AN: Exciting news. The first book in this series, 'Who Endures: Strange Lands' has been rebranded as an original work and is now available on Amazon as a paperback, hardback, or ebook. I'd put a link, but the filter cuts it off. Just look up the title and you'll find it.
"She's a good skinner, huh?" Shi asked while she looked out the window. Solution put a hand on her shoulder and answered with a note of pride. They were dressed in red and black tightly fitting uniforms, far distinct from what the other children had, and wore their hair bound tight against their heads.
"Yes, she is. My students are expected to work hard. But for now, it's enough for you four to know just what the mistress of this house will do to make people pay for hurting what is hers." Solution patted each of their heads one after the other.
"Our lady is our guide to the love of the divine." Veema quietly recited the words Solution gave to her before leading them into the room to watch from above as the half-elf had his skin taken away.
"That's right, evil for evil, good for good. He did evil to your mother, and now your lady ensures that he can do no more evil to you. Your mother died to protect you, and now your mistress kills to avenge her, and to go out and protect you more. Do you want to be able to protect her too?" Solution asked the four with a trace of a smile running over her face as she spoke from behind them.
"Yes." Lenah and Straen answered, placing their right and left palms on the glass and leaning their foreheads forward to rest there.
Lenah shut her eyes slowly and then opened them again. "Our first mother died trying to protect us, our big sister died trying to protect us. Our second mother died trying to protect us."
"We won't lose our third mother… teach us… Teacher. Teach us everything we need…" Straen finished the thought as the final howls passed through the glass to reach their ears. Her fingers tensed and twitched against the glass so much that her pale fingers whitened further from the pressure.
Solution crouched down behind them and tapped their shoulders one by one so that they turned to face her. She then gave them her very sweetest smile as she praised them. "Good, very good, my children." Then in her very sweetest voice she asked, "Now… do you want to go play with the other children… or do you want to practice, so that nobody can take away another from you again?"
"Practice. We want to practice, Teacher." They said as one, and when Solution stood, saying…
"Follow."
They obeyed, their hands already reaching for the places where little wooden knives would rest waiting to be drawn, and their hearts eager for the real things.
Nua pointed to a soldier in line. "Deflesh the corpse, store the bones. I'm not done with him yet. Send the meat to city storage to go to the Tlalmok. Him they can eat. Then you can resume your day off." She wiped her face and looked herself up and down after wiping her knife on the torn shreds of her prey's pants.
She faced herself toward Kaiji, "Tell me, slave, what sort of impression do you think this will make on the prison population? Suitably horrific?"
"M-My lady… I was speaking metaphorically… I didn't mean for you to 'actually' skin him." Kaiji stammered out as she looked her mistress over.
"I didn't ask that." Nua stated, deadpan.
"My lady will terrify them." Kaiji shuddered.
"Good. A roll of his skin may be… over the top. But it will be illustrative, and may loosen some tongues. As an added bonus, with Komestra revived, I don't believe committed criminals will want to venture there any time soon once word spreads." Nua was utterly indifferent to the things she said, and pointed to the strips of it on the ground.
"Roll that up, and join me in the carriage. And hurry yourself, I'm going to be busy today." Nua ordered and put her back to them all. She then headed across the lawn where a carriage of gold and white wood carved about, with forest patterns at its corners, waited for her use. Normally, a walk across her lawn was a joyful sensation and she savored the feel and scent of grass and a clear open sky over her head. But that morning, the scent of grass was swallowed by the scent of blood, and there was none of the bright blue she loved, all she saw instead, was a red dawn amidst the clouds, and a distant burning sun that seemed to light the sky on fire.
'I've seen many a dreadful thing… and done many more… but this… this is new.' Kaiji contemplated as she looked at the stripped away body, the look of horror, fear, and pain still on his face. Emotions ran rampant behind the demon-elf's solid eyes. Awe. Fear. Disbelief. Her pulse pounded with every rolling of the skin that her mistress had cast into the grass. The warriors nearby wore mixed emotions themselves. Whatever bloodlust they held for the one on whom Freyjin's death had been blamed, had been utterly quenched.
When Kaiji joined her mistress in the carriage, she was mute. Nua opened the slat and commanded, "Go."
The young man did exactly as he was told, the crack of the reins and the slow clip clop sound of the horses was the only disturbance as they slowly picked up momentum until they left the grounds of the Duchessa's estate.
Nua broke the ice.
"You don't approve." She wasn't really minding Kaiji at that moment, she was watching the world pass by outside.
"It's not my place to judge the actions of my mistress." Kaiji said, glancing down and, seeing the skin she'd sat beside her, turned away to look out the window on the other side instead.
