...Forton...Neia's Quarters...
Neia gasped as she woke up in a cold sweat in the closet of her luxurious room. "Damn. That was unpleasant." She said as her hand went over her heart, it was beating a thousand times a second, or so it felt as her eyes took in her surroundings and she struggled to catch her breath. For a moment as she sat up and propped herself against the wall, she tried to remember what she'd dreamt, but nothing came to mind, it was black.
She got up, left her closet, moved the desk away from the entry, and rang for a servant. In minutes an elf woman was at her door, her long golden hair fell to her waist, her ears were long and tapered to a point as if they'd never been cut, her eyes a gentle blue without the steel of the pope, she wore a simple dress of black and white with an apron in the front that marked her station. But most of all, what stood out was her look of shock at who was inside the room to which she'd been summoned.
She fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around Neia's legs and sobbed into her clothing. "It's you... it's you it's you it's you it's you..." She wept as Neia looked down at her, unable to think or move.
Doing her best to avoid hurting the slender woman, Neia put her arms down to the woman's shoulders and pulled her away. "I'm sorry but... I don't know you, do I?" Neia asked, a little concerned she may have forgotten someone.
The elf woman looked up and put her hands to Neia's waist, her soft blue eyes were wet with happiness... "No... I... I was a friend of someone you knew. I was one of the prostitutes in the Golden Roan. I was one of Illyana's friends. I survived because she passed on your teachings, and I was in the hotel when you came to save us... I could never not recognize you. Even though we've never met, Illyana spoke of you with almost every breath she took when we were together."
Neia held out her hand, and the elf woman took it, allowing the Black Paladin to help her up. "You don't need to go to your knees for me... Wenmark was my greatest failure... so many of your people died, all because of my mistakes. True, I have had some successes... but Illyana died in pain because of me, so many of your sisters there did. I am glad you're alright, that many of you are... but were it not for His Majesty's mercy, everything would have been lost, or nearly so."
The elf woman shook her head, "Lives were lost... but even those of us who died... we died for a reason, we got our souls back, you reminded us all that we were people too... I... wish things had gone as well as you'd hoped they would. But if we ever had a human champion, it is you. I live, and am free, because of you."
"What is your name?" Neia asked gently as she withdrew further into her quarters.
"Sylva. Sylva of Crescent Lake." The maid replied humbly, her eyes still wide with disbelief at who stood in front of her.
Neia gave her a winning smile that gradually grew sadder as she spoke, "I'm glad you're alright, Sylva of Crescent Lake, that warms my heart. If... you ever wish to visit the grave of Illyana, she is buried on a hill to the west of Prart, there's a tree there that her body nourishes, and a stone marker, it's a peaceful place. Far from the land she hated."
Sylva returned Neia's expression and nodded deferentially, "One day, after everything is finished, I will go to her and pay my respects. She was a sister, in how we lived if not by blood."
"I'm sure she would approve, but for now... I desperately need a bath, please draw one for me and select my dress for the day, I did not sleep well." Neia said wearily, when a thought occurred to her. 'I didn't attack her. I... did what I did, to my wife and to Tuare and if I'm honest with myself I... nearly did to Enri. But an elf maid grabs me and I stand there befuddled and don't respond at all?' As Neia turned the matter over in her head, she went to her satchel beside her bed and took out a pair of message scrolls to ask for Lakyus and for a [Gate] for her.
"I understand, mistress. I don't sleep well either." Sylva said quietly as she entered the bathing room and began to work the pump to draw water.
That drew Neia's ear, she laid the scroll aside for a moment and sat down at a small table in the corner. "No?" She asked neutrally.
"Most of us don't." Sylva said from the other room where she worked.
"What do you do about it?" Neia asked in a carefully neutral voice.
Sylva's melodic voice went a little louder as the sound of water flowing into the tub echoed through the room. She seemed understanding, caring, but distant. "We talk to each other, every now and then... we work together now, most of us. And when we're together, if one of us is having... trouble, we pause the work and let them talk, or give them space, or embrace them, whatever they say they need at the time. We're all in it together so... I think that helps. Lady Pestonya advised Governor Aorli of what to do, and advice like that was passed to us. There are other things, but I don't wish to waste your time with concerns about us. You've done enough for a hundred elven lifetimes, you don't need to do more."
'She's so kind to us... to want to know we're well and recovering... she hardly seems human. I envy her... what must it be like to be so strong, so invincible, to never have to feel like this. To be untouchable by fear or nightmares, to walk through hell and smile at the demons before striking them down. Heroes are an otherworldly breed.' Sylva thought to herself as she dipped her hand in the water to ensure the enchanted stone tub was warming it as it should.
"I see." Neia answered from where she sat at the table beyond the door. "Well, I'm just glad you're all taken care of." She put commanding force into her voice with a gentle concern, and wiped her eyes clean of distress as fragments of her dreams came back to her. 'So much for that idea, I can't do that.' She thought to herself with resignation.
"The bath is ready, mistress. If you will enter it, I will select your clothing and return promptly to see you cleaned." Sylva said happily, "I admit, I'll be the envy of the other maids for this."
Neia forced herself to laugh, as she rose and went to the bath. "Well, I won't make you work too hard for it, but... if you don't mind, it's just 'Neia'. I don't own you, you're a free elf. Call me by my name, and I'll call you by yours."
Sylva shook her head as Neia entered, "Please allow me to use the word, 'Mistress', and make it a word worth loving instead of hating."
