The Trial: Journey's End

Written by: AtheistBasementDragon

Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots

Chapter 31: Chip off the Old Block

...Ruined Rest Fort...Devor Empire...

Neia looked around at the minotaurs and mentally groaned, but reading the crowd was something she'd gotten good at. "A god that does nothing is a god without worth, a follower of god who does nothing, is a follower without worth. And unless you're prostitutes, there's no work you're getting done on your knees. So stand up, and let's get to work." She said in a blunt, no nonsense manner.

She pointed to the ruin behind her, the embers of the fires she'd set were still there, some bodies were still burning, and the sun was just starting to peek over the distant horizon. "Go, gather all the beastman corpses together, and sever their heads. Then pile their corpses into one place. Put the heads near the gate, and look for something to carry them in. Deflesh them if you like, it will be a bit of a walk back to your homes."

The minotaur peasants were quick to follow the order, but as they did so, questions flew back and forth. "So he's not actually Kiril?" One asked.

"No, I am not. I am a follower of hers." He pointed over to where Neia stood soaked in the blood of the dead, "This was her plan, this was her choice."

Neia sorted through a book she found, leaving small marks of blood from her fingers as she read one page after another. "Anyone read Devorian?" She asked hopefully.

Blank looks and denial met the question, so she put the book aside. "Could be nothing, could be useful intelligence. The more I know, the easier I can kill them all when I need to. After you're done with the bodies, douse them with alcohol, but don't burn them yet." She gave her orders in a tone so firm that it didn't seem possible to disobey, and so they were carried out without question.

The blood monster in human form went over to the little minotaur girl who had not moved in hours, she just stared blankly at her mother's skull. As she stood next to the girl, she crouched down, and to Neia's mind sprang the memory of her wife, her growing belly, the child within that the Black Paladin was not even sure she'd live to see, and a swelling of sympathy rose up for the little one. "I'm sorry." Neia said sadly.

The girl looked at the mysterious monster, breaking eye contact with the empty skull, from which even brains had been scooped out for eating.

"Why... why didn't you get here sooner...?" The little girl asked in the tiny voice of an innocent.

"That just isn't how life works sometimes." Neia said, and reached out from her crouched position and touched the furry little cheek just beyond the nose. "But you know, she loved you very, very much. She gave her life for you, that makes her a hero, and you the daughter of a hero. She died very, very bravely."

A lowing noise that passed for minotaur weeping, escaped her mouth at last, "At least we made them pay, all the ones who took her life and body, had their lives and bodies taken from them. I'm a bit of a mess from all their blood... but that means none of them can ever hurt you, or her, again."

"Where's your father...?" Neia asked as the lowing went on, punctuated by huffs and choked breathing.

"Dead... last summer." The little girl replied.

"Aunts, uncles?" Neia asked.

"None." She answered.

"I..." Neia started to say then hesitated, 'Oh come on, Neia... use your head, you're on trial for fucks sake... you don't even know if you'll be alive next year, let alone able to look after... and would she... yes she would, that's how your wife is... alright, do it.'

The little girl looked up at her, and the heart of the Scourge of God was moved to pity, as the lost look within the girl with nothing, met the eyes of terror in a woman who once lost everything.

Neia looked over her shoulder, "Mu'Ulm, what happens to the kids who have lost their parents in these raids, if they have no other family?"

Mu'Ulm approached to stand behind the crouching Neia. "They go to homes where they're raised to teenage years, then sent to Last Home, or sent back to the border villages and towns." He said with some unhappiness.

That clinched it. Neia put her blood stained hands on the long snout of the minotaur child, "Would you... like to come with me? I have a nice house, and a good wife who will help look after you."

Life sprang into the vacant, lost look in the youngling. "Can I? But... what about...?" The little minotaur looked at the skeleton of her mother.

"Gather her mother's remains also, we're not leaving her here in the land that killed her." Neia said sharply to the nearest peasants.

The bustle of work was all but redoubled everytime she gave an order as what food could be gathered, was packed and made ready for the trip home, and anything that couldn't be used was destroyed, a pile of heads was made, and the bodies turned into an alcohol soaked pyre. Within a few hours, it was done.

"Good." Neia said brusquely and took up a torch. "Now before I light this and we get going, I have one stupid question to ask."

Silence met her.

"Why the hell does your kingdom keep reoccupying the land on the damn border, knowing these raids are going to happen?!" She asked with a frustrated tone as she looked around.

"Because..." An older peasant answered, with a frustrated, angry tone and clenched fists. "We need food. If we don't farm there, our kingdom starves, we 'have' to keep coming back to it, there's just not enough good farmland in the entire Minotaur Kingdom to feed our population if we ignore that land... so, we go back, year after year, harvest after harvest. If we lose a few hundred, well the farmland there is enough to feed tens of thousands with ease in a bad year. We have no choice."