"I wasn't asking. I was stating a fact. You. Do not. Approve. Am I wrong?" Nua asked while she watched the city slowly begin to come to life.
Kaiji flinched. "I've… never seen anything like that. Even with the orc that you… cut. You didn't-"
"Did Priceless die?" Nua interjected.
Kaiji flinched again. "No, mistress."
"If she had, would you have objected to this?" Nua proposed the question and waved her hand toward the roll of bloody skin.
"I-I don't know, no. It's not my place to object. I obey." Kaiji replied with deference.
"You know what I mean." Nua turned her eyes from the nearly empty street, "Look at me, slave… Kaiji."
With some reluctance, Kaiji slowly obeyed.
"It's me. Still me. The truth." Nua demanded, "You know I never punish for the truth."
"That was barbaric. Like the beastmen. I've had entire families wiped out, you know my history with Diana, but you were more demon than- than yourself." Kaiji got the words out as fast as she could, and flinched at the slow nod she was given in answer.
"You're right. It was cruel. It was barbaric. It was evil. It's also not my first time. If I'd known it would disturb you so much, then I would have let you wait somewhere else." Nua closed the slat to ensure total privacy, "I am sorry."
Kaiji's heart pounded. "You don't need to apologize to a-"
Nua cut her off. "Don't bother to finish that sentence. You're my Kaiji, the first and most loyal of all my servants. The purpose wasn't to terrify you, and if that happened, then I should apologize."
Nua's body tensed with anger and she fought to suppress a shiver of rage before she spoke. "Freyjin died because a slave's almost certain death was less significant than a minor risk to two free people. That infuriates me. What she meant to me, what she meant to her children, what happened if she died, what she was capable of? It all meant nothing. I won't treat you like your distress doesn't matter to me, just because you're my possession. Not when I don't have too."
Kaiji's heartbeat began to slow down. But her objection remained unanswered.
The carriage rolled along in silence, until Nua chose to ask a question. "Why do you think I did it?"
"Revenge." Kaiji answered abruptly.
"In part. He was only slightly responsible for Freyjin's death, the truth is, a knife in the heart would have been just as good. No, it's more than that. I'm alone here, slave."
"Mistress I-" Kaiji began and Nua raised a hand to stop the wide eyed woman from her objection.
"Not that way. And that is really a drastic overstatement, I know conversions are now widespread among my warriors and house slaves. My house however, is the only one currently dedicated to the service of the god of death. I am strong, as people here go. I bested Sado, and," Nua touched her jaw and smirked a little, "that was no easy task."
"But I can still be killed. My house can be overthrown, my servants, obviously, can be killed. My ties to Prince Rasgen, my wealth, my noble status, and my growing reputation for strategy, and the fact that I am often surrounded by soldiers… that's all I have. But the story will spread. I have to develop a reputation for ruthlessness or I'll be overwhelmed when my enemies unite. I need time. Fear will buy me that time. Uncertainty, doubt, these are tools to buy me more. Do you understand?"
"Mistress, that doesn't change anything about what it was." Kaiji shuddered.
"No, it doesn't. All it means is that I didn't do it for nothing. That will have to be enough of an explanation for you." Nua responded and resumed looking out the window of the carriage.
"Anything you give to me, is a gift, my lady." Kaiji whispered and bowed her head, "Forgive me if I seemed distressed. I never imagined-"
"That anything other than a beastman or actual monster, could be that monstrous?" Nua asked rhetorically and snorted as she tried to keep back a laugh. "Someone back home once said that humans are just demons in a different skin, and given what I know of my country's former king, I think the same is true of elves. Demon, beastman, human, elf…" She shrugged and gestured to the roll of human skin.
"One must consider the ends, as well as the means. I think my ends justify my means, it may be that others disagree. They will resist me, I will kill them or force them to submit. In the end only my god will have the power to judge me. If he judges me wrong, I won't be alive to argue. If he judges me right, keeps me on the throne, gives me what I wish? Who will write the histories of these days other than those who call me right? Not my enemies, I will have had them all killed. That is just how things are." Nua rested her left elbow on the windowsill and leaned her head into her left hand, then extended her right palm to Kaiji.
Kaiji listened to the chillingly cold account, 'Like a goddess pronouncing judgement…' She listened and looked in reverence at the golden eyes that glowed as her lady spoke so brazenly in the most brutal treatment of politics that the former Prime Minister had ever heard.
When the right palm came out, it was pure instinct for Kaiji to leave her seat, kneel, and press her lips to the center of the hand in supplication. "As you say… My Prince." Kaiji replied, then froze, "No… as you say… My Empress." She corrected herself with passion, and kissed the palm again, enthralled by the steely feel beneath the soft skin, she held her posture there, all the way to the prison.
