Uniform Stealing Board

First off, i have to apologize for not responding sooner. Life has been limiting the time I have had to be on the Board. Just catching up now.

Rufusluciusivan, I have to say I continue to marvel at how fun your stories are.

As you can image, the scene with Seyma really appeals to me. First off, you have the perfect set up of a sentry take out. You have a young, inexperience girl on guard duty. Yuki uses her disguise to trick the girl into following her orders.

Once they are in the room Yuki uses her awesome magic power to knock poor Seyma out before she knows she is in danger. Seyma's "ngh!" followed by the image of Yuka catching her falling body is really sexy.

Then there is the wonderful touch of Yuka using the sleeping potion to keep Seyma asleep longer.

And of course the description of they way Seyma's body was pressed up against Mira with her chin on her shoulder and nose against her check was really hot!

Love it!

Well, there's no need to apologize. I'm also not very available in this period of the year, so I understand perfectly. (In fact, I'm taking the time to write a few posts during a brief moment of respite.) Indeed, I am not surprised that Seyma's scene was the one that appealed to you the most. After the 'coffee break', I think there's now the 'guard break'. In-between mugging courtesans, Yuka takes the time to mug a guard. Gotta relax and return to the classics from time to time after all! I tried to detail this scene a little, glad you enjoyed it.

rufusluciusivan wrote: Sat Jan 02, 2021 10:19 am After the 'coffee break', I think there's now the 'guard break'. In-between mugging courtesans, Yuka takes the time to mug a guard. Gotta relax and return to the classics from time to time after all!

"Guard Break" Love it. Yea, when you come across a female guard you really don't have choice. You got to knock her out and steal her uniform!

Chapter 3: Part 3:

**************

A squad of six guards was assigned by the intendant of the palace to guard Nahid's room. They were all wearing the uniform of the guards of the palace, which was different from the one worn by the guards of the Seraglio. The uniform of the palace guards consisted of a sunny yellow mantle with black edges and buttons, matching yellow trousers, black boots, a black cloth sash tied around the waist, and a leather belt for the sheaths of the weapons. Orange-brown arabesques were adorning the mantles and trousers. The head was covered with a white turban adorned with a black stone. They were armed with scimitars and daggers.

As requested, the guards were all women.

They were as generic-looking as a guard could be. At least, it was Safiye's opinion. Same short brown hair, same shoulder-long braid, same dark eyes, same square jaw, same muscular appearance.

The soldier in charge of the squad was the only one with finer features. She was a tall and fit brown-haired woman, with hazel eyes, a soft tawny skin, a thin face with a round chin, and a tall nose. Her shoulder-long hair were also braided.

“Greetings.” she said with a respectful bow. “My name is Fidan. If you need our assistance, just call us.”

Tsuki, still playing the role of Nahid, was nonchalantly seated on a sofa. She nodded slightly and waved her hand.

“Thank you Fidan. You have my mistress' gratitude.” Safiye answered, still using the hood of her priestess robe to hide her face. Some of these guards, including Fidan, were already working in the palace when she was still a courtesan. The spy didn't want to be recognized.

The soldier saluted, then exited the suite and closed the door.

“I remember Fidan.” Safiye commented once she was alone with her accomplices. “Back when I still was a courtesan, she used to be the low-ranked rookie guard assigned to watch the latrines. And now look at her: she's commanding her own squad of women. Which is basically the highest rank a woman can ever achieve in the military. Funny to see how things have changed when you return home after a few years of absence...”

“Having second thoughts about our mission?” Aysun asked.

Safiye chuckled. “Now, that's an amusing joke.” she commented. The emerald-green-eyed spy scratched her chin. “However, I guess it means that there's no need to get bloody... for now at least. It's not like leading these guards into a trap to 'borrow' their clothes will be difficult. After all, we have 'Nahid' with us.”

Tsuki giggled.

**************

Yisüi was alone.

After the ceremony, Yuka, Azeneth and Jinora all wanted to isolate themselves. They went outside of the aisle of the building that was given to them. However, Yisüi had chosen to remain in their room. The blonde wasn't feeling at ease in the palace. Of course, since she was a former luxury slave, she wasn't stranger to palaces. But she definitively wasn't used to be treated as nobility... Also, she didn't like the jealous looks the courtesans were casting at her hair for some reason.

Yisüi entered the lounge room in which Coulter was staying. The redhead was busy sewing one of her outfits. Given how boorish the mage-woman could be when talking with people, Yisüi was fascinated to see how delicate she was when doing needlecraft. Though in a way she shouldn't be surprised. Fabric and clothes were one of the main merchandise that Charioteers traded, especially their magnificent embroideries. Coulter probably learned to sew as soon as she was old enough to hold a needle.

The redhead finally noticed that she was being watched. "What do you want?" she asked.

Yisüi jumped in surprise. "N... Nothing!"

"What are you doing here? Apparently, everyone's having their moment of introspection. Shouldn't you go somewhere private to ponder about your life or the meaning or the universe or something like that?"

"I just wanted to see what you were doing..."

"Currently, I'm enjoying some time alone with myself."

"I see. Well, if you need me, I'll be in the next room."

"Duly noted." Coulter answered without taking her eyes off her sewing. "Though if you ask me, you shouldn't waste your time trying to befriend me. You should think of yourself and find a way to have a good time."

"A good time?"

"Haven't you noticed how all the men in this building look at your hair? I bet that, if you want, you can take any of them in your bed."

Yisüi became bright red. "I... I'd never..." She retreated in the other room.

**************

Safiye opened the door of the room. The six soldiers were vigilantly guarding the corridor.

“Soldier Fidan? My mistress requires the help of three of your guards, please.” she said.

Safiye was expecting the soldier to ask more questions, but she didn't. Playing the part of a priestess working for the future betrothed of a prince had its perks when it came to ordering around the guards...

“Of course.” Fidan answered.

She gave orders to three of her guards, who entered the room.

Safiye closed the door behind them.

"What is the problem?"

Safiye chuckled. "There's no problem."

The guards didn't know what hit them.

As soon as they were out of sight, and out of earshot, Aysun, Maryam and Derya assaulted them from behind.

The henchwomen were efficient. Oh, there maybe were a few grunts and gurgles, and one or two muffled attempts to call for help. But the remaining guards, still stationed outside, didn't hear anything. Two stomach punches followed with a neck chop, and one chokehold, were enough to bring down the soldiers.

The thugs were careful to hold back the limp bodies of the unconscious women though, and to gently lay them on the floor. They didn't want the guards to make noise by falling loudly.

"Quick and fast." Aysun commented with a satisfied smile.

"Just like with your men." Derya slyly commented with a smile.

Maryam and Layah chuckled.

"Hey! Low blow!" Aysun retorted. "You don't see me critisizing that aspect of your life. Even when you bring a goat home." She elicited new laughs from Maryam and Layah.

The two women continued to take jabs at each other, but it was in good humour. They knew each other for a long time and had already worked a lot of times together.

Tsuki ignored them and approached the unconscious guards. “Their lack of imagination is astonishing...” the shapeshifter commented.

Safiye shrugged. “They are guards.” she said, as if it explained everything. “Speaking of which, can you help me deal with the remaining ones?”

“With pleasure.”

Tsuki was still using Nahid's appearance. She imperiously opened the door and exited the room. Safiye was following her.

Fidan and her two soldiers were standing near each other and were conversing.

The squad leader frowned. She wasn't expecting to see 'Nahid' exit her room.

“Is there a problem?” she asked.

Tsuki attacked the two remaining guards standing next to Fidan. She was moving too fast for the women: They didn't have the time to react. The shapeshifter's palms were glowing. She clamped one hand over each soldier's mouth.

The women barely had the time to let out muffled shrieks. Then, their eyes rolled back and they fell at the same time on the floor.

Fidan's eyes widened. She grabbed her scimitar. “What the-gark!”

Safiye had taken advantage of her moment of distraction: She had moved behind the squad commander, and wrapped her arm over the woman's throat. She squeezed.

“Gh! Ghhhh! Ghhhhhhhh!!!”

Fidan desperately struggled. Her body was jerking in every direction. She was trying to call for help, but her attempts were muffled by the arm compressing her windpipe. She could only make faint gurgles.

Once again, Safiye's trusty technique didn't fail her.

After one final jerk, Fidan went limp and slumped into Safiye's arms.

The former courtesan briefly stroked her victim's cheek. “There, there, it's over now...” she whispered.

She carried Fidan inside the room. Maryam and Layah grabbed the two other guards to drag them.

“Between the six of them, there are enough clothes for all of us...” Aysun commented. “We're lucky!'

“Luck has nothing to do with it.” Safiye intervened. “Six is the number of the Prophet. An honour escort in the palace is always composed of six soldiers.” Once again, her knowledge of court etiquette was proving useful.

They stripped the six guards down to their white sleeveless tunics and matching calf-long underpants.

Safiye and her team cut the bed's curtains and sheets, and twisted them to turn them into makeshift ropes and cleave-gags. Each guard was similarly trussed up. Wrists were bound behind the back, upper-arms were tightly secured, just like the knees and the calves which were also tied. A cleave gag prevented the women from spitting the pieces of cloth filling their mouth.

The soldiers were left in the bedroom. Fidan was lying on top of her defeated squad. The intruders closed the door.

Safiye and her team then slipped into the uniforms.

Tsuki wasn't changing clothes. She was observing them in silence. She was smiling.

It took them a few minutes to prepared themselves, but once they were done the intruders were now looking the part of palace guards.

Safiye finished donning Fidan's uniform.

“So, you want to take one guard's clothes...?” she asked the shapeshifter.

Tsuki was gone.

The emerald-green-eyed spy sighed.

"I guess I can't complain. She kept her word and waited until we began our operation." she commented.

Safiye turned to face her team of disguised henchwomen.

“Let's go. We have a lot of work to do, and I don't know how long Tsuki'll stay discreet. Knowing her, she'll probably end up setting fire to half of the palace.”

“She may be able to create a distraction for us...” Aysun said.

“Hopefully, she'll manage to get herself killed.” Safiye commented to herself.

And even if Tsuki didn't die, they would maybe be able to ditch her behind if they were quick enough...

“First step, we have to allow the others to enter and to help them roam across the palace. They will take care of the assassination mission. And while they're busy with the king and his sons, we'll grab the mage girl...”

**************

Azeneth and Jinora wanted to talk.

However, since Coulter was busy moping in the lounge room and Yisüi was resting in their quarters, the two friends chose to go in another part of the palace. They didn't want to disturb any of them, though for different reasons.

“I think I don't like how things are turning out...” Azeneth commented. “This was supposed to be a simple task: We bring the book, Rashid's scholars translate it, and if we're lucky we learn about new things that we can use against the Mages. But now, we have court intrigues and a future wedding on our hands.”

“I think things could be worst.” Jinora objected. “At least, we're not risking our lives.”

The metis shook her head. “I'm worried for Yuka. She's trying to act as if the wedding is no big deal. She's doing it because she thinks it's her duty. But she's wrong. If she tries to ignore the problem, it will only become bigger, until it tears her up from the inside.”

“Have you already discussed with her?”

“Yes, of course. And we made some progress. But not enough...” the metis rolled her eyes. “Gods! She can be so stubborn sometimes...”

“Maybe the both of us should talk with her... We're her two closest friends. Together, we may have enough influence...”

“You're right! Come on! Let's find Yuka! We need to prevent her from making the biggest mistake of her life!”

**************

When Tsuki saw the lone servant walking across the empty corridors, she chose to steal her appearance and her clothes. She would have an easier time roaming the palace if she used an innocuous guise.

The woman was rather young – probably in her late twenties. She had a soft tanned skin, luscious chestnut hair, and hazel brown eyes. Had she been born in a more well-off family, she maybe would have been sent to the Seraglio; but her parents were servants, therefore she didn't have many prospects of social ascent.

Tsuki silently stalked her prey.

Kill her.

The Black Star was often whispering in her head, but for some reason her voice was always louder when Tsuki was alone. Still, the shapeshifter had learned to live with it. Some people were good at sports, others knew how to sing. Tsuki... heard voices in her head whispering that she should kill humans. No need to make a fuss: Everyone had their little quirks.

Sometimes she listened to the voice, sometimes she didn't. Tsuki was always craving for new experiences. Doing the same thing all the time would be so dull... After all, the world is a stage... And the stage is a world of entertainement...

The shapeshifter scratched her chin. She longed to try something new. Her body changed shape to look like Safiye's. A curvy figure, emerald green eyes, a flawless tanned skin, and brown hair. Perfect.

“I am Safiye, and I don't kill!” Tsuki muttered to herself with a sententious tone.

So, let's see how it feels to be her...

After having witnessed so many times Safiye use her technique to choke people until they were unconscious, the shapeshifter wanted to try it.

Tsuki was learning by imitation. She was confident that she could perform it now. And if she wasn't able to do it... Well, that would be too bad for the servant.

Her prey opened the door leading a small room that was probably used as a shed. The shapeshifter attacked her. She wrapped a viselike arm over the servant's throat.

The latter let out a gurgle of surprise. She was at her mercy.

Tsuki forced the woman to take a few steps forward, and closed the door behind them with a little kick of the heel. She tightened her hold to choke her victim.

The servant gurgled. She was desperately flailing her arms.

I think I got the hang of this...

The woman's body jerked four more times, then she went limp after one last grunt. She was out like a light. Tsuki stopped squeezing and examined her victim. The servant was motionless, but still breathing.

Well, apparently I succeeded.

Which meant that the servant was lucky. Safiye was always saying that, applied incorrectly, her technique could kill...

The shapeshifter actually didn't know why this specific hold was rendering people unconscious. She didn't care.

The voice whispered again: Kill her.

It would kind of beat the purpose of trying to be Safiye. Tsuki retorted to herself.

She laid the servant on the floor.

Reflexively, the shapeshifter then started to use her power to melt her skin into clothes. She interrupted herself however. She was supposed to be Safiye, a poor unfortunate human who didn't share her wonderful abilities.

Tsuki rolled the woman on her back and worked to remove her white servant outfit: a long-sleeved tunic, a cloth sash tied around the waist, and an ankle-long skirt, as well as white shoes.

This is so annoying... I wonder how the humans can stomach doing it all the time!

Still, Tsuki thoroughly stripped the young woman of her garb, leaving her clad in a light grey sleeveless knee-long underdress with a string tied around the waist.

