Fate - First Reply Wrongdoing

[Jane]

Wouldn't be the first time Jane ended up in a jail cell. Heh, Mainlanders. To be fair, yes, all those other times she was drunk and disorderly. But not this time. Hell, she just got here in Yarrick. Some little outta the way goatfuck town east of the Bystra River, south of the Wda, and west of the Spine; just so happened to be on her way to elsewhere.

So she's sitting down at the local tavern, because that's what you do, right. Land travel was different than sea travel that way: you drank in different towns and villages instead in the same galley every night. So she gets in there. Can't hardly put her ass on a stool and tease the barkeep and eye some other out-of-towner and get some kind of dinner in her (let alone a nice beer), when the local lawman shows up. Introduces himself--Mingus Drevor, what a name, would've done him a lot of good to be born into slavery in Cerak and to get a decent generic one like Jane. So he introduces himself, politely and all. Older man. Didn't even have his hand on the hilt of his sword. Know what he said?

"I'm terribly sorry. But..." Right here he let a big sigh, "...I have to place both of you under arrest. There's been a robbery, and we know a newcomer did it, and...well we have to get this sorted out."

What do you do? Other than cast a glance off to your fellow out-of-towner, your apparent partner in crime that didn't happen, and then grin back at old Mingus and say, "How about I take my dinner into the jail, you pay for the beer, and you won't get any grief from me."

Well. Mingus, looking like he hardly wanted to even be in the damn tavern doing something like this, readily agreed. And wouldn't you know it, the other out-of-towner agreed to come along in peace too--company's grand. As much fun as a tavern brawl would have been, Astra tended to look down on those, and Jane's flagellation tally was actually clean for once.

So here Jane was now. Sitting in Yarrick's little jail cell with the other lucky out-of-towner, sans sword, shield, and whip but lawman Mingus let her keep her armor. She had her plate of chicken breast and potatoes, and precisely one mug of beer resting on the floor next to her. Sorting out this whole robbery misunderstanding could come later, with Astra's grace.

To her fellow jailed out-of-towner, she said, "Hey. You got a name, sailor?"

 

[Khari]

Khari was practically smouldering.

If it hadn't been for her Mother-The Dynast's command she would have slaughtered the fucking sheriff...or whatever the hell he was the moment she'd been accused of the crime. The glamor she wore would only last another few hours, and there was no doubt that the damned retainers of the man she had just killed would be rolling through this village in search of her in no time at all.

If her magic wore off before then and they found Khari here they would no doubt string her up. The retainers would be easy enough, but the bastards would probably have a mage-breaker with them.

She grit her teeth quietly.

Sometimes The Daemonette wondered why she wasn't simply given impunity. Why did she always have to suffer the lives of the lower, the peasants. It would have been so much easier if she could just slaughter whoever stood in her way. Though that would hardly sit well with the people, and when they got ornery there was rebellion.

Khari huffed quietly. "I'd hardly say I'm a sailor."

With the glamor still clinging to her form she looked more a farmers daughter with bright red hair than she did sailor. The simple expression obviously lost on her.

"More of an innocent maid wrongly imprisoned!" She shouted down the hall as if the protest would merit something.

 

[Jane]

More of an innocent maid wrongly imprisoned!

Jane got a good laugh out of that. "Toss me a broom, put me to work, and that'll make two of us."

Maid. That was Mainlander-speak for slave so far as Jane had gathered. Maybe some kind of specific slave. There was probably a reason all of the, what, two or three Jane had seen were female. Well, if there were male maids, they were likely the type who were quite breakable. And she liked breakable.

But who knew. Maybe her cellmate was as much a maid as she was a sailor, but what they did hold in common was Old Mingus grabbing the two of them instead of whoever the hell actually did the thing. Robbery, or whatever it was. Her cellmate didn't look like much of a drinker (maybe Jane herself didn't at first glance), so she probably didn't get tipsy and do something fun like that.

Jane set the wooden plate of dinner down in her lap and took off her gauntlets and set the armor pieces down next to her. Started casually eating some of the chicken breast.

"Save some of that fire for when Mingus gets back and tells us he fucked up." (Damn it, that's one on the tally.) "I get the right side of his face, you got the left--I'm trying to work on my left hook."

She took a bite.

"Name's Jane," she said with a full mouth. Then she chewed. Swallowed. "Where were you heading off to? You know, before Mingus singled out us innocent maids for a night in jail."

