Time Master

She took careful steps towards the door with her hands firmly on the hilt of her now belted sword as she draw the Íla in the air to make the air gently warp around the door handle. The assassin might already be behind the door so before she opened it the door with air she focused air in front of her to form a shield– she compressed the air together to make a shield, the shield was almost as tall as herself and appeared like a ripple in the normal air.

She listened, trying to hear what was going on behind the door but everything was silent, too silent. As if there was no one in the inn, even the noise outside had died down.

She tightened her hand on her sword, bringing her fast-beating heart under control as she gently opened the door, the wooden door made no sound as it swung open to reveal a very empty hallway.

She released the air on the door but did not release her shield, instead, she made it smaller to reduce the cost of energy she would expel, she walked to the door shield first and looked right and left down the hallway, nobody, nothing.

It was as if everything was normal, everything was normal but for the unnatural silence and the heavy feeling that something powerful and other was in the inn.

Yetunde did not like this feeling, this feeling as if something was stalking her and as if she had already been caught but was only been played with.

Nothing to do but to know what was happening, she had a duty to protect the people of this inn from people and situations like this so she walked down the hallway, her footsteps did not echo and she heard nothing from the closed doors that lined the hall. She paused at the steps that led to the first floor of the inn where customers eat and drink– it should be filled with the sound of eating, drinking and arguing instead it was silent and even the smell of food didn't reach her nose.

When she went up the night before, the stairs were creaking but as she went down now there was no sound.

The scene met her on the first floor was almost normal as if nothing was out of the ordinary, the owner of the inn was at the counter, pouring drinks while the serving girls were between tables either collecting dirt dishes or serving food and the customers were just like she imagined, eating and drinking while some are facing each other arguing.

It was almost normal, almost but for the thing that all of the people were frozen....no not frozen just so slow it was like they had been frozen.

What caught her attention though was the man that leaned casually, hips at the counter nursing a drink as if it was normal for a man who wears the tailored clothes of the noble and whose black hands were filled with white nails that were as long as an eagle and twice as sharp to be in an inn with people frozen in different poses.

The man turned to face her, a sly smile on his face that should have looked smug but instead came off as charming, even the small horn on his forehead could not mar it. He looked and dressed like a nobel unlike her that was still in her brown baggy trousers and the tonics she wore to bed.

His black eyes with golden flecks only made him more handsome, his black hair was packed in a ponytail, and the man rolled his powerful shoulder and turned his lean form her way, he looked at her right in the eyes and said, "they said you were beautiful and I thought it was a joke but look at you!" He raised his glass, his voice like warm honey, meant to entice, "a pity blood won't look so well on your pretty face."

Yetunde said nothing and instead narrowed her eyes at him, what did he want? She had expected the black fangs but this man was not one of them...he can't be, she took him in, studying his clothing for any crest that could tell of where he was from but she saw none, he carried no weapon she could see too.

She could tell he was a master Sage but he was not a royal Sage, that much she could tell, the power rolling off him in waves and the instincts in her telling her to run, turn back in the face of this powerful being was warning enough of the Sage that was in him.

He dropped the drink on the counter, the cup shattering was the only sound in the inn, "nothing to say, sweet one?"

Yetunde hated that, "maybe I just don't like peacocks."

He huffed and moved closer to her and Yetunde tightened her hand on her sword, "I was told you are a master Sage, and not from any houses too. I wonder what dead soul you have inside you." He flashed her a smile.

She smiled back at him, she was sure of this, "trust me, you don't want to find out. Now, Tell me. What do you want?"

"A lot of things, cowries, gold, more upper Sages, to officially become a Lord of the kingdom. Lots and lots of women," he smirked, waiting for her reaction.

He watched a lot, this one, Yetunde thought. He was watching her intently while pulling off a calm unconcerned facade, Yetunde could see the way his body was tensed, coiled as if ready for r fight at any time.

So, he's not so unaffected by being in the room with another master Sage then, she relaxed her hand on her sword and gave him a smile of her own, she smiled like a cat, "so some women do like peacock after all. So tell me, are you a commoner pretending like a Nobel? Or a noble turned cheap assassin."

His jaw tightened briefly before he brought back his easy smile and Yetunde smiled wider, so she had hit a sore spot.

He narrowed his eyes, "and you too? Pretending to be a Lady? Isn't that what you Master Sages do and what you call yourself? Every master Sage is a nobel right?"

Yes, once they became Master Sages they were granted the title of Lord or Lady. Just not land, unless you already had one or you bought one. Yetunde wasn't interested in any. She looked at him curiously, "I'm a commoner and I don't pretend to be something I'm not, why have you come to kill me?"

He relaxed, his gaze still on her, "who said anything about killing you? I don't kill people," he waved at himself, "no need of getting blood on this."

"Why have you come then? A master Sage? You are in your sage state and you're not here to kill me? You're not as good at lying as you are at dressing yourself."

"Ah...I see. I carry inside me the demon, Astarot– a Duke of the underworld and time master. I'm not here to kill you.... just to kidnap you."