"Argh!"
I sat up with a start, though still careful to keep the thin sheet which covered me from falling away from my breasts. It was with some surprise I discovered I no longer had any. In fact, my entire body had returned to its old masculine appearance. Looking around at my surroundings, it took me a moment to figure out I was in one of Master Oringel's rooms -- a circular chamber with a low domed ceiling, empty of furniture or ornament save for the large stone alter in the center upon which I lay.
"Good, you're awake." Master Oringel came striding in from one of the two arched openings. "You've been out for nearly a day and a half. I was starting to worry."
"What happened?" I said. My mouth was dry and I felt so weak. Even saying that much took a great deal of effort. In fact, merely sitting up straight was starting to take its toll. However, I wasn't about to relax until I got some answers. "How'd I get here?"
"What do you remember?" Master Oringel said as he leaned against the alter and examined me critically.
"I was in Sir Ruvano's..." Oh gods, I was in Sir Ruvano's bed, spread out like a three sovereign whore, just waiting for him to fuck me! I buried my face in my hands and shuttered before trying again. "I was in...Sir Ruvano's quarters and a woman barged in. She threw something...a dart, maybe...It hit me right here."
I ran my fingers over the left side of my chest. It was a little sore but there was no sign of any injury ever having been inflicted there. "I...I fell to the floor...there was so much blood...I thought I was going to die..."
"You very nearly did. By the time I was summoned you'd nearly bled out completely."
"Who was she?"
Master Oringel shook his head. "We're not entirely sure. She managed to escape. You and Sir Ruvano were the only ones who saw her, but we're almost certain she was a Blood Dagger."
"A what?"
"A Blood Dagger. They're a brotherhood of assassins who work out of the deep Rae'ock desert. There's never been any record of them ever operating this far north, however."
"A brotherhood of assassins? But she was a woman."
"Yes. The legends say that they abduct young girls and raise them using their sadistic methods to turn them into agents of death. After all, no one would ever suspect a woman of being an assassin. They are trained in the arts of killing and seduction, and are even forced to master several dark magics. Their most potent ability, and the one from which their name derives, is blood magic. It allows them to form weapons from their very blood so that they are never unarmed. That's what hit you: a blood dart. It's a specialized implement for killing a specific target on contact."
"But it didn't kill me. I'm still alive."
"That's because the intended target was Sir Ruvano, not you. As it was, you barely pulled through. I've done what I can for you but..."
His eyes suddenly took on a look of despair that I did not like one bit.
"What are you talking about? It hasn't even been two days and there's not so much as a scar. You've clearly worked a miracle."
"You may think that, but truth to tell, all I did was change you back to your male self. Once It did, the wound disappeared as if it had never been there. No one outside of the Blood Daggers truly understands these abilities though, so I can only hope there will not be any lingering effects that I'm unaware of."
"Well, I don't really care what you did as long as it worked," Finally I allowed myself to recline once more. "So you brought me here from Sir Ruvano's Quarters so that you could heal me?"
The wizard nodded. "So far I've been telling everyone that Mathis is out running another errand for me and Stephanie is still so weak I don't know if she will pull through."
"And what happened to the money?"
Master Oringel's brows bunched together. "What money?"
I suddenly felt my stomach drop. Again I sat up, this time my heart pounding in my throat. "The money Sir Ruvano was going to give me! Five-hundred gold!"
"He never said anything about any gold as far as I'm aware."
This couldn't be happening. I'd gone through all that -- humiliated myself by becoming a woman again, debased myself by going on a date with Sir Ruvano, even offering myself to him, just so I could pay off my debts -- and all I received for my troubles was a near fatal wound.
"Regardless, I think this has all worked to your advantage. It allows you to bury Stephanie without anyone asking too many questions about what's become of her."
"But I needed that money!"
"Mathis, you barely survived. You should be grateful you're still alive."
"Without that money, I might not be for very much longer."
"You need to forget about Stephanie. From this point on, she's dead."
"But I still need that money." I couldn't let Stephanie die just yet. She was the only one who could save me.
"You're prostituting yourself, Mathis."
"What of it?" I snapped. It was a more noble profession than any I would soon find myself left with.
Master Oringel simply shook his head. "They'll be serving lunch in the dinning hall shortly. Why don't you go to your room, put some clothes on, and get something to eat?"
