Chapter 101: Chapter 101

“Come ladies, We have all that you need for your beauty to flourish once more!” Sara stared from a distance at the man shouting annoyingly in the market, trying to persuade women to buy his weird merchandise, the only thing that made her stop and even bother to look at him was how high pitched his voice was, she didn’t know why, but her ears were incredibly sensitive, hearing even the smallest of noises, she wasn’t yet used to her new hearing, which made her hear the annoying shouting in her head.

Looking at the table from where she hiding, Sara noticed many bottles and items, her eyes caught the bars and bottles of soap, the ones she desperately needed to wash off the stench of rot and blood of her, after weeks of leaving the shack, she realized she needed to clean her body and her wounds as the smell became unbearable, placing her hand in the sack she was carrying, she pulled out a golden coin, waiting for when the market was the least crowded to go and buy what she needed.

“Excuse me?” with dull eyes, Sara watched as the little girl who arrived at the table called out for the seller in a small shaky voice, not missing how the man ignored her deliberately, his lips pursing together in annoyance, looking back to the girl, she noticed how she was fidgeting, her eyes on the ground, her skinny face kissed by the sun, her black hair flat and oily, her dress torn and stitched on several placed, and her shoes worn out to the point where they couldn’t be used anymore, a beggar? Sara asked herself, but then the girl spoke again once the seller’s angry and impatient eyes were on her.

“M-mistress was wondering if have got some of that hair colorant?”

“Yes, I do, but tell your mistress to pay for all her debts first before she asks for more! Now, fuck off!” the girl flinched at the harsh tone, but stayed in her place, fidgeting even more, obviously scared.

“P-please!” the girl whispered her plea, and even when she tried, Sara couldn’t look away from the scene.

A hair colorant?

“I said fuck off! Now!” the man said, raising a large stick above his head, obviously planning to hit the little girl who gasped before running away, her eyes filled with tears, and then hid near where Sara was hiding in the dark alley.

“Hey, you!” the girl turned out towards the feminine voice, only to be met with a small figure which was wrapped up in dark clothes, making her shiver with fear and take a step back, the horrid smell jumping to her nose.

“D-don’t hurt me!” the girl was about to take off when the stranger with a feminine voice raised her hand, a shiny gold coin in her fingers.

“I am not going to hurt you, I just want you to ask you something!” Sara’s voice was a monotone, calm and low, it was the first time she spoke since she left the shack, her throat was sore and the words felt as if they were scratching their way out, she didn’t care about that though as she was more focused on the scared girl, from such proximity, she noticed the fading bruises on her face and the rope marks on her wrists.

“W-what?”

“That hair colorant you asked the seller for, what is it?”

“I-it is a dark liquid my mistress uses to hide the grey hair, it makes her hair black and she says it makes her look younger.” The girl shivered more at the mention of her mistress, Sara noticed it but didn’t dwell on it.

“How about a deal, little one?” Sara said while handling the little girl the golden coin in her hand “How about you use this coin to bye me, and your mistress, some of this colorant?”

“But…but the seller refused to sell me without paying for my mistress’ depts, he…”

“Is the golden coin not enough to pay for them?”

“I-it is!” the girl’s said skeptically, unable to believe the stranger who offered to pay for the depts of her mistress, which would save her the latter’s wrath.

“Then off you go, I need you to buy me a few bottles of that colorant, and some soap, and in return, I will give you an extra golden coin which you can keep for yourself, okay?” Sara couldn’t help but notice the fear and hesitation in the girl’s eyes, but unfortunately, she wasn’t the same girl anymore to feel other’s pain, she was too drained and numb to feel for anyone or anything.

“Okay!” the girl finally said as she took the gold coins after long hesitation, the stranger scared her, but not as much as the punishment that waited for her if she didn’t return with the colorant.

With emotionless eyes, Sara watched as the girl went straight to the table, bargained with the seller who threatened her before seeing the golden coin, his eyes were skeptical, probably wondering from where did she get it, a golden coin was after all a fortune, but that wasn’t all she noticed, it was something else.

Sara knew that she wasn’t the same after she saw her mother, while something inside of her died, another thing was released, as if was buried deep inside her, she had changed, one of the changes was the fact that she was seeing more than what a human saw.

The people, all of them, were surrounded by strange sheens of lights, some dark, some bright, some big, and some faint, but the girl? hers was grey and very small, barely there, and Sara knew what it meant.

How unfortunate! But she didn’t find it in her to care.

The girl returned with a bag in her hand, all the things Sara asked in it, and while the girl stood, obviously wanting to say something, Sara turned on her and walked away, leaving her to her questions.

.....

The old couple were about to close their inn's doors and go to sleep when the bell rang, indicating a customer, the inn wasn't the finest in the village nor were it owners, they were known to be a greedy couple who took advantage of the travelers’ misfortune to charge them double for the humblest of services, causing the inn to gradually gain a bad name, and in the last days, it barely had any customers, especially with the war that started lately, the king had allied himself with the demons to go fight the Gods!! No one understood that nonsense, some said the Gods were going to wipe out mankind as well as the demons, the old couple didn't care about that part, they simply agreed with each customer’s story in order to charge them a little extra.

The old man held his cane tightly under the desk and looked skeptically at the weird intruder, the intruder had a long large dark cloak with a large hood on, he wasn't that tall or big, actually, he looked rather small as he walked towards the reception desk with calm and steady steps, not removing his hood, a horrible stench of rot following him, the intruder spoke in an unwavering feminine voice.

''A room please", the girl's voice wasn't loud nor low, it was, quite empty and emotionless, and for some reason reminded the old man with the howls of dry wind, taking him by surprise, the owner of the inn stared at the girl who was buried in dark clothes, for long minutes until the girl repeated her request in the same tone, he tried to get a glimpse of the girl's face but there wasn't anything showing, her head was covered by the hood and her face was covered by scarf, the man, worried that the girl might be a demoness as it was night, decided it would be better, safer, to refuse this customer whoever she was.

