Chapter 7
Sanctuary, however temperamental, had been found and for the first time in a while Sareth actually had time and opportunity to loosen his grip on the anxieties that had plagued him. Doing so all in one go proved to be a mistake as he began trembling beyond his ability to control.
To his intense relief he was informed by the servants that the stronghold had one of the largest sauna and baths in the Dark Elf kingdoms.
Sareth went down there immediately.
He was not quite prepared to the wide open pit that awaited him. Whenever he had washed it had been a private thing. This public concept where many could bathe at one time seemed a bit alien and intimidating to him.
Another shock was the clear differences between the ways the sexes were treated here.
In the human cities and settlements men and women were kept separate and men had the leading roles in society. Dark Elves had taken this concept and reversed it. There was no segregation of men and women and women were the ones that had the mass majority of the power. The baths therefore were for both men and women and they bathed together, often naked.
Sareth simply stood at the entrance to the baths, unable to take his eyes off the crowd of naked Dark Elven ladies who seemed oblivious to his presence. They all had the most perfect ample forms and had no shame in exposing themselves. Sareth was about to retreat in shame when Xana manifested behind him.
"Get in there!" She told him and gave him a playful push, shoving him into the baths.
Servants to the side took his clothes from him. His belongings were placed on stone shelves and all he was given to cover himself with was a white towel.
Despite his embarrassment he managed to make it into the water without exposing too much of himself. The bath itself was a large round basin formed from a natural cave, built into the lowest part of the citadel. Carved steps lead down into the water and there were benches under the surface where people could sit and enjoy the steam that rose and hung in the air.
The water was wonderfully warm and amazingly effective. He stopped trembling almost immediately and a few moments later the knots in his muscles unwound. He immediately slumped down with a relaxed sigh.
There was a short splash to his left and looking around, he saw Xana slid into the water.
Now he could see that she was solid. Xana was no mere phantom that only those gifted with sorcery could see. Her body was quite substantial. Oh yes… her body certainly captivated his attention. Her white dress was gone and now she dipped into the water completely naked.
She let out a hot sigh as the water tended to her.
"Oh I've always wanted to try these things." She admitted with a smile, oblivious to the fact that Sareth had turned red.
This was a rather unique situation for him. He had thought nothing of seeking off to meet with girls when still under Phenrig's roof but that had been mere adolescent fun brought about in part by rebellion for Phenrig's dictatorial running of his life. Xana was a friend and somehow this was far more personal.
"You might as well get used to it." She commented while keeping her eyes closed as she enjoyed the water. "If you intend to do a lot of travelling then you're going to encounter different cultures with different belief systems and values."
She winked at him slyly and her breasts bobbed in the water.
Sareth swallowed hard.
"How do they get the water in here?" He asked out load as if trying to change the subject. "And how do they keep it warm?"
"Oh that's simple." A voice stated. Sareth looked over to his right. A Dark Elf was enjoying the water, soaking there with a wet towel draped across his forehead. He was skinny but quite short for his race making him Sareth's own height gave or take a few inches. His dark violet hair was matted wet and quite short compared with that of the other elves. Like them however his face was angular with pronounced cheekbones.
His friendly face was tattooed with trident angular markings that encircled his eyes and ran up and down both sides of his head. The intimidating marks did little to ruin his boyish handsome face however.
"See there?" He began, gesturing towards the centre of the bath. The water there was whiter than the rest and bubbled more and it seemed to be the source of the heat in the barth. "This is a natural hot spring. It bubbles up hot from deep in the earth and comes out here."
"Wouldn't hot spring water so close to the source be too hot to sit in?"
"Not at all. It has to come through a shelf of bedrock before it gets here and that cools it enough. Supposedly it picks up minerals along the way and it's that it's healthy to bathe in it regularly." The Dark elf shrugged. "I can't tell much difference though." He offered a hand forward. "The name's Lethos."
"Sareth." The young man stated in reply introducing himself.
"Ah!" The elf's eyes brightened. "You're the human the clanlord's taking on as a pupil." He glanced across at Xana. "Who's the woman? Is she your slave?"
Xana opened an eye and stared at him with a level unfriendly gaze.
"What? Oh no, this is Xana." Sareth started, only half realizing that Lethos had enough magical training required in order to see her. "She's my..." he paused, unsure of what he should say. He had to come up with something concrete to explain her presence.
"…my sister." He eventually blurted out.
Xana stared at him with wide eyes.
"Of course, forgive me, I'm not sure how women are treated amongst humans so I wasn't sure how you might view them." Lethos began again.
