Book Three – Interlude – Part One – A Dreaded Lie & Hours Before Execution

After Sakdu explained the Mafia's origins and its goal, he left the sniveling, crying Singi alone in her jail cell. With nothing but a bucket of her own waste to keep her company, she hugged her knees together and did her best to ignore the sour smell coming from her makeshift toilet. Beside that sat a wooden plate of green gruel. Somehow, it smelled worse than her stool, and obviously, she refused to eat it.

That didn’t last long. Once the guard assigned to her area showed up to do an inspection, he told Momo to eat. She shook her head at the orange-scaled Koena, sending frayed strands of pink hair dashing across her whimpering, blue eyes. Sakdu had commanded the guard and everyone else that violence towards Momo wasn’t allowed, but he had to get rough to feed her. But he didn't abuse her physically. He was a master of using threats to get what he wanted, and he could articulate verbal anguish like no one else.

To start off, the Koena roared like an animal and started to beat and bash the bars separating him from Momo. She cowered backwards, protecting her shaking head with a pair of skinny arms. "Eat, girl! You better eat this fucking meal right the fuck now! If you don't, you don't even want to know what we have in store for you! I'll take that fucking tail and make a scarf for myself if you refuse to fucking look at me!" That was the threat that forced Momo to lower her arms. Her puffy eyes and trembling lips stared at her verbal tormenter. "Now, you're going to crawl over to me, take this plate of food, and fucking eat it. If you don't, I'll replace the spoon with my cock and feed you that way. I'm sure I have a whole host of friends who'd want to personally feed a pretty young thing like you. We can top it off with some milk! HAHAHAHA!"

That was the threat that pushed Momo over the line. She scampered to the bars preventing her freedom, and grabbed the tray of food. It was just a bowl on a wooden plank, and it smelled far worst than it looked. Both hands took the spoon and waddled it through her food, which was some sort of green gruel. She brought it up to her mouth, and she put it back down because it smelled like corpses that had been left out to bake in the hot sun.

"That's not the right way, girlie! Take that spoon and put it in your mouth. If you don't, then you know what's gonna happen..." The Koena put a hand to his waist and started to unzip his pants. Momo shed a few more tears and ate as fast as she could. She gobbled the disgusting meal, forcing the unknown meat to swim down her throat. The liquid was so thick, sticking to her throat like glue. A wave of shivers attacked the poor Singi, and she started to cough.

“Hahahaha!!! I don’t even know why he wants your sorry ass alive. Here, I’ll get something so you can wash down that filth.” The guard cursed Momo's name and left. He came back carrying a glass of murky water in his orange, scaley hands. He barked out a series of orders that ended up with Momo sitting beside the bars. He placed the glass of water down and walked away laughing. Apparently, he'd had enough fun to fill his day. Momo looked at the door when he left, then her eyes turned to the water. The odd feeling was still in her throat, and she did need something to wash the horrible taste of that food out of her mouth. Against all odds, she timidly stuck her hand through the bars and retrieved the glass. With courage, she downed it all in one gulp and felt sick to her stomach, but that was her mind's fault. She had absolutely expected the water to be dirty and poisoned, but it was just regular water. It might have been a bit filthy like it had come from a pond, but there wasn't anything fundamentally wrong with it.

But that kindness had to come at a cost, Momo thought. If they were being nice, then what were they going to do next? What awful thing could they do to her to eliminate the faint traces of hope she had left?

The fortress in her mind stood alone on a weak foundation.

Momo hugged her legs close together in an attempt to soften her crying voice. In between weeps, she heard a whimpering coming from her nearby neighbor. When that happened, Momo focused her eyes on his snipped ears. Elves were known for their pointy ears. It was the same as how Singi were famous for their tails. It was the symbol of their race, but now Nimea's ears looked like a Human's. Because of that, his enemies were saying Nimea was just like a dirty Human.

He wasn’t a good guy, but Nimea meant well even though his actions suggested otherwise.

Momo's life in that rectangular cell consisted of rubbing her hand on the clean part of the concrete floor. Her index finger traced her best friend's name over and over to the point where the oil on her fingers had darkened the path she followed. Every so often, a terrible odor wafted into the holding area where she was kept. Her companion, Nimea, always had a coughing fit when it happened. In a way, Momo liked it when he coughed because it meant he had enough life in him to want to breathe.

