"I really think you need to hold on the salt" Qaya commented as she tore into her barbequed fish.
Jaslin rolled her eyes "you sure do complain alot when you're busy devouring the food"
They were in a small house, in a town nestled within the area between Easteford and Cralville
Rivan walked in and dropped his coat.
"you guys seem lively"
Qaya smiled "of course, away from that parasite, I'm so much happier"
"I do have news" Rivan spoke as he settled into a chair
"what news?" Jaslin handed him a plate of food which he gratefully accepted
"there's been intel about an auction, Awin's people are going to be there"
"what auction?"
"they trade slaves. It's an underground establishment, about 20 kilometres from here. We're not yet certain of the details of what will be going on. But the establishment is called the mythic mermaid and it is basically the convention of the vilest and most disgusting people in the whole country"
"so basically, their chief, Awin is going to be there" Qaya retorted
"okay but what's the plan?" This was Jaslin
"I have about 20 men trained in military combat, from my guild, a few of them work under the international police force, we plan to infiltrate that place, put a stop to whatever they're doing and drop them over to the police"
"that sounds too easy, I doubt Awin will let himself be easily found out" Qaya pointed out
"it's normal to feel that way, after all it's King Awin we're dealing with but this is a confirmed thing and Betrand actually sent someone on behalf of the king, we might not be able to pin the king but we can strip him of many of his resources"
"that's enough for me" Qaya resigned .
***
The gate of the mythic mermaid.
Rivan inconspicuous carriage was just outside the establishment. The mythic mermaid was a very neat looking office building.
Rivan stared intently through the window. So far the kind of people that were trooping into the building looked well-to-do, except for this one pot-bellied man in his fifties that was staggering drunk with about six beauties helping him in.
"are you guys sure, you're comfortable here?" Rivan asked Jaslin and Qaya for the umpteenth time that evening "this is something my men and I can handle on our own"
"you're forgetting that apart from arresting these disgusting people we also have to get Intel that could possibly relate to Zajey and Awin" Jaslin argued
"exactly. And you're not exactly sociable. That's where we come in"
Rivan shook his head "at times like this I wish that Zachary guy was here. Too bad the king won't grant him the break"
Qaya rolled her eyes "just tell us the plan"
"I have three of our stealth experts break into the administrative wing, get some documents for proof and then lock this place up.
We get some servants that accompany the attendees and have them agree to be witnesses. Once we have about two witnesses, we'll get those two to safety and then raid the whole place. We hope to do all these in a minimum of 2 hours, in that time, you can try and get all the Intel you can. I'll make sure you're not round up with the rest of them."
The girls nodded in understanding. Rivan handed them some visards, you'll be entering as Malicious Darksire's entourage
"who's Malicious Darksire"
He pointed to himself, to which the girls laughed. Actually Jaslin cackled, startling Qaya.
Somehow, they got easy access into the building.
Once they got inside they all split up and got down to work.
Qaya went straight to the food and drinks section and she had a good reason why, firstly to try the food and secondly to see someone who would be drunk enough to slip up and sing like a bird.
She got some appetizers because she wasn't really in the mood to eat and strolled to the drinks section, the pot bellied man that they saw earlier was there, drinking like a fish.
"you surely do have exquisite taste" Qaya turned to him and sat down.
The man struggled to keep his eyes open, widened them and stared at Qaya. "Thank you"
"I see you're alone, so we can have a lovely chat"
The man gave a perverted smile. "I knew you were interested in me, you've been staring at me for about thirty minutes"
"this man must be very drunk, I've barely been here for ten minutes" Qaya thought to herself
"what's a man like you looking for here? Wealthy, handsome, fit and an amazing taste for beverage, what more do you need ?"
The man laughed, he was clearly flattered.
"the girls here are exquisite and they're free"
For a short military second Qaya looked repulsed but she quickly masked her disgust. "I guess we're not here for the same thing" she turned from him feigning disappointment
"why are you here, then. I know a lot about this place. I'm very close pals with the manager's assistant's brother-in-law's best friend"
"really, I'm so lucky then, I actually wanted to inquire about emancipation certificates"
"oh" the man shook his head "that's tough, you have to be in the inner circle to have sufficient information about those things but lucky you, I know enough and can even get you into the inner circle, but not just today" he bragged
Qaya whined "I really need this for some important work but if you say so... I'll wait"
"I feel so bad to offend someone as pretty as you, let me make it up to you"
Qaya scowled under her mask, most of her was covered so how could this man decided that she was pretty.
