The party continued. The first bottles of wine had been readily consumed, and as intoxication began to appear in the crowd, so did the conversations ramp up in volume. She had finally worked up enough courage to leave Elistin’s side to explore the dancefloor. Already she had managed to somehow deflect a couple of bloated nobles whom had shown an interest in her inability to spin around repeatedly in some man’s sweaty embrace. One had gone on to suggest they unwind in the cellar, but a bystander had intervened and given the man a proper tirade about decency.

As she clumsily made her way through the crowd, bumping into people as she struggled with her balance, she tried to listen in on the conversations.

“You should just have seen her dress… It was awful!”

“The nerve of some people you know…”

“Looks like my wife’s about to get noisy again…”

“No husband, you’ve had quite enough already!”

“You’re right, I should beat my servants more…”

Just idle, and uninteresting chatter. She moved closer to the long tables loaded down with expensive foods and drinks made by the blood of commoners, and judging by one label, from the blood of commoners. Surrounding the tables were important nobles, merchants and even soldiers, all gorging on the food. One particularly bloated man was drinking a thick goopy sauce straight from a gravy boat; the sickly, orange fluid overflowing his mouth and seeping down onto his clothes. Across the table, several similar scenes were playing out: Men and women alike, slurping, shoving and mixing the most varied of foods into a murky, vile sludge before feasting upon it like any carrion bird would a freshly dead victim.

“Dear me… That Marvis… Quite like a pig that one.”

“Didn’t you hear? He once ate two whole pigs…”

“How does that even fit… No… I do not want to know, at all…”

“Say. Have you heard? Supposedly, there are assassins here!”

“Oh please, that joke is so old now…”

“Oh, and by the way Lady Asalys… Your husband. I saw him head for the cellar escorted by two… Rather cute young boys…”

The woman turned beet red, and rushed off while the other women remained, laughing. By the table, one of the nobles had apparently eaten his fill. He then staggered over to one of the nearby servant girls, whom hurriedly produced a large bucket. The noble then proceeded to explosively fill the bucket, sending a shower of orange bile, chunked with pieces of food into the bucket, and all over the servant girl, whom seemed to be praying silently for death. Then, without waiting, he wiped himself on the servant girl’s chest, and went back to stuffing his face. The girl, taken aback and shaken from the experience was escorted away by two other servants.

She turned on her heels and backed slowly away, heading back to the ball.

“Have you heard? Someone broke into the northern garrison, killed a lot of soldiers, and a prisoner.”

“I heard. Nasty business. Rumor has it that beneath the garrison they have built a prison complex and a big torture chamber.”

“It’s true, I heard it from a business partner. Apparently, they deal with the most dangerous children down there.”

“Children? Dangerous? Surely you jest.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure… Parricide perps, thieves and assassins… Awful criminals, using children to kill for them… Horrendous… And they pay the price.”

“Yes, all well and such, but let’s go get something to eat… Hopefully the Pig of Freisel is done stuffing his face…”

She looked around for a little bit, and soon came across a familiar mask in the crowd.

“Oh? Little lady? Are you perhaps lost?” She could see the woman’s eyes through the mask, looking at her intently.

“N-no. Sorry I, just got the person wrong!” She replied, but before she got halfway, the woman had turned on her heels and left her. Embarrassed that she had mistaken someone else for Elistin, she resumed looking. Despite searching for a long time, she failed to find anyone familiar. A sneaking feeling of fear began to creep up on her. Her looking became more frantic and her breath quickened. The eyes of everyone were upon her, she felt it, and despite it all, nobody made any contact. Her mind occupied, she failed to see the pair of hands reaching out for her. The next thing she felt was a hand holding some sort of cloth over her nose and mouth. She began to struggle, but her eyesight was already fading as she began to doze off.