The Trial: Journey's End

Written by: AtheistBasementDragon

Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots

Chapter 51: Father's Wrath

...Palace of Mu'Fidelius...

"That could have gone better." The Ard'Rhi said from behind the desk in the office he shared with the Ard'Rhigan.

"It also couldn't have gone worse." She answered bluntly from her own desk. "Maybe she really is Kiril's Angel, what else could explain how we ended up with a pile of beastman heads in the pavilion? Or how she took over the prison, or got the ones sent to kill her, to obey her? We may very well be dealing with a god after all." She shuddered.

"So what the hell do we do now?" He asked, and started to huff and puff as if he'd used a great deal of pressure.

For a moment he thought it was just his own fear getting the better of him, then he saw his wife was breathing hard as well their eyes locked with one another, they felt the chairs on which they sat begin to crack as a terrible weight began to bear down on them.

"You can start... by explaining yourselves." Ainz said as he dispelled the enchantment that disguised his presence.

The pressure increased, the chairs cracked and the royal couple crashed to the floor, landing hard on their asses. Ainz took a few steps over the stone floor, the light clicking of bone echoed in the chamber.

They wanted to speak, but the grip of death's hand over their hearts stilled their tongues.

"Yes, I am a god. Level one... but still. And you tried to kill the child of god, a child I entrusted to you to treat fairly, so that all the world would know that I am just. So that all the world would know that guilt is not expiated by position." The staff of Ainz Ooal Gown tapped lightly over the stone as he approached where they sat still, unable to rise or move or speak.

When he reached the space between them, his faceless head turned from one to the other, "On second thought, forget the explanation, I asked a truly worthless question. I don't care what your reasons were. I never trust a betrayer twice. Instead, you will listen to me. For trying to kill my daughter, I would normally give you over to the demons who live in my service. For making her, however briefly, a slave warrior meant to fight the beastmen, your suffering would be boundless, and you would beg for death until nothing existed that bore your names."

Mu'Fidelius felt his nerves on fire with fear, he could see his wife was no better off, he wanted to beg, but could not. 'I can't... move, what's... it hurts...' He clenched his jaw tight against the pain.

"But..." Ainz held up a skeletal finger, "I won't be killing you, and I won't be doing that. And you have my daughter to thank for it... sort of." He tapped his staff impatiently on the stone floor, and went on, "You see, she's attained the power of prophecy, her predictions about your kingdom bring you into conflict with the Devor. And one of her prophecies, spoken on her way back here from over the border, mentioned you both. Do you understand?"

Mu'Fidelius managed to shake his head ever so slightly, then bowed it deep to press his jaw against his chest.

"Very well, her prophecy has you on the throne before it begins. I won't interfere with that, as you set into motion some grand events. However, your continued lives..." [Despair Aura Level One]

Raw terror swept through their bodies, trampling their pride and their spirits, with a single utterance, the Ard'Rhi and Ard'Rhigan... felt their wills break utterly. 'Obey, swear to submit, deny him nothing! Kiril save us... wait, could he actually 'be' Kiril?! Did we betray our own god?! Swear anything, swear everything...!' Mu'Fidelius thought desperately as his entire body trembled and he collapsed onto his back with a thud.

Ainz continued, his deep, noble voice thrumming through their hearts. "Are in my hands. You will not interfere with anything, not ever again. My followers' temples will have free reign, you will quietly support them. You will speak of this meeting to no one, and if my temple sends a request, you will find some reason to give them what they ask. Your kingdom remains 'yours' but you, your lives, your souls... belong to me. Resist me even slightly, and prophecy or not, your suffering will go on until the world itself is destroyed. Obey, and your ends will be as you make them."

He killed the pressure around him, "Am I understood?" He asked with the quiet calm that existed at the heart of every terrible storm.

Their broken, terrified expressions from down on the floor, was answer enough. "Good, I will not visit again. Woe to you, if I have to send someone." [Greater Teleportation] He said, then he was gone.

It was ten minutes before the Ard'Rhigan managed to speak, and they began to rise from the floor. "Well, now we know what to do."

