2 Chapter 2: The lady who answers questions

When she opened her eyes, Ashe was lying on an uncomfortable surface. Above her head, was a stone roof and a damp smell filled the room. When she tried to move, she felt pain around her waist and in her thighs, as well as a sharp pain in her chest. Remembering what had happened, she was wondering if she was hit too many times. It was not the first time Kaith had done that to her but, to her, the pain was never something to get used to. Being a mongrel, she had been bullied and humiliated her whole life but with Kaith everything was a level worse. He would not be satisfied with just reminding her of her nature but also to pull her hair and hit her. It was a relief when he left and a nightmare when he came back. She remembered that Kaith had mentioned soldiers. She could not think straight and was not sure how soldiers were involved. Rubbing her forehead, she tried to clear her head.

She sat with a groan to take a look at where she was. It was an unfamiliar place, looked like inside a cave that had been decorated to make it a livable place. She was on the bed, which was a thin mattress on a stone and a small pillow. There was a square dining table, with only one old chair at it and the whole place was lightened by candles. A broken bookshelf was holding a few books and an old cabinet with a broken door was being used for clothes.

"Where am I?" she asked herself. Her nose now had got used to the smell and her eyes to the dim light. The whole place, with all the collapsing furniture, had an atmosphere like home. A feeling Ashe had never felt before. Looking down she saw she was wearing new clothes, a little too loose for her fragile body and they were not clean, yet way cleaner than her old dress, and was covered with a torn blanket. She smiled at the scene. It felt good to be taken care of, even though she still did not know who had done that. A warmth filled her broken heart and she embraced the blanket not knowing how to react to such a welcoming feeling.

The entrance of the cave, a big stone it was, was opened and she saw a shadow entering. The shadow placed the stone back where it was and stepped into the dim light. One look was enough for her to know that the creature was not human. He had very pale coloured skin and was short in height with a round belly. The structure of his face was like a human's, his eyes pure black and two small broken horns out from each side of his head almost covered with his black straight hair. A long tail which seemed it had been cut was playing around while he was moving.

He was wearing short trousers held up with suspenders, showing his slim calves and his topless body, his thin arms. She saw that he had two big scars on his back. He was carrying a bag and was drowned in his thoughts, not even looking at Ashe.

That was the first time she had seen a demon from this close. He was not scary, but peculiar. She was not sure how she liked him yet, being taught that demons were filthy and disgusting but the same things were said about herself and none of them was true.

The demon went to the cabinet and took out two apples carefully from his bag placing them on top of the cabinet while humming a song. His movements made Ashe giggle. Hearing her voice, he looked at her and she stopped and stared at him with fear. A smile appeared on the demon's face, "you are awake," he said with the voice of a boy. "H-hi," Ashe said shyly. "Are you hungry," he wanted to know, "I have apples!" Ashe shook her head, she was hungry but didn't have the appetite. The demon got closer slowly to show her that he meant no harm. "I'm Elky," he introduced himself as he got closer. "Ashe," she murmured.

"Wow! You are a mongrel!" he almost shouted amazed. Usually, people showed a disgusted reaction to that eye, but he loved it. It just hit her that moment, that Elky had helped her without even knowing she was half one of them.

"You have a pretty eye there, but I would hide it from humans, they don't like it," he suggested, "recently the soldiers have started killing mongrels." The demon sat next to her on the bed and Ashe pushed her hair from behind her ear to cover the left half of her face.

"You slept for a day," he explained and looked into her only visible blue eye. "Sorry I had to change your clothes," he said apologetically, "I only had two pairs of clothes, the one you are wearing and the one I am wearing. I thought you probably want to cover your body more, so I gave you my shirt too. I only have one of those." Ashe smiled and thanked him nervously and silently. This weird-looking creature was being so kind to her, despite her being a mongrel. She had never felt this happy and that brought tears into her eyes.

"You don't like the clothes?" Elky asked disappointedly. Ashe shook her head and tried to speak while sobbing, "They are great," she managed to say before she broke down to sobs.

The nervous demon started looking into his pocket, then reached out and looked into Ashe's pockets and finally brought out a handkerchief and handed it to her. Ashe took it with a smile while her face was wet with tears and her nose was running. Elky smiled back uncomfortably, playing with his fingers and moving his hanging legs.

She then remembered Luke, the only child in the orphanage who cared for her. He was not that much younger than her, but was the only one who would ask her to play with him and the only one who would leave bread behind for her to eat. she missed him, and only him from that place.

"You are still bleeding," Elky stated and wrinkled his nose. Ashe looked at him in confusion. She couldn't feel any bleeding. Elky looked into her eyes and tilted his head, "Oh," he realised, "you don't feel it. I have a strong nose and I can smell it. It is from inside you."

She looked at him with fear not knowing what to do.

"Don't worry. I know one of those women who takes coins and answers my questions. She knows better. Let's go before you die." He grabbed her good wrist with his very cold hand and pulled her out. She was feeling uncomfortable around her groin and the pain which was running through her veins made her groan. Elky slowed down, "sorry," he apologised but was forcing her to move.

The cave, it turned out, to be only one of the many houses made on the mountain skirt. Some of the houses had windows open to the natural scenery of a vast meadow, none towards the city. The sun was shining high in the sky making her cold skin warm

On the way, he explained, "there is this area where women take some coins and answer questions, usually to men. I think human men have too many questions. I have a few coins and I know someone who might answer."

They climbed down the steep way and entered the city. Ashe knew that area very well, it was not far from the orphanage but they were not allowed to be there; only once she lost her way, almost intentionally, and when found by Miss Perkins she was told that this area was forbidden for little kids by which she meant Luke who was with Ashe. Only if that time they had run away together.

