“Are you sure you want to leave?” Terresa laughed, “I may hate Strioi, but I think I could make an exception for you.”

Ilhue paled and Cass laughed at the look on his face. “No, no.” She shook her head, “Unfortunately, my… Shall we say visit? To this kingdom and city has revealed some things about my character that would make staying here a very bad idea.”

“You have such wonderful self-awareness for someone so young,” Terresa smiled warmly. “If how you are now is any indication, I must confess to being very curious as to how you well develop in the future.”

“You are too kind,” and probably lying, Cass thought. But so long as Matron Terresa kept her end of the deal, Cass didn’t care.

“I wonder though,” Terresa’s smile chilled a bit as she looked at Cass. “If you plan to take that girl with you, I wouldn’t think she would want to be so far from her family…”

“Your concern is touching,” Cass’s reply was quick and firm. “However, I already have arranged for that to be taken care of.”

“You do know I will not help them forever, right?”

“I do not expect you to, before I leave I will have them set up just fine.” Cass smile said nothing about her plans, but why should a Voni care about a mere peasant family? She was simply trying to find a weakness in Cass, but Cass did not particularly care if Nat’s family died, though she prefered they not. Rather than break and reforge Natalie, she wanted to temper her and cultivate the potential Natalie has now.

“Hmmm, well then I shall leave it to you.”

“To be honest,” Cass decided to lay her cards on the table with her next comment. “I expected you to be angry about your brothel, but you barely even seem to care about Odev. I won’t have to watch my back for a knife, will I?”

“Well, to answer your honesty with my own,” Terresa laughed again, she seemed incredibly cheery tonight. “The brothel was mostly Odev’s thing anyway, although the money it gave us was quite welcome it would have to go as I reclaimed my throne. Can’t let that kind of thing stay in my beautiful country, understand?”

“I see, glad to be of service then.” Cass made to stand, her part in this meeting over.

“A moment,” Cass paused too listen to Terresa’s words. “There are ten days before it begins, I would make use of them if I were you.”

“Of course,” Cass thanked Terresa for the heads up. “It would be difficult to prepare provisions for a journey during unrest, I will be ready.”

On the way back to the Strioi district Cass told Rowig that he and Odal would be coming with Cass and Natalie when they left the city.

“I don’t know much about geography or travel,” Cass admitted. “So I need a guide, and I also need people to continue training Nat and myself in fighting. Therefore, you and he will be joining me.”

“It would be my pleasure.” Rowig said eagerly, and Cass just rolled her eyes. Did he think she was an idiot?

“Oh I realise that my ‘information’ won’t be able to hold you outside of the city, but I think you realise at least a fraction of the strength I have.” Cass stopped and sneered up at Rowig, displaying her utter contempt. “I might not have skill, but I do have power, and if you think you can take me down, I welcome you to try.”

Rowig gulped and stepped back, holding his hands up in surrender. Cass nodded and continued on her way.

“From what I understand, we won’t make it out of the mountains before the snows hit.” Cass had asked Odal many questions about the mountains and the routes through them, she had a rough idea of what she would need and even with Odal as a guide the seasons worked against them. That meant spending the winter in one of Beergmutar’s towns closer to the border, because Cass was not dumb enough to stay in this city considering the chaos she had unleashed on it. “I will pay you a hundred gold at the beginning of winter and another hundred at the end to continue obeying and training me, and then you can leave. Or to be more precise, you will leave or I will gut you.”

Promise of rewards and threats of punishment, Rowig might not be as simple as Odal but this is all Cass would need to control him. The two of them were little more than her dogs at this point, to be staked out in the yard until she decided she needed them. Or disposed of when they were needed no longer.

“So, is two hundred gold enough to ‘hire’ your services?”

“More than,” Rowig laughed, greed shining in his eyes. For such a skilled Warrior his desires were incredibly base. In fact, most of the Warriors were like that. Perhaps Odal was different because he was not intelligent enough to notice the opportunities he missed? “The real question is what you are going to do with Odal.”

“I plan on taking him with me to Haj,” Cass saw no reason to lie, Odal might be an idiot, but he had turned out to be a valuable idiot. Master Hall might find use for his martial arts in training the other test subjects, there were benefits in soldiers that could fight effectively unarmed. “He is a rather useful and predictable fellow.”

Is what she said, but what it meant was; I have him by the neck and plan to wring him dry.

“The more I am around you,” Rowig was still chuckling. “The more I understand your personality. You are quite nasty aren’t you?”

“More than I thought, to be sure.” Cass agreed, “but then, there seem to be quite a few terrible people in this city.”

More than a few actually. This entire society was toxic, and Cass vowed to return here someday when she had the answers she needed. On that day she would tear this city apart and rebuild it, and she would truly enjoy the tearing process. As she was now… She could not fulfill her dream hear. She could manipulate and rip apart, but she could not build. She would leave this city a wasteland and would cause the very pain and misery she wished to prevent.

“I suppose you will have me get the materials together then?” Rowig sighed.

“You and Odal,” Cass corrected. “I am not giving you a chance to poison our food or arrange something equally problematic.”

“I am a Warden you know,” Rowig frowned. “I may have some dealings with the underworld of the streets, but I am not so untrustworthy as that. Those deals brought more peace and justice than you know.”

“You and your friend Odev fucked kids,” Cass said bluntly. “Don’t think you can trick me with pretty words now when I have seen you struggle against your leash right up until you caught the scent of gold, and that reminds me.”

They had walked into an alley that was a shortcut to the Strioi district, there was no reason to be afraid of anything that these alleys had to hide, except for Cass herself. She slammed Rowig into the wall, if anyone had been watching they would have been stunned to see a petite and pretty young lady holding Rowig, a man of solid muscle, up against the wall.

“If you lay a hand on Natalie,” Cass hissed. “Or if I even think you might be thinking about doing so… I will drag you back to my Master and beg him to show you what the definition of pain is, and that is if you manage to survive what I do to you! Be a good guide and teacher, and walk free a rich man even if you don’t deserve it. Piss me off or hurt Natalie and learn just how terrible life can be!”

Rowig was afraid of the almost mad light coming from Cass’s eyes, but he would not let himself be intimidated so easily as a matter of pride.

“No concern about Odal?” A snarky comment was probably not in his best interest, but it was clear he would not roll over entirely for Cass, even if she had the clear advantage.

“Fuck him for all I care,” Cass, however, did not care in the slightest. “So long as he can walk and teach it isn’t my problem.”

She dropped Rowig and continued on her way, idly wondering what Maurice would think of her now… Cass sighed, but she could not shake the imaginary lecture she could see Maurice giving her… She decided she would take a shot at educating Odal, maybe something could be made of him. And if she didn’t try, Cass knew that she would regret it. Not a lot, but enough to annoy her when she looked back at what she might have done.

“Actually Rowig, I take that back.” Cass turned to Rowig who was standing up and brushing himself off. “First I should see if I can improve the man, so I will let you know when we leave the city. Until then, hands off him too. But I don’t have a lot of hope that he will grow at all, and if that happens I don’t really care.”