Chapter 103: Shattered Dreams

That night was like a dream. Everyone waited with bated breath as Rhallani flicked the seal in place on her array and Jack took her first step into the pit. When nothing caught fire, the wide grin on her face made it all worth it. She’d barely begun to laugh before Rhallani tackled her. Jack just let it happen, tumbling into the piles of pillows and blankets with an elated sound and tears brimming in her eyes. It wasn’t long before half the room was dogpiling on.

And after that?

Yeah, it went pretty downhill after that.

Clothing vanished and fun times ensued. Allie jumped in with gusto, always managing to be within arms’ reach of me. Therese stuck by her side, but she seemed at least willing to join in on the celebration. Nora politely declined, opting to call it early and go to sleep in the ‘quiet corner.’ Curtains were pulled and a silence rune was activated, though I saw its residents peeking out more than a few times.

Ryoko still wasn’t quite ready to participate and Tsuki wasn’t a fan of just how many people were suddenly in the pit. Vanni and Rose both chose to stay in their room, but Karina and Jayme joined the twins, albeit a tad late. She managed to time her entrance right as Serena was taking me into her mouth and Noelle was chewing on my shoulder while riding my fingers. People couldn’t seem to stop touching her wings, and every touch just got her going more and more.

She blushed furiously even as Jayme grinned wide. The former hid behind her hands (though she peeked through her fingers) while she dragged the latter into the quiet corner. I saw both swirling silver and steel gray peeking out from behind the curtains more than once.

While I took care of Noelle and Serena, Therese got her revenge on Allie an arm’s length away. I got to see a whole new side to Tiana as she helped hold Allie down and send her screaming from one orgasm to the next. A few feet away Jack and Safina were giving Rhallani a similar treatment.

That was how it started, but as the night dragged on I ended up with just about every combination of girls they could come up with. Even Alice eventually worked up the courage to join in, and she was welcomed with open arms. I even saw her snacking on a few of the girls, driving their orgasms to even higher heights. The natural way they all moved in and out was something I would marvel on later, when I wasn’t otherwise occupied. By the time everything winded down to a close I’d spent some ‘quality time’ with each and every one of them.

Late into the night I ended up in my favorite place. Passed out buried in a pile of bodies. I had Allie tucked into one side, Therese tangled up with her and Nora capping off the end, and Noelle wrapped around my other with Jack at her back barely visible underneath Rhallani, Serena, and Tiana who had all managed to fall asleep draped over her in one way or another. Safina had somehow ended up being a pillow for nearly all of us with my head on her stomach and one of her arms draped over Noelle’s wings, which were carefully folded against her back.

It wasn’t quite perfect, not with one soul still trapped behind enemy lines, but it was damn close.

And then, all at once, that dream shattered.

[Danger Sense] sent me hurtling into wakefulness with my adrenaline surging. I startled half the pit into wakefulness, but I was too busy focusing on the feedback from my skill. I was confused for a moment to find that it was Nell that was in intense danger, then when my sense expanded to include Stella less than a minute later I understood.

“Rhallani!” I barked.

She shot up, her eyes unfocused. Her expression twisted into one of horror. “They came out of the tunnels. They went straight for Festus, I—” she shook her head, her eyes widening in panic, “I don’t have eyes in there anymore!”

The room exploded into motion as I shot to my feet. Whatever was happening was happening across town. My sense told me that Nell was in the most immediate danger, and that while Stella was in danger it wasn’t life threatening. They weren’t there to kill her, they were there to take her. Whatever was happening would be finished before I could get there, so rushing to her side now would only put us all in a worse position.

I managed to get into a pair of pants and sprinted from the room. I threw on clothes from my storage while I raced to Cynthia’s room. She opened the door less than a minute after I knocked, wearing nothing but a robe with frazzled hair and a peeved look on her face. A look that evaporated the second she saw my own. “What do you need?” she asked.

“I need the Swallow and I need it now.”