Khari

 

[Khari]

"Kha-" She cut herself off for a second. "Khali."

Yes.

Fake names were not really her thing. She was an assassin, not a spy nor the sort to hide who she actually was. Even the Glamor was not her own magics, something that had been created by the court mages back in Dornoch rather than what she created.

Yet this time it was different, she had to hide herself away. "I was returning to Dornoch."

Honesty was often the greatest deception.

"Returning to my Master's Estate." Another small technical truth. She sighed and then slowly pulled herself away from the bars, dragging herself towards the bench at the other end of the cell.

She had to think of a way out. "What about you?"

Perhaps her cellmate could help.

 

[Jane]

Dornoch. No idea where that was. Of course, Jane didn't know a whole lot about either Liadain or Epressa, and couldn't be arsed to look at a map without tunnel vision or for more than four seconds. So she just guessed it was close by.

Returning to my Master's Estate, Khali said. Jane gave her a look of pleasant surprise, like she was an old friend in disguise and the mask had just come down. "Ah. I didn't know you were a slave. I thought Mainlanders looked down on that shit." And another for the tally. Heh, guess she wasn't kidding when she said she was a maid. And maids apparently really were fancy kinds of slaves, how about that. "Hope you got a plan already to kill that Master of yours."

But anyway, now it was starting to make some sense--at least to Jane. She had no idea how in the immortal hells Old Mingus could've known that Jane was a former slave and Khali was a current slave, but it sure explained why the two of them had been treated like horseshit as soon as they had gotten into Yarrick. Something gone wrong in town, eh? Blame the slaves. Not even their slaves, blame us anyway.

Jane held out her dinner plate toward Khali, giving it an inviting little lift, "Want some?"

Maybe she did. Maybe she didn't.

"And me, I was heading back to another town around here--Guillotine. Off to visit some friends of mine there: drink, catch up, have a good time. Last time I was there a bunch of demons ransacked the place. Heh, maybe if I'm lucky it'll happen again."

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari shook her head at the woman in denial of food.

She was...strange to say the least, and her usage of the word 'mainlander' denoted than she was likely from one of the islands that sat around the continents. The Dynast had a map of known Arethil, something made by the cartographers guild of Alliria. As a girl she had been fascinated by it.

Her complexion narrowed things down a little, but Khari's guess as to where 'Jane' was from would have been about as helpful as he trying to define one cuisine from another. That was to say; almost entirely pointless. Not that it really mattered.

"I'm not a slave." She was, in all truth, though she had never really considered herself such.

The Dynast provided her with a palace, servants, food, every luxury that one could ever dream of. A gilded cage was still a cage though. Even if it was nicer to look at. "I'm a servant, paid."

She explained, though there wasn't really much of a difference.

"And I have to get back." Her voice eeked slightly. "And get out of here before dawn."

 

[Jane]

Not a slave. Oh. Oops. It was still a touch odd for Jane to try to make sense of servants (the word itself fairly new to her) getting paid. So servants had masters, but the masters paid them. Imagine that. Instead of the crack of a whip it was the glimmer of a coin that kept the servants working. But maybe it was that glimmer that kept the masters from being killed by a bitch like Jane.

"Hm. Well. Hope you kill him anyway. Nykios give you the strength."

She brought the plate back into her lap. Had a few more bites and tried a gulp of the beer (how did she know it was going to be godawful?) as Khali expressed her need to get out of here soon. Fair point. Jane wasn't intending on staying for more than a night in Yarrick herself. Jail, inn, it didn't matter so much where she rested her head, but she didn't want to stick around. Unless Yarrick was in imminent danger of being ransacked by demons--that'd at least liven the snoozing town up.

Still, the way Khali said it, the enticing unanswered question. Might as well bite. Figuratively.

"Before dawn. What happens at dawn? Do you burst into flames?" Jane chuckled some. Khali had the hair for it. Lovely shade of red, that. Ah, Jane would've killed to have hair like that. And, incidentally, she did once before when she was with the Sisters: got her hair drenched in a sacrifice's blood. He was a healthy lad, a real squirter, and no mistake. It was nice to live out a fantasy on occasion.

"Ah, who am I kidding? That's preferable to two nights in Yarrick with their shitty beer."

Three on the tally. And probably four for thinking about that thing with her bloodied hair and the sacrifice and loving it.