She untied the string that was used to keep the underdress tied around the waist and tested its strength. It looked sturdy enough. The shapeshifter tied the woman's wrists behind her back. She grabbed the knife she was keeping hidden on herself and cut the lower part of the servant's underdress. She used one of the strips to bind her ankles, and all the others to fill her mouth and cleave-gag her. Finally, Tsuki dragged her out of sight by the legs and left her seated in a wardrobe of the shed.

She threw Nahid's clothes on the servant's body and closed the door, then slipped into the unconscious woman's clothes.

The shapeshifter left the room, and her vicitm, behind.

Tsuki's body and face blurred. Safiye's appearance disappeared, and was replaced by Tsuki's own default appearance, with her light brown hair and sky blue eyes.

She certainly wasn't going to reunite with Yuka while using someone else's appearance!

The shapeshifter nimbly turned in between her fingers two jade earrings.

“Bah, being Safiye is overrated.” she commented.

Then go back to the servant and kill her.

Tsuki shrugged. She had already moved on to something else.

In her mind, the servant woman was already casually dismissed as a mere afterthought – as all victims of clothes stealings should be.

Tsuki was always craving for new experiences. There would always be another woman to take the place of the previous one... There would always be a new appearance to take...

Need to find Yuka.

**************

Safiye and her fake squad of guards reached one of the posterns allowing to leave the palatial complex: a sturdy thick wooden door reinforced with metal and kept closed with a thick sturdy wooden bar.

Two women were guarding it. Two tall dark-brown-haired dark-skinned women wearing the yellow uniforms of the palace guards. The first was tall and lanky, the second was short and stocky. They were looking bored.

The tall soldier raised her head when she heard saw the newcomers.

“Is there a trouble?” she asked Safiye.

The spy smiled.

“No. Not at all.”

Derya and Aysun moved at the same time.

Two punches.

Two "Ugh!"

Two unconscious women falling on the floor.

“You sure are trying to minimize the casualties...” Maryam commented.

“I told you. I don't kill.” Safiye calmly retorted.

“Ironic coming from someone who's conducting a regicide mission.”

“I'm not the one who's going to deal the killing blow.”

The senseless guards were stripped down to their undergarments (which were similar to the ones worn by Fidan and her squad), trussed up and gagged, then dragged out of sight.

At the same time, Safiye opened the postern. The door was thick and sturdy. With its thick wood bar blocking it, nobody could open it from the outside.

But from the inside...

Safiye was satisfied to see figures dressed in black clothes carefully approach once the door was opened.

Perfect. The rest of her team was already in position.

Safiye and her fake guards allowed the assassins to enter the palace.

The emerald-green-eyed spy pointed at two women in the group of black-clothed people. “You. Take these guard uniforms and watch the door. It'll be our escape gate. As for the others, you know what to do. The first step of the betrothal ceremony is over. According to the tradition, the king and his princes must remain in their rooms until tomorrow's dawn. There won't be many guards: they aren't expecting an attack from the inside. You will have to fight, but you should be victorious as long as you are quick enough.”

While the two women were putting on their disguises, Safiye and her team quickly moved.

**************

Yuka wanted to spend some time alone. Therefore, she isolated herself in one of the many unusued rooms of the palace.

A part of her was surprised by how affected she was by the whole situation. After all, she had always known that Rashid would one day be married to some noblewoman as part of a political alliance. She had always known that it wouldn't work out. However, knowing that and witnessing it first hand were two entirely different things... And now that the ceremony was over and that they had warned Nahid, she couldn't use her work to not think of her feelings.

Yuka was starting to mope just like Coulter, and she didn't want her friends to witness that pathetic spectacle.

She jumped slightly in surprise when she heard the sound of a door being opened.

Who?

It was Rashid.

Of course. Gods, she wasn't in the mood to talk to him right now.

“So... Quite the wedding ceremony, uh?” the shapeshifter immediately said, without giving him the time to speak first. She was forcing her voice to remain blank.

The prince bit his lips. “It was actually only the welcoming ceremony... Technically, we aren't even engaged yet. My people...” Rashid looked slightly embarassed. “My people like lavish grandiose ceremonies. A royal betrothal had to be done in two steps at the very least. We're actually doing the fastest variant of the ceremony, if you can believe it. Usually, a royal betrothal involves six different ceremonies before the engagement is made official.” He hesitated. “However, since you mention the subject... Didn't you think that something about Nahid was... off?”

There was genuine worry in his voice, therefore Yuka instantly abandoned her childish attempts to sound distant.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I don't know how to put it... but I found her behaviour... odd sometimes.”

Yuka hesitated. She remembered the strange feeling she felt when Nahid's eyes met hers. The strange feeling that she knew her somehow.

“Must probably be because she doesn't want to be here.” Yuka finally said.

It can't be something else.

Rashid kept quiet for a moment. “Yes. You're probably right... What are you doing here?”

I was thinking about you and I. Yuka wanted to say.

“I was thinking about our next course of action against the Mages.” she lied. “I hope that the book we stole to Ce-Tochtli will allow us to learn about new weapons that we can use against them.”

“I see.”

“What about you? Aren't you supposed to stay in your room until dawn? You're not respecting the protocol. Nahid and your father could take offense.”

“Only if they learn about it.” There was a slight playful smile on his lips.

Yuka turned her head to avoid looking at him. It was actually one of the things she liked the most in him. His disdain for the rigid protocol ruling over the lives of the nobles of his kingdom. The same rigid protocol that made them deride women and commoners. It was a miracle that Rashid turned out to be so open-minded given the father he had...

“I thought we should...” Rashid started to say.

“We shouldn't.” Yuka interrupted him without turning back to look at him. “Not yet. And especially not here. We need the alliance with the desert tribes to remain strong. We can't allow your kingdom to be weakened. Not with the Mages building up more and more power to invade the last remaining nations of our continent.”

Why did things have to be so stupidly and needlessly complicated?

Rashid nodded. “I understand. I will leave you in peace.”

“Going back to your room?”

“No. I will go see my scholars. Maybe they have made some interesting discoveries.”

It was mostly an excuse to end this awkward conversation, but in a way Yuka was glad.

Rashid left the room.

**************

Coulter realized that there was a threat the second the guards entered the lounge room.

They were five, dressed in the ridiculously yellow uniforms of the soldiers of the palace. For some reason, two of them were carrying a long rolled carpet.

“If you are looking for your prince, he is not here.” she barked at them.

They seemed surprised that she spoke their language. They probably didn't know that Coulter was a Charioteer from the eastern provinces of Pakal. Her clan used to often go to the seashore to illegally trade with Ghazanite ships.

The woman who was leading the squad, however, didn't remain surprised for long. She made a gesture of the hand.

Coulter frowned. She looks familiar...

The thugs deployed in the room in silence. Their bellicose intentions were clear.

Coulter didn't waste her time asking questions. The redhead didn't even care to know if they were working for Rashid, for the Seraglio, or for the Mages. All she needed to know was that she was in danger... and that she couldn't use her powers.

The redhead also knew that Yisüi was in the nearby room. Therefore, she didn't try to enter that specific room, and chose to move in the opposite direction to lead the intruders away. She could only hope that the former slave would be smart enough to flee when she'd hear the noise...

Coulter quickly drew the knife she was keeping hidden in her decorative apron, and positioned herself behind a sofa to put the piece of furniture between herself and her attackers.

“Go ahead, approach me! I will give you a second smile!” the redhead defiantly exclaimed while pointing her knife at them.

When one of the guards tried to walk around the sofa, Coulter almost cut her throat. The henchwoman only survived because she dodged at the last second.

“By the Prophet! She's no woman!” the thug shouted while taking a few steps back. “More like a rabid wildcat!”

“Put that blasted woman to sleep and roll her in the carpet!” the leader of the squad barked. “Ce-Acatl wants her alive!”

Coulter's eyes widened when she heard her voice. She recognized the curvy body, and the emeral green eyes.

“You! It's you! You sold off my clan to the Mages!” she exclaimed.

Coulter jumped over the sofa, and ran around a henchwoman to try to reach Safiye, the responsible of the death of her family.

“I will kill you! I will kill you!” she screamed.

The emerald-green-eyed woman calmly waited...

...then nonchalantly dodged her assault. She was a lot more agile than Coulter.

Unbalanced, the redhead almost fell on the floor.

The henchwomen took advantage of the situation and surrounded Coulter.

“I don't think you'll have the occasion to kill me.” Safiye commented with a small smile. “You'll be way too busy breeding children for the Mages.”

A fake guard tried to grasp Coulter round the waist.

“Don't touch me! Or I'll make you sorry!” The redhead was making ample movements of the arm to keep them out of reach with her knife.

Suddenly, Coulter's body started to glow.

**************

Safiye's heart skipped a beat.

Her thugs took a few steps back. They were afraid.

“It's magic!” Aysun exclaimed.

“In the capital city? With the obelisks?! Impossible!” Derya added.

“Why do you think the Mages want her?” Safiye intervened.

However, she quickly noticed that Coulter couldn't do anything but glow. She was certain that, had she been able to do it, the redhead would have fried them alive on the spot.

“Don't back down, you fools!” she exclaimed to motivate her team. “It's only light! Her powers are still hampered by the obelisks! She can't hurt you! And once we tie that collar around her neck, she'll be as harmless as a kitten...”

Coulter's eyes widened in abject fear when she saw the leather collar with the embedded magic-blocking dark blue crystal that Safiye was holding.

“Don't you dare approach that thing near me! Or I will kill you!”

“Aysun, Derya, disarm her and pin her to the floor. Maryam, grab the narcotic potion. We'll make her take a nap, then I'll tie the collar around her neck.”

The two henchwomen assaulted Coulter from both sides. The redhead hesitated one second too much about which one she should stab first, and they blocked her arms before she could counter-attack with her knife.

However, Coulter managed to kick the bottle of narcotic potion from Maryam's hand when she approached her. It broke on the floor.

“You clumsy oaf!” Safiye barked.

Aysun and Derya pinned the red-haired woman to the floor. Layah grabbed her legs to block them.

Coulter was cursing, hissing and spitting.

“Shove something into that dirty mouth of hers!” Safiye exclaimed, clearly out of her patience. “She's going to draw all the palace here! Layah, find something to bind her. I want us at the southern postern as soon as we can, preferably before all hells break loose in the building.”

**************

However, unfortunately for Safiye, the fight had already drawn someone's attention...

I have to warn the others!

Yisüi was actually in the next room when the fake guards assaulted Coulter.

Therefore, it meant that she heard Coulter's abduction.

I can do it! I can do it!

The blonde was running. She knew that there was another way to leave their aisle of the palace, and intended to use it to regroup with everyone else.

She arrived in the room that had been given as quarters to Azeneth. Much like all the others, it had a bedroom, but also a bathroom and a lounge with sofas and tables.

However, as she was about to walk across the room, Yisüi spotted a figure. And it wasn't a friendly one.

The blonde jumped behind a sofa to hide.

The intruder was a woman. She was searching the rooms of the aisle. Contrary to the fake guards who attacked Coulter, she was wearing black clothes: trousers and a tunic as well as shoes with soft soles that made no sounds when she walked. A black headscarf was tied over her head to hide her hair, and another black scarf was tied over her lower face to hide it. Onto her belt, daggers were strapped.

The fake guards probably used their uniforms to roam the palace and allow accomplices to enter. They must have sent this woman to search the aisle, to check if Coulter was alone... the blonde understood. There are probably other people like her in other parts of the palace! The leader of the fake guards talked about 'hells breaking loose'. They were probably planning something even bigger than Coulter's abduction... Something involving people dressed in black... like assassins.

Yisüi knew that she couldn't leave her hideout behind the sofa unnoticed, at least not as long as this woman was here. And she couldn't afford waisting time. Besides, the intruder was approaching her hiding spot. She could see her!

But I can't fight that woman on my own...

Suddenly, the blonde spotted several bottles on the nearby table. She recognized them.

These were Azeneth's and Yuka's bottles of sleeping potion. They made an inventory of them when they planned her infiltration of the Seraglio. A few pieces of cloth were lying nearby on the same table.

The blonde got an idea.

Currently, the intruder was checking the bedroom. Yisüi used the cover of a sofa to discreetly approach the table. She grabbed one of the bottles and a piece of cloth, and poured the sleeping potion onto the cloth. Mentally, she was thanking Azeneth for being the kind of untidy person who left her stuff lying around.

The woman clad in black was done with the bedroom. She was now approaching the part of the room where Yisüi was hidden.

The blonde took a deep, but silent, breath.

You can do it! You've trained!

The intruder passed near her hiding spot.

Yisüi attacked her from behind, as she knew that in spite of her training she stood no chance in a loyal fight.

She immobilized the woman's arms, using one of the holds Azeneth taught her, and clamped the soaked rag over the intruder's mouth and nose.

“Mmmffff?!”

The assassin was taken by surprise.

Yisüi was briefly worried that the scarf tied over the black-clothed woman's mouth would block the narcotic fumes, but luckily it was made of a thin fabric allowing people to easily breathe through.

Unfortunately for the intruder, it meant that she was breathing the fumes of the sleeping potion as if the cloth was directly clamped over her mouth.

The woman in black struggled. She was clearly stronger than Yisüi. In a fair fight, the blonde would have stood no chance. However, it wasn't a fair fight. The intruder was attacked from behind and in a disadventageous position. Yisüi was using her arms to keep hanging on to her opponent. While she had only been training for a few weeks, it was enough to hold on during a few instants. The sleeping potion was fast-acting. Soon, the assassin's struggles became weaker, which made Yisüi's job easier.

When the woman's body actually went limp however, Yisüi realized that she was heavier than she expected. The blonde almost fell due to the weight she was holding and was barely able to lay her victim on the floor.

The two women disappeared behind the sofa.

The blonde looked at the deeply asleep black-clothed woman. “I... I did it...” Yisüi muttered to herself while panting, both because of the fear and of the effort. “I did it!”

Yisüi was about to leave, but then realized that the intruder probably wasn't alone.

What if I come across another intruder?

The blonde looked at the black clothes of the intruder she had just put to sleep, especially at her headscarf and scarf. She could use them to conceal her blond hair and her pale skin...

The former slave could alsmot picture a little Azeneth climbing on her shoulder and whispering in her ear to take the woman's clothes for disguise.

Yisüi mentally thanked Azeneth, Yuka and Jinora for their training sessions. Thanks to them, she managed to quickly remove the black-clothed woman's outfit.

