Another deadline that I miraculously made it in time to.
A little shorter chapter this time, though.
Plans and flames.
The wildlife ran away from the smoke and the smell of fire and burnt flesh.
It was well past midnight but the entire area around the huge estate was lit up by the fires that reached up into the dark sky. The estate itself had consisted of several houses and two stables. Only one of the houses was not afire.
Archers were standing outside of the stables that were burning. Taking bets and competing about who and how fast they could manage to take down the burning horses and cows that came running out of the burning building in panic.
About forty people were huddling together in the middle of the property. Surrounded by soldiers. Twenty of them were going to be taken back to the capital. There to be tortured and killed in public. Taking the place of the already dead warden. The other twenty were going to be crucified on the estate. Left there for anyone who passes by to see. They only waited for the soldiers to have their fun first.
Esdeath had given the other sixty servants of the warden to her garrison to do with as they wished. She had always found it important to reward her troops for their work. This was no diffrent. She had determined the fate of forty of the servants. They would get to decide what happened to the rest.
Some of her troops were now in the forests around the estate. Hunting those that had fled. A few of her hunters had been so confident that they had let a couple of people get away on purpose. Just so that they could enjoy hunting them. Esdeath knew that few of them would get away.
Most of the women were in the only building that was not burning. Dragged there screaming by soldiers wishing to use them for sexual relief. In the fields around the burning houses some of the riders of the garrison were chasing around the stableboys and the girls that no one had dragged away to be raped. Chasing them back and forth through the fields on top of their horses. Running over those that fell over or couldn't keep up.
Esdeath walked through the destruction. Disinterested in most of it. One of her boots were dyed red almost up to the knee. She had tried to find som enjoyment in the guards the warden had stationed around the premise but they had died way to fast. Between the warden managing to escape her grasp through death and the absolutely pathetic capabilities of his household guards, this mission was turning out to be a big disappointment. There was nothing left here that could entertain her at all.
She sighed in irritation. She wanted to go home to her Tatsumi.
She walked up to the middle of the property where her soldiers had gathered the people that were going to crucified or transported to the capital. Her own mount was waiting for her beside them. The warden's dead body was tied up on top of it. The body was going to be taken back to the capital and displayed at a public location. Her second-in-command was standing beside her mount, waiting for her orders.
She walked up towards the dragon. "I don't intend to stay here for much longer. Tell the soldiers to finish up." she said to the man in a commanding tone.
"Yes, general!" the man answered and marched of at a brisk pace.
Esdeath cast a glance over to the forty people that were sitting on their knees. Waiting for their inevitable death. Most of them were hunched over. Some sobs could be heard in the crowd. A couple of them dared to cast a glance towards her but they were few and far between. No one dared to meet her gaze.
She was bored. Maybe I should have brought Tatsumi along after all, she thought sullenly before her attention was grabbed by a couple of soldiers dragging a young man towards her. She turned to them and looked at the soldier closest to her.
"Sorry to disturb you ,general, but this prisoner insists that he has something important to tell you. We were about to shut him up but it seems like he actually knows quite a lot about the warden's secret dealings."
Esdeath looked down at the prisoner. He was slightly beat up. His lip was broken and he had an ugly wound on his forehead. He was a bit shorter than her and had black hair and brown eyes. He could not be out of his teenage years yet.
"The warden is dead already. What information can you offer me that would be useful, now that all his dealings in this world are done." She placed her hands on her hips.
The boy looked up at her. "Believe me, my lady. You want to hear what I have to say."
She gave him a dull look."Do you know who I am?"
The young man nodded.
"Then you should know that this is not my first time doing this. How many times do you think people have tried to buy time from me by promising that they were sitting on valuable information?"
The boy was unpertubed. "Then they were fools. I'm diffrent! The warden of the west was not working alone. I can provide you with proof."
"Tell me about this proof you speak of." Esdeath answered. Sounding a little bit more interested.
"Not so fast." the young man exclaimed with suprising vigour. "Give me your word that you will let me and two other persons of my chosing go free. If you promise me that, I will tell you everything I know."
"I will decide how to reward you depending on the information you give me." Esdeath answered in a hard tone.
