Chapter 22

Ash had never done anything like what had happened between him and a woman named Elecia who worked at the Night Angel. After the date had been decided for there departure for Wempton where they were booked for two days, he prepared his ship for the journey. He was still disturbed by the fact that Jade wasn't accompanying them and the woman who was second in charge, Gretchen, was not a very talkative one, she was all business and clearly hated men. So, he was now keen on getting this journey over with. There was going to be a big party in Wempton after the elections that had happened the previous week, a lot of big powerful people were going to be coming, so it wasn't a surprise all kinds of entertainment was being arranged for them. There was obviously an element of secrecy involved too, considering they were after all political leaders, which Gretchen explained to him very precisely.

"So I don't want any of your men announcing about us in a pub while drunk off his wits," she had said to him.

They were going to be around twenty of them and it was Ash's responsibility to keep the count and make sure all of them were safe at least while they were on the ship.

"And if I found out some of you men, tried anything with one of my girls, I'll skin you alive" she had then warned him, her teeth were a little sharper than usual which made the threat all the more real.

Their departure went smoothly, he had the women stay in the upper decks and kept check on them. That's where he first noticed Elecia or her real name Alice, she wasn't like the rest, at least in her attitude. She kept to her business and was a bit of a loner although she was one of the most beautiful ones there.

When they had, reached Wempton, Ash took the night off and went exploring the market and the city. It was a very rich city, Wempton anyone could see, even the most cramped streets were still better looking than most in Slarveg. After much roaming around when he hadn't found anything good he went back to the ship. It was supposed to be empty, the crew was staying in an inn, and the women wouldn't return until the day after tomorrow. So he was surprised to see the light on in Alice's name. He looked through the slightly opened gate, she was sitting on a reclined chair, and reading a book. He also noticed that she was talking to herself, but there was something weird about it. It was like she was talking to someone else, or rather saying too sweet place things, like he had heard the day he went to meet Jade.

She spotted him and jumped.

"Oh no, you made me break my spell," she said and then clamped a hand on her mouth.

"You are a witch?" he asked, realising what was happening. She was looking here and there, wondering how to get out of the situation.

"Please don't tell anyone; they would kick me out; Gretchen would kill me if she found out," she said.

"But you are a witch; why are you so afraid of her?"

"I am just a half-witch; I can do only a few useless things."

"What were you doing now?"

"I... I was making a man dream about spending a night with me," she said.

And so he had found out her secret. She was afraid all through the trip later that he would tell her, but he didn't. He didn't want to do anything. But over the next few weeks, he had to blackmail her into doing the dream thing on some of his enemies to get a few things done. he felt really guilty about it, her never made her do anything really serious and over time stopped asking her to do anything, but still, they had a very complicated relationship since then. All their meetings, she would keep telling him he was an asshole for blackmailing her and he kept telling her it wasn't anything different than what she was already doing and a little help wasn't causing her any harm. For some reason, it was morally fine for her to use her powers but when Ash did it, it was wrong.

"But those men are filthy pigs; they are corrupt and bad" she would say when Ash pointed it out.

"These men are bad too" he would say in retaliation.

"Yeah they are bad just because they won't do what you want them to" their argument continued on.

In all Ash felt it was more trouble than its worth to ask for her help, she talks a lot once she starts. But now he would have to ask her for help again, he just hoped she was on this island and not back on Slarveg.