Khari

 

[Khari]

Even the idea of killing the Dynast made her queasy. The thought was so foreign, strange, that she couldn't even really conceive of it. There were dozens of people in Dornoch alone who would see her Majesty dead, but Khari was most certainly not one of them.

She frowned for a moment and shook her head. "No."

The glamor would wear off and Khari would be left having to explain why she had violet lines, red etched skin, and demon horns. Most peasants did not take kindly to her appearance, even less so when they realized what she was capable of.

Of course, that alone wasn't her only problem. The Retainers were undoubtedly on their way, searching, hunting.

Khari had no desire to face them either.

"That's just my timetable okay." Khari said as she began to look around the cell. Her eyes peered towards the ground. "Help me find..."

She trailed off as she leaned down to pick up a piece of straw, throwing it away a second later. "Help me find a piece of metal, the thinner the better."

 

[Jane]

No. Huh. Alright. Guess Khali liked it. Who was Jane to judge? She sure as hell wasn't on some quest to end slavery or servitude and all of that. She didn't kill the Eunuch for anyone but herself. If her fellow slaves had taken advantage of the opportunity and got the hell out, good for them. If not, wasn't Jane's problem.

That's just my timetable okay.

Jane gave a nod. Took another big bite of her chicken breast. "I hear you."

When you gotta go, you gotta go. Though it would've been a crazy sight to just see Khali burst into flame. Not a very fun way to go, not even bloody enough to be enjoyable to watch, but a spectacle nonetheless. But enough of that. It was a facetious remark, and Khali had moved onto something else.

Looking for a piece of metal. Maybe she had a fancy wizard's trick up her otherwise unassuming sleeve. Or it had nothing to do with magic at all, and was instead a trick of the trade; her trade most certainly not being farming, as it might look at first blush.

"Nah. If I keep praying to Astra, she'll deliver us," Jane said, taking the time to finish off her plate of poultry and potatoes and to set the emptied plate down next to her.

Then she reached up. Inside the throatguard of her armor. And she took off a necklace, the amulet of which had been resting inside the nook of her throatguard, and held it up for Khali to see. The necklace itself was a leather strap but the amulet--the symbol of Astra--was metal.

She grinned. "Hey. Look. It worked. This thin enough for you?"

Khari

 

[Khari]

She blinked for a moment.

Religion to her was an anathema. She did not understand it, nor did she really 'get' why anyone would want to follow an invisible thing in the sky. Wasn't a god just another form of slave master?

Lips thinned, and she bit her tongue so that she did not spit out such words. The Daemonette had an inkling that insulting someones god was not the way to make friends with them. Particularly when they were offering their help.

Small as it was. "Y-yes."

Khari confirmed with a nod of her head as she reached out and grasped the small amulet.

The symbol would do, though as she turned around and walked towards the door Khari began to bend the metal slightly so that it would better suit her purposes. Lips thinned for a moment, and she peered down both ends of the hall before her hand slipped through the bars.

A quiet metal on metal scraping sound could be heard as she slipped the bent symbol into the lock of the door. Seconds passed, a minute, and then a quiet click echoed in the silence of the cell before a creak rang from the hinges of the cell door and it fell open.

 

[Jane]

Jane watched from her seat on the floor. Took a few more gulps of her shitty Yarrick beer because why the hell not. She looked on with eyes entertained by what Khali was attempting to do. Seemed farfetched. Terribly difficult at least, like trying to keep a good goddamn course in the middle of a fierce summer squall at sea. Even if this lockpicking effort didn't amount to much, well, it sure drove home the point that Khali wanted to get clear of Yarrick by dawn.

Click.

Correction. That drove home the point even more than the fact of the attempt.

"You actually got that to work?" Jane stood up, leaving the mug of half-finished beer on the floor. "Call me impressed. With skills like that, getting an extra coin or two from your Master is probably no big feat, huh."

Khali could interpret that however she liked. Just so long as she got one over on her Master from time-to-time. Wouldn't it be something though if Khali had a tally of her own--self-flagellation or whatever punishment suited her Master--to keep whenever she tried and didn't succeed. Sometimes pay, or bespoke armor and divine blessings, those things you get for the work you do, didn't mean you were free. (careful.)

Abandoning the thought, Jane walked up beside Khali. Held her hand up in an expectant way for her amulet back--however dinged up it was. She said in a low, conspiratorial voice that was not shed of an accompanying grin of victory, "Now we just show ourselves out. Nice and casual."

