Daughter of Treason Ch. 03

The steel in her voice was to strengthen her own resolve, but Shino was not unaffected. In the dark, his brow furrowed in thought, but Kei was too focused on her quarry to see.

They waited for six hours. Shino shifted and squirmed, and even spent four hours in the dreamlike trance which elves seemed to subsist on in the place of natural sleep, but Kei stayed exactly where she was, watching. At seven hours after sundown the festivities finally ran down, and a pair of obviously inebriated humans, a man and a woman being very friendly with one another, staggered out and down the street and the lights in the house were extinguished. Kei smiled. By her count, that left the four dwarves still inside.

She waited another hour to be certain the squatters were asleep before she finally drew herself up and slunk along the darkened streets. By then her vision had fully adjusted to the near-darkness afforded by the new moon, and so peering into the window confirmed for her that there were no guards in the entryway.Not even a sentry.She noted,they must be secure in their dominance.Slowly, the predatory smile returned.It is time to relieve them of that delusion.

The door was locked, but she had spent the day preparing; she drew from a belt pouch a pair of small picks, insufficient perhaps for a complicated locking mechanism but more than adequate for this simple skeleton key lock. Her inexperienced hands took longer than she might have liked pushing all of the ward levers into place, but after a few minutes of focused effort, she heard the satisfying click of the door coming unlocked.

As she quietly pulled the door open, she heard footsteps behind her. Turning in fear of being caught, she saw only Shino, looking like a child pretending to be sneaky and having about as much success at staying quiet and out of sight. Waving him back angrily, she slipped into the house.

The scene inside would have made many maidens blush. Kei, in her current state of mind, merely evaluated it tactically. The four dwarves were in two groups: one couple lay along the far wall, cuddling naked under their blankets, while the other, a scant two feet from her, were still a mess of tangled limbs. The woman lay atop the man, moisture leaking out from between her thighs, while the man snored loudly underneath. Some would see the scene and immediately start envisioning the orgy which surely had wound down only thirty or forty minutes ago. Kei saw targets.

She slunk to the ones on the far wall, first. Being farther apart and arranged side-by-side, they presented a better angle for her blackjack and were less likely to wake at the clubbing of their partner. Pressing against the wall, she positioned herself behind them, raised the padded club, and brought it down hard.

It connected with a satisfying thunk, but she had no time to savor the satisfying feeling of the blow connecting; the man had gasped awake at the sound. Raising it again, she delivered an equally powerful blow to the second dwarf, but this time relished the feeling of the blow reverberating back through the blunt instrument, up her arm and finally fading at her shoulder. She listened, waiting for a change in breathing that would indicate the others had woken up, but heard only the same relaxed patterns.

There's a particular quality that predatory cats have as they approach their prey. The slink of their bodies, the care in their silent tread, the gleam in their eye as they near their quarry, the terrible grin just before they strike. All of this contributes to the meaning of the word 'stalk'. Kei did not move over to the remaining couple. Kei stalked.

The next two blows came in rapid succession. Kei did not wait to see if the sound would wake the partner, but instead struck the woman once before shoving her firmly off and bashing the man. When he groaned, she seized him by the hair, wrenched his head up, and tried again. He went out like a light.

It had been a mere two minutes from infiltration to conquest, nearly all of which was spent skulking around the house ensuring that she was now, in fact, the only conscious creature there. The main level was trashed, and the basement was not much better, but other than the refuse of the now unconscious inhabitants, empty. The upper levels Kei was only able to access through use of the key; while the thugs had changed the lock on the front doors, they had apparently been too lazy to bother breaking down the door to the upper levels, leaving that door intact; the second and third floors were clear and, other than a thick coating of dust and rat traces, clean.

She returned to the front door, opened it and waved Shino inside; he seemed to be trying to stay out of sight in the alleyway where Kei had watched, but was both easily visible and obviously watching; she sighed, wondering if she should teach him how to escape notice better. Going back inside, she uncoiled the rope from her shoulder which she had brought for just such an occasion. The months spent sailing had made her good with knots, and it wasn't long before she had all four of them bound and gagged, naked as the day they were born, and in a neat little line in the basement. With the squatters temporarily disabled, Kei allowed weariness to set in. She had been up for nearly an entire day, dawn-to-dawn, and sleep seemed very appealing. Clearing a patch of wall opposite her captives, she slumped against it, sent the freshly rested Shino to work cleaning upstairs, and nodded off.

