only to be embellished with lies, however what was interesting to hear to Ludo was the secret of the corset. Amongst the family it was called Rumintz, a name that bared no meaning in the Stonian language, but Ludo knew to seek out someone who would know its significance. In the mean time a worker of his kept a watchful scope on Ei’shia’iz and drew in great detail her piece whenever visible in public or from her palace, and to this was noticed that she was never seen without it on. In time the garment was being duplicated and just as it was finished he received a letter from a scroll-keeper from another city the meaning of the name, it was roughly translated into ‘thick sand skin’. Not knowing what it meant Ludo didn’t bother with trying to decipher it; rather he got in contact with his client. Quickly enough the commission was paid for, both parties satisfied and going about their ways. Just before leaving Durnst, as he was overseeing the loading of crates from the docks to his vessel he received a package in the form of a rather large sack. With it a letter, written in what looked to be some sort of sloppy haste. In the letter was stated that client changed his mind and found it too busy to send back the garment himself, thusly sending it by messenger. No refund requested nor exchange for anything.

Ludo said all this but left out a bit more detail, such as him staying just long enough after receiving the letter to hear of the ruling queens’ sudden death and her king taking full power over the city. Also left out was his inquiry to this “accident” as the members of the royal family and advisors put it, and how no action was taken into finding her murderer. In addition Ludo would have wagered, in his own mind and never out loud of course, that his former client looked very close to a right hand servant of the king, though Ludo never got a good look from the twice they met each other in the dimly lit drinks and incense tavern.

Soon after his ship was unloaded in town he took an inspection of the items he had acquired, as he had always done. Purposely he left the girdle for last to look at it closely to see if it had been tampered with or altered in any way. To his surprise he noticed the garment was not of his making whatsoever. By a quick glance it may have passed as his replica but by just passing his hands over it he felt the material was very different. The fabric was no longer stiffly underlined but rather the exterior was itself firm, almost as if it were made of some large hard scales. He then thought back to the description from the translator, ‘stone skin’. He knew of no creature that possessed such a type of skin, further he wondered to it truthfulness. Taking a dagger from his work room, he placed the article front side up, flat on a clear table. Alone, he laughed at himself thinking he would end up ruining a fine piece and a possible sale just to satisfy curiosity. After a second thought and a third he stabbed hard into the piece with his eyes closed and ran the point from his left to right. Breathing out, he slowly opened his eyes to see he hadn’t even left a score on the girdle. With widened eyes he ran the knife over it repeatedly, and was met with the same outcome. Thoughts raced through his mind as to the meaning of what he now knew. The death of the queen was in fact an assassination, his previous client a tool to the king’s plot and Ludo a pawn to it. On his table lay the true reason of the families reign till just recently, as it was a protection for each queen. The replica somehow was swapped with the real one and allowed her to be murdered. Ludo swallowed hard and thought it best to not return to Durnst for a while, make no mention of his travel there if at all possible and to not even think of the place or anything that may have occurred there.

“It’s quite beautiful yes?” Ludo asked.

Simona smiled and nodded as she held the piece as high as she could off the counter.

“Well it’s not only wonderful item suited for a woman of your exquisiteness but it’s also very unique in quality. You see, this here is well over three ages old.”

“What?!?”

“Yes. I know. It looks as if it were made only days ago. And to make it further appealing, it’s impervious to most kinds of damage.” he added trying to assure the sale.

“So a gifted made this?” She didn’t trust the strength of gifted imbued clothing, as most were precarious at best.

Ludo explained he was not sure but did not believe it to be enhanced in any way by magic, but rather made of the skin of a rare, possibly a long vanished, beast. Door hinges to the shop creaked loudly telling the two that there were ears and eyes in the room with them now. Trying to appear to be busy, Ludo stood up straight and began to place items away while Simona placed the garment on the counter to fold it away.

“So did you find everything to your liking?” Ludo inquired.

“As usual.” she replied. “What would the asking price be?”

The patron whom entered was elbow deep in a barrel of colored stone, and seemed to be paying neither of them any mind.

As Simona began to reach to her coin pouch, held in a tight spot behind the belt around her waist, Ludo quietly told her that her money wasn’t as useful as her connections would be to him.

