Blanka entered one of the shabbiest pubs in the “neighborhood” – how one of the poorest districts of the merchant city was called. Though, poorest could be a misleading term. It’s not like the area was poor, no! It was just having a bit different approach to money-making.

Because, you see, wherever the merchants would appear, the loan sharks and other para-banks were sure to follow. And when the loan is being taken and the person is getting late with the payment, who are you going to call?

Exactly. The shady guys. And that’s why the whole district was shady. You don’t want well-dressed gentlemen to deal with your important, yet delicate matters. You want a thug, the person that enters the client's house and magically find money he swore to not have in possession. The worse you looked, the greater were chances that you were getting hired.

But let’s get back to the important part! Why was Blanka here? Because of the conversation they had in the bar before Zariel left looking for Kim. They had to find everyone who could possibly want to cause any more harm to the beastmen. Zari said that there would be people send after them as personal revenge from the family of a slave owner. How did he know that? She couldn’t tell, but Blanka learned one thing for that short period of time she spends with her new “friends”. Zariel had an outstanding ability to tell what lies in the heart of men, especially where it comes to the evil urges

Now, armed in trust in her comrades, it was her time to act.

She joined the small crowd that formed in a corner of a pub. For a moment, the people around the table became quiet. They didn’t recognize her because of the hood over her head, but seeing weapons around her waist they quickly realized that she came to join them on the “unofficial quest”.

“Welcome! Welcome! Another sister joins our case! Good. GOOD! We are growing stronger! I told you, Bathlew! Before this night would end, we would have enough people to chase these criminals that came to our city with flame and violence!”

Tja. They came into your city in chains and rags, not like they had anything to say about that.

“You are exaggerating. Sla… Bandits are hundreds. We are merely twenty people strong by now. I won’t risk going in less than half of a hundred. That would be a suicide.” “No! We are twenty noble human warriors! Some dirty sub-human stand no chance against us! Each of us is worth more than ten of them!” “And this is why trained militia and soldier had troubles to pacify the upris… the havoc? And they didn’t even manage to defeat them, just chased them off. Be realistic. Demin humans are faster and stronger, especially in the wild. I wouldn’t take that job if you wouldn’t promise us a handful of coins...” “You and your basic, low motives! You are fighting for greater good! For the purity of this world!”

Funny. Beast men were speaking the very same thing.

“Speaking about the salary…” it was the Blanka that finally raised her voice “... who will be paying us?” “The noble merchants - those that lost their families and loved one during rampage of chaos on the streets! The concerned citizens which…” “A name would be more than enough. I just want to know whose throat I should slit if they would refuse to pay us…” her rough words met approval of other outlaws “The patriots prefer to remain anonymous, fearing the rage of this criminals…” “That’s indeed a very noble of these patriots that they wish to do patriotic deeds with our hands while staying in the shadows. So heroic and brave of them!”

Another voice mocked from the crowd.

The “quest maker” was slowly running out of excuses.

Blanka entered a room booked by the priestess. Inside, Lanele was helping Giselle to prepare herself for her “night out”.

“The official name of person that is giving founds on this quest is Servas Stotteregert… or something like that.” she said as she collapsed in the armchair “So we are after Webberly family.” priestess said with a light tone while brushing redhead’s hair “.. not too clean?” she asked for opinion “Definitely too clean. I want to be elegant, yes, but I am going to visit an old friend of mine. I still need that look ... you get what I am saying?”

Lanele messed her hair slightly. A flock of hair fell on her forehead from her bangs like a little rebel

“Better?” “Lanele, you are my favorite hairdresser!” “Glad to hear that, I won’t ask how many hairdressers you had, for weirdly I am certain that the answer would be that I am your first, to begin with…” “Not really! Ol’ Alesia did comb my hair alot! And papa Jericho too, though mostly when I was little. Now, sometimes Zari does it!... And even though your skills are superiors he does it in such a way that it makes me feel special.”

Dragoness lost herself in happy thought as a clumsy smile bloomed on her lips.