She put her business face on and pushed past me. I followed her into her office just a few doors down. I took a few steps in before I paused. My surprise was nothing compared to Deverin’s, who until now I’d assumed had simply been Cynthia’s head minion. Seeing him in Cynthia’s office, standing between the legs of a very naked Elisa with a look of pure terror on his face, for a brief moment made me forget about my plight.

I was momentarily worried about a scene seeing Cynthia’s girl with a guy in her own office, but I’d once again underestimated this new world. Cynthia strode right up to the two of them, gave them both a peck on the cheek, then crouched down behind the desk.

“Deverin, pick your jaw up off the floor and finish up,” she commanded, pulling a stack of papers from one of the desk drawers. “Zaren has seen much worse. You didn’t have to share a wall with him on the trip to Amesseria.”

She stood and gave him a swat on the rear, then held the papers out to me. “Finished just a few hours ago. Give those to Reade and she’ll fold. I’ve already filed the necessary documents, so everything should be set.”

I banished them to my storage with a nod. “They’ve made a move, so might as well prepare for fallout.”

She nodded curtly and I left the room just as fast as my feet would take me. Later on I could chuckle at what I’d just walked in on, after I’d made sure Stella was safely behind my walls. When I made it to the foyer I found everyone waiting for me. I hated what I had to do next, but unfortunately I didn’t see a way around it.

“Noelle, I want you and Alice to stay behind. Until you get the hang of fighting with those wings it’s too dangerous to take you into combat and I need someone watching the manor in case this is a ploy to draw us away. Jayme, you as well.”

Noelle’s face fell, but with one look at her new wings she just nodded. “Valith, track down one of Sandrel’s guys and pass along the message that shit might be about to get messy. Allie, you take your team to the Swallow aboveground in case they try to leave that way. Take Liana and Elena with you as well. I’m putting them in charge of the Swallow until we find someone more permanent.” The two blonde elves had already been briefed on what I needed from them and didn’t so much as flinch.

Then I nodded at my mage. “Tiana, you go with them.” Tiana let out a relieved breath and nodded thankfully. She knew I was taking the tunnels just as I knew she still hated the underground. “The rest of you with me. I—”

My words died in my throat as [Danger Sense] went flat. First I felt the danger Nell was in vanish altogether. I could still feel her Link, which meant she hadn’t been destroyed, but I had a feeling she was no longer in fighting shape. Whoever was attacking either didn’t care or didn’t have the time to try and carry her off.

Stella’s danger spiked, then after a brief, terrifying moment, it faded as well. The way it simply disappeared was identical to the way my sense of Tiana’s danger had when she’d been taken, so I knew she was unconscious.

I tried to find the words, but panic was rapidly overcoming me. Allie took one look at my face and stepped in with a hand on my arm. “Any girls we find we get safely out of the way, but Stella is the priority. Lock Reade down if you can as well, since we’ll need her to officially take control of the Swallow. Assume this is a play by our enemy, so if anyone not in a city guard uniform comes at you then you put them down.”

There were nods all around. Nobody batted an eye at her giving orders, which settled something in me. I nodded gratefully, then I headed for the entrance to the basement. Allie gave my arm one last squeeze, then she led her team out the front door. Jack, Serena, Safina, Zoey, and Reese fell into step with me. As we took off into the tunnels I sent off what I hoped wasn’t a worthless prayer to Allura to at least keep Stella safe until I could get to her.

I just hoped I wasn’t too late.

# # #

We arrived to devastation. Stella’s secret workshop was wrecked and soaked in blood. I saw smears where bodies had been dragged off, leaving no sign of who the attackers might have been. On the ground next to the secret door that led into Stella’s main workshop was Nell, most of her body destroyed. She’d held out as long as she could, but whoever had taken Stella had come prepared.

My only solace was the knowledge that, even at a dead sprint, I’d have arrived too late one way or the other. I could berate myself later for leaving Stella in the Swallow despite my instincts telling me to get her out. I knew the risk I’d run, and it seemed I was paying for it now.