She awoke to the muffled grunts and groans. Her eyes drifted open as she took in the four dwarves, one of which had fallen over and attempted to worm his way over to the heating furnace with limited success. Kei stood and stretched languidly, noting with satisfaction that he froze the moment she rose. She also noted with considerably less satisfaction that sleeping against the hard wall had produced some unpleasant knots in her back.Perhaps later I shall go and see what furniture there is to be had in town,she thought.But business first.

Casually drawing a dagger, Kei sauntered over and twirled the blade absently in her left hand. Hoisting up the wayward dwarf, she dragged him by the bonds back to the far wall and pushed him none-too-gently against it. Shino, who had come trotting downstairs at the sound of heavy footsteps, looked relieved to see it was only Kei. He turned to leave before she jerked her head in a 'come here' motion.

Kei crouched and, as she did so, noted with satisfaction that all eyes were fixed on her. Speaking with sincere calm, she said, "I am going to ask you some simple questions. Now, it's important that you answer honestly, for even if you get something past me, which isn't like, my friend here is a diviner, and I'm fairly certain that his magic will catch any false tales you care to spin." When she heard the chanting and saw the flickering lights of Shino casting a spell, Kei almost smiled; she was bluffing, of course, as Shino hadn't been able to afford any such spell. But one spell looked pretty much like another to her, and she trusted these thugs were no better. "Now, when you answer, you'll want to answer me honestly and completely, 'cause your lives may very well depend on it. Understand?"

They gave no response, but then again, she didn't need one yet. She ignored both their nervous jerks at having a knife so close to their faces when she cut away their gags as well as their glares the rest of the time.They're not screaming. A good start.Things changed, however, when she approached the first dwarf, the one who had tried to slither away and who she had privately (if unimaginatively) dubbed Wayward Dwarf, and asked, "What exactly do you do as a gang member?"

"Fuck you, bitch."

She sighed and tried again. "What made you you chose this life?"

"Do you even know who we are? We got connections, bitch. Your ass is gonna be mine, whore!"

Kei moved on to the second one, Wayward Dwarf's lover. "What are your duties in your organization?"

"Better than yours will be. When we're done with you, you're going to wish you were never born!"

"What caused you to join a gang?"

"So I could piss on stupid bitches like you."

Kei moved on to the other woman. "And you? What compelled you to fall in with this lot?"

"You better run, cunt, or else our friends are going to fuck you up so bad..."

"Yeah," called Wayward, "and maybe, if we catch you, we'll show mercy and just turn you into one of the gang's cum dumpsters, huh? You'd like that, wouldn't you, whore?"

This set the tone for the majority of the interview. After several minutes of cursing, backtalk, and creative threats to her safety, she grew tired of games.Ten minutes of talk and not an ounce of progress.She noted with a sigh. She thought for a few moments, heedless of the curses and jeers from the assembled peanut gallery, and silently reached a conclusion. Gripping her dagger more firmly, she caught Shino's eye. His eyes darted to her dagger, and she jerked here head at the captives 'They've no use any more.' she seemed to say. His eyes widened slightly in comprehension and, after a moment of thought, he cautiously nodded.My course is set.

Casually, ignoring the indecent proposition Wayward was making to her, she strolled up to him and said, "You know, I had been hoping that you might give me an excuse to keep you on this plane a little while longer, but now it seems you give me no choice but to send you on your way to Hell." Then, without waiting for a doubtlessly snide response, she jerked his head up, and swiftly drew her blade across his throat.

The cries of alarm which washed over her were met with the same impassivity as the blood; Kei did not pause, did not so much as blink as Wayward's eyes widened in terror. Even as he gurgled, Kei moved on to the second. Before the first dwarf had even slumped to the ground, the second found its throat sliced through with equal efficiency. "You bitch! You goddamn cunt!" the remaining couple was screaming, but they may as well have been shouting at a wall. "I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna fucking kill you!" These were the last words of the second dwarven woman before she joined her companions.

