God Rising: The Cult of Ainz
Written by: AtheistBasementDragon
Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots
Chapter 203: Blood and Peace
...Kami Miyako...
Nua felt hollowed out, the knife fell down, slipping from her grip as the last of the blood was taken from her body as if it had never been there in the first place. Kasa was gone, her blood was gone, but the memory lingered behind her. The knife clattered to the floor from Nua's nerveless fingers. "Did I... really do all that? Was that me?" She wondered breathlessly as she looked around the room where they now stood alone. It seemed the whole room was spinning, until Solution took her in hand.
She did this by placing her hands on Nua's shoulders in her hands and turning the little elf so that she faced her. She put two fingers beneath the elf girl's trembling chin and turned her eyes up, away from where the stain had been, "Yes, it was. Do you know what my Lord's favorite sayings are?"
"No..." Nua replied shakily.
"He says, 'Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his brother.' And he says, 'Helping the weak is common sense.' through these two things, he shows his love for us, his servants, the children of the other Forty Supreme Beings. We are weak beside him, yet he stays by us, to help us, to lead us, knowing we would be lost without him. And before he came here, he and the others in their fights against other beings of power beyond my comprehension, laid down their lives for one another. Do you understand?" Solution asked, her voice for once not sounding cruel or malicious.
"What does that have to do with me? I don't... how could I do... that?" She swept her hand over the space where Kasa had vanished.
Solution's face was serious, even grave in a way that Nua had not seen before. "Nobody is fit to serve Nazarick, who is not tested somehow. There is a human maid, who offered her life to protect Sebas. There is Neia, you saw what she's become. There is Renner, who gave our Lord her home, there is Vanysa, who took her own life to protect even a tiny fragment of knowledge of our Lord's power from his enemy. There is Enri, who conquers in his name, and Nfirea, who invents for our Lord, and even vile, loathsome beings may earn the privilege of service in a baptism of pain. This... was your baptism. You're a gentle soul, prey, lacking the instincts of true killers like me. But you did the unthinkable to you for even a tiny chance it might save the life of Raymond, even though he'll never know what you did."
Solution drew close to her, putting her lips a hair's breadth from Nua's ear she whispered, "Good job. I'll do what I promised."
"Th-Thank you." Nua whispered, "But what... how do... what do I do now?" Nua asked mutely as the memory of the last few hours bored its way into her skull where it would never, ever leave.
"What you want, in a few days the city will fall, your people will walk out whatever is left of the gates, and go wherever they want, and nobody will tell them otherwise." Solution said simply, "For you, well go become a merchant, or buy a farm, or join a temple and become a priestess. If you're not happy with what you did, be at least happy with what it bought. Now, if that's everything, let's get the rest of your kind out of here and back to Raymond's home." Solution said and raised her arm to gesture to the door to go announce the death of the mistress of the house.
"But wait... Raymond wants to send me away... to be safe? And... what about all the stuff he said about me coming back as me and...?" Nua asked, hesitating as she reached for the door.
Solution tittered, "I'll tell him that I'll protect you, so you can stay. Probably for both of you anyway, call it a... favor to a friend. And as for coming back as yourself... well Raymond should have known better. We're always ourselves, no matter what we do, or what we become. Maybe you'll never be the same," She stepped close to the little shapely Nua and leaned in behind her, whispering into her ear, "but that was always going to be the case, and it always will be, till you rot in the ground. Come along now, little elf, let's get the rest of these out of here, and back to 'master Raymond' he has plans aplenty and it would be rude of me to keep him waiting."
...Northwest of Wheaton...
"You heard me." Neia said as they got up that morning and spoke to the Queens and generals of her armies. She had her hands folded behind her back as they stood, gathered around the collapsable table.
"With these ears, how could I miss it?" Queen Zesshi remarked as she touched her ears with a laugh. "But I'm afraid I didn't understand it. You want us to halt everything and everyone for one full day?"
"That's right, is that a problem?" Neia asked quietly, her sky blue eyes followed from one face to the next as the lot of them traded baffled looks.
"May I know 'why'?" Queen Draudillon asked dubiously.
Neia smiled genuinely, it was an unexpected thing, and her face lit up like the dawn when the sun peeked over the horizon. Skana looked at her radiant expression, and felt a warmth stirring in her breast.
"You may, Queen Draudillon," Neia inclined her head politely, and said in a voice more gentle than some thought she was capable of, "because this war is all but won. In three days we'll reach Kami Miyako, and in five days it will fall. Assuming they don't surrender when we get there. But... that means in the two days of our time there before it's all over, we will lose a few more. Some of our precious people, our soldiers, are going to die, and never again see the sun. Somebody will be the last casualty of this war, and after everything they have endured, everything they've suffered, all the hardship, pain, pride, loss, fear... I want everybody to have one more good day in their lives."