“Is that so? In that case, take this!” “Ouchy! Wacha, doin’!?” “Making you feel special! Emotional hair combing OOO- VEEER-DRIVEEE!” “STOP IT! It tickles!” “EKHEM!” Blanka cleared her throat, and by doing so she managed to get her friends attention. “... I will Allow myself to disturb your cheerful moment, but after spending the last two hours in a truly terrible company, I wish to know how did you manage to tie Stottewhatever with Webberlies?” “StottINGERS…” Lanele put a hard accent on the last part, correcting her companion’s pronunciation “... are medium rank trading family specializing in bringing the cargo from the South. They belong to the greater branch thought, the one manage by….?” she asked by hanging a question “Lemme guess, Family of Webberly?” “Bingo. Once I would be done with Gis, I will write a letter asking for an audience, suggesting tomorrow's midday as a perfect day of meeting… They won’t refuse.” “How do you know they won’t?” “Because I am me, and I never take no as the answer…” she smiled in an arrogant manner “... just kidding. It’s because I am a noble daughter of my noble mother, and every lesser nobility literally wants to kiss our asses to gain a favor to ask…”

Gis turned around and inspected the lower part of Lana’s body

“And that’s a lot of place in need of attention.” “What did you just say about my butt!?” “That you have a very seductive bottom part, love!” “It’s still half of yours!... Well, you are lucky that Zariels likes them big…” “MY BUTT IS NOT BIG! Blanka! Tell her!...”

Of all three of them, Blanka’s bottom side was… the most pathe…

the most petite and fit for combat. She had a posture of graceful butterfly, that was ready to sting like a wasp!

“Girls, you are all gorgeous and stuff, but I would still rather focus on our plan so…” “Weren’t you paying attention? I am going to party with city guards, Lanele is going to party with nobles and you are going to spend few days with people of questionable morality sabotaging their actions! It won’t get any simpler than that!”

Blanka’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

“I see. It’s good that we all have our missions planed fairly.” Blanka, we would really love to switch with you, but I am an elf and Gisselle is a half-dragon. We wouldn’t really blend into crowd of scums so sure of their race superiority, don’t you think?” “I know, god damn it! It’s just… you are having a bit too much fun.” War dancress pouted “I am having fun preparing Giselle to the party – she may enjoy herself, but for me next few days for me will be a charade of fake etiquette and lies in the vipers nest. Fancy dress and good food is such a trick used to lower your guard down. It will be as pleasurable as drinking the vial of acid… especially that you humans…”

She stopped.

“We humans what?” There was no anger in Blanka's voice, only desire to know other person perspective. “Elvish nobles are living to their name. Even if their intention weren’t pure, they would just reveal their card right away… while nobles of humans are… slippery. Shady, eviler than the actual outlaws and villains. I know that this does not apply to everyone but…” “I haven’t met many elvish nobles, but unfortunately I know too well what you mean when it comes to our . Maybe two families out of five are normal, and one out of twenty is decent. But, that’s because your system is different. In kingdom of elves high priestess and high princess have absolute power and nobles are nothing more than their servants, in Neira the King is losing his influence more and more in favor of mages, and he keeps on giving nobles greater benefits to maintain the fragile balance between mages and country… And they are using their right to their heart content.” “A shameful truth and a true shame. When too many people participate in making decision in the kingdom it always leads to chaos. For example, such slavery…” “… which put us back on track. I am exhausted, so I will go hit the hay. Don’t have too much fun, Gis, or at least try not burning the barracks down.” “I promise nothing! Good night, love!” Gis yelled before the door closed.

After few more minutes of cheerful chatting and preparation, Lanele finally said

“You won’t be more ready than that! Look at you! You look as if you were going on date!” “Just don’t tell that to Zari, or he will be all pouty once he would return.” “Is that so? I could have sworn that you were the jealous one in this relationship?” “Years ago, during one of our first quests together, there was a noble adventurer that was hitting on me, back then we weren’t together… He was quite pushy, but I didn’t really mind, still, Zari decided to nicely ask him a few times to let me go. Of course, the gentlemen refused – not so nicely. Long story short, Zari cast a minor curse on him.” “That could be dangerous!!!” “Yes, as far as diarrhea can be.” “Ah. This kind of curse…. That is… that is…” Lana burst into hysterical laughter “… that’s so childish! Men, they never grown up. They are developing only to the age of thirteen or so, since then they are only becoming taller!!!”

“And changing toys for a bigger one.” “But Zariel!? That Zariel!? The spoken demi-god? Leader of an entire cult?” “Back then he was just a shy druid. Ah, these were the good times.” “You said as if these days were long gone.” “Because good days are gone… now the wonderful one started.” Dragoness showed that clumsy, bit shy smile once again, making priestess froze in place for a second or two. “… HOW CAN YOU BE THIS CUUUUTE!” She completely lost her composure “Hey! Lana! Stop it! Ouch! You are messing my hair!”