The assassin was of average size with a tanned skin. A tiny black dagger was tattooed at the bottom of her neck. Under her black trousers, she was wearing grey knee-long underpants. Plain white bandages were wrapped around and over her breasts as undergarments. It was a way to compress her chest and to make sure that her breasts wouldn't hinder her movements during a fight. Though it didn't help her this time...

Yisüi pulled off the headscarf last, causing locks of messy neck-long black hair to spill out.

All in all, for an intruder (and probable hired assassin), the woman was rather plain-looking and unremarkable, outside of the tatoo she was keeping hidden under her clothes. Yisüi thought that it was probably an advantage in her line of work.

Azeneth's ropes were lying nearby in the bedroom, and Yisüi grabbed them. She tied the woman's wrists behind her back, wrapped a coil of rope around her torso below and above the breasts, then bound her thighs, calves and ankles. It was the same technique she performed with Yuka and Azeneth during their travel by boat.

Her ropework maybe wasn't as flawless as Azeneth's, but she thought that it would probably hold long enough for her to warn her friends.

She gagged the intruder with the cloth soaked with sleeping potion, to make sure that she would keep breathng it, and blindfolded her with one of Azeneth's scarves.

Yisüi then hid the trussed up unconscious body under a sofa. She hoped that the intruder's accomplices wouldn't find her there...

The blonde finally dropped her clothes, hid them under the sofa as well, then slipped into the woman's black clothes. She used the headscarf and the scarf to hide her blond hair and to conceal as much skin as possible, in case she came across another intruder.

“I can do it!” Yisüi told herself.

Her victory was giving her a newfound confidence. She ran to find Yuka, Azeneth and Jinora.

**************

Yuka was looking at the moon through the window when she heard the door open again.

At first, she thought it was Rashid, until she heard the newcomer's voice.

It was THE voice.

HER voice.

“Yu'! I finally found you!”

Yuka froze in fear and surprise.

That voice...

She quickly turned.

The woman was wearing the clothes of a servant of the palace. But her physical appearance was a clear giveaway that she was not from Ghazan.

The newcomer had light brown hair and ocean blue eyes.

“Yu'. You have been a really bad friend recently.” Tsuki said while waving one finger.

Yuka paled.

This was a confrontation she wasn't ready for. Brusque flashes of memories assaulted her. Two innocent children playing together. Two scared adolescents fleeing together while their house was burnt to the ground. Two angry young women who climbed the mountain in which the Black Star was hidden to try to harness its power.

Tsuki, her former best friend and sister of clan, took a step forward. There was a smile on her lips, but an unhinged light in her eyes. She was carressing the jade earrings she was holding in one hand.

Then, suddenly, the skin of her palm melted and absorbed the jewels.

“Friends are supposed to stick together. Friends are supposed to support each other.” Tsuki added. “They are not supposed to get cold feet at the last minute.”

“Tsuki, I...” Yuka tried to say.

“But it's okay.” her former friend interrupted her. “I forgive you. Because you're my friend.”

The unhinged woman kept approaching.

A part of Yuka wanted to call for help. But her vocal cords seemed blocked. It was partly due to fear... but also because a part of her didn't want Tsuki to be found, and killed, by the guards. Tsuki wasn't a mere friend. She was a clan sister. Their bond was strong. Shapeshifters were a tight-knit species, even more than humans, and their bonds were so strong that people unused to their customs could easily mistake their displays of friendship as displays of romantic love. For instance, Yuka, Tsuki and their third clan sister Hinata kept sharing the same bed and sleeping together long after puberty made them discover a lot of things about their bodies.

Tsuki wasn't very discreet however. Drawn by the noise, a guard entered the room. The soldier was a woman in her mid-thirties with a fit body and short dark brown hair. She approached Tsuki and tried to intercept her.

“What are you doing here? This room is restricted! Who are you?”

Yuka tried to warn the soldier, but she was too late.

Without even bothering to look at the guard, Tsuki touched the woman's clothed shoulder. Her hand was glowing.

“What ar- rrrrrrrrrr...”

The guard stuttered and had a few spasms. She dropped her scimitar. Then her eyes rolled down and, with a moan, she fell on the floor with a thud. Out cold.

“Humans. I find their gullibility strangely adorable. Don't you?” the light-brown-haired shapeshifter commented.

Yuka's eyes widened. “That's... That's impossible! Your hand must be in contact with the skin if you want to use the touch!”

Tsuki chuckled and shook her head. There was a mocking smile on her lips.

“Oh, Yu'... Of all people, I thought that YOU would have been the less likely to underestimate me...”

While she was still walking, Tsuki's appearance changed to make her look like the guard she just knocked out. Including her clothes.

“Or to underestimate the power of the Black Star...” she added.

However, Tsuki wasn't using an illusion to make the uniform appear. Part of her skin was growing, tearing itself, melting, and turning into fabric.

Horrified, Yuka took a step back.

Her former friend grinned. “You like it? Pretty neat, uh? No need to waste time stripping them. No need to avoid getting blood on the clothes.”

“This is... an abomination...” Yuka retorted. “This is against nature, Tsuki! We're not supposed to turn living flesh into non-living material! You're violating all the rules!”

Tsuki chuckled. “I can also do that.”

With a sickening sound, Tsuki's bones burst out of the tops of her fingers, spurting some blood in the process. Yuka wasn't able to hide her disgust. The exposed bones then seemed to melt and became as sharp and pointy as small blades. They turned into grey.

“It's metal...” Yuka whispered.

“My own body can be turned into a weapon, Yu'. This is the real power of the Black Star. For now, I can only turn small parts of my body into metal. But imagine how much I will be able to do after one more decade of training... or two...”

Tsuki crouched down in front of the unconscious guard, though without losing sight of Yuka. With her clawed hand, she carressed the woman's exposed throat. The senseless woman moaned slightly.

“Don't!” Yuka reflexively exclaimed.

“Why not?” Tsuki retorted. “Don't you find it exhilirating? This feeling of dominance every time you overpower someone... every time you take someone else's appearance... I sure do!”

“I...”

Her former friend chuckled. “You can't lie to me, Yu'! It's in our nature. We are shapeshifters. What I don't understand is... Why are you ashamed of it?” She stroked the guard's hair. “These people are mere walk-ons anyway. Who cares about their life's story? Who cares about their loves and fears? Who cares about what happens to them after I'm done with them? Who cares if they live... or if they die? Their only purpose is to provide amusement, clothes, and appearances to important people like you and I. And once they've served their purpose, they can simply be... discarded.”

Tsuki raised her clawed hand.

“Just like that.”

“Please don't!”

Tsuki hesitated, but lowered her hand. She left the guard unharmed.

“Oh, Yu'! I wish you didn't get cold feet at the last moment. I wish you accepted the blessing of the Black Star like I did. Thanks to her, I now see the world for what it really is. One huge playground for me!”

Tsuki was approaching her once again.

“After all the world is a stage, and the stage is a world of entertainment."

Yuka warily kept her distance.

“Why are you so afraid of me, Yu'? Friends don't harm each other.” Tsuki said.

Her unhinged smile widened.

“However, I will need you to answer my question.” she added.

There it is. Yuka thought.

Another flash of memory. A gigantic cave. A huge round polished rock, so black that it even seemed to deny light the right to exist. Yuka using the Black Star's own power against it, transporting it far away with magic to make sure that Tsuki couldn't fully absorb its power.

Tsuki looked her clan sister in the eyes. “Where is the Black Star, Yu'? Where did you hide it?” she asked. “I've spent a lot of time looking for it to no avail. So I figured out that the best course of action was to ask you directly... You didn't make things easier for me though!”

Yuka decided that she had to flee and to fetch help. Things were too dangerous. Tsuki was maybe her clan sister, but she had other friends to protect. And Rashid.

She suddenly heard a strange popping sound.

Then she felt a sudden pain. On each cheek, there now was a perfectly horizontal cut.

It took Yuka several seconds to understand. Tsuki actually shot two of the pointy metallic bones that had burst out of her fingers.

In shock, Yuka found herself unable to run away.

“I hear her voice every time I stare into the horizon.” Tsuki said as if nothing happened. “The Black Star is calling me, Yu'. I'm supposed to be her recipient.”

Yuka looked at the unhinged smiling woman in front of her. She remembered a polite demure girl who was her best friend. Could they really be the same person?

“I can't tell you where it is!” Yuka exclaimed.

Then it happened. Yuka didn't even have the time to react.

Nobody should have been able to move so fast.

But Tsuki wasn't exactly normal anymore. A fragment of the Black Star's power was flowing through her veins, allowing her to push her body far beyond its limits.

In one jump, at inhuman speed, Tsuki filled the distance between Yuka and her, and pinned her to the floor.

She wasn't smiling anymore. In a way, the expressionless face she was currently making was even scarier than her unhinged grin.

“I am resisting Yu'.” Tsuki blankly commented, and Yuka understood that she was speaking from the bottom of her heart. “I am resisting with all my strength the voice that whispers in my head to kill you. I am resisting because you are my best friend, my clan sister. Because in spite of everything, I like you THAT MUCH. But I need to know where the Black Star is. So, please tell me. I don't want to have to hurt you...”

And she was genuine.

There was a feverish glimmer in Tsuki's eyes. The feverish glimmer of a person addicted to drugs. Tsuki was desperately addicted to the power rush she was feeling when using the power of the Black Star, and she craved for more.

“The Black Star has destroyed your mind, Tsu'!” Yuka retorted. “It's destroying you! I can't let that thing tear you down! You have to stop this madness! We have to stop this madness!”

“How dare you tell me that?!” Tsuki exclaimed. “How dare you do this to me?! After what I did for you? You are being ungrateful! You-”

Suddenly, they heard another voice.

“Yuka!”

It was Azeneth. Jinora was running behind her.

The metis didn't ask any question. When she saw Tsuki, she immediately drew her knives. The unhinged shapeshifter moved away from Yuka. Her walk was catlike.

“Don't kill her!” Yuka reflexively shouted. Though even she didn't know if she was talking to Azeneth or to Tsuki.

The two adversaries stared each other down. Yuka was fearing the outcome of the fight. Azeneth was insanely fast with her knife throwings, but Tsuki could use her own bones as projectiles and they seemed even faster than a thrown knife.

They suddenly heard other voices.

Women voices.

Other people had been drawn by the noise.

Tsuki didn't hesitate. She dashed towards an exit and fled the room. Once again, thanks to the Black Star's power, she managed to run faster than a normal human being. Azeneth threw a knife at the fleeing woman, trying to wound her in the shoulder to hinder her escape, but the blade bounced with a metallic sound. Tsuki's skin had become metal at the impact point.

Before anyone could react, the unhinged shapeshifter had fled the room.

**************

Azeneth would have run after Tsuki, but Yuka seemed still in shock and Jinora couldn't help her in a fight against such a dangerous opponent. She chose to stay with her friends and glanced at the other people who were arriving after hearing the noises.

The newcomers were two women.

One was a servant, who was clad in the typical white tunic, cloth sash, skirt, and shoes of the servants in Ghazan. She was also wearing a yellow stole. Azeneth suspected that she was a head servant. She was also surprisingly gorgeous: with a tall curvy body, luscious deepest brown hair, hazel green eyes, sensual lips, a flawless tanned skin, a thin waist, and a soft oval face. Her hair were waist-long and braided.

The other woman was a guard, clad in the uniform of the palace guards: a yellow mantle and trousers with orange-brown arabesques and black edges and buttons, a white turban with a black stone, black boots, a black cloth sash tied around the waist and a leather belt with the sheaths of her weapons. She was of average height, with a tanned skin, an athletic-looking figure and calloused hands. Her eyes were brown and her neck-long braided hair were black.

Azeneth didn't know any of them.

Neither did Yuka, apparently, as she said: “Not that we don't appreciate your help, but can you introduce yourselves please? And perhaps you can also tell us what is going on. I know the woman who just fled. She works for the Mages.”

Just in case, the metis remained on her guards. She was glad that she was carrying her battery of knives on herself.

“We were sent to ask you to remain here.” the servant announced. “There are troubles in the palace.” (Her confident attitude confirmed Azeneth's suspicion: This woman wasn't a low-ranked servant; she was a head servant.)

“Troubles? What kind of troubles?” Yuka asked.

“Some intruders...” the guard started to answer.

The servant silenced with one glare. Another proof of her authority.

“Nothing that concerns strangers like you.” she then said.

Yuka frowned.

“Listen. I don't know what's going on exactly, but I DO know that it's dangerous and that it concerns us.”

“Everything is under control, I assure you.”

Azeneth clenched her fist. No servant working for Rashid would talk to them that way.

She then noticed that a green crest was embroidered in the top of the servant's tunic.

Azeneth remembered Yuka's tale of her mission. Green was the colour of the Seraglio guards.

The metis casted a suspicious glance at the servant. “Excuse me but... who are you supposed to work for exactly?”

The servant briefly hesitated.

“Why are you asking me that?” she finally asked.

“I bet you're good friend with Istir and the other courtesans right?” Azeneth insisted.

The woman's second hesitation gave her the answer. Yes indeed, she was in contact with Istir. She was probably an informant.

“I have no need to justify myself in front of strangers!” the head servant finally retorted.

That woman probably wasn't complicit in whatever was going on currently, but she had probably been sent here to hinder Yuka, simply because she was on Rashid's side.

These stupid political games! the metis thought to herself.

“Listen, we don't have to-” Jinora tried to say.

“And we don't have to listen to strangers.” the servant rudely interrupted her. The guard chuckled. She was laughing at Jinora!

Azeneth saw red.

“That's it!”

The walls of the room were thick, and so was its door. They perfectly muffled the noises of the short but intense thrashing, of the punches, and of the grunts of pain.

**************

Azeneth massaged her fist. The metis had a mean right hook, and she put it to good use during the short brawl with the servant and her guard.

The two women were lying at her feet. Out cold. The servant's face was resting on the guard's stomach. Both women were groaning and moaning in their unconsciousness.

Azeneth casted a mean glance at the unconscious servant. “Gods, she was hard-headed... Literally and figuratively. I can't stand hard-headed people.”

Yuka kept silent.

Jinora nervously bit her lower lip.

“We're in for trouble...” she commented.

Azeneth shrugged. “Bah! They asked for it! Besides, our friends are probably in danger. I refuse to stay out of the action because of some jerks. Are you with me?”

Jinora was maybe nervous, but she wasn't a coward, nor a fair-weather friend.

“I'm with you.”

Azeneth smiled and briefly squeezed her friend's hand to show her thanks.

Yuka looked at her two friends. She quickly embraced them. “Thank you. To both of you.”