"I will not tell you anything until you give me your word." he said. Looking her in the eyes defiantly. The soldiers holding him looked at each other uncomfortably. The boy was about to make a huge mistake.
"I will not ask you again."
"Then I guess you might as well kill me here. If you don't give me your word, I won't tell you anything!" the boy shouted angrily.
Esdeath looked at him for a couple of seconds. Then a smile formed on her face.
"Ohh you will, little boy." she said in a much more gentle tone. She reached up and trailed two elegant fingers down his chin lightly. "You will."
She looked up at the soldiers. "Lock him up in an empty room in the remaining building. I will handle his questioning personally. After that you can go and tell the rest of the soldiers to finish up. We are leaving before sunrise."
"Yes, general." The soldiers said in unison. The boy was now looking a bit uncertain as they dragged him off.
Esdeath turned and walked up to the dragon, which obediently lowered it's head when she got close. She walked up to it's side and dislodged one of the small bags that were attached to it with ropes and belts. She checked it's content to see that all she needed was there.
She smiled. At least she would have something to do for a while.
Bellany sneaked her way through the military district. Heading right for the imperial archives.
It was not hard to figure out where Tatsumi was heading. This military district consisted mainly of barracks, armouries and the archives. There was no weapon in the armouries that could match a teigu and if he wanted to talk to someone in the barracks he would have done so during the day when he could do it in public without anybody thinking anything was out of the ordinary.
Considering that he had gone through the trouble of jumping over the rooftops and activating his Incursio, this was probably something big. And the most important place around was the big stone building that contained the empire's military archives. Her guess was that he intended to steal a couple of files or maybe alter some of them in order to protect some of his friends in the revolutionary army.
She had gotten the notice that the soldiers that were following Tatsumi had lost him just thirty minutes ago. They had seen him activate his teigu but then he had disappeared from their sight. They had been very apologetic fot what they thought were a failure on their part but Bellany was well aware of Incursio's abilities.
She had , however, opted for going after Tatsumi alone. And she was gonna try to sneak in after him.
She wanted to catch him in the act. That was the only way she was gonna be able to reveal his true nature to Esdeath.
That however,might require her to break some rules. It was necessary if she was gonna be able to follow him. If she alerted the guards stationed around and inside the building then Tatsumi would just postpone whatever plans he had until later and disappear into the night. If she demanded entrance into the archives herself it would probably give the same results.
So she was gonna sneak in after him. Which was why she hadn't taken any soldiers with her. They might follow her into this if she asked them but she didn't want to force them to break the law out of loyalty to her. Not when she was only acting on a hunch.
She closed in on the huge building. She climbed up on the roof of one of the houses close to it. Keeping her presence concealed. When she was up on the roof she looked around and made sure that nobody had noticed her. After that she jumped over to the roof of the imperial archives as silently as she could.
The biggest problem was, of course, Incursio's ability to stay invisible for an extended time. Unlike her pawns, she was well-read about the diffrent teigu users in the empire's service. She knew about Incursio's abilities and she knew that he couldn't stay invisible forever. Even if he managed to stay invisible through his entire visit, she would still be able to hear him and see the things he touched. She still felt confident that she could do it. She had started her military career as a scout. Now she would get use out of all the abilities she had trained up during that time. She just had to stay completly on edge.
She moved over to one of the walls, attached a rope to the roof and climbed down to one of the highest windows and started to pick it's lock from the outside.
She was pretty sure that Tatsumi was already inside by now. If he was not, then she simply just needed to sneak out without anybody noticing her.
When the lock was open she climbed in through the window into a small room filled with chairs and tables. Some kind of storage room, she concluded. She silently closed the window behind her after cutting of her rope and then snuck out of the room.
She knew the layout of this building pretty well. She had spent many days within these walls. Organizing reports and documentations of campaings concerning Esdeath's legions. She had a couple of guesses of where Tatsumi would go.
She started to slowly search through the dark halls. Keeping herself hidden and avoiding the occasional guard patrol that came walking through. She stayed in each room for a good ten minutes before moving on. Trying to detect any sound or movement. Keeping all her senses as sharp as she could.
She was sneaking through one of these rooms when she, by pure happenstance, put her hand on one of the bookshelves and noticed a damp sensation against her fingers. She was a bit suprised. She smelled the liquid but it seemed to be scentless. After further inspection she found that there was a small trail of the sticky liquid going down from the bookshelf and leading away across the floor.