Momo tried many times to talk to Nimea when she felt the tears drain away from her eyes, but her attempts at socializing fell on deaf ears. Or in the rare case it didn’t, he only communicated with short whimpers. The fear of the situation had a tight grip on Nimea's heart, even firmer than it had on hers, which yearned for freedom. Sometimes, her eyes scanned down to the puddle of brown he sat in. Roger took away his waste bucket in addition to mutilating his tanned ears when Nimea smashed his plate. Ever since then, he did his best to keep as quiet as a mouse.

Freedom was within eyesight, however, but calling that was giving it far too much credit. Momo had a little hole situated above her that peeked into the outside. It was tiny enough that even her slender hand couldn’t fit in, but it allowed her to gaze at the moon and stars. In a way, it felt like part of Momo's soul whisked away from her body and danced amongst the stars in the night sky. That was her freedom, and tears fell from her eyes when she realized she wouldn’t ever have a chance to experience a warm summer night ever again.

In a weak voice, she cried out the names of all of her friends as a way to say her final goodbyes. Yet when she reached the name belonging to her very best friend in the whole wide world, the power to speak left her. Whispering the name didn’t help. Yelling it didn’t do a thing, either. It was as if a part of her refused to say goodbye. It wouldn’t allow her to utter the name preventing her body from shutting down entirely.

That girl, who showed Momo such incredible power during that unfortunate ambush, was still out there. She felt it in her very heart that her best friend wouldn’t leave her. And dying? Momo thought if Servi could tap into even 1% of that power, saving her would be a cinch. But hours had passed since Sakdu said Servi had died, and Momo was still locked in her jail cell. Fear prevented her mind from tapping out, but it also prevented her from catching any sort of sleep. The constant hooting and hollering coming from the nearby hallway didn’t help much in the sleep department, either. Momo's enemies' shouts and screams of excitement pierced straight through the concrete walls separating them from each other.

When it seemed as if her despair couldn’t sink any lower on the sea of darkness, it happened. Sakdu, with his well-dressed body and missing tail, barged into the holding area. He held two bags and two thick black pieces of fabric. Roger the Elf came behind him.

“Tie the blindfold around their eyes and cover their heads with the bags.”

“Wait!” Momo cried. She pushed as far back as she could while scrambling her legs, which knocked over her waste bucket. It spilled everywhere, coating her legs and tail in a thick, brown, excrement-filled paste. However, the smell was the least of her worries. “It’s not Saturday! I don’t wanna die! You said—”

“SILENCE!!!” Sakdu rushed forward and ripped the iron bars preventing Momo from escaping.

“KKYAAAAA!!!” Such violent motions did little to shut her up. Her hands scratched the concrete walls, becoming bloody in the process of trying to dig away. Sakdu stepped closer and extended a hand. With her legs flailing away, she kicked his hand away and stood up in a single motion. In terms of size, she didn’t come close, but dying wasn’t on her agenda. Her feet kicked the ground, splatting more waste around as she attempted to tackle him. If that soured his mood, he didn’t show it. If anything, he liked the fiery spirit the cat displayed.

One of his large hands grabbed onto Momo’s arm and picked her up as if she was a whiney kitten. She kicked him in the chest, putting nasty footprints on his fitted tan suit.

“Keep it up, and I will break your arms and legs,” he warned her. That single sentence froze Momo to the core. She dangled as the life in her eyes left her. How could she ever fight back?! Her only attacking skill consisted of Magic Missile, she didn’t have a weapon, and even though she fought back just a little, the sleep deprivation had started to affect her. The adrenaline rushing through her body wasn’t meant to last forever. She had been on edge for hours at a time, and even though Dineria trained her, Momo never received training to help in the situation she found herself in.

“Good girl. Now, I want you to listen to me. Your friend is dead. We found her body. Rather, we found the scraps of what was left. Those savage, debaucherous fools ripped her breasts off and pleasured themselves by rubbing their filthy cocks against her ribs. We found her left leg at a distance. It had a hole inside her foot and semen around it. Momo, your Servi is dead. Here, we have proof in the form of her head, which I ripped off. BRING IT IN!!!”

The young Singi with a bald tail that Momo met hours earlier raced in with a decapitated head. Like her best friend, the head contained black hair that reached her shoulders. The eyes, however, were a different story. It just didn’t have any. Instead of having two red eyes that burned hotter than an erupting volcano, it had two holes from where someone stabbed a knife in it. Sakdu took it from the reporting Singi, who left in a hurry to do some other task and held the vandalized head to Momo’s face.

“SERVYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!” Like a violent chemical reaction, Momo exploded. Her body, fueled by what she thought was the head of her friend, sent every limb out of control. Her free arm pounded Sakdu’s chest, her legs kicked him in the stomach, and her voice did its best to attack via sound.

Sakdu knew that Servi wasn’t dead. After all, they only had to find a recently deceased Human, put a wig on her, and scratch out her eyes. Then the only thing left was a backstory detailing her horrible deaths, and Sakdu could create one from experience. The one he told Momo was the death of a woman who tried to scam him when the Mafia was in its early days. That experience turned out to be an excellent way to test just how depraved a group of murderers high on Pink Monotonia could get.

Roger came from around Sakdu and held out his hand in front of her mouth. It contained some kind of white powder. When he blew it on her face, her eyes instantly closed, and a soft purring sound came from her mouth instead of her ear-destroying scream.

“Put some of that sleeping powder on that Elf and tie him up. Then tie and blindfold this cat,” Sakdu ordered. He released his hand after setting his prisoner on the cold ground. “And get one of the female members to clean Momo before she wakes up. And make sure to reiterate that she is not to be physically harmed in any way.”

Roger stuck his hand into his white coat’s pocket and grabbed another handful of white dust. “I’ll get it done. Have the men arrived?”

“No. They’re scheduled to arrive as the week goes on. We’re just going ahead of schedule. That reminds me, I have to go write our friend a letter.”

“Do you really think a Rank 10 will be brave enough to enter New Arcton, enter this building, and not die to the bomb in the desk? Even if she does that, the bomb in the folder will kill her,” Roger asked. He walked over to Nimea’s cage and smacked him with the powder. The only gentleness Roger had for Momo was because Sakdu ordered it. That was why he gently blew it in her face. In reality, Roger didn’t care about either one of them. If anything, he wished Saturday would come sooner so he could get rid of both of them.

“There is always a chance, my friend. Since we are changing the play area, I have to leave a hint behind. I’ll even go a step further. I’ll tell her to be on the lookout for smoke signals Saturday morning.”

Roger shook his head as he tied the blindfold around Nimea’s sleeping head. With how potent his powder was when not in ball form, it rivaled refined sleepinwillo. But unlike sleepinwillo, Roger had an antidote that could wake up the person he put to sleep. “Why give her that much of a handicap?”

“Because she is a Demi-Human.” Sakdu pointed a large hand at the sleeping Momo. “And when it comes to Demi-Humans, I am fair. Especially when I have given my word to a fellow Demi-Human who was betrayed by a Human. Do you think I am not?”

“Sakdu, I didn’t say that. What better way to punish the Human that partied up with her than killing her friend? That way, if she does show up, it will all be for naught because her reason for persevering will have been dead all along.” Roger made an excellent point as he knitted his eyebrows. The despair and sadness that Human would have felt if such things came to fruition were nearly too much for Sakdu, who enjoyed nothing more than killing and tormenting Humans. But he had made a promise to his prisoner.

Momo wasn’t going to die before Saturday. The reason Sakdu came to get her was to prepare for that day. He had a base in the middle of the woods nearby in preparation for the march on Canary. The blindfolds and bags were to prevent them from seeing where they were when they walked out. Of course, now that Roger’s custom sleeping power had knocked them to the depths of unconsciousness, the bags and blindfolds were overkill. Regardless, Sakdu made the decision to use them because he had already gotten them. While nothing serious would happen if either of them woke up and screamed for help, going through the trouble of eliminating everyone who heard it wasn’t worth the effort.

Sakdu stared at the hole he made in the wall next to Momo’s cell. He joked that it was the right size to place Servi’s head. “Yes, if I ripped out one of these bars and slammed it down, I could mount her head right here,” The boss of the Mafia proceeded to yank out one of the iron bars and stabbed it into the wall. Roger only watched as he called for a female Koena to handle Momo.

“Listen, you are not under any circumstance allowed to physically harm her. You can scream and shout at her, but do not hit, punch, scratch, or bash any part of her body. When we get to the base, I want you to clean that filth off of her. Just leave her in her underwear, spray her with water, wash her clothes, dry her, dry the clothes, and redress her," Roger ordered.