“It was Tsuki, right?” Azeneth asked.

“... Yes.”

“I haven't forgotten about your promise. You will have to explain everything to us.”

“I know.”

“Though, for now, let's concentrate on helping our friends. Jinora and I will take these two's clothes.” Azeneth concluded while looking at the two unconscious women. “We'll be less likely to be stopped if we look the part of a guard and a member of the palace's staff.”

Yuka nodded. She herself was still wearing the servant outfit Rashid lent to her, therefore she didn't need a disguise.

“What about our appearances?” Jinora intervened.

“It's the nigh, so from afar we should look the part... Thank the gods we don't have light hair!”

The three of them quickly got down to work, and stripped the two women as quickly as they were able to. The three friends didn't know yet what was going on, but after Yuka's encounter with Tsuki they were sure of one thing: the Mages were involved and everyone was in danger.

Under her outer clothes, the servant was wearing a thin almost translucent white sleeveless underdress that left little to the imagination; Azeneth wouldn't have been surprised to learn that she was earning some extra money. The guard's underwear consisted of grey bandages wrapped around the breasts and grey open drawers.

“We can't let these two wander the palace freely once they wake up...” Jinora commented once the head servant and her guard were down to their undergarments.

Azeneth cut the curtains of the windows into strips with one of her many knives.

“Took the words right out of my mouth...”

Shortly afterwards, the now thoroughly trussed up, cloth-gagged, and blindfolded servant and guard were abandoned in a corner of the room, as far away from the door as possible. The three friends didn't waste time using complicated bondage techniques: they merely bound the wrists, ankles, shoulders, and thighs. Classic but efficient.

After a slight hesitation, they also dragged the guard whom Tsuki knocked out and hid her with their victims, though they of course didn't strip or bind her. They couldn't afford wasting time trying to wake her up. Given the power of Tsuki's touch, she was going to be out of commission for several hours anyway, and at least she would be out of danger while concealed away from prying eyes.

Yuka left the room first.

Having donned their clothes, Azeneth and Jinora followed her. Jinora was dressed as the servant and Azeneth as the guard.

They were going to find their friends.

**************

The rolled carpet was slightly wriggling, and a few muffled grunts could be heard from inside. Luckily, Coulter was tightly gagged by a thick scarf and the thick carpet was muffling her attempts to be heard. Now that the inhibitor was tied around the mage-woman's neck, Safiye's thugs weren't anymore scared to be near her. However, none dared knock her out even after they had trussed her up. Superstitions were hard to get rid of.

“Goodness! She's heavier than I thought!” Derya commented.

“Of course, with your frail arms...” Aysun retorted.

“Oh yes? Do I have to remind you that you lost each and every arm-wrestle with me?” Derya retorted

The jabs were still playful however.

“Keep focused.” Safiye interrupted them.

She wasn't showing it, but she was starting to feel worried. Carrying the mage girl outside the palace was actually more difficult than she anticipated. Coulter wasn't making things easier for them, and because they had to carry a dead weight, they were very slow.

And to make matters worst, the guards of the palace were now reacting before she could get the confirmation that the king and the princes were dead. Because of the agitation, Safiye had to make several detours.

“They're a little too fast.” the spy commented to herself.

Their plan was simple in its conception, but difficult in its carrying out:

A small group of infiltrators helps a bigger group of assassins enter the palace and gives them access to the royal aisle of the building. By the time the intruders would be spotted, they would be close enough to the king and his sons to do the deed... However, things could easily go wrong.

For instance, if one of the princes wasn't in their room tonight... After the welcoming ceremony, the protocol forbade the members of the royal family to leave their room until dawn. Mehmet III and Yusuf were going to respect it, but Rashid was a lot more unpredictable...

Safiye mentally shrugged. She chose to not be part of the assassination team for a good reason. While she of course didn't tell it to the assassins, she knew that they had a high probability of not being able to escape in time. Even if the assassins failed at escaping, she didn't care as long as they killed their targets. In a way, their deaths would even be profitable to her - as their share of the money would be distributed among the remaining conspirators. In fact, as long as she was able to bring Coulter to the Mages, Safiye knew that she would be handsomely rewarded.

**************

Yuka, Azeneth and Jinora were running across the corridors of the palace. The first two were hurrying up. While Jinora wasn't as athletic as them, she was able to keep up.

Suddenly, around a corner, they almost crashed into a woman wearing black clothes, whose hair and face were hidden by a black scarf and a black headscarf.

“What the-”

“An intruder!”

Azeneth grabbed a knife and Yuka's hands started to glow.

The woman wearing black clothes immediately raised her hands.

“Don't! It's me! Yisüi!” she hastily exclaimed.

The woman removed the headscarf and the scarf. She had faded blue eyes, a pale skin, and light blond hair.

“Gods, Yisü', I was about to shank you!” Azeneth exclaimed. “Why are you dressed like that?”

“One attacker was searching our aisle, so I had to assume her apperance.” the blonde explained. “But we don't have time for this right now! I was looking for you! I've seen some of the attackers. They're abducting Coulter! They said they were going to carry her to the southern postern to flee the palace with her!”

Yuka cursed.

“We can't let her fall into our enemies' hands!”

“Do you think Tsuki's here as part of a ploy to kidnap her?” Jinora asked.

“Maybe...” Yuka couldn't help but think that, while important, an attempt to abduct Coulter wouldn't justify all these risks. Still... “We don't have the time to dwell on it. We must stop them before they reach the postern if we want to save Coulter.”

She started to run. Her three friends followed her.

“Do you think we're enough to defeat them? I mean, there are five of them...” Yisüi asked.

“And we have Azeneth.” the shapeshifter answered. “Don't worry about them. Just stay behind us.”

“By the way... You still haven't explained how you ended up in these black clothes.” Azeneth intervened.

Yisüi looked ill-at-ease. “Well...”

“Does it mean that you neutralized one of these intruders... by yourself?!” the metis suddenly exclaimed. “And that you stole her clothes?!”

Yisüi's cheeks reddened a little. “I was lucky... I managed to surprise her from behind and use one of your bottles of sleeping potion...”

“So it was your first time on your own! Congratulations!” Azeneth happily said. “I wish I was here to see it...”

“Don't exaggerate please...”

“Trust me, it was your first step in your quest to assert yourself. Once this is over, I want to hear ALL the details!”

“Az'.” Jinora suddenly intervened.

“You're right. We have bigger fish to fry. Yisü', we'll take the time to properly celebrate your first time later. First, we have abductors to grab.”

**************
Hello everyone! First post of 2021! I wished this happened sooner, but this beginning of year is rather busy between work and meeting family. I'm trying to finish this chapter as soon as I can (hopefully before the end of the month). I'll try to answer quickly to comment, but I apologize in advance if I'm slower than usual at that or at reading new installments. (Still have to catch up with your next installment, trackmann, I'll try to do it this week.)

Before I begin I just to need to say, that as I always say, you never need to apologize, my stories are something to be enjoyed and not be a chore, when you get time, you get time, it's all cool. Now on with your next installment.

Great start off with the introduction of Fidan, I look forward to seeing her character more and I'm slightly intrigued to know a little bit more about her backstory of how she rose through the ranks of her military.

Hahaha, poor Yisui, doesn't Coulter know what sort of a refined lady Yisui is.

I see Derya and Aysun are trying their hand at a few potshots. Amazing scene with the group took down Fidan and her soldiers, very nicelt done, I always appreciated Safiye's further knowledge of court etiquette, not just for the group but for the lore seeker in myself too.

Tsuki wondering off by herself........Never a good sign. It's going to be good.

Excellent scene afterwards and I'm looking forward to seeing how Yuka reacts to this and will the fate's be kind to her.

Okay I simply loved the entire scene with Tsuki, seeing her change her form to that of Safiye just to she could "feel" what it's like to be someone else performing a takedown sheds some more light of her persona, is this a common thing for her to do, does she need to pretend to be someone else just so she can somewhat take the pressure off of hearing the black star's constant blood lust, or is this purely so she can have some fun and wonder what's in like to be in someone else's shoes for a little while.

Flawless takedown from Safiye and her team of those guards straight afterwards, your really getting the ball rolling in this chapter.

Aaahhh the points in time of where all you want to do is blurt out your feelings and lay all your cards down on the table, but instead what is thought inside your head is completely different as to what actually comes out of your mouth, I like it, Yuka's a vulnerable character, not in the weak way but in her emotions, knocking down those defensive walls she built around herself is a difficult task to do, but I'm sure it will happen. I'm certainly routing for her.

Amazing scene afterwards, the action was great and the dialogue was fantastic, plus Safiye boasting of how Coulter will just become a breeder for mages was pure evil haha. Wait does this mean that there's an alternative motive going on behind the scenes, like a seperate clan of mages being birthed and raised for a hostile take over, your stories fill my mind with various scenarios and possibilities. It really is great ........Oh and they might want to step back as I get the feeling Coulter about to turn into a Solar Flare and explode with rage.

Ah I stand corrected, the next scene was just as good, I liked watching Yisui go through her training in her head as she swiftly took down her would be assassin, then doing the ol' switcheroo just as the assassin herself had done prior was excellent, fantastic work.

Now THAT, is how you do a perfect scene, the raw emotions from both Yuka and Tsuki, the dialogue was phenomenal, watching Tsuki seem like she had just given in to darkness as a whole, the reflections of how seemingly meaningless all human life is to her, seeing that even in her corrupted mind, small cracks if sanity seep through every now and then, the ability to become something all powerful to the point of where she can bend even non-organic matter to her will, the look and the feel of the empty shell Yuka once called her best friend. Absolutely superb.

Yuka shone through as well, the memories, resighting all that was good and all that was bad, the want and the need to save her clan sister even though she's possibly become far too powerful for her to deal with. her reactions were natural and very justified. Well all I can say is that once again you've proven why you are one of my most favourite writers on this forum, absolutely brilliant.

That's why you never make Azeneth angry, because it is as you say, she has a mean right hook.

I agree when ever a new "infiltrator" is born by taking down her first victim and stealing her clothes, it is ALWAYS worthy of a celebration, so I'll certainly raise my glass to Yisui on doing an amazing job on her first takedown.

Well you've started of your road down 2021 with a bang as this chapter was definitely worth the wait and has me eager and excited to see what the rest of the year has in store for all your works and chapters to follow.

As Trackman noted, the scenes with Tsuki were particularly intriguing.

So interesting the way the voice in her head kept telling her to kill the servant. The fact that she makes herself like Safiye to see what is it like seems like maybe a way to have an excuse not to kill. And I love her working on performing the sleeper hold and commenting to herself when she does it successful. I also love the comment "This is so annoying... I wonder how the humans can stomach doing it all the time!" as she unconscious servant girl.

Then I also love the scene with her and Yuka when Tsuki toyed with the unconscious guard as if she was going to kill her. I love the image of Tsuki caressing the unconscious guard's neck and stoking her hair while talking as if she will kill her while Yuka pleads with her not to.

I also like the little touch that due to the power of Tsuki's touch the guard would be "out of commission for several hours".

Oh and I also loved the comment from Tsuki after she so effortlessly knocked the guard out: “Humans. I find their gullibility strangely adorable. Don't you?”

Another great new chapter, and the suspense and intrigue continue to build. Great to see the heroes and villains clash, and with riveting consequences.

I enjoy the little details about character relationships, including those in the past. It was interesting to learn that Safiye had a prior history with Fidan - helps flesh these characters out when we learn details about their background. Overall, a good job making Safiye a likable and layered character, even if she is ultimately not a good person.

I'm enjoying Tsuki's scenes as well, even though she's not one of my favorite characters. Her penchant for chaos and malice makes her an unpredictable variable in the series. And I like the dismissive tone she has toward her victims (who are fortunately left alive). Shows how much she embraces her evil side, and she contrasts well with Yuka.

Yisüi also has a memorable scene, finally joining the USB club. Congrats, Yisüi. And taking down an assassin, yet.

I like the banter between Aysun and Derya; they're minor characters, but good to see their relationship developed beyond just being Safiye's muscle. It often appears that the villainous henchwomen in your stories tend to have the funniest moments.

Great chapter. And take all the time you need with each installment - they're worth the wait. (I'm trying to start posting Spacesuit Volume 5 this week, but I've been a bit busy myself.)

Goodness! You guys are just so quick! This is insane! So many thanks! You're all so quick, I simply couldn't left your nice comments unanswered for too long.Things are still going to be slow from my part on this board for the time being, hopefully I'll have more time this week-end to catch up with everything. In the meantime, take care!

Trackman:

Poor Fidan probably won't come back any time soon. Alas, such is the fate of one-time victims of uniform stealings. Even if they get some development, they will still be left behind, only to be found offscreen once everything has settled down... Her rise through the ranks of the guard's sole purpose was to lead to her USB moment...

Henchwomen in USB stories have to banter at least once. It's the law. Safiye's use of her court etiquette is meant to illustrate her cleverness and ability to plan, but I understand you enjoying the lore for itself. I love lore too.

As for Yuka's scene with Rashid, honestly I was a little worried that it could be ill-received in the sense that it was a long part with no uniform stealings and it could break the rythm of the story. This series (and this chapter specifically) is a real challenge in the sense that there's now the evergoing risk of getting lost in the plot and the lore, and therefore to lose sight of the uniform stealings. I'm always happy (and relieved) when people say they also enjoy the moments of exposition or of character interactions that are not related to uniform stealings, but it's still supposed to be a Uniform Stealing story.

Safiye can indeed be very evil – especially when she's in control – and this probably isn't her last heinous action in the story. Her first few appearances probably gave a false impression of her, but I never intended her to be a sympathetic character – or even a very likeable antagonist. She is after all the kind of woman who sold off an entire wagon train of people while being perfectly aware that they would all be slaughtered, and still considers her hands clean because she didn't personally deal the killing blow. Though I'm now impatient to get to the part revealing more of her backstory to try to make her a little more three-dimentional again.

I have to confess that one of the main purposes of the entire Chapter 3 was to build up and to bring the confrontation between Yuka and Tsuki. Therefore, you can imagine that I was overjoyed to hear that you found it excellent. In this story, Tsuki is my favorite antagonist – by far. Her insanity and complete lack of moral compass (hence her disregard for the lives of the people around her), combined with her game-breaking powers when it comes to infiltration and fighting, make her a threatening opponent. I like to think that a part of her is aware of the true fictional status of her world, hence why she regards most side-characters she comes across as a mere throwaway walk-on just here to provide her a new appearance, which sadly is the case for some of them. Her relationship with Yuka will be explored again later, and I'm impatient to reveal more.

