There had been a lot to do when Tinamoc left. Neia and Skana had little time to spend with Illyana, they had roles to see to, and their own private plans, slipping their people beneath the sewers and briefing the elves hidden in the warehouse district, they smuggled in an extra two days worth of food and water where it was needed, and the hours flew past like a small bird fleeing a large one.
"I hope you're ready." Neia said to an elf in the warehouse he was hidden in.
"To be free or to die, I'm ready for both." He said, his face was marked with scars and brands, and his eyes burned with hate and rage that was finally bubbling to the surface.
"Good, when you see fires rise around the city, that is when you open the door and go, don't stop for anything if you don't have to, just remember to link up with the rest of us, flee North, don't stop, and we can get through this. The city won't be in a position to chase you, not with nobody to do the work anymore. There will be help coming, but I can't say how soon it will reach you, just move, move, move like your lives depend on it, because they do." Skana added.
The elves were ready, ladders and ropes were neatly laid out and ready for use, and this was the scene that greeted them at each building they visited. When they finished with the elves, they slipped beneath the sewers to meet with the hidden members of Black Justice.
Neia looked over her fervent elites, their eyes reflected their dedication as surely as those same eyes reflected the torches that lit the dark and unpleasant corridors of the complex city sewer system. "Tinamoc departs tomorrow, so I'm sorry you have to endure this for as many hours as you do, just put up with it, the city thinks you're all busy preparing the caravan to move out, we need them to see the entire process as 'you' get ready to leave. Remember that this is an escape, not a conquest, we need to get the elves OUT, your role is to break them out wherever you can, brothels, work rooms, everything, a handful of other elves who know the city will do the same, just stick to your assigned areas, and when you've hit your targets, move to the North wall and make your escape, we won't get all of them, but if we get enough, the remainder will at least be so valuable as labor that they can't be lightly abused, and we can return and rescue them later when we can come in force." Neia said softly, her voice echoing off the dark stone walls of the sewer. The water flowed beside the walkway and carried the waste of the city out of it, but that did not improve the stench, it was worse than the stench of battle, but also familiar, because there was always shit in both places.
"I don't want martyrs if I can avoid it, but I can't promise you'll all survive or all be resurrected, just know that this is for the justice of the Sorcerer King, if we do nothing now, we will be saying his justice is subject to our convenience, do your best, and I'll see you all after, just keep to your positions, and when darkness sets in, go, start your fires, and lets light up the night before we plunge evil into eternal darkness." She said, her voice was filled with an evangelist's passion, and her words struck deep into their hearts, renewing their spirits and imbuing them with the readiness to fight, kill, or die no matter what.
"For Justice." She said, and saluted them.
"For Justice." They said and saluted in return.
Neia and Skana felt a little guilty for leaving their people in the sewers, but they did not miss the smell when they snuck out and returned to the Golden Roan, whatever else they could say about the horror of this city, they knew a fair bit about comfort, and the luxurious room they were in was a testament to this. Illyana returned to them briefly that evening, and sat at the table with Neia, Skana, and CZ, they were silent for awhile, the weight of their plans and ambitions bearing down more heavily than ten thousand suits of armor. Illyana was the first to speak. Her breathing was heavy and her body was trembling as she looked the three women over. "I...listen...thank you. No matter what happens tomorrow, this is the first time I've wanted something other than death, and the first time I've had the will to die if I had to. You gave me back my self respect, I thought I'd lost it after so many nights...there." She said as she gestured to the bed that was adorned with the means to secure slaves to it. Her voice seemed to be soft and timid at first, like when she first met them all, but as she spoke it gained boldness and had a timbre of strength to its flowing tone.
"I don't know what happens tomorrow, but whatever happens, it was all worth it, even if it goes wrong." Illyana said with a warm smile. "My offer you know...I still meant it, you killed the breaker...you're risking yourselves to free us...all I have to offer to thank you is myself."
Neia blushed furiously, while CZ looked a bit mystified, and Skana could not restrain a smile. Ever the bold one in such matters, Skana reached out and took Illyana's hand, "I'm not saying it wouldn't be great, but...I'm bonded to Neia, if you want to offer yourself, then offer it to the god of justice, sacrifice yourself to him through a life of service in spreading his justice, and then when you make such an offer in the future...to the right person, you can do it out of love, and in gratitude for love, not in gratitude for doing the thing that any moral person should always do." Skana then leaned over, taking Illyana gently by the back of her neck, pulling her lightly forward, and as she bent towards Skana the bold, the one eyed warrior woman gave Illyana's forehead a kiss. "Just stay alive." She said softly to the elf girl, whose trembling had not stopped and down whose cheeks ran tears of happiness, hope, fear, and gratitude.
"Humans are so complicated." CZ said with a shrug.