"Yes. Whatever we're told." The Ard'Rhi replied with a tremor in his voice that he was sure would never, ever leave him, because it had embedded itself into his heart like a knife sheathed in a victim's flesh.

...Kirakira Prison...

When Neia woke up, she found herself waking to an unusual sight, Warden Mu'Ka was standing outside her cell.

"This is your last day, isn't it?" He asked neutrally, and reached up to take the bars in his hands.

She slung her legs over the side of her cot and sat up, she folded her hands in her lap, looking down at the floor, and took a deep breath. "I think so. Here, or in this world, or both, I don't know, but it is the last day for something." She replied with tranquil calm.

He let his head bow slowly, his horns clinked against the metal bars. "You worked a miracle here... Angel of Kiril. You made beasts into people, gave futures to the futureless... and you saved hundreds of lives... you did in days, what we couldn't do in generations. Your god... must be god, if he made it possible for you to do this."

Neia felt a smile grace her lips despite the trembling in her heart. The little corners of her lips turned up, and she said, "That's what I've been saying. I still insist I'm not Kiril's Angel though."

"That's what Kiril's Angel always says when she appears. Your denial proves your identity as much as your deeds." Mu'Ka replied seriously, and then added, "In the old stories, Kiril's Angel endured terrible trials to build up heroes to serve Kiril's will, and she always found them in unlikely places. I can't think of a less likely place than in a den of wild beasts like this."

Neia chuckled a little, "I've been called something of a wild beast myself, so from my perspective, I can think of nowhere better. So, once I'm gone, what happens next?"

Mu'Ka kept his head pressed against the bars, and his voice was somewhat sad despite the words that poured out. "A lot of things, your instructors are going to be allowed to stay, I'm going to start selling the prison goods through your temple in the capital to be distributed to merchants, your priest there has been busy evidently, spreading wealth and... well, I'm getting in on it. Kirakira prison's manufacturing of goods will give the prisoners income, and allow them to live honestly when they leave these walls. I'm going to start using my parole passes for your most loyal followers, and I'm going to reach out to the other wardens in other prisons. I want to recommend they request similar systems be put in place for their prison population."

"Everything changes, not always for the better, but I'm glad this is one of those occasions. Whatever happens next, my time here mattered, that's all I can ask." Neia said serenely, then stood and bowed deeply to the warden. "Thank you, for letting me work without interference."

"You don't have to sound like you're going to die, are you suicidal?" Mu'Ka asked anxiously as his grip on the cell bars tightened so much that the movement of his fingers was audible.

"No. No, I don't want to die. I want to live. I learned that years ago, I want a lot of things though, that I never got. Can I tell you something?" Neia asked as she straightened up and put her boots on before walking to within a few inches of the bars. She looked up into the downcast face of Mu'Ka.

He looked down at her in turn, and said a simple, "Yes."

"Courage isn't the absence of fear, it's acting even when we're afraid, and doing what we should do. A few days ago, when Mu'Ulm and I were on our way back from the raid on the Devor camp, I was alone beneath the stars and covered by night, I begged my god, my father, for my life. I begged that if there was any way I could continue to live, to have a life, to hold my baby and birth one myself, to be a mother and a lover and live peacefully into old age, and still work his will here... that he forgive me my sins and let that come to pass. But... here I am."

Mu'Ka released his hold on the bar and reached within, "I've watched everything you've done, I've had every word passed to me, or listened from above as you worked... so why...?"

Neia took his enormous hand in both of hers, "Because, my life is an example, both good and bad, that's what it means to me to be where I am, who I am, what I am. I want more than anything to go home again, but if my Lord needs my life, he needn't even ask. I know to the bottom of my heart it isn't whim, but necessity that guides him, and against necessity, even gods must bend. I know he loves me, and would spare me this if he could, so because I love him, I will bear even the noose. Though I... I want to see my baby, I want to see what little Mu'Treiu becomes. I want to see tomorrow, but their tomorrows will be darker if I don't set a good example now, right up to the end."

"Then... Good luck." He said grimly, and put his hand on her shoulder, then unlocked the cell door and slid it open. "You have a few minutes before your defenders arrive, 'your' people are gathered in the yard below, there's time enough to say goodbye."

