Chapter 1

Vennoa’s eyes darted quickly back and forth, and she made an abrupt turn into an empty alleyway. Hiding behind a large crate and resting against a wall, Vennoa heaved a sigh of relief, and leaned down to catch her breath.

“Holimion.”

That voice. How did they find me? Vennoa quickly stood up, and suddenly her back was pushed onto the wall by large, rough hands.

“Do you have it?” the gravelly voice said.

Vennoa shook her shoulders, but the hands refused to let go. “Yes, of course I have it Kakte. Now release me, so I can retrieve it for you.”

Kakte nodded, and his two half-orc henchmen released their hold on Vennoa. She slumped downwards, but caught herself and stood up straight. Vennoa reached into her pack and took out a small gemstone.

“Now, I don’t know why you want this,” Vennoa said. “It looks like a regular gem to me.” She shrugged.

Kakte put his hand out, and Vennoa put the gem on his palm, but not quite letting go of it.

“And this settles our debt?” Vennoa asked.

“For now,” Kakte replied, and his large palm grabbed the gem off of Vennoa’s slender hand.

With that, Kakte unceremoniously walked away. Vennoa leaned back onto the wall. She shivered slightly, not from the cold Fall night, but from the rage that was boiling within her. How dare they treat me like that? And also the pain and anger at herself. Why am I so weak that they keep making me do things for them?

Taking a while to calm down, Vennoa put on a neutral face, and walked towards the street on the other side of the alleyway. After peering around quickly, she slipped into the crowd of people walking around and blended in perfectly, or so she thought.

It was probably three streets later that Vennoa realized that she was being followed. She couldn’t tell who they were, but at least two people were on her tail. Their footsteps were too light to be half-orcs, so they couldn’t be Kakte’s gang. Vennoa increased her pace, but her tails were tight behind her. She knew, as they did, that they were all aware of one another’s presence, but no one wanted to make a commotion on the streets. Vennoa took it as an opportunity to slip away before they changed their minds.

There! Vennoa spotted a couple of humans shouting at each other on the street, probably over a drunk bet of some sort. A small crowd had gathered around them, ostensibly to watch the brawl that would occur soon. Vennoa squeezed into the tightly-packed group, and accidentally pushed someone hard from behind. That person lost his balance, and pushed one of the arguing humans towards another. That was the spark, and the brawl began.

In the chaos, Vennoa slipped away into yet another dark alleyway. This one was a dead end, but she only needed to wait long enough and slip back the way she came. No such luck.

“That was a pretty smart move.” This time, it was a smooth voice. Almost too smooth. “But not smart enough.”

Vennoa couldn’t tell for sure, but from their silhouettes, the three men that had been tailing her were elves. Of course they could track her. Elves were like wolves that never let go when they got a bite of their prey. Or in this case, her.

The elves were blocking her only exit, so Vennoa didn’t have any way to outrun them this time. Only one option remained.