“Right now, the orb in my air-carrier is running low on energy and I can’t seem to find a talented person to restore it.” he explained with a bit of a smirk.

Nodding, Simona responded, “I told you that thing would be troublesome did I not? Well anyway I think that’s a fair deal. I’ll have a gifted stop by here in two days time.”

With that she placed the vials of liquids and powders and the garment into the sack on the floor, slung it over her shoulder once more and made her way to exit the shop.

“Don’t cause any trouble out there.” Ludo said as a ritual goodbye to Simona.

“I won’t have to, you do it for me.” she, like always, retorted.

A good amount of time was spent in the shop, as she saw the sun beginning to fall behind the taller buildings in the city and soon behind its walls. Meeting up with the gifted would have to wait till the following day as she still wanted to get in touch with her local lookout, catch up on the on-goings of various places and peoples, and finally to end her night have a fine meal accentuated by a hot bath. Trying out one of her newly acquired fragrances in the soaking made her plans even more enticing. The alleyway echoed of clicks from the heels of her shoes, drawing looks from beggars, passerby’s and the like. Known to be the worst of the streets in this seedy part of the city, many who valued their life and belongings did not use this shorter route from the entrance of city to the more patrolled and well lit. Many of the doors dented and scratched, some even hung off the hinges; none gave the hint of safe haven. A few stairways she passed descended alongside buildings into shadowed worlds filled with murderers and thieves. Eyes would glint of dying light, following all who walked along the cobble stones. A few quickly caught sight of Simona and hung on to her while more soon added, soon the eyes pulled from the darkened corners attached to crooked faces, twisted with vile purpose. The clicks from her heels began to have sounds of heavy footing and faint snickering in accompaniment.

“Lookie this fellas. I think she here dun know where she at. Maybe we best fill er in.” a gruff snide male voice said as it echoed along the walls.

Simona stopped and hung her head, the black hair veiling her face. Quickly she was surrounded by a handful of grinning men.

“If whats in the bag is what you want you can have it. I doubt you’d get much for any of it anyway.” she said calmly.

Some of the group laughed. “Maybe so. That still dun pay us for you walking through our street ere. I thinks you’ll be giving us a proper introducin to ya.” the same voice replied.

More menacing laughter bounced off the buildings surrounding them, accentuated by the scrapes of thick pieces of wood and metal chains clanging off each other.

“A proper introduction is it?” she repeated with a low tone.

Full of forceful meaning, the right hand of the outspoken leader of the mob reached forward to grab hold of the ill-fated woman. Sounds of bone crunching and cracking came next, produced by the same hand and wrist being curled in an unnatural way backwards by Simona’s grip around the fingers. It happened with such speed that the howl of pain came seemingly delayed, as if the mind had not expected such a thing to happen and was ignoring the reality that this woman in all her anger broke bones effortlessly and in this case without looking. Her head had not turned from the direction of the main street, though her blue eyes turned to the right side of her face becoming half circles affixed on her aggressor. As if all the ability to stand just emptied from his body, the thug dropped to his knees, his screams finally catching up with his present situation causing his cohorts to back away slightly. With her head now raised, hair cleared from in front of her face, the anger that rose quickly within her showed itself in her appearance. Before her anger could manifest itself fully, one of her attackers was snatched off his feet, flung into a shadowed wall by a darkened figure that also held another of the group in a strong choke hold from behind. Those of the group still conscious, still standing or otherwise unhurt made a sloppy, trip induced flee for hideouts.

“I am sorry mistress, my lateness is inexcusable.” said the dark figure who slowly walked forward, thug held in arm well off the ground. His height was intimidating all by itself, standing at barely over six and a half feet with a muscular build that lead to enhance the intimidation. Gloves fit on his hands, though they looked to be a bit smaller than snug when he closed them to fists. Slicked back in a sea of gray-silver his hair did not move out of place, nor did he move in an awkward way to undo it. Hidden behind dark iron worker goggles and gray cloth, his face was a mystery to all, except his employer who had only seen it once, when they first met.

“The situation was well in hand Gikon. Thank you all the same.” Simona responded while glaring at her original aggressor. Her anger flared while looking on him as he whined and cried out of pain coupled with fear.