"Clothes?" It was the first I'd considered it, but looking under the thin sheet which covered me, I was still completely naked. "What happened to mine?"
"They were the tattered remains of a dress the last I saw. They've probably been burned by now. You can use the sheet, though."
"Couldn't I borrow something of yours?" I said. My room was quite far away. There was no way I'd get there wrapped only in a sheet without being noticed by someone. "Or why don't you just use the wand to change the sheet into something that would fit me?"
"No," Master Oringel said, a sudden harshness lighting in his eyes, the likes of which I'd never seen before. I couldn't help but shrink away. This was no longer the mischievous wizard I'd come to know, this was a true Mage of the Cadre -- one who was not to be trifled with. He drew the wand from his tunic and held it up before me. "You're through using the wand." He dropped it into chest of drawers and sealed it away with a bang. "And you've run out of favors from me. Find some normal means of getting your money or face up to the chamberlain like a man. I'm not going to help you with any more shortcuts."
"But..." This pompous wizard was signing my death warrant. After spending a day and a half unconscious, I now only had until tomorrow morning to get the chamberlain his money. Without Stephanie, there was no way I'd be able to pay off my debts in time.
"Go," Master Oringel said, pointing to the door.
I didn't know what else I could do. I slid off the alter, numbly wrapping the sheet around me to preserve some tiny measure of dignity. Slowly, I traipsed toward the door, my bare feet slapping against the cool stone floor. This couldn't really be happening. I'd invoked a wizard's wrath; something that was never supposed to be done. I should have been grateful he was merely expelling me from his presence. But if I left without securing his assistance, I was a dead man anyway. Timidly, I stopped and turned. He was still standing there, glaring at me.
"Please, Master Oringel. This wasn't my fault. I need your help, it's the only way.
"You want my help?" he said. "Then consider yourself absolved of the hundred gold you owe me. That should help, shouldn't it? Now get out."
As I stepped into the dark, the door slammed behind me with a loud crash that echoed through those dank sub-passages. I stood for a moment, unable to so much as think about moving. This wasn't fair, not in the least. That fucking wizard had gotten me into this situation in the first place.
"You fucking bastard!" I screamed at the closed door. "You fucking...bastard wizard!"
Of course, there was no reply. Knowing the strange nature of his chambers, I could probably howl at the top of my lungs all day and he wouldn't even hear me. My head hung in hopelessness, I trudged off toward the servants quarters.
I made it to my own room without incident, and though I DID pass Griffith and Ramzi in the hall, I was able to explain away my lack of clothes because of having coming into contact with some toxin on my latest "errand" for Master Oringel. I must have looked so disheartened that they didn't even feel the need to hassle me about it and merely invited me to join them in the dinning hall. Though I didn't feel the least bit like sharing anyone's company at the moment, I was even more famished than I'd been after the last time I'd transformed back from being Stephanie.
As I pulled on my clothes, I hoped that the movement might help to relieve the dull throbbing in the side of my chest which had yet to fade. However, no amount of exercise seemed to alter it in the least. I'd just finished getting dressed when Nikelle suddenly burst into the room, screaming like a madwoman.
"Alright you little Trollip, how did you -- " She broke off abruptly upon laying eyes on me. "Mathis? Where is...what're you...?"
Looking as confused as I felt, she stood with arms limp at her sides, looking around the tiny room.
"Nikelle? What's going on?"
"Where is she!" she cried, murder suddenly lighting in her eyes. "I know she's in here!"
"Who?"
"Stephanie!"
"W-wha--?" Was she jealous? She had been eying Sir Ruvano awfully close the other day. There was no doubt she'd heard about their rendezvous by now. But why would she think Stephanie was here in my room? How could she have even connected the two of us? It's not as if me and Stephanie had ever been seen together.
As I stood dumbfounded by her rash change in behavior, she stormed through the room, overturned the mattresses and looked into every place that might conceivably be large enough for a woman to hide. The room was so small, it didn't take her long to exhaust every possibility. When she was done, she stood there fuming for a moment, looking like she was unable to believe there was nothing to be found.
"What's this about? There's no one here but me."