While Yuka was the main focus of this part, it was also the beginning of Yisüi's assertion. A cause of celebration, that's for sure!

Never make Azeneth angry indeed. After keeping her away from the spotlight for so long, I couldn't not give her at least one uniform stealing-related scene in this chapter. Or maybe there's another one coming... Who knows?

Finally, answering your questions:

Okay I simply loved the entire scene with Tsuki, seeing her change her form to that of Safiye just to she could "feel" what it's like to be someone else performing a takedown sheds some more light of her persona, is this a common thing for her to do, does she need to pretend to be someone else just so she can somewhat take the pressure off of hearing the black star's constant blood lust, or is this purely so she can have some fun and wonder what's in like to be in someone else's shoes for a little while.

This is definitively the second option: to have some fun. She's always craving for new sensations. As she puts it, the constant whispers in her head are a mere "quirk" in her eyes, she doesn't see them as a bad thing or as something she should try to block.

wait does this mean that there's an alternative motive going on behind the scenes, like a seperate clan of mages being birthed and raised for a hostile take over

Now that would be an interesting story! It's not the case however. This story is already very complex and complicated to write, so I don't want to introduce another split faction among the antagonists... No, the motive is simpler. Ce-Acatl has already turned the Pakal emperor into a puppet king under the orders of the Mages, and now he dreams of creating his own dynasty of mage-emperors.

Meditions:

Between Tsuki, Safiye, and now Azeneth... Guards certainly are having one of those days in these recent installments!

Glad you found Tsuki's scenes intriguing. It certainly was her moment of glory of this chapter, and I had a great time writing her inner-thoughts and her lines.

Tirepanted:

Safiye is indeed not a good person in the slightest (as mentioned above in my answer to trackman, she's the kind of woman who can sell off people while being perfectly aware that they will all be slaughtered, and still consider her hands clean because she didn't personally deal the killing blow). In fact, I never intended her to be particularly likeable or sympathetic, but I think I did put my finger on why we can still sympathize with her: When she has to deal with Tsuki, she's relatable. We sympathize with her because she's the one who has to deal with that walking disaster-in-waiting... The next part should tell more of her backstory, to add a few layers to her character.

Tsuki's unpredictability and dismissive attitude are what makes her a compelling antagonist in my opinion: The main reason why she feels like a threat is because we don't know how far she'll go, how she'll react, but we know that she can go very far. Basically, she has accepted her own insanity and is now fully embracing it. Glad you liked her part even though she's not your favorite. She was one of the main focuses of this specific chapter, but the next one should focus on other characters. Tsuki's indeed Yuka's "evil counterpart", and I eagerly await the point where I can finally reveal their backstory.

Yep, Yisüi has finally followed the paradigm and achieved her transition from USB-victim to USB-stealer. She's come a long time since the first story!

Henchwomen banters and the little detail of Aysun and Derya's past history were added for your pleasure. Glad you enjoyed them!

Chapter 3: Part 4:

***************

Safiye and her team were walking quickly across the corridors of the palace. Aysun and Derya were still carrying their burden, exchanging playful jabs at each other.

The emerald-green-eyed spy suddenly hushed them.

Safiye could still hear some 'Mphh! Gmhhh! Mrrrhh!' coming from the wriggling rolled carpet. She ignored them.

Something was wrong. She had a bad feeling.

From the midst of the palace, an alarm bell suddenly rang.

Already? It's too soon! I didn't anticipate that they would react this soon! Safiye thought to herself. They shouldn't have been able to react this quickly... Somebody had probably been able to rally the guards before the assassins were finished. Perhaps one of the princes wasn't in his room?

She didn't share her thoughts with her team however. Both because she didn't want to distract them, and because she wanted to save her breath.

“We keep moving.” she said to her team as they were exchanging worried glances. “Quickly.”

The dies are cast.

For now, her main priority was to escape the building.

Ce-Acatl wasn't that bad of a boss anyway. When he gave her this mission, he was perfectly aware of the fact that a complete success was unlikely. That even a partial success would be an exploit. Therefore, even if only one of the three targets was dead, the reward was still going to be handsome. The Mages were more trying to create a political strife than trying to wipe out the entire royal bloodline. From that point of view, and even if they all somehow survived, the mission was already a success anyway. Nahid's misadventure and the failed wedding would still put a dent in the crown's relationship with the desert tribes.

And if Safiye was able to deliver Coulter to Ce-Acatl, then...

**************

Go back and kill them. Kill them all!

Oh my non-existing gods... The conversation can be so one-sided sometimes. Tsuki complained to herself.

The voice fell silent.

I can't really do anything anyway. Not as long as Yuka's on her guards. Besides, I may be strong, but for now I'm not strong enough to fight off a wave of guards all by myself.

The shapeshifter raised her head when she heard an alarm bell.

Looks like it's curtains for today. There will always be other occasions...

The Mages were underestimating her. Most people were. Because she was 'crazy'. That was what they were saying anyway. Tsuki would have said 'enlightened'.

Enlightened about the true nature of her world: a huge stage filled with walk-ons whose sole purpose was to bring entertainement, clothes, and new appearances... to her.

Anyway. The Mages would keep on sending her after Yuka times after times, unaware that this was exactly what she wanted. And once Yuka tells me the location of the Black Star, I will finally reunite with Her. Then, things were going to become interesting...

Still, first things first. She needed to escape the building.

While Tsuki didn't know the exact layout of the palace, she still had memorized a good part of it during her visit as 'Nahid'. Besides, the Black Star's blessing was heightening her senses. Much like some animals, thanks to her senses, she was able to find her way instinctively.

When the unhinged shapeshifter arrived in front of a postern guarded by two women, she smiled.

Another appearance to take...

**************

Yuka, Yisüi, Azeneth, and Jinora were running.

Thanks to the conversation Yisüi overheard, they knew that Coulter's abductors were trying to escape through the southern postern. Their goal was to catch up with them before they could leave the building.

While the abductors had a head start, Yuka's group was faster. They could do it.

They suddenly heard the alarm bell.

“Someone is threatening the king and the princes!” Yuka exclaimed.

Rashid!

She stopped running.

“They literally have a contingent of soldiers to protect them.” Azeneth intervened, guessing her thoughts exactly. “We won't make a difference. They're at the other side of the building. We'd arrive too late.”

Yuka bit her lips.

“You're right. We're the only ones who can reach Coulter in time. We'll have to let them fend for themselves until we rescued her.”

Even if it was hard for her...

They resumed their running until they arrived at an intersection.

“The right corridor is leading to the postern they want to use to flee!” Yuka exclaimed. “Let's go!”

However, something prevented them from moving.

Four people suddenly came out of the corridor in front of them.

One man and three women. They were all wearing black clothes, as well as headdresses and scarves to hide their faces.

Assassins.

Both groups stopped dead in their tracks, and looked each other up and down.

There was a surreal second of silence.

“Yuka, go after Coulter's abductors.” Azeneth suddenly ordered. “Jinora, Yisü' and I will cover you.”

“But Az'...”

“Not 'buts'. This is our only chance. With your touch, you have a chance against these losers. You don't have to fight them all. Just buy enough time for the guards to find you.”

“What about you?”

“Please. You think these four are a match for me? Now go!”

Yuka obeyed and ran.

**************

The four assassins were armed with daggers. Their murderous intent was clear.

There was also a hint of desperation in their eyes. Azeneth deduced that these four were fleeing the guards. Some of their accomplices were probably already dead or captured, and they were trying to escape the palace to not share their fate. The metis knew that their desperation would make them even more dangerous.

Yisüi took a step back. She maybe asserted herself by stealing her first set of clothes, but she still wasn't ready to face armed people in a fight to the death. Jinora walked protectively in front of the blonde.

“Jinora, Yisüi. Stay behind me.” Azeneth said to her friends.

The metis took a step forward and faced the four thugs wearing black clothes.

“I'm giving you one chance.” she calmly said. “Surrender or die.”

The assassins chuckled wickedly.

Well, they have made their choice.

The killers deployed to block the corridor.

Without further ado, and without any warning, Azeneth quickly grabbed two of her knives and threw them in the same swift motion.

This was actually her biggest trump card. Most people were taken by surprise by how quick she was.

And indeed, the woman on the right didn't react in time. The knife plunged into her throat. Gurgling, she fell on the floor. The other woman whom Azeneth had targeted had better reflexes, and tried to jump out of the way. However, she wasn't fast enough, and the knife plunged into her shoulder. She dropped her daggers to clutch on her wound.

The man charged, trying to stab her with his two daggers.

Azeneth side-stepped him, and plunged a third knife into his chest. She didn't bother trying to take back the blade: She was carrying a battery of knives on her for that very reason. The assassin fell on his knees.

The only remaining able-bodied thug glanced at her two dying accomplices.

Azeneth took advantage of her hesitation to neutralize the other assassin who, while wounded at the shoulder, wasn't dead or dying. With a sideswipe, she made the wounded assassin fall on her back. The brutal impact, added to the pain of the knife plunged into her shoulder, proved to be too much for her to handle. The woman whimpered in pain and curled up, clearly giving up.

“Jinora. Immobilize her. I'll deal with the last one.” the metis said. She knew her companion well. While she wasn't a fighter, Jinora would have no trouble taking care of a wounded foe.

Azeneth faced the remaining assassin.

The thug tried to stand firm, but her eyes were betraying her fear.

Azeneth calmly stared at her. “I sometimes give a second chance. But never a third one. Choose wisely.” she enunciated.

There were already two other knives in her hands.

The thug's legs shook slightly.

Then she dropped her blades, knelt down, and put her hands on her head.

“Smart choice.” Azeneth commented.

**************

“Someone's after us!” Aysun exclaimed.

Safiye quickly looked over her shoulder. She recognized the woman. She was Yuka, Tsuki's clan sister. Her palms were glowing.

“Don't let her touch you!” the emerald-green-eyed spy shouted to her team. “She's like Tsuki! A shapeshifter!”

A wave of panic spread among her henchwomen, and Safiye realized her mistake too late. Her team feared Tsuki. The idea of facing someone like her was chilling them to the bone.

Safiye grabbed a suit of armour decorating the corridor and made it fall, throwing it on the way of the shapeshifter to try to make her lose her balance, or at least slow down.

Yuka nimbly jumped over the obstacle. Her expression clearly showed the scorn she was feeling towards such a pathetic attempt.

“She's gaining on us!” Layah exclaimed.

“We can't outrun her with the dead weight we're carrying!” Derya retorted.

The rolled carpet was still slightly wriggling.

“Maryam! Try and stop her!” Safiye told her strongest henchwoman.

“Are you kidding? I'm not facing that freak on my own!” the latter retorted.

Curses!

They couldn't throw knives at her: she was in their back, and they wouldn't have the time to turn and aim. Other guards were being drawn by the noise of the pursuit.

The emerald-green-eyed spy realized that they were short on options. The postern was still too far away...

“Safiye! She's almost on me!” Derya exclaimed.

It only took Safiye a few seconds to make her decision.

“Drop the mage girl.” she ordered.

“What?”

“Drop her. It'll distract the shapeshifter. It's best to win less money than get captured and win no money at all!”

Aysun and Derya immediately obeyed her instruction.

The five women sped up.

As Safiye was expecting, Yuka didn't run after them. She preferred to stay and release Coulter.

Perfect!

They arrived in front of the postern before any guard could catch up with them.

The two fake guards that were supposed to watch their escape route weren't at their post anymore.

“Gutless cowards...” Maryam barked. “They must have abandoned their post when they heard the alarm bell!”

“Forget about them. It means more money for us!” Safiye intervened.

“What about the others who are still in the palace?”

“We can't help them! Our priority is to save ourselves! They knew the risks, which is why I offered them the double of the share. If they survive, they'll meet us at the hideout!”

**************

In a nearby alleyway, a woman dressed as a palace guard was walking merrily. She was humming a little tune to herself.

In her left hand, she was fidgeting with two jade earrings.

The fingers of her right hand were still clawed.

For now, the voice in her head was silent.

Tsuki smiled when she noticed the group of women escaping the palace through the southern postern.

The shapeshifter discreetly followed them.

**************

Yuka unrolled the carpet.

Coulter was madly struggling against her bonds, trying to shout through her gag.

“Keep calm! It's me! I'll release you...” Yuka said to try to reassure her.

The shapeshifter removed the gag.

“Take the collar off!” the redhead immediately shouted.

Yuka noticed the inhibitor tied around the redhead's neck.

“Of course. Wait a second, first I'll untie you...”

“Take it off me now!” the redhead interrupted her. “Take it off! Take it off! Take it off!”

Not good. She's having a panic attack.

Yuka grimaced.

“Sorry in advance.”

She grabbed Coulter's neck, and used her touch to knock her out. The redhead stared had her with her mouth half-open, had a few spasms, then went limp with a groan.

Yuka sighed.

She's going to kill me when she wakes up...

**************

The streets outside the palace were still surprisingly quiet. Apparently, as of now, the alarm has only been raised inside the building.

However, Safiye knew that this would soon change. She realized that, since the alarm bell was rung earlier that expected, they would need to change clothes if they wanted to escape potential pursuers.

Luckily, she knew a way...

The emerald-green-eyed spy led her team in the Church's district.

“Why are we going here?” Aysun whispered to her.

“We need more innocuous appearances.”

“In the Church district?” Derya asked.

“Yes. We need to find people heading for or returning from a night prayer. Devotees, pilgrims. I don't care which, as long as their clothes fit.”

The four henchwomen followed her without questioning her orders.

It took them some time wandering around the temples and the minarets to find suitable clothes donors, but thanks to their uniforms they didn't raise any question. Palace guards weren't an unusual sight in the Church district. And, finally, Safiye found perfect candidates.

The six women were dressed in colourful jalabiyas. Two of them were wearing dark green jalabiyas adorned with woven gold arabesques on the sleeves and the front, and matching hijabs and cloth belts. Two others were clad in bright red jalabyas with woven gold arabesques on the sleeves and the front, and matching hijabs and cloth belts. A fifth one was wearing a purple jalabyia with woven gold arabesques on the sleeves and the front, and a matching hijab and cloth belt. Finally, the woman walking at the front, who was also the oldest, was dessed in a black jalabiya with woven silver arabesques on the sleeves and the front, and a matching hijab and cloth belt.They were all walking in black shoes.