"Well we certainly don't make them slaves."
The dark elf managed a grin.
"Well it seems the stories I hear in taverns are greatly exaggerated then. It's said that humans bind their women to the kitchens and that their only purpose within the family is to be married out to form alliances."
Sareth opened his mouth to retort and then shut it again. That was an unpleasant thought. Lethos was quite correct is his assumption about the roles women held within human society although it wasn't slavery.
Or was it?
Certainly it wasn't on an equal level with the men but it could hardly be called slavery. Or maybe it could, perhaps from the Dark Elf point of view.
That was an uncomfortable thought and he decided to divert the conversation to something else.
"So Raelag's agreed to take me on as a pupil then?" He sounded hopeful. Lethos shrugged and then relaxed back in the water.
"From what I gather, yes. Usually outsiders aren't to be schooled in the warlock magics, it's not exactly forbidden but it's a taboo thing. It was quite a surprise when Raelag began making arrangements for your tutelage. The Shadow Mistress' weren't happy about it."
"Shadow Mistress? Who are they?"
Lethos turned and stared at Sareth with wide eyes.
"You mean… humans have never heard of them?" He sounded amazed.
"I can't speak for all humans, but I certainly haven't."
The dark elf let out a long pent up breath.
"Oh that's going to be a blow to their ego."
"The Shadow Mistresses are the highest Priestesses of Malassa, my dear brother." Xana explained keeping an eye on Sareth with a disapproving look at his choice of disguise for her. "It's an order that exists within all Dark Elf cities. Its members are exclusively female and with the exception of Clan Lords have absolute authority within this society."
"You appear well versed in our customs, m'lady." Lethos told her.
"I know a few things." She admitted. "Such as you are an assassin; Stalker class if I'm right."
Sareth looked at Lethos with alarm. The elf smiled quite innocently.
"Ooh what gave me away?" He asked without sounding the least bit concerned.
"Little bits and pieces." Xana told him with a shrug. "The way you sit, the way you move your arms… little precise movements that tell of training in the arts of stealth and intrigue."
Sareth just sat there looking at the elf in horror.
"It's alright, my sibling." The woman at his side told him. "To Dark Elves, being an assassin is one of the greatest honours that can be afforded to them. Their entire society is almost entirely based on murder and espionage."
"Our markets are flooded with poisons from all over Ashan." Lethos laughed. "If one is an important person in a position of authority he is at risk from poisonings all the time.
Statesmen have to regularly take antidotes in order to survive. If they don't hire bodyguards to protect themselves, someone will stick a knife between their shoulder blades and they never go out in public if they can help it.
One never knows where someone skilled with a crossbow might be hiding."
Sareth began to feel just a tiny bit unsafe.
"Oh don't worry about it." Lethos remarked. "We don't target people without valid reasons so as long as you don't upset anybody, you're perfectly safe."
"Unless you upset those Shadow Mistress' too much." Xana added and Sareth turned pale despite the heat.
"I think you'll like it here." The elf carried on. "We're a delightfully despicable people. In war we poison and murder our enemies and during peace we poison and murder each other."
"What for?"
"Varied reasons. Some for political gain, others for money…" Lethos shrugged. "… and of course there are those who do it for fun."
"Fun?"
"Once or twice you get someone who kills for the sheer pleasure of it. It crops up in all peoples from time to time, especially the Dwarves, but in Dark Elf society such people are seen as a valuable commodity. Allies useful to have on the battlefield but social contact is usually avoided.
Even we have our limits after all."
Despite his open admission of his occupation Lethos was a charming, witty personality who always seemed to have a joke up one sleeve. Sareth found it impossible to connect him with the merciless disposition required for political murder.
The ritual the cultists had performed around him had left Sareth with an utter contempt for those who took the lives of others and he had thought that this conviction was ironclad now. Lethos was simply too likeable to hold that against him.
The evening dragged on and once they were done with the bath, they moved on to something called a Steam Room. Sareth could see the name was literal. The water had softened his muscles and the thick warm steam finished them off.
"Oh." Lethos began suddenly after ten minutes.
"What is it?" Sareth asked looking up. The dark elf gestured with a toss of his head towards one of the others who they shared the large room with. He was more heavily built than the other elves around him and his cheekbones seemed even more pronounced.
His hair was raven black and long, reaching to his shoulders. His face was pinched in giving him a near constant scowl and his dark eyes only intensified the look.
"That's Vayshan." Lethos told him. "He's one of the ones you tend to avoid." Even though this was one of his own kind, Lethos' voice spoke volumes of contempt. "He kills for pleasure."
