Tensions were high as we walked through the gate, a forged merchant's pass allowing us in without question. Of course the guards had checked but with Delta's skill there was no way that they would notice.
As we walked around the streets I couldn't help but notice how serious the atmosphere was around here. There was no tension around telling of a war but this sort of zealous seriousness as if they had some god given objective.
Their eyes were clouded despite the liveliness that they seemed to show. The most unnatural thing about them though was the stiffness in their gaze. When they turned their head to look at us they had this sort of stiff gaze that seemed to be some dead. Like they weren't in control of their own bodies.
It was a grim thought but for now they seemed content to let us do what we wanted.
As we walked further in, the sight of a blatant inn appeared in front of us. It was suspicious in its placement. Not to mention the nails in the board looked new. I couldn't tell how new it was but it had definitely not been there for more than a year.
Either way we needed somewhere to sleep, to at least keep up the facade so unless we wanted to try somewhere else we would need to settle for this.
With the ring of a bell the door opened. Another one of the dead eyed residents greeted us as we walked further in.
"Welcome… would you… like a… room…
or two?"
Before I could reply Aoif tugged at my arm before she took it into hers, a silent message being carried.
I just intertwined my fingers into her own and nodded, my mouth shut.
"Just one room, thank you." Aoif smiled, before fishing out coin from the bag hidden under her cloak.
A bid from the resident and the key was given to us as we gave her the coin.
…
The door creaked open as the inside was revealed.
A small one bed apartment filled with filth as if it hadn't been cleaned in ages. Though it wasn't used, no, it looked more abandoned.
"The coin" I said to the room, Delta and Aoif perking up at my words.
"You used that to determine something, what was it?" I turn to Aoif from my gazing.
"Did you not notice the denomination? It was a gold coin. Not a silver nor bronze."
"Oh…" I said out loud, my mind racing at the possibilities. Though the basic premise was that they were being controlled but from who.
Of course I had noticed something strange but the coin trick that Aoif had used confirmed it. It was the look of the resident, how there was no reaction to how valuable it was. Not even a twitch of surprise to indicate how he had noticed that we had overplayed and wanted to hide it from us.
Only someone used to dealing with large amounts of money could be so cavalier about that much. A gold coin was enough to feed a family of three for a month.
"But how did you know it wasn't just because they were dead eyed?" I asked again, even if I had sorted it out on my own, that was only assuming that they reacted normally to outside stimuli.
"Because," Aoif began, a self satisfied smirk on her face, "they did react, not to the coin but the other residents. The other residents had emotions, you may not have seen it if you weren't using my soul sight but they reacted to stimuli as if muted. But the nail in the coffin was that they all had the same reaction to the same things. The coin was just to confirm it, did you not notice me flicking a coin in front of another resident."
I shook my head before Aoif continued on with her monologue.
"They had the exact same reaction. One of indifference and hundreds of different cocktails of emotions."
With that final sentence Aoif raised her hands, reaching out to me as she tugged me into a side hug.
"Proud of me?"
"Of course"
…
With part of the mystery figured out we went to bed, Aoif sleeping with me and Delta leaned against the wall.
click
thunk
Tiny footsteps interrupted my sleep, the door being opened by a key of sorts.
As silently as possible I got out of bed and signaled to Delta to stand by. With a haze of aether enough to reinforce my eyes but not enough to actually glow, I watched on.
A crude needle was taken from a pouch on his waiter's dress and flicked into another small pouch with liquid sloshing around.
The needle sucked up the presumably poison and deposited it into the container that connected to it.
he walked further and further in until he was beside Aoif, the needle poised to stab into the vein in her neck.
Though before it could reach her, Aoifs hand grossed out and took the needle from him. Aoif threw it towards Delta who caught it and started to analyze it.
The waiter on the other hand was caught surprised, emotions appearing in his eyes for the first time. Though they were not of surprise nor of pain. They were of amusement, like the very thought of resisting against him was ridiculous.
"Heh Heh Heh" he chuckled, an ominous laugh echoing from his mouth.
Aoif took his neck in her hands and slammed him onto the bed but still the laugh continued.
It was like he did not care for the pain that Aoif was causing.
"Listen here," Aoifs voice was hard, most likely from being woken up so early.
"You are going to tell me what you were doing here and why"
The only thing that he responded with was another laugh. Though faintly I felt a tiny strand of aether flow into him from somewhere in the city. I couldn't pinpoint it but when it reached him his head exploded into gore.
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