Chương 11: Getting Stolen as a Rock?!

Chapter Eleven Getting Stolen as a Rock?!

"Almost... there...!" Dale grunted as Alice fought the urge to retch.

"Not inside...! On the belly...!" Alice's face would have been very red if she had a face. She recognized this particular woman from her first night in town. Ana Widowluck was one of Dale's favorites. Dale shuddered, and the short woman's voice became a shout.

"Eh?! Did you just...?! I said not inside!"

"Shut up, woman," Dale said with a shuddering laugh. After a few more spasms, he slid off her, and the black-haired Ana leapt out of bed.

"You bastard!" she hissed, glowering down at him.

"I told you! I told you, and you still went and... and..."

"Talk ta Momma about a potion," Dale said absentmindedly, which seemed to fill Ana with another flash of fury. Alice did not miss the chance for a whisper. Grabbing hold of Ana's ear, she filled the whore's head with one of Alice's greatest desires.

"Slap him across the face!"

"You're the worst!" Ana screamed, and she bent forward and slapped Dale hard across the face. Alice burst into noiseless laughter. She had learned that it was much easier to tempt people into doing things they already wanted to do. All Alice did was give them a little nudge.

"Calm down, woman," Dale said, rubbing his face.

"And do it somewhere else. I want some sleep."

"You...! You...!" Alice felt giddy with excitement as the woman grew even angrier. While Alice did not think Ana Widowluck was angry enough to try and kill Dale, she could at least harass him a little more.

"Throw something at his stupid face!" Alice whispered into Ana's ear, and the short woman obediently looked around the room in search of something to throw. [Serpent's Whisper] has reached Rank II.

"Yes!" Alice almost did a somersault of joy as the notification flashed across her vision. It was not hard to imagine that this would make her suggestions all the more powerful. Her excitement deadened, however, as Ana picked up Alice the Rock.

"Put that down," Dale said, no longer smiling. Poor Ana did not seem to notice the danger in his stare, however.

"You're a rotten worm!" she said, throwing Alice the Rock at his head. Ana did not throw Alice particularly hard. Dale covered his face, and the black stone bounced off his hands and onto his belly. Alice's vision swam very quickly as Dale picked up Alice the Rock. He rose from the bed in one swift movement, and all of Ana's courageous fury drained away.

"I... I'm sor- " she began. Craaaack went the familiar crunch of Alice the Rock. Ana fell sideways onto the floor, but Dale was not finished. Craack. Craaaack. Craa a aaaack. Skill Progress: Bloodthirsty [5 /10] Alice had never forgotten her rage, but day after day of fornication had left her somewhat... distracted. The red emotion born from Mittica's death returned, however, as Dale bludgeoned the black-haired beauty over and over and over. Until...

Defeated: Human Prostitute (Level 8) If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Received experience! A curse has reached its end. Received experience! Received cursed energy! Skill Progress: Echo of Misfortune [5 /10 0] Congratulations! You have reached Level 8! Level: 8 END: + 2 INT: + 3 PER: +1 WIL: + 2"What a mess," Dale said as blood dripped from Alice the Rock.

"I really liked her, too." Two men came and collected Ana's body. Covered in blood, Alice the Rock was left on the table just as she had been for the past week.

"Dammit...!" Alice wanted to scream. How could she have been excited about ranking up her skills when she was still trapped in this hellhole of a brothel? She had spent a decade, unmoving and uncaring, beside a lake, but one week in this place made her feel as though she was going to lose her mind. To be used as a weapon by that murderer not just once, but twice!

"I was happier in the pond!" Alice screamed, the air vibrating weakly around her, and the room's door swung open. Urd shuffled inside with a large bucket of water. Her face was hidden behind her hempen bandages, but her eyes were full of disgust. The floors were still covered with blood. Urd knelt over them and started scrubbing.

"Poor Ana..." The Girl whispered softly, as if afraid Alice the Rock might hear. She sniffled pitifully beneath her bandages.

"I hate him..." She scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed.

"I hate..." Urd sniffled noisily as she looked around the room.

"I hate this place..."

"I hate it, too," Alice mumbled, feeling almost like a kindred spirit to the Pitiful Urd.