"Thank you." Neia said sincerely in a soft, quiet voice, and he watched as she walked with her back straight and with even, steady footsteps falling over the stone floor and metal grating that let the rain filter out. She appeared completely without fear, as if she were about to stroll into a command office and not about to go to the trial for her life.

He didn't follow, not at first, instead he only went to the place where he'd have the best view, and looked below.

The behemoth bandit and former king of the yard stood in front of the ranks of soldiers. The once doomed and once starving minotaurs were considerably better off, holding firm, fixed positions as sergeants, elven instructors served as officer aids behind the formation, and in the light of the dawn, it appeared more like an army unit assembling for a ceremony, than a band of rough prisoners.

Neia made her way down the long winding path around the rectangular building until she reached the bottom. She walked over to the formation and stood behind Mu'Ulm, who turned on his hoof and rendered a salute.

She returned it crisply, her fist over her heart. "Go ahead, fall in, I don't have long." She said quietly to him, and he swallowed hard, but obeyed and went to stand behind the formation.

"This is it." Neia said sharply, "My time with you has come to an end, one way or another, I don't know what that end will be, but I want to say..." She took a deep breath, her body shook with the trembling sorrow of a farewell, "I want to say how proud I am of all of you! When I came here, you were reduced to beasts scrambling through the dust and dirt and blood churned mud for a scrap of filthy lettuce, today... today, you are warriors again! You have your pride, your dignity, your worth restored! Many of you would offer thanks, but as a servant of my Lord, I know that the only thanks that matter are those that transmit to deeds! And also, that you did this yourselves! I threw you a rope, it was you who pulled yourselves up out of the pits! Never forget that, and never forget... You can fight back! And to be yourselves, you MUST!"

"Fight back! Fight back! Fight back!" The chant went up, from guards, instructors, and prisoners alike.

She basked in the radiant glow of warrior vigor and looked up to the sky, "You have an army here father, waiting for you, when you come for this place." She mouthed to the blue above her.

When the chanting died down, and she felt the presence of two behind her that she could never mistake for anyone else, she went on. "I leave my second, Mu'Ulm, in command here. Obey him as you would me, until I come back."

Mu'Ulm, drawn to the front by her words, returned to stand in front of her, and again they traded salutes. "Mu'Ulm, they're yours, use them well, and take good care of them."

"I will. And I will always be," he kept an eye toward the statuesque succubus and the faceless man that were rapidly closing in, "your minotaur. Good luck out there, and since I don't much like goodbyes, let me just say, till next time, in this life, or the next."

He thrust out his massive hand, and Neia grabbed his forearm, and he clasped hers. "Till then, whichever it is! I'll be cheering you on." Neia replied, and in an impulsive act, she pulled him in with force that should not have been possible, and embraced him. His jaw opened in surprise, but he fell easily into the powerful embrace of the short human woman.

"Best of luck, little brother." She said as she hugged him.

His arm touched her back, and practically covered it with just his free hand. 'Little indeed. God she seems like a mountain, but still... so short.' He returned the embrace of his war sister, and they stepped back from one another in common accord.

Neia turned around and faced the two.

"It's time, isn't it?" Neia said softly.

"It is." Albedo said in a motherly voice.

"You've said your farewells?" Pandora's Actor inquired without his usual dramatic flourish.

"I did." Neia answered calmly, and the two turned around, and let her fall into step between them.

Behind her, after a few steps, she heard the shouting, "Baraja! Baraja! Baraja! Baraja!" Her name beating at her back shouted from the many throats of prisoners and imprisoners alike as she walked out of their prison and into their legends.

The shouts faded, but she barely caught the shout of Mu'Ulm as he took control and ordered the drills to begin.

They made their way to the exit, and got into the carriage. It was a silent, solemn trip, Neia sat staring out the window as the terrain rolled past, it was a fairly pretty country really, a little short of trees by her reckoning, a lot of grass and dirt, but not without its own charm on a pleasant, warm day like this one.

She tried very hard not to notice that Albedo and Pandora's Actor were looking out the windows themselves, rather than at her. She managed this pretense, all the way to the stopping point.

