Revelations
Trea stepped out of the tub and wrapped a towel around her. It was the first time in weeks that she could, in some small way, relax. Two weeks had passed since the filthy man at the dock-house, named Paren, had started investigating what Mercy was up to. As far as anyone could tell, Mercy was simply looking for ways to discredit Kalwren with his clients. However, when your clients were made up of people like Paren, discrediting Kalwren would be something of a feat.
Trea extinguished the flame in the bathroom gas lamp, and then cut off the gas to the room. She entered the door to her bedroom, and reached to turn up the dim flame in a lamp when a voice rasped from the corner.
“Clumsy girl. Walking around unarmed at night.”
Trea reached for her knife, but found only the bare skin of her thigh where her weapon usually was. “Dammit,” she thought.
On the other side of the room, one of the gas lamps was turned up, dousing the area in light. There sat a woman, grey and hunched, with oil-black eyes. Trea took a step back and glanced at a table near the door.
“Looking for this?” The woman asked, flashing one of Trea’s knives. “Do you really leave your weapons lying around so carelessly where anyone can get them?”
“Who are you? What are you doing here?”
The woman smiled; it was a cruel, twisted smile. “How bold of you to question me when I obviously have the upper hand.”
The mixture of water and sweat was drying on Trea’s skin, tightening it and making her itch. She didn’t move to scratch though, the grey woman had yet to state her purpose, Trea couldn’t risk making a sudden move and ending up with her own knife lodged in her chest. “How embarrassing would that be?” She thought, “To be found nude and dead by my own knife. By Kalwren no less.” She stared at the woman, who seemed to be thoroughly amused by the situation. “Who are you? Are you working for Mercy? Why are you in my room?”
The woman chuckled, “While I am certainly under the employ of Miss. Meadowhart, this little visit is purely personal. As for who I am,” the woman stood, and as she stood she seemed to grow, her joints and bones creaking and popping along the way. When she was finished she was a good three inches taller than Trea, her skin had taken on a hint of color, and her eyes went from oily black to pale grey, “I am not much different than you.”
Trea gasped, “You-You’re an At’Trean.”
The woman rolled her eyes, “You call one of your own by that name? Even your name is a derivative of it, isn’t it? Don’t you know your true name?” The woman moved toward Trea, “You don’t, do you? Poor, lost child.”
“Who are you?” Trea took a step back and stopped, her back against the door jamb.
“You’re annoying me with that question.” The woman snarled.
“Then answer it.”
Again, a gruesome smile spread across her face, “Nereza.”
“That’s not your name.”
“You’re correct. It is the name that these slow tongued idiots can pronounce. We all have chosen names so these fools can address us properly.”
“All? There are more?”
“Hundreds, just in this city alone. We are over a thousand strong throughout the world.”
“So what then? Why are you here? To kill me?”
Nereza shook her head as she laughed, “I can not kill you, foolish girl. The Grand Elder won’t allow for it.”
“Who is the Grand Elder?”
“Poor, lost child.” The Nereza’s smile waned a bit, “You’ll know everything when the time comes.” She walked towards the windows and looked out of them.
Trea was unsure about what to do. Knowing the woman couldn’t kill her was something of a relief, but she still didn’t say why she had come? Certainly no one would go through all this trouble just to see her and deliver cryptic messages. Trea began walking towards the woman; when she was just a few feet away, the woman, Nereza, spun around and looked her dead in the eye.
“The Grand Elder will be happy to know you are in good health, but I suggest you leave the Meadowharts alone. We fed false information to that twit you hired to follow us, just to put you two at ease. However, Mercy is no one to toy with. She is determined to bring her brother’s world crashing down upon him, and if that means taking you out with him than so be it. If you continue to involve yourself with them, I can not guarantee your safety. Mercy has many hired guns in her employ, I am just one. The next one to visit you may not be so nice.” And with that, she stabbed Trea’s knife into the window sill, opened a window and jumped out it. Her landing was almost inaudible. In the dim streetlight, Trea watched the strange woman run into a dark alley and disappear, leaving Trea unable rest for the remainder of the night.