“Moments ago you were seeking to make me cry and fear you, were you not?” she asked, her voice unforgiving and each word poison filled. The answer, mumbles of apologies mixed terribly with tears and snot filled cries, only led to push her anger over her limit.

“You and your brood are a waste. I’ll do the women of this world a favor.” Her action was swift, almost as if fate made it impossible for anyone in this position to avoid. She reached for the slit in her skirt, where the bladeless hilt of a sword lay in a small strap tied to her thigh, and in one smooth motion she swiped from head to the ground beneath his crotch. A bluish light flashed from out the slit in the hilt, pierced the back of the skull and cut effortlessly through flesh and bone, down the middle of the thug to the ground leaving only slight mark in the cobblestone before retracting into the hilt. Split in half, the thug fell over messily onto the ground, blood and entrails still beating and seeping out. Held firmly in-between forearm and thickened bicep, the last remaining mugger, attempted a futile struggle for release with legs flailing for the ground and hands attempting to pull the arm away that constricted against his throat. Slowly the struggling died down as only tiny gasps of air were given to his lungs.

“You had not shown up yet. I grew worried for your safety as all I thought was the worst had happened…” he was not able to finish before Simona held up her palm silencing him instantly.

Simona collected herself, adjusting clothes to be snug and looking like nothing had disrupted her in anyway, and walked over to the remaining thug.

“So you wanted to take something that was not yours to have. You use rough voices, gang numbers, intimidation and this…” she grabbed his groin and squeezed fiercely forcing a loud yell out of him, “to get what you don’t deserve.”

Writhing in pain, his legs still swung wildly while his fists and elbows tried jabs but finding still no give or release. A look of confusion began to form on his face as he felt a strange heat build in his crotch, soon accompanied by the weak smell of burning. He couldn’t look down, though he tried, to see what all was being done to him. It was as if someone was quickly rubbing a sanding belt along his inseam, looking to strike up a fire. Smoke, broken up and wafting, rose up his nose and along his face widening his eyes when he realized his pants somehow were being lit on fire. Simona’s grip tightened as she looked into those panicked eyes, she wanted nothing more than to make him wish he’d never been born.

“I’ll take from you what you your ego, your masculinity, and your pride. Every time you go to bare yourself before a woman you will feel disgusting and useless, and in many ways less than a person. You will be mocked and will hate yourself, and know this is only but a small portion of what you have done to others.” as each word left her mouth the fire from her hand intensified, the sensation of heat turning into a full on fire that was consuming his waist, though her hand had not let go and looked itself to be made of fire. The burning of flesh made her words sear themselves into his memory. Gikon dropped his captive to the ground, to which the man continued his echoing screams while rolling back and forth on the ground.

The stench of burning flesh began to fill the alley, “Come Gikon.” and Simona picked up her bag to make her way out of the area and to an establishment she frequented when in Solcade.

Gikon quickly made his way in front of her to hold the door open, to which he followed closely behind her while looking around the room. Without any attendance, Simona made her way to her usual spot that was never used by anyone but her. The tables all around the room, covered in fine white cloths were all seated by patrons and even a few who stood next to the door waiting to be seated. The sack she carried sat next to her in the booth, while Gikon stood like he was prone to doing.

“Gikon, would you please sit? You know I always tell you to and it’s becoming a chore.”

“I do only to bring respect you, as you are much..” he began to speak from behind his covering.

“Yes yes but seriously, enough. Sit.” her tone was light, as she already knew why he did such things there was little she could do to change it but threaten his life, and it was not that large of a deal for that.