Neia felt a rush of gratitude to Skana's insightful understanding of what to say in such a delicate circumstance.
"I'll do my best." Illyana said softly and disengaged herself from Skana as she stood up, "I should go explain the poison to the other women, with any luck, the cooks are already ensuring that those who are more ravenous for food than flesh are not going to enjoy the latter, but there are...others, and I need to do my part to make sure no more suffering occurs...if you don't need anything more of me, I will stay with them tonight."
"Good thinking." Neia answered, "Go, and please be careful we only have one shot at this."
"I will be." Illyana said.
"Cute." CZ said, prompting a sniffled laugh from the elf as CZ put a sticker on her cheek.
The door closed behind her as she left the room, and they were left in silence again.
Neia looked over to CZ, "There is one more thing we can do to save as many as possible." She said, and CZ inclined her head indicating that Neia should continue.
"The Sorcerer King could not...before this, simply open a gate and let elves walk through it, that would create an international incident on...all the levels...in every way it can, and I know he doesn't want to do that. However in the chaos of the escape, there are places where we can't easily reach, and nobody will be looking for those gates or have any reason to expect them, I doubt most of the people in this city even know those are possible. During the escape, perhaps we could ask that the god of justice intervene to help us save more people...CZ, it shames me to go to him and beg his assistance outside of the most dire need, so could I ask that you return to him to make this request for me?"
CZ said, "Cute." And put a sticker on Neia's cheek, and stood up, "Go nowhere, I'll be back." A few moments later and a gate had opened for CZ, who stepped through it and left Neia and Skana alone.
"That wasn't why you asked her to go, was it?" Skana asked.
Neia blushed. "No..." She said as Skana stood up and began to unfasten the armor that had been like a second skin to her up to now.
Skana grinned, "I'm not the only bold one I see." She said as Neia began to help her to remove the burdensome war gear.
"We might die tomorrow, tonight might be our last, one of us, both of us, anything could go wrong, and I don't want..." Neia began to say before a pair of lips covered hers and imposed a silence on doomful words. It was many hours beneath the sheets before anything but blissful words of want and need and adoration could even be thought of as they sought release from fear and tension and thoughts of their own potential ends. Tangled limbs and tangled hair, steam rising from the sheets told the story of their desire even as they later washed the results of the heat from their bodies in the luxurious bath. It was a good night, and if it was to be their last, it was one to be carried with either or both into whatever world awaited them beyond this one.
CZ returned in the morning just as the two dressed, and they went downstairs and checked out of their rooms, returning keys to the desk before they left the building.
Down below the hotel's upper floors, where the 'livestock' in the form of female elves resided, Illyana was puking up her guts, nor was she alone in this, and that was how she was found when an employee came to send her to another guest, it didn't take long for the hotel to conclude she and a few others had been made sick, but being concerned with profit margins, just as planned, healing magic and healing potions were withheld, and cheap herbs were used instead. As she threw up, Illyana thought about how close she'd been to death when CZ pointed that strange weapon at her head, it would have been quick, and she quietly resolved...between vomiting episodes, that when she made a break for it, she'd seek a quick end rather than surrender to the monsters that owned her again. Were there no hope of escape, she was sure that she'd already be seeing to her own end instead of waiting eagerly for the cover of darkness.
"So...what did he say?" Neia asked.
"He said to call on him at greatest urgency, and he will save those he can." CZ replied, "He has one of his number who can use gate very well, and who is also very good at killing."
"I see, that is a relief." Neia said, the chill of the early morning air that she held responsible for her shivering, seemed not to have been the culprit after all, as she felt immediately better when she learned the answer of her plea to the god of justice. "Then for now we join our comrades in the sewers, then we wait, Tinamoc will be moving soon, and look..." She said, pointing to the many barrels being transported around the city, "Sudaj has kept his word, there is alcohol being carried all over the place, they'll be drinking like fish all day long, that should give us a much needed advantage."
As if to tell the truth of her words, guards already on shift began to break open casks and drink, only to be joined eventually by their replacements, as Neia, CZ, and Skana walked, they saw this more and more, the shifts seemed to be coming together and bonding over alcohol. When they secreted themselves away in shadows, they watched with ever increasing confidence as more and more soldiers appeared drunker and drunker, some of them vomited over the walls, others eventually slumped against the walls, some pissed themselves, others were singing or dancing, it was probably the most enjoyable work day ever.
When they accessed the sewers and linked up with their personnel, they reported what had been observed, and sent plains clothes Black Justice members out to the warehouse district to inform the hidden elves of what was happening. That was how the day went, the guards of the city seemed to be having a grand time, while Neia and company endured the horrific stench of a large city's sewer system. Definitely not something the bards made mention of in any stories she'd ever heard...the smell of shit, despite being on every battlefield...was never something to sing about in stories of triumph, and she very much doubted that after this, that would change.