Her eyes met them one by one, and held their focus with ease, "We'll keep the rangers going out and capturing villages to smooth the advance, but those who go out on these easy missions will not be taking part in the fighting at the city, they'll be able to rest during the siege. All the rest, we stay here for the days, we'll break out the stores of beer, wine, and so on, and double the rations for the day. Let every soldier here, every supporting civilian laborer, have the chance at one more beautiful day in this beautiful world, before some of them lose their lives at the very end."
Silence greeted her statement. Draudillon was the first to speak, "If things had gone differently... you would have made an amazing Queen." She said in a quiet, hushed voice.
Neia smiled broadly, "Thank you, but I'll be happy being the Pope. Just a servant of His Majesty, that's plenty. Now, does anyone oppose the order?"
Silence.
"Then let it be so, set minimal manning guard rotations at one hour intervals and see it done. Skana, you handle the award ceremony while I take care of a few more minor details, then have the musicians and drummers get themselves to the task, let the soldiers one and all, eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow any of us may die." She said, closing her statement with volume and vigor.
"Ma'am!" The assembled officers and generals snapped to attention and saluted sharply.
The next few hours were good ones in Neia's mind as the fifes picked up, fires sprang to life and stories were told, the victors of the many battles and skirmishes danced with abandon as the music picked up around the camp. After the work was done, Neia walked through the camp, moving amongst the soldiers of the nations of her Lord's empire.
She shook hands with common men and women, her back straight as a steel rod, she wore a radiant smile. "Ready to go home?" She asked a young farm boy type who was roughly the size of a barn from the look of him. Swarthy with good looks and a boyish face that was still sheepish and shy looking as his general spoke to him, he grinned.
"Yes'm!" He said enthusiastically, "After we go'n win this, I got a wife'n son wait'n at home."
"Where's home?" Neia asked genially.
"Goin back ta Kebek, a little town a few miles from Hoburns. Havn seen the family'n a while." He looked briefly sad, but brightened, "But she writes me letters, an I write to her, ah can't wait to get home."
"What's home like?" Neia asked warmly.
"We got a great big forest there, used to hunt those woods, river cuts through it as it passes by on way to the capital. Got a farm outside the town about an hour's ride away. Good land, little valley area with good water, and a nice house m'pa built when he was the age ah am now. Ah live there'th my wife. It's a good place, ma'am, an ah sure do miss it. But this... this's worth it. Proud ta be here, an ah'll be tellin my kids an grankids an, maybe great grankids, ah marched the world under General Baraja." He said with a giant grin over his tanned and half bearded face.
"Good man, what's your name?" Neia asked pleasantly.
"Sullis, Ma'am, Sullis Avi." He saluted proudly as Neia clapped him on the side of his free arm.
"Good luck out there, Sullis." Neia said optimistically.
"Thanks, ma'am." He said proudly as Neia nodded and moved away.
She spoke to soldier after soldier, boosting their already high spirits by her presence and familiar approach, her famous hundred put on a contest of skills with some improvised targets and a practice circle for combat.
She paused to watch as one of the hundred danced around an elven soldier of Zesshi's numbers, switching seamlessly between one weapon and another and performing exceptional acrobatics and avoiding strike after strike like a fly did a swatter until at last striking a blow in turn, kicking the elf solidly in his chest and then putting the tip of a practice sword to the elf's face, and then reaching down to help him up.
A round of clapping ended the display and two more stepped up to clash in great spirits, a soldier of the Draconic Kingdom against an instructor from the liberation army. Neia didn't stay to watch the bout, she simply enjoyed the stroll through her camp.
"This was a good thing." Sebas said as he approached her unexpectedly from around the side of a tent.
"Th-Thank you." Neia said quietly. He fell in beside her and with one hand behind his back, he gestured forward with the other.
"Shall we walk?" He asked with quiet dignity.
"Please." Neia said anxiously.
The silence was amicable for a time as they cast their eyes about the enthusiastic camp, with soldiers going to and fro, some with cups filled to the brim with foamy beer, others playing games or wrestling at sport. "They're confident." He said with satisfaction.
"They should be. They're winners. We haven't lost a fight, and we're a few days from going home, those who still have them, that is." She said with a voice full of praise.
"Most of them are from the Holy Kingdom, aren't they?" Sebas asked simply.
