I wake up looking at the wood beams in the ceiling. Today is a special day. I swing out of my bed. The bed is still too high. Growing up again is the pits. The door opens and I see my sister, I smile at her. My sister is always so impatient. Not like this is the first time.
“Sooooooo have you heard yet?”
I act aloof. I know what she wants to hear, but I don't feel like telling her.
“Wouldn't you like to know.” I head to breakfast that awaits.
“Vancea come ooooon tell me.”
I run out the room, I know she will pin me if I hesitate. She tackles me instead and starts tickling me. I laugh and gasp.
“Tell me or I will send you into another rebirth.”
She doesn't really give me a chance until the laughter becomes all gasping. It takes a moment to catch my breath.
“Soooooooo.” She menaces me with her fingers.
“Of course it's your voice.” I stick my tongue at her.
She begins again to tickle me, after maybe the third time she relents and walks towards breakfast. Her pink pigtails bobbing as she goes. Her voice whispered to me on how I progressed.
-----
It's always her voice, every time. I smile at that as father asks us what path we plan to take. I was leaning towards mercenary.
“Barmaid”
Really, again. I gave her a look.
“What, last time time got cut short.”
“That just means you'll remember sooner.” I stick my tongue out at her.
“I want to make sure the life skills accumulate properly, what's wrong with that?”
I roll my eyes, they told us best not to repeat vocations, certainly not back to back. About the only thing we remember until we hit our previous age is our vocations through our previous lives.
"So what are you going to be?”
Well if she repeating, so am I.
“Mercenary.”
“You mocked me for repeating.”
“You're older so you should know better.”
“Only this time around.”
I smile at that, she is trying to have it both ways, pretty sure she rubbed my nose in it when she was born four years ahead of me this time. Our current father watches bemused.
“Will you be a righteous merc again?”
“I'm not repeating myself that much.”
“Ooooooo evil merc, when the law cuts you down early make sure to wait for me.”
“O, like you did for me?”
She sticks her tongue out at me.
-----
I had to wait till my twenty-fifth soul day before I seeked out a band of no goods. Any earlier and they would just try something as stupid as selling me. I made sure to add a scar to my cheek and forehead, best to look rough, and notched my left ear as well.
I found some slavers recruiting, they gave me a stipend for one day of food, no doubt the march will take three, common enough trap. Get them starving, break them with desperation, then force them to do something heinous, to lock them in. I walk into the trap.
Starving for four days was not ideal. But I've arrived, soon enough they will attempt to shock me with the ‘product’ as if they are fooling anyone. I hear all their lewd comments. I need to decide if I want to get more personal with the camp or shatter someone's femur to make myself hands off. Option one becomes an issue as they get older and I do not, option two requires constant reminders. Guess it's best to see what we're working with before deciding.
They wheel out their product, making sure I see it. I play my part and demand to see the boss. The chuckles and laughter I hear confirms my thoughts.
-----
“What can I do for ya darlin’?” He got a plastered smile on.
“Just waiting out how long an angry outburst will take, care to hear my pitch?”
The smile becomes a bit more genuine, maybe option one wouldn't be so bad. “Bloody elves, well out with it, I'm assuming this lark will last at least till I retire.”
Seems he is smarter than average, that can be helpful. “I can give you that much, I can hear the entire camp, I'll make sure no one forms a mutiny unless they give me an interesting offer.”
It's not like I care if he throws me out, or even ends this life. Repeats can be so freeing sometimes. He considers then speaks.
“I doubt the others would understand that you can hear them at your level and probably not smart enough to think I would know this, and that you might need paying off.” He smiles at his cleverness.
“There are times when I will be called away, I'll make sure to return after, assuming this life isn't over.”
“Right, never provoke an elf feud."
An intelligent man indeed.
“You'll probably want to wait another ten minutes before heading out, longer depending how distraught you want the others to think you are.”
I nod.
“O quick note, don't try to get physical with Sam, the one that led you through the forest, already lost two others to his issues.”