The women were all sharing a slight family resemblance: a dark skin, same deepest brown hair, similar-looking slender facial features, crooked noses, eyes that were the same shade of light brown or green-brown. Safiye guessed that the older woman, who looked like she was in her mid-fifties, was the matriarch, and all the younger women in their mid-to-late twenties following her were her daughters and nieces. The young women were happily chatting with each other.

The group was escorted by a bodyguard carrying a lantern. The woman was wearing the official red mantle, hat and trousers, as well as the yellow sash tied around the waist, of private bodyguards-to-hire. She was walking in brown boots, and was armed with a dagger and a scimitar. She had black hair tied up into a shoulder-long braid, dark eyes, a diamond-shaped face, and slender arms.

The women were devotees of the Church of the Prophet, and they were most likely heading for a night prayer.

The bodyguard was confident. They were in the Church's district, near the palace. Criminality was unheard of in this part of the town. In her mind, the escort was easy money. She led her charges through an alleyway, intending to use it as a shortcut.

Safiye smiled to herself. She was almost thinking that their targets were making things too easy... Still, the spy wasn't the kind of woman who would pass on a perfect opportunity. Time to show this guard why one should never become complacent...

Safiye made a gesture of the head. She and her team ran after the women in the alleyway.

They caught up with their targets in the middle of the alleyway, a part that was invisible from the main streets.

Safiye grabbed the bodyguard, who was walking at the back, by the collar of her mantle.

“Hey! You-”

The spy punched her victim in the stomach.

“Oooof!”

Then she socked her in the mouth.

“Ouch!”

The lanter fell on the ground but didn't break.

While the red-clothed woman was falling as well, Safiye's team assaulted the group of devotees. There were a few shouts for help and cries for mercy, but they were quickly drowned out by punches and neck chops. One after the other, each woman was rendered unconscious. They fell on the ground or on their attackers' waiting arms.

Groaning, with a hand on her head, the bodyguard tried to get up to protect her charges.

“I admire your persistence.” Safiye commented. “But you should learn when to quit. Allow me to help.”

She pressed a knee against the woman's back to pin her to the ground, then wrapped an arm around her throat and blocked it with her other hand. She squeezed.

The bodyguard gasped and struggled in vain.

Then, after one long and weak moan, she passed out and went limp.

“Good work, girls.” Safiye said to her henchwomen. “Find the ones that are the closest to your size and take their clothes.” The emerald-green-eyed spy then worked on removing the bodyguard's yellow sash, and red mantle and trousers.

******* A short while later... *******

Safiye threw the bound-and-gagged bodyguard onto a pile of half-naked women. She heard a few muffled moans of protest.

The bodyguard was actually the luckiest woman of the bunch. Not only was she allowed to be on top of the pile, but she was also wearing the undergarments that covered the most skin: a short-sleeved light grey chemise and light grey calf-long underpants tied around the waist with a piece of string.

Indeed, for devotees at least, the other women's undergarments were rather skimpy and bold. A mere thin band of colourful cloth was wrapped around the breasts and the middle of the back. To cover the lower part of the body, they were using tight underpants that weren't even covering the thighs – only their most private parts. The undergarments were matching the colour of the jalabiyas and hijabs the devotees used to be wearing: either green, red, purple or black.

The devotees were all stripped, even the ones whose clothes weren't needed for disguise, as Safiye and her team cut the spare jalabiyas into makeshift bonds and gags. They also used their discarded palace guard uniforms, but decided that they weren't going to take the risk of a shortage of binding material.

Each woman's wrists were tied behind her back. Strips of clothes were wrapped around their lower limbs from the ankles to the thighs. The shoulders and upper-arms were also tightly secured. Finally, they were cleave-gagged by a thick piece of cloth, and blindfolded for good measure.

Safiye's four henchwomen were looking the part of true devotees. Aysun and Derya were wearing the green jalabiyas and hijabs, Layah and Maryam the red ones.

Aysun put the right hand on her heart and traced a circle in the air with the index and middle fingers of her left hand. “Praised be the One True God for these clothes.”

Derya giggled.

“What?” Aysun retorted. “I am a devout follower of the Prophet's teachings, me! I give a coin to my local church every week, me!”

"I'm sure He'll approve you stripping some of his faithful devotees..." Derya slyly joked.

"Bah! Have you seen these women's undergarments? They are asking for it, given how they are dressed!" Aysun retorted.

Safiye adjusted the belt onto which her scimitar was strapped. She grabbed the lantern.

“Let's go, girls.”

**************

Azeneth, Jinora, and Yisüi regrouped with Yuka and Coulter.

The metis glanced at the unconscious redhead.

“Is she alright?”

“Just unconscious. I was the one who did it actually. It was the only way to calm her.” Yuka explained.

“Why did you have to-?” Azeneth started to ask.

Yuka showed them the inhibitor that she had taken off Coulter's neck.

“I see...” the metis commented.

“What about you?” the shapeshifter asked them.

Jinora shared a look with Azeneth. She was looking nervous. “We left the two prisoners under the watch of a group of guards. But...”

“But what?” the shapeshifter asked.

“Yuka. I heard that one of the princes was killed.” Azeneth said.

Yuka paled.

Rashid!

**************

The hideout was a building that, from the outisde, looked like an innocuous shop.

Safiye offered to take care of the last part of the operation herself, and allowed her henchwomen to rest inside.

“I will send Çeda to relay my instructions to our companions still at Nahid's residence. I'll ask them to regroup with us here.” she explained.

Çeda was Safiye's youngest recruit for her ambitious operation. However, she had not been hired for her fighting abilities. Çeda was small and nimble, one of the many destitute youths roaming the streets and doing errands for criminals. Errands such as carrying messages. The difference was that Çeda was smarter than your average street urchin, which was the reason why Safiye hired her.

The emerald-green-eyed spy met her messenger outside the shop, in a small warehouse built nearby.

Çeda had a lightly tanned skin, badly-trimmed short sandy brown hair and green eyes. She was an adult, albeit barely, but her small stature made her look younger. While she was pretty, her face was dirty.

“What are the news from the palace?” Safiye asked her.

“I heard that one of the princes is dead. Don't know about the two other royals, but at least one of them has survived: Someone has already taken charge of the guards.”

“And our assassins?”

Çeda bit her lip and looked down. “None have come out yet.” She made a gesture of the hand, a prayer for the deads.

Safiye pondered for a moment.

“They probably won't come out.” she finally commented.

Which meant more money for her.

“So, there's another message for Nahid's residence?” Çeda asked. “Guess that this is time for us to regroup and disappear, right?”

“Indeed.” Safiye answered. “You're pretty smart.” she congratulated her.

The street urchin smiled lightly. “I aim to please...”

"Well, keep up like that and one day you might take my place." Safiye commented. Then, she gathered her thoughts. It was time for the last, and most important, part of her plan. “Alright. I want you to tell them to regroup with us here. They have to leave the prisoners behind. Carrying them would be too much trouble.”

While talking, Safiye paced the small warehouse, as if she was finding her words.

Casually, she arrived in Çeda's back.

Then it happened.

As quick as a snake, Safiye attacked the street urchin from behind. Wrapping her arms around Çeda's neck and throat, she used her trusty technique to choke her.

The young woman didn't see the betrayal coming. Taken by surprise, she barely fought back. She didn't stand a chance anyway. She was smaller and weaker than her opponent.

“Nothing personal.” Safiye whispered in the ear of the gurgling girl who was desperately flailing her arms and kicking the ground with her heels. “I'm doing it for the money.”

She was watching the exit of the warehouse, worried at the idea that someone could walk up on her right now. Luckily, that didn't happen. Her henchwomen were still inside, glad that they didn't have to keep working.

After a few final spasms, Çeda went limp with a soft dull 'Uhff...'.

The emerald-green-eyed spy knew that she didn't have much time.

She quickly, but tightly, trussed up her victim's limbs with ropes and gagged her with the a thick hijab. There was no shortage of ropes in a warehouse...

Finally, she stashed the bound-and-gagged young woman into an empty barrel and pushed on her trussed up body to make her sit with her thighs pressed against her chest. Çeda's chin was resting on her knees. Then, Safiye put on the head of the barrel to conceal the figure of its occupant.

By the time her victim would be found, Safiye knew that she was going to be far away...

The former courtesan took the time to imagine what was going to happen next.

Without any instructions to withdraw, Yasmeen and the others would stay in the residence to guard the prisoners. It would take them some time to realize that their leader had abandoned them – ample time for Safiye to tie up all loose ends and flee the capital city in a boat. Then, it would be interesting to see how they were going to react... They could either accept their loss and disappear into the city, take Nahid hostage for a ransom, or kill every prisoner out of spite. Perhaps the guards were even going to trace it back to them before they could escape, therefore their only choice would be to surrender or to start a bloodbath...

Safiye didn't particularly care about their fate.

One thing was certain though. Each thug she left behind in the residence and in the palace was one less person she had to pay. Which meant more money for her.

In a way, the fact that no assassin was apparently able to escape the palace was a good thing. It was making her work easier...

Safiye didn't intend to stay in the kingdom. Therefore, she didn't care if she made enemies here now.

The spy returned inside the shop.

**************

Aysun, Derya, Maryam, and Layah were waiting for her, seated around a table.

“So, is it done?” Aysun asked her leader.

Safiye nodded. “Yes. I've sent Çeda.” she lied. “According to her, at least one of our targets is dead. While we may not have managed to get all the royal family, the Mages will still pay us handsomely. Be assured that I intend to make sure they keep hiring us.”

“Perfect. I think this is the beginning of a very profitable partnership...” Aysun said.

“Enriching in many ways.” Safiye added with a nod. “I propose a toast! To honour our fallen comrades and celebrate how we managed to escape unharmed!”

She used a bottle of wine to fill five goblets and distributed them.

Her four henchwomen accepted the drink with gratitude. The emerald-green-eyed spy sat at the table among them.

“To a future of unimaginable wealth!” Safiye then said.

They all raised their goblet and drank.

However, the henchwomen soon started to realize that something was wrong.

Their heads were spinning, and they were feeling dizzy.

“What...? What's going on?” Derya asked. Her voice was slurred.

The only one who seemed unaffected was Safiye.

“Somebody spiked our drinks!” Layah exclaimed. She tried to get up, but didn't have the strength anymore and fell back seated on her chair.

Maryam's forehead fell on the table with a dull thud. Ironically, the physically strongest woman of the band was the first to succumb to the effects of the drug.

“Don't worry. It's not poison. Merely a sleeping potion. Very powerful, but not lethal.” Safiye calmly said to the four women. She put her goblet on the table. “After all, I don't kill.”

“But... How?” Layah said. “You drank with us!”

“The secret is to use a drug against which you're immune.”

Derya was now fast asleep, seated on her chair, head tipped backward. She was snoring. Layah was about to join her in slumberland. Maryam was already there.

Only Aysun was still trying to fight off the effects of the drug. She got up from her chair.

“You... You betrayed... us...” she accused her leader. “I... I thought we were going to... work together...”

“Apologies. I'm not the sharing type.” Safiye calmly retorted.

Aysun actually managed to muster up enough strength to raise her fist and to try to hit her, but she succumbed to the effects of the sleeping drug mid-gesture.

“Uhhh...”

She fell forward. Safiye caught her.

“Easy now. I wouldn't want you to break your nose by falling.”

Safiye sat back the deeply asleep Aysun on her chair.

“There is nothing personal. It's just that... I knew from the beginning that I would never stay in the kingdom after this mission. Therefore, I knew that I didn't have to fear reprisals from my accomplices, both old and new, if I decided to just... keep everything for myself.”

Safiye dragged each henchwoman one after the other in the shed of the shop.

The emerald-green-eyed spy then looked at her bodyguard uniform, and at the stolen jalabiyas worn by the slumbering henchwomen. She reasoned that she would probably look more innocuous if she was wearing civilian clothes...

Of all her henchwomen, Maryam was the closest to her size. While it was more due to her muscular frame than due to curves, the black-haired tanned-skin dark-eyed thug was the one whose clothes wouldn't be too tight or too small. The traitor dragged her a little further from the three other women.

Safiye grabbed coils of ropes, and tightly secured Aysun, Derya, and Layah. She bound their legs, their shoulders, and their wrists. Derya and Aysun were tied back to back. She gagged them with scarves. Then, once she was sure that the three henchwomen wouldn't cause any trouble, Safiye stripped Maryam of her red stolen jalabiya and hijab. Once the latter was down to her underclothes, she joined her three friends, bound and gagged on the floor, tied back to back with Layah. Maryam was wearing white bandages wrapped around her bust and thigh-long grey open drawers to cover her private parts.

Safiye slipped into the jalabiya.

“Now, if you'll excuse me, my boat will depart soon.” she said to the bound-and-gagged women. "Please know that I have the utmost respect for your skills. In different circumstances, I may even have decided to keep you under my employ."

Safiye turned to leave the room...

… and was greeted by the sight of a unhinged woman with light brown hair, sky blue eyes, and a huge smile.

Safiye couldn't help but let out a small shout of surprise and fright.

“Tsuki! You found me back!” the green-eyed woman exclaimed.

“Of course I did. We're in this together. Like a barnacle and her rock!” The smiling shapeshifter was looking impish. “I'm the barnacle, of course.” she added.

Safiye realized that this was probably the One True God's punishment for her bad actions.

Tsuki was wearing the outfit of a palace guard.

Safiye had the uncomfortable thought that the two fake guards supposed to watch their escape maybe didn't leave their post of their own free will...

Well, at least she won't ask for a share of the money.

“So, what do we do now?” Tsuki added.

“I...”

“You wanted to leave me behind, obviously. But that would have been a mistake.” the shapeshifter commented. “The Mages consider me a valuable asset. You wouldn't want the Mages to be angry, right?”

“No, of course.”

“Then let's go.”

Tsuki quickly looked at the trussed up drugged henchwomen.

“By the way, I'm not eating or drinking anything you've touched anymore. Ever.” she said.

Safiye shrugged. “Fair enough.”

**************

Yuka wasn't going to deny it.

She felt a selfish relief when she heard that Rashid was the prince who survived the assassination attempt.

In fact, he was even the one who foiled it.

Ultimately, the assassins' plan failed because he and Yuka had their little heart-to-heart conversation. Therefore, Rashid wasn't in his bedroom when the killers striked and was able to rally all the guards of the palace in time to rescue the king.

But not in time to rescue his older brother.

They had won, but the mood wasn't joyful.

Yuka didn't know what to say to him.

