Kingdom of fire and shadows: Useless magic and Salamanders.

Several months had passed since Xavier and the rest of the band escaped from Veldat to the Kingdom of Orphen. Crossing the border had been easy thanks to Emil's Melman worm. Orphen was a neutral kingdom with respect to the other two kingdoms on its border. Their economy was based on trade; their land was not suitable for farming and livestock breeding; their growth was limited; and the caravans of merchants between kingdoms were the backbone of the economy.

The band moved from one village to another. With the number of travelers and merchants moving around, it was easy to mix with the population. Vralia had some contacts within Orphen, and it was easy for him to get some small jobs. They kept a low profile; moreover, Xavier and Pip tried to keep their relationship with the band as secret as possible. Nelsen's experience reminded them of how advantageous it was to have a stranger in the group who could watch objectives without raising suspicions or making associations, in addition to other advantages. Xavier and Pip watched the general population, the guards, and the knights, gathered information and detected possible betrayals, listened to rumors, and secretly informed the gang. If either of them detected something suspicious about a job, Vralia canceled the operation altogether. The whole gang was only gathering when they were about to leave town.

Xavier took the time to learn a little from everyone. Poison and medicinal herbs of Racia; how to move silently in the jungle; attack vital organs, weak points, and notions of torture of Emil; Pip taught him to go unnoticed in the villages and to steal the pockets of distracted nobles; Gando served him as combat practice. The band had done several small jobs to pay for expenses such as food, beer, rum, and housing.

They had been staying for a few weeks in a village called Tram. They still had some money from the work of the previous days. Xavier had spent his money frugally; he had bought some clothes from the people of the area, simple clothing, but at least they were not the miserable and hole-filled rags the peasants from the border used to wear. He saved the rest of the money; he didn't know when things would go wrong and he would have to run away on his own. Vralia got wind of a good job in a citadel, a stealing job on a decaying noble who had created one too many enemies. The band gathered at a bar called La Tromba before leaving that village.

It was a run down building that was supposed to be a bar, with warm beer but cheap, bad rum, rustic tables, wooden jars, some rats running through the corners, and a mangy dog at the entrance. The place was full of criminals, mercenaries, and, in the best of cases, people of dubious reputation.

'Aleum, when are you going to invite us for a drink? With all the money you save, you must be rich by now.' Pip drew the bait; it was wise to always try to get a free drink.

Xavier merely looked at him with a glance, as if they had told him they were going to kill him. "With the shitty pay I get?" he thought.

This was not entirely true. What he earned in the band was the lowest, but it was more than what his entire family earned for a year in the countryside in Humol. He had saved ten silver coins in half a year. For a miserable man like him, it was a fortune. In the end, crime paid off, and it paid off well.

'Aleum the Stingy,' joked Racia, hitting her elbow. 'The cheapest man I know, and look, I've met nobles with steel hands.'

'For the master and founder of the closed hands fraternity,' added Emil, raising his jar in a toast to Xavier's penny-pinching life.

Everybody laughed at Xavier's expense every time they sat down and drank at a bar. It was that, or Emil started a fight with someone weaker than him. He may be like a ghost in the jungle, but in populated places, he caught too much attention, standing out like a sore bunion.

Xavier did not pay much attention to them; he was absorbed in his thoughts. He was already seventeen years old; more than a year had passed since he woke up as a magician. Many things had happened: he was falsely accused and exiled from the tower, almost killed, betrayed his family, and joined a gang of criminals. Those memories were still painful, and if anyone had paid attention to him, they would have noticed the change in his face, though it only lasted a few seconds. He spent most of his free time practicing his magic. Especially his transformation magic and his fire magic. Without proper instruction, his progress was limited. While he was lost thinking about the results of his experiments, the other members of the band thought he was looking at the waitress. She was a young girl, white and thin, with the typical body of poor people who are hungry at the border and flee to the cities to make a living. She had few curves, small breasts, and a long back. A scar disfigured the left side of her face.

'Don't tell me that's your type,' said Pip with a face of surprise.

'No way,' said Racia, 'I thought you liked men.'

This caused some reactions from Xavier. Only then did he realize that they were talking about him. Emil was a sadist; Vralia was a frequent client of the brothels and flirted with everything that had breasts, as did Pip. Gando was very discreet and silent, but more than once he had been seen flirting with very young girls. Racia had no trouble filling her bed.

'Why do you guys think I like men?' said Xavier.

'Cause you never showed any interest in Racia. Until recently, it was a pain in the ass to have Pip spying on her in the bathroom; we thought that the same would happen with you,' Emil replied. 'But you've never done that, not once.'

Pip approached Xavier and said to his ear, 'I still spy on her, but now they don't catch me,' he said with a wink.

Xavier's face turned red like a tomato. He didn't know what to say. Racia was a muscular and strong woman, but she was still attractive. Her voluminous breasts were striking, but he could not say that he was afraid to look very much at a woman who could kill him with a drop of ricinus at any time or cut his neck while he was sleeping. He remembered how unpleasant it was for him when his brother was spying on him in the barn. Racia kept staring at him, and after a few seconds, her eyes opened wide, astonished at her discovery.

'This boy is a virgin!' said Racia.

Everyone at the table, and some at the next table, stood looking at him.

'This boy almost dies more than once and has never done it? ... this is unforgivable,' Vralia concluded.

'Tasty!.' Racia looked at him like a lion at a piece of meat while biting her lower lip.