"I will bow to your wishes then." Neia said as she took off her clothing and stepped into the bath, savoring the feel of the rising heat over her skin. "Please bring me the scrolls I set out before you tend to my clothing or to myself, there is something I must do."
"As you wish, mistress." Sylva said with a wide smile spreading over her pale skin.
...Northeast of the Ruins of Wheaton...
"Fifty percent casualties are not what I would call a success." Nin said as he cut raw meat from the deer and chewed it slowly. His black cloak protected him from the cold, and his twin knives saw them provided for, his hazel eyes swept his companions, and several of them grumbled around the kill in agreement.
"Maybe not, but killing the target 'is'. And a fifty percent success rate is... well, we've seen worse." Holt replied with a disgruntled mumble as he started sawing off a piece for himself. "We got in, killed her, took her body, burned it to nothing but ashes and scattered it to the winds, and we got away clean. Alright, Pel's team was wiped out, but we were going after the generals and the Queen, did you think this would be easy?"
"It wasn't fifty percent, we didn't find the Queen, let alone kill her." Nin pointed out before tearing meat away from a piece of bone.
"We also didn't lose anybody trying to find her, and we know that the Queen isn't with them now, that's something." Holt answered in turn. "You sent word back, right?"
"Course." Nin responded with annoyance, "Kinda concernin' though I think. We know she was there, now she's not. So where'd she go?"
Holt snarled out angrily and stabbed his knife through the snow and into the dirt. "It's time to admit the obvious. We're going to lose."
As if frozen by the falling snow, the rest of the team stopped cold at everything they were doing, even chewing, and looked at him as if he'd gone mad.
"We're. Going. To. Lose." Holt said bluntly. "Wheaton is gone, Crossroads is gone, Ikari is gone, Feron is gone, C'teon didn't have a chance in hell and will probably fall soon if it hasn't already, Yaksun and Chasm City are both gone, and so is every fortress meant to prevent all of that! Even if by some miracle we wiped out all the armies on our soil, we not only don't have enough 'people' left to launch a counter attack, they could all just raise new armies again and come for us. Killing generals only slows down the inevitable!"
He glared at his comrades. "Am I wrong?" It was not the question it sounded like. "I dare you, tell me I'm wrong, and then explain how." Holt's piercing green met theirs and one by one they fell away.
Nirn stabbed his own knife into the dirt in the same way, swallowed the bite he'd taken, and glared back, "What do you propose then?" He asked calmly. "Surrender to the undead? Become his lackeys or toys, become good slaves like the fucking elves?"
Holt shook his head, "No, never that, instead I propose something else. We go south, the elves are still in chaos after the death of the King, the few who traded safety for their families in exchange for loyally abusing others, are still being... dealt with. We can sneak in, raid one of the more disordered places, and steal some magic items, illusion stuff, change how we look. Then we go outside the borders, into the wider world. The undead won't be content with just what he's won. Sooner or later, he'll venture east. I say we make the world ready for him, it may take generations, but with our skills, we can help build a coalition of nations, or perhaps even a new empire to the east to rival him. We may not take him down today, but we can lay the foundation for our great grandchildren to take him down one day, and humanity can ascend once more to the place the gods decreed for us."
"You've been thinking of this for awhile." Nin said reluctantly.
Holt nodded firmly, "I have, since Ikari fell. If the Iron Governor could be broken, anyone could be."
The rest of them thought it over. "What else did you have in mind?" Nin asked with more confidence in his voice.
"We can't just all 'vanish'. They'll wonder where we are, they'll look for us, so I propose we send word to the other teams, they each split their numbers in half, nobody knows how many of us there are, and our activities are sporadic. The halves that go, make their way east, there are lots of mountainous regions in the east, and hidden valleys, and deep woods, we can take some women with us, start little 'alcoves' of humans in exile. We use magic to blend in, and worm our way into the halls of power, an assassination here, a coup there, and over generations we build up a coalition of demihumans, I know, I know, desperate times need desperate measures, or... if far enough away, perhaps human kingdoms if any exist, and we use them to stop the damned undead from ever moving east!"
"One day... we can come back..." One of the others added hopefully.
They spoke amongst themselves for several minutes as the cold blew and the blood and meat nourished their bodies, before finally coming to an agreement.
"Alright," Holt said calmly, "I'll take half and go south, one of you carry word to the drop sites for the other teams, we'll start pulling out of here as fast as we can, nobody will think anything of it if some women disappear, there are so many refugees as it is... I kind of feel bad about kidnapping some human women but..." He shrugged, "It can't be helped, we have no time to argue, and we're doing them a favor anyway, they won't find safety at Kami Miyako."
There was a reluctant silence as nobody wished to agree, and yet they did.
"How do we decide who goes?" Nin asked.
"Ritual of the gods, winners go east, losers stay and make the undead pay whatever price we're able, for taking away our country." Holt proposed.
A round of grumbled agreement met him, and they paired off one by one to the game of rock, paper, scissors. When they were done, they clasped bloody hands, and Holt and his half got up and left.
When they were gone, Nin looked at his peers, "I'm going to head for the drop site and let them know our intent, the rest of you head west, we can do more damage there, everything here is lost."
Nin was spiriting himself away in short order, fast as the wind he moved in the low run he'd been trained to, he reached down and touched the knives he'd put back at his side. 'I can't believe it's come to this... that we should live in such times... but it will not end here, not today, not tomorrow, not until everything is right again, even if it takes a thousand years... we will rise again!'
The rest of his squad began to move on, more slowly, but steadily and easily, untroubled by the freezing cold that would leave lesser men in terror of their lives.