"if you insist, I'll ask for two things. One you tell me the little information, you have on emancipation certificates and then you give me away to contact you, I mean your real identity"
"the second request is tough but for you, I'll give in. My real name is Demetrius Solon"
Qaya tried her best to not shout in amazement. Demetrius Solon was not someone that easily walked around but he was popular as the man who vowed to live a chaste life, but here he was indulging himself.
"what's your name?"
"I'll let you know when we meet in real life" Qaya shyly answered. The man frowned but he seemed to understand where she was coming from, especially since she was the one in need of information, she definitely wouldn't betray him
"I don't know much about the thing you ask but I know enough. The person who makes this fraudulent emancipation certificate is known to work at the Galilean sanctuary"
"are you sure about what you're saying?" Qaya asked
"didn't I tell you I was close with the boss"
"you said something like that"
"Yes, so trust me. I'll never lie"
"excuse me I have to use the bathroom"
"okay, should I direct you there. As I said my brother owns the place"
"just leave me. I know the way" Qaya snapped. As she tried to make her way away from that suffocating place, someone bumped into her. She turned to meet a woman who seemed to be wearing the same dress and mask as her.but she didn't have much time to process that because she fainted.
Meanwhile...
Jaslin pouted as she sat alone. She forgot that she was also not sociable like Rivan.
"excuse me" a voice called behind her. As she turned, a tall man smoothly took his seat beside her, his hand on her waist. Jaslin pushed it off.
"you must be in a bad mood" he said in a coy manner that irritated Jaslin
"yes" she answered matter of factly
"you seem bored, so I wanted to entertain you"
"I prefer plays without clowns, clowns aren't my best type of entertainment" she snapped
"wow, you're already telling me about yourself. You must be enamoured"
Jaslin rolled her eyes and stood up " I want to use the bathroom"
The man followed after her and held her waist again, this time tightly "why are you so shy? You can just speak directly to me instead of dropping all these hints that you want to get together with me"
"what? Where did you get that idea from?"
"oh sweetheart, this isn't the kind of place to play hard to get"
"but she isn't" Rivan stepping in, pulling Jaslin to his side "she's with me and she wasn't playing hard to get"
"I'm so sorry" the man apologized "why do I keep mixing everything up" he muttered as he left embarrassed.
"thank you" Jaslin answered
"this is why I didn't want you guys here"
"I understand the sentiment. And I'm sorry." Jaslin looked at him apologetically
"how are you? did he injure you?".
"calm down, I'm fine. Anyway why are you even here? Don't you have a mission to carry out"
"yes. Yes I do. But I also have to ensure you and Qaya's safety, so I assigned one of our best men to look after Qaya..."
"and chose yourself to look after me?" Jaslin teased
"you say it like it's supposed to be weird. I would have watched over both of you but you were in different places and I'm not omnipresent you know"
"whatever?" Jaslin laughed "we've been here for quite a bit and no mention of Zajey. Do you think he got wind of our presence" she asked referring to Awin
"I don't know, let's look for Qaya and see if she found anything" Rivan turned to go but stumbled.
"are you okay is everything fine?" Jaslin asked in concern
"I'm not sure, I do feel a bit light headed"
"this feels like a problem. Get your men to find Qaya, we have to leave immediately. Something doesn't feel right"
Rivan nodded in agreement.
***
An hour later
In a particular part of mythic mermaid, they were loud cheers and whistling. Why? A girl was dancing seductively for the men. They cheered her on, some even chanting that she take off her clothes.
She sat on a man's lap and dropped an arm of her dress. All the men guffawed and screamed in happiness, a couple of them even jumped to touch her and when they did, some looked like they could die of happiness. One man threw a five bundles of Ests at her and whispered in her ear and she nodded dragging the man into a small cubicle.