“You just can’t catch a break, can you?” I asked Nell. I felt her soul pulsing angrily inside the chassis of the golem, but there wasn’t much I could do for her right now. I banished the pieces of her I could find into my storage, wishing I had the chance to look over the repaired limbs Stella had attached to her. Stella fixed her once, I was sure she could do it again.

Reese slipped back into the secret workshop from where she’d gone ahead. She shook her head once at Jack, who grimaced. “Looks like they’re all gone,” she said quietly. “Found this, though.”

She held out a crumpled piece of paper to me. I forced myself to remain calm as I read, even as every word just made the blood roar louder in my ears. It was a note from Stella, hastily scrawled in panic. Teardrops stained the page and made the ink run in places. Whatever had happened, she’d chosen to write this note instead of escaping.

Zaren, it read, they’re coming for me. They know about your plans for the Swallow. They came out of the tunnels and in through the front at the same time. Nell is holding them back downstairs, but I can hear them coming for me from upstairs. My traps heard them. They’re here for me. They know I’m tied to you somehow. That you’ll come for me. I’m bait. I should tell you not to come for me, but I want the life you promised. They’re almost through. I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go. I don—

The last word ended with a jagged line down the page. She’d been grabbed mid word and the note must have fallen to the ground. With Nell’s interference they must have been in a hurry, so they hadn’t bothered looking at the note. I banished it to my storage as my panic and my fear boiled over into something far too calm.

Nobody said anything, but I felt their eyes on me as I walked out and into the brothel proper. The building was awash with fear that made my [Predator’s Pursuit] skill scream, so I knew the building wasn’t abandoned. There were girls in most of the rooms, no doubt hiding from whatever commotion had happened. We passed more than one broken down door with an empty room on the other side on our way to Reade’s office, but we passed by just as many with its occupants still terrified inside.

I arched a brow when I found Sandrel himself standing outside Reade’s office with Valith by his side. He inclined his head to me. “Came as soon as my scouts reported an armed group slinking through the city. They went in, never came out.”

I cursed. “The tunnels.”

He nodded once. “The tunnels. Figured I’d let you have your chat with Reade then take her afterwards. Not a fan of the bitch running a flesh trade under my nose for so long. Been spending the last week cleaning house.”I grunted, then pushed the door open. Reade sat at her chair, her face bruised and a lit cigarette between two fingers. Behind her stood Remi, the Lycanine who’d helped smuggle us out before, and a peeved looking Oni man who leaned against the back wall with his arms crossed. From the way both of them were looking at Reade I knew they were on our side.

Panic flitted across Reade’s expression for a moment, but she hid it well. “So it was you, then. You’re a better actor than I gave you credit for, kid,” she said, snubbing out her cigarette.

Remi’s eyes cut to me with a carefully hopeful glint. “Stella?”

I shook my head and her face fell. I summoned Cynthia’s papers and dropped them on Reade’s desk. “You should know,” I said, my voice cold and gravelly, “that while I despise killing women, I do make exceptions. Slavers happen to be one of those.”

She scoffed. “You think I wanted any of this?” she pulled the papers over and signed them. “You don’t know shit, kid. If it wasn’t me, it’d be someone else. You’ve got no idea who you’re across the table from. I’ll give you a hint, it’s someone with a hell of a lot more pull than me.”

I pulled the papers back and banished them, then gave a nod to Valith. She went to go collect Liana and Elena, who would go through and get a headcount of girls and kick out any remaining customers. The Silver Swallow was officially closed for business until some severe rebranding could be done.

“Where did they go and who did they take?” I demanded.

Reade just leaned back in her chair. “No clue. Things around here operate on a strictly need-to-know basis, and more often than not I didn’t need to know, apparently.” She let out a sigh and ran a hand over her face. “They took any of the girls they thought were valuable then disappeared. Left me to take the fall.”

“Why? What did they want with those girls?”

She shrugged. “Race specific classes. Rare ones, mainly. Apparently a mother’s classes can pass on to their offspring while the father carries the influence when it comes to stats and race. Assuming both parents are demi-human, at least.”

