The Exodus Sagas: Book II - Of Dragons And Crowns (28 page)

Her brown waves pulled back, her stee
l blue eyes sharp, and her hand
on her shortsword; Kaya walked down the hall of the eighth story penthouse floor of Tre’hahdim Arena. She strapped on her left arm the round bladed
and spiked steel
disc
that served as a shield and a weapon. The corridors were tight and dark, and she heard the screams from the south corridor that she was heading to. Kaya smiled, knowing that Chalas Kalaza must have had as much success as she.
The
y
had been sent by Johnas Valhera to inspect the co
llections that the White Spider was taking from the city of Devonmir, mostly from the illustrious and infamous arena that spanned six stories below ground and eight above and housed more than forty thousand spectators. Of the lords, wizards, slave owners, bookies, moneylenders, slave traders, spies, trainers, and arena saboteurs; the White Spider held nearly a third in their employ. Strangely though, domenarch
Rinicus “three blades”
and the house wizard Cadius L’Essagnett had been sending only three chest of gold per month. After only three weeks of secret research, Kaya guessed that the amount should be ten times what the patriarch in Valhirst was receiving.
S
he and the brown minotaur killer, Chalas,
had just this night made their
presence known to some of the skimmers and thieves that had been shortening the drops.

Kaya turned the corner to her left, seeing a fat dwarf with a patch over one eye come screaming out of one of the open doors down the hall. She kept her pace at a quick march. He was just an inch or two shorter than her, probably a hundred fifty pounds heavier, covered in someone else’s blood from beard to boots, and on a dead run unarmed.
She heard another scream, this one feminine for sure, then a shuddering cleaving sound of flesh and bone ceased it. The hair on Lady T’vellon’s arms s
tood up at the muffled sound of
the greatsword being pulled from moist muscle in the room thirty feet ahead.

“Run lady, run! Murderous minotaur gone mad killing-“

Her bladed buckler smashed him in the face, spikes three inches long digging into flesh. She drew her shortswor
d as she slashed the edge below her
shield
,
across his thro
at through the bloody red beard. N
ow his own blood cove
ring him,
he staggered back and reached for a dagger from his boot. Too late, her blade plunged down behind his neck and through his ribs with all her weight on top of it. He fell forward, his heart punctured, and Kaya never slowed a step.

She marched to the door, turned, and then turned away placing her gloved hand over her mouth in horror. Her eyes teared, just a little, and she took deep shivering breaths to keep the air flowing into her chest. She closed her eyes hard, trying to rid herself of the carnage she had seen for less than a second. It had been a second too long, and never had she seen
humans or dwarves spread out in that many pieces in such a manner.

His long bloodstained horns preceded him out the double doors to the wealthy suite. Then his serrated steel two-handed blade cast a shadow into the hallway, and finally the scarred and armored brute of a minotaur slowly stepped out. His piecemeal bits of spiked armor and plateguards that covered half his massive muscular body were splattered with blood not of his own. His eyes were once again wide and almost swirling brown and black with lust for more blood, and that subtle grin on his b
ovine face was less than comforting
.

“You killed the dwarf moneylender I see. That was quiet, didn’t even hear him scream once he left the room. Would you like to inspect and make sure I got everyone on the-“

“No! I am certain you took care of everyone inside, I am more than certain.” Kaya backed away from the doors, and from her partner here in
Devonmir. Not that she had any choice in the matter; for if she did, this beast would not even be alive let alone be a branded member of the White Spider.

“You are weak, woman. You kill, you lay with men and then murder them, women too. So do I, the only difference is I enjoy it and you do it as a means to an end you will never find.” Chalas laughed deep and heavy, his voice like a demon in a cold cave.

“I do it cleanly, quickly, quietly, and with a degree of de
cency. You are a sick creature
who revels in ripping things to pieces. You belong in a cage, not in a city. You disgust me.” Kaya knew they only had moments before someone came out of one of the other suites above the arena. She did not fear anyone finding them, only what the minotaur would do that she might witness.
“
Now get some water or bedsheets and wipe yourself off before we head underground.”

“As you wish, lady whore. At least I enjoy what I
do, and take pleasure in it.” h
e walked heavy steps into his mess of gore, ripped a curtain off the window, and proceeded to wipe the telltale blood off of himself. “You cry yourself to sleep at night, wishing you had not done the things you have. I hear you. Yet, you don’t kill yourself and you do it again the next night. Who is the sick coward now? If I were you, I would have killed myself out of disgust a long time ago.”

“Go to hell you horned focking bastard. At least I have a soul to fight for.” Kaya marched down the hall toward the stairs, knowing they had to get to the lower arena to meet the domenarch before the nights’ games began. They had to send word to Johnas via the warlock mirrors that Rinicus “three blades” and Cadius
certainly
held in their private viewing cha
mber over the pit.

“Regardless of what your little human brain might tell you, you will be going to the same place I go when life is at an end. Anyone that tells you different is just trying to get some of that rotten crotch of yours for
free.” h
is laughter was devious, for he did not care for anyone or anything. Chalas Kalaza was further from anything moral than could be found, and he tried to keep it that way.

“Get moving minotaur, we have little time to waste here.” Kaya thought of killing him in his sleep, but Johnas had made it clear to her that he wanted him for many reasons and that he would suspect her first if anything were to happen. His words were like reviling vomit to her, and he was the devil.
She knew she had earned enough to send her to hell, she just hadn
’t realized that it would begin
while she still lived and with company such as this.