Sareth looked the elf on the other side of the room over with a critical eye. This one certainly had the appearance one might expect from an assassin.
"Pleasure?"
"He hunts."
"Hunts?"
"He's not open about it…" Lethos began keeping his voice to a whisper. "But occasionally he takes those who pledge loyalty to him out into Irollan."
"I thought the two factions of elves aren't allowed in each others domains?"
"They're not. But Vayshan doesn't leave any traces of his presence there, or any witnesses."
Sareth looked around at Lethos with wide eyes.
"You're not telling me…" He began with a hint of horror in his voice.
Lethos looked quite sober.
"Personally I consider it a sickening practise." He began keeping his voice low. "But there are those amongst the clans that pay good money to join in those hunts."
The scowling elf glanced up at them, his eyes seeking them out despite the foggy steam. His nose wrinkled as if he had smelt something offensive and he stood up. Without a word he walked over and stared them down.
"You..." He began, looking directly at Sareth. He sniffed and then took his head back. "The stink of Sylvan is all over you."
Both Lethos and Xana looked alarmed.
"You've been around those Irollan filth and recently." Vayshan carried on. "Where you one of my kind I'd have to flayed for associating with them!"
"Well I'm not one of your kind so what business is it of yours who I talk to?" Sareth demanded. He did not care how bad a reputation this bully had, he was not going to sit here and listen to him badmouth Wyngaal and his elves.
Vayshan's eyes widened.
"Sareth…" Lethos began warningly.
"Nobody talks back to me!" Vayshan snapped. Everyone in the room was watching them, no one daring so much as to breath.
Sareth stood up as well. Now he was irrationally angry.
"And no one comes up to me and tells me who I can and can not meet."
"Sareth, don't pick a …" Xana tried to tell him but her words seemed to be lost as his blood surged.
"Watch your mouth human!" The elf told him through clenched teeth. "Sylvan's are putrid scum and I'll not have you bringing their smell into our domain. Indeed what you do outside our dungeons is your own affair but as long as you reside here by our hospitality you will do as I say!"
Sareth instantly saw precisely what kind of person Vayshan was. He was a bully, even to his own kind. If they didn't do what he wanted them to he got nasty, even so much as to impose his preconceptions on visitors.
"One; it's not YOUR hospitality I'm receiving its Lord Raelag's." He began. "Two, I decide who I make friends with and Three…" He drew himself up. "I don't take orders, especially not from you!"
Sareth could not have known but his eyes were intently bloodshot, as if they had turned completely red and his pupils took on a golden tint. He was angry... very anger, more angry than he'd ever been.
All the frustrations he'd thought were gone all came racing to the surface, vented by this obnoxious elf and the excuse he had offered him.
His face going near white with rage Vayshan raised his fist.
Sareth's anger exploded and there was only a piercing ringing in his ears. He parried aside the blow with a flick of his hand and lashed out in retaliation, his own blow flying out far more quickly that should have been possible. It was a powerful punch that connected with the chest.
Vayshan was thrown back and landed with a thud on the ground.
The Dark Elves around them looked stunned. Their mouths were open in clear astonishment and none of them looked more stunned than Vayshan. He lay there on the cloud floor one hand clutched to his side across the blackening bruise blemishing his pale skin.
"Oh dear." Lethos began, looking alarmed.
Having vented all his anger in that blow, Sareth stood there breathing hard. His eyes returned to normal completely unseen to those around him.
Vayshan tried to stand up but he grunted in pain. It was clear that several of his ribs had been broken by the powerful blow.
The elves around them all began muttering in amazement, hushed words passing back and forth as the beginnings of rumours that might spread through the city took to life.
"You… you filthy human!" The elf gasped, his arms wrapped around his sides. "I'll kill you for this, I swear it!"
"What's going on in here?" The door to the Steam Room swung open and several Dark Elves in armour plating came in. Their armour was the same as the reptile riders who had accompanied them into the city. Clearly they also served as Peacekeepers in the city.
They looked around at the injured Vayshan, taking in the situation.
"Brawling is prohibited with public places." Their leader announced. "That is Lord Raelag's law, human. They are not to be broken."
"It was provoked captain, I can assure you." Lethos stated, coming to Sareth's defence. "Vayshan antagonized the young man."
The captain grunted and looked down at the elf on the floor. There was an amused sudden glint in the Captain's eyes.
"Vayshan, this is the third incident in the last month you've gotten yourself involved in. Although this is the first time someone hit you." He actually sounded amused.