She got precisely one step out of the cell when the front door of the constable's office opened, and in stepped Old Mingus, clearly visible down the one end of the hall. Jane looked at him. He looked at her.

And Mingus said, "Well, I suppose you've beaten me to it."

Jane flicked her eyes to Khali.

Mingus swept his hands to indicate a table unseen, obscured by the corner of the hall from the jail that led into the office. "Your weapons are right here, if you'd like to come collect them."

He had this look on his face. Like he wanted to ask something, but didn't know how exactly to ask it.

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari had no weapons of course, never did, but she did hand Jane back her pendant before she stepped out towards Mingus.

The glamor seemed to flicker slightly, shifting over her face as she wandered towards the Sheriff. The expression she held was one of barely contained rage. Fire was alight behind her eyes, and she looked up at the man with a scowl. "Now What."

She put extra emphasis on the word.

"The fuck." The Daemonette had often been insulted. She had been called inhuman, demonic, evil, and a cannibal more than once. She had tried to make the argument that if she was a demon then eating people wasn't technically cannibalism, but of course that had never really helped the moment.

Despite now, the way she looked at Mingus was like a Dragon looked at a morsel of meat that had been laid out properly just for it.

"Was this about?" She hissed. "Why would you take two innocent women and lock them up like cattle? Hm?"

Her fingers seemed almost like razors.

 

[Jane]

Jane casually strolled on down to the table in the office area to pick up her sheathed sword, her whip, and her shield. Took her time doing all of that. Khali was the one in a hurry, might as well let her have her way with Old Mingus first. A little unspoken agreement between two fine, innocent maids, if Jane said so herself. And she did say so.

Khali asked him the pertinent question. And Mingus answered her like the sadsack he was, slumped shoulders and all.

"I knew neither of you did no robbery. Knew it 'fore I even stepped in the door of the tavern. Did some following up on it, and...there wasn't no damn robbery to begin with. Just a foolish misunderstanding between neighbors."

Mingus let out a frustrated sigh. Somewhat nervous, somewhat beseeching, and a touch frightened (he had seen that odd flicker across the girl's face), he said, "But Lord Cyprus--the Lord who owns the land of Yarrick and another few towns, mind--ordered me and my men to just pin it on some newcomers, some folks just passing through, and be done with the problem."

Jane, finally finished with collecting her gear, came strolling over beside Khali to confront Mingus. "I've got a heel that I'd love to grind into this Cyprus guy's chest. Maybe some other choice spots."

With no small amount of relief, Mingus said, "Well good. Because he's got it coming, or something like it. Our Lord is a man who spits in the face of his own people, ya hear? He's corrupt. Done this sort of thing before, and other such injustices over the years. He cares about one thing only: playing the game of nobility. That's it. And this whole thing happened with you two simply because he didn't want to look bad in front of his fellow lords and ladies at that gala he's throwin' tonight. He don't give a damn about the common man. We've all put up with this for a while now, and it's just gotten too bad."

Mingus lifted his hands in exasperation and then let them fall back down and clap against his thighs. "We've had it--I ain't the only one. Somethin's gotta be done, and..."

He looked to Jane. To Khari.

"...I know I'm in a sore spot to even ask this of you two, but...can you help us?"

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari glanced towards her cellmate for a moment, finding the woman doing the exact same thing.

From Jane's earlier rhetoric it wouldn't be hard to guess that she would agree to this little farce. It seemed the woman was all for murdering the upper classes. Lips thinned for a brief moment, and she looked away from Jane and towards Mingus.

The desperation on the man's face was almost...pathetic. "Fine."

For a few seconds a decision seemed to roll around her thoughts, and then she made up her mind. Teeth clicked, fingers snapped, and then suddenly an odd sort of wave rolled across her flesh. A wave of blue light seemed to peel away across her, face changing and shifting.

The glamor that had been concealing her true form slowly fell away. Pale skin with lines of glowing red revealed themselves. Bright violet eyes with a hue of lilacs appeared, and then finally the horns upon her skull began to grow out.

"But I'm doing it at myself." She pointed at Mingus. "And you're going to help me with something when I'm done...we're done."

Who better to mislead the Retainers than the town's official sheriff?

Much better than just acting as a little maid girl.

