Library of Rain

Night Time Nightmare

As they approached the Auction House, the light shimmer drifting off the man at the door immediately caught Rain's attention. How was he letting off shimmer? That should mean he had some kind of connection to false energy. Though now that Rain looked harder, his shimmer was far lighter than hers. It almost had some color to it. Did that mean that it was more natural to the world? 

Rain didn’t bother pausing as she led Lucus past the man, dropping ten vers into his hand. The man, for his part, seemed happy not to have to explain the rules again. 

The further they walked into the auction house, the closer Lucus drew to her. Rain chose to sit again at the same table as last time. Hopefully, that would remind the staff of who they were and avoid any questions about why children were here.

The auction was already in full swing by the time they’d entered. Rain had timed their arrival to just before the later half of the auction. She didn’t want to witness more than she had to. She didn’t even need to look at the stage to know it was bad. The pitiful sobbing of whichever woman was being ‘displayed’ right now was more than enough for her. 

Instead, Rain watched the building horror in Lucus’s eyes as person after person was brought up, degraded, denied their humanity, and sold while the villains around them laughed and partied.

Eventually, a batch of children were brought out to the excitement of many in the crowd.

“And here we have this month's batch of bastards, courtesy of the fine brothels of this city!” the auctioneer said with a flourish. “You can raise these brats to be whatever you want! Guards, workers, lovers, they’re ready to be molded into whatever you need them to be. You also might even find the bastard child of a rival. Always a potent weapon.”

Rain had noticed other people with black hair when she was at the tournament. Was that why the Rothford Auction House had bothered looking for her, so they could sell her to someone looking to target a house with black hair? It did make a twisted kind of sense. 

Rain looked to the stage for the first time that night to see a dozen or so children her age completely naked and shivering on the stage. She was relieved to see that none of them were being tied on those posts. 

Each child was sold, one by one, as Rain saw what her fate would have looked like if she hadn’t gained her powers. This, this is why she would never give up.

That was enough. Rain grabbed Lucus’s shoulder, causing him to jump in surprise.

“Let’s go.”

He didn’t argue, standing and following her out in a daze.

Rain did cast one longing look at the wine casks the staff were using to serve their patrons. If only she could find a way to get her blood in those. She memorized the symbol branded onto the side of one of the casks. Perhaps if she could get to it before it arrived… Rain had thought about just pouring her blood into the aquifer, but she didn’t think she had enough blood to make that effective.

“Why would you go to a place like that?”

Rain was shocked to hear Lucus’s heated question. Looking around, she realized they were clear of the auction house and wandering around the Low Ring. She’d gotten lost in her thoughts again.

“Because I wanted you to see how awful it was.”

“Why!” 

“Tell me, are you alright with what you saw?” Rain asked, ignoring his question.

“No, of course not. How could people treat each other like that?”

“Did you know that we keep slaves like that under our home?”

It was true. Estom Manor had a small berit under its kitchen where the dishes were washed. the laundry was done and any other task that could be given to the forced labor was sent. Rain had searched the Manor the moment she realized what berits were. There were only half a dozen people locked in there, but each of them was thin and pale, with the women being in particular bad shape. 

Lucus looked uneasy when he realized that he was a part of what he had just seen.

“Then we need to free them!”

Rain smiled. She had wanted to free them too, but that it would only draw attention in her direction, attention she couldn’t afford. So she left the poor wrenches where she’d found them.

“We can't do that. If we release them - and I don’t know if Lord and Lady Estom would even let us - then the other lords would see us as opposed to slavery. If anything ever happened to hinder slavery, we would be the first suspects.”

“We can’t do nothing!”

Rain’s smile widened. She was proud of Lucus for reacting this way.

“There’s nothing you can do unless you know of a place we can hide a bunch of escaped slaves.”

It was one of the problems that Rain hadn’t…

“Don't go that way!”

It was the voice, the same one from earlier. Rain snapped her attention away from her thoughts and to her surroundings. But it was too late.