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I consider that, might be an interesting death, always an option for later. I size up the man, he has brown hair that is trim, eyes that match his hair, he is quite fit, and a neatly trimmed beard. Option one it is. Easier to keep others away if you're sleeping with the boss. I give my best sultry smile.
“We'll sell it better if our compatriots hear me screaming, think you can manage that?”
He does alright.
-----
The bell rings. I sigh at the obvious way they commit new members. Was the human heart on the left or right. The arrow goes into the girl's chest in the middle. I hear the father yelling at his daughter to stay put. I sigh again. The girl I shot heart finally stops, may your next life last longer. The girl upstairs is quickly scrambling back onto her chair. The bell starts ringing again, the girl is excited to advance, I smile at that, children can be so eager sometimes.
After I hand off the bow to Hanki, I've already placed my bet on Vance's rigging, I head to the bottom of the stairs. I wait for the family above to leave, the nobility would get nervous if more people see them here, or so Randan tells me. When the family above leaves I head up. I'm curious about their setup. I see Randan talking to Vance, just about the take and split, nothing important. Sam came up behind me. He doesn't really pay too much attention to me, I don't provoke him either.
I see the chair they had the girl sit on. It's rather plain, that it's not a stool is only because someone nailed on a back. No wonder the child was running around.
“Randan, they might sit better if you pay for some upholstery, a bright red will make them think they're something special.”
“Those things tend to cost money, Vancea.”
“You're the one dealing with the nobility, dear, I just thought it would make your job simpler.”
He smiles at that. By the time I see the chair next, it's a throne.
-----
The carts are coming in today, a runner came yesterday to tell us to prepare. It's early, it will put Randan in a mood. I walk by the first two, their empty. As I walk by the last, I feel an aura. It was awful. Seems they found someone interesting. It will be fun to see this play out. I wander off but watch from afar. One of the girls is not compelled, her heart beating too fast. Is it the one with the aura? They lead the children down now, I stay out of range of the aura.
I hear a ripping sound, and then muffled crying of someone leveling too much. It has become an all too familiar sound here.
“Hey Vance, best go check on your charges, I think one of them ripped their clothing.”
“Damn it, it hasn't even been a day yet.”
-----
“Now gather round children, I want you to know your parents had to let you go to live with us for awhile, they saw how dangerous the dungeon was and needed to send you here to keep you fed. While here we want to make sure you're strong enough so that your parents are grateful when we return ya, grateful parents tend to pay us more.” Randan gives them enough hope for them to try.
Helping children learn can be rather gratifying, as they grow I earn more. The others generally have them run around and throw dull knives. They always count them to make sure they are returned. Better to give them [Throw Knife] then [Throw Rock], Randan likes to intone. We can keep track of knives, a brat could sneak a random rock. They do archery for much the same reason. None of these kids will get past basic either way.
I teach the kids math, quintarl?ne and common. Enough to get them to their threshold and more exp to expand their souls. There is no worry about them knowing my tongue, they won't know enough to pose an issue and Hanki will dispose of them soon enough. The one with the aura is not here.
“Why is Sara not with us?” I've already heard but children can be rather on their guard if you know more than they have already told you.
“Sara voiceless and worthless, all this would be useless to her.”
It was the same girl who spoke to Vance originally “O how that happened.” None of them seem to know. “Does the whole village believe it?”
They all nod, Sara a pariah then, how absurd. Explains the aura though. It shouldn't be so strong. I think I'll inform Randan to learn more about the girl, if the children all think she worthless it's likely that's her aura. Might be good to tell them to separate her from the rest as well. I don't want to ruin the fun yet, guess I'll come up with something.
-----
O, Randan is furious. “Vance is dead.”
I smile, “I know, I heard it.”
“And you didn't think to stop it.”
And walk into that aura, no thanks, but he won't want to hear that, “He gave his cheesy line about maiming the girl, then fell backwards, scuttled away till he hit the cell and then started perforating his chest cavity, not a lot of time to prevent it.” I don't bring up that Vance shit himself or that he kept whispering how it wasn't worth it.