Suddenly, she was in motion again, this time lunging at my chest. Teeth bared, she tore open my shirt, not all that differently from our last encounter in the storage tower. I did my best to hold her at bay, but she was a wild woman. I used to think I understood her, but apparently I didn't at all. Why would she suddenly want to make out now? She didn't think that Stephanie and I were a couple, did she? In a way, we were quite close, but how would Nikelle have ever come to that conclusion?
"Nikelle, I'm not really in the mood for this at the moment!"
I managed to seize her wrists and force her off me, but she relented of her own accord and backed away, huffing and glaring at nothing in particular. I felt a little like I'd just found myself locked in a room with a wild animal. One final glace around the room, and then a lingering glare at me, and she stormed out of the room as quickly as she'd arrived, leaving me with no clue as to what that had been about.
In the mess hall, Griffith and Ramzi and some of my other co-workers had saved a seat for me at their table. In sharp contrast to my own mood, they all seemed to be in high spirits and wanted to know all about these deliveries I'd been handling for Master Oringel. I tried to make them sound as if they were the most uninteresting things in the world.
They lost interest quickly enough, likely due to how drawn and haggard I looked -- which more than one of them felt the need to comment on. Their boisterous conversation faded to the edges of my perceptions as I busied myself with simply shoveling as much food into my mouth as I could. My ears did pick up on one conversation which drew my attention, but it was coming from the next table over.
"I saw her wearing the most beautiful dress I'd ever seen!" Greta was gushing to a small circle of girls. "It was red and white silk and she was going into the gardens."
"The ROYAL gardens?" a freckled-faced girl asked, as if there were some other. "Was she meeting someone?"
"Was it the king?" a tiny little dark-haired girl of no more than fifteen said.
"I heard Golly saw her with Sir Ruvano," the tall blonde said knowingly.
"Sir Ruvano!?" the young girl exclaimed. "He's SO creepy!"
"I don't care if he is creepy," Greta said. "He's still handsome."
"Yeah, I'd let him fuck me!" the blonde replied. At that, they all broke out laughing.
So word of my -- of Stephanie's exploits had spread far and wide. And they were still the talk of the keep after a day and a half. Stephanie had really outdone her reputation as a slut this time.
Then, without warning, I felt a sharp pain in my chest, right were that dart had hit me, like a long dull needle was being driven into my skin. At first I tried to dismiss it as a momentary pang, but then it grew sharper, spreading through my chest, down into my hips, and out into my limbs. Sweat began to bead on my forehead. My heart raced so quickly I couldn't differentiate between one beat and the next. Then it stopped completely for a brief moment as my entire chest seized up and contracted with a violent spasm. I was almost certain it must have cracked a rib or two. With a cry, I rocked forward over my plate and sent several mugs clattering to the floor.
"Mathis, are you alright?" Griffith asked.
I barely heard him. I had already left the table and was running down the first corridor I'd come to. I didn't know what was happening, but I felt as if I was dieing. My skin was on fire, my insides thrashed about. I would have thrown up, but I wasn't even sure my throat was still open. My vision swam and blurred into a kaleidoscope of colors. Every joint of my body, from my jaw, to my knees, to every knuckle of every finger, cried out in as if they had been greased with red hot iron fillings. I wanted to fall to the ground, writhing in agony, but I instead found myself stumbling through those back corridors, headed for the high tower. I couldn't stop myself, my feet had a mind of their own and I had no choice but to follow them.
Down the stairs I went, into the crypts below where few people ever ventured, and even fewer returned. I nearly feel more than once, the toes of my boots catching on the nose of ever step. Eventually my foot slipped right out, as if my boot had suddenly grown five sizes too big. One look, however, and I knew that it was actually my foot which had shrunk. Both of them had, as well as my hands and my waist. My hips, on the other hand, seemed to have grown, as had my chest.
I'd seen these features often enough now to know that I was becoming Stephanie again. This time, however, without the wand. Had it been used on me one too many times and I could no longer retain my original form? Or was this one of those unforeseen side effects of the blood dart? Maybe Master Oringel was back in his tower, laughing at me some more as he changed my body from a distance.
No, it couldn't be that. This wasn't some gentle transformation like before; it was a violent, forceful reshuffling of my body. My skin creeped like putty to alter my proportions, I could hear my bones crackling as they rearranged themselves, and my hair grew as if someone were pulling it out of my scalp to the desired length.