After some seconds, sound erupted from the cubicle, suggestion that the man was enmeshed in a delicate situation with the paramour. All the other men started going crazy and scampered to the door of the cubicle with wads of money in their hands waiting for their turn.
After about three other men entered into the cubicle. A commotion started, the place was being raided by the Galilean priests.
Everyone scampered trying to evade arrest but it seemed that the men waiting in front of the cubicle were incapacitated by lust that they were caught and some of them screamed that they wanted to have their time with the nymph..
"what are you talking about?" One of the priests queried
One of the men laughed heartily, he was the second customer of the nymph.
"your kind bluff about taking us to heaven, while this woman actually takes you there"
The others laughed with him.
The head of the raid instructed the others "seize this woman, at once"
They forced open the cubicle and shrunk back from the sight, this gave the masked woman enough time to run away.
"after her"
The woman quickly ran into a room but it seemed like she stumbled, because a loud thud was heard
"we've caught her now"
They immediately grabbed her and held her to prevent another escape
"unmask this villainess"
And they did just that but they were not prepared to see a dazed Qaya.
It just so happened that the King's men were the ones accompanying the priests.
"This is a terrible thing. How can this happen" the head priest thundered
Qaya looked around her, who were all these men and why had Rivan and Jaslin come for her yet? Why did she feel drunk even when she didn't drink anything?
"what's going on?" She asked as she rubbed her temples
"how irresponsible of you, Qaya. You are to be the mother of the eastforde and you just..."
"please forgive her"
All attention turned to Awin. He looked broken and sad "you people speak of love and forgiveness, so you can extend that grace to her"
"no" the priest shook his head "she stands as the future queen, the mother of the kingdom. She defiled herself, she's a stain that does not deserve to be in the royal line. This incident means she's left without dignity, the first thing a queen must have"
"what are you people talking about?" Qaya yelled. Little by little she was regaining her senses.
"see, she's not even in her senses. She didn't know what she did. Forgive her ignorance" Awin begged again. The other people present looked at the king apologetically. They pondered on why he was so smitten by this promiscuous woman. To them, this man was a saint.
Qaya scoffed "this is one of your schemes right. Awin I won't go down easy mark my works"
"tsk tsk tsk" the priest shook his head in pity "see the person you're begging for"
Qaya shouted "can someone tell me what's going on? I promise that I'm not guilty of anything"
"really? So what all of us saw was a lie?"
"yes, I'm certain. This is a masquerade function, someone must have pretended to be me"
The priest nodded "okay then let's accept that. Then tell us why are you here?"
"I wanted to..."
"you wanted to do what?" Another priest queried
Qaya kept quiet, what could she say? Nothing would make sense. She looked around for Jaslin and Rivan, but she doubted they would be here, Awin must have done something to them.
"to be honest, I don't know. But I was certain that I was drugged, someone..."
"it's enough" the priest commanded "arrest her"
"please, what if I say I have a solution?" Awin spoke up
"speak up"
"she makes a valid point about the face being covered we can't deny. I am her fiance, and even though that harlot seemed similar in stature and complexion, I knew she wasn't Qaya"
"that's what you believe, how can you prove it to all of us here"
"there's a way out of this but I have some conditions, the first being that everyone swears an oath of secrecy to never disclose what was witnessed here. We can prove her innocence by conducting a trial of the threshold "
Everyone gasped.
"you are aware that she has to be married to do this? And that is forgetting the fact that the women's council that she is a part of speak against this ritual"
"I am her fiance. I can not stand for the future queen being insulted, so I have to restore her honor and dignity, then hunt down the people that played this cruel trick"
"I understand where you're coming from and I must say that drastic problems call for drastic solutions. So, I give a binding order, that Qaya Heris Mariale be married to the king tomorrow in order to perform the trial of the threshold"
"wait, head priest" Awin called out "I have a request that our marriage be life binding with no option of divorce"
"no, your highness if she fails the test, you have to divorce her immediately"
"but I'm certain she won't fail"
"wow this man is so loving and kind to this lady, yet she does this and even blames him" this was the mumering s of the other people present.
Awin turned to Qaya and gave her a warm smile and where others saw a man in love, Qaya saw his true face, a man happy that is plan worked.