She was certain that this was Tatsumi's doing. She followed the trail silently. It was not more than an inch wide but it lead her through room after room. It lead up to diffrent shelves and drawers but then always trailed down to the floor again. Continuing away into the next room.
The trail came to an end in yet another large room. Filled with rows of bookshelves. She halted, unsure if she had gone the wrong way. But no sooner had she stopped before she heard a silent "plop". It sounded like a bottle being opened.
She immediately crouched down. He was in this room. She was certain of it. She needed to conceal herself immediately. She sneaked up to one of the many bookshelves in the room and then jumped up on top of it as silently as she could. She stayed completly still there for a moment. Listening for any sound that might reveal his location. She couldn't hear anything though.
She stayed up there for some moments. Then she slowly started to move along the top of the bookshelf. Crawling on top of it. Looking around to see if she could detect any motions or changes in the scenery that would reveal his location. She got to the end of it but she still had no idea of where he was.
She was about to jump down from the shelf when she heard the sound of two stones hitting each other. She looked over and saw a faint light emanating up from between some shelves on the other side of the room.
She immediately drew her weapon. A long and extremly thin dagger. It was coated in a paralyzing poison. She only needed to get a small cut on Tatsumi and he would be rendered helpless. Then she could easily bring him before justice without any resistance at all from his part.
She quickly jumped across the shelves until she finally was able to see him. He was crouching with his back against her. He was looking over past the corner of the shelf that he was crouching beside. He was not wearing the armour that was his teigu so she guessed that he had dismissed it temporarily. He was holding a small torch in his hand and had an opened bottle standing beside him on the floor.
Bellany felt how a feeling of accomplishment filled her. She had been right about him all along. No one else had realized his true colours but she had. This was no time for self-admiration, though. She moved the long dagger into her right hand. She leaned over the edge as much as she could before lightly kicking away from it. Launching herself towards his back without making a sound.
Somehow he still managed to detect her though.
In the last second he shifted his body to the side so that her first stab with the knife missed him. She had however put herself in a position in the air where she could cope with that mistake. When he avoided the knife she immediatly kicked out with her leg before even touching the ground. Hitting him in the back with a powerful kick. He was sent tumbling forward and knocked over the bottle that was standing beside him. It's content pouring out on the floor.
He quickly regained his feet and turned around just in time to stop her next stab. She was aiming for his shoulder but he dropped the torch and managed to grab her arm with both his hands. Halting it's movement just in time. Yet again Bellany kicked against his side and once again he had no way of defending against it. He let go of her arm as he was sent flying a couple of meters through the air and landed on his side.
Bellany was hot on his trail again. This time she launched herself against his legs. Ready with her dagger. He would not be able to avoid her now that he was laying down and even if he answered with a kick she would still be able to get a small cut in him and then she would have won.
He did indeed answer with a kick. But just as his leg was about to connect with the knife it became armour-clad. The armout materializing from thin air, right in front of her eyes.
Bellany didn't know that these days, Tatsumi could summon Incursio without even touching the teigu. He just needed to have it a couple of centimeters from his body.
Being able to summon Incursio effectively had been the first thing Esdeath had trained him to do. He had already been pretty proficient at doing so without any trouble but the standards that Esdeath demanded of him had been far higher.
She had been particulary unforgiving during this training since she saw this as the best way to increase his survival ratio. If he could summon it effortlessly, in the blink of an eye, then he would have a much better chance to survive suprise attacks from assassins. So she had been completly ruthless when training him in this matter. Putting every little trick she knew about training to use on him, to try and make sure that he would stay in this world with her.
And it had given results.
His leg knocked the knife out of Bellany's hand and smashed into her shoulder. Sending her flying backwards. She rolled over a couple of times before quickly standing up again. Picking up her dagger that was laying on the floor beside her.
Less than three seconds had passed since he avoided her first cut. As Bellany straightened her body a bit, flames started to rise up to the side of them. The contents of the knocked over bottle had reached the torch that Tatsumi had dropped. Now the fire was spreading rapidly on the floor. Climbing up on the shelves. Following the trail that Tatsumi had made.
