The Angkhora Warriors

Part 12: Tanamera

"Spread out and find him," Oja said. "If you have an opportunity, take it. If not, trail him until you do. Use the call if you trail him."

Everyone nodded, then separated in four different directions. Uma ran across the roof with her mask up. A light rain had begun, but it didn't stop the people of Tanamera from flocking to the street. They hustled about as they purchased and traded goods, none of them paying any attention to the young assassin running above them.

She listened in on the conversations on the street, keeping her ears tuned for the name Arakk, knowing that she'd hear it eventually if he was as notorious and wealthy as they claimed. He ran the largest spice trade route and had been doing illegal dealings for years, so he'd have to be one of the wealthiest men in the city.

She leapt to the opposite building and ran along the side of the walls for a few hundred feet. She lunged onto an iron pole sticking out from the wall, swung her body around the pole, and summersaulted into the air, dropped, and shoulder-rolled onto the opposite rooftop. The young assassin walked to the other end of the rooftop and looked down onto Spice Alley of the market district. Shacks and pavilions were set up to house the world's finest, colorful, and most aromatic spices from Angkhora. It seemed to be one of the busier parts of the markets.

The people of Tanamera came in all shapes, sizes, and classes. A tall woman covered with peacock feathers walked down the street strutting her long legs. A wild dog-man eating beef satay at the store whistled at Peacock Girl. A fat old cat standing on its hind legs served satay from behind the store. Peacock Girl ignored the whistle and walked down a back alley. She continued past a group of punters watching a fierce cockfight at the corner. The fighting cocks, with small blades attached to their claws, were battling to their death.

Peacock Girl turned a corner and walked down a quieter alley. That was when she saw the shadow of the wild dog-man looming from behind her. She stopped and turned around. The dog-man walked up slowly toward her. Uma could see Peacock Girl saying No and Stand Back. But the wild dog-man rushed forward. Suddenly, a throwing star flew from the rooftop and hit the ground in front of the attacker, stopping him in his track, the star missing his toes by an inch. He looked up and saw Uma's silhouette looking down from the rooftop, and swiftly turned and ran away. Peacock Girl turned her face up to Uma, nodded, and said Thank You softly. Uma nodded back and jumped to another rooftop.

Tanamera was known for its vices. Gambling. Women. Spice.

'Black Gold' was the street name for black spice, which was traded in high secrecy. Blue Spice was traded in the Grand Market, known for its pleasurable and hallucinatory qualities, widely used among elites and kings for recreational purposes. Black Gold was forbidden, rumored to have magical qualities that could cause madness but was highly sought after by the underworld. And those in search of Power.

And then she heard the name.

"Arakk," a frail monkey-man with an eye patch said, "he never lifts his finger yet makes all the money, how do I become like that?"

"It's because he's got balls. Hahaha," another monkey-man replied.

The two walked out from a hidden door in one of the buildings. The door, as it closed, shone some red light from inside. It must be a Spice Den, where they served black spice like opium.

"Nah. He put in his time. I heard he had a hard childhood," the man then corrected himself. "Have you heard his history?"

"His mother sold him to the Mongoose Clan when he was a child. He had two other siblings, Gray and White. He's Black."