“So it was suicide.” I shrug, engaging elven aloofiness tends to keep people from asking more questions, their prejudice makes them deaf.
If the girl's aura that strong, she is somehow hiding her stats. There are a few ways I was told but it doesn't really matter. These fools are full of regrets of what they are doing in one way or another not realizing they only sent their victims on their next cycle of life. That aura won't affect me the same way.
“Vance was keeping the rest desperate enough to stick around. Going to move up Sam for that I suppose, think you can keep Hanki in line?”
I smile at that, “Sure hun, I'll make sure to remind him that while he can evade my sight, I can still hear him.”
-----
When Hanki blew the bet by demonstrating he was a better shot then he let on, I had to remind him he needed to miss more often. I didn't care about the bet, but Randan uses it as a way to keep everyone poor. Poor slavers work harder. Rich slavers think of retiring and drinking their retirement away. Which is all fine and good if they didn't start talking about their work while crying into their mugs.
-----
“It has to be a miasma.” Frank intones.
Sam disagrees, “We burnt the bodies, there was nothing for a disgruntled soul to latch on to.”
Hanki is next to Vance empty cot listening without revealing himself. Probably thinks I need the room silent to be able to find him.
“What else could it be, everyone is feeling it now.”
An eight year olds aura. I'm not in the room to tell them this, the girls' aura has been reaching up into the room. No, It's more fun to watch them wallow and make up more absurd things. Just the other day Sam had to kick someone to the ground for complaining.
-----
“Is Hanki still here?”
“He is hiding in the barracks, there is too much going on in there for me to pinpoint him.”
Randan scowls, he doesn't sleep in the barracks but he passes the aura every once in a while. It made him more irritable. My lips curl just the slightest.
“He's been hiding since you heard the girl screaming.”
“Poor thing must be traumatized, practically comatose, perhaps she woke from a nightmare.” Or leveling again, it's strange, there is no way she would be holding onto so many levels to only spend them all at once. But she screams as if her soul burns.
“Well I need my best scout to source more product.”
I roll my eyes at his phrasing, I've told him I don't care but apparently he manipulates himself just as much as the others.
“You'll just have to do without, if you take him with you he may not come back.”
He grumbles at this but he knows I'm right.
“Figure a roll before I go?”
I look at him, he starting to show greys, he'll never tier up until he too infirm for it to matter. Good for another year or two at best, a pity he picked Sam as his second. I'll need to find somewhere new if Sam ends up taking over. I shrug and let him prove to me he still has more years left in him.
-----
I hear a dish drop below, then the suction sound a knife makes when entering something soft, a plop, then more squelching sounds. There is a thud as his body falls to the floor. Sam is dead. I wonder if Frank is next in line.
Hanki out of the barracks and heading for the stairs, he is not going to be happy with what he finds. I give half odds whether he manages to kill the girl. I hear fighting at the edge of camp. Damn a sword of justice has arrived, or perhaps some adventurers looking for more socially acceptable people killing. I'll just have to make my escape but first I head to the stairs, I need to collect Hanki. Randan will want his pet when we rebuild.
I hear Hanki hitting his head against the bars. His heart stops after the cell door opens. The girl was standing near him eating from the floor. Her heart rate is steady. She must have been consumed by her aura. Fun time over now, time to get out before the crossbow wielder finds me. His friends have been making quick work of the other slavers.
Is it really worth it though, rebuilding just going to be a pain, and capture would be worse, this is plenty of life experiences for one go. Pity I didn't tier up to see my tapestry this go around. Nothing to it, I throw myself down the stairs head first. I end up at the girl's feet. She looks at me for a second and starts ascending. I've made a mistake, that girl aura is going to tear me from my tapestry, a true death, I panic, it's not supposed to be this way. I don't want to end. I try to move but I can't, my neck is snapped, I've stopped breathing awhile ago. I shed a tear for Sencea, we were supposed to be together forever.
