Chapter 194

I licked my dry lips. The Order of Lilith? It's actually real? After hearing from the former Tamin priest about the group I had assumed it didn't actually exist, just a boogieman created to give the Tamin paladins something to fight. And Silva kept this from me. We had all been in danger trying to learn this information...

"We don't have time for this, put this on," Talis gruffly said while tossing me one of the surcoats. "It'll hide your armor and make us look like guards, we need to get out of here before we're discovered. The horns will already make it hard to go unnoticed."

I tore my eyes away from Silva and started to pull on the surcoat. She was on my side though right? I'm not sure. She's saved my life a few times now, and like she said, this was to free the twins... So why am I so... sad she lied to me for this long? I finished buttoning the surcoat over my armor so I reached down to pick up one of the guard's helms. I used [Succubus Shifting] to hide my horns and change the shape of my face to look human-like. It would take too much mana to do this for too long but for now, this was manageable. When I finished I turned and looked at Talis who had been staring.

"Ah... that'll do." I turned back to Silva who had already donned a surcoat as well. She didn't wear as much armor as I did but the surcoat hid that she wasn't wearing the standard guard armor as well as it hid mine. Though her surcoat was ripped in a few places.

"Hold on," Silva said before cutting one of the guard's bellies open and starting to paint the floor with it. I wasn't sure what she was doing until I got closer... She was drawing a ritual circle. "This will burn down this building after a set delay and hide most of the evidence here. It should also serve as a good distraction," Silva said.

"Will they find the King's corpse?" Talis asked.

Silva shook her head as she drew out one of the most complex ritual circles I had ever seen. "They already know he's dead. It doesn't matter if they find the body anymore."

The confidence she spoke with didn't leave room for any arguments and neither of us bothered with it, leaving Silva to finish painting her intricate ritual circle in blood. I went back to the reception desk to collect my sword and hesitated before grabbing Silva's spear as well. She could have killed me at any time, giving her the spear won't make any difference. ...and she was still my friend. I think.

Silva stood up and activated the ritual circle immediately before grabbing a traveling cloak off the wall. "The circle's activated. Let's go." She pulled the cloak over herself and laid her ears back to give her the silhouette of a standard guard. I adjusted the helm that sat awkwardly on my head. It felt really strange not to have my normal horns any longer, the weight and my center of balance were all wrong.

Talis stopped my hand when I reached for another of the cloaks. "Better not. Your... disguise is better without it. It will just attract too much attention if the three of us walk through town like that." I nodded and picked up one of the guards' shields instead, this would probably do a better job of selling the look, Silva and Talis did the same and then the three of us walked out of the building.

It was dusk now and the streets were thankfully still empty where we were at. We could still hear some guards working on the other side of the row of buildings though. We were close enough to the gate for there to be plenty of guards around without being so close that they could see who we were. We walked quickly but not so fast as to draw suspicion. Something inside of me wanted to look back but I knew better than to do that now.

We had been walking for less than five minutes when we heard the explosion. My curiosity overwhelmed me and I couldn't help but take a quick glance behind us. I giant fire had erupted close to the gate and there was already yelling and panic in the area. We were already too far away to see if there was any collateral damage so I just hoped Silva had known what she was doing. The three of us moved to the side and walked with purpose as many of the other guards in the area rushed past us to see what had happened. This made it even easier to navigate around people.

Once again we followed Silva's lead, taking turns that seemed odd until someone rushed past us and we barely avoided being seen. Her hearing or... whatever sense she was using was keen at avoiding other people and for the first time, I realized that this was another sign of her training as an assassin. This was the third time now she had led the way through a crowd and helped us avoid other people as we navigated through a city without being seen. I clenched my fist, the signs had been there. The odd feelings I had gotten from her... I felt like I should have known but... no. She was just that good. I shouldn't blame myself... and blame myself for what? It hadn't been like I had intended to assassinate anyone...

Another large explosion rocked me from my thoughts. I looked up to see that this time it had come from the large castle built on the plateau of the city. One of the largest towers had a giant crumbling hole in it as someone flew through the air and escaped the city.

"The others are realizing what happened," Talis said grimly. "The prisoners the royal family had kept as servants are now escaping the castle too."

My heart sank. I had completely forgotten about that part... The pantherians weren't the only ones that had been kept in slavery using the 'cursed collars' as Sorsette had put it.

"Silva, the collars—"

"Not here. We can talk about that later. For now, we just need to get back."

...she was right.

We managed to make it to the barricades that blocked off the alleys and funneled everyone through the bazaar. Just a glance over toward the entrance made it look like it wasn't a good idea to head that way. Too many people were at the chokepoint and dozens upon dozens of Tamin paladins and priests were over in that direction. After the two explosions, they were already locking things down and scrutinizing everyone who came through.

"This way," Silva said. She led us in the opposite direction and toward one of the houses in the area. She took a glance around before suddenly kicking down the door. "No one's here, we'll get back through here."

I swallowed my saliva and glanced at Talis who didn't hesitate to follow her into the building. There wasn't much of a choice, the three of us had just killed a king. I doubt saying that we weren't involved and that it was all on Silva wouldn't be much protection and on top of that, Silva was supposed to be my slave, so I could get blamed for this anyway. If Silva only barely escaped the chopping block for killing a noble, there was no way they wouldn't take regicide seriously.