Time however, marched on, and minutes became hours as they waited for the Sun to set.
When at last the light that was cast from the skey into the sewer grate and on to the dirty stone began to fade, it only seemed to go slower as the hour grew darker, but Neia knew that just had to be her imagination. Neia snuck a peek through the grate, she saw a few guards snoring drunkenly, she heard others she couldn't see, her heart pounded hard and loud, she felt certain that her heart was betraying her position and intention, as if it would tell them what she was about even while she stayed hidden. "Be still, damnable beating heart..." She said softly, cursing what seemed to her like an overly loud drum beneath her breast.
Inky blackness began to paint the roads and walls of the dark city of Wenmark, and as if triggered by some hidden signal told to her from inside herself, she whispered "Now" and lifted the grate and crept out, one member of Black Justice after another, without hesitation she sped to the nearest sleeping guards and cut their throats. As teams made their way up, they broke off and rushed out to their positions in the city. A few minutes later Neia was watching the sky for the bright orange flames that marked war and destruction, but none reached her eyes. She had just begun to worry when the screaming and shouting began, she heard the clash of arms as she moved with Skana and CZ. "Something is wrong." She said in alarm, "Something is very, very wrong." That was when she saw guards stand up, straight and true as if they had never touched a drop. "Get them!" The men shouted and charged at her from the place where they had appeared to be sleeping.
"SHIT!" Skana and Neia shouted together as they reacted as only well trained fighters could to surprise, with an attack of their own, whipping out bows and putting arrows through several as CZ drew her rifle and put down several more, the remainder came close, and for their trouble they were grabbed by CZ's hands as she dropped her weapon, she took them by their throats, and squeezed with such tightness that she severed head from body, then dropped them as blood soaked messes at her feet.
"Check them!" Neia said to Skana. "CZ, check the barrel there, tell me what's in it!" Neia said urgently.
Skana knelt over a few bodies, "They don't stink like drunks!" She said with alarm.
CZ reached into the barrel and touched its remaining contents. "Not with this." She said flatly.
"What...why?!" Neia said with shock.
"Almost no alcohol." CZ said.
Neia turned pale. "Its a trap!"
Bright orange flames began to spring up around the city as some teams began to have success, the elves hidden in the warehouse buildings made their break for it, many of them bearing weapons, but rather than finding intoxicated drunkards caught completely by surprise, pitched fighting was breaking out all around the city.
"We've got to move!" Neia shouted and began to run.
"Where?!" Skana shouted, there was no more point to silence or stealth, not now. CZ moved swiftly and silently beside them.
"Everywhere!" Neia said desperately as another group of guards came from around the corner, they drew their bows again and arrows flew like startled birds, the excellent armor of Wenmark was not easily pierced, except by Neia's incomparable bow, and though Skana took down several, Neia severed limbs and heads and put holes in torsos as though there was no armor there at all, nor was CZ to be taken lightly as her mysterious weapon blew heads apart like a heavy war hammer could smash a melon.
"We can't be fucking everywhere!" Skana shouted.
"There!" Neia said as she saw a group of elves reach a wall with a ladder and try to climb up, there were men waiting there, but the elves didn't care, they climbed up anyway, and the guards began to kill them, still the elves climbed, hands and fingers were lost trying to grab the guards and pull them off the wall, another ladder went up, and a more clever guard lay down and waited for them to climb, then just as the neared the top, he sprang up as if from nowhere and kicked the ladder over. The elves screamed as they fell, those highest on the ladder having their screams cut off as they hit the stone road with a sickening thud.
Neia and Skana saw the next wave of elves rushing for the same position, and they used up yet more of their arrows picking the guards off, Neia using her visor to guide her arrows to maximum effect, while heads exploded as CZ picked a target and ended them where they stood. These elves made it where others had not, and ropes went over the wall.
Neia breathed a sigh of relief for these, and yet more elves rushed for the same position, the ropes went over and the elves went down the other side. The trio rushed to that position and went to the top of the wall after the last elf had climbed up, and she dared to glance over the side of the crenelations, and she fell to her knees with a wail of heart rending pain as she saw what had to be three companies or more, perhaps an entire battalion of horseman charging into the fleeing elves and cutting them down, their screams were shorter than Neia's own, and it was when the sigil was caught by fire that she knew who it was.
"Remedios! Remedios Custodio you vile bitch! I will fucking kill you! I'll kill you I'll kill you I'll kill you!" Her screams were filled with sobs, and her words carried their way to the former head of the Paladin Order, and Neia's despairing sobbing cries and rage filled the former paladin commander's heart with warmth and happiness the likes of which she had not felt in years.