Neia looked down at the little minotaur girl that was standing beside her and clinging with small, childish fingers to Neia's bloodstained pants.

"This kingdom is steeped in the greatest of sins... weakness, and yet... in your sacrifice there is the seed of strength. Follow the will of my god, and your Kingdom will be avenged..." She said, and then lost her voice to something else... 'On the day the King of the Minotaurs Dies and Lives, the Children of Bones will begin to gather, the black will sweep east, and devourers, will be devoured.'

Neia clenched her eyes tight shut against a sudden pain and reached to clasp the charm that was given to her.

"Neia...?" Mu'Ulm asked, putting a huge hand on her shoulder, she shook her head and passed the torch to him.

"Do it... it's your right to burn them, not mine." She said as she tried and failed to keep the pain out of her voice as she passed the torch to her second in command.

When the pain was gone, she looked up at the sky to where smoke was already rising high after Mu'Ulm lit the bodies aflame.

"Good. One more thing..." Neia said, and took a broken piece of wood from a barrel, and covering it with ashes from one of the many burnt out spots of the camp, she took a stray arrow and jammed it into the ground in front of the bodies, facing the gate. She then slapped her blood soaked hand hard against the wood, and propped it up against the arrow so that it would be the first thing the Devor would see when they arrived.

"What was that?" Mu'Ulm asked as peasants watched in equal parts fascination, admiration, and not a little fear.

"A calling card. One of the many names I earned in my travels was 'The Red Hand of God'. I want them to know who punished them today."

"They won't get it." Mu'Ulm said flatly, "If I'd barely heard anything of what went on west of us, I'm sure they haven't either."

Neia laughed slightly as she picked up the minotaur girl and hefted her up to the hip. "Not yet, no, no they won't. But my good Minotaur... this is far... far from over. They will find an arrow minotaurs don't use, they will find a red human handprint, they will find wounds from many arrows and swords that are too small for minotaurs to use... and it will be a mystery to them, one they won't forget. And then... one day, perhaps a generation from now... when your Kingdom is as I have said... blood will flow again, but it will be Beastman blood, and when the hostilities begin... I want them to remember the red hand, and know that I blooded them first. Before my children come to kill them all."

Neia glanced down at the minotaur girl clinging to her, "Would you like that little one? Would you like to kill the ones who killed your mother?"

"All of them?" The little girl asked with childlike innocence.

"All of them." Neia replied gently.

"Yes." The little one said.

"What's your name?" Neia asked with an affectionate smile on her face.

"Mu'Trieu." The little girl said.

"Welcome to the family... I think you're going to like my house." Neia tapped the little snout which she found to be irresistibly cute.

She then looked over her shoulder, "Alright, move! It's a long walk back, and I'm not wasting another minute."

'Why do I think I've just witnessed another terror in the making?' Mu'Ulm briefly wondered, and as he passed over the veritable hill of corpses his white ax and shield bashing had made, and the bloody nightmare walking in front of him, he felt foolish. 'Oh... yes... that's why.'

...East of Fortress of Last Home...Highway of Tears...

Mu'Bin paced the road along with his patrol. "Rat bastard. That utter rat bastard."

The sun smote the ground beneath as if angry at the ones who walked the roads. If the sun was angry with them, the wind at least seemed to be pleased, it blew quietly, with an easy tranquility that made the heat easier to bear. All in all, it was a beautiful day. But Mu'Bin couldn't enjoy that. He just kept repeating the same phrase.

"Saying that won't make him less of a rat bastard, you know." One of his comrades said as he walked next to Mu'Bin.

"I know, I know, but I can't get it out of my head. That rat bastard actually sent word that she ran away. I just... I knew Mu'Anik was scum. But that kind of scum?" Mu'Bin remarked with dismay.

"Maybe she did? Who knows? Maybe she was really fighting just for herself and we got lucky, and maybe that part about going off to rescue captives was just a smokescreen to let her run away and save her own life. I mean you don't end up in 'Last Home' for good reasons. Maybe she expects to be sentenced to death. Maybe she's scared? It doesn't matter, she's gone along with the big one that showed up, and we've still got a job to do. Just shut up and walk. The mourners will be walking the highway in a few days. We've got to at least make a show of being there to protect them from raiders." The warrior beside Mu'Bin sounded like he didn't even believe his own words, but the weariness in his voice convinced Mu'Bin at least, to quit talking for a while.

But it did not stop him from seething.

...E-Rantel...

Perhaps it was an unconscious habit after returning to E-Rantel after so long, but without meaning to, Lakyus found herself walking into a tavern she hadn't seen in years. The wood was just as she remembered it, so were the chairs, and though there were many new occupants, there were many of the old familiar ones as well.