They moved on for hours, until within the woods through which they moved, the howling wind began to still, and gentle snowfall let the dead woods come to life. They could hear the crunch of snow beneath their feet, and the gentle sounds of branches breaking here and there, or a lump of snow falling where it became to great for a branch to support it.
The twelve of them became accustomed to those noises very quickly, which was why a new sound startled them. A sweet and simple song. "Down in the valley... or wherever I go... a longing, a hope, that soooomeone will know... the hardship, the pain, of the one who's betrayed..."
The twelve traded uncertain looks. 'No one should be out here in this?' Was the universal thought, but through the dead woods, darkness, and gently falling snow, they saw a little light. It only took a look for them to know they needed to surround the source.
They moved so stealthily that they made not a sound, and in seconds a tiny clearing was evident, and there on a stump, sat a young woman.
"I've hoped for, I've longed for, a reckoning day... where hopes are fulfilled and the guilty are slain..." The woman paused in her lovely singing, a few butterflies hovered around her hand, her pale white skin seemed to shine like a cloud with the sun behind it. She had one leg crossed over the other, and fire red hair in a long double braid swayed slightly as she turned her head.
"You can come out, I know you're there." She said in a beautiful voice.
The Agante members that surrounded the clearing were hesitant, goosebumps formed on every living body at the strange scene. Still, knives came out with the confidence of long practice, and they stepped out of the shadows and into the light that seemed to come from her.
Meidhall looked around her, a few faces flashed through her memory, and matched the ones here. Before they could speak, she did, "You're probably wondering what a beautiful maiden like myself is doing just idling the night away here, in the middle of nowhere, but the truth is... this isn't nowhere to me. I spent many an hour in these woods when I was a little girl, there's even a small cabin not far away, my mother built it, and sometimes she used to go there to sneak away with my father for a little youthful rendezvous." She laughed with amusement and placing a hand on the trunk where she sat, she leaned over slightly.
"But you don't have any reason to care about that, do you?" She asked rhetorically. She carried on without waiting for an answer, "The important questions were, why am I here, and why did I know you were? The answer to both of those... in reverse order, is yes, and that is why. Don't I look a little familiar to some of you?" She asked sweetly.
Blank looks met her.
Her ruby lips formed into a pout, "Oh, right, I guess I look different. Picture this hair, but blue as a sapphire. Oh, and also... picture me as the daughter of Cardinal Dominic." She cut to the chase, and dropped the minor illusion, the points of her ears became obvious, and her blood red catlike eyes were exposed, and her hand thrust upward over where she sat. "[Mass Drain Life]" she called out as the Agante members responded to her change with instant aggression.
They froze as the legendary undead opened her mouth in a vengeful smile and then they sank slowly to their knees and one by one fell forward, as their bodies aged almost to the point of death. "You won't die, not yet." She said as the last of them fell forward into the snow and she cut off the spell. "I'm taking you to my mother's cabin, there, your blood will go to my cauldron, and I will consume every drop, and you will watch each other die."
She savored the look of horror on their faces, and over the first one, she loomed close and whispered teasingly, "You should have known it wouldn't be as easy as all that, to kill the servants of the Sorcerer King."
The look of horror did not vanish from their faces as she dragged them like logs through the snow, to the place where she would end their lives.
...Crossroads...
"It's been what... a week? Two? Who even knows, but we can't find that bitch anywhere?!" Ithari shouted and kicked a chair hard enough to send it flying across the room.
"She should have been close to her bodyguard, the red headed bitch!" Kar replied emphatically, he held his hands out in front of him, bending them at the waist.
"Well, she wasn't! We got this riot started just so we could kill the peasant bitch, and she's nowhere, and thousands of our people are dead for nothing!" Ithari roared in a rage. "They'll have the rest of the city put down soon, and all the outlying areas too, I never imagined that bitch would use the methods she has..." His roar became despondent and he leaned against the wall to hold himself up.
"Maybe she hasn't?" Kar suggested tentatively, and Inthari's head snapped up to look at him. His sandy hair swayed behind him, and brown eyes looked over inquisitively.
"What?" He asked.
"I said, 'maybe she hasn't?' Think about it, all we've seen is the goblin animal with the white beard that is almost always with her, and we've seen the red haired whore. Maybe they've been running everything and she's not here at all." Kar proposed with growing displeasure in his voice as he considered his own words.
Ithari went very quiet as he ran through their options. "How long do you think before the last blocks are taken back?"
"Assuming they fight and don't surrender?" Kar proposed as he thought it over, "Three days, Ikari is back in their hands entirely, the villages beyond here are all either surrendered or destroyed, the arrival of more human soldiers from Baharuth will finish them off entirely."
Ithari groaned. "Alright, we've already sent our representative out to General Heikeren telling him what happened so far, we have no real choice if we don't want this to be a complete waste, except for you and I to remain here, send the rest of the surviving squad to the drop points. When Enri returns, we'll kill her then."
"By ourselves?" Kar asked doubtfully.
"By ourselves." Ithari replied, "The restoration of peace here is the best opportunity we'll have after she returns from... wherever she went. After all, if we can kill her and burn her body, what'll be left for their monster to resurrect, and if we kill his commanders, well what good will armies do him? So we 'have' to make this work." He slapped the back of his left hand into the open palm of his right.
"Alright, fine, I'll go tell the others, let's hope this works. We lost enough in trying to get her already, we can't waste a second chance." Kar answered obediently, but... without much hope in his voice.