'Oh, no!' replied Vralia. The last thing we need is a band member who's pussy stricken and like an idiot behind your ass. Over my dead body.′

'Bah!' complained Racia, drinking her beer.

'Finish your drink, boy; we'll turn you into a man tonight,' said Vralia, as everyone at the table laughed, except Racia.

Seeing that soon everyone would go with Aleum to some brothel, Racia did not want to be the one that stood behind. She got up from the table, finished his beer at once, and looked around the bar until she saw a man who met her expectations. There wasn't much to choose from. Although there were many men there, few seemed suitable for her. The chosen man was a tall, mulato, short-haired man. He had no beard; he must have shaved himself that same day. His body was strong and burly, with the muscles of his forearms well toned. Racia opened her blouse a little to show more meat and went straight to the stranger's table. She sat on his legs, said something to his ear, kissed him in the mouth for a few seconds, and then she drank his beer as if it were water. She got up from the man's legs, grabbed his hand, and took him out of the bar. The man did not resist and continued to smile while walking after her.

'Lucky fucker'

Some were screaming in the bar, others were bursting with laughter or curses of envy, while all the members of the band were thinking, 'How easy it is to be a woman.'

They finished their beers and went to the outskirts of the village, near the town. Vralia and Pip knew the best locals in the area.

The gang entered an alley, where they found a man armed with a spear and a short sword. He was as big as Gando, or maybe bigger and stronger. When he saw Vralia and Pip, he let them pass without asking questions. They arrived at the door of the premises; it was a two-story building, and at the entrance, a sign said "La Carnaza." Vralia knocked on the door. Someone looked out a window, and when she saw Vralia, the door opened.

A woman about 50 years old, white, obese, with long, smooth hair, a lot of makeup, a red dress, and a feathered hat, greeted them.

'Vralia, my dear, I love to see you so soon.' The woman welcomed them with a smile, which disappeared at once when she saw Emil. 'Except you, maniac. You are not welcome. I inform you that none of the girls intend to do business with you again, and I am not going to force them, so you can go somewhere else or, rather, use your hands and never touch a woman again.'

'Relax, Diela; today we come only as chaperons.' Vralia pointed to Xavier. Emil pushed him forward.

'Well, well, you have a new member in the band...' Diela, the madame, looked at Xavier from head to toe. It was obvious that the boy was nervous. 'A virgin?'

The members of the band exploded in laughter, as Vralia confirmed. The woman took Xavier's hand and threw him into the room.

The smell of cheap perfume infested the damp air of the place, and the oil lamps were covered with a thin red cloth, changing the color of everything in the room. The madame left the men in something that looked like a bar; they asked for the cheapest rum in the place.

'Five copper coins for a shot of bad rum; for all heaven, Diela, this is a robbery,' Vralia complained.

'Firstly, our rum is not bad, and secondly, having a drink in my excellent place has its price,' replied Diela with a false indignation.

The men paid for a full bottle and began to drink despite their protests.

As they waited for the girls, Xavier was more nervous and sweaty. He had seen Emil torture a boy; he had stolen, infiltrated houses and buildings, and done many deplorable and dangerous things. He had already become accustomed to it, but right now he had his heart in his throat.

The lady came back with four young, well-formed girls. They were the typical girls of the countryside who came to the city to "work," but before the madame proposed to Xavier to choose one, as was customary, Vralia advanced, approached a girl of black hair, long to her shoulders, with a good body, gave Diela fifty copper coins, and gave the girl another twenty coins.

'Treat my boy well; give him the full service.'

Usually the tariff was fifty copper coins, which was quite expensive, but the bissiness had a very reasonable quality; even some nobles visited it. Of the fee paid to the madame, she kept thirty. On this occasion, the girl had already earned the usual amount with the tip alone.

The girl approached Xavier, took his hand, and led him into a room, while the others were serving themselves drinks from that bottle of cheap rum. Xavier stopped, separating himself from the girl, who was frightened to think that she would lose a very lucrative client. Xavier returned to the bar, where the others looked at him strangely.

'He does like men in the end,' everybody thought.

Xavier took Vralia's and Emil's rum shots and swallowed them one after another. The poison burned his throat and dispelled his fears. He turned around without saying a word and returned with the girl. The men looked at each other, began to laugh, and went back to drink.

Xavier was guided into a small room, and the girl began to slowly undress him.

'What is your name?' asked the girl as she took off her dress.

'X... Aleum, what about you?'

'Marlebis, but everyone calls me Marle.'

The girl was already naked; the light of the lamp was enough to appreciate the curves and shape of the young girl, who helped him get totally naked and began to kiss him. Before he realized he was lying on the bed face up, the girl was kissing him from the mouth, descending through the neck and chest to reach his lower parts. Xavier opened his mouth and closed his eyes, letting himself be carried away by pleasure.

An hour later, Xavier was leaving the room by the girl's arm's. She left him with his companions kissing his cheek, turned around, and disappeared as she had appeared.

'Let's go to the bar,' said Xavier. 'My treat'.

The men came out of the brothel laughing and making jokes.

'I bet the first one you didn't last a minute,' said Pip as they walked.

'A minute? I didn't last ten seconds,' Xavier replied, while the others laughed.

'It is not surprising; that girl has talent,' assured Pip, provoking more laughter.

Xavier laughed with them; today he didn't mind being the joke. They went back to the bar and drank until dawn. That night was one of those few moments when there seemed to be some kind of camaraderie, but it wasn't something that was suposed to last.