Black Ice-Completed
Chapter 31

It had taken several days to make their way to Paraim, an outlaw town where most of the unsavory characters resided. The Kars of Marais never acknowledged the town so not many authority figures were ever there. Ruffians and thugs had their own system of rules and often even those were ignored. Where Sinkendra was the heaven of Marais with its floating shops and sparkling water, Paraim was hell with its taverns, black markets and bawdy houses with black water keeping it afloat.

They found Avia in the Kroskisk Claw, a tavern, while playing a game of cards with several unsavory blokes and drinking a pint of swamp water ale. The ale was brewed deep in the swamp, made from the roots of cattails and mixed with other organics, it became a potent brew.

Lily went up to Avia and tapped her on the shoulder, “Time to come home amorie, you’ve been here long enough. See,” Lily said while she turned Avia’s head gently towards Nyota, “Even the wolf is better!”

Nyota watched as all heads turned to look at her and she stared back blatantly until each man turned away. She wasn’t going to let mere humans intimidate her.

Avia looked bleary eyed for a moment before crying out in agony. Nyota wasn’t expecting it when Avia launched into her arms and began hugging her in such a tight grip that Nyota was hard pressed not to shove her away. “I am so sorry Nyota!” Avia howled and started to paw at Nyota’s face to look at her, “You almost died due to me!”

Nyota shuffled her feet nervously and patted Avia’s back, “It wasn’t your fault Avia,” she tried to say but Avia continued to cry and howl.

“And for what? The wrong book, that’s what! The wrong fucking book!” she howled and Nyota grew more nervous as more people started to turn their attention towards them. Far too much notice was being brought onto the trio.

“Avia,” Nyota snapped, “we didn’t know about the number of books! Snap out of it,” she growled as she pulled Avia’s hands away from her face and growled low until Avia’s eyes collided with her own glowing ones.

Avia hiccupped as she tried to swallow back a sob but nodded as she leaned forward and rested her head against Nyota’s shoulder, “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Nyota patted her back softly and hugged her, “Its okay, instead of wallowing in pity, lets go ahead and celebrate!”

Lily, who had been hanging back, snorted and put her hands on her waist, “Why celebrate?”

Nyota rolled her eyes at Lily’s fickleness, she’d never understand the Amazon, “We’re alive aren’t we? And now we know there are more books and which one that needs to be found!”

Avia sighed, so much work had been put into replaceing that one book and now one or two more needed to be found. But instead of dwelling on the future, Avia perked up. She had moped long enough, “Yeah! Time to screw these men and take their money!” As she said this the men at the table shifted nervously. They had been just barely hanging onto their money when the girl was sad and dejected, what was going to happen now?

As Avia ruthlessly went after the other men's money, Lily and Nyota walked up to the bar to grab a drink. Shifting nervously, Nyota looked around, she swore she could feel eyes on her but she couldn’t figure out which way they were coming from.

As she swept the room again, they finally got up to the counter, where the bartender promptly plopped two drinks down in front of them and gruffly said, “On the house,” before walking away to attend other customers.

Nyota looked at her drink in suspicion, but before she could say anything, Lily was chugging hers down without a care, “Aren’t you worried it’s been poisoned?” She asked as she looked at the drink in front of her.

Lily smiled and shook her head, “I keep forgetting that this is your first time to Paraim. Whenever we went you’d always stay home,” she said and then pointed at the bartender who was arguing with two other patreons about being cut off due to already drinking too much, “Zar allows nobody in if they can’t abide by the one rule, no poisons. If he feels like you’ve tampered with his drinks he’ll make you drink them then kicks you out.”

Nyota relaxed a little and began to nurse her drink while Lily started a drinking contest with the men around her. Who could slam the most drinks back before the others got too shitfaced? Lily won though as the men around her either got too sick or passed out from the many drinks they had while trying to keep up with the Amazon.

All through the games, Nyota constantly felt eyes on her and Lily. It made her hackles raise because while she felt it, she couldn’t replace the culprit.

Lily laughed at something one of the men had said and then turned to Nyota, “I’m going to go dance, do you want to come?”

“I really think we should go home. It’s getting late!” Nyota said as her eyes scanned the room once more.

“Quit being a stick in the mud!” Lily sang as the man led her out to the dance floor.

Nyota watched as Lily and several other men and women began to circle around each other. As they came together the women would rub up against the men, gyrating their hips and caressing the men’s chest before moving away to dance on their own. The drums that were beating in the background added to the erotic movements the women made.

Out of the corner of her eye, Nyota saw a man from the shadows stalk out and slowly made his way towards the dance floor, towards Lily.

As the music changed to a different tune, the man threw off his cloak and Nyota had to gasp at his sheer beauty, he was one of the most handsome men she had ever seen. His arms were bare, the colors of his skin bronzed as if he spent hours in the sun. His hair was a startling white that fell into his eyes, his face had an angular appeal to it and he was far taller than Lily. He was a warrior from a different land.