"I can't stay here another day..." And with that one thought, Alice knew what she had to do. She did not want to curse this poor child, but if Alice had to watch that bastard bring back another woman after today's murder, she worried she might go insane. [Serpent's Whisper] had ranked up, but she had no idea how powerful it had become. She reached out to The Girl's hidden ears and whispered what she hoped was a shared desire.

"Steal the rock! Take it from this place! Take it far away!" Urd stopped scrubbing. Her tiny body went as still as a deer that had just noticed a wolf. Slowly, as if afraid someone might be watching, she turned and stared at Alice the Rock. She quickly returned to her scrubbing the next moment, however. Alice was not about to give up.

"Take the rock!" she whispered again into Urd's ear." He'll never know! It's valuable! Steal it and hide it somewhere... somewhere far away!" [Serpent's Whisper] did not require as much cursed energy as [Malevolent Whisper], and so she was able to whisper twice more into Urd's covered ears. But the disfigured child did not look up a second time. She remained wholly focused on her scrubbing. By the time the blood had disappeared from the floor, Alice knew she had failed. She would be stuck in this room forever.

She would likely be used as a hammer again before the month was out. Urd straightened up, a crimson rag in her thin hand. The bucket in her other hand was full of bloody water. What Alice would have given to be that bucket! To be carried out of this room and-"Eh?" Alice's thoughts ground to a halt as Urd quickly and clumsily reached towards Alice the Rock. Curse Spread: Tyri Karlvold Severity: Powerful Received experience! Received cursed energy!

PLOP went Alice as Urd quickly hid Alice the Rock inside her bucket of bloody water.

"It worked!" Alice's cheer produced several small bubbles, and she clapped her nonexistent hands around her nonexistent mouth. She did not understand why the notification had listed a different name for Urd, but it did not matter. Alice the Rock was making her escape! The Girl hurried down the hallway outside, her face turned towards the floor. She looked as guilty as guilty could be. Alice's elation dimmed as she realized the certain death her curse promised the child, but...

Urd moved through a rather empty downstairs. Alice wondered if the murder had dampened people's excitement. It was a good thing nobody was around, though. Urd looked like a walking corpse as she carried the Bucket of Alice through the brothel front doors and into the twilight.

"I'm outside..." Alice said soundlessly, creating a few more bloody bubbles. After a week of watching Dale's flabby cheeks flop around, she had escaped the brothel! Urd seemed to have a destination in mind as she marched out into the night. Without even a flicker of indecision, she hurried up and down dark alleys, the bucket held tight against her chest. They seemed to walk very, very far before Urd finally put the bucket down. They had stopped in a particularly cramped alley.

There were faint sounds in the distance, but the streets around Urd were still and silent.

"E-Eh?" A few more bubbles popped in the bucket as Urd filled the air with a horrified wail. It was such a painful and pathetic noise that Alice worried the child might have hurt themselves somehow.

"I'm d-d-dead..." Urd whimpered with her next shuddering breath.

"Why...? Why did I...? He'll k-kill me...!" And the disfigured child loosed another horrible wail. Alice was struck with a wave of pity as tears rolled down Urd's scaled and blood-cracked face.

"He'll know...! He'll know th-that I t-took it...!" Urd's entire body shook as she began to hiccup.

"He'll d-do...! He'll do t-terrible things...!" Urd looked down into the bucket, down at Alice the Rock.

"I n-need to take it back..."

"What?!" Alice forgot some of her pity. A few bubbles popped as the air vibrated with her unspoken words.

"No, no, no!" Urd flinched slightly as she noticed the bubbles, but Alice had no time to worry about that. She could not let Urd take her back to that table. But how could she convince this frightened child that everything would be OK? Her thoughts instinctively turned to Sorin and their brief conversation. She remembered the awe her [Malevolent Whispers] had inspired. She remembered how the [Pyromancer] had scoffed at Mittica's doubt, how he had claimed the boy was not as learned as he in... in the divine.

And without another thought, Alice introduced herself to Urd.

"H-Hear me and obey!" Alice whispered in Urd's ear. She struggled to make herself sound regal and awe-inspiring.

"I am no m-mere rock! I am Alice... of the M-Merry Weather!"