Just before Tamia could tell anything, Guardian gave her the stare of death; Tamia could get him in trouble if she spoke out now. The woman realised that she will be in big trouble herself if she told what happened truthfully; she had no gut to go that way. Not to mention that Guardian would probably get off with a fine and then hunt her down later.

“Yes, yes. Everything is true.” She confirmed Guardian’s story.

“Then I have no problem in approving this contract. How long is it for?”

“The debt was quite substantial. It is for one year.” Guardian told to the man who was filling in the paperwork.

Tamia almost screamed out in despair. He wanted her to serve him for a whole year.

“Oh and… I would like a collar.” Guardian added smirking at Tamia.

The officer raised his brow. The collar would be put only in special cases. It was a special collar one could not take off easily. It was made mostly for prisoners and offenders so that they will not escape and work off their debts. If they ran away, there was a reward for finding and returning them. Also, no one would employ a person with a collar, it was a sign they belonged to someone else. To put it simply they were slaves, the people just put a different label on such things. A label of the 'voluntary' labourer who does what he does to pay off his debts.

“Officer, this is just for insurance and her own protection. The thugs will know she belongs to someone else and won’t dare to beat her ever again.”

“Yes of course… Listen, woman, if there is something going on, it is the time for you to speak. When the collar gets on your neck it won’t come off.”

Guardian gave her a stare of death again.

“It… it is fine.” Tamia’s eyes became moist out of realisation what she will be reduced to a house slave. She was in despair and she was barely able to hold her tears in.

“You does not look that good. Are you sure you are okay with this?”

“The woman had a hard day that is all…” Guardian answered instead of Tamia.

“This does not feel right. Look, traveller, I need to be sure there is no fishy business here. If the things do not add up you will be fined heftily.” The officer knew that something was off but could not be certain. The woman confirmed Guardians words after all and seemed to be doing this willingly, more or less. The officer wanted to be sure that everything is lawful before putting that collar on this woman.

“Would a recommendation from someone of good standing in this city help?” Guardian knew who he could as for this already.

“It actually would. Who do you have in mind.”

“Cynthia, the one with a war golem. She is famous is she not?”

“Oh yes. She did many good things for us guards and the people of this town.”

“Then I will get her to write you a letter.”

They finalised the contract paper. Guardian paid the fee of 2 gold in advance. One was for the bureaucracy and another for the enchanted collar. They will have to come back later to put the collar on.

The pair left the building. Tamia was holding her feeling in the entire time, now they were alone and she did not have to do that anymore.

“Are you being serious here? I will have to be a slave for an entire year?” She thought of it as absurd.

“Oh come on now. This is just an insurance, get inside that dodgy gathering of mages and I will set you off. Your debt will be repaid. Or did you lose your will to live and prefer the other way out?”

“But this is impossible!”

“Then be a house servant for a year.”

Neither of the options pleased the woman. She wanted just to run away, but there was nowhere to go. She had no one to turn to. She had friends but no real friend who would stand beside her in such trouble; there were very few who trusted a thief.

When they got back he put a splint on her broken leg and gave her a stick so she could move. The woman did a good job of ignoring the pain so far. This whole ordeal made her extremely tired both mentally and physically. However, Guardian did not let her rest; he put her straight to work.

She had to clean up the mess she had made. She did so through pain and agony, her broken leg prevented her from moving comfortably. Also, she was told she won’t be able to leave his house without permission. If she left she was expected to work on surveying the mages.

Tamia begged him to get her stuff from her house. She had quite a few possessions and did not want to live like a dog with nothing.

Guardian sent Ithayiga to get a letter from Cynthia. He was kind enough to ask the boy to pick Tamia's stuff on his way back. He did not want to let the thief go anywhere, not until he had her collared. It also did not feel safe to sleep under the same roof with a thief, she might want to take a revenge on him and try to slit his throat in his sleep. To avoid this he moved one swampling out of its cage and put it with its fried. Then he directed Tamia to go inside the cage. She will have to be locked in it for the night, for his and her own safety. If she knew that this would have happened she would have cleaned these cages better.

However, locking her was not the smartest idea either. She was a good thief and knew how to pick locks. Tamia waited patiently till the late night making sure that everyone was asleep. She lock-picked the lock on the cage. Just as she was about to get out, the pair of swamp critters became noisy.

