Chapter 10 :- Darkceed

An angry storm swept over Balzarsa during the night. Heavy rainfall washed over the brickwork roads with occasional thunder that echoed through sodden alleyways.

The cold wind blew through the streets, causing eerie whistles as air flowed through cracks and gaps in people's homes.

Amongst the tenements was the landlord's mansion, an impressive building with the trappings of Sahareli Sultan royalty. The building is walled off from the rest of the lesser houses around it, with a single sizeable ornate iron gate leading onto the premises.

The storm seemed to linger over the mansion, lighting striking the spike tips of the onion domes and rain beating on the roof and walls of the manor.

Fog emerged from the garden grounds covering the pathways and creeping up the home walls despite the strong wind and rain.

To an outside observer, it was an eerie, unnatural sight.

Looking out the gilded window was the worried face of a woman, a panther woman dressed in dark studded leather armour. She gripped the pommel of her sword tightly as she looked up into the darkened sky above them.

{This is an ill omen} she thought.

There were no servants in the manor tonight. Only the "Nightmanes" were present, providing security around the estate.

The corridor was dark, with only a few candle stands lit for illumination and the occasional flash of light followed by a boom.

And it was damnably cold. Gusts whistled through door and window gaps, flickering flames on their wicks. The panther woman wrapped her cloak tightly over her slender body as she made her way to her lord's office.

The entrance to his office was slightly illuminated by the flickering candlelight, glinting the gilding work adorned over the door.

Stepping into the antechamber, she stopped for a moment.

The room was well-lit by a chandelier and decorated with religious themes. The corners were covered in gold decorations of oak leaves, reaching the intricate ceiling that displayed marble angels in flight.

The walls were segmented into panels, trimmed in gold, and paintings hung neatly between those trims. The oil paintings were of biblical depictions.

These paintings were old, Ancient, and possibly stolen from one of the temples dotted around the realm.

He was not the religious sort. She wondered if he kept them for their artistic value or to flaunt at a later date.

The pantheress looked at one depicting farmers toiling the fields with a giant horned rabbit woman, regal in a cloak of gold and leaves, holding a bundle of wheat and a hand scythe. Angels around her were in flight carrying bundles into the sky. She knew the rabbit woman depicted was a diva named Salixia, goddess of forests and meadows.

Another depicted a blacksmith with a naked alabaster angel directing him while holding parchments with various tool designs.

She moved on to another art piece showing builders constructing a temple with marble blocks. Angels were helping the workmen, and some embraced them against their bosoms.

At the top was a godly female figure in the clouds. Her arms stretched out, and a gold light behind her irradiated below the workers.

The pantheress looked closer, seeing the paint around her face had flaked away, making her visage blank. Which seemed odd as the rest of the oil painting was pristine. Almost seemed freshly painted.

After a while of pondering it, she continued on.

As she moved away, One painting caught her attention. It was a dark-hued depicting a shattered twilight sky with onlookers below in various states of fear. At the bottom of the picture was a fading angel with broken wings lying down with a strange ornate blue hammer loosely grasped in her hand. A fox man is holding her in his arms. His face is sorrowful, with tears in his eyes. The angel's expression, however, was of shock. Her eyes were like obsidian pearls. Her mouth loosely hanged opened. Despite the black eyes having no pupils, it felt like they were eerily staring back.

A cold shiver crept up the pantheress's spine, and she looked away from the painting.

She quickly opened the double doors into the main chamber of her master.

The room was dark, with the only light coming from a fireplace where a thin and wiry lion man stood. The fire illuminated his red mane as he watched the firewood crack and spit.

His fiery red mane was the only thing that showed his heritage of the barbarian warrior clans of ages past.

Born without the strength of his forefathers and considered sickly in the royal court, unfit for soldiery, he could never attain a royal title or be considered for a royal marriage.

He was banished from the royal court with a stipend that would see him live in modest comfort for the rest of his life. However, He had no intentions of fading away in, to him, meagre living conditions.