''I'm sorry but we don't have ro...''

''I'll take the stable'' the girl said with finality as she placed a golden coin on the desk, the man was never paid in gold before so he stuttered when he saw it, his greed got the best of him for a moment and the girl took it as a yes, putting a silver coin next to the golden one.

''And I want warm supper and hot water to bathe.''

Sara laid on the bed with the hot tray of soup on the table, finally clean from all the blood and dirt, the colorant was more than useful as it made her hair and eyebrows black, charcoal, tar, Iris roots, and mustard oil, she guessed as she smelled her wet hair.

The room she was in was rather simple, definitely not worth a golden coin, not even a nickel one, she couldn't care less though, she needed a place to stay as she had been traveling nonstop for about a month, she was far enough from the shack with every single trace of her covered, her scent mostly, even if anyone tried to find her it would be impossible to do so and eventually, they would come to the conclusion that she died in the shack, getting up, she walked towards the mirror next to washbasin, stared at the strange face in her mirror for a while before moving away to the table to consume the soup, not a single emotion passing through her face.

The soup, which she figured wasn’t poisonous from it smell, was tasteless, and the bread was barely edible but she wasn't eating for the taste but to silence that need in her stomach for food, Sara noticed many changes in her lately, and not just her enhanced hearing, smelling, and vision, she was more resistant to cold, heat, hunger, and pain, and the bland soup was the only the fourth meal she had in that month, her body was also remarkably stronger and faster, which was probably due to her divine blood awakening, whatever it was, it was very handy..

Finishing her meal, Sara laid on the bed again, staring aimlessly at the ceiling and thinking, about her revenge, how to get it, her mind went back to what the queen said in her letter, they were both poisoned, her first guess would have been Henry or the twins but with the queen's involvement that possibility had slimmed, the royal children loved their mother to no limits, she saw it with her own eyes during the coronation, her next guessing was the holy council, and that was the first place she aimed at once she was done covering her traces but the holy tower was nothing but ruins, burned ones at that, and not a single book or scroll was left, the entire place looked like it had been raided, the question was, by whom? Whoever did it must have been professional, there were no traces left, no pieces of evidence, no witnesses, it could have been the new king, she was not sure but she suspected it strongly, especially after he joined hands with the demons to fight off the gods, that was another mystery for Sara, why did he do that? How is joining forces with those bloody demons in the king or the kingdom's best interest?

Sara thought back at what Eren told her, the memories of that talk deprived of all the feelings she had before, he told her the Gods were the bad ones, if that was the case, what about her mother then? If the Gods cared about nothing in the world but themselves, why was her mother so worried about the world? Why did she leave some of her energy behind just to tell Sara that she needed to save the world from who knows what, she didn't believe any of them, none gave her any reasons to trust them so it was up to her to find out the truth about this world, the best way was to get the information from it source, in other words the center, but she knew she wasn't strong enough yet and didn't fully unlock her powers, the holy council obeyed the Gods, and they tried to kill her, she figured the Gods were not big fans of her either, going there with her own two feet without being strong enough to defend herself was sheer stupidity and she was no longer the girl who would place her bets on the world's benevolence or her dumb luck.

Her next choice was the castle, she knew she was going to find some answers there, but she couldn't just walk in and ask for directions to the closest library, no matter what that place was her father's home and she didn't want to spread chaos in it, she wasn't planning to do what the queen asked, her ties to the Yoren name were severed the day her father died, she wanted nothing but revenge, however, she wanted it without destroying what her father cherished, it was the one part in her that didn't die, the one part that continued to live so her father's memory remains alive.

One step after the other, Sara told herself as she closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep, but not an hour passed when she was woken up by the annoying sobs, she tried to cover her ears, press the pillow on her head, but nothing stopped the sobs, the familiar sobs, she told herself, coming from somewhere outside the inn, getting up, she walked to the window and tried to locate the crying girl as she was no longer able to ignore the sobs, especially since they turned to pleas.

Standing at the edge of the window, Sara scanned the darkness outside, there was nothing, dropping the matter she walked back to her bed when the sobbing turned into terrified begging...

''Please, Master, leave me be, It hurts...'', Sara immediately recognized the young girl’s voice, the same one she met earlier in the market, and beside the identity of the girl, she recognized the fear and pain in her pleas, a fear she herself had suffered, grabbing her cloak and sack, she dressed back in a new set of clothes, which were her father’s as well, opened the window quietly and jumped out of it, landing gracefully on her feet like a shadow cat.

The little girl curled up in one of the stable’s corners where she usually slept, she was drenched in cold water as the owner poured it on her to wake her up, it was one of the nights when the old lady was sleeping soundlessly and her old husband would sneak down to the stables to have his way with the poor girl, she didn't exactly know what was happening but she hated it, she knew it wasn't right and wanted it to stop but the man would always beat her up into submission, this time it was no difference, the girl shivered in fright as she watched the old man got closer and closer to her, she sobbed and begged although she knew it was of no use, she saw the sick desire and determination in his eyes, when he was too closed and she was too consumed by fear, she shut her eyes tightly waiting for the painful grip but it never came.

Afraid that the pain would hit her the moment she opened her eyes, the little girl kept them shut for few more minutes, but when nothing happened, she peeked through her fingers to see the old man's limb body lying lifelessly on the floor.

Not believing what she saw, the girl opened her eyes to see someone walking out in a black cloak, the footsteps were not rushing nor were they slow, they were just, normal, the little girl stared at the dead body for a second before doing the first thing that came to her mind...follow the weird dark-cloaked stranger.