A dark bottle was brought to her table by a gentleman who was too well dressed to be any of the normal help in the restaurant. He also placed a fine wide rimmed glass just in front of her and a cloth lined basket that normally was used for the bread sat at other tables. In the basket folded letters, some of which looked a little scuffed up from travel. Gikon sat across from her, almost on the edge of the seat watching her begin with glee to open the reports. The first one she opened, her eyes moving quickly from left to right, then without response folded the letter and moved on to the next. She did this for the next few until only four were left, these were sealed in a clear wax bearing a fancy ‘S’. Gikon opened the bottle in front of her to pour a lightly purple tinted drink into the glass she held in her hand. With the other hand she reached for a sealed letter, placed it seal side up with her finger hovering over it. The wax began to liquefy, into a dark brown color then quickly evaporating into thin white smoke. Unfolding itself the letter opened up in front of Simona, the letters on the page in black writing instantly raised itself off the page and hovered in the air at an angle as if being held upright to be easier to be read. Simona read over it, while taking sips of her drink. The levitating words moved up slowly when touched until it reached its end where a small simply drawn eye blinked. Touching this eye made all the lifted ink-like words flow to the middle, melding together then quickly breaking apart to draw a moving scene in front of her. Taking in a long sip from her drink she held it off to the side at which Gikon refilled her glass. The scene looked of a black inked busy street of people all crowded around a smoking crashed steam machine. Focusing the scene the ink shifted to show a closer look at a young man, lying on his back on the ground. After a few moments the ink swirled itself back into the beginning words of the letter floating in the air, slowly lowering back to the parchment and folding on its own. Pursing her lips, ‘I doubt this is anything to look into.’ she thought. Moving on she did the same with the last three letters, each showing some event that was recorded with her scouts specially made lenses. She was shown scenes of a sailing vessel being raided by thieves of some sort from another vessel, a civil uprising in the city of Durnst, and finally a group of Chapter knights executing someone while bodies lay visibly seen through the open doorway of a home. The body turned to ash after a huge runed blade cracked through the ground, nearly cutting the body in two. None of these captured her interest but she was now aware of what was happening to places she may have to go.

“Gikon.”

He looked at her through his tinted goggles.

“Send a message to Idlon. His services will be needed for an energy restore to Ludo’s air-carrier, his asking price will be paid of course.”

Gikon stood and began to turn as she continued, “Also, we need a gifted, one who specializes in bringing back the dead. The Ruzi siblings may know where one is.”

“I will make arrangements for us to go to them.” he replied with a nod.

“No.” she shook her head. “No need to warn them, I’m sure they won’t have issue with giving whereabouts of such.”

With a final nod Gikon left, Simona would have a fine dinner with her drinks and finish her evening with a hot bath in her private suite in the stay across the street.

* * * * * * * * *

Filthide sat slumped in his throne that at the moment felt uncomfortable. He hated fighting, especially when there was nothing done against him personally. He wasn’t like other Torocs, even if he was their current king. Fighting just wasn’t him; he preferred not to be where the entire ruckus was going on. If he did have to be there, he would most likely rather be standing to the side behind a large object and covering his eyes. He was now the king of this large clan and servant to the Master so there was no avoiding this war. If he disobeyed, he would die, going into this war against the Velurians he would probably die. Feeling like there was no way out of this situation without somehow meeting his demise.

His throne room was cool, and a bit damp, but then again so was the rest of his underground kingdom. Other Torocs walked around going about their business preparing for the upcoming war, getting and sharpening weapons like axes and spears. Their king, however, wasn’t at all anxious about it; he didn’t even want to see a sword in somebody else’s hands.

One of his armies’ generals walked into his throne room after being summoned quite a few times. Torocs were hardheaded peoples sometimes, and King Filthide knew this after all he was this lots leader. The general was not all that distinguished looking, only wearing a dull, dented horned helmet and some filthy clothes. The only thing that could separate him from the others was his spear. He carried it all times showing his rank. It was nine feet in length made of wood, braced with steel with carvings on a human skull just below the blade. Various colored feathers adorned the skull further showing his stature. No other Torocs were allowed to carry his spear unless he died and who ever were lucky enough to be there to pick it up would then take his place.

The general stood before Filthide,”You asked fer me?”

“Have the Velurians given their answer yet?” the king inquired.

“Not yet sir.”

“Is your army ready?”

He stood straight for a moment excited at the thought of a battle. “Yes we are! Jus give the word.” The general was just a bit too excited for Filthides taste.

The king wiggled uncomfortably in his chair. “Fine. We attack them then. Prepare your troops.” his voice trailing off. He hated to hear those words come out of his mouth but it was either die out there in war or by the hands of a creature he feared.

The general nodded and ran to inform his troops that the siege orders have been given.