“Rashid, I...”

“He was my brother, Yuka. We didn't get along very well, but he was still my brother.”

“I'm sorry.”

“I... I have often wished that... we had someone to bring us closer... A younger sibling on whom we could have doted together. But mother...” Rashid shook his head. “And Yusuf is gone too, now. Only father and I are left now. Yuka, you know what that means...”

The shapeshifter nodded. “You're now his first heir. You're the future king.”

Yuka was a little ashamed to admit it, but her first thought upon hearing the news was a selfish one. She realized that, now, Rashid had become even more unobtainable.

“What now?” she asked.

“We're still trying to figure out who took part in the assassination attempt, and who the accomplices were. Near the southern postern, we found the two real guards bound and gagged in their undergarments. There were also two other women nearby: one was dressed as a guard, the other was half-naked, but the captain is positive: they are not true guards.”

“Who are they, then?”

“We don't know. The two impostors are dead. Someone stabbed them with tiny blades. Five stabs each. We're still trying to figure out what happened: the person didn't harm the real guards and killed the fakes ones, but they aren't one of ours...”

Yuka remembered Tsuki and her fingers, with their bones turned into blades. She shuddered.

“Also, Nahid has disappeared from her room, you know that?" Rashid added. "Fidan and the squad assigned to her were found stripped, bound, and gagged in her bedroom. My father is starting to suspect that Nahid's father and some amirs of the desert tribes are involved in the assassination attempt...”

“Tsuki was among our enemies tonight. You know she's even better than me at shapeshifting.” Yuka intervened.

“I hope you're right... If not, we will have a civil war... God above all! Even if you're right, we may have one! If Nahid is dead... If we can't find her back... Her father will renounce his alliance with the crown!”

“I will help you.” Yuka simply intervened. "Let me handle that. Your guards are way too loud for a little infiltration."

Rashid nodded tiredly. “Thank you.”

Yuka left the room. She shared a look with Azeneth, who was waiting for her outside.

“Yisüi and Jinora are with Coulter. She's still shaken because of what happened... with the inhibitor.” the metis said.

Yuka nodded. “We'll let our friends take care of her. The two of us have work to do.”

Azeneth nodded.

******* Some time later... *******

Yuka knocked on the door of the residence in which Nahid used to be staying before going to the palace. She was wearing plain dark beige clothes that were making her look like a traveller.

She had to knock two more times before someone deigned answering.

A servant opened the door. She was a brunette with chestnut eyes. Her midback-long hair were tied up into a ponytail. The woman's face was round and pleasant-looking, but Yuka immediately noticed that she had calloused hands. The hands of someone who trained a lot with a blade.

“What is it?” the servant asked.

“I've been sent to carry a message.” Yuka lied. “Can you let me in?”

“The mistress is staying in the royal palace, not here.” the servant retorted. “I can't let you in.”

Yuka grabbed the woman by the throat and blocked her respiration with one hand. She was holding one of Azeneth's knives in the other. The servant's eyes widened in fear when the shapeshifter approached the blade near her eye.

“I insist.” Yuka growled.

The servant had no choice but walk backwards, allowing Yuka to enter. The shapeshifter closed the door with her other hand.

“Yasmeen. Who was it?” a female voice suddenly asked from another part of the building.

Yuka's facial features blurred and contorted until she became Yasmeen's twin sister.

“No one important.” she shouted with Yasmeen's voice. “Some beggar asking for charity. I chased him away.”

The real Yasmeen was now looking at her with outright terror in her eyes, but with Yuka hand compressing her throat she could barely breathe, let alone speak.

“No need to come here.” Yuka added. “I'll handle everything.”

“Okay. Remember to stay near the entrance. Safiye should send a messenger any moment now.”

So it means that Safiye truly was involved... It corroborates what Coulter said about her abductors...

“Got it!” the shapeshifter said out loud.

Yuka waited a few instants, until she was sure that the other woman wouldn't come. Then she looked at Yasmeen.

“Now, I will ask you a few questions.” she whispered. “Answer them truthfully and I may decide to NOT plunge my knife into your throat.”

Yasmeen nodded.

Yuka slightly loosened her grip. Just enough to allow the woman to breathe.

“You know about what happened in the palace, don't you?”

“What happened in the palace? I have no ide-”

Yuka pinched a specific nerve to cause a jolt of pain to the woman. She clamped a hand over her mouth to muffle her scream.

“Last chance.” the shapeshifter warned her. “The people I love almost died because of your friends. I'm not in a merciful mood.”

The thug was now on the verge of crying because of the pain. “Please... I... Yes, I know.”

“Who are you working for?”

“A mercenary. She's called Safiye. She works for the Mages.”

“What about Nahid?”

“N... Nahid? We didn't harm her! I swear it on my life! We didn't even harm her guards and her staff! They're still locked in the cellar!”

Interesting. So it means that Tsuki truly did impersonate Nahid. Well, it's time for a little 'Rescue Operation' then...

“How many of you are inside?” Yuka asked.

“Three.” Yasmeen then couldn't help but add: “You don't stand a chance! You're alone!”

Yuka's palm glowed. “I didn't ask for your opinion... Trust me, you lowlife thugs don't stand the ghost of a chance against a shapeshifter.”

She grabbed the woman's throat once more, with her glowing hand. Yasmeen reflexively wriggled, but her body went limp after a few spasms only.

Yuka stripped the criminal of her white servant outfit, stopping once Yasmeen was down to her faded red undertunic and matching thigh-long underpants. She grabbed a tapestry on a wall, and cut it into two makeshift ropes and one thick gag. She bound Yasmeen's wrists and ankles, and cleave-gagged her. Then, she shoved her into a wardrobe of the vestibule and closed the door of the wardrobe to conceal her victim.

The shapeshifter slipped into Yasmeen's clothes. Her guise was now perfect.

She now only needed to pick the criminal's accomplices one by one...

**************

Among the palatial complex of El Idriss, there was an area occupied by warehouses.

Jala was an emissary working for the Zahir Guild. The guild of the messengers. Whenever someone wanted an important official message delivered, they would call the Zahir Guild. They offered the services of neutral emissaries and messengers who took an oath of secrecy.

Jala was a slender woman with sharp facial features, a tall aquiline nose, dark brown eyes, and frizzy mid-back long brown hair. Since her job was mainly to carry messages from place to place, she had shapely well-toned legs and buttocks. The messenger was wearing an ample white long-sleeved dishdasha and black shoes, as well as a checkered red-and-white headdress,a matching checkered red-and-white keffieh, a matching checkered red-and-white sash tied around her waist, and a gold medallion of an albatross that were the symbols of her guild. She was carrying a brown leather pouch to transport written messages.

She had been called by the head courtesan herself and was heading towards the Seraglio. Istir had an important message to send.

Jala passed in front of a warehouse of the palace.

Suddenly, a woman jumped from the inside of the warehouse and grabbed her by the arm and the front of her outfit.

“Come here you!” the woman exclaimed.

“Ow-ap!”

Jala disappeared inside the warehouse.

“This is an emergency. I require your clothes.” the woman said.

Jala tried to free her arm. “Are you insane?! I would never-”

The messenger stopped talking when she felt something sharp and metallic pressed against her side.

“I require your clothes, but not your consent.” Azeneth added, while using a cold tone to frighten her.

**************


The first person Yuka came across was a woman. She was probably the one who called Yasmeen from another part of the building when Yuka entered the residence.

The shapeshifter was surprised to come across a woman with unkempt shoulder-long dull blond hair. Well, apparently this mercenary isn't from Ghazan.

'Blondie' had blue eyes and a slightly tanned skin, though the tan was more due to a long exposure to the Ghazanite sun than to her ethnicity. Either she or her parents were probably from across the ocean. She had a pointy chin, a snub nose, and a beauty spot on the right side of the chin. She was lean and thin.

Lazily seated on a sofa, the thug was reading a parchment. She was wearing black boots, light brown trousers, a leather belt, a white tunic, a faded blue light mantle, and a dark brown wide-brimmed hat.

Surprising. Apparently, she knows how to read...

The shapeshifter didn't even allow her victim to notice her presence. She attacked 'Blondie' from behind the sofa.

Yuka wrapped one arm around her enemy's throat, and clamped her other hand over her mouth.

'Blondie' tried to call for help and to get up, but it was too late for her. Yuka was already using 'the touch'. The palm hand-gagging the criminal glowed.

There were a few struggles and muffled grunts. The thug tried to grab Yuka's arms, but passed out before she could achieve anything.

Her body slumped back into the sofa.

Yasmeen is supposed to stay near the entrance. She's not supposed to wander the residence. Therefore, this one's appearance will be more useful. The other accomplices will be less likely to ask questions if they see 'Blondie' roaming the building... Yuka thought to herself.

The shapeshifter dragged the blonde onto the floor. She removed the woman's clothes: the boots, the hat, the mantle, the tunic, the belt, and the trousers. Yuka grimaced because of the smell of sweat coming from the clothes... as well as the even worst smell coming from the boots. And her grimace widened when she noticed that the dull blond hair of the woman were dirty and greasy under her hat.

Apparently, she knows how to read, but not how to bathe.

The thug was wearing undergarments similar to the ones usually worn by Azeneth. A light grey short-sleeved linen chemise and thigh-long white linen underpants.

Once she had taken all the clothes she would need to disguise herself, Yuka grabbed a few tapestries and cut them into strips. They were sturdy. She tightly hog-tied 'Blondie' with them. The shapeshifter then stuff-gagged the woman with her own parchment.

She hid her victim under the sofa. Yuka pushed on the inert body to make sure that she was well-concealed.

Reluctantly, Yuka put on the smelly clothes of the thug. She changed shape to look like her, down to the dirty dull blond hair.

Two down, two more to go.

**************

Of course, Azeneth wasn't the kind of person who would just shank an innocent woman for her outfit. However, Jala didn't know that. Azeneth was simply trying to take this woman's clothes without having to be too rough with her, since the emissary didn't do anything to earn her ire (contrary to these two dumb broads who mocked Jinora). And a good old threat accompanied by a pointy knife often worked wonders to spare her victims a painful physical beatdown...

The messenger paled. “My guild...” she stammered. “We are neutral in every conflict... All sides have agreed to never harm us!”

“Let's just say that I'm not from around here... and I rarely play by the rules anyway.”

Jala realized that they were alone in the warehouse. No one could help her in time.

Azeneth's victim gulped nervously, but then complied. Still under the threat of the knife, dropped her pouch then she removed her shoes, her albatross medallion, her checkered red-and-white cloth sash, keffieh and headdress, and finally her white dishdasha. She dropped each article of clothes on the floor of the warehouse. Azeneth made her stop once she was down to her black comfortable slightly-baggu underpants with a matching amples sleeveless thigh-long underdress.

“Good. Now, would you kindly accompany me in the back of this nice warehouse so I can conceal you out of sight?” Azeneth said.

Jala grimaced, then complied. As if she had the choice...

The metis grabbed a few coils of brown ropes on some crates, and bound the underwear-clad woman. She tied her wrists and forearms, her upper-arms, her thighs, her knees, her ankles, and her feet.

While Azeneth wanted to be nice, she certainly wasn't stupid either. Since she hadn't knocked her victim out, she took extra precautions when binding her. Especially when it came to the legs: given how fit-looking they were, the metis wouldn't have been surprised to hear that the messenger could break an amateurish restraint with her strength. Once Azeneth was done, the messenger could barely wiggle her toes and fingers. The rest of her body was properly immobilized. The metis shoved a clean kerchief into Jala's mouth and cleave-gagged her with a thick piece of cloth.

Then, Azeneth removed her own clothes and donned her new outfit. She finished by putting on the gold medallion and grabbing the leather pouch.

Jala glared at her with big wide eyes. While upon closer inspection one could see that the metis wasn't from Ghazan, the illusion would be perfect from afar thanks to the messenger's baggy clothes, keffieh and headdress that were concealing most of the body.

“Sorry about that. It's only a matter of one hour, at most.” Azeneth said to Jala with an apologetic smile.

She left the woman in the middle of the goods stored inside the warehouse, and covered her with a tarp to conceal her trussed up figure. The metis ignored her victim's muffled shrieks of outrage and wriggles.

“I have a meeting with someone high up...”

**************

Nahid was exhausted. Her limbs were causing her pain. The gag was hurting her jaw. She was thirsty and she was hungry. The criminals who abducted her and her staff were barely allowing them to be untied. The bonds were becoming unbearable.

And even though she wouldn't admit it, she was scared.

The young woman was still shuddering at the memory of the unhinged woman. The one who teared out her own skin to change her appearance. Nahid was afraid of what she could do to her. Or, worst, to her guards. She could see Zohra wincing. Her broken hand required a healing.

But when she told her abductors that, they laughed at her.

Lowlife scums. I'll have their heads for what they did!

Nahid hated the feeling of powerlessness. She was used to command others. She was responsible of the people under her orders. Her bodyguards, her servant, even the two guards she hired in the capital city or that annoying priestess. She had to make sure that they were safe.

And yet they were here, bound and gagged half-naked in this basement, with their clothes stolen by impostors...

I have to find a way to save them!

Suddenly, Nahid raised her head. What did she just hear?

A man calling for help?

Fighting sounds?

Suddenly, the door burst open.

A woman entered.

She was greeted by muffled mewlings.

“Don't worry! I'm here to save you! I work for Rashid!”

Nahid's eyes widened in complete adoration at the sight of a rescuer. She could have cried tears of joy.

**************

Istir was feeling glum and hopeless.

She had learned that Yusuf was dead.

Safiye betrayed me. She told me that only the king was her target. I should have known better...

All her plans were given the chop in one meagre night. The fact that she had been mugged by an intruder was now looking like a second-rate problem compared to what happened this night.

Istir had spent years courting Yusuf, influencing him and modelling him into the person she wanted him to be.

And now he was dead.

The head courtesan never truly loved him. But he wasn't a cruel or a demanding partner. On the contrary, in spite of all his posturings in front of other men, he proved to be surpisingly accomodating with his courtesan.

Istir reflexively put a hand on her stomach.

And he allowed her to carry a child of his... He didn't have to do her this favour, but he did it nonetheless. Giving birth of his child would officially make the head courtesan part of the extended royal family. Of course, she wouldn't hold the same rank as an official wife. Of course, her child's claim to the throne would be tenuous at best, as they would come after all the various cousins of the royal family. However, for a courtesan it was a huge social ascent. For the rest of her life, Istir would live in luxury, even after her looks would fade.