The Oni man stepped forward with his fists balled. “You took our women for breeding stock?” he demanded.

She met his glare without flinching. “For every girl they took, I gave ten a chance at life that wasn’t on a damn street corner.”

“And made money off them at every turn,” Remi spat.

Reade scoffed. “And so what if I did? You think their lives would have been any better off without me?”

I held a hand up and they all fell silent. I placed my palms on her desk and leaned forward. “Stella?”

This time, she flinched. “I don’t know anything. One of them just showed up one day with her in tow, said she was important. I was to keep her safe and isolated. Keep careful track of anyone who crossed paths with her. They told me that someone would come for her one day and to inform them immediately when it happened. I didn’t know it was you. Didn’t even know she’d seen anyone till I over heard a girl commenting on some new coat she’d been wearing. Not like it mattered. They came for her as soon as they found out about the little stunt you had planned.”

I was just on the verge of falling into a much darker version of Zaren from the past when Valith’s voice pulled me back from the edge. I looked at her over my shoulder. She was out of breath like she’d just been sprinting, but there was a light in her eyes. “You need to see this.”

I looked to Remi. “You, I trust. I’m putting you in charge of security. Work with Liana to get the place locked down and the girls left safe, we’ll reevaluate once I’ve taken care of this.”

The Oni growled. “And who put you in charge?”

Reade just sighed. “I did when I signed over every property I have to him. Welcome to the infamous house of Nocht, Zophel.”

He paused, then looked at me curiously. “You’ll get back the women that were taken?”

“They’re a part of my house, now.” I cut my eyes to Reade, who flinched at whatever she saw in them. “And I take care of my house.”

I paused on my way out to exchange a look with Sandrel. A brief nod between us was all that was needed. He’d originally joined the Seven because his sister had been taken and sold into slavery, so I knew he’d do whatever it took to make sure Reade told us everything there was worth telling. I also knew he’d have people standing by to follow my guys wherever we went since he knew me as well as I knew him. There was no way I was abandoning those girls to their fate, and since I’d been the one to pull his sister out of her cage back then he’d always felt like he owed me.

I left Sandrel behind and Valith led us back to Stella’s workshop and into the tunnels, where she pulled out a smaller handheld version of Elisa’s lantern. “Look at this.”

Carved into the wall was four jagged lines. I wasn’t sure what I was seeing at first, then it hit me. It was a seven and an arrow pointing down the tunnel. “She left us a trail,” I breathed, some of the tension in my gut uncoiling.

“We’re going after them, right?”

I nodded. First, though, I went back into the workshop. In the time I’d spent with Stella I’d made a loose catalog of her inventions in my head. I went straight for one of her prototype drawers and pulled out what looked to be a set of matching compasses, only these didn’t point north. They pointed to one another.

I tossed one to Valith. “There’s no telling where this will lead us. I want to have an aboveground route back just in case. Take this to Allie. I’ll lead the tunnel crew, you guys follow on the surface. We can pincer them just like they pincered the Swallow.”

She nodded, then paused. “What are the odds this is a trap?”

“A complete certainty,” I said honestly. “Which is why I’m going to spring it. Tell Allie it’s her job to bail my ass out, she should enjoy that.”

That reassured her, but still she worried. “Zaren, I—”

“We’ll get them out,” I promised. “All of them this time.”

The fire in her eyes was her only answer before she stepped back and vanished. I pulled out my own lantern—a larger one, seeing as I didn’t have the benefit of enhanced dark vision—and set off in search of the next mark.

The normally cool tunnels were soon filled with Jack’s heat with how keyed up she was. I summoned some devices from my storage and passed them to Zoey and Reese. “Those should override the collars and incapacitate the wearer until we can get the collar off entirely. Jack, Four summons creatures made of hellfire so you’ll have to be the one to get in close and keep her busy while they capture her.”