 

[Jane]

Now this was a surprise. Jane swished her tongue from the inside of one cheek to the other as Khali's magical disguise melted away, and the unassuming woman turned into...well, not that much different, to be honest, but a woman--human or not--with actual horns was new. She lost her hair that was that lovely shade of red, but in its place were those curious glowing red markings on her face, and that was fine, just fine with Jane.

"I don't know what the fuck you are, but I like it," Jane said, grinning. And there went another flogging onto the tally. She'd started the day off so good too.

Mingus was certainly taken aback, not quite expecting the transformation. He shied away just slightly in apprehension, back pressed up against the office's front door, but came around after the moment passed. "As yourself. Y-Yes, that's alright. And whatever it is that you need, I'd be grateful. The folks of Yarrick would be grateful."

"You're grateful. We get it. So where is this 'Lord' Cyprus? You said something about a gala." Whatever the hell a "gala" was. "I can't kill him for you." A thumb pointed over to Khali. "She can, but I can't. But I can step on him a good few times. A little humiliating revenge for the grief he's caused Yarrick, before she does her thing. She's crazy--I've seen it."

A sly smirk to Khali. Might as well build on the mystique from her magical reveal and impress Old Mingus further; there really was no such thing as making someone too pliable.

Mingus held up his hands as if suing for peace. "Now, now, now I ain't...ain't asking you to kill nobody. Not if..."

You don't want to. Words unsaid by his lips, but most definitely said by the particular look in his eyes. It was clear that Mingus, and whoever else was fed up with Lord Cyprus's rule of Yarrick, were just shy of open revolt and firmly at the position of if something "tragic" happens to Cyprus, then oh, too bad for him, and hush hush, lucky us.

Jane shrugged. "How do you expect your Lord problem to be gone otherwise?"

"Well, it's what you said, Miss--"

"Jane."

"--Miss Jane--"

"No, just Jane."

"Oh. Alright. It's what you said, Jane. You could..." He glanced at Khali, "do that, or, you could humiliate him. Badly. In front of all of his family--of which he is most certainly the black sheep, mind. That, and in front of all the regional aristocracy he's brown-nosing with. Do it well enough and I tell you he'll be replaced tomorrow with his younger brother who isn't such a damn prick--pardon my words."

Jane sucked on her teeth in consideration. Really, it was a delicious choice either way. The surprises kept rolling in, huh. First the arrest, then the lockpicking, then Khali's disguise, and now getting to choose how some asshole Lord gets his comeuppance.

One was easier, and hopefully bloodier. The other was funnier, if trickier. Both could involve forcing Lord Cyprus to lick her toes before it was over--it has been a while.

Jane looked over to Khali. "You're the one with the timetable. What suits you?"

Khari

 

[Khari]

"I'll kill him." Khari said with a finality that seemed to end all question of the problem at all.

Subtlety was, entirely possible of course, but not really an option. Ruining the man's reputation would no doubt be fruitful, but if all the town wanted was him to be replaced by his brother than it was easier to lean into what Khari was actually good at.

Which was of course, murder.

Assassination was the kinder term, though many people would not make the distinction.

"Where does he live?" He asked. "What does he have for security?"

As she looked around for a moment Khari stopped herself. "And I need a knife."

That was strictly not true, she could do without it and just use her magic, but a knife would be nice at least. She had left hers behind after her target had been killed, mostly because it would have been hard to claim herself as a maidservant while carrying a blade.

 

[Jane]

Khali had great taste. It needed to be said.

"You have great taste."

There. Said. She had jumped right to the bloodier option, and said it with a dedicated firmness that just precluded any other suggestions. There was still plenty of room for a little humiliation too, if all went well. Maybe Astra would frown on what Jane was about to be engaged in, but a petition to Metisa--hey, this asshole Cyprus is making a mockery of civilization, he needs some heel-shaped rectifying--could help. Jane couldn't kill him, no, but for a man like this Cyprus she was under no obligation to save him either. Heh, for all Jane knew, she might be able to get him to confess some of the naughty things he's been up to, and then Astra and Metisa might nod approvingly and Jane could spare herself any more floggings on the tally tonight.

Mingus blinked a few times. Said, "Right. A knife." Then dutifully stepped off toward a table and a rack behind it, something of a meager, makeshift armory for Yarrick's guardsmen, and selected a plain, nondescript knife from the table and came back and offered it to Khali.

