Page 7 of Zel
The shabby way she was dressed was the first indication something was wrong.
The collar around her neck was the other.
That was a control collar, one of very few in Lothar’s possession. Similarly functioning wristbands were used on enslaved elves to prevent the use of their magic, but those rarely also enslaved their minds since that would have robbed them of their creative abilities, which was what elves were most used for. This type of collar turned its wearer into a seemingly blank slate, silent and obedient. It was said that their true selves were conscious but trapped, so they could only watch as their body obeyed any command given to it by whomever put the collar on them.
Lothar used the collars on traitors.
“Anna was caught stealing from our coffers!” Lothar announced to the room. “She had no excuses, merely her greed to have more than her brethren!”
Grumbles and jeers filtered through the crowd.
“You know what fate awaits such traitors.” Lothar returned his attention to Zel. “As a final gift for your induction, it is you, Rapunzel, who will carry out Anna’s sentence.”
“But… won’t that make her my ninth kill instead of the sorcerer as preordained?”
“Do not worry. You are going to have her kill herself.” Lothar handed the woman a dagger. “Anna, you will now obey whatever Rapunzel asks of you.”
Anna’s seemingly blank eyes met Zel’s, and to his horror, he believed it must have been true that her mind was her ownsomewhere within, because he could see the terror shining through.
She deserved this end, didn’t she, for daring what she had?
“We do not abide traitors,” Lothar went on. “Rapunzel, take your place among our ranks and tell Anna to split open her belly.”
Zel couldn’t help that he hesitated.
She deserved this… didn’t she?
“Remember, Rapunzel. We do not mourn our marks.”
“They are already dead,” Zel finished. “You heard him,” he said to Anna, “split yourself open for your wrongs against the guild.”
Despite the fear visible in her eyes, she wasted no time before turning the dagger, stabbing it into her side, and slicing across her middle, deep enough to spill her innards on the floor in front of her. She dropped, and Lothar kicked her onto her back. Zel knew why, for while this would not count as his ninth kill, he was still expected to watch the light leave her eyes, while her blood pooled toward his boots.
At least the light dimmed quickly.
“To Rapunzel!” Lothar shouted. “Tomorrow, her true task begins!”
“To Rapunzel!” the crowd echoed.
“Enjoy yourself tonight, pretty petal.” Lothar stepped over the body as uncaring as ever, while some of his guards came forward to clean up the mess. “And get out of those clothes and into something more befitting of a woman. Unless you desire anything else tonight, as reward for a job well done? Do you, Rapunzel?”
“Only one thing, Master Lothar. Please, call me—”
“Zel!” Rudy panted Zel’s name beside his ear, while hoisting him onto the table in the storeroom. Not even he knew the truth, despite being the only person Zel had fooled around with since the first stirs of fleshly yearning set upon them. “God, I love your breasts.” He kissed and licked Zel’s neck.
“What breasts?” Zel laughed, for he had never tried faking a larger bosom but made a point to remark on his flatness as if it was his unfair lot in life.
Using the cellar entrance into the shop’s storeroom, Zel had slipped away first, after whispering to Rudy the common code for their rendezvous, a Thieves Guild saying they had taken as their own:
“Only empty pockets need filling.”
It was particularly used among pickpockets, since the pockets of their marks were always full, and their pockets needed filling. Rudy had yet tofill Zel’s pocket, but the promise that he might always lured him.
Zel and his parents lived on the second floor, so he had gone up to change, then met Rudy back here. The layers expected of a woman could be a pain. Bodice and apron over shirt and outer petticoat, over corset and inner petticoat, all over chemise and stockings. Rudy was adept, however, at getting everything up top undone to slip his hands into Zel’s chemise and brush his fingers across Zel’s nipples.
He arched into Rudy’s touch, always enjoying when his friend did that.
“I prefer small breasts,” Rudy said, grinding his clothed cock against Zel’s thigh. “Large ones get in the way.”
