Reyna snuck through the door, following the young woman carefully, cautiously. She treaded lightly. Her Command didn’t cover sounds, despite every trial and test that Reyna could think of. She was invisible, but she could be heard, could be felt.
She ducked down, instinctive, as the girl turned swiftly. Too swiftly. Shit, she must have heard something. Reyna was certain that she had been careful, but she may have made a mistake.
…Or not, as Reyna waited breathless, for a moment. Then two, then three. Finally, the young woman turned, looking around herself cautiously.
Good. Reyna would have hated to kill the woman. She was just here for some jewelry, not to take a life. As the woman left the room, Reyna followed with soft, padding footsteps.
She almost made it, but as she took a step, a cat came shooting out of the doorway and came to a crashing halt against Reyna’s leg, letting out a vicious hiss. She was blown.
“Shit,” Reyna whispered as she pulled out a small dagger, letting her Command collapse. As she came into full visibility, the young woman drew back, breathing in to let out a shout. Reyna kicked the bastard cat out of the way and jumped into action.
Before she could, the dagger hit her in the neck. With a sigh, Reyna stepped forward and pulled the dagger out of the still-warm corpse, wiping it off on the fine silk robe the body was wearing. She had so hoped not to kill anyone today.
She stepped over the corpse to see if there were any goodies to steal, other than the ones she had been hired to steal. The goods were fair game, but her hands could still come out of this covered in gold rather than blood.
It was almost pitifully easy to find her way into the Orcish camp, Reyna reflected. Despite their numbers, they were easy to hide from. Idiots, the whole lot of them. They had only the bare minimum of security, and even that was dwindling as the lights went down. Only two guards stood outside of the leader’s tent, and she sidestepped them easily, hidden behind her Command.
She carefully folded the entrance to the tent closed behind her, cutting off the last bit of natural light entering from the outside. The battle, happening in the camps had died down with the coming of the dark, and she had followed the orcs carefully, located their leader. She didn’t speak their barbaric, choking language, but the deference they showed needed no language.
The leader was in here, reclining on his side on a long, low piece of furniture, facing the entrance to the tent, idly chewing on a large chunk of dried meat. The noises he made were disgusting, they made Reyna feel nauseous, but she shoved the feeling aside and padded her way forward.
She had a hunch, and she wanted to test it. She could play both sides of this and walk away with unforeseen riches. She would finish here, then she had plans to make with that pebbleskin in the Mage’s Forum, that Learn. If she were right, that was.
And she could walk away with so, so much more. As she approached, she felt a bubbling of joy. Going unnoticed was a pleasure all to herself; she could never describe the sensation. Of standing in front of someone, wielding death in one hand and taking payment in the other, of looking directly into their eyes and seeing that they noticed nothing.
It was almost sensual, erotic in nature. Closeness, but in a way that left her protected. She was close enough now that she could smell the spices on the jerky, feel the roughness of the orc’s breath. She leaned down in front of him, looked directly into his eyes.
He didn’t notice her presence, and she shivered in pleasure. Then, composing herself, she stalked slowly behind him, gently placing her knife to his throat, tip pointed in, so a quick thrust would end him.
She let her Command fade. To his credit, the pebbleskin reacted almost immediately, but she pulled the knife in, and it broke through the first layer of skin. He stopped moving.
The big brute said something in a language she didn’t understand. With a forced yawn, Reyna twisted the knife in, receiving a grunt.
“I only speak real languages. Care to try again?” She felt her lips curl up in a tight smile. Gods, it felt good to be in control.
“What you want?” The pebbleskin rumbled, tusks flaring forward. He was angry. Good.
“Oh, I just wanted to talk to you. See, I think I have something you may be very interested in.” She pulled back the knife, pushing him forward with one hand so it stayed level, lodged ever so slightly in his neck. She paced around, pausing to ensure her mask was in place, before lifting him into a hunched-over sitting position, her own hand outstretched in front of him.
She stood just below his tusks, so that even when they were flared forward they couldn’t be used against her. Daintily, she took the piece of meat from his hand and chewed off a small bite from the opposite end. It was spicy, a meat she didn’t quite recognize. She spit it out, dropping the meat to the floor.
The pebbleskin growled, and she pressed a bit harder with her knife.
“What should I call you, big guy?” she asked. “If we’re going to do business together, we should at least know each other by name, should we not? You know, respect and all that.”
“…Conquer.”
“Well, Conquer. You can call me Hide, and it sure does look like I’ve got you by the short ones, doesn’t it?” She paused and waited for him to growl at her. When he did, she grinned wide, and continued her spiel.
“See, I knew you were coming. For a while now, actually.” She mused, rubbing her chin with her free hand. “And I started wondering ‘now what would an orc want so badly that he would declare war on an entire city?’ So I looked around, snooping and spying, and I noticed something that stood out.
“Now, I’m certain that I’m not the only one who figured this out by now, but I’m definitely the only one who’s willing to come speak to you face-to-face.”
“Out with it.” Conquer rumbled, hands gripping the edges of the desk he was sitting at. Reyna held her knife assuredly, checking her nails on the other hand.
“I’m getting there, don’t worry. See, a while back, I was robbing this caravan with a group of highwaymen. I sort of became their leader, but that’s a different story. Anyway, we nearly made away with a huge haul, but we were stopped.
“By an orc. And not just any orc. I think you know him. Goes by Learn?”
The pebbleskin nearly shot up off the bench, but swift as his arm rose, Reyna pulled out her other dagger, digging it into his wrist. Orcs weren’t nearly as blade-proof as they believed, you just had to pierce them, instead of slashing. It had taken Reyna a couple tries, but with enough practice she had learned to get her beautiful instruments through on the first attempt.
“Ah-ah-ah, we’re having such a nice conversation, Conquer,” Reyna pouted, “I would hate to have to ruin it.” She waited until he calmed a bit, and maneuvered his arm back down with her knife, relishing the wince of pain he let out as she did. He had just confirmed her suspicions, and she let a breathy laugh bubble out.
“I just want to help you, see? I think I can get you Learn. Now, I don’t know why you want him, whether he’s a jilted lover, or he owes you money, or something. That’s none of my business.”
“Belongs to me!” Conquer growled under his breath.
“Sure, sure. I’m not surprised you all still practice slavery, but who am I to judge?” She shrugged. “Look, Conquer. I can bring him to you.”
The pebbleskin looked up at her, fury in his expression, red rimming his eyes. As she stared, she felt something rising up inside her in response to his fury, an emotion outside of her control.
She pushed the blade in further, breaking eye contact. Conquer let out a low roar, quiet enough that it wouldn’t be heard outside of the tent. Still, better to be safe than sorry.
“Quiet!” Reyna whispered. “If you bring anyone in here, I’ll kill you.”
“What you want?” The orc asked, quiet, but full of anger. It likely wasn’t a smart decision for her to be making an enemy of him, but she would never be subject to his will again if she didn’t want to be.
“You’ve got gold, right? Silver? Jewels?” She asked. “I want ‘em all. I want you to make me rich, Conquer. And I will bring you to Learn. And you can do whatever you want to him.”
She carefully, slowly, pulled out the knife that was lodged in the orc’s arm, sheathing it behind the small of her back. She extended the hand to him.
“Do we have a deal?”