The two combatants stood still and stared at each other. Each waiting for the other one to attack as the fire grew and spread all around them.
Esdeath walked into the small room that the soldiers had locked the young boy in. She carried a bag and a bowl filled with water. She closed the door behind her but she didn't lock it. It was not necessary anymore. The room was rather small. It seemed to be some kind of bedroom. The only furniture in it were a bed and a drawer. It was dimly lit by some candles standing on the drawer.
The boy was sitting down against the wall on the opposite side of the door. He started to rise up when she entered the room. He was unsure about the situation. Had he played his cards wrong? As long as he had the information that she wanted he was sure he could find a way to negotiate his way out of this situation.
She gave him a short glance before putting down the bag and the bowl she had with her on the drawer. She took up a small cloth bundle from the bag. It clinked when she put it down on the drawer.
"Lady Esdeath, I have a proposition. I can give you a bit of the information I have. Just so you will know that I am telling you the truth before you aceept the deal." the boy said. A bit worried.
Esdeath didn't give him any response. She took her cap off and put it on the drawer. Calmly smiling to herself. She then unbuttoned the clasp on her longcoat and threw it down on the bed.
"General Esdeath? If you don't talk with me you won't get any answers."
She started to take off one of her long gloves. Putting it down on the drawer, beside the bowl of water.
"Wait? What are you doing?"
Finally she looked over. She smiled and walked up to him. She stopped when she was less than a meter in front of him. He tried to take a step backwards but only hit his back against the wall. She looked down on him.
Something had changed but he couldn't put his finger on it. There was something about her expression that scared him. She was still smiling calmly at him but something was diffrent. It was as if a shadow had fallen over her face. The way her eyes were partly lidded. Her calm smile suddenly seemed ominous. Whatever she was gonna do, she was looking forward to it. The boy suddenly felt terrified.
He threw himself to the side. Making a run for the door. He didn't think about the consequences. Nor the fact that the entire house and the fields outside were filled with her soldiers. He just needed to get out of this room. Now.
He didn't get anywhere though. Esdeath grabbed one of his arms when he tried to move away from her. She slammed it into the wall behind him and froze it in place. She then calmly reached down to his other hand, grabbing it and putting it against the wall. Freezing it in place as well.
"Why are you trying to run away? I thought you wanted to talk to me?" she said and walked over to the drawer.
"What are you going to do?" he said. His voice suddenly filled with fear.
"I will be the one asking most of the questions during our little time together here. But first, I have some things I want to try out on you." She took off her remaining glove and placed it with the other one.
She unfolded the bundle and within it lay some small knifes, tools and a couple of syringes filled with transparent liquid.
The boy drew a sharp breath. "What are you gonna inject in me?"
"Nothing. Unless your body start giving up on me too early. But you are young and seem to have some toughness to you. I doubt they will become necessary, unless I am unusually sloppy today."
He started to understand where this was going. "I won't talk to you unless you fulfill my demands. Even if you torture me."
"Everyone talks if you are good enough. It's just a matter of not going too far too fast. If you give it enough time, the body always defeats the mind. With a little help."
The boy's face grew a little bit paler.
"The challenging thing is to discern the truth." she went on. Nonchalantly. "After a while, people will start telling you whatever they think you want to hear. Then it becomes a matter of reading the person in question. You need to detect the falsehoods and punish them severly. You need to rework the persons cognitive behavior a bit. But that is rather easy to do once they are begging for your mercy."
She took up a small knife and walked up to him.
"But you need to know the person and their body. You need to learn how they react and behave to diffrent kinds of... experiences."
She deftly cut off his clothes with the knife until he was completly naked and his clothes lay by his feet. She looked up and down his body. "But I think I will be able to learn a lot about you during our little talk." she said with a smile.
Even if the boy realized that something horrible was about to happen to him, he still couldn't stop the heat from rising to his face. Colouring his face in deep red colour. It was the first time a girl beside his mother had seen him naked.
"Ohh, don't be embarrassed." Esdeath said with an almost gentle smile. "You look just like most boys in your age do. It's nothing to be ashamed of." she continued as she walked back to the drawer. Striking the small knife into the wood so that it remained standing.