...Forton...Office of the Sorcerer King...
Ainz thought back to his meeting with the commander of the Army of Carne the night before...
Enri knelt before the Sorcerer King without a hint of fear in her posture or her face, indeed her eyes sparkled up at his skeletal face and she wore a pleasant smile on her face.
"Enri, I regret having had to put you off, but now is as good a time as any, isn't it?" Ainz asked in a tone that matched her pleasant smile.
"My Lord, any time you have for your humble servants is a blessing to be treasured, be you god or great king or both, that changes not a thing." Her face, once fresh and young, still had a beauty to it that said 'I am not of many years' but it was more care worn than it had been the day they met, with small lines beginning to appear as the weight of responsibility drew age ever closer.
'I will have to decide very soon, whether to offer her the gift of immortality... or not, the same is true of the one who loves me best of all. Still, better to leave those for later, let them win this war as mortals, knowing at least that their names will live forever.' He thought to himself with a measure of wistful regret that at least Enri might say no.
"Come, stand up, my faithful General." Ainz said from behind his desk, "As we are alone, we needn't be so formal." He suppressed the urge to sigh with relief.
Enri stood and it was immediately obvious that she came from a peasant background, not just in the very slight accent she still carried, but also by the casual way in which she stood, and in the toothy grin, far from the reserved manner of most nobles, on her face was worn every feeling she had, in a way, it was a great relief.
"As you like, Lord Ainz." She said as he stood and walked around the desk to approach her, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"What brings you to request time with me this evening?" He asked of his first human servant.
Her face went from happy for his company, to grave with concern. "My King... Ainz... Divine One... I must... tell you something." She said urgently, and to hear her speak so, he felt concern rise within, bidden by her expression and her tone and the words she used to call on him in all three aspects of himself.
So he listened as she related her conversation with Neia, and the Dread Pope's plans to crush or control the delegates before they return to their home countries. "While I have no doubt she could do this... I know Your Majesty will agree that it isn't right, they come in peace to a call for peace, they come to hear you speak of the world ahead. They come to you in trust, as we once did. I cannot believe that this would be your will. I know Neia's intentions are good, that she thinks this will save lives or more easily give your... our, common homes a peace we haven't ever had before. But this? This isn't why she's here, is it?" Enri asked as she impulsively took his hand between both of hers and turned her eyes up to meet the red orbs of her village's savior.
The Sorcerer King waited until she was done, listening to every word, 'Neia... that might very well work but... they were promised safety in my name, even slightly violating that will simply not do.' He thought to himself. To Enri he answered, "No, that is not my will. I will summon Neia to me to deal with this myself. I will have to explain to her just 'why' she was brought here, she has clearly misunderstood."
Enri's sparkling eyes shone like stars and her grip grew tighter on her Lord's hand, "I knew it! I knew I wasn't wrong!" She said excitedly, before her voice became humble and her face turned away from his, "I feared, I admit, that I was failing you. You gave so much to my village, to my family, to myself. You're My Lord, but for the years I've known you, I also counted you as something more important than that."
"More important?" Ainz asked curiously.
"Yes, vastly so. I am... despite the station you have elevated me to, the education you've given me, a peasant at heart. I always will be, no matter how you dress me or what you teach me, no matter that I rule a great city in your name or a vast army... I am only Enri Emmot-Bareare, a girl born in a little nothing village on the outskirts of reasoned travel to E-Rantel. For us, for people like me, friends and family are everything. Lords? Gods? Allies? Kings? These are distant things for us, who helps is a friend and a neighbor, who gives is family. The stranger who does both, becomes both. Our loyalty to you is not born from our oaths, our oaths come from our loyalty, and our loyalty comes from who you have made yourself to us... when we needed you most."
"You've... never spoken like this to me before, why now?" Ainz asked, looking down at her as her left hand went back and forth over the bones of the back of the hand she held.
She blushed a little, "I suppose I felt a little jealous, Neia got to do so much for you, in so little time. OK... a lot jealous. You attended her wedding, she began the faith we now all follow, she speaks for you before all the world... and... I just didn't want you to forget what you mean to all of us, and to me."
Ainz reached out with his other hand, and placed it atop her head, he patted her there, before letting it drift down the back of her head. "I haven't forgotten, but do not forget what has happened to Neia, 'because' of what she's done. Would you wish to return to your little sister that way?" She'd blushed slightly at the affectionate, indulgent touch, but that stopped as he finished speaking.
Enri shook her head vigorously. "I do not envy her that, not even a little." She bit her tongue in an attempt to stop the next words from coming out, but no sooner did she remove the bite, then she said them anyway. "My Lord... what she did in Wheaton." She swallowed, "She needs to be charged for what she has done. It can't be allowed to pass unremarked on as if it never happened. If it does, it will forever taint your victory."
Ainz went back to his desk and sat down. "A few years ago we toppled a criminal organization, destroyed their slavery operations, destroyed their brothels, and broke the will of every single surviving leader, now they serve as a kind of quasi intelligence operational service, occasionally 'reminded' of their obligation to obey. Some of them, we have refined their skills with training and equipment, and put them under the command of a demoness with a sadistic streak. I will be sending some of them to Wheaton to compile everything, and make a decision then about what to do based on their recommendations. They will be interviewing survivors, examining wreckage and ruins, everything. It may take a year or three, but the trials of existing war criminals will take time too. If it merits it, I give my word that I will not forget your plea." Ainz said with calm regretfulness.