Remedios was finally happy, and she raised her sword as if in mock salute and shouted back, "Come on! Send me some more!" Another group of elves was over the wall not far away, having not realized the danger, or been indifferent to it, and Remedios directed her people towards them to add to the body count.
"Noooooooo!" Neia wailed and reached for her quiver, and wailed again as she found it empty.
"Skana! CZ! Kill her! Kill her!" She shouted.
But no sooner than she'd shouted these words than Skana shouted back, "I'm out!" And before CZ could take out her weapon again, the horsemen had already ridden out of sight around the wall.
"I haven't got a shot." CZ said, her flat voice bearing a note of unhappiness.
Desperate, Neia shouted for other elves to rush to her position, calling them away from the path of the cavalry counter attack over to where CZ could provide covering fire.
As she saw figures moving in her position, she remembered another option. Without care for the consequences, Neia sent her message. "Lakyus! It's Neia, I need you to fulfill your promise to me! I need your help NOW!"
A moment passed.
"Well Pope Neia, we're at your service, open a gate, and we'll be right there." Lakyus replied.
Her fingers fumbled as she went for a scroll, the seconds seemed like hours just to get it, and if those felt like hours than the near minute before Blue Rose stepped through to Neia's side of the gate seemed like an eternity. The sounds of battle rang everywhere, Lakyus saw Neia as she'd never imagined, her terrifying eyes were filled with pain. "What is it?!" Lakyus asked in shock, "Remedios! Killing elf slaves! We're betrayed, it's an ambush, just kill every human in armor other than what my people wear!" Neia shouted, giving the shortest mission brief ever, "Rescue the slaves! Get as many out as you can! Please!" She pleaded.
"Oh god...no..." Neia's voice took on a sudden horror as she looked over at CZ and Skana. In an instant they knew what she was thinking.
"Illyana!" The pair shouted. CZ looked confused. "If they knew what we planned, the brothels are locked down, they've got no way out and they won't know until its to late! We've got to GO!" Skana shouted and CZ nodded.
"Not cute." She said, identifying their betrayer in two words, sickening Neia to her core.
The members of Blue Rose looked at Lakyus, and she made an instant decision, "Lets go my roses! We've got a debt to repay!"
They rushed off leaving Neia, Skana, and CZ to their own devices and it wasn't long before they found a dire situation. A group of elves were fighting tooth and nail against a wall of shields that they couldn't hope to get through, they were being driven back step by step, it was clear what was going to happen. Evileye did something all but unprecedented, she tore off her mask and fought as a vampire princess. She flew like an arrow launched from a bow into the back of the human ranks and began to tear them apart, the terrible magic caster was fighting like a berzerker, her vampire claws and teeth tore through flesh like scissors through paper, the twins were only a hair slower to react and their kunai found gaps aplenty even in the excellent armor, while Gagaran waded into the fray like a giant, swinging her hammer as if she were building a home rather than bashing in brains. Lakyus was proud of her sisters, and emulated their savagery in battle, cutting through the armor with her demon sword as if it wasn't even there. The elf survivors were frozen to the spot, unsure of what to make of what just happened.
Lakyus broke the frozen moment, "We're Blue Rose, Neia sent us, go that way!" She pointed to the direction they'd come from, "You have a chance at escape that way, there are horses outside the wall who just rode in the direction you were going for, they'll kill you, so please don't go over there if you want to live." She said swiftly, and the elves were in no mood to argue, they rushed in the direction they were told to, and Blue Rose resumed rushing through the city.
Neia, Skana, & CZ knew the city well enough at least to find the Golden Roan, and just as they expected there were soldiers aplenty, CZ covered from the rear blowing apart heads as Neia and Skana rushed over the grassy open ground, their one handed style now their only option, and a very effective one it was, the unfamiliar method and their significant veteran experience was leaving bodies in their wake, these guards were skilled...for city guards...but they had not marched to war or faced the same trials as those who faced off against the demihuman hordes lead by Jaldabaoth.
Against that trio, a scattering of guards were insufficient to pose a threat and they made their way to the entrance, there were elves dead at the entrance, but also a surprising number of humans, most of them clearly not guards, the elf slaves who had resided in this hell had apparently taken the course of revenge, willing to die on swords as long as it meant taking one of their abusers with them. The front clerk was dead and slumped over the desk he'd worked at, he had at least been taken by surprise. Blood and corpses littered the area. The trio followed the sound of screams, when a person poked their head out of their room doors, Neia allowed herself the indulgence of killing them, its what she wanted to do from the moment she'd gotten to this gilded hell, and now she was able to do it, so she did as she rushed through the long corridor, the screams grew louder as she drew ever closer and ever faster, till she found their source, down a set of stairs to where she was sure the female chattels were kept.