"Now, as I said, you must not be too fast with this. You need to let your victim get enough time to experience it. You need to let their minds falter over time. But we don't have much time today, since I will be leaving before the sunrise. So it will be fun to see if I will be able to get you to a state when I know you are telling me the truth. Without being too fast and put you in a state where you can't speak anymore by accident."
She picked up a long and thin metal tool. It looked like an oversized needle with a handle. She walked up to him.
"But as I mentioned, first I have a couple of things I want to try out on you. Now say "ahhhh"" she said and put one hand on the side of his face. She held the metal needle in front of his mouth.
She waited a couple of seconds but he didn't open his mouth. She quickly moved the hand that was holding the side of his head in between his lips and forced his mouth open with a strength the boy didn't know a human could have in their fingers.
She kept his mouth open with four of her fingers and placed the tip of the sharp tool against the gum on the underside of his teeth.
In the last moment the boy stopped stuggling. He looked up at her with pleading eyes, dropping all resistance. "P- pwease, I don't-"
Esdeath couldn't contain herself anymore at that sight. Her eyes widened a bit and a bestial smile that showed all of her teeth formed upon her face as the giant needle carved into the screaming boy's flesh. Her true nature coming through.
The house was already filled with sobs and cries but from that point onwards they were all overshadowed by the screams coming from the room Esdeath was occupying.
Tatsumi jumped into yet another dark room. Following Bellany. He had had managed to land a good kick in her side which had sent her flying through another doorway into the room he now was in. But he couldn't see her.
Their fighting had moved them away from the fire but he knew that he was on the clock. In two or three minutes the entire building would be aflame and by then he needed to be far away from here.
But first he needed to kill Bellany.
He was struggling to keep his panic down. If Bellany managed to escape from here then the empire's eyes would be on him for many years to come. He would not be able to act out the rest of the plan without being revealed. And if she somehow would have any proof beyond her own testimony then things might turn really bad. He had to prevent her from leaving this building.
He looked around but couldn't see her anywhere. Was she trying to run from him? Now that he had the armour of Incursio on him her dagger meant very little. He had been able to detect that the blade had been drenched in liquid but whatever poison she had prepared for him meant nothing anymore know that he was armour-clad. She herself seemed to have realized this and was now mainly attacking him with kicks.
He drew from Incursio's power and turned himself invisible but just a second after he had done so he was hit in the side of the head by Bellany's knee. When she was kicked into this room she had immediately jumped up on the door frame after regaining her footing and had been waiting for him to enter. He was sent to flying to the side. Momentarily brought out of his invisbility. It did not damage him much though.
His teigu gave him a huge advantage in this battle. It was clear that Bellany was mainly trained to be fast and nimble. Fighting with speed more than strenght. Getting a lot of small hits in on her oppponent and relying on fatigue and poisons to make her small attacks count. But his Incursio's armour was too strong for her to pierce and it did not have any openings in it that she could detect.
He landed on the side but was up on his feet again in the blink of an eye. He immediately launched himself at her. Aiming to tackle her down on the ground. It was a rather obvious attack but Tatsumi trusted that she would not bee able to muster up enough strenght to knock him of his path.
She had drawn the same conclusion and moved to the side to avoid him. Tatsumi had ,however, counted on her to do so. He shifted his body in the air, delivering a vicious kick to her side. It's strenght amplified by his momentum. She did not expect it and was unable to block it in time. It hit her in the side of her ribbcage. Sending her flying into a bookshelf nearby. Making it fall over with her laying on top of it.
Tatsumi knew that the kick had caused some damage. She would not be able to get up quickly from that. He jumped up in the air and landed with a knee on her stomach. Making her let out a pained wheeze.
He raised his fist to strike at her neck. Aiming to crush her throat. But just as he was about to do so, she threw something in his face. By mere suprise he drew a quick breath and too late he realized that it had been some kind of powder. Which he had now inhaled. He brought his fist down but he was already starting to feel dizzy. He missed her throat by a couple of centimeters.
He immediately rose up and backed of a couple of steps. Swaying a bit as he did so. He took deep breaths. Trying to rinse out whatever it was that he had inhaled. He turned invisible as he continued to stumble backwards. He felt like the world was spinning around him.