Including two of the five members of Blue Rose. It was Keeno who saw her first, she jumped up to her feet and waved, drawing Lakyus's eyes to her, until she realized a moment later, who was beside her, and her hand came down hesitantly. Gagaran, naturally wondering who Keeno had seen, looked over to the entrance and saw the pair. She didn't wave, she looked down at her beer instead.

Skana's stare was as warm as a tundra blizzard when her green eye caught sight of the giant woman.

But true to her nature, when Lakyus turned to suggest "Maybe you should go to the hotel and get some rest..." Skana had already started striding over the floor.

She stood at the booth and looked at Gagaran, who despite being seated, was nearly Skana's height. "Are you satisfied?" Skana asked coldly.

Gagaran didn't say anything. "Well... are you?" Skana repeated.

Keeno slid further into the booth, and a moment later, the reason why, became clear, as unaware of what was happening, Enri approached bearing a series of mugs.

"You..." Skana said even more coldly than when she'd addressed Gagaran herself.

Enri's mouth opened and closed uncomfortably.

"How about you? Are 'you' happy now?" Skana growled at the peasant General turned Governor.

"Why would I be happy?" Enri asked. "Nothing about this makes me happy..."

"Doesn't it!" Skana shouted as Lakyus came to her senses and began to cross the room in clipped, swift steps. Heads in the tavern started to turn.

Skana's fist came down hard on the table, "You're going to kill her! You might as well hang her yourselves! How could you! How could you! You were her allies! You fought together at Kami Miyako!" The table shattered where she slammed her fist and a chunk of it clattered to the floor, and Skana turned her icy gaze on Gagaran. "You... you knew I was pregnant and you still took her away, you testified against her after she bled for you, after she came at your team's asking... She was willing to end her life for your sisters, and for you... and you turned on her out there..." Her eye turned its wrath on Enri...

She raised her hand and pointed at the former commander of the Army of Carne, "But you... you're worse! You couldn't leave her alone... it wasn't enough that she tried to kill herself just a few years ago, it wasn't enough that she nearly died doing what you lacked the will to do... after it was her hard work that gave you the soldiers needed to keep your own people alive through constant training. Her work, her instructors, and you want my wife DEAD! Or in prison! Why?! Over some Theocracy fucks that would have just rebelled like they did in your lands if we'd given them the chance! Now I might have to raise our baby alone... all because of you and your ridiculous obsession! Well you may have won it! She killed a monster in an open court, and now... now..." Skana began to break down as her rage was defeated by her fear. She leaned hard on the table as choked sobs came out...

"Now unless something drastic happens... there's no way... I don't... what did we ever do to you... why?! WHY damn it?! We were getting our lives back! I had her back from the very brink of death after so long..." She reached down and touched the place where a little kick made itself obvious.

Lakyus reached up and took Skana by the shoulders to draw her back.

Gagaran just looked down into her beer, but Enri raised her head to look over at Skana.

"Because some things, nobody should walk away from, and I wasn't going to pretend none of that happened. I'm... really sorry. I'm sorry about how much this hurts you both. I'm sorry about how it hurts you. I'm sorry you have to go through all this with a baby on the way... but if she's got to be who she is, I've got to be who I am, and who I am, isn't someone who can just let the powerful walk away from massacre."

Enri's tone was resolute, but regretful, and Skana met that resoluteness with fury and choked out words. "Great... when she's dangling from a noose, rather than cutting the cord, I'll tell our child you sent your apologies for what you made happen to her other mother. What happened out there... right or wrong, was over. All you did by being yourself... was creating three more victims to add to the tally."

"All I wanted..." Gagaran whispered, "was for everything to be alright again. To sleep again, to know my sisters were safe again... I didn't want to be right. I wasn't trying to betray anyone, but I couldn't let that go."

"Will you let go when I bury her...?" Skana snapped as she choked back a sob. Lakyus's constant steady pull on her shoulders was finally becoming effective. "I... Lakyus, I'm going back to the hotel, I'm not hungry now, I just want to rest."

Lakyus nodded, numb, and moved aside, "Need help?" She asked.

Skana shook her head, "No... I can still manage this much." She cast her eye over the pair, hate flaring up in the one eye she had left. "Whether they convict her, acquit her, kill her, or imprison her... I never... ever want to see you two again, not for as long as I live. And if they kill her, I hope her death haunts you like it will me, for as long as you both live... and I hope you live forever."

Skana the Bold then turned around, and stormed back the way she'd come.

Lakyus took a deep, heavy breath, and Gagaran moved aside to allow room for her sister to sit.

"We've got to work this out... I don't want to see my rose wilt." The noblewoman turned adventurer said gravely.