My clothes, however, remained the same. I lost my other boot and even the socks inside them. It was all I could do just to keep my pants up around my waist, but the bottoms now hung down to my toes and made walking even more difficult. I couldn't stop to retrieve any lost articles. This irresistible urge that drove me onward wouldn't let me stop for anything.
By the time I reached the bottom of that endless set of stairs, the pain might have started to subside -- or maybe I was just getting used to it. Regardless, I still couldn't stop. I stumbled on until I came to a large wooden door. My mind cried out that I was going to run right into it, but there was nothing I could do to stop myself. I put out my hand to lessen the impact, but much to my surprise, the door swung inward with only the smallest push.
The room inside was circular and some ten paces across. Blazing braziers on stands alternated around the perimeter of room with niches containing the busts of long dead rulers. The air was dry and musty. Finally, the force that had driven me to come this far vanished in an instant and I fell to my knees, kicking up a small cloud of ancient dust that clung to my sweat drenched skin and clothes.
Before me, in the very center of the room, stood a woman. She wore a plain brown dress, the kind any of the servant women might wear, but in her hand was a curved dagger with a hooked blade the color of fresh blood. I recognized it as the same weapon that had been carried by the assassin who'd almost killed me. Glaring at me through her curly black hair, the woman's face was one I recognized as well.
"Nikelle?"
"Finally!" she said. Her eyes were more dangerous than I'd ever seen them before, flashing violently in the firelight. Her lips curled back in a bloodthirsty snarl not the least bit as playful as I usually saw it. "Where have you been hiding all this time you stupid bitch!"
It was only with that insult that I looked down at myself and realized my transformation into Stephanie was complete. The pain was fading quickly, apparently having run its course. All that remained was a dull throbbing above my left breast.
"Nikelle, what's going on? What did you do to me?"
"I summoned you here with a compulsion. Now that our blood has mingled, I can compel you to come at my request. It is something all of us in the sisterhood who are bound by a blood pact can do."
"Don't tell me you're really one of these Blood Dagger Assassins."
She strode across the room and grabbed me by the front of the shirt.
"Please, don't kill me!" I cried, tears rolling down my cheeks.
She tugged at the shirt until she'd bared my breasts -- a simple feat now that my clothes hung so limply from my petite frame -- and then released me with a disgusted shove.
"Yes, I am a Blood Dagger," she said. "And apparently, so are you now."
"What?" I looked down at myself. The place where the dart had struck me was now visible. However, it was not a wound or even a scar but merely a red mark on my skin that looked something like a narrow crescent bisected by a pointed line. "What's going on?"
"You now bear the mark," Nikelle said. She pulled open the side seam of her dress. There, low on her right hip, was emblazoned a mark identical to the one on my chest. "The same one worn my all Blood Daggers. I don't know how this has happened, but it means you're a member of our sisterhood now."
"But...but I'm not even really a woman!"
Nikelle looked at me incredulously.
"I know it sounds fantastic, but it's true! Master Oringel used a spell to turn me into this! I'm really..." I paused. Could I really tell this secret which I'd so far been able to keep from everyone? What choice did I have? "Nikelle, it's me: Mathis."
Her derisive chuckle cut just as sharply as that blade she was holding would have. I had to make her believe me.
"Just the other day you came to me in the storage tower. We made love. You said it was a ritual you always did before...before a big job?" The quizzical expression she now wore told me I must have at least piqued her curiosity, but my own thoughts had suddenly diverged on a sharp tangent. "Oh gods... Sir Ruvano! That's what you were talking about -- THAT was your big job: assassinating Sir Ruvano!"
"Yes, assassinating Sir Ruvano," she said, dryly. Then her eyes narrowed. "Are you one of his spies? You must be quite good to have overheard us in the tower without me noticing you."
"What? No! Nikelle, I already told you! I'm Mathis! That's why no one saw me on the day of the festival! That's where I've been the last two days! Master Oringel has been covering for me by saying he's sent me out on deliveries."She appeared to consider my statement for a time and then closed her dress back up. "A spell you say?"
"Yes!" I nodded frantically, sending my golden hair shaking all about my face.