“Once we kill this, Rinicus person, I want to start looking for Saberrak. We have heard nothing in weeks besides
that he is east of here. Tell J
ohnas I might start killing his men here, just for fun if he does not reveal w
hat he knows of the gray one.” h
e became very reserved and focused at the thought of the fugitive he wanted to hunt and kill so desperately, the only undefeated minotaur in Unlinn besides himself. Chalas walked behind the deadly female assassin, his mind on more blood, and then some food.

“I will inform the patriarch of the White Spider in Valhirst of your wishes, minotaur.
And we are not killing Rinicus, we are meeting him. I hope Johnas
orders your death for demanding such things.” Kaya hoped she would be the one to do it as well. She would have to do it while he slept, but she was more than happy to do it either way.

“He won’t kill me. I will spill more blood for him than his ten best killers, and he knows it. Now shut your woman mouth before I ri
p your tongue out and eat it.” h
e stated in perfect calm, since he had done
it many times before.
Chalas sheathed his greatsword over his shoulder and continued to follow her quickly down the spiral stone stairs.
Unlike K
aya, his threats were just rec
itations of previous experiences. The brown minotaur breathed deep, smelling the faint traces of blood off of his body and hearing distant sounds of the arenas below. He felt at home here, and could not wait to get into the middle of the arena floor, upper or lower he cared not, and show these surface dwellers how killing is done.

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Kaya approached the two massive human men, clean shaven and tattooed all over and wearing nothing but cloth around their waists and three bladed longspears in their hands. They stood motionless in front of the double doored entrance to the private rooms above the upper arena. They lowered the spears in unison. “Stop woman. What is your business here?”

“Seven and one, and far from black. Both of us, here to see Rinicus “three blades” and Cadius.” Kaya spoke in simple code to denote her as a member of the guild with some
high
rank. Anyone who gets orders directly from Johnas Valhera has some pull, Kaya knew not to use it too much or for personal gain however. She was one of his assassins, a lone agent for the mo
st part and one of the Emerald E
ight; the
highest trained agents on the political, merchant, mur
derous spy, and domenarch echelons
, and trained only by Johnas himself. Should the patriarch of the White Spider be killed, these eight that knew not of each other at all
would convene and maintain the deadly organization. That is, if they did
not kill each other upon sight first.

“One moment.” t
he hulking guard on the left opened the door enough for himself to enter, then closed it, leaving the uncomfortable stare between Chalas and the remaining guard. Having seen years of strange creatures and thousands of deaths himself, the gladiator
al
guard of the White Spider merely stared back at the minotaur and showed no fear at all. The door opened again, then the other
,
followed by clamoring sounds of twenty thousand cheering and yelling at whatever was going on in the arena below.

Kaya noticed the spider brand on the back shoulder of the
slave guards, on the left side behind the heart as it should be. She stopped, allowing them to inspect Chalas for his brand. They needed not to inspect her, for the code she spoke was more than enough to gain entry here in Devonmir. In Valhirst, it wo
uld not be and she would be tho
roughly inspected with an arcane spider wand before being received into the underchamber of the guild.
This place is far too easy and disorganized, she thought.

The room was open on the left side completely, showing the upper arena from a high vantage some six stories above the ground. Sofas, chairs, tables, serving maids and black clad guards in the shadows lined the private coliseum suite where two men
sat comfortably in the center
.
Kaya looked left, seeing the gray stone pillars that held the domed building up, the stone seats holding thousands of humans from most every kingdom, some dwarves and elven merchants of less than reputable names, and the black thrones across the other side of the arena above the western entrance. Three thrones of the Lords of Devonmir, all empty as the preliminary games went on, but sure to be filled for this night
’
s main bloodbath. Hundreds of lanterns and torches of magical flame and orange arcane light filled the warm, sweat reeking, musty Tre’hahdim arena.

The lady assassin stepped forward into the center of the room, and nodded to the two men that sat comfortably on leather chairs; obvious by their position and guards that surrounded them that they were the most important men here. The man on the right was wearing black robes with several gold
symbols and arcane glyphs that K
aya was not familiar with. He was human, Harlian by the looks of his brown eyes and dark brown wavy hair and beard. She had expected him to be a bit older for his position and reputed power of the magical arts, but he appeared to be younger than she, perhaps twenty five seasons or so. Cadius clutched his gnarled banyan root staff tight, but smiled and nodded at the beautiful
woman. The man on the left, Rinicus “three blades”, had some more age on him, but was not of Harlaheim descent. His black tight and greasy curls of hair, long bl
ack mustache and trimmed beard,
deep tan skin, and dark spots rather than freckles gave him away as being Caberran. He wore fine blue silks and leather armor of intricate engraving underneath; and she noticed that in fact he did carry three blades on his belt. Two of them large fighting knives and one a rapier with a golden hilt adorned with diamonds.
Kaya nodded to the domenarch of Devonmir a bit longer than the wizard, showing respect to the master of the house, in this city anyway.

“And you are?” t
he snyde Caberran man tapped his hilt wi
th his fingernails rhythmically
and squinted at the woman with a horned minotaur of fearsome disposition behind her. Rinicus felt no fear here, having four assassin guards, two gladiators outside the doors, and the dark mage Cadius beside him.

“Jade
of the
West.” Kaya stared back at him, and watched his overconfident smile turn to a serious straight set of pursed lips, as did the rest of the men in the room as all eyes were now on her much more closely.

“One of the E
ight? Here in Devonmir? Welcome then, please sit and have some-“