As Lily spun away from one man she had been dancing with, the blonde giant caught ahold of her and held her close. There was hesitation in Lily’s movements at first but as they danced, their bodies smoothed out in the rhythm and they danced effortlessly, as if they belonged together.

“Kahled Hemny of Tikahta,” Avia said in Nyota’s ear causing her to jump from surprise. She had been so enthralled while watching the two dance, she had never heard Avia approach. “He’s Lily’s ex fiancé.”

“Ex fiancé? Why is he here?” Nyota asked as she watched the two dance. There was still plenty of chemistry between the two if their dancing was any hint.

“He’s been hunting her all over the world,” Avia said as she drank a beverage Zar had given to her.

“Why?” Nyota asked in confusion. Lily was a beautiful woman, why would any man who had her let her go?

Avia shrugged and took another sip of her drink, “She’s never told me why as of yet. Probably won’t,” she said as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve before looking at Nyota, “Thank you by the way for helping with the book, but you and I both know that you need to go.” Nyota nodded as Avia continued, “Your aunt is no longer in the swamp which means she is either in Uscyte or Azgeta, and you’ve learned all I can teach you when it comes to the sword.”

Nyota nodded in agreement and sighed, “I will be planning to leave in a few days,” she said but stopped when she saw Avia shaking her head.

“You need to leave tonight. The panthers have been searching everywhere for you for the past several weeks. They’ve busted down the doors here on numerous occasions. I wouldn’t be surprised if they come tonight though Zar has told them that if he sees any of their black hides in his tavern again, he’ll go berserker bruin on their asses.” Tears began to leak from her eyes as she sniffled and said again, “You need to leave tonight.”

Nyota felt lost as panic began to well up, “But I don’t have any of my supplies or even my pack!” It would take several days just to get back to the mansion! But Nyota smiled in relief as Avia pulled out her pack from her cloak.

“Lily handed it off to me once I calmed down. You always have your sword so we weren’t worried about that. There’s bread and jerky meat in here and a bag of gold to help with supplies and such.” Avia gave Nyota a small smile and pushed her hair out of her face, “One more thing we were worried about was how you would sneak away from those who would follow. Kahled is the perfect distraction that fell into our hands.”

“You knew he’d be here?” Nyota asked. She didn’t know whether she liked Lily being put into a bad situation to let her get away or not.

Avia laughed and shook her head, “No I didn’t, but he’s the perfect distraction!” At Nyota’s looked of confusion, Avia laughed again and pointed at the couple, “This always happens, they meet up and dance. Then Kahled will start attacking her out of nowhere like a switch was flipped. They make a huge fuss, Lily escapes and he’ll go after her with a vengeance.

During the fuss you’ll slip out of here using Zar’s rabbit hole behind the counter. Barely anyone knows it’s there!” Avia said as she took another sip, her eyes watching Lily and Kahled , waiting for the moment for Nyota to escape.

“How do you know about it and is he okay with me using it?” Nyota asked as her eyes flicked to watch Lily and the man.

Avia ignored Nyota’s question as her eyes lit up, “Get ready, your window of escape is about to happen!”

As Nyota’s eyes flicked back over to the couple once again, she watched as the man’s features hardened and his hand started to squeeze Lily cruelly as he tried to hang onto her. Lily, though, was dancing out of his reach now as he tried to grab her back. After constantly trying to snatch her, Kahled grew aggravated and bellowed in rage as he unsheathed his sword from his back, “Lilyandra Effritsy, you are hereby charged with treason! You will comply and be taken into custody to be brought to the War Commander who will pass judgment against you!”

Lily narrowed her eyes on Kahled before giving her own warrior shout and jumped onto the table, her skirt pulled up to bare leg and thigh, the bangled on her wrist clinked as she stared at him. Giving the man a smirk, “Kahled, you’re such a fool, if anyone is a traitor it’s you!” she sneered, “We swore to protect and defend the land, not kill and brutalize innocents!” As Lily had yelled, she had grabbed a lance that had been leaning against the table and used it to divert Kahled’s sword thrust above her head and at the same time she used her foot, kicking him back into nearby tables.

As that happened, Avia started shoving Nyota under the bar slat and made her duck into an open tunnel cupboard, “Make your way North from here, once you hit the border, travel West until you get to the Shamani River that flows into Marais. Before you check any slave markets, go to Kalsavin first. Ask for Saalar at the tavern and give him my name. He’ll give you a room to stay in while you’re looking for your Aunt!” Avia said quickly as she glanced above the bar table and was shoved back down by Zar as a bottle came flying by.

Avia flashed Zar a small smile before turning back to Nyota, “Here,” she said as she passed a bag of gold into her hands, “this is the money you gave me. Don’t argue,” she snapped as she watched Nyota open her mouth, “You’ve earned every piece back by being a wonderful friend, you will always have a home here in Marais! Now go!” she growled as Nyota got pushed towards the hole before she jumped over the bar with her short sword drawn and a yell echoing in her throat.