"Yes. Many are veterans of the war with Jaldabaoth, and of the cleanup efforts afterward that went on and on... most of them have known nothing else but war for the last... what is it now? Seven years? Six? I'll be honest, I don't even know anymore." Neia remarked in passing as they walked past a chow line where soldiers were celebrating double rations by preparing large cookfires and creating thick, rich, meaty stews. The smell wafted over to her, and Neia took a deep breath to savor it all.
"Did your wife get my first... payment?" Neia asked hesitantly..
"She did, a thousand resisting village militia is a start." Sebas said without judgement. "Before you ask, yes, she is avoiding you. But she accepts the start of your atonement."
"Atonement. Yes that is a good word for it. Can I speak honestly to you, Sebas, knowing that my words will not leave beyond us?" Neia asked quietly.
"If my Lord asks, I must speak the truth, but other than that, I can promise discretion." He replied temperately.
"I can't ask for better. I'm... scared." She stopped at her next step, bringing him up short beside her. Her voice quivered uncharacteristically and she looked at his chest, but no higher.
"I'm scared, more scared than I've been since that day on the wall." Neia's voice was weaker than Sebas had ever heard, all power was gone from it, and for once, he was at a loss.
'I was not sure she was even capable of fear.' He thought for a moment.
"I'm scared because... because once all this is over, I don't know what to do. All I've known since I was a teenager has been war and preparing for it. But when this is over... what then? Yes, I'll go before the Synod and speak for my god, and whether by reason or terror, the priests of the world will bend their knees to him. I know... there's a lot wrong with me, I need... I need help. But even if I get it, where will I fit in after all this is over? I guess if our master willed it, I could take an army of followers out into the wider world, and spread his faith to everywhere. But somehow... I don't think he'll give that order. I guess... I guess I feel a little lost, like I don't know where to go next, once I get to where I'm going now."
She bit her lip, and then said weakly, "That doesn't make a lick of sense, does it?"
"More than you might think. You're talking about change, and that is seldom easy. But remember this, always remember this, Neia Baraja," Sebas put a hand atop her head, and brushed back the straw gold hair so that she looked up at him, "you faced armies and came out alive on the other side. What you face next, is only yourself."
She graced him with a warm smile that shone like the sun, "Thank you. You're a great man, Sebas Tian, and Tuare is lucky to have you."
"Should I be jealous?" Skana asked as she came into view and lent a crooked smile to the moment, her green eye twinkled in the sun of the unnatural spring.
"No, no I think not, but even my wife wouldn't blame you if you were." Sebas said with a sparkle of humor in his normally serious eyes as he stepped away and let the tall auburn haired warrior woman reach out a hand, and the two women stepped into an embrace.
"I'm afraid I need to take her away from you, Sebas." Skana said with a wink, "There's music playing somewhere close by, and I'm ordering my general to dance with me."
"Far be it for me to come between you two." He said with his quiet dignity, and with a pleasant wave, he moved on about his way.
Skana pulled her wife all the way to where the music was loudest and most raucous, to Neia's surprise, she saw that Evileye was playing a fife as she moved about a wide flame, while Gagaran was swaying back and forth with not one, but two beer mugs in her hand with one of the twins on either side of her. Lakyus was singing, but remained seated on a large log as she drank deeply from a sizable mug of her own while the good looking Cenna of the Black scripture openly flirted with her... without any evident success.
People bounced back and forth to one drinking song after another, until an instrumental without lyrics took the place of the drinking songs, and Skana brought Neia's body close to hers, and whispered in, "There's time enough for all the rest, today, just for today, enjoy that we're going to get something we want."
Neia let her head fall into the close hold of her wife, and whispered, "That, my love, is very good advice." And to the music about the fire, and within themselves, they began to dance, and they had a mind for little else, until the sun set.
...Kami Miyako...
Dominic looked at the key Raymond held out to him. "What is this?" He asked as Raymond placed the key into his rival's palm and then slowly curled Dominic's own fingers around it.
"The key to your headquarters. The estate of Kasa, she's dead, I had her killed. She's one of Yvon's supporters. Now she's dead and her estate is emptied. I had to, 'take care' of some of her servants, but you'll have full use of the manor. Gather your Agante there tonight. Alert any remaining units whose loyalty you are sure of. I'll kill off a few this evening, but send word to Yvon that I've taken your head and will present it to him at a banquet, there his remainder will be gathered, and you can strike with the element of surprise." Raymond replied calmly.
Dominic looked at the key in his hand, then up at Raymond, then back down at the key. "You planned all that out, that quickly?"
Raymond shrugged, "I'm not stupid, you know. I wasn't just head of the scriptures because of my combat abilities."
Dominic sighed and clenched his hand around the key. "Alright, we'll do it your way. You can govern your little corner of the city as you like. I won't interfere. But... one question?"
