I drop the bucket down and hear a soft plop before I draw it up with the rope attached. I slosh the water into the jug before drinking deeply from the vessel. It’s clean and cold. Once I’m sated, I fill the jug up again right to the brim and take it with me to the room, careful not to spill any.
Back in the fae prick’s littlebower, I wait for a few minutes, wondering when he will wake. The longer we remain here, the more likely it is that I will be caught. He will be killed for slave theft, and then I'll be worse off than I was in the pits.
Perhaps I should have left some of the food for him. The faster he recovers, the more quickly I’ll get what I want. I could go out in my disguise…buy a few things…
Survive.
I don’t second guess myself any longer. Instead, I grab the pouch of gold bits from his belt and pour some into my hand.
I leave the room, keeping my gaze up when I enter the street past the yard through the archway and find residents of the city going about their business. Pixies, orcs, goblins, a smattering offae who are mostly dressed the same as I am. I now also see some human slaves as well who I ignore for the most part. Instead, I watch the freefolk, mimicking their purposeful strides, watching how they speak to each other. I traverse the streets for long enough to ensure that I know my way around. I even find the location of the stone Ring itself and I make doubly sure I can find my way there reliably in a pinch.
Only then do I locate vendors of food, haggling the way I see the other freefolk doing. I buy fruit and the ingredients for a hearty stew, one I made at The Barrack more than once when the healer commanded it. Perhaps that will be enough to get the fae male well enough to take me where he promised.
I make my way back toward the room, finding the right street easily now that I’m learning my way around.
But before I get there, I’m stopped by two fae.
They’re in my path. I move to go around them without a word, but they bar my way.
I have to force myself to look up into their eyes. Two sets which bore into me in the most unsettling manner.
They know you aren’t what you seem. Run!
But I don’t give in. I hold my ground, and my nerve.
Neither of them speaks. They seem puzzled. Dismayed. Angry.
They let me pass after a few tense seconds and I stride away with an annoyed sound that they waylaid me, just as I imagine a true fae female would do.
I make sure they aren’t following me though, meandering around the busy streets until I’m confident they aren’t behind me, before I find the yard again and climb the steep wooden steps.
In the fae’s room, it’s darker now that the sun is setting. I light a lamp and then a fire in the hearth before cutting up the vegetables and meat with a blade from a tiny drawer in the table.I mix it all in the pot, adding spices by smell from a small box I find tucked away in a small corner of the trunk.
The fae remains unconscious the entire time.
I eat my fill of the stew, moaning a little when I taste a real, hot meal that I haven’t sneaked or stolen from Ogdan or the healer. It fills me with warmth. Heat prickles my skin. My body feels alive with it at first.
But then I begin to feel something else.
There’s a clawing sensation deep in my gut that turns into a need I don’t understand. I shuck the tunic I’m wearing and pull the shirt out from where I tucked it into the trousers, panting a little.
I gulp some water, but it does little. I take off my boots and walk the boards of the floor slowly, wondering if the food here is meant only for the masters, if there’s a conjure on it to stop humans from stealing from their betters.
What will happen to me if that’s so?
I go to the fae still on the bed where I left him earlier.
‘Wake up,’ I say, shaking him. ‘Wake, I say! I need your help.’
But he doesn’t stir.
‘Fucking useless fae cunt,’ I snarl at him.
My heart is beating erratically. There’s a hollow feeling I don’t understand, and yet I know with a certainty that I’ve felt it before.
Why can’t I remember? My lip wobbles.
And then there’s a knock at the door.