"He lives within his estate near the center of town--you can't miss it--and that's where the gala is. Normally, ah, this could have been easier. Lord Cyprus has a few personal bodyguards he employs, and the rest are simple townsfolk guardsmen who I rightly can tell to stand down. Problem is tonight, with all the rest of Lord Cyprus's family coming and other nobles, they'll all bring their own retinues."

"These townsfolk guardsmen. They want Lord Cyprus gone too, right?"

"You're damn right they do--pardon my words. They're good, loyal men, but their loyalty deserves better than Cyprus. They ain't Lordslayers, but, for what Lord Cyprus has made them do to their own fellow townsfolk, they'll help. I can spread the word to 'em, quiet like, and they can help if you need 'em. Unlock some doors or open some windows, say. Or draw some of the nobles' men away, or look the other way for you."

"Do they give foot massages?" Jane asked. Bluntly.

Mingus, at the height of confusion. "What?"

Jane grinned. "I'm kidding. I think my foot will be busy enough with Cyprus, and Khali doesn't have that kind of time."

Mingus's left eye squinted as he processed that. Then he looked back to Khali. "How do you plan on...doing the deed, so to speak? Will you try to get Lord Cyprus while he is alone?"

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari took the knife and instantly slipped it into a spot just by her ribs. The cloth there concealed it perfectly, though in truth she would likely never need it.

For a second she just listened to the back and forth between Mingus and Jane, frowning for brief moment as he mentioned the extra guard. Somehow Khair doubted that the local nobles had men trained as well as the higharchs in Dornoch, but underestimating a foe was always foolish.

"However I can get him." Khari said with a simple shrug. "I need to see the Manor first, then observe the guards there."

Slitting the mans throat in his sleep would have been easy, but she did not have the time for that. "The other nobles...the visitors...what about them?"

Did they need to die too?

If they were going to kill Cyprus they might as well clear the whole gambit and just get it done with. A peasant revolt here would stir some troubles back home...but maybe give the Dynast an opportunity extend her influence by offering aid.

"I won't need more than a few seconds." Khari said, more to Jane than to Mingus.

 

[Jane]

However I can get him.

Mingus gave a grim but accepting nod. He didn't know what this woman--Khali--was capable of, especially in light of that magical illusion thing she did, and to be frank about it he'd rather not know if he didn't have to. Maybe she didn't need to get him alone at all. Frightening, that magic stuff.

The other nobles...the visitors...what about them?

"Now we're talking," Jane said.

Mingus didn't follow at first. Then his eyes widened and he again raised his hands in a gesture for peace, "Whoa, I ain't tryin' to be kin to no massacre here. Now, now, it's true that lords will be lords, but Lord Cyprus is the one all o' Yarrick wants gone. We don't have any ire for the others because they ain't done nothin' to us."

Jane wanted to make a retort, to argue in favor of Khali's expanded solution, but she stopped herself. Flattened her open mouth into a wide smile. A recognition in her mind, a knowing without words, what happened when she brazenly began to stray too far from the path the Redeemer had set her on. Another recognition. Another silent knowing, one that had come from experience, from testing boundaries: that there were subtle ways to dip from the path, if only for a moment.

She let it be. For now.

Jane looked to Khali when she stated the window of time she would need. "Only a few seconds?" A playful little nudge of her elbow into Khali's side followed. "There is such a thing as being too good at what you do. Think about the poor, neglected heel of my sabaton."

Mingus's shoulders rose in something of a half-shrug, as if he wasn't sure whether or not to entertain that. "...There's some options."

Jane's eyebrow perked up. "Is that right?"

Mingus didn't elaborate yet. Instead, he turned and laid a hand on the door. "But come on. Might as well have a look-see at the estate. Better for you and Khali to decide how best to do this."

Khari

 

[Khari]

The walk was not too long, though that might have been because Khari urged her two companions to go as quickly as they could.

She was on a time limit, and that clock ticked away in the back of her head almost constantly. A small army of retainers would eventually appear hunting for her head, and she had absolutely no intent on still being here when they showed up.

Eventually the three reached the outskirts of a small forest clearing, a large field opening up an estate sitting in the middle of it.

There was a large wall that ringed a huge manor house, and one could almost see fountains and gardens just beyond the crest of a small hill. A road lead up to a large wrought iron gate, and upon it one could already see a few carriages.

Khari gazed in silence.

Silently she chewed her lip. "Which side of the Estate is his bedroom on?"

She asked.

If they did not want to kill all the nobles then they would be best served catching the bastard by himself. Otherwise things would probably get rather messy.