Downtown Jaleek, Surface's capital, had a strange structure. It was right by the mountain. The permanent marketplace of the south, the real one, was flawless. Beautiful shops made of wood with friendly smiling shopkeepers. The slums were just after that further in the south. Old, almost ruined houses made from anything one could find and some were placed on the mountain where they could find a cave. They had their own marketplace on Meena Street. One could find human flesh in it, if they wanted to. One of the alleys in Meena Street, was where they were going: where women answered questions. A narrow dark alley surrounded by small buildings with their windows placed too high for an average height to be able to see inside.

The whole place was stinking with sweat. The area was located in a small valley in the south of the city made it almost impossible to have clean air. Elky held his free hand in front of his mouth and nose, "I smell lots of things, not good things," he explained. By that Ashe thought not having a good sense of smell is probably the best.

Small houses were surrounding the street. In front of most of the doors, a woman in see-through clothing and a painted face was smiling at male humans and demons. Men would stop and examine them to go inside with them or go for another. The women would giggle and flirt with anyone who approached them. "Your friend is here?" Ashe wanted to know. "Yes," he said, "all of the women here take coins and answer questions." his expression was so serious that Ashe could not stop smiling and didn't dare to tell him the truth.

In front of one of the doors was standing a blond tall woman with a beautiful proud face. She was showing off her cleavage, wearing a short green dress which was obviously made from a longer one, showing off her thick thighs. When she saw Elky, her lips opened up to a smile.

"What do you want here?" she asked and looked at Ashe, "you brought your friend?" Elky held out his fist carrying some coins in it. "Ashe, this is Deeba," he introduced the lady and then looked at Deeba, "She is bleeding like you bleed sometimes," he explained, "she doesn't know about it." The woman started laughing in a soothing voice. She opened the door of the small house she was standing in front of. "Come in," she invited them. Ashe was still confused.

The room was small containing only a bed and a dresser table and an armchair under the high window. It was stinking of sweat, even though its small window was open. She sat on the bed and invited Ashe to sit next to her with a smile. She did hesitantly. "How old are you?" she asked. "Thirteen," Ashe answered looking at her face, trying to ignore her eyes. "This is the first time that you bleed?" she was smiling. Ashe told her that she was usually being hit by Kaith but hardly bled. The lady lifted her brows and looked at Elky. "You sure it is the same bleeding as all human women? She might need a physician to look at her." Elky shook his head, "her rib is broken but she needs rest for that. Her intestine might bleed a little bit too. But I smell the same blood as yours as well." She nodded and looked at Ashe again. "Lay down, I will bandage your body for your rip."

"Elky," she called him while helping Ashe to lay down, "we need to have lady talks. You go out and close your eyes and ears until I send her out." Elky looked lost, "but I will die if I close my eyes and ears," he said. The lady smiled kindly while Ashe tried not to burst into laughter, "No," she explained, "you will die if you close your nose." Elky nodded and left the house. Before he closed the door behind him with his foot, Ashe saw that he had placed his hands on his ears.

"He is more clever than this," the lady said, "but they tend to be silly while living up here." Once again her face was serious. She brought some bandages from the drawer of her dressing table and sat next to her, helping her to take off the shirt, without feeling much pain. "They are trapped in this body," she started trying to distract her while putting bandages around her chest, "When they are in Surface, they are under the curse that stops them from growing. Sometimes they even think like a child, even though inside they might be old."

"The curse?" Ashe asked, raising her brows. Deeba looked at her. "We are done," she said happily, "and don't talk that freely." She winked at her.

***

The Holy Father was the commander of all the temples and the master of religion of Surface. He was not a pleasant man. Tall with broad shoulders and angry eyes he looked more like a veteran than a holy man.

His house was placed close to the palace in the north of Jaleek where he would only accept private guests and would manage his personal affairs. Sitting in his study at his desk, he looked down at the messenger who had brought him the letter he was reading. The young man was kneeling, giving The Holy Father time to finish reading a long letter.

"Who gave you this?" the old man asked. "Lord Wirth in the south, commander of Nakeen." the old man looked at the letter once more, his eyes narrowed. "This name looks familiar. I feel I have heard it," he commented, thinking. "All the priests have been your students at on point, my lord." The old man nodded. That was probably it.

"Go call Archbishop Bailey for me," he demanded. The messenger stood up and left obediently.

Not long after Archbishop Bailey was there. The bald man came in after he was announced with his head down. He was old enough to have many deep wrinkles around his eyes but in reality, he was not much older than the Holy Father. The master of religion gave the letter to the archbishop without a word observing how his eyes widened as he read. "Is that true?" the old man asked. "There is no reason for a commander to send me a lie, is there? This cannot be a joke." the master answered.

The Archbishop read the letter again. "But, does that mean he might be the chosen one? He carries the royal mark..."

The master sighed loudly and rubbed his eyes. "Whether it is in the prophecy or not, he is a threat to our king. We already have enough problems with the identity of the price. If this news goes out to the public, then we will have problems." the old man nodded. "What is your plan then, my lord?" the old man asked with fear.

"For now, just get that priest to come closer and put him in the slums. Suppress him as much as possible so he will not even think if doing something wrong," he demanded.

"But the priest has not done anything wrong. The message says he is not probably aware that he is carrying the mark," the old man commented.

"If a commander could get this news, others might do so as well sooner or later. Only one loose mouth is enough for him to realise what he has is not just a birthmark. I want to have him under my nose, powerless and controlled before he finds out about it," he explained. Before the archbishop left his room he continued, "also, put some men to observe him." The old man nodded and left. The master dropped his tired body on his armchair again.