Bellany started to slowly stand up. Coughing heavily. Grabbing her side. She was clearly in no state to continue fighting. She rose on unsteady legs.
Tatsumi went down to one knee. Still staying invisible. He was unsure if he shoud try to hold his breath or if he should try to draw in deeper breaths.
Bellany looked around. Unsure of where Tatsumi was. She didn't know if he had inhaled the paralyizing powder or not. Otherwise she should expect another attack but she didn't have much energy left. That last kick had broken several of her ribs. Just taking normal breaths hurt like hell. She quickly decided that she should try to get out of here. She started to walk backwards towards the nearest door. It was only when she got closer to the door that she saw that she and Tatsumi were not alone in the room.
"Who are you?" she called out. Causing Tatsumi to look up from the floor.
When the bookshelf that Bellany flew into tipped over it became possible to look across to the other side of the room. When Tatsumi looked up he saw four persons standing beside the door. They had all stopped in their tracks when Bellany called out to them but it was obvious that they had been trying to sneak out.
Confusion filled Tatsumi's mind. The four men were dressed entirely in black clothes. It was obvious that they were not supposed to be here. If their camouflaged outfits weren't enough to convince Tatsumi then the fact that they were carrying weapons did. They had masked their faces with cloth so that only their eyes were visible.
But they were far too tall and slender for Tatsumi to mistake who they were.
Why were they here? The panick he had been supressing grew stronger. He needed to get out of here. The last thing he needed was more witnesses and he didn't know how much longer he could keep his invisibility up when his entire head was reeling from the powder that he had inhaled. Half the building was probably already aflame and soon the half they were in would follow the same fate.
He started to move out of the room as fast as he could without falling over or bumping into things. He would have to hope that Bellany would get consumed by the fire. If not, it would be his word against her's. He hoped that Esdeath would take his side if it came down to it but he wasn't entirely sure. He thought she would.
It was useless to stay here anyway. He could not hope to continue fighting and still keep his invisibility when he was this delirious. He couldn't risk more people seeing him here.
He walked out of the room without looking back. Heading straight down a long corridor. He tried to listen for what was happening in the room he had left but he couldn't keep his concentation in one place. He thought he heard shouting. His perception of time started to become unsteady. Some guards ran past him at some point. He stopped to rest but almost immediately started moving again. Unsure of how long he had been standing there.
And then suddenly, he was outside. Walking out of one of the now unlocked doors. Left open now when people where rushing out of the building. Escaping the smoke and the fire.
He drew a couple of deep breaths. Finally his mind started to clear a bit. He stood there for half a minute and then started to run away from the building. He climbed up on one of the nearest buildings and started to jump across the rooftops.
He only dared to dissmiss Incursio twenty minutes later when he was far away from the military district. He tried to assess the situation as he kept jumping. Maybe this was not as bad as it seemed. He was pretty sure that Bellany was the only one who had actually seen him there. He could also assume that she did not have any evidence except her own testimony. Otherwise she would not have needed to attack him.
No, it was gonna be his word against her's now. That might not be the worst scenario. If he had actually managed to kill Bellany then Esdeath would probably start looking closer at what he was doing anyway. She herself had stated that if Bellany suddenly "disappeared" then Tatsumi would be her first suspect.
He needed to be on the safe side though. If Bellany actually had some kind of evidence then he needed to make sure that the next part of the operation would go smoothly without him since Esdeath would probably start to restrict his movements if it was revealed that he had been the one to set the archives aflame. He needed to see to it that the message he had prepared was delivered to the great general, with or without him.
When he reached a more rundown part of the slums he finally stopped for a quick moment and turned around to look at the fire.
He could even see it from here. The building itself was mainly made out of stone so it wasn't burning but the fire was gushing out through all the windows and rose so high that the flames reconnected with each other above the building itself. Making it look like a giant candle. It was lightning up the entire military district and shone strongly against the dark sky. It was quite pretty actually, Tatsumi thought.
He stood there and watched it for quite a long while. Now there was no going back. Now the first step was taken. Accomplished with planning and fire. Now he had set flame to the sleeping giant. Now he only needed to watch the fire spread and wait until it started to notice that it was burning.
He only noticed that he was crying when a couple of his tears hit the palm of his hand. He brought his hand up to his face and felt that his chins were wet with silent tears.