When I stepped into the empty building Silva shoved the door back into place. It wouldn't be locked and the entire door was off its hinges but it would at least give us some cover. I looked around, this building looked like it had been empty for a while, there wasn't even any furniture inside. Is that why Silva picked this building? Just how good was her hearing?

Through the back of the building was an exit that led to the alley behind it, bypassing the barricade that had been built right next to it. This part of the city didn't look nearly as well planned as the buildings from the district we came in at. The alleyways were somewhat winding, blocked off by gates and fences here and there.

"We'll need to go back through the bazaar. Stay close, I don't know what it'll look like right now," Silva told us.

A short walk later and we came out near the edge of the bazaar. There was a lot of movement here, though none of the stalls were open. I didn't see any of the slaves up on the pedestals either, they must have already been taken back into the slaver's guild. Since we were dressed as guards most of the people around avoided us. Most people looked to be walking through the area to return to their homes in the slums. With the city as it was, not even the thieves or beggars thought it was a good idea to be out in the open right now. We were getting close to the inn. The strain on my mana from the shift was holding up but it was slowly draining away. I wouldn't have trouble making it back to the inn from here but I would be tired by the time we got there.

By the time we made it back, the sun had set over the wall and cast the city in shadow. The lights of the inn weren't lit inside and the curtains were drawn. If I hadn't known better I would have thought the place was abandoned. I walked up to the door and reached for the handle but Silva's hand grasped my shoulder and pulled me back.

"Let me go first."

I hesitated but stepped back and let her step in front. She tried the door but when it didn't budge, she forced the handle and stepped inside. It seems the door had been locked...

Three people ran at her with knives but she deflected them and knocked the people down without much effort. The level gap between them was immense but she managed to knock the three of them to the floor without hurting any of them too badly. She waved us inside so Talis pushed me through the door and closed it behind us. The knob was broken now so he wedged a nearby chair against it.

"Relax, that's Silva, she's one of us," Lorriene said.

"Silva! Where's Lilith? Wait, are you okay your neck's... burnt," Bella's voice faltered at the end and she stepped back, suddenly worried by the implication.

"Don't worry, Bella, she's right here," Silva said pointing to me with her thumb. I pulled off my helm and allowed my face to shift back to its normal form before letting my horns grow back in.

Raya made a gagging noise. "Oh gods, that was disgusting to watch. Don't do that in front of people."

I raised an eyebrow and looked over at Raya who was sitting at a table with Sibyl. It was dark in here and all the lights were out. Seems like they're hiding from something. Everyone was here except Morrigan, Torien, and Mimi. There were also a few people I didn't recognize. Two people who looked like staff members for the inn and, namely, the people still awkwardly sitting on the floor after Silva had bowled them over.

"Where are the others?" I asked.

Bella and Cecilia looked at each other before Bella stepped up to me. "Morrigan and Torien's collars came apart and... they're not taking it well. They're panicking and with everything going on Mimi went upstairs with them to rest..."

I frowned, unsure what she meant.

"Bella, can I get healing? This hurts... a lot."

Bella looked at me and I hesitantly nodded. I wasn't sure what to think about Silva yet but there was no reason to leave her with a wounded neck. It looked incredibly painful even if the burns were... self-inflicted to a degree. Bella guided Silva over to a pair of chairs and started healing the terrible burn wounds she sustained.

I scratched the base of my horn and looked at the three people who had attacked us when we walked through the door. "Who are these guys?" They were wearing hoods, and combined with the darkness of the room I couldn't see them clearly.

"They're..." Lorriene started, the hesitation clear in her voice.

Silva coughed. "Just tell them Lorriene. Lilith found me out, she overheard part of our conversation this morning."

Lorriene sighed. "Those two are other pantharians we've been keeping an eye on in the slaver's guild. When their collars broke off, our agent blew her cover to smuggle them out of there before anyone realized what had happened. They only attacked because you are dressed like guards. Have you heard how the king died? And who's that?" she asked pointing to Talis.

As Lorriene was talking, two of the cloaked figures sitting on the floor nervously removed the hoods of their cloaks and showed off their dark black ears, proving what she said was true. When none of us reacted strongly they put their hoods back up and moved next to the woman on the floor next to them. They were acting somewhere between protective of her and desperate to be at her side.

Silva glanced at me before looking back at Lorriene. "We just came from across town, the head of the guard, Noreth, had us meet the king in secret. I got the opportunity to end the young king's bloodline... and I took it."

Silence fell over the room as everyone took in the staggering information.

Lorriene ran her fingers across her bare neck. "And Noreth?"

"Dead too," Silva replied. "We killed everyone in the room and burned the building down. No way of knowing if anyone else knew about the meeting but I doubt it from how I've heard Noreth operates. They wanted information about Amphores, the cult Lilith got involved with in Goldenhearth."

"And?" she asked waving at Talis again.

He stepped forward after removing the guard helmet he was wearing. "Talis, follower of Sorsette. I received a quest from my Goddess to protect Lilith moments before Silva killed the King."

Lorriene sat back in her chair caught off guard. "Sorsette is backing Lilith?" She turned to me. "You just keep getting stranger and stranger..."