Enri prostrated herself, "You are the greatest of all kings, most would put expediency over justice, or simply slay the accused to spare the embarrassment... I am forever proud and humbled to serve you. I am also... deeply sorry, that I must bring this to you of one who I know you value as if she were your own child."
Ainz let himself expel a needless sigh, "You have always done as you thought best for all, you are in the right station for that, but for now, goodnight, General Enri. Get some rest."
She rose and bowed, then withdrew, if she felt any sense of accomplishment or rightness in what she'd done, Ainz had not seen it in her.
Now... it was time to speak with Neia, and he found himself thinking back to when they were first alone in a carriage together, her eyes had frightened him, 'scary' was the only word for it. Now? 'Now she's like a daughter... her work for me has been as relentless as a created being of Nazarick, but she isn't, and because she isn't, she is destroying herself.' He thought about that over and over, the last living human to destroy herself for his sake had been his mother, who worked herself to death. 'I lost a mother that way, I don't want to lose... a daughter too.' He clenched his fist, and called for a servant. 'I can justify at least this delay, plus... if I use a gate she might run through in her night clothes or something again.' He felt a laugh rise up at the mild humor of the memory, and waited.
...Kami Miyako...
As Raymond rode towards the administrative building, he looked with an abiding depression at the many buildings that he passed. "It's like a siege has already half destroyed us." He muttered under his breath as he looked at the many places where roofs and doors had been ripped away for the wood. He thought about the last report he'd read, about seventeen refugees being hanged for storming a residence to steal wood so that they could burn it... and killing the resident in the process.
He closed his eyes and tried to remember what the city had been like even two years ago, vibrant, alive, powerful and confident, the streets clean, full but not cramped... and then the memory of passing a slave auction and not noticing the humiliation on an elf's face as she was stripped, of going past as she was handed over like a side of beef to the highest bidder. "Why does it have to end this way?!" He shouted in a spate of fury and slammed his fist against the door of his carriage, hard enough in his wrath that it went flying off and skittered along the street where a group of refugees and residents started brawling over the unexpected gift of burnable material.
The cold struck his skin hard when he lost the security of the door, but not an iota of care for that entered Raymond's mind as he pulled up to the entrance of the capitol building.
Arrayed outside where were people gathering and shouting up at the balcony. He looked out at the masses, hundreds of them, they screamed many different things, and most were dressed too thinly for the cold. "Bring my son home!" Came from one person. "No more death for the undead!" Came from another. "Make food, not war!" From still another.
'No coherent evidence of leadership, that can't end well.' Raymond thought to himself, but at the same moment he felt a measure of relief that they had not gathered in such numbers that they would block his path. 'Dominic will not like this.'
As he got out when the carriage went around their numbers and slowed to a halt, he looked back at them, and saw beyond where they stood that some people were defacing Dominic's images, a crier shouting a pro-Dominic message was under guard... 'That's new, they didn't need guards before... something must have happened.' He thought to himself as he went inside, his lips pursed tight, he rubbed his hands to warm them as he left the outside and ascended the long stairs.
He walked alone, accompanied only by his footsteps as he strode purposefully toward his goal with a rising sense of dread coming up from the pit of his stomach, his shoulders felt the weight of his office, but with back straight and determined eyes, he entered the meeting hall that was... in a word, 'empty'. More so than it had been, at least.
Dominic sat at the head of the table, Yvon at a seat to the right, and Raymond took his position opposite that of Yvon. The table was silent until Dominic himself spoke up. "There will be no more fish."
Raymond paled, Yvon, already naturally pale, became more so.
"The destruction of Wheaton and the presence of so many bodies, choked the waters with blood, the fish die, and with it, any chance of harvesting from the waters for extra food." Dominic said gravely, his face wrinkled and his eyes exhausted.
'He's too tired to even be angry...' Raymond realized with discomfort.
"There is no beef, there is no lamb, there are no goats left, we will get no more imports, and we can no longer supply the armies in the field, we're down to what was gained from the last grain harvest. If there are any dogs left in the city, people are hiding them indoors, I haven't even seen a stray cat in weeks, and yet there are no rats. Which means people are eating them." Dominic went on in a dead monotone. He swallowed hard, "Ventures into the woods for food or even wood are sometimes not returning, so I think that means some refugees have turned bandit and are surviving outside." He slumped in his chair. "The gods test us sorely before offering their aid, the last time they appeared, humanity was nearly extinct, perhaps that is where we must be again, before they return."
"So then..." Raymond interjected, "Where is the meat coming from?"
"What?" Dominic asked with a cockeyed look.
"The meat." Raymond said, "My slaves have often tried to buy meat, and found none, yet there are humans out and about eating meat. I've spoken with my neighbors, as my slaves have spoken with the slaves of those neighbors. While my neighbors are close-mouthed, the slaves say they don't recognize the meat they're given to work with. So? Where is it coming from?" He looked over to the withered, elderly Cardinal of Light, "Yvon, is this part of some military project to use magic to produce food? If so, we need it deployed everywhere as fast as possible."
Dominic shook his head, "I... don't go out much, I go from my home to here and back to home, I send Yarvin out for anything I need. He's reported a shortage as of this morning."
"And that's without the ration card murders, no sooner than they're issued, than people start killing for them so they can get double the food. And I've seen peasants brawling over a bucket of grain to the point where they kill each other for it." Yvon remarked calmly, then tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table, he went on, "No, there is no military project to provide food to our people using magic. If I had that and we'd made a breakthrough, you'd both know about it. But... I think I can guess the meat."