His cunning intellectual mind made up what he lacked in bodily strength. He used his money to make connections and ply a craft in illicit trade. Drugs, fencing, information gathering, kidnappings, and assassinations are provided to any client as long as they pay well.

Many years and corpses later, he built himself a small empire. There was no small amount of work out there, as many lords aspire to outdo or "do in" their rivals.

Border friction between Sahareli and the merchant kingdom made it profitable to sell information to both parties. Chavar always needed more chattel, and unscrupulous wizards always needed live subjects to perform experiments on.

He could have retired with a sultan's wealth and lived in luxury for the rest of his life, but he could not stop doing the work he loved.

And having a hand in helping his royal peers kill each other pleased him greatly.

"Master Darkceed"

The lion man looked towards the pantheress and beckoned her over as he sat on a black leather chair.

She closed the door behind her and came to her master, sitting on a leather chair opposite his. Between them was a finely crafted oak table with a wine Decanter and two gold goblets on a silver tray.

The lion man poured wine into a goblet and handed it to her. "I shouldn't drink while on du-" "I insist," he said, giving the goblet to her, then pouring himself one.

"I take things haven't gone to plan," he said as he sat down, taking a sip from his cup.

"It is true." the pantheress said as she rubbed the goblet's rim.

Darkceed let out a sigh and looked towards the fireplace.

"Our clients are expecting that package soon. If we can't obtain it, I hope they will take a refund on their down payment."

"Master, we never have for failed jobs… why this exception?"

"These are not our normal clientele and are somewhat dangerous." He drank a bit more and continued, "When they first came to Balzarsa, one of my spies picked them out as people of interest. She followed them to one of our controlled taverns and set herself up as a barmaid."

Darkceed reached into his waistcoat, pulling out a letter.

"They kept to themselves and did not speak to anyone. When another stranger joined them at the table, their attitude changed, and they started talking to everyone, asking if anyone had seen anything unusual or if anyone had come into town with shards of red gems."

He thumbed through the letter briefly and continued

"They also asked if there were a vixen of certain description" he handed the letter to the pantheress, which she took and started reading.

"They describe the asset to a T, but how?"

"Perhaps someone with divination."

"You think the Celvic or Devian temples helped?"

Darkceed shook his head and said nothing. She continued reading the report.

"A tiger man covered in red scars?"

"Their leader, I am assuming. The spy noticed they wore an odd golden amulet with three red stones around their necks. Which they never take off."

"How does she know they never took it off?"

"She managed to get in bed with two of them."

"Oh.."

Darkceed got up and went to his desk.

He opened a desk drawer, touched something and then paused for a moment. His motion continued pulling out a round gold amulet with three red shards.

He took out another letter from the desk, closed the drawer, and returned to his seat. With the amulet still in his hands, He looked it over and offered it to the pantheress.

She reached out and gasped as soon as she touched it. An ice-cold shiver travelled up her arm and down her spine. Instinctively she pulled her hand away.

Darkceed nodded. "That was my first reaction when I held it for the first time."

He kept the amulet held out to her. The pantheress slowly reached out and held it gently. A cold feeling travelled up her arm again. She ignored the sensation and brought the amulet closer to her eyes.

Looking closer at the red stones, she could see dark strands of smoke swirling within.

She watched as the smoke snaked around like they were alive.

Then suddenly, strands came together and formed into a horrifying face. The pantheress dropped the amulet in shock. It clanked onto the polished floor, causing an echo.

"What have we got ourselves into?"

Darkceed picked up the amulet and placed it onto the silver tray. "Before this, we kept a steady report of their doings in Balzarsa until I asked her to retrieve an amulet from them.."

In his other hand was a letter. The pantheress then noticed it was splattered in dried blood.

"Her attempt to acquire one caused them to be quite hostile."

The pantheress looked at it then to darkceed "how hostile?"

He handed her the letter. She took it and began to read.