She rushed down as fast as she could, she faced no enemy on the stairs, nor was one waiting for her when she reached the bottom, she thought at first the screams were of people dying, but a sick feeling in her gut told her it was nothing as clean as that, these were the creme de la creme of the elf flesh market, no ordinary guard could afford to stay at the Golden Roan, it was the playground of the elites, and because they were working in the line of duty putting down an elf rebellion...anything went.
Neia couldn't suppress her scream, it was louder and more painful than when Remedios Custodio had run her body through with sword after sword, she moved so quickly that she began to leave her sisters in arms behind, until she came to the quarters of the women, there were living and dead elf females there, but the dead were obviously the lucky ones, their time of screaming was over, and that was how Neia found Illyana, she heard her screams.
Neia found the quarters she'd been trapped in, and though there were three dead humans nearby, there were obviously to many, she was still holding a knife, but she couldn't use it, not with two guards holding her down. They could have taken it, they could have cut off her hands, but it was clear at a glance that she'd been allowed to keep it only to torture her with her inability to use it, they had blood on their bare legs and it didn't take any imagination to figure out how it got there. Neia's scream of outrage took them all by surprise and the guard lept up and to one side to grab a weapon, revealing the humiliating abuse and torment they'd been putting the beautiful Illyana through. He never got a chance to grab it, as he bent to grab the weapon, the other two who had been securing her, loosened their grip, and her arm darted out and stabbed the man firmly in his thigh, sending him tumbling to the ground in agony, the other two recovered from their momentary shock, but Illyana was riding on adrenaline and even as Neia was moving to kill the injured guard, Illyana had turned on the other two, and leapt on one screaming and stabbing over and over and over and over in his neck, sending blood fountaining out into her screaming maw, his companion however, had enough time to use his weapon, and he shoved it directly into Illyana's side, it pierced her between the ribs, in one side, through her lungs, and out the other, just as Skana entered, shouted in horror, and stabbed him through the mouth. The sound if CZ's unusual weapon echoed into the room as she took down other guards rushing to the commotion, and soon there was silence, the guard that Illyana had been stabbing wildly, fell to his knees, and Illyana herself, pierced through by the blade, had jackknifed and tumbled backwards, her eyes staring up as Neia rushed to her side.
"No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" She shouted over and over again as the other two women began to check the bodies before coming over to the crumpled elf slave.
She coughed up blood and bits of lung, as Neia pulled the battered body of Illyana into her arms, "Stay with me! You're almost free! We'll get you out!"
Illyana couldn't speak, though it was obvious she wanted to as her life ebbed from her.
Neia called out in a desperate message, "My lord, your servant begs your aid in this, her hour of need!" She heard more screaming down the hall, the fighting wasn't done yet.
"What do you require Neia?" Ainz asked calmly.
"Am...out." Illyana spat out through blood, before her body ceased to move at all.
"I need a miracle! Please! We're betrayed, those I sought to save in your name and for your justice are dying, Remedios is killing so many! There aren't enough of us! Please my lord, please god...do anything! Even if you must claim my life as the price of my failure!" She sobbed out with such desperation that Ainz's heart was moved to a moment of pity. While he felt no true connection to humanity as a whole, he felt a connection for those he knew, and the expression of one his dearest friends...'Saving the weak is just common sense.' came back to mind.
"You will have your miracle." Ainz said, and terminated the message.
"Shalltear, open a gate. Go to where Neia is, open gates wherever you find elves, and gate them to..." He thought for a moment about where to send them, "send them to the land we acquired from the Draconic Kingdom, its time we put some of that land to use. Tell them to wait there until we send someone to instruct them. Kill any human in armor you see threatening an elf."
"As you wish my lord." Shalltear said with a smile, the gate appeared, and Shalltear went through it. It was to her shock, that when she did so, she found that Ainz had followed behind her.
Neia was in shock, that much was obvious, and Ainz did not blame her. "Shalltear, go outside, get to work." Ainz said, and she quickly obeyed, rushing past the shocked Skana and CZ.
"Neia Baraja, look at me!" Ainz said firmly, his divine voice cutting through the haze of her shock, he held out his skeletal hand, and she took it, and drew her closer to him.
"I failed you, and failing you failed justice, failed the weak..." Ainz picked her up effortlessly and cradled her as he would a child, it was in that moment that he realized he'd forgotten how young she really was, true she had grown up much, but she was...he tried to remember her age...twenty? Nineteen...so much had been laid on her, he thought of himself at that age, he felt horrible, as if he'd set her up for failure.
"You did what you could do, you made a mistake. You are not the first to have taken a risk, trusted the wrong person..." He said.
