*Six Hours Earlier*
Muna passed the small but heavy leather pouch over to the prison guard and raised her eyebrows pointedly. It was all the savings they had, her and Hani - but if the prisoner was who she had been told he was, it would be worth the sacrifice.
They wouldn’t have enough to pay the innkeeper for the time they had spent in his rooms. Not that it mattered; if everything went according to plan then Hani would be leaving the city faster than some irate landlord could catch him.
"Any particular inmate?" the large guard asked, the skin around his nostrils was rough and yellowed from sniffing Dune Dust, a cheap and favoured drug of the desert cities.
"You have a man," Muna said quietly, her black shawl pulled around her face to both protect from the sand filled winds and to divert any unwanted attention. "His ability is shape shifting."
"Levi," the guard growled, putrid spittle flying from him lips and causing Muna to back away instinctively. Evidently, this particular prisoner had given the guards some grief over the time he had been incarcerated.
"How the hell do you know Levi?" the guard frowned, looking Muna up and down with a sneer - as if judging her for associating with the likes of such criminals.
"I don't know him," Muna replied truthfully, "but I think I've paid you enough for an introduction?"
The guard grunted noncommittally but beckoned her through the prison's wooden doors a moment later, tucking the coin pouch safely in his chest pocket.
"There's no telling if he'll actually be himself today," the guard muttered as he ushered Muna down a long stone tunnel past foul smelling cells. Gnarled and dirtied hands reach out from in between bars, snatching at Muna's dress and face. The guard strode on ahead, evidently assuming Muna could take care of herself in such an environment.
"Here he is," the guard announced finally, turning a corner and sticking a long intricate key into a locked door. The door swung open and Muna frowned as she heard a seductive feminine voice dripping with honey come filtering through the open doorway from the prison cell inside.
"Oh my, have you brought me my food already Guard? You know, a girl like me's gotta eat!"
"Shut it Levi," the guard snapped, staggering back out of the cell with a red flush across his face, clearly eager to get away as quickly as possible from whoever was inside.
"It's all yours," the guard spat, gesturing to Muna before going to stand around the corner, peeking back to see if she would actually enter the cell.
Muna took a deep breath, regretting it when she remembered where she was. She hitched up her dress and stepped into the darkened chamber.
Muna almost laughed in surprise when she spotted the occupant - an amply bosomed blonde woman with rouged lips and a tight fitting dress smiled coyly back at Muna. A moment later however, the woman’s pale face pinched into a surprised frown of her own.
"Oh!" the woman announced, immediately dropping her alluring pose. "I was expecting another one of the guards."
"I can see that," Muna smiled tightly. Her mouth fell open a moment later though when the blonde woman transformed into a huge, bearded man in front of her eyes. The man had pearly white teeth against his ebony skin, and vivid scars that look like they were from a blade raised in battle.
"Perhaps I am more to your taste?" the man asked in a deep and accented tone as Muna clapped her hands together in delight.
"Such a clever trick!" Muna hissed excitedly as the man transformed again, filtering through different personas before finalising on a young male form, in his late twenties, unshaven with unkempt thick brown hair and almond grey eyes.
He had tanned skin and a strong, muscular frame. There was a silver scar bisecting his mouth and heavily inked tattoos strewn thickly across his shoulders and chest. He was handsome, with a boyish twinkle in his eye and a smirk on full, plump lips. But he was dirty, filthy even and smelled like hell.
"The real Levi I presume?" Muna sighed.
"You could sound less disappointed!" The man exclaimed indignantly before pointing emphatically at Muna. "And it's not a fucking parlour trick!"
Muna raised an arched eyebrow and pursed her lips in amusement as the man huffed at her, scratching at his stubble.
"Who are you anyway?" he asked, his true voice was low, sultry and surprisingly educated for a criminal.
"I'm just a paying member of the public," Muna shrugged innocently, pulling down her shawl to reveal her face. Her beauty seemed to have little to no effect on Levi however, a fact which she noted with amused curiosity.
"Of course you are," Levi muttered, biting at his thumbnail. "Are you making the rounds? Come to see all the prisoners scheduled for trial tomorrow? Just wanted a sneak preview of the spectacle huh?"
"I can't imagine there will be much spectacle in your fight," Muna replied quickly. "What are you going to do against twenty sorcerers? Turn into a blonde and busty maiden again?"
"More like a young and nubile boy knowing sorcerers," Levi scoffed, turning away from Muna and beginning to pace his cell. "So what - are you a punter? Going to place some bets tomorrow on how long each prisoner will last and you just wanted to suss out the poor bastards first?"
"Something like that," Muna murmured, drawing closer to Levi to inspect his tattoos. "What does that say?"
"What?" Levi asked distractedly as he drew to a halt and twisted his neck to look at his own shoulder. "Oh the script? It's in one of the ancient languages..."
"Yes I know that," Muna snapped impatiently, "It's in Alackai."
"Well if you already know then why did you ask?" Levi huffed, wheeling back on Muna.
"Because I recognize the script," Muna explained slowly and as patronisingly as possible, "but I can't actually translate it. Unless you don't know either and you could have some ancient shopping list stamped on your skin for all you care?"
"It's a proverb," Levi retorted defensively, "I found it in some old book."
"Alackai was the language of the Kaiaya," Muna noted as Levi cocked his head at her.
"Really? How interesting," he said drily. "You know a history lesson is exactly what I requested for my final night alive."
"The Kaiaya," Muna continued whilst pointedly ignoring Levi, "were one of the few races where people could be born of both dark and light magic."
"So the myth goes," Levi shrugged.
"And for anyone of fully dark magic - they invented a device that could turn them half light - allowing them to live long and healthy lives."
"If you say so," Levi muttered, folding his arms and leaning back against the wall of his cell with a bored expression.
"The Kaiayan city of Alack, however, was lost to the passage of time," Muna murmured, her eyes glazing over slightly as she remembered the words of manuscripts she had read so many times before.
"Nagimiotani has hundreds, thousands of lost cities," Levi frowned, "why are you so interested in telling me about Alack?"
"You're right," Muna gave him a small and precise smile, "of course it should be you telling me about Alack."
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