Vayshan snarled at him and managed to stagger to his feet. He kept his arm on his side and his teeth barred.
"I demand that this human be arrested for assault!" He snapped.
"You don't give us orders, Vayshan." The captain stated with new flinty edge to his voice. "We keep the peace under direction of Lord Raelag."
"Bah to Sheogh with Raelag." Vayshan replied angrily. "His order means nothing when he allows mongrel races to assault Dark Elves in their own domain."
"Get yourself to a healer before I have to arrest you for disturbing the peace." The captain said and then looked at Sareth. "As for you, get your clothes and then come with us. I have to keep hot heads apart."
Whatever sympathizers Vayshan had helped him limp out of the room but they lingered just long enough for the Dark Elf to sent Sareth a glare of utter contempt and hate.
Sareth did as he was told and changed back into his clothes and his mind was troubled. In that single instant of anger he had summoned forth strength that should not have been possible for a human being. Even now he could see feel the pulsing power in his arm, gently waning as the adrenaline wore off.
Even if anger that amplified his strength he doubted he would have been capable of breaking someone's ribs with a single blow like that. Perhaps he was stronger than he himself thought. He didn't look particularly strong and his frame was quite wiry.
"Alright, now listen up." The Captain told him, interrupting his trail of thought. Lethos had arrived with him and went about changing his own clothes.
"Vayshan is a bigot." Lethos told the captain. "You're not going to take him seriously are you?"
"Of course not." The captain replied with a toss of his head. "He's a trouble maker we'd have run out of town long ago if he weren't so revered by the assassins." He looked at Sareth. "I'm going to let this go. I won't take you to the barracks and you can go. My advice… lay low and stop getting into these incidents.
Vayshan isn't the only character that causes trouble. Now go on, get yourself back to wherever you hold lodgings and don't let me catch you in this again."
He dismissed them all by turning about and leading his men away.
Hearing the mutterings of the various people around him, Sareth decided he had just been given good advice and he made to leave.
He was stopped however when Lethos laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Hold on there." He said. "I'd rather you did not go away thinking this all a bad experience." There was a roguish smile on his face. "Human you may be but I would sincerely like to know anyone who can tweak Vayshan's nose so thoroughly."
"I made myself an enemy there.
"True but it's fun. An ordinary, boring man can go through his entire life not making any enemies at all. It's ones with the exciting lives that earn enemies."
"That's a strange ideology."
"Its serves." He offered forth a hand. "What say you, friend Sareth?"
In this time of sparse friends and allies Sareth was more than happy to acquire one more.
When he returned to his rooms in the fortress of Raelag, Leanna was not there. The rooms were empty save for a collection of new clothes laid upon the bed waiting for him.
"What was that 'sister' business about?" Xana asked as she manifested again.
"It was the only thing I could think of at the time." Sareth explained, picking up a new tunic and examining it.
Xana looked annoyed.
"Sareth, you don't know what restriction that just placed upon me."
"Restriction?"
"Yes. Because now I can't do this in company."
She kissed him.
It wasn't a quick peck or a simple show of affection. Her arms wrapped around him a tight embrace he couldn't wriggle out of and her lips were pressed against his before he could say a word.
For a single stunned moment her lips were held there and then she released him and clung to his body, refusing to let go.
"You defended me!" She was almost crying now. "Oh Sareth you defended me!" She actually sounded astonished at it.
Now they were alone she displayed all the pent up emotion that had been brewing inside her.
She looked up at him with her arms still wrapped in a bear hug.
"I pledge my guardianship to you, again and again until the end of days! I will continue to protect and watch over you."
Sareth didn't knot how to react for a moment and so he did nothing. He stood there feeling her warmth against his.
Then the natural thing came to him and he gently laid his hands on her and held her close.
"Why? Why did you do it though?" She asked after a long moment of silence as she rested her head on his chest. "After what Phenrig ordered me to do in that ritual…"
"But you didn't do it." He reminded her softly. "Xana, you said no. That's why I protected you."
"I will be punished for it." She muttered.
"Phenrig can't hurt you."
"You don't understand. Phenrig is nothing! There is one from whom I can not escape, from whom there is no respite and by shielding you I have earned his wrath." A frightened tone came flooding into her voice. "It's only a matter of time and when he finds me my soul will be subject to ever lasting torment."
"Who?"
"I can't speak his name, he'll know where I am in an instant if I do… but know this…" She looked up directly into his eyes, her tears just beginning to form. "Whatever time I have with you is worth an eternity of torture."