They nodded, and I turned to Safina and Serena. “We’ll be looking for Stella after we set off their trap. They probably won’t expect us so quickly, just like when Karina was taken, but we can’t count on that. Expect the worst at every turn. Hit hard, hit fast, and hit first. They took ours from us, so show them no mercy.”

That last line more than anything seemed to set off something primal in Safina. Lightning crackled across her scales and a feral growl sounded deep in her chest. If they hadn’t taken someone I cared deeply about, I might have felt sorry for whatever poor soul was about to be on the other end of her mace.

We moved as quickly as we dared, only losing the trail once or twice before we came across another seven etched into the wall. Whoever these guys were they covered their tracks well, but I was willing to put my trust in Valith.

It wasn’t long before we encountered our first trap—an insultingly simple tripwire—but our enemy had nothing on Stella. Compared to the elegant, clever placement of her traps I avoided in the game we played every time I visited these were crude and easy to spot. The more traps we avoided, though, the more I started to see signs of the group we were following.

Carting prisoners through the tunnel they would have had no choice but to deactivate and reactivate the traps as they passed, which meant we were likely moving much faster than them. Yet another thing bracing the door that kept the darker parts of me locked away.

We moved through the tunnels for well over two hours. Long enough for the sun be perilously close to rising unless I was mistaken. That was when we finally reached our destination.

I knew we were there because of the small creature waiting for us outside. It was almost a cat, but an incredibly stylized rendition of one. It looked like it was made of violet flames that had the same consistency as the summons I’d fought when I’d cornered Seven in the Swallow before. Like watercolor painted right onto the air. It was scratching at a wall with claws sharp enough to leave grooves in the stone of the wall. Grooves the same thickness and depth as the sevens we’d been following.

“Secret door. How should we—” Jack started.

I summoned the Jailer’s blade from my storage and drew it. “Ash, if you’d please,” I said aloud as I stabbed the blade into the stone.

Yes! I knew you couldn’t stay mad at me forever! The crimson and black smoke immediately started to eat away at the brick, degrading it until we had a hole we could step through. On the other side was a narrow staircase that the flaming cat immediately darted up.

I slid the blade back into its sheathe, but didn’t banish it yet. “Thank you. For healing her wings. Her scars. Everything.”

Ehh, I didn’t so much as heal them as I did replace the parts of her my magic burned away with the body her soul felt it should have, but I’m glad it worked out in the end anyways!

Right. That was a worrying sentence we’d have to unpack later.

“Well it’s time to save another of our souls, but they want you too badly for me to use unless I’ve got no other option.”

You got it, my dark and brooding vassal! I, your loyal trump card and benevolent benefactor shall await your call with bated breath!

I paused, analyzing the Link between us. “You’re in a really good mood,” I noted.

Fuck yeah, I am! Thanks to Noelle, I realized something HUGE. I’m not just like my dad, I’m like my mom, too!

“Ash, what the fuck does that mean?” I asked, exasperated.

I have no idea! Isn’t this great? Now let’s go save that cute little elf. Your soul always tastes the best when you’re not all dark and angry.

One of these days we were going to need to work on her timing when it came to dropping existential bombs, but until then we had bigger fish to fry. Ignoring the strange looks I was getting from my companions, I banished the blade and started up the stairs.

It didn’t take long to affirm we were in the right place. The room at the top was filled with a half dozen bodies that I figured were Nell’s work. Reese knelt over one and frowned. “Ochre Wolves. A shady mercenary company with a very specific ‘everything has its price’ reputation.’”

“So nobody that would be missed?” I asked.

She shook her head and stood. “Their comrades have already looted the bodies for anything of value, if that gives you a better idea of their standard grunts.”

“Good to know.” I donned the magicloak and drew two short swords. “Let’s get this done, then.”

If I hadn’t already been planning to gut every asshole who raised a blade against me tonight, what I found in the next room would have been enough to get me there. At least two dozen demi-human girls of varying ages huddled in cages not even tall enough for most of them to stand in. Many of them were either naked or dressed in rags that were only a step better, though I noticed a few that were in the finer clothes of the Swallow.

