His time is up.

"I'm sorry Milord!" you call down to him loud enough for the others to hear. "Please, Master, let me bring these to His Lordship, then you can..." Your voice trails to a whimper and you move to the door to Alrechi's room just as the thug reaches the top of the stairs. From below you hear a chorus of laughter and crude comments regarding how he should make you pay for your flight.

"Don't keep me waiting Bitch!" He snarls waddling towards you with his drooping pants only halfway held up in his hand. You get the door open and both you and the advancing thug are surprised by the muffled scream of anguish that comes from Alrechi's room through the opening door. Taking advantage of his hesitation you slip into the room. The scene before you could be an image of horror in the Temple of Hades; the plump barmaid's naked body is covered with blood as she straddles Alrechi's torso holding his severed manhood and testes in her hands over the writhing man's face. The girl is laughing hysterically as she rubs the bloody organs into his face.

"Oh shit." Is all you can say; instantly understanding the error you made when you left the girl alone with Alrechi. How many times, you wonder had the sadist tortured this barmaid? Could you even blame her for what she did, before you can say anything a knock at the door reminds you of your other problem.

"Come in." You say sweetly even as you open the door wide and pull the stunned lackey into the room. He was dead by the time he understood what he was seeing; his futile protest gurgling through a severed windpipe that was rapidly filling with blood as his body hit the floor with a thud.

"By the Goddess' fucking shield and helmet, Girl, did you have to go and do that?" She looks at you and the body at your feet in surprise and then seems to notice the dripping sex organs in her hands. She drops them with a gasp, no longer laughing and in the flickering candlelight you see the color drain from her face.

You open the door once again and peek through the crack to make sure no one else followed you up the stairs. Thankfully the hallway is empty and the raucous laughter from below has not changed in tenor. Moving back to the shaking girl, you help her climb off the bed and lead her away from the bloody mess that is still thrashing on the bed. It doesn't take long to slip out of her dress, and pushing the simple frock into her hands you lead her to the door.

"Go get cleaned up, Honey." You tell her. "I'll clean up this mess." Then before she can move you stop her with a hand on her shoulder. "You were never in here, you hear me?" She looks at you blankly making no attempt to leave the room. "They'll assume that it was me if you can keep your mouth shut, you understand?" She nods slowly, but you know she doesn't have it in her, closing the door again and dropping the bar into place you tell her sternly. "Wait here, this won't take long."

You use Alrechi's own curved knife to put him out of his misery and toss the blade on his chest. It was a good blade, maybe even better than any of yours, but you wanted nothing to remind you of this fucked-up night. You do however take what was left of the nobleman's purse before dressing swiftly in your black clothes and pause long enough to select another of the coils of rope from Alrechi's bag of goodies.

"Come," you tell the girl pushing her into the hallway "Quickly now, where do you sleep?" She leads you haltingly to a ladder at the end of the hall and you have to prod her naked body up the rungs and through the ceiling to a small loft. The attic had rafters hanging just four feet from the floor that covered only a small section of the inn's ceiling beams and a pile of bedding where the buxom girl slept.

"I'm going to tie you up." You tell her and you can see sudden panic flare in her eyes before belatedly remembering what the maid must have suffered while she was bound by these very ropes. She draws a deep breath, but before she can scream your fist hits her jaw and knocks her out cold. You leave her tied and gagged on her bed. It may not be enough to save her from the vengeance of the drunkards down below when they find their benefactor dead with his balls and cock cut from his groin, but its the best you can do.

Through the window at the end of the low unfinished loft you climb out onto the roof and into the nighttime city. From this height you can see easily Orestes' tower with its distinctive wooden walkway that encircles the top of the tower. As you try to decide what to do you notice that unlike usual, there are no guardsmen moving about the walkway. There is still time for you to complete the original plan, but are you up for it after what you've gone through already tonight?