He clenched his teeth.
Leyasu and Sayo.
Sheele and Lubbock.
Bro.
Mine...
None of it was in vain! He would not let it be in vain! He would give their deaths meaning!
He would give their sacrifices a purpose!
He swore it internally to himself once again as the tears kept coming. As he had done so many times before.
He cast one last look at the most beautiful fire he had ever seen before he jumped down from the roof. Disappearing into the night.
A soldier walked in to the small bedroom only to find Esdeath washing her hands in the bowl of water she had brough with her. The water in turning into a dark red color.
"Yes, soldier?" she said. Giving him a smile. She seemed to be in a rather good mood.
"We are ready to move out, general." He said and handed her a towel he had brought with him.
She took it and wiped her hands off. "Good. I will be moving ahead of you. I have some people I need to talk to in the capital as soon as possible."
"So you did manage to get the information you wanted?" He looked over to the young boy but quickly averted his eyes. It was an unpleasant sight. Even to a hardened soldier, such as himself.
"Of course." she said as she started to put on her long gloves. "I am pretty confident that he was telling the truth as well but I will need to verify it."
"Anything that you want us to know about?"
"No. I will play this one close to the chest." she said and put on her white longcoat.
The soldier recoiled a bit as a small wheezing sound was heard from the boy. "He's still alive?"
The boys body looked horrible. A pool of blood had formed under his feet. His legs were not holding him up anymore. He just hang from his arms. His fingers were ruined. As was both of his eyes, his mouth and his genitals. Most of his body was also covered in cuts and lacerations.
"Hmm? Yeah, he probably got a couple more hours in him if he is left untouched." Esdeath said and cast an uninterested gaze at what remained of the boy.
"How did you manage to get any information from him if you destroyed his tongue?" the soldier asked. Slightly disgusted.
"He was unable to form sentences long before I made his mouth useless." She put her cap on and grabbed her bag. "Burn this house as well." she said and started to move out.
"Do you want me to finish the boy off?"
"Do as you wish. I'm done with him." She said and waved her hand in the air as she walked out of the room.
The soldier looked at the boy for a while. Then he gathered his resolve and drew his sword.
Esdeath walked out into the yard. The smell of fire and ash met her as she drew a deep breath from the cool air. The sky was slowly getting brighter. Signaling that a new day was upon them.
All of the other houses had now burned down to the ground and twenty people hanged crucified around the estate. Their cries and moans were the loudest noises that could be heard. The rest of the area had grown rather peaceful now that most of the others were dead. The only fire that still burned bright was the large pyre where the soldiers were burning the bodies of everyone but the last twenty people they were going to take with them to the capital.
She walked up to her steed. Her second-in-command stood by it's side. Waiting for her to come out when she was done with her fun. The rest of her soldiers were preparing for the journey back behind him. Saddling the horses and putting ropes and chains on the twenty people that they were taking with them.
"Leave as soon as you are ready. I will depart immediately." Esdeath said. She jumped up on the dragon.
"As you command." the man answered."Sorry for stepping out of line, general, but was the information that dire?"
Esdeath looked up into the sky. "I don't know if I would say that. But if the information uncovered here turns out to be true then we have some intresting times ahead of us." she said with a smile that was joyous but not comforting.
"I understand, general." the soldier answered. Unwilling to bother her for more information.
She nodded to him and snapped with the reins. Making the huge beast lift it's wings and take off into the air.
Bellany limped through the long corridors of the lower level of the palace as fast as she could. Heading for the closest barrack belonging to Esdeath's forces. Clasping her hand around the wound in her side that Tatsumi had caused with his last kick. The bleeding had stopped so if she got it treated relatively soon she would be fine in a week or so.
It was a sweet pain though. It reminded her that she finally had something on Tatsumi. He had not merely intended to steal something from the archives. He had been meaning to burn them down. She still didn't know how he had managed to get everything burning so fast. He must have prepared for this for a long time. But if she made her accusations publicly known now the imperial court would have to look into what Tatsumi had been doing the last months. He was as good of a suspect as any, even without her accusations.
The most rewarding part of it all was that Esdeath would have to start questioning him now. She would need to start doubting his loyalty. The imperial court would require her to keep a close eye on Tatsumi. Bellany was sure that Esdeath would start to notice the flaws in Tatsumi and his loyalty if she just started to inspect him more closely.