"What the fuck, man!?" cried the final dwarf, "We're just scouts!"

Kei jerked his head up with her right hand, put the dagger to his throat, and hissed, "Is this really how you want to die? Screaming and pissing yourself like a dog?"

"What do you want me to do!?"

"I asked you some simple questions. Answering could have saved your life." She paused meaningfully. "Still could, perhaps."

"What, like why'd I join the gang? I dunno, it seemed like the only way out of the poor house. That' why I'm a thug." At her silence, he babbled on, "I'm not special, I know that."

Kei sighed, eased the dagger away from the frightened dwarf's neck, and rubbed her temples. Ignoring the wet feeling the smear of blood left on her face, she spoke, "This is why you should have answered in the first place. Unfortunately, now we're at a bit of an impasse. On the one hand, you don't deserve to die. Not yet. But on the other hand, allowing you to live will almost certainly cause you to lead others here, who might also not deserve to die, and then I'll have no choice but to kill them anyway." She paused. "What do you suggest?"

"Uh, not killing me?" His eyes were wide with terror. "I swear I'll leave the gang, I'll go to school, I'll learn a trade, anything as long as you let me live."

"How much does vocational school cost these days?" she asked Shino, who threw up his hands as if to say, 'I have no clue.' Turning back to the dwarf, she asked, "I don't suppose you know, do you?" When he shook his head mutely, she paused, thinking. "What's your name?"

"Billic." The quaver in his voice gave way to full-blown sobbing.

Kei waited a moment, but the tears only got worse. For several minutes the only sound in the room were his quiet wails and the occasional last gurgle of a corpse as the blood-filled lungs compressed. Reaching a conclusion, she spoke firmly, "I'll tell you what: Billic died this evening." Ignoring the sob of dismay, she continued on. "You," she said, pointing her dagger at him for emphasis more than intimidation, "are no longer Billic. You are now the best person you can be. You are going to be given a small sack of money. You are going to go to the docks. You are going to find a ship called Maiden of the Salt, captained by a fellow who answers to 'Salty'. You are going to approach him and ask for work, and you will tell him that Kei sent you. You will then work for him for as long as you feel you should to learn a trade, and you will then live out the rest of your life virtuously. Do you understand?"

Not-Billic nodded mutely, understanding and hope lighting his eyes as the crying subsided. Cutting his bonds, Kei unhooked her money purse with her pocket money inside, cut Not-Billic's bonds, and handed him the sack. As he moved to take it, scarcely believing, she looked him square in the eyes. "This is your only chance. Don't waste it."

Without gathering so much as his pants, he sprinted up the stairs, out the door, and towards the docks.

Kei watched him go until he rounded the corner, smiled to herself, then turned to go back inside.Yes,she thought,this went well.She regretted the deaths of the other three, yes, but only in the same way that one might regret accidentally picking a scratchy sweater to wear; it's not ideal, but ultimately insignificant. And, though she didn't notice, a part of her was riding the high, reveling in her actions, both the ideal reversal of Not-Billic who she was certain had said nothing but truth, and the thrill of power mutely affirmed by the three corpses.

She did not speak such satisfactions aloud, she would not even allow herself to think them too clearly, but think she did, and even subliminal thoughts can show.

Shino was dabbing with a cloth at the rapidly growing carmine pool on the floor. "Leave them," she said with a wave of her hand, "they're not done bleeding yet."

He glanced up, nodding, and looked again at a nearby body before he began to register the subtle cues. "Kei?" he asked, slowly returning his gaze to his companion, "are you alright?"

"What?"Why would he ask that?"Yes, of course, I'm fine."

"You're smiling."

She blinked, and the subliminal smile vanished. "No I'm not."

"You were-" he paused, apparently thinking better of it. "You've only had a few hours of sleep. Why don't you go upstairs and have a rest?"

She shrugged airily. "I'm not sleepy. Besides, it's almost dawn, and we have too much to do today to be caught sleeping in."

Her features had taken up a stern expression once more. "Alright," he nodded, still wary. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, for starters, I though we should see about getting some furniture."