“Shut up you two. This is not a good time for this.”

The critters which were locked in the same cage decided that this was a good opportunity to mate with each other. She did not want to miss her chance and sneaked away regardless of the noise the little monsters were making. This was a risky move as the noise might wake Guardian up, but she had to do it.

Tamia was making her way as far from Guardians house as possible. She was pushing herself to go as fast as she could, her broken leg was slowing her down. Then she heard a shout in the distance.

“Sunshine! Where are you? You must be lost let me find you!” Guardian was putting an act of sounding nice and pleasing. He was nothing of the sort.

“Oh no…” she whispered. The creatures must have woken him up. She knew he was coming at her with evil intentions in mind.

“Sunshine!?” The voice was getting closer.

Tamia turned towards narrow alleyway and hid behind the trash and rubble.

“I can smell your fear from here.” He lowered his voice and almost whispered, he was close and there was no need to keep pretending to be nice.

She curled herself into the ball, making her body as small as possible. Hoping that he won’t notice her behind the trash in the darkness.

“If you come out willingly, I will not punish you.” His voice was getting closer and closer.

Then she heard him stand just around the corner where she was. She held her breath out of fear he will hear her breathing.

“Ahh, this smell… the smell of sweat and despair. Game over, thief!”

He walked into the alley where she was. Tamia did not dare to even look at him, her eyes were closed. She was shaking while still curled into the ball.

He grabbed her, his claws sinking into her sides.

“A deal is a deal. You have to serve me, there is no escape… Should I break your other hand so you won’t be able to escape? No, that would make you completely useless.”

Tamia burst into tears, she screwed up again.

“So what should I do with you?”

He shook her forcefully. “Answer me?! What do you think I should do? Rip your legs off? Blind you? No… this would not work either.”

“No please, no… I promise this will not happen again.”

“Your promises are empty. But people say I am kind. I will give you another chance. Last chance, do not screw up again.” He squeezed his claws, they cut deeper into her sides.

“Ahhhh… Please.”

“I do not think you have learned your lesson but this will have to do. I cannot break you too badly; I need you to be able to function after all.”

He carried the thief back to his house and locked her up again. This time he made sure she was not hiding any picks to unlock the lock.

In the morning Cynthia graced Guardian with her visit. Before writing the letter she wanted to see herself what this was all about. Guardian told the same story he told the officer, not exactly the same. He improved it adding that Ithayiga got beaten up trying to defend her from the thugs. The boy was still licking his wounds.

“Oh, how unfortunate. What is your name?” Cynthia asked.

“Tamia…”

Guardian has never bothered to do that. It was the first time he learned the name of the thief.

“Tamia, you are lucky that Guardian found you at that time. He is very kind after all, isn’t he Ithayiga?”

“Master is the best. He gives as much food as I want.”

“You see. You will serve your debts and will be able to go. I actually think you will want to stay. After Tamia served her debt, would you employ her properly with the wage and everything?” Cynthia was trying to help the poor woman. Good employers were hard to come by.

“But of course. I am always in need of hard-working people.”

“See, he is a good person. He even patched you up and everything. This must have cost him a bit.”

Guardian indeed mended Tamia’s wounds properly before putting her in the cage for the night. He even had to send Ithayiga to purchase some stuff from the apothecary. However, his motives for that were selfish, he did not do that out of kindness. He needed Tamia to be able to do her jobs properly.

Cynthia wrote the letter and handed it to the Guardian. She did not question why he wanted her under contract as this was just a basic insurance. Also, Guardian chose not to mention that Tamia would get the collar on her neck. Then Cynthia left he did just that; he dragged Tamia to the office where she had her collar put.

Once Tamia had the collar on she was commanded to go and observe the place where the rogue mages gathered. She was told to get as much information as possible. Also, she was warned that if she does not come back by the sunset she will regret it.

Tamia did as told. She curled up by the wall not too far from the ruined prison. And carefully watched who was going in and out, trying to remember how they looked. She hoped that if she got enough information he will let her go.

+++

Guardian was heading towards the harbour. His goal was to get some food for himself and his ever-increasing number of dependants. Eating gruel every day would be fine if it did not get boring. He needed some meat, which was a luxury he did not want to pay for. Fish was an option, it was cheaper here because Harbour City had an access to the see.