But it was too late. Priestess was already rubbing her cheek on the cheek of her companion

“I just wanna to squeeze all that sweetness off you!” “Lemme goo! My haaaair!!”

But it was too late. The deed was done and the hair was wasted. When the euphoric state of the daughter of one of the elvish ruler ceased, she had to begin the procedure from scratch.

Not that she minded. Lanele cherished every moment she spend with her new companions.

The changes in my body were subtle, delicate even. Widened eyes, elongated ears, slightly adjusted joints, nothing that they could notice in heat of battle. Well, the battle for them, for me – a warmup. The panther girl could indeed be very agile and deadly fast, but her attacks were simple. She was used to killing her enemies with a single or two blows that they barely noticed, so she had never trained a proper battle stance.

And I – I saw her attacks. Maybe not clearly, but just from overall shape that her body took before the strike I could very accurately predict how and where she would try to deliver her blow.

She tried piercing my throat with an open palm and her claws pointed onward, I moved to the side and strike her palm with my own, slightly shaking her balance. In normal situation I would be able to finish it here, but I was stopped by one of her companion that tried digging the dagger in my back.

I rotated around stopping his attack by hitting his wrist with a karate-like chop, kicked another of Maya’s underling and returning back to her, just in time to once again trade a blow or two.

I was seeing things behind my head, I was hearing things that never let out a single sound. I was smelling their emotions – tasting them. Adrenaline. Dopamine. Serotonin. It was all there! Mixing, twisting in a delightful cacophony of agitation and excitement that was slowly turning into something different.

The sweet and light smell of hot blooded beastmen was changing into something more sophisticated and heavier. In minute or two they realized that I was holding my ground more than decently and that I am not an opponent they could underestimate without risking their life. In two next minutes they noticed a subtle hints I was giving out – I had quite a few opportunities to just end it. To move a step onward and slash their throats, open their ribs or simply shortening them by the size of their heads.

First they thought I didn’t notice the openings, then that I was too slow and didn’t react in time or was too afraid of dropping my guard to perform the execution. Only when I started openly mocking them they truly understood what was happening.

Instead of ripping their head off, I would just deliver a flick with my fingers to their forehead.

Instead of piercing their chests I would just poke them making them stumble and fall, instead of cutting their throat I would just leave a red, shallow cutting mark on their skin.

Then, I finally sensed something, that sends my body into ecstatic overdrive.

Fear.

It was the best drug that one could imagine.

“Little kitty finally found out her place in the food chain?” I mock in a deep, low, growling voice that sends a shiver down their spines.

They jumped back from me gathering the distance.

She didn’t answer me back. She was too busy breathing heavily scouting the area around me with her eyes.

What was she looking for? The piece of environment she could use in combat? An escape route?

“Let’s make a deal. You will tell me where I can find Kim, and MAYBE, PERHAPS… I will let you live.” “W-what if we won’t?” “Oh, but you will. Just not right away. I will play with your body. And after mere minutes of torment, you will beg me to listen to you. But I won’t. Not that quickly, that is.” “I fear no pain!” she hissed “For you never witnessed the purest pain. Tell me, have you ever seen a person sacrificed to the Holy Oaks?”

Confusion bloomed on her face

“That’s the special rite of druids. You slice open stomach and pull the guts out, you cut them at the bottom and nail them to the tree. Then, you force the victim to run around the tree slipping the insides around it. The agony lasts for hours, sometimes days, but that’s just the physical pain. All this time, I shall sing, and the words will sink into your mind. The terror you would feel, the agony spreading across your body would be the meal to the forest on which the spirits would feast… That’s actually a very noble end. In times that were long forgotten, villages would send the volunteers for this rite. It was a great honor for the family to have someone being offered for a good of harvests… and the brave man's or woman's name would be carved into the stone to last for generation… Unfrotautenlly, your name shan’t be remembered.” “W-what on the earth are you!?” “I? I am just a family member very, very worried about his little brother doing something reckless, something so big, that he doesn’t even realize what kind of consequences he may face… So, I am asking one, final time….” Shifting in process “… Where….Is... My… Little brother?”

I asked putting my completely gross and huge head by her face while opening my mouth. If I wanted to, I could just chew her head off. I knew that. She knew that, and her companions knew that too.

But far more than being terrified about their lives, they were staring at me with a confused look, as if they couldn’t comprehend what was going on.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Don’t tell me it’s your first time seeing a Beast King? I know it’s not, in the end, you saw that half-breeded Kim…. Where is he? My patience runs thinner and thinner with every breath you waste.”