She would jump for joy if she wasn't hurting so much.
"Are you wounded, soldier?" She recognized the voice.
She looked up and saw a familiar man walking towards her in a brisk pace. Parts of his damaged and destroyed longcoat being dragged behind him on the floor.
"General Makeias! You can't imagine how glad I'am to see you." she said and smiled a tired smile. "I have important news to pass on."
"First things first." Makeias answered in a hard tone. He placed a steadying hand on her shoulder and looked over at her side. "How bad are your injuries?"
"It's nothing too serious, sir. I will have it treated when I get to the barracks." Makeias nodded and looked at her face again. "General, the imperial archives are burning."
"I have been told."
"It's a case of arson, sir. And I know who the perpertrator is!"
"Speak." the general said. His tone suddenly hard.
"It's Tatsumi, sir. Tatsumi of the jaegers."
This earned her a questioning look from Makeias. "Are you sure of this? This is no small accusation. You are aware of his standing with your commander?"
"I am well aware." she answered bitterly. "That is why it is so important that we let her know about this."
"Let me escort you to the barracks in that case." Makeias said and held out a hand to her.
"Thank you, sir." She grabbed his hand. Using it so steady herself as they began to walk down the corridor.
"Was Tatsumi acting alone?" Makeias asked.
"No, sir. He had some accomplices with him tonight."
"Would you be able to identify them?"
She thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think so. They had masked their faces but they had such distinguishable body forms that I think would easily recognize them."
"I see. Have you been able to discern any other strange activities from Tatsumi during his months here in the capital?"
"No but I have always expected something like this. He was visiting the night raid member that Esdeath brought back the other day and I know that he made several attempts to meet the last member of the night raid that we captured. But he was unable to do so before Esdeath dealt with the vigilante."
"Dealt with,huh? Well I can imagine what that means." Makeias said with a canny look on his face. "Anyway, you have worked hard for the empire and it's people, Bellany. You should be proud of yourself."
Before she could give her thanks, he let go of her hand.
"I relieve you of your duties."
Bellany didn't feel anything hit or pierce her body but suddenly an immense pain spread from her chest. The pain from the wound that Tatsumi had given her increased tenfold and started to expand throughout her body.
She fell down on her knees. It was getting harder for her to breath. Horrified she looked at her hands and saw how the veins under her skin were turning black.
"General?" she said in a hoarse voice and looked up at Makeias. He was looking down on her with an empty expression on his face. She understood, that somehow, this was his doing.
"Why?" she asked desperately.
She didn't get any answer. Tears started to run down her face from the pain. Tears that were slowly turning black with the rest of her body fluids. Making her vision blurry. She reached up with a hand towards Makeias. Trembling heavily as her strength started to leave her.
"All I have ever done, I have done for the sake of the empire and it's people." she defended in an unsteady voice. Her hand trembled and was about to fall down when Makeias grabbed it.
He crouched down in front of her so that their eyes were at the same level. Holding both his hands around her trembling one. He looked at her with a sad smile.
"As have I." he whispered as his teigu quenched the last life in Bellany's body.
Author's note:
This is actually the first chapter that didn't have any interactions between Tatsumi and Esdeath at all. Don't worry though. They will be back in full swing in the next one. Though in a slightly diffrent nature. Expect the next chapter to be released at the end of next week. About 7 days from now. As usual.
The latest chapter of the manga(56) worries me a bit. Even though it deviated a bit from the anime's storyline it is still following it relatively closely. The fact that some sources say that we are going into the last arc of the manga doesn't help. While other sources say that there is a lot more to come. I just hope that the anime haven't spoiled the manga for us. I have already stated how unsatisfying I personally found the anime ending to be.
But hey! Bent but not Broken now has more than a hundred followers. I am so proud. Thanks to all of you for reading and taking interest in my story. It is you and your comments and attention that keeps this going at such a fast pace. Thank you!
By the way, if you write a review/comment without an account on this site then it may take a day or two before it is displayed publicly. I do however recieve a mail with your review/comment immediately after you send it so don't worry. I read every single word you write to me.
Have a great day and take care of each other.