"But...look at her...them...they're paying the price..." She said and gestured to the body of Illyana. When Ainz saw what had been done to the girl before her death, the half naked guards gave him an indication of how bad it had been, and rage swelled up in him.
"I pronounce doom on this city, it does not survive the dawn." He said. "First before I end this place, you will have your chance to avenge her on everyone you can. Shalltear will rescue as many as she can, you need only kill till you cannot lift your arm, can you do that for me, and for her?" Ainz said, his noble voice restoring the broken fractured spirit of Neia Baraja.
Her eyes began to return to their clear and focused state, restored by the power thudding through the Sorcerer King's voice, he set her gently down again. Neia bowed deeply, as did Skana & CZ, "Your will be done sire. Your servant will earn your forgiveness and erase the stain of her failure."
She reminded him all to much of Shalltear in that moment as grief and shame were replaced by an eagerness and bloodlust, "Majesty can I beg one more humble thing...please...take her body out of here, don't let her lie in a city that she hated?"
"That is a small matter, it will be done." He said, and he took of his cloak and to Neia's shock, he covered the naked body of the young woman, a priceless cloth used to preserve the dignity in death of a dead, bloody, abused, elf slave. It was a gesture only the truest and greatest of kings over all other kings could make with such a natural motion, and Neia resolved again to grind her bones to the dust in his service.
Ainz began to walk out of the room, followed the women out of the building, fighting was relentless and elves were clearly getting far the worst of it, the humans of Wenmark had some of the finest armor in the South, they were some of the best trained guards, and they were out in force and prepared. Elves were little trained, few had ample arms, but they were many more in number and they had the strength of the desperate, some abandoned the plan completely and chose to sell their lives for revenge, others sought to escape as planned, and numbers were cut down by the cavalry of Remedios who only had to ride in a circle killing as she went.
Ainz though, had only a fragment of the story, but it was not one he needed all of to do what he wished. Occasionally as he moved through the city he encountered a human guard, which he killed with a simple 'grasp heart'. They were worth nothing more than that.
Neia though, she had only one objective, she knew the traitor, she needed only to find him, and as she thought more and more on the matter, she reasoned that he was probably not going to be far from where he expected her to be, she carefully narrowed down her options, he'd want to be mobile but secure and have a good visual, that eliminated all one story buildings, it also eliminated any buildings that were on fire...and there were now a lot of them thanks to the arrival of both Blue Rose...and Shalltear, and the presumed success of her own Black Justice.
That narrowed it down considerably, and she made an educated guess that it would be the tower of the wall nearest to where the Golden Roan was at. Getting there wasn't hard, the city guard was spread thin even in force, clearly even prepared as they were, they'd underestimated the degree to which the Vines had prepared to free themselves, if the city won, it would still not have enough slaves to do work for a long time to come. Humans in bondage, as evidenced by the occasional corpse, had evidently been treated as an enemy by one side or both.
This made it easy for Neia to get where she wanted to go, occasionally she'd encounter someone she felt deserved to die, and she killed them, quickly, painfully, but coldly with white hate filling her vision, and it was when she neared the tower that she spied motion, and intuition told her she found what she wanted. She executed several martial arts enhancing her speed, and she climbed the stairs leading up to the top of the wall as fast as she could, the figure had already been moving, but in full armor he was nowhere near fast enough. Not while Neia wore armor that weighed almost nothing, and had both martial arts and training on her side. Suuuuudaaaaaj!" She shouted furiously, drawing his instinctive look in her direction at the sound of his name.
"Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!" She screamed, and he staggered back in shock at her anger.
"No! I did it for us!" He shouted madly, but Neia didn't hear him, her ears were closed to everything but screams, that was all she heard and all she wanted to hear, her sword cut through his arm and removed it from his body. He flailed desperately, but this was not combat, this was torture plain and simple, Neia wanted him to suffer, so if he could lose it and still live, he was going to lose it. His ears were gone, then foot and leg, then nose, then arm, she let him keep his tongue and a single eye, but most importantly to her...she let him keep his life, she bound his wounds tight and scorched them with flame to sear them closed, savoring his agonized cry as he was reduced to a stump with a head.
She stripped what was left of his armor and his clothing, and all remaining unnecessary body parts, grabbed his hair, and began to drag him down the stairs, every thump from step to step drawing a fresh scream.
The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon when Shalltear informed the Sorcerer King that she could find no more elves in the city.
He then instructed her to see to the removal of all surviving Black Justice members to the same area as the evacuated elves and then to join them herself.
"My lord, should I not stay with you?" Shalltear asked.
"No, I have something to do here." He said.
"Neia Baraja, your people are being removed, yourself, Skana, CZ, and Blue Rose should join me at the city center as fast as you can, you are not far away." Ainz said.
