Ch 44

I didn’t speak on the way back to the arena. Once I had snuck back inside, I lay in a cot, staring blankly at the ceiling. I wanted to get away from Silvan. I wanted it so badly it hurt. He abused his slaves for amusement and presently, I was being forced to fight in the arena every second day for his profit.

Problem is, what kind of life would I be living as an assassin? Would I be treated any better by an owner who used me primarily as a tool to kill? I was already getting used to killing people in the arena but killing them in secret without them having a chance to defend themselves was something that I had not prepared myself for.

It took me a long time to decide what I wanted to do. If I didn’t accept any more lessons from Lilly and instead went and learned from another trainer, I could still aim to become a higher ranked gladiator and hope for a decent life. In the end, I was not able to maintain the fantasy. Silvan was an elf who had cut the tongue out of his previous gladiator’s mouth. He had also brutally raped his other slave and then later had Teka rape her after he lost interest until she had died.

There was no other option. I felt bad for those that I would need to kill in the future but if I wanted any chance at a different outcome than those of Minge and Teka I would need to find a way to change ownership. Presently, the only avenue was that of stealth and murder. I finally made my peace with my decision and closed my eyes. Tomorrow would come soon enough, and I would need to take advantage of my day off from fighting to receive more training.

*****

When I woke up it was still early. After months of living in the basement under Silvan’s house and being awoken by a crash each morning and then a couple weeks of residence in the arena I had become quite the early riser, my internal clock having shifted to accommodate the life of a slave.

After I went and got some breakfast from the goblins, I went looking for Lilly. When I got into the training room she was sitting at a desk, listlessly tossing a dagger into the air and catching it again. When I approached, she didn’t seem to notice my footsteps until I was right beside her and she gave a start. Looking over her eyes slid into focus on me at last.

“You don’t want to train with me, anymore do you?” her eyes held an accusatory edge as she stared at me hard. “Gikats told me it was too early to tell you, but I thought you could handle it. Guess I was wrong. You didn’t say anything the whole way back yesterday, so I already know what you are going to say now.” Despite her fierce gaze her lip was trembling.

“Actually, I came because it is my day off from fighting and so I wanted to do some more training as usual. I thought about it and you and Gikats are right. This is really my only way to get away from Silvan and if I don’t do that then I’ll never have any dignity. Also, I really don’t want to lose my tongue or anything else.”

Lilly began beaming when she heard my response, completely taken aback. She looked a bit funny when I mentioned not wanting to lose my tongue but quickly snapped back and proceeded to give me more pointers about how to blend in with my surroundings as I moved as well as on how to enter buildings stealthily by utilizing upper story windows that were often left unlocked as well as other things.

After a few hours of giving me pointers and having me practice different ways of moving and carrying my weight she decided it was time to move on to practical application and it was once again time to sneak out and hit the town.

I didn’t have any problems getting out this time, it seemed like the new ways of blending into my surrounding while moving were particularly effective. They required significant muscle strength and finesse to pull off but amazingly, I was able to waltz past all of the goblins without them so much as batting an eye.

Once we were outside of the arena, I moved a couple of streets over and waited for Lilly. After a few moments I heard her saying goodbye to the goblin at the door and she came around the corner. As soon as she caught up with me, she led me through the streets to a place I had only passed through before. The market.

It was early in the afternoon when we got there. There were merchant stalls forming rows until it seemed almost to form its own city within a city with pathways between them just wide enough for a horse drawn cart to bring wares to their locations. It was loud and it was busy with merchants yelling loudly to advertise their wares, everything from fresh produce and meat to weapons and armor.

When we had reached the edges of the market area, I looked at Lilly expectantly, waiting for her to give me instructions. She was grinning to herself like a schoolgirl who had just thought up a particularly nasty prank. After a moment she looked at me, “Ok, so here is your challenge for today. You are going to go into the market and pick the pockets of ten different merchants.”

“I was floored. What do you mean I am going to pick the pockets of ten merchants?!” I whispered this fiercely to her as I did not want to be overheard but I did want to convey my extreme dismay. “Oh, don’t be such a baby, you can do it with a little effort. You just have to sneak up while they are distracted with another customer and your there. Oh, and only other little thing. Instead of taking things out of their pockets you are going to be putting something into their pockets.”

I opened my mouth but couldn’t think of anything to say. She wanted me to reverse pickpocket ten merchants. I cocked my head to the side a bit while looking at her and trying to think of a response. She giggled a bit behind her hand when she saw me looking nonplussed and then passed me a leather pouch. “In here are ten tokens that are enchanted to make the person carrying it tell the truth whenever they speak. They aren’t forced to speak but they cannot lie. You better hurry and get rid of them all before someone stops you and asks you any questions.

I would have asked her more questions like what the purpose of this was or what she had against the merchants but as soon as I went to do so she was gone. She definitely was still holding out on a few tricks. I sighed to myself and wandered into the throng of people, moving as she had taught me to prevent myself from being seen. I suppose I could have used it only when I was distributing a token, but I did not want to be seen loitering around here and attract questions, so I decided to remain out of sight altogether.