"It might explain a few things," she said, stroking her chin. "But even so, it makes no difference. After my failed attempt to kill Sir Ruvano, my behavior these last few days will soon place me under suspicion; if it hasn't already. I shouldn't have gotten so careless, but I never thought that I'd have to worry about maintaining my cover after that night. However, he still needs to die. Since I will never be able to get close to him again, that means you'll have to do it."
"What!? I'm not an assassin! Even if I was, I don't have any reason to kill Sir Ruvano!" He still owed me five hundred gold.
Nikelle stood there for a time, staring at me. I couldn't quite tell if she was still angry with me or if her stance might have been softening. Eventually, she spoke, but what she said made little sense to me.
"I was sent here over a year ago to forestall a potential alliance between this kingdom and the Mordengern. We didn't know for certain it was going to happen until just recently. I received my orders three days ago."
With her dark skin, it had been no secret Nikelle had originally come from the southern deserts. But to think she was also a foreign assassin sent to undermine our kingdom? That was just too crazy to be possible. And the Mordengern? I'd never even heard that name before.
"An alliance with WHO?"
"The Mordengern," Nikelle's lip curled back in disgust and she very nearly spat. "They're a savage grassland tribe ruled by their necromantic shamans. We've been embroiled in a blood feud with them since the earliest days of the sisterhood."
"But what do they have to do with Sir Ruvano? He's just the king's spymaster. Why would the king even want to make an alliance with some tribe of southern barbarians?"
It seemed too outlandish to believe. This was Vitrelay, the most civilized region in all of Rineve. Our kingdom wasn't exactly as powerful as Driggam or Treppenkarrow, but that didn't mean we would ever debase ourselves with anything as shameful as a secret alliance with a people ruled by degenerate mystics.
"All I know is the Old Woman of the Mountain, our most senior sister, has divined that killing Sir Ruvano is the best way to prevent this alliance. I've already failed twice, both times because of you."
"Twice?"
"I was first going to do it on the day of the festival but then Mistress Holainah burdened me with you."
So Nikelle hadn't been jealous of Sir Ruvano's interest in me, she'd been pissed off I'd inadvertently ruined her plans to kill him.
"I tried again the other night but you somehow got in the way again. I didn't know that you would be with him, but it shouldn't have made a difference. A blood dart can't miss." She paused and looked into the distance. "There must be a reason why fate has intervened so often on this mission. Somehow, it wants you involved. We'll need to move quickly though. Rumors are already starting to circulate that Stephanie died in the assassination attempt. We have to act before your reappearance will raise too many suspicions."
"Nikelle! I already told you! I'm not a spy! I'm not an assassin! I'm just a stable hand! I don't want any part of this!"
"You don't have a choice. You're a Blood Dagger now. It's your duty to ensure this contract is carried out. If you refuse, it's within my right to kill you right here on this very spot." She lifted the dagger and glazed at me over the edge of the blade.
"Please, you don't have to do this. I know you never had a choice in becoming what you are. Master Oringel told me how you are all taken from your homes as children and raised by the men who run the Blood Daggers to be their assassins."
"That old rumor?" Nikelle laughed. "Neither me nor any of my sisters were ever forced into anything. And there are no men anywhere in our organization. Yes, all of us were taken from our homes as children, not by the Blood Daggers, but by circumstances beyond our control. We found ourselves outcaste, each for our own reasons; alone, wondering, headed for eventually doom. But each of us somehow found our way to the sisterhood. They take us in, train us, give us new purpose. Every last one of us chose this life for ourselves."
"Not me!"
That appeared to give her pause, but only for a moment. "Since a blood dart can not strike anyone other than its intended target, fate must have chosen you to join our ranks. If you do not help me, I will not hesitate to cut you down. But If you do as I tell you, both of us will be able to walk away unharmed and your kingdom will be saved from a terrible end. Is that really so bad?"
"Listen to yourself! You're being a hypocrite! You can't make me do this!"
That familiar danger again flashed in her eyes as she glared at me. Two lightning quick steps carried her across the distance between us and I suddenly found the blade of her dagger at my throat. I drew back my chin and the tears began to roll down my cheeks in uncontrollable torrents. "I will do everything in my power to ensure that my mission is completed. If that means I become a hypocrite by forcing you to assist me, then so be it."
This was insane. The only choice I had was none at all. I should have simply accepted the Chamberlain's punishment those few short days ago