Dominic and Raymond looked at him curiously. "Isn't it obvious?" Yvon asked quizzically, "It is elf meat. That's the only livestock left in the city, even a thin elf will be worth enough meat to feed a few people for several days, not to mention the marrow in the bones."
Raymond tried desperately to refrain from vomiting, and barely succeeded, but to his shock, Dominic tried and failed, spewing the contents of his stomach beside him.
"W-W-WHAT!? They can't be eating elves!" Dominic exclaimed in disgust.
"Why not?" Yvon said with a dismissive wave of his hand, "They're only animals, frankly I think it's more disgusting that 'people' actually fornicate with those things. They're livestock, nothing more. And before you ask, no I haven't organized the collection or butchering of them, but I was actually going to propose that we do that, and soon." Yvon turned his attention to Raymond.
"You and our late traitor comrades did a fine job establishing those outer facilities, but this is our final solution to the hunger problem, there is no more harvest to be had there for the foreseeable future. And with the fall of Feron, no new iron will make its way to us. We simply can't use those anymore, we should keep the facilities intact, since we can put more animals to work in there after all is said and done. For now, frankly we should codify how slaves are to be collected for slaughter. Soon those ration cards that people are killing over now, will be useless unless we offer an alternative food source."
"Absolutely not." Dominic responded, his customary wrath began to rise, his eyes flashed, and he slammed his fist down on the table, its surface cracking under the fist. "They're subhumans yes, but they're not 'food'! We're not vampires or demihumans!" He shook his head vigorously, "I won't allow it! I won't hear of it! Anyone caught selling an elf for slaughter as food will be hanged! Anyone caught doing the slaughter will be sentenced to the breaking wheel! Anyone caught eating an elf will be crucified!" Dominic shouted in absolute and utter outrage, his face turned purple with fury and the vein in his forehead throbbed in the way it did when he grew furious beyond measure.
"Of course we're not those things, but we are humans, and that makes the rest of them just animals. There's nothing wrong with eating them, the gods gave us souls, not them, and if it doesn't have a soul like us, it's just food for those who have one." Yvon said emphatically.
Raymond kept his face calm, but internally his mind was ablaze with fury and an urge to retch, 'I thought Dominic was bad... but you? You are worse than he is... but... no, not all those we've saved... not all that, it can't have been done just so they could be put through a slaughterhouse and served to humans for lunch... oh god, that's why they were looking at Nua...'
"That brings up another problem!" Raymond snapped out, forcing their attention to him, "C'teon can't hold on its own, and a lot of refugees will be streaming this way. We have nowhere left to house people as it is."
"Then they can't come in." Dominic said bluntly.
"Perhaps we can bring in those who come bearing some food or necessary tribute to help the city, but as for the rest...?" Yvon looked somewhat displeased, "Well, ironic as it is, we can take their animals, both the four legged and the two, as those are useful as food... but the actual people? I'm afraid they must be abandoned."
"Oh, the irony." Raymond groaned, "Our army turned out the followers of the Sorcerer King from Yanana, naked to die in the cold, and now we do the same to our own."
"Do you think we can support them, Raymond?" Dominic asked frigidly. "Another... however many thousands of refugees will make it here from C'teon and anyone from Wheaton who survives the trip? I don't see how. This city is already bursting at the seams and can barely feed those we have, and that... we won't be doing for long. The river is essentially dead to us, this is 'it'."
Yvon's face was one that always looked calmly displeased, and that had not changed as he addressed them, "You both need to rethink what I've said, the long eared sheep is the only animal left to eat, we'll run out of grain soon, then what will you tell our people to eat? Each other? The poorest who have no elf animals are already doing that! I understand you may not agree, absurd as it seems to me, but unless you have a real proposal... consider doing this while we can still do it in an organized fashion. People are already doing it anyway, that much we can safely say."
"Absolutely not!" Dominic reiterated with his teeth grinding together hard enough to crack.
Yvon was relaxed and at ease, even serene as he answered. "Fine... for now, but at least we need to withdraw the livestock from the outer labor facilities, we can use them as shields or laborers we don't need to pay for."
'That is 'not' what he has in mind.' Raymond realized with growing anger, 'He is thinking ahead...'
Dominic stroked his chin, "Yes, that is sensible, there's no reason to leave them out there to be recovered, and maybe we can use them as bargaining chips. The evil bitch seems to have a weak spot for them, maybe we can use them as a bargaining chip."
'A bargaining chip? That only makes sense if he's thinking about things going wrong, about the gods not responding to our time of need... oh Dominic, you fool, you've abandoned the true faith. Like Ginedine and Berenice before you, you've fallen from the path, and so you must be removed.' Yvon thought grimly, while he quietly nodded along.
"What happened with the criers by the way?" Raymond interjected, eager to force the subject elsewhere. "I see they're guarded now."
Dominic grumbled for a moment in unhappiness, "Protestors assaulted one, beat him half to death. We hanged six, they were from villages outside of Crossroads, blamed me for the war. These peace advocates..." He felt the wind go out of himself as he went on, "they're getting bolder. We tried busting some of them up before, when Meidhall and her mother were hosting them in secret, but while we got a few, it just drove the rest underground, now they're getting bold again. It's nothing to worry about, they'll screw up eventually without proper leadership."