When the carriage stopped Neia saw that the heads she'd taken were on spikes outside a temple she couldn't mistake for any other than her own. "Looks like the priest decided not to waste my efforts, that ought to pack the house."

That merited only muteness, and none of them moved to exit.

Neia took a deep breath, "We can't wait forever. But... let me say this before we go in. You two did your best for me, I can't ask more than that, nobody could have done better. If we don't win, if this 'is' it, then please know that there really was no victory to be had. And... and let me say this. Pandora... I never had brothers growing up, but if I had, I'd have wanted them to be like you."

She swallowed, she felt emotion filling her voice, things she couldn't control. She shut her eyes as tight as she could for a moment, before parting them wide to stare into Albedo's gold with her vibrant blue, "I didn't have you as a mother for very long, but... for that little time, you were the best. If ever I let you down before in my service to father, I ask your forgiveness, and please... please take care of him, his heart is deeper even than he knows, and please... please ask him to forgive me for failing him here if this is my last hour."

She fought like hell with the roiling tumult in her heart, and giving way at the last, she embraced them with such rapidity that just like her words, she caught them off guard.

Neither Pandora's Actor nor Albedo knew what to say to that, there was nothing they could say, and all that they could do was give in, and let it happen, before coming enough to their senses to return the familial embrace.

Finally Albedo managed to whisper, "You will not die today, I will not let them hurt my house. You will see tomorrow, come what may, have faith!" Albedo grasped Neia's shoulders and held her tight, her wings shook until she forced them to wrap around herself and be still. Her left hand went under Neia's chin and lifted it up to meet her eyes, "You have a mother's promise, and that counts for more than the world."

Neia felt her breath calm and her body relax, "Then... let's go, you can't keep that promise, if I miss the damn trial, can you?" She managed a mild little laugh, and Pandora's Actor exited the carriage, then assisted them down with one hand, Albedo first, followed by Neia.

She held her hands up to accept the chains, and opened her mouth for the gag.

"Nein!" Pandora's Actor said forcefully, and taking the objects out of his pocket dimension, he threw them hard through the archway and into the pavilion, cracking stone where they struck. "They will not disgrace meine sister, let them face you with the courage the world demands of you, or let them flee!" He stamped his foot hard for emphasis, cracking the stone deep beneath the surface.

"As you say, then." Neia replied, and she followed her mother into the great opening.

The entire area fell into silence as she descended without the rattle of chains, without a hood to hide her face and without a gag to bind her tongue. When they reached their tables and sat, Albedo glanced smugly over at Demiurge and Vanysa one more time, both appeared nonplussed, but a tiny spark seemed alight in the storm gray eyes of the demoness.

Albedo looked up at the adjudicator, and then over to the gallows where a fresh rope was waiting and a chair had already been put into place. The hood thrown aside, still lay where it had been thrown, nobody moved to pick it up, nobody suggested it be used.

The succubus and the adjudicator held looks of mute argument between them, 'I dare you, I dare you to demand it of her today!' Albedo seemed to be saying, and it was enough to make him turn aside his look, and call the court to order.

The adjudicator stood up, "In the long, long weeks of this trial, we have heard more out of the west than we've heard in the last three centuries combined. From the twisted nature of the Slane Theocracy, to the violence of the Scourge of God. In any other lands in any other times, what she did in retaliation would barely merit criticism, and most often would be cause for celebration. However, this is a first in this world, where a set of rules were imposed for a campaign, and where it is incumbent upon us to judge, not based on our desires or what our choices would be, but on whether or not there was an unjustifiable violation of those imposed rules."

He reached for a cup of water, drank, then set it down.

"Now, if I may ask the court to please rise for the verdict." He said in the deep voice of his race, he waited for the sound of thousands of seated participants and observers to pass as they got to their feet.

"After deliberations that took most of the night, we, the panel of judges appointed by Ard'Rhi Mu'Fidelius in accordance with his trade agreement with the Sorcerer King of the Sorcerous Empire, have found the defendant, General Neia Baraja..."

He swallowed hard from where the panel stood on either side of him.

"Guilty on all charges." When the uproar began, all he could do was to stand silent and bang his gavel.