 

[Jane]

Jane just looked at that big house with a blank stare. Of course this "Lord" Cyprus lived in it. When she saw houses like that, what she truly saw was the Eunuch's house. The house of a Master. Every single one of them, whether or not they were called that by Mainlanders. Jane had no special sympathy for the plight of the Yarrickers, oh no, of course not, this was just how the world worked. Didn't mean she wasn't going to enjoy Cyprus's death. Just so happened that what she wanted, what Khali wanted, and what Mingus and the Yarrickers wanted all happened to line up, and line up in a way that Astra wouldn't get too fussy about.

Mingus pointed (for all the good it would do at this distance) and said, "More center, middle-like. On the second floor, at the rear. It has a rather large window--glass--that overlooks his hedge garden in the back courtyard. I've been up there before, I've seen the view."

Jane stretched her arms up in the air. "Ahhh...so you're saying there's going to be some climbing involved."

Mingus shrugged. "I have a notion that if a Lord or Lady should ever sleep on the ground floor of some establishment then they might well grow sickly and perish."

Jane snorted and smirked. Then returned to her little concern, "Climbing's a pain in my a--...rear." Avoided another flogging on the tally.

"You don't have to if you don't want to."

"Yeah, I know I can keep you company while Khali does the deed but--"

"You can walk right in through the front door, if it suits ya," Mingus said.

Jane turned her head at the same speed her eyebrow perked up. "Huh. Is this one of those options you were talking about?"

"That it is. For reasons that will be made perfectly clear if you spend more'n five minutes around him, Lord Cyprus isn't a married man. He's taken to hiring consorts for events like this. Trying to marry 'em too, because there ain't no arranged marriages for him, if you can believe it. As it so happens, Lord Cyprus has yet to see the woman that will be paid coin to cling to his arm tonight...because I took a gamble by having her held up coming into town, and by asking you two for help. And, well, it seems to have paid off."

Jane glanced over to Khali, gauging her initial reaction, then said to Mingus, "So I'm the prostitute, and I entice Mingus up to the bedroom sooner--"

"--rather than later," both Jane and Mingus said, with Mingus nodding and adding a little confirming yes afterward.

Jane again glanced to Khali. "You know your way around situations like this. You see anything going wrong with that?"

Khari

 

[Khari]

The thought of anyone having to spend a night with a man like Lord Cyprus made Khari's stomach churn.

She was not unused to the idea of pretending to be a prostitute. The Daemonette had done it herself on more than one occasion. One time she had blended herself into a Harem for upward of the three weeks. No one had ever touched her, and she had managed to make quite a few friends among the other Concubines.

It had been an odd, but wonderful vacation.

Hiding in a group of fifty women was surprisingly easy when you tried, even if horns were sprouting from the top of your head.

"That'll work." Khari agreed with a nod of her head, though for some reason a pit formed in the depths of her stomach. Something felt...off, though she couldn't quite put her hands on what it was. After a few seconds she glanced over towards Jane. "You'll need a change of clothes."

That much at least she was sure of. "I can get into his room easy enough."

The wall did not appear difficult to scale.

It all seemed...easy. Too easy. Cyprus was a country lord, a man who ruled over peasants like a King. It made sense that he wouldn't be as defended as someone in the middle of Dornoch, yet something felt off. Beyond what Khari expected.

Lips thinned, but she shook her head and decided not to question it.

It was probably just in her head.

 

[Jane]

That'll work.

Jane flashed a grin. Dropped a hand down on Khali's shoulder. Said, "We're gonna have..a lot of fun."

You'll need a change of clothes.

Jane placed her hands on her breastplate and made as if she were examining her vambraces, then her greaves, then her right heel after a little twirl and her left heel after another. She plucked at the skirt of her arming dress. "I'll say. My dress might look fairly nice when I can get it properly cleaned, but I've been walking all day. In armor. That gets sweaty."

Mingus nodded to Khali's statement that she could get into Cyprus's room without issue. With a small gesture of his head then to Jane he said, "I can get her all prettied up and back here in half an hour, if you'd like to stay and keep on watchin' or get a move on into sneaking in."

Jane, with a spur of the moment idea, said, "Hey. Khali. Can you do that magic thing on me? I'd love to have red hair for this."

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari shook her head. "No, I'm afraid not."