Raymond noticed how tight Dominic's fist was on the table, anger radiated off of him like heat from a burning hearth. 'It's worse than he says, maybe he knows that, maybe not, but he's barely hanging onto his rage. More interestingly, he 'is' hanging on to it. Pre-war Dominic wouldn't have bothered. Is he growing more sensible, or more tired? Caution, Raymond, caution.' Out loud he pretended reassurance, "I understand, defacing messages on the wall is minor, attacking your advocates is another thing entirely. You should get some extra guards for yourself as well, if they're attacking your advocates, you are not far behind on the scales of boldness."
Dominic inclined his head appreciatively, "Thank you, Raymond. I appreciate your concern and will take that under advisement."
The next few hours were depressing ones as Raymond listened to the growing list of ills his country was suffering. Ration card theft, even murder for them, the divisions in the city between refugee groups and local residents and their daily fighting over supplies. "This can't be right though, can it?" Raymond asked when they got to a new security matter.
"It is." Yvon said grimly, "We've had numerous graves being opened up, and the dead removed, but no sign of necromancer activity. I have absolutely no doubt, that people are eating the dead. Think about it Raymond, the trees are all but gone, the grass itself has been ripped up, people are eating anything they can, and there are a lot of people. Desecrating the dead is the next step. Just yesterday there was a court case of a woman who killed her youngest child to feed her oldest three so that they wouldn't all starve. We hanged her for it of course, but..." he slammed his fist down on the table, causing it to reverberate with the force of it, "that is why I say we need to turn to the long eared sheep! So that people don't eat people! And that is where we're coming to! A ration card is enough to feed a family of three or four, our red cards feed our manors, but many of our people have more children than the ordinary cards will provide for!"
"Enough!" Dominic shouted as his temper was loosed on the room and his own fist slammed down on the table hard enough to break a chunk off and send it clattering to the floor. "I WILL NOT HEAR IT! Any human who kills and eats another human is less than an animal! They are not a reason to turn slaves into food! They are a reason to buy more rope to hang them faster! I've had enough for now! Meeting adjourned! Get out, both of you!"
Raymond and Yvon stood up slowly, and filed out, leaving Dominic alone at last.
...Kami Miyako Market District...
"Crowded place." Solution remarked in passing. "Filthy place too. Humans are... disgusting. As a maid I can scarcely stand to be about such filth, it offends me on a... professional level." She turned up her nose arrogantly as Nua guided her.
"You see the filth, my lady. But I... I see the hate, I see the desperation and hunger... I see the eyes turned on me with fury at my existing." She drew out the red ration card Raymond had given her as they headed towards a line and inclined her head toward some watching eyes.
Solution followed her indication and saw what Nua meant, rage and gritted teeth. "I don't get it." Solution said with a shrug. "You're a slave doing what she's told, at least as far as they can see."
"It's because I'll eat." Nua whispered as they fell into line. "I'll go home to my master, make bread, serve him, and he will feed me, I am not starving, and they hate me for it. Some of them probably have hungry children, and their rations aren't enough, but since I'm getting food for an entire household, for a Cardinal, I'll take away enough food for them to eat their fill for a week." Nua felt herself relax as Solution stepped beside her.
'I wonder how powerful this one is... she seems... invincible to me. Invincible and without mercy, and she is my guardian... Raymond gave me his safety... I can't ever forget that.' She thought to herself, and as she let her mind drift off, she felt a hand dart out to try to grab the little red ration card.
She snapped back to reality in an instant and shrieked, she pulled back, and the person who grabbed at it let go, she stumbled into several humans who also saw the telltale red ration card of someone of importance, and, clinging to their own meagre cards, their rage boiled over. Someone grabbed at her hair, "Get the card!" Someone shouted. "Get the meat!" a different voice cried out from somewhere.
Nua didn't think, as she fell to the stone she slapped the ground with her hand to lessen the impact, and rolled away from the nearest assailant to protect her card, the pull at her hair hurt, and her foot thrust out and she felt it connect with something very soft, and a high pitched cry of pain told her where she'd hit someone, but the yank to her golden hair drew a cry of pain from her for an instant, and then the pain was gone as if it had never been.
Solution stood over her with her feet on either side of Nua's body, and her palm had struck a human torso with such force that he bowled over half a dozen of his fellows. "Do. Not." Was all the beautiful buxom blonde uttered. Nua curled up and clutched the precious card to her chest, her eyes clenched shut, she couldn't see what was happening, but the near riot was quelled in a second's time.
Even the bravest can be frightened by the unexpected, and not much was less expected by Yarvin than seeing a stunning blonde woman in a maid outfit, standing over an elf slave and hitting with the force of ten men.
Whether lust, hunger, hatred, or desperation drove the near riot, the crushing blow dealt by the human woman crushed all motivations equally. Silence began to descend around them, and as the elf girl gradually stood up, Yarvin caught a glimpse of her face from beneath his cloak. 'You... you are still alive? You're still alive! You?! It can't be... no... wait... yes it could. Fucking slut, probably rode your way to comfort for the last hundred years after throwing me to the dogs... traitor, bitch, scum...' A thousand insults and threats flew behind his eyes and he used all his training as a servant to keep his face neutral. 'Where is she staying... I want to know... where did that whore land herself?' He pondered, and stepped back, avoiding the crowd as he usually did on these errands. 'But more importantly, why is she guarded so well? And where did someone like that even come from? My Dominic would have told me if there were scriptures in the city like that? I need to know more...…'
The powerful blonde woman moved out of the way and Nua got up the rest of the way on her own. She wiped her face, and the grain distributor took their card, stamped it, and scheduled delivery, getting them out of there as fast as possible.
