That damned elf had been on her tail for weeks now, killing him was impossible for her, the only possibility she had was to try to cover his tracks somehow, but he never gave up and always managed to find her again. He was heading to Souldor, the former capital of Norbeg, now in decline due to the internecine wars between the various lords to ensure dominion over the greatest amount of territory, foolish, pathetic, miserable humans. 

Sakna hated the way in which men had become, the greatest bitterness came to her when she saw how much the magical creatures had allowed themselves to be infected by the slimy way of life of men, before they predominated on those lands every creature was pure, certainly with the her defects, but never petty like men. Once she arrived in the city, she was absorbed by the comings and goings of all kinds of creatures and humans, mostly criminals. After the Carnation War, the goddess Mathar condemned the king to exile, together with all those who fought alongside him, cursing the throne, no one could ever become king again. So Souldor, once a prosperous and forward-looking city, had become a place from which it was better to stay away.

Sakna was happy to find herself in that confusion, the streets were always crowded, as on a holiday day, on the various stalls or blankets spread on the ground, there were no typical local products on display, but weapons of all sorts, poisons and drugs for every use. The slaves were displayed on constructed stages, where there was enough space, humans captured on other continents and various creatures were sold, from the small but strong Korrigan, kept tied in magical coops, to goblins and orcs destined for the heaviest work. A flabby-bellied auctioneer was tugging at a young and beautiful girl with light hair, she was looking down, sometimes she turned to look at another girl tied to a pole

.«Come people, today for the joy of many we have here two splendid examples of laumes» with the handle of the whip he raised her chin: «Beautiful don't you think? Young and meek" he pulled down the top of her dress, leaving her breasts exposed.

"Twenty bastards," shouted a toothless old man.

"What do you do, old man, he's going to wash the piss out of your trousers?" a short but well-dressed man with a well-groomed dark beard taunted him. «Leave them to those who know how to use them.

 Fifty heads and many greetings barker."No one dared to offer more, knowing the man and the people he worked for too well, so having paid for the goods, he handed them over to a goblin who was always with him, so that he could take them home.

 Sakna continued, he had no time to waste. At least among all those smells and noises it would have been more difficult for the elf to track her down and then he had a decent advantage, a few hours at least, he now knew how long it would take his unwelcome traveling companion to find her. He had to find a place to hide and brainstorm ideas about what to do, he walked along the streets, where the stately buildings, with facades once decorated with stucco, statues and columns, were now attacked by neglect. Pieces of crumbling plaster and stucco were piled up close to the walls, long and deep cracks suggested that many of them would soon collapse. 

Arrived at an inn. Appearing less dilapidated than the others, he took one last look around, in front of the entrance stood a drunken old man, raving stories about how beautiful his Souldor had been, people passed by without even giving him a glance and, if he became being too troublesome with someone, he received kicks and insults.She tightened her shoulder strap and went through the entrance, only two guys intent on playing cards turned to look at her, their interest vanished immediately fearing that the others would try to cheat them, a big man with a thick and dirty beard sat dozing next to the door he opened one eye, seeing her he understood that they wouldn't cause any trouble and went back to lazing. He was certainly responsible for "escorting" out the patrons who were annoying.

Sakna, because she preferred to keep away from people and even from the most flea of ​​countries, lived nomadically through the various kingdoms preferring the woods, she wore short and unkempt raven hair, sharp gray eyes, dressed in rags with a worn cloak and boots from her worn soles, the stench she gave off helped her keep away the curious people who occasionally stared at her. Armed with a sword, with a hilt made of a strange metal with blue shades, only by observing it closely could one distinguish the thin and intricate engravings and by drawing it one could see that it had no blade, after the guard there was the ricasso with the ratchets and nothing more, which is why he carried it over his shoulder. The only real weapon in his possession, which he kept on his belt, was a short sword.

Once at the counter he ordered a bottle of wine with what was ready to eat. He stacked the coins one by one to form a small tower, the innkeeper stroked his thick handlebar mustache, took the money and went back to taking care of the other customers.Having taken his order, he went and sat at a table from which he could keep an eye on the entrance. Happy to have eaten a decent meal, he drained the bottle and ordered another.

"Are you Sakna?" 

With a quick movement she pulled out her short sword and pointed it straight at the throat of the person who had spoken, finding herself faced with a goblin, who raised his arms to make her understand that his intentions were not bad but 

Sakna distrusted everyone."What do you want?" he didn't lower the blade an inch, looking at him sideways with narrowed dark eyes.None of those present intervened, issues like these were seen all the time, they knew it was better to stay out of them, only the big man stood up, putting his hand on the handle of the bat. The goblin shook his head and he sat down again.

Sakna understood that he was not a simple scoundrel: «What do you want?».

«Zaria sent me, she would really like to talk to you about a certain matter» she shifted her weight from one foot to the other: «Can I lower my hands and you the blade? It's a rather uncomfortable position.

""No"."He told me to tell you if I had any complaints, that he could help you with that new friend of yours and who hired him."Sakna thought about it, "to trust or not, who the heck is this Zaria, how does she know certain details?" The need to know if he could really help her with her unwelcome friend overcame her suspicion: "Come on, if I realize you want to cheat me I'll stick you", with her sword she motioned for him to go and sheathed it. 

 Once outside, they walked down the main street. Not long ago in those perfectly symmetrical streets, which started in straight lines from the large square located in the centre, one would have been able to meet the most brilliant minds and listen to them discuss their new discoveries, research, or the latest sonnet composed.The old king was a lover of the fine arts, passionate about various scientific subjects, he tried to bring the best engineers, architects, doctors, intellectuals and artists to court to advance his kingdom; he had established the first public school, open to the children of the common people of Souldor. 

The city even had a port, as it stood astride the Ondaoro river and trade was carried out with all the continents. Now the radiant Souldor was little more than an enormous tavern, where the law of the strongest prevailed. They walked through the various streets, which became increasingly narrower and with fewer people around, Sakna placed his hand on the hilt of his weapon.They stopped in front of a small door, which a long time ago must have had a beautiful emerald green color, now it was discolored, at the base you could see the rough wood full of cracks and signs of woodworms.

"We have arrived."Sakna looked around, a little further on there was an old man sitting near the door of the house intent on smoking, on the opposite side a young man intent on loading a cart. «I'm finished here, it was a real pleasure to meet you» he took his leave with an almost too deep bow, returning the way they had arrived.Sakna stared at the door for a while, took a deep breath and knocked.