"Ooh!" cried Shino, his expression breaking as his eyes lit up delightfully, "and tools! I need some smith's tools. "

Kei nodded, a much gentler smile taking the place of the old one. "Very well, and smith's tools."And some canvas to wrap the bodies with before I haul them to the ocean,she added silently, eying the corpses critically. She noticed Shino looking at her thoughtful expression, but he seemed pleased with what he saw, so she paid him no further mind. "Come, then," she said, "and grab your cloak; we can begin cleaning when we return."

The two began roaming about, looking at the various store fronts and getting a feel for their new neighborhood. Where they lived, the crowd was dubious, as their house was very close to that gray area between the Industrial Shore and the slums, but in the daylight it didn't seem threatening. Regardless, Kei decided that the first thing they ought to get was a thick lock.

She ended up leading him on a tour of nearly the entire district, finding places where she could purchase most everything she needed craftsman-direct and thus saving a bundle. It was somewhere between purchasing the blacksmith's tools and a shelf for the kitchen that she came to a decision, and it was in front of a matressmaker's shop that she was able to voice it. The attendant had just quoted a figure on a fresh down mattress, one which made her cringe, before leaving to let the pair discuss it.

"You know," she said with a falsely casual air, "we could save some money on beds if we just shared one." Kei's disinterested analysis of a display mattress was betrayed by her blush as she spoke, and later, after a short silence which felt like an eternity, her anxious glance at his reaction.

For his part, Shino felt like a kid in a candy store.

"Yuh- Are you sure?" he said quickly, mastering himself. "I mean, we can afford two beds if you want, and I wouldn't want you to think that you had to- I mean-" he gave a frustrated sigh as he tripped over his own words. "I don't want to force you into anything!" he managed finally.

Kei's own face has went from one of anxiety to amusement. "And what," she said, raising an eyebrow, "makes you think you could force me into anything?"

Shino opened his mouth, paused, and considered the question for several moments before saying only, "Gained."

She laughed before becoming suddenly shy. "I... If you don't want to, like you said, we can afford two beds-"

"Oh," said Shino, grinning, "I want to!" She stared at him, shocked at his enthusiasm, and he seemed to realize what just came out of his mouth. "Er, I mean, it would be an honor- no, um, I mean it's only practical-"

He tried on perhaps a dozen excuses to cover the truth he first spoke before he realized that Kei was smiling. As he sputtered into a confused silence, she withdrew from her pouch a few coins valuable, waved over the attendant and pressed them into his palm. "one down mattress," she said, then licked her lips and added, "king sized."

"Thank you, madam," he said politely. "Where shall I have it delivered?"

"Eighty seven Longstrider Row."

The attendant bowed. "We can have one delivered this evening."

"That would be excellent," Kei said with a heartfelt smile. Though she didn't regret her time on the Maiden of the Salt, she was looking forward to sleeping on something other than a hammock.And a down mattress!she thought,I haven't slept on anything so luxurious since I was a little girl!As they exited the store, she was practically humming.

Her good spirits held her for the rest of the day, and by midafternoon they had arranged to have a meager, but comfortable, array of things in their new house, not to mention enough tools for Shino to take up his trade and perhaps start earning something. She sent Shino back to it, saying, "I need to bathe; you go back, perhaps see if anything has been delivered yet. I'll be home shortly."

Kei neither realized nor, given proper time to consider it, would have cared at the images her simple deceleration had inspired in Shino. While he nodded, in a daze brought on by imaginings of Kei's ample curves, Kei was planning. She still needed that canvas, but she didn't want to shop too close to home. Repeated visits could arouse suspicion, and on top of that there were a few other items she might wish to purchase. New rope, for one, and something to hide her identity in should she find herself revealed again.

Though she would have preferred to walk, she didn't want to worry Shino by being out too late; instead, she made her way to the much-loathed Transit Gate, payed the two silver grudgingly, and hurried to her destination of the Promenade.

It had been said that anything could be found in the Promenade, for a price. Looking at the rows upon rows of stalls and doors, Kei was inclined to believe such sayings to be true. Canvas was easy and cheap enough to come by; more than enough for her purposes, and the rope she sought could be found at the same stand. But her quest for some sort of disguise took her farther in.