She hadn’t noticed the streets around her growing quiet as people stopped roaming around. Now, the only sounds to be heard were the rhythmic, muffled thumps of someone hitting something soft. A soft mist had formed to replace the people, and it now covered the ground, obscuring her feet and giving the area an ethereal feel.

“Why. will. no one. answer. me!”

It was a new voice cracked and higher pitched than Rain would have expected from the figure she could now see past the corner they had just rounded.

Down the street, illuminated by the light of the moons and standing between twisted black buildings, was a tall, thin man kicking the corpse at his feet and ranting. 

Rain didn’t recognize the man, but she did recognize the dark shimmer dripping from his skin and pooling at his feet. This man had a class, and judging from the darkness of his shimmer and the words he was saying, Rain had a suspicion of who this was. Hornet: the bandit she had used to remove the blockade from Mr. Markson. And if Rain had to guess from the corpse at his feet, he was the one killing merchants in the city.

“Why won't you tell me who our merchant friend is!” he howled into the night.

How had no one heard him? If he was this loud when he killed people, then he should have been caught days ago. 

Rain grabbed Lucus and pulled him back behind the corner. 

“Whooose theeere?” 

Hornet’s words were stretched out into a playful question. One that chilled Rain to the bone. He had noticed them. 

She grabbed Lucus’s hand and started running. 

She could hear the lopsided gait and giggling of the man chasing them through the streets. Rain pulled them towards a nearby seven-way intersection. It was the best place to try to lose someone that she could think of.

As Lucus’s shock wore off, he started running for real and pulling ahead of Rain. She made sure to hold his hand so he didn’t leave her. There was no way he would make it home in one piece without her. 

She slid a bit as she made a turn in the intersection, so sharp she was almost going backward. Her arm jerked as Lucus tried to keep running straight. Rain pulled in the new direction, and fortunately, he followed. 

Where were the people? It was late, yes, but the streets shouldn’t be this devoid of life. Rain hadn’t seen another soul since running into Hornet. Was this a skill?

Rain was starting to run out of breath when she felt a pull on her arm. Lucus seemed to realize she couldn’t run much farther and was pulling her toward a small side alley.

The two of them huddled in the recess of a building while Rain caught her breath.

“Rain, what?”

Rain slapped a hand over Lucus’s mouth. They weren’t out of this yet. There! She could hear the sounds of Hornet’s footsteps. He had figured out which road they had chosen. If he could do that he may figure out where they were now.

Think Rain! How can I lose him!

Rain could see a door not far from her and Lucus, but if she hid in there, then Lucus would see the library. Plus, they would have no way to know if Hornet was waiting for them outside or not. Rain could abandon Lucus and warp away, but that thought made her feel ill.

The footsteps were getting closer. This was her only chance. She grabbed Lucus’s hand and readied herself to run to the door. But first, she wanted to try one last thing.

“The merchant friend from your note is named Rothford. He has an auction house just outside Brothel Street!”

Rain yelled it as loud as she could. 

The footsteps stopped. 

“You know who our merchant friend is?” the deranged voice wavered.

“Yes, but if you want to meet him, you’ll have to move fast. He was preparing to go on a trip within the hour.”

Rain could see the black lies drifting from her own lips, but she didn’t care. There was no way having anything to do with Hornet would end well. So she might as well send him to her enemies. She doubted anyone would be able to trace him back to her.

“Heh heh he HA HA HA HA! Thank you! Finally, I met someone worth talking to! I should kill you as thanks, but I don’t have time. I promise to kill you next time we meet!”

Rain waited for the footsteps as Hornet left, but there was nothing but silence. Soon, the mist faded and people began to appear again, passing by as if there had never been an insane killer on the loose. 

Rain peeked out and looked around. The city looked just as she would have expected it to at this time. Hornet seemed to have simply faded into nothing. Turning to Lucus, Rain spoke, her voice full of weariness.

“Let's go home.”

It wasn’t until she reached Estom Manor that Rain realized that during all her planning for the night, she had never thought about how they were going to sneak back in.