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Chapter

KAESO

Altyria - Year 2064 - Mysteria, The Haven Inn

Kaeso balanced on the creaking hind legs of his chair, resisting the urge to brandish his machete and lop the head off the aspiring racketeer seated across the table. The shadow lent from the second-floor balcony veiled his identity, though, and he preferred anonymity while obtaining information he had long searched for - the exact location of Death Cliff.

As the vilest death slave camp in Altyria, Death Cliff gained infamy by emerging as the first to subject imprisoned Immortal beings to eternal bondage and unspeakable cruelty. Such camps lay well hidden in the sandy hills of the Lizen Desert.

Traitors to their own kind, slave masters bought, sold and traded Immortals to nomadic tribes loyal to no one and often at war amongst each other. Nomads dwelled scattered throughout the canyons of the Northern Lizen territory, just south of the border separating it from the Immortal land of Fresia. Barbaric and unyielding, the nomads were a toxic combination of mercenaries and criminals from Earth, uninterested in joining the law-abiding Fresians. The death slave business was their bread and butter, and they intended to keep it that way.

The informant sneered, and in a hushed tone, again laid terms Kaeso deemed unacceptable. "You want in? You work for me. It ain't negotiable."

Raising an eyebrow, Kaeso imagined painting the tavern walls with the guy's blood. "Negotiable? Who said anything about negotiating, Lyle? You will simply tell me where it is."

"Now that's some confident shit, man." Lyle glanced at his far-too-pretty-looking blond haired, blue-eyed muscle called Huey standing behind him. "You hearing this?"

Huey released a low chuckle and plucked a dagger from his belt, allowing it to gleam in a ray of light peeking through an adjacent window. "Yep, and I like where it's goin'."

Kaeso smiled and set his seat level to the floor. "Let us get on with it then."

A flash of Altyrian metal sliced through the air, a direct hit into Huey's heart. Before his dead weight hit the floor, Kaeso slammed Lyle's face into the tabletop twice. The first slam made his point. The second was for his enjoyment.

"Where is it?" Kaeso demanded. Lyle spit out a few unkind words, which earned him two more face slams and several scattering teeth. "Try again."

After a brief pause, Kaeso poised his head for another slam. "I am waiting Lyle."

Lyle waved a hand in surrender. "All right, I'll fucking tell you!"

Kaeso listened as the slave trader whispered the details. The Southern Lizen Desert was his next stop. That destination was well beyond the equator, but still hot as hellfire. He could comprise a list of far more pleasant spots to plan a vacation. As much as he loathed coming to Mysteria to meet with this miscreant, anywhere in Mysteria was better than that damned desert.

He stood and pulled up his coat collar before tilting his hat down to cover his face. The speechless bartender stared as Kaeso strolled by and laid several coins onto the bar on his way out.

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