To the city guard, it seemed as if they were having victory, elves were fewer and fewer in number, and though they occasionally heard the sound of fighting, it waas clearly few and far between, they were still hunting for Neia Baraja, some had already thought her to be dead, killed in the darkness somewhere. Civilians had mostly hidden in the darkness, some killed in their homes by rampaging elves, others killed outside when they fled the fire, but most had remained relatively safe, and it was because of that, that they refrained from going outside their homes until it was announced to be safe to do so by some official party.
This meant that when Neia conveyed her information to Blue Rose, both she and they were able to easily cover the short distance to the center of the city.
Neia dragged the whimpering stump of Sudaj behind her as she entered the center of the mighty city, quickly followed by CZ Delta & Skana, and shortly thereafter by Blue Rose themselves coming from another direction.
Neia turned to Lakyus, "Were you able to kill Remedios?" She asked.
Lakyus shook her head, "No. I'm sorry, we tried, but she lead her cavalry off after another group of elves that had fled East and she was to far out of range, we would have given chase, but a group of elves nearby was in trouble and we were forced to choose between ones we could save, and those we could only avenge."
Neia looked angry, but nodded in understanding. "She'll suffer soon, I promise you that."
"Who is that?" Ainz asked, pointing at the stump of a man and wondering how long it would be before a guard with sufficient vantage caught sight of himself and Neia and had them surrounded. Soon...he hoped.
"The betrayer. I thought him a good man, horrified by cruelty, he fooled me, and betrayed us all, but what he was to get, I don't know." Neia answered as she cast the stump towards the feet of the Sorcerer King.
Ainz looked down at the man, whose naked flesh was cautorized in a number of places, including one that made it impossible for him to even piss himself anymore.
"What were you to gain by your betrayal?" He asked.
Sudaj told the truth, and when he mentioned his desire for Neia, that she was thrown into the bargain for himself like she was nothing more than another box of silver, she felt sick to her stomach. Skana was no less disgusted, and nor was Blue Rose, but for the members of the elite Roses, Sudaj's motivations were as nothing, their eyes were on the towering figure of the Sorcerer King.
In the distance, Ainz heard the sound of commands, they'd been spotted, Blue Rose was clearly also on alert.
"They're mobilizing to come take us." Ainz said simply as he looked at Blue Rose "So I will be brief, you have no doubt heard of this city and its reputation, now you have moved through its streets. Does it deserve to exist?" The great X shaped whipping posts, the torture rooms, they'd found, by chance, the pits and the mutilated living and dead occupants, they'd seen the marks on the elves they rescued and they'd seen what the some of the more comely ones were wearing...and not wearing, and it was obvious what they existed for. It was not even a moment of silence as the members of Blue Rose uniformly said, "No." Lakyus however chose to add, "All those of age to know better than to do these things, do not deserve their lives, however children are not guilty for the sins of their parents, and should be spared."
The reason for his inquiry was not lost on them, and the roads to the city center began to fill with soldiers blocking every path, boxing the Sorcerer King, Blue Rose, and the leadership of Black Justice's elites in on all sides. They locked shields and seemed to be waiting on orders...or following them, or perhaps waiting for those they surrounded to surrender before overwhelming odds.
"I agree." Ainz said. "It is time for this city to die. Neia Baraja, I will take possession of the traitor Sudaj, and you, Skana, and CZ will ride out to find the elves who fled the city safely, and escort them North to Prart. And you, members of Blue Rose, have aided my servant, after we are done here, will you join me in Nazarick for a more formal introduction?"
His noble voice had the majesty of a mountain and the sonorous rhythm of a timeless sea, Lakyus could not fathom the idea of refusing him, and she bowed deeply, followed quickly by her sisters and answered, "It is my deepest wish to do so sire...but may we stay to see your justice through to its end here first?"
Ainz nodded his assent, but a voice from the guards rang out, "You speak as if we aren't here, just where do you think you're going, what do you expect to do! We out number you by the hundreds and more are coming!" The man let out a deep hearty laugh.
Ainz spoke in a normal voice as he spoke with his allies, but when the soldier spoke, Ainz turned to him and laughed uproariously, the way a lion might laugh if it could, when a gazelle threatened it. "I am the Sorcerer King, Ainz Ooal Gown, just what do you think you can do to me?"
The man went pale, "You're lying!"
Ainz shrugged, "Let those be your final words." He said, and then he cast a spell that sent his voice throughout the city, "Citizens of Wenmark! You have committed great evil here! So I, the god of justice, have descended here to punish you, your city is declared to be unfit for continued existence, as such I am going to burn it to the ground, no two stones will stand together, and no two of your people will ever knowingly stand side by side again. Know however, that I am as merciful as I am just, and your children will be spared the consequences of your many evils!"