Yarvin remained back out of the way, he glanced at the distribution center, the crowd had been eager to let the cause of the unexpected turmoil depart, but they were slow at organizing themselves again. 'I have time enough.' He thought eagerly, and started to follow where Nua led.
...Crossroads...
Vice Commander Ira sat in her cell, her laughter had died out quite some time ago when the riots failed to materialize any result except her people dying. 'Is it really a result to say someone has 'died for nothing' if there is no other change?' She turned the absurd question over in her head, it was, to her, a very 'Is zero a number' kind of argument with herself.
She got up and paced around, then dropped down and started doing push ups. When she got tired of that, she rolled over and did sit ups using the bars of the cell to brace her feet. She was entirely alone, and had been left that way for days. General Enri hadn't come to see her, only a human or an orc or sometimes a goblin, came by, brought her food, collected her waste bucket, and left again without a word.
One she'd asked for chalk, and he'd ignored her, only to find that with her next meal, she'd been given a piece, and with that she'd done two things. Marked her days, and drawn an outline on the wall of a person, and practiced her strikes.
"I probably stink right now, gods I'd kill for a bath." She said to herself as she went to start the routine again.
"You do." A voice said from behind her. She turned to see the red headed woman that accompanied General Enri.
"Do what?" Ira asked with surprise.
"Stink." Lupusregina replied and held her fingers melodramatically to her own nose and pinched her nostrils shut. "I could smell you all the way down the hall. -su"
"Oh." Ira said, flopping down on her cot and folding her arms in front of herself. "Then you should provide prisoners with bathing facilities. It's not my fault I stink if you don't give me the means to stay clean."
Lupusregina laughed as she came closer and pulled up a seat near the bars. "I guess that is fair, I just thought I'd update you though."
"Update me?" Ira asked in disbelief.
"Yes, a good chunk of your city is now dead. Hanged, torn apart, ripped to pieces, frozen to death, speared, gutted, and/or smashed. You thought the riots were so funny, but you laughed before the punchline of the joke. -su" Lupusregina Beta said with amusement.
Ira looked down at the floor, defeated. "I suppose I did. You didn't need to tell me that though, I figured it out."
"You did?" Lupusregina asked with surprise, "How?"
Vice Commander Ira pointed up at the window, "I listened. Eventually I only heard your people, none of mine. And the food always came to me at the same time without interruption, all that told me that you were winning and that there was no interruption in supplies. If this had been an emergency, I could expect to be killed at worst, or be fed sporadically at best. That could only mean that you were winning handily."
Lupusregina inclined her head in a gesture of respect, "Well done, human. It would seem that the Slane Theocracy does have capable officers. Well, in other news, you know that other army of criminals your idiot leaders gathered together to go stop Draudillon?"
"Yes..." Ira said hesitantly.
"My master destroyed it with a single spell, and your assassin squads have all failed, a group of them came into this city too, tried to ambush my friend while she was away, so I killed them -su. Of course they might have a few left in the city but... not enough to matter, if they ever mattered at all. Basically all that is left is Kami Miyako. Then your nation will no longer exist. -su" Lupusregina said with a wide, cheerful smile.
"Did... did Enri..." She began, then froze as fury formed on Lupusregina's face.
"GENERAL Enri to you." She said coldly.
"Did General Enri... authorize those brutal measures?" Ira asked anxiously.
Lupusregina giggled as her anger melted away, turning on a dime when Ira used the proper form of address. "No, she left so Sun and I were in charge of putting things down, so we did it our way. If she'd been left here, well..." Lupusregina scratched her lovely red hair thoughtfully, "how should I put this? I like her a lot, she's my best friend outside my home, I'm proud of what she's done and how far she's come, but she doesn't have the heart for this kind of thing. It seems your little insurrection was timed just right for her to be gone to see our master. -su"
"The Sorcerer King... she wasn't even here for this, she went to see him? Won't he... you know, kill her for letting this happen? He's undead right, since when do the undead show mercy to anyone?!" Ira asked doubtfully.
Lupusregina's giggling faded out and she looked at the Vice Commander like she was a moron. "Course he won't kill her. She's loyal, oh yah she might be a bit of a softee, but she's a smart one, she learns from her mistakes. -su Master says that everyone makes them, and if they're learned from, that is what matters. -su" The lovely redhead made a little fist and tapped the side of her head teasingly. The brief memory of her own mistake flashed through her mind, and she suppressed a shudder in front of her enemy before moving on.
"He's wise, kind, generous, forgiving, and loyal, you all were dumb enough to treat him like he was some ordinary rampaging lich, but he's not and never was. He's the Supreme Being who led all the other Supreme Beings. You can think about that while you sit in here, I just wanted to give you an update before my General comes back, she'll probably have questions for you before she goes after your last army."
"I won't answer them." Ira said firmly.
"Suppose instead of answering her, I ask the Sorcerer King to turn the embodiment of wrath against him instead. What do you think 'she' will do to General Boabdil? To Vice Commander Heikeren? Whose hands do you want your army to fall into?" Lupusregina smiled sweetly and held her left hand out slightly in front of her, "Enri" or, she held her right hand out the same way, "Neia"?" Ira felt the color drain from her face.
"That's what I thought. When my General returns, you will cooperate fully with her in brokering the defeat of your last army or its submission, or I will go to our master and ask him to bring 'that one' to the field. The same outcome... your defeat, will happen either way. It's up to you to determine how much suffering and death you want there to be along the way." Lupusregina stood up, "Think about it, Vice Commander Ira. -su" She smiled sweetly, and walked out, leaving Ira alone and shaking in her cell.