Something that had always annoyed her. The magics she used would not allow her to cast glamors. If they did it would have made her job a hell of a lot easier. She frowned a moment, as if considering something and then nodded.

"I can change your hair color though." It seemed silly, but after meeting Ichika she had a better understanding of 'girly' things, and if Jane would be pleased with red hair then she could at least grant her that.

She looked around a moment.

"You get her in a dress." Khari said. "I'll take care of what I need for the hair."

The Daemonette was almost entirely certain she could find what she needed, and the Estate wouldn't need much extra attention.

At least...she thought so.

 

[Jane]

A bit of a disappointment, but then Khali came through for her. And that was good enough. Exactly what she wanted. Not that the other option wasn't great. It was fantastic. Jane loved soaking her hands in the blood of her sacrifices and running them through her hair. Now it was different though. She didn't have sacrifices, she had foes--Favored Enemies--and Astra and all the rest tended not too like that kind of behavior regardless.

Red hair was red hair though, and Khali would provide.

Jane leaned in toward Khali and said, "I don't even know you all that well, but you make me happy. You're all right, Khali."

Mingus had no idea what the importance of red hair was, but he supposed it couldn't hurt. He made to go walking back toward the heart of Yarrick. "Fair enough. This way. So happens we've likely got a dress lined up."

* * * * *​

A short walk through Yarrick brought them to the house of one of Mingus's fellow townsfolk lawmen. Certainly a modest place, wattle and daub, with only one separate room. Inside were three of the townsfolk lawmen, all of whom looking like Mingus, more of a ragtag militia than any proper guard force like that of Alliria or any town or city of sufficient size and wealth. Sitting in a chair with her arms and legs crossed and looking awful annoyed was the consort--Deborah. An ample and pretty woman, no mistake about that.

She spoke up first when she saw Mingus. "Are you quite done keeping me here for no good reason? You Yarrickers are unbelievable. A lady's got a job to do and you--"

"Here's the deal, Deborah," Mingus said, placing his hands on his hips. "There's gonna be a slight change. Don't you worry now, you're still gonna get paid your fair sum. All you need to do is let this lady here--"

He gestured his head over to Jane.

"--borrow that fine dress and getup of yours for the night."

Jane let out a small sigh. Ugh, green? Again? Why was it always a green dress? Somehow she had stolen and slipped into a green dress that one time when she got black-out drunk with her Guillotiner friends, and now it was this? Maybe Khali had a trick for that too. Hair, a dress, how different could they be as far as magic was concerned?

Deborah blinked. Then grinned widely. "That's it? That's all I've got to do? Ha, well why didn't you say so sooner? Give me but a moment, gentlemen."

She stood from her seat and crossed the main room and into the small bedroom and shut the door after her. Mingus gave a nod to Jane and chatted with his fellow lawmen while Deborah slipped into something more comfortable. The bedroom opened and Deborah came out, shed of the nice (even if it was green) dress and in commoner's clothes. Jane went in, not bothering to close the bedroom door, and got to taking off all of her armor and weapons. She changed out of her normal clothes and into Deborah's evening consort attire. It was a relief that Deborah's bosom just so happened to be as ample as Jane's own; trying to fit into smaller dresses or clothes--or certain breastplates, thank you to the Redeemer's blacksmith who remedied this problem--was a pain. Oh, wasn't that nice, Deborah even left some fine oils and extracts that smelled great and drove men wild. Jane's weapon as a paladin was her sword, and Deborah's weapon as a prostitute were those. Heh, they got what they wanted in their own ways, didn't they?

Jane came out of the bedroom. Ready to go. She had never tried to catch a fly with honey, so to speak. This was going to be fun. Oh yes. And it's for a good cause, Astra, don't get upset with me.

* * * * *​

Back to the meeting place close to the Estate.

"I kind of like these boots," Jane said as they approached, swishing her new dress around so that she could get a good look at them. "They're nice. I might keep 'em."

"We was borrowing these, Jane," Mingus said with the tiniest hint of reproach in his tone.

"Maybe I can work something out with Deborah. I feel like we would understand each other."

Mingus just shrugged.

They waited for the return of Khali, the lead actress in this play. Except Lord Cyprus wasn't going to be stabbed with a painted, blunted, wooden knife, and his pain and suffering wasn't going to be any act. Jane couldn't wait to taste it.

Soon as Jane saw Khali approaching, she gave a wave and said, "What have you got for me?"

Khari