Istir sighed.

She had been a fool to trust Safiye. A fool to think that her former friend would have remained the same after her years spent in the Empire. A fool...

Istir remembered the better days. Back when she, Safiye and Zaïde were the rising stars of the Seraglio.

The three of them became courtesans at the same time. Naturally, they associated themselves to survive the den of intrigues that was the Seraglio. Over time, alliance became friendship, and each of them had something to bring to the two others.

Istir and Safiye actually were both commoners. They managed to enter the Seraglio thanks to their wits.
Safiye definitively was the smartest when it came to hatch schemes, and she was never afraid to bend the law to her needs.
Istir got the social prowess. Charming other people was a natural talent for her. Whenever Safiye's actions were too borderline, Istir was able to twist things with her words to make it look better.

Zaïde was the youngest of their trio. She was the second daughter of a minor noble house of the capital city. Istir and Safiye were often annoyed by her naivety, but deep down inside they were admiring her ability to remain hopeful and idealistic. In a way, she was the cement keeping them together.

But Zaïde made the biggest mistake a courtesan could make. She fell in love with someone.

He was one of the king's low-ranked officers, and he returned her feelings.

Howver, it happened after the three courtesans finally managed to get the king's attention. And when Mehmet III required Zaïde's favours, she turned him down. A bad choice. One should never anger a king...

Mehmet broke her. With a snap of finger, he destroyed her reputation, and Zaïde was thrown out of the palace as if she was a common thief. She returned to her family in shame. Two days later, she was found dead in her room. She hanged herself.

Safiye's morals died with Zaïde. She left the Seraglio the next week, without a word or a warning. Without even a good bye to Istir. She disappeared in the bad parts of El Idriss, and entered the criminal underworld. Money became her obsession. She wanted enough money to be her own woman. Enough money to live her life free and with no restraint. To never again be one of the king's 'precious little dolls'. To never again be anyone's 'precious little doll'. She became a spy and a mercenary, and ended up leaving the kingdom to go to Pakal.

Istir was the only one who stayed in the Seraglio. She chose to stay in hopes of one day finding a way to have her revenge on the king. She bid her time.

When Safiye returned years later with a plan to assassinate the king, Istir thought that she finally had her opportunity. She was now the head courtesan. She had enough influence to help her former friend.

And her former friend stabbed her in the back without an ounce of remorse.

Though in hindsight, Istir was a fool to not have anticipated the betrayal. Three dead royals were worth a lot more money than one...

“The emissary you asked for has arrived.” Enasia, one of her sycophants, told her.

“Let her in please...”

The messenger entered the bedroom of the head courtesan, and Enasia closed the door.

The emissary removed her headdress.

Istir immediately understood that she was not from Ghazan.

“You're not my messenger!” she exclaimed.

“Great deduction, genius.” the intruder said.

She was holding a knife.

“You wouldn't dare harm the head courtesan!” Enasia shouted.

The fake emissary slapped her with the back of her hand. “Shut up, you insufferable sycophant!”

Enasia whimpered and frightfully took a few steps back.

The fake emissary glared at Istir.

“Now, we're playing by my rules...” she said. “No more court intrigues. No more political games. Just my fist and your face. I will ask you questions about what happened this night, and you will answer them truthfully.”

Istir remained calm. “You won't hurt me.” she said.

“Really? The king is furious and Rashid is now his heir, which means that his faction has the advantage. Therefore, I'm curious to hear the reason why I couldn't hurt you...”

“I am bearing Yusuf's child.” the head courtesan stated.

The other woman's eyes widened. “What?”

“Yes, you barbarian!” Enasia exclaimed. “The prince has signed the documents to recognize the child as his!”

“You are pregnant...”

“... with Yusuf's child, yes.”

There was a moment of silence.

Unexpectedly, the woman started to laugh.

“So they used you like a tool, didn't they?”

Istir didn't answer, as she refused to give an agent working for Rashid a proof of her involvement. She had now recognized the woman. She was Azeneth, a metis whom the younger prince brought with him from Pakal. She knew that the woman would understand everything with her silence alone. But she wouldn't have a confession that she could use during a trial.

Azeneth indeed understood everything. “Like a tool...” she repeated. “And now you've caused the death of your child's father... Oh, the cruel irony.”

She shook her head.

“No chance that you will confess what you did?”

“I didn't do anything.” Istir calmly retorted.

“I certainly won't harm a pregnant woman. Besides, I guess that the king wouldn't want any harm to come to his future grandchild. I have learned what I wanted anyway. We probably won't be able to prove anything, but we know. Rumours will circulate. The balance of power is changing, and not in the Seraglio's favour. I hope you're ready for change.”

“Ready as I'll ever be.” Istir defiantly retorted.

“Then I am done here. I have to release your emissary. I wish you good luck raising your child.”

Azeneth left the room.

“We have to send guards after her!” Enasia said as soon as the door was closed and the metis was out of earsight.

“What would be the point? If what I heard about her is true, she'd be able to defeat anyone we would throw at her.”

“You have been very brave, Istir! You have shown this barbarian what it meant to be a true-”

“Enasia.” Istir interrupted her. “Shut up and get out.”

“Uh?”

“I want you to leave this room. Your servility disgusts me. Get out.”

“But...”

“Enasia, if you haven't left this room in five seconds, I will break your reputation so much that they won't even want you as a soldier's whore.”

The other woman ran out of the room.

Istir got up and walked in front of her mirror. She looked at herself and carressed her stomach, trying to imagine what her belly would look like in nine months.

The head courtesan hoped that her and Yusuf's child was a girl...

If her child was a girl, she would call her Zaïde.

The only good thing that came out of the latest turn of events was the fact that, in a way, Mehmet III was still going to be punished. While the king was a stern almost unattainable man, no one could deny that he loved Yusuf dearly. Outliving his favorite son was going to be a terrible ordeal.

In fact, ironically, after wishing his death for so many years, Istir was now hoping that he would still live during many years. She wanted him to know what it was like to lose a loved one, and to have to deal with their absence. Just like she lost her friend Zaïde, and just like she lost her friend Safiye when she succumbed to her inner-demons.

Yes, she was hoping that her child was a girl. She wanted Mehmet's only descendant from his eldest son to be a constant reminder of his most cruel action...

Be careful! I had to separate the Epilogue from the rest of the post due to its legth; therefore make sure to read the previous post before this one.























Epilogue:

Two days after the assault on the palace, Rashid's scholars announced that they had translated the ancient tome that Yuka stole in Ce-Tochtli's palace. Under normal circumstances, it would have been a cause for celebration. In the current context, it almost went unnoticed, as it was dwarved by the murder of the king's first born.

Yet, the knowledges contained within the tome were very promising. Informations and knowledges that could help them in the coming war with the Pakal Empire.

Therefore, Rashid took upon himself to share the discoveries with his father, even though the latter wasn't in the mood to hear about lost old technologies and books. Yuka was accompanying him.

As they were fearing, Mehmet III wasn't very receptive to their arguments.

“Are you jesting? Our enemies have dealt us a mighty blow! Jawad will be furious to hear that his daughter was abducted and humiliated right under our nose! Our kingdom's unity is threatened!” the king ranted and raved. “And yet you are babbling about books and ancient knowledges! We won't let the Empire's attack unpunished! We're talking about a war! I need a soldier, not a bookworm!”

Mehmet took the time to catch his breath and grabbed a goblet of wine.

Rashid took his father's anger without flinching.

“I suppose you now wish that our places had been exchanged.” he calmly commented. “That I had died, and Yusuf had lived.”

Mehmet III remained silent, with the goblet in his hand.

At least, he was tactful enough to not bluntly answer 'Yes'.

“I have to remind you that Rashid was the one who foiled the assassins' coup.” Yuka intervened. “That was the action of a soldier.”

She probably shouldn't have been so informal when talking to the king, but it was hard for her to remain respectful when her interlocutor looked more like an angry aging man than a regal monarch. Plus, she couldn't stand his attitude towards his son.

Rashid spoke again immediately to divert his father's attention.

“We don't stand a chance if we try a frontal assault anyway, father. Our fleet and our cavalry are powerful enough to dissuade the Empire from launching a landing, but we lack the manpower to face Pakal on its own ground. Our only chance is to weaken it from the inside. And the best course of action to weaken the Empire is to weaken the Mages. According to what my scholars found, we are likely to find ancient artifacts that could help us in our fight in the Yr Widdfa, the mountains west of the Empire and the Vassal Kingdoms.”

Mehmet III threw his goblet of wine of the floor.

“Fine! Pursue your chimaeras if you want! I won't deny that you yielded results with your network. But I hope that you will do something useful!”

“I will, father. And I hope that when I'll return, you'll think higher of me and my books.”

“That will depend on the manner of your return.”

**************

Rashid went to fetch the translation of the tome made by his scholars.

Yuka was walking in the corridors of the palace. She wanted to regroup with her friends.

A woman suddenly blocked her path.

“Coulter?! What do you want?”

The red-haired woman was apparently wanting to say something, but she had troubles finding her words.

“Thank you.” she finally said.

“Uh?”

“I said: Thank you. For saving me. And for taking off that... thing.”

Yuka didn't really know what to answer. “You... You're welcome.” she finally said. The shapeshifter was feeling a little relieved. “To be honest, given how grim you looked, I thought for a moment that you wanted to shank me...” she confessed.

Coulter shot her a nasty glare. “Though of course you will keep for yourself what happened when you rescued me.”

Yuka raised her hands as a gesture of peace. “My lips are sealed.” she promised.

Coulter left without adding anything.

“Your friends sure look... interesting.” a woman said behind her.

The shapeshifter bit her lower lip.

After rescuing the captives of the residence, Yuka inadvertently gained a new admirer.

Nahid was both impressed by and grateful for how the shapeshifter saved her, her guards, and her staff. Ever since, she hadn't missed an occasion to talk with Yuka.

The situation was actually is little awkward...

“I don't think 'interesting' is the right word, but she sure is a handful.” Yuka answered.

Nahid chuckled.

“Is your guard feeling better?”

“Zohra? Yes. We'll probably have to head to Sayhad soon. My father will want me to return before choosing if we continue with the political alliance. The current situation is very... complicated.”

“You have to prevent him from doing something inconsiderate, like ending his alliance with the crown. If he does, then the Mages – the hirers of your abductors – will have won.”

“I'll do what I can.”

**************

Yuka finally managed to regroup with her friends.

Azeneth was absent-mindedly fidgeting with one of her knives. Jinora and Yisüi were reading a book.

“So. What's the next step?” the metis asked Yuka when she entered the room.

“The tome gives clues about the location of artifacts built during the era of the ancient gods. Artifacts designed to increase and suppress magic. Like the catalysts and the inhibitors, only infinitely more powerful. Rashid wants us to investigate.”

“That's great!” Azeneth said.

“The ruins are actually situated in the Yr Widdfa. We'll have to go to the western part of the empire, cross the Vassal Kingdoms, and climb the mountains without the Mages finding about us.”

“That sucks.” The metis shrugged. “But when did we let the difficulties stop us?”

Jinora nodded with a smile. Yisüi nodded with a determined expression.

Yuka couldn't help but smile as well.

Indeed, they had never let the difficulties stop them. As long as they were working together, they were unstoppable.

“By the way, Yuka. There are things you still need to tell us.” Azeneth said.

The shapeshifter sighed.

“I know...”

However, she didn't know if she was ready to face her past... To face her mistakes.

**************

Safiye was contemplating the sea. The boat sent by the Mages to secretly extradite her and Tsuki was currently sailing in the middle of the ocean, heading towards the Empire.

Now that they were far from Ghazan's obelisks, she could communicate with the Mages again.

Their assassination didn't go as well as they hoped. Only the eldest prince was killed. Still, the reward was going to be quite handsome, especially since she wouldn't have to share it with anyone.

Safiye was lost in her thoughts.

Was she feeling bad for Istir?

Maybe... But just a little. There was nothing personal. Her former friend should have seen the betrayal coming. She should have understood that an agent of the Mages wouldn't only try to kill the king. For someone as clever as Istir, this was a huge mistake. Her emotions, her sentimentalism, clouded her judgement.

No, Safiye didn't regret betraying Istir. She renounced her former life long ago, when she embraced the carreer of a mercenary and spy-for-hire. She knew that it also meant renouncing her former friends, and she still did it. She renounced Istir and their friendship. She renounced cherishing the memory of Zaïde. She renounced caring for anyone.

Zaïde dedicated her life to other people. And what good did it bring to her?

Safiye had chosen to dedicate her life to herself. Because she knew that the only person who would never disappoint her... was herself.

In this world, you'd either use other people like tools or get used yourself. Safiye simply chose to be on the winning side.

And if someone didn't agree with her... well, they were free to try to stop her.

She was waiting for them.

**************

Tsuki was contemplating the horizon.

The Black Star sometimes liked to share with her a vision of the world remade in Her image. A world of fire and ash, of scarlet red sky and grey lands, of dying sunlight and fossilized trees.

While Her little attentions were nice, they were also sometimes intrusive.

Tsuki wanted to try something. She blinked several times, until the vision faded away and the sky became blue again.

The shapeshifter suddenly dropped her tunic on the floor of the boat. Topless, with no clothes to cover the upper part of her body, she took a deep breath.

The other sailors were purposely ignoring her. The men in particular. They all knew about her true nature.

Tsuki concentrated.

She felt a tingling in her shoulders. Then, a sudden burst of pain, which made her smile.

A pair of small brown-feathered wings burst out from her shoulders.

Tsuki smiled. Of course, the wings were way too small to allow her to fly. But one month ago, she still wasn't able to form them. It was a huge achievement.

One day... One day, she would fly...

Now, such a milestone had to be celebrated.

A few sailors were women.

Tsuki had already noticed one in particular. An ashen blond-haired green-eyed slender tall woman who was hired by the Mages from beyond the ocean. A new appearance to take... After so much time spent stealing the appearances of dark-haired people, the shapeshifter yearned for change.

The Mages would make a fuss if she hurt one of their agents, but they probably wouldn't protest if one of them was only slightly harmed. She would just have to wait until they were almost on shore, and make sure that the blonde would still be in condition to work afterwards. The shapeshifter had already spotted the part of the boat in which they were storing the ropes...

Tsuki looked again at the sailor. Poor woman. She looks tough, but she won't leave this boat un-humiliated.

Alas. Such was the fate of an extra...

After all, the world was a stage, and the stage was a world of entertainement.

**************

END OF CHAPTER 3