“Yes, sir!” The female Koena’s pink scales vividly reflected the many burning candles located inside the holding area. She ran to Momo and hefted her up on her back, groaning at the awful stench radiating from the pink-haired Singi.

“Roger, when we get to the base, I can finally shred these ridiculous clothes. Damn those Humans for forcing these foolish suits as something to be worn when doing business. Never again will I tainted my righteous Kobold body with this foul fabric. A weapon and armor are all I need.” Sakdu gripped his dirty suit and ripped it off, revealing green scales covering a good portion of his body. He continued to tear away until he stood in his undergarments. He shouted for his armor, and the same Singi with a shaved tail ran in, pulling a small cart filled with armor behind him. The poor boy didn’t know where to look, so he closed his eyes and waited for his boss to dress himself.

On the other hand, Roger didn't advert his gaze. Though they never admitted it to anyone, the two of them shared a touching moment early in their relationship. It was when they were still a part of Warden, doing quest after quest to build up Potential to learn the skills they needed for their revenge. One night, Roger, in his drunken stupor, foolishly confessed a secret to Sakdu, the one person he had faith in. Sakdu replied with a secret of his own, and one thing led to another. By the time the morning sun had risen and light filtered in through their room’s windows, Roger and Sakdu had become one in mind and body. They explored each other, with Roger rubbing his palms down Sakdu’s hard and rough body while the Kobold used his large hands to embrace the slender Elf in a passionate embrace they both needed.

It was a one-time thing fueled by alcohol, but neither of them regretted it. As fate would have it, none of them sought to ever bring it up again, but that was fine.

“Ahh, it is nothing like the nadrium my bodyguard wears, but mythril armor is good enough.” As a Kobold, Sakdu’s body never stopped growing. Armor was something of a rarity for a Kobold since it was all but assured they would grow out of it. Most opted for a shield since it was cheaper, but Sakdu’s financial power rivaled that of some smaller countries. If he valued materialistic items and wanted something he couldn’t afford, Sakdu would turn to blackmail to get a loan with favorable conditions and interest rates. Many powerful men were slaves to the Monotonia, and a few happened to control a couple of banks.

But he wasn’t a materialistic person. At least, not as greedy as other Kobolds. He never cared about the fancy dinners and expensive clothing and homes as much as he let on. Revenge, first and foremost, was the main thing on his mind. The hatred he harbored for the men and women of the Human race never died down.

As he slid his armor on, Sakdu stared at his reflection in his gauntlets. The frantic hustle and bustle of his men getting everything ready to move to the forest base died out. For a few moments, it was only him—Sakdu—and his mind. Sweet, sweet revenge was the closest it had ever been, and everything had been accounted for. He knew about the recent attacks on Canary’s slave markets. His intelligence suggested a majority of Canary’s fighting force had perished in the odd fire domes that appeared in specific locations around town. No doubt Fisher and his men were hard at work at trying to bolster their forces.

However, he did hear a startling rumor that the majority of those that had died were only loyal to the previous governor, Parrel. Even if that was true, Canary had still lost a significant chunk of their armed forces, and it took time to train men for war.

That was a fact that couldn’t be disputed.

“…du?”

Everything was going well.

“…akdu?”

Not a single thing had gone wrong in the past few months as his tendrils of influence worked ever harder to recruit more men for his personal army. The base assigned for producing Monotonia, according to Roger’s strict specifications, of course, had spent the past months at 100% efficiency. Conversely, the outpost responsible for creating the food for the Suits had stockpiled an incredible amount of that disgusting, bloody soup.

Everything was in place, the preparations were made. Nothing could go wrong, could it?

“Sakdu?!”

Sakdu’s ears finally picked up the exasperated tone of his Elven friend. His head turned towards him.

"Roger, I am fine. Are we ready to abandon this base?”

“Almost. The men outside need a few more hours to get properly prepared. We’ll be ready in three hours.”

Sakdu nodded. “Then is the secret exit ready?”

“It is. We also have Skill Users at the ready to destroy it after we leave," Roger reported. “Your personal bodyguard is doing one last check.

Sakdu nodded a second time and double-checked his armor. He wouldn’t be fighting for some time, but he wanted his body to get used to what it felt like to move around in armor. After that, he returned to his room, where he penned a letter for Servi.

When the clock struck 5 AM, Sakdu, Roger, and everyone in and around the building he used as his base slipped through the secret tunnel as they made their way to what would be the location of the greatest battle in Lando’s history.