He was thinking of catching some by himself. Guardian was a good swimmer, the only thing which might hinder him was that the water was salty. He hated salty water but he will have to put up with it. Guardian knew that sometimes he has to do what he dislikes, life was not easy there everything is nice and pleasant; some things require sacrifices.

His broad frame and a thick dashing tail were not unnoticed. A lizardwoman was eying him from a distance. She liked what she saw. The bigger the man was the more attractive she found him to be, this was typical of lizard women. She stalked him from the shadows waiting for a good chance.

Guardian stood at the harbour looking at the sea. His hand was holding a wooden fishing fork, a simple tool to assist him. He was mentally preparing to do what he was not keen on doing. He was about to jump in the water which will irritate his skin and eyes. Just before he was ready, someone interrupted him.

“Hello there. What sort of fish will you be catching?” The lizardwoman decided to approach him before it was too late.

“Eh? I don’t think I know you. What do you want?”

It was very unusual for someone to approach him like that. People usually kept their distance away from him. Unless they wanted something from him.

“No, you don’t. Let’s get to know each other. My name is Tiramisu. I want to help you.” She smiled at him while holding a stretched out hand. She was being very straightforward with him, but she believed this is the best approach.

“Do you? Why?”

“Why not? What is that saying… If I scratch your tail you will scratch mine in return.”

The real saying was ‘You scratch my back, I will scratch yours’, also she got it the other way round. The guardian did not point out her mistake. He understood that she will want something from him for her assistance.

“I can show you where are the best spots for fishing just tell me what you want.” She continued.

He was not sure what sort of fish was available in these waters. She might indeed be helpful but he still was reluctant to trust her. He did not know what her real motives were.

“I will manage, you can go.” He decided to turn her down.

Tiramisu, however, had wrongly assumed that it was his pride talking. Some people, especially men, did not like to be helped by women. She did not know why but she knew that from her experience.

“There is no need to be proud. I am not questioning your skills, I am sure you are an outstanding hunter. All I want is some company. I know a spot where you can catch some seriously huge fish. That is if you truly hold a sufficient set of skill… You do have it, do you?” She did not wait for his answer and continued. “Let’s make it a competition, who catches the biggest one wins.”

Tiramisu tried to appeal to his competitive side. She knew that most men enjoy a good challenge and some competition. The only worry was that he could dismiss her as an unworthy opponent since she was a woman. In this world, it was usually the men who did all the hunting and the women were considered to be subpar at this.

Guardian thought for a moment. “It is on!” He replied to Tiramisu.

As the woman said he had nothing to lose, that is if she wanted only a companion for a game. He would also learn about this good fishing spot, he would not need to find one by himself.

“Come then. It is in a more remote place, just around those rocks by the shore.” She pointed in the distance.

It was not easy to get to her spot, but it only made it more believable. The Fever people knew about this spot the more fish would be there.

The competition was about to begin. They were standing on a rock, waves of water were crashing on it and splashing their feet. Guardian clutched his fishing fork in his hand, while she had a long wooden spear.

“It is on then I say ready. Just give me a second.”

Tiramisu set her fishing tool aside. Guardian looked with interest at what she was doing. To his surprise, she took her chest piece and loincloth off. The surprise was short lasting because he realised that she does not want to get her clothes wet.

The woman indeed did not want to soak her clothes, but she had other reason as well. She wanted to show off her body to him. She knew considered herself to be attractive and believed that she would be a good mate. She was fit and healthy; it was not easy to remain healthy in this day and age and she was proud of her physical condition.

Guardian witnessed her in all her naked glory, she was not a shy type. Her body was covered in green scales, her belly was a lighter shade of green making it stand out. She was very thin but had well-defined muscles, this was probably because of complete lack of fat under her skin. She looked agile and athletic. Like all lizardwomen were, she was completely flat in the chest department. Guardian wondered why she bothered wearing the chest piece at all.

This was because this town had many races living together and social interactions between them were complex. Normally, lizardwomen would not cover their chests as indeed there were nothing to cover, however they had to. Humans would confuse lizardpeople way too often, not being able to tell a male from a female. Lizarwomen hated when this happened, wearing a bra or a dress helped to solve this.

She put her clothes on a dry part of the rock grabbed her spear and took a pose, ready to jump in the water.

“Ok. Ready!” She shouted out and jumped.