They were all shivering, many clutching one another in the cold dank cellar they were being kept in. I saw bowls full of something that couldn’t possibly be considered food sitting just inside the cages, though more of them were empty than not. They all looked at me with fear and desperation in their eyes. The feedback from [Predator’s Pursuit] was beginning to make my head spin.

“Zaren…” Serena breathed, gripping the back of my cloak with trembling fingers.

“Yeah. New plan,” I agreed. “Jack?”

She nodded. “On it.”

She went around melting the locks with her bare hands while I pulled extra clothes and blankets from my storage. I searched their faces one by one as they hesitantly crept out of their cages, both relieved and frustrated not to see Stella’s face among them.

“Serena,” I called. From her expression she knew exactly what I was about to ask, and she wasn’t happy about it. “The rest of us are going in hard and heavy. We’ll draw plenty of attention, so give us about ten minutes then lead these girls out of whatever building is above us. Sandrel’s people should be close by. Tell them to take the girls back to the Swallow until we can figure out somewhere better.”

“Y-you’re sending us back?” one of the girls asked fearfully.

Smiling wasn’t exactly in my repertoire right now, but that’s one of the many reasons I had Serena. “Don’t worry,” She promised, caressing the girl’s cheek. “Madame Reade will be gone by the time we get back. The Swallow won’t be the Swallow for much longer. You’ll be safe there.”

The girl didn’t look convinced, but one look at the cage she’d been freed from made her decision. I knew better than most that even the hell you knew could be better than the one you didn’t. I pulled Serena in close and pressed my forehead to hers. “Be quick about it. You know how I get myself into trouble when you aren’t around.”

“I sure do,” she said, those green eyes twinkling. “Try not to do anything too outrageous before I get back.”

“I make no promises.” I looked to the others and jerked my head. “Let’s move.”

We didn’t even make it out of the cellar before things kicked off. Zoey was just reaching for the door when we heard voices on the other side. They were muffled, but I clearly heard one of them refer to ‘merchandise.’ I nodded for Zoey to stand back just as the door swung open, revealing a group of the same mercenaries we’d found dead in the room before and two men who I figured were nobles from their dress. The nobles were there of their own free will, which sealed their fates.

The mercenaries scrambled for their blades but I was quicker. The first man was dead before the second even drew his blade, and the second died before the third could manage to swing in the tight quarters of the hallway. I summoned Essence empowered tendrils and crashed into the guards, using the tight quarters and my shorter blades against them. I heard the twang of a bowstring and more guards fell, then there was the unmistakable meaty thud of Safina’s mace followed by screaming.

Caught off guard, the mercenaries didn’t stand a chance against us. I cut the first noble down with a single strike and lopped the second noble’s arm off at the elbow when he tried to brandish a blade at me.

“Y-you?” he cried, scrambling away from me and cradling his bleeding stump. He must have had a skill or item that involved some kind of healing because the blood stopped far too quickly. “I know you! Aren’t you supposed to be some kind of hero? You wouldn’t kill an unarmed man!”

It seemed word of my true identity was starting to get around. I leveled a blade at him, still dripping with blood. “I am a hero,” I told him, my voice deadly. “I’m just the kind of hero that the storybooks like to pretend doesn’t exist.”

He made a whimpering sound, then he turned and ran as fast as his feet would allow. As badly as I wanted to kill anyone who participated in a slave trade like this, I let him go. A screamer like him would draw plenty of attention from any mercenaries or guards remaining in the house, and I didn’t feel like having to hunt them all down. As long as Allie was close, Sandrel’s men wouldn’t be far behind to scoop up anyone who might try to flee.

I sucked in my breath as [Danger Sense] flared to life again. “Stella?” Jack asked after one look at my face.I nodded as relief flooded me. “She’s awake, somewhere upstairs. She’s not in immediate danger, but we should be quick all the same.”

“Let’s get a move on, then,” Jack said, grinning. “We need to get your artificer safe so I can properly enjoy immolating the scum of Kasidiel.”