"Yes?" Raymond asked genuinely as he folded his hands behind his back and Dominic stood up slowly and prepared to leave the bathhouse.
"Why, with this kind of ability, didn't you try to take power for yourself?" Dominic asked with his eyes narrowed with a bare hint of suspicion.
Raymond went to the door, and opened it with a heavy and regretful sigh, then said with a sad sincerity. "Because, the people want you, far more than they want me. So long as that is true, my being in power, wouldn't change a thing."
Dominic looked at him in contemplation. Raymond shook his head and put his hand on Dominic's left shoulder. "Don't worry about it, you'll understand what I mean, someday. All I can do is the best with my lot in all this."
"I... see." Dominic replied, clearly not seeing, he left.
...Crossroads...
Nimble sat at his desk across from where General Heikeren and Vice Commander Ira sat. They wore their armor, but with one glaring difference, the left shoulder of each was coated with black paint to indicate their status. They wore their swords at their sides, but most importantly to Nimble, they wore optimistic faces.
"Settled in well, I take it?" He asked amicably as a human servant entered with a tray and laid it down between them. There were three cups, and the servant in the maid outfit swiftly prepared and poured for each of them.
"Y-Yes, I mean it's not been long, but the fact that we're seen out and about with our swords on us, has helped our soldiers keep their pride." General Heikeren said with a brief moment of hesitation as Nimble picked up the cup of tea, then when the young, short haired, blonde general gestured to their cups.
"Please, I didn't have it served just to mock you." General Nimble said thoughtfully as he took a sip of his own cup.
"Thank you." The two said in unison as they reached out and took their cups.
For a few minutes they drank in amicable silence, until Ira spoke up, "Everyone seems to be settling in well enough but, I admit, the common soldiers are somewhat anxious still. Keeping our swords helped a lot, but they're worried about what comes after."
"I can't blame them for that." Heikeren added as he set his cup down, "Everybody knows about how many people were sent north, and nobody knows where they are or what happened to them."
"And you'd like to know how to answer that, so you don't look like petty tools of the Sorcerer King?" Nimble guessed, their faces telling him he was right, with wide eyed anxious stares.
"The children are mostly in E-Rantel or surrounding towns and communities, places like Carne, that are loyal to the Sorcerer King. They're kept in orphanages or fostered out to those who will take them. The ones who are 'hostages' will be returned to their parents if their parents 'behave' and don't rebel." Nimble answered patiently.
"And... if the parents 'do' rebel?" Heikeren asked with dread.
"Then their children will be raised far away from them and the parents will die. Those who are 'not' hostages, but who were taken because their parents were exterminated or died off, will be raised as citizens of the new 'Sorcerous Empire'." Nimble replied resolutely.
"And, what of the adults that were taken?" General Heikeren asked.
"The ones caught in criminal acts are going straight to prison in Argland, where most of those I would imagine, will be tried and hanged after the war. The ones suspected of such things will be tried as well, and then when the war is over, anyone who is deemed 'innocent' of the atrocities of the Slane Theocracy, will simply be 'released' brought back here if they want, or simply allowed to go where they want." Nimble answered patiently.
"You took a lot north at the start... everyone went to Argland?" Heikeren asked dubiously.
"No, some went to work camps in the Sorcerer Kingdom, the better behaved ones even get special work paroles, they can earn money, not much, but better than sitting around all day doing nothing. This is actually part of why I wanted to see you two today." Nimble answered and picked up a small bell and rang it.
A moment later, the pretty little maid with long dark hair approached and wordlessly took the empty tray and empty cups away.
"Oh?" Ira asked, leaning forward with intrigue in her eyes.
"Yes, to show that we're being fair and to alleviate some post war concerns, and minimize the chance of insurrection, I want your soldiers to choose a few representatives, they'll tour the prison facilities under the Sorcerer Kingdom, and check to see that we're treating their comrades well, if they see that, I think they'll be less likely to start trouble and more inclined toward peace in case any other stupidity gets thrown around." Nimble remarked with confidence.
"That is... actually a good idea." Heikeren said with a grin, "I'll appoint some of my officers, and have the common soldiers choose a few of their own for the same purpose to accompany them. If our people are as well treated elsewhere as we are here, then telling them we'll all go home after this, will carry some weight."
"Exactly." Nimble said calmly, and then narrowed his eyes dangerously and looked at them both, "I had to do... unpleasant things, to put down that insurrection before, lots of us did, things I will never forget, and those things were as merciful as I could be. If it has to happen again, they won't send for me, and there won't be anything left to recover afterward. We 'have' to make this work."
The meaning of his words struck home, "We understand." Heikeren remarked, chilled to the bone.
"Completely." Ira added with a shudder.