Taen donned his black and white mask, then opened the semi-secret entry to 'The Dark Side' and glanced around him. He was immediately hit by the unpleasantness of the place. As if a miasma of cruelty hung from the walls like tapestries. Some of the 'toys' were still there. Chains, leather restraints, and various things he immediately thought, 'No, I would not want to be the second or third person to put that on.' Still, the look of the place was clearly changing. With some furnishings put into place, simple, cheap chairs and a table. 'Much like the old safe house, but without the stink of shit. Now I can smell sex through the stone walls I swear it.' He gave it all a passive roll of his eyes.
He drew back the chair and sat at the table where a tall candle had burned halfway down, thin wisps of smoke curled around and rose up, to disappear into the darkness.
Taen waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Through the walls he could vaguely hear the noise of the busy establishment, the sound of male and female bodies against their opposite and their like. Taen wrinkled his nose. 'I swear, this has to be the lewdest city on the continent. Maybe there is something to be said for their exuberance, it's definitely preferable to Shog'nai. But still, they could stand to tone it down a notch.' He reflected and tried to ignore it all, until the door opened, and the face of the man he wanted to see, appeared.
"It's about time." Taen said with more annoyance than he would have felt if he hadn't been listening to beds and flesh pound against walls for the better part of the prior hour. His mask muffled the annoyance a little, but his crossed arms conveyed his feelings well enough.
"Yeah, whatever." Saelin said, "Be glad I came here at all."
"Why?" Taen asked.
"Because you failed and now I'm getting the hell out of here." Saelin stated point blank.
"What do you mean, 'I failed' I definitely got him, square in the chest." Taen retorted.
Saelin's slight features tensed. "You may have, I don't know, but the bitch investigator, listen, I've been watching the crime scene where we used to dispose of bodies, and an investigator-"
"What did she look like?" Taen immediately demanded.
"Slender, lean, almost as tall as her owner, bronze collar, long blonde hair and blue eyes. A wood elf, and she wore nice clothes, better than most slaves, even other bronze ones. Why?" Saelin demanded with a suspicious glare.
"Because I know that one. Now what about her?" Taen pressed.
"I was watching the prison, and she showed up. I couldn't see everything, but I stayed there to watch what I could. The slave was rushed out of there like they were fleeing an inferno. I caught a glimpse of her in the carriage window, she looked frightened." Saelin answered and sat down with his fist clenched.
"Couldn't it be because she watched a potential witness die?" Taen prompted with a hopeful face behind his mask, he leaned forward intently.
Saelin gave a sharp denial. "If that were the case, then I should have seen the body carted out. But that didn't happen. I went by one of the popular places where her servants drink and got some gossip. The investigator is dead, but your target was delivered alive… to the Duchessa." Saelin leaned forward, "you might not know this, but we've had a run in with that house before. The last guy to hire the Red Shadows… but she confiscated a whole regiment to find one slave you get me? She turned this city upside down when one went missing, what do you think she'll do over one being killed? I am getting the hell out of here, and I advise you to do the same."
"I have a job to do… but maybe you have a point. Maybe you have a point…" Taen acknowledged. 'I'd planned on killing the Prince at his wedding, but security will be very tight. Plus I did get a high level servant, that has to count for something.'
"Do you still have the man inside the estate?" Taen asked and sat back.
"Course. Skorazen is competent at what he does. He dropped a copy of the holy book over at the Starwatcher temple already, they're probably reading through it now. Within a few weeks, the details of the heretical faith will be in every city in Mict'aratz." Saelin's wariness briefly vanished under the pride he had in his subordinates. "Listen, the bitch that lived, she definitely saw my face, plenty. I can't risk being here, communicate with me through Skorazen, I'm going east. He'll know where."
"Fine, fine. Here." Taen took a small pouch of silvers out of his pocket. "There's a note in there with your instructions. Follow them to the letter."
"Sure thing." Saelin swept the pouch into his hand, "But before that… it's hard to trust someone whose face is behind a mask, I mean you could be a vampire or something."
Taen shrugged, 'And that is why I always leave notes.' Sometimes he felt amusement at this kind of thing, but other times, such as this one, he felt annoyance grow. He swept back the hood over his head and removed the mask.
"Happy?" Taen asked as he slapped the mask down on the table.
"Yes." Saelin answered, "After the last guy I worked with who wouldn't show his face, I've become a little… paranoid."
"I wouldn't know. On that much at least, I'll take your word for it. Just get yourself out, follow my instructions, and keep Skorazen monitoring everything as discreetly as possible." Taen answered with a dry voice and a deadpan face.