Within Yggdrasil, there were spells that could be used with conditions attached, and here in the new world, through his many experiments, he found that the conditions he could attach to them had expanded greatly, he could target sex, physical feature, and most importantly for his purposes here...age.
"Gate." He said, and then sent a message calling for Pestonya and ordering her to gather as many NPCs that had vampiric speed or greater as possible to join her, and they stepped through the gate into the city center, the human guards were flustered and shocked into silence by the pronouncement.
"Detect life, child." He said again.
"Time stop." He said. When the world froze, he turned to his NPCs and said, "Go, take every child you find, and while you're at it, anyone in chains, and remove them beyond sight of this city, now go and act quickly."
He then waited as they rushed with inhuman, monstrous speed to obey his will, they would normally move very swiftly and gracefully no matter what to carry out his orders, but when he emphasized speed, there was no stopping them, not any of the many he had called for were slack in their efforts, they moved faster than horses, faster than arrows launched from bows, they moved from place to place, taking every infant, toddler, and other underage person, and all chained adults, and ferrying them well beyond the city's reach.
When this was done, Ainz cancelled his spell, and the world returned to normal, the wails began almost immediately as people noticed that their children were all missing. Another man said, "What did you DO?!"
"Your children are removed from harm." Ainz said, prompting the man to be befuddled beyond measure at the seemingly nice sounding statement, "Screw it, I'm not waiting on orders, kill or capture all of them!" He shouted, but before two steps had been taken, Ainz cast his final spell.
"Mass burning." He said, and moved his finger around in a circle, encompassing Blue Rose, Skana, Neia, CZ, Sudaj, and himself, the great blue magic sphere sprung up, it was a 10th tier spell, and there was nobody in this world that he knew of who could survive it, the magic pattern could be seen from every part of the city's walls that was not obstructed, and those who saw it, recognized that they truly were seeing their doom. The fire sprang up beyond the city center, and moved outwards from there, consuming building after building, soldier after soldier, there it moved down hallways it moved down cellars and into alleyways and into the very sewers, it seemed to be chasing all within its range, and it could not be outrun, bargained with, or protected against, its only mercy was its relative swiftness as the heat seared the very oxygen in the lungs as fast as it scorched the bodies themselves.
Lakyus watched in horror and fascination and...satisfaction to some degree, as she saw the vile city emptied of all living evils, buildings began to fall as fire caught, and some people tried to dive into fountains or tubs of water, only to end up boiling alive instead of burning to death, their bodies rendered down to soup, while others simply leaped to their deaths rather from on high when they could not bear the thought of burning. Wenmark was not a little place, so this did not happen quickly, the flames were quick yes, but many saw it coming long before it reached them, and lived long enough to know that they were going to die. It took more than thirty minutes, but in time the screams were gone, and only the city center was untouched, where those Ainz had chosen to protect remained. Not a sound echoed around them.
"Justice is done." Ainz said softly.
A moment later he summoned a trio of undead mounts, gestured for Neia, Skana, and CZ to mount them. "Your miracle has been granted. Think not of Remedios for now, I want her to see this city after she thinks she's won something here." Ainz said.
"Thank you majesty..." Neia said softly, enjoying the moment of imagining Remedios coming to the silent ruin of Wenmark and wondering what the hell happened. "I will send another servant to retrieve the elves who died here, especially your friend, so that you may personally visit her burial site. My cloak is still on her, so nobody will mistake her for any other."
"I'm sorry, cloak, what?" Evileye interrupted.
"Someone Neia valued was...abused, before she was killed, her naked body had to be left where it lay, I covered her form with my cloak, that will make it easy to identify her and it leaves her...the dignity they tried to deny her." Ainz said.
"But...you're a king? You put your own cloak on a raped slave corpse, you don't mind that the filth and blood...one like that...stains your royal garment?" Gagaran asked in disbelief.
"Clothing is replaceable or cleanable, but dignity in death is not, giving her that deprived her killers of something of their victory, any worthy king must know and understand this, else he is not worthy to be king." Ainz said by way of explanation.
Lakyus was visibly moved, and nor was she alone, as their estimation of his character began to rise by leaps and bounds as they stood amidst the fire and ashes of his judgement.
"Pestonya," Ainz said as he sent a message, "Have the children taken to orphanages, tell Shalltear to keep opening gates until it is over, also I'm leaving a living stump here in the city center, have someone retrieve it and take it to Demiurge for his happy farm, I know he prefers to work with sheep, but this thing might have some use to him. Just make sure Demiurge knows that the use should never not hurt him. And send someone to retrieve the bodies of all the elves here, have them interred somewhere beautiful, leave the humans unless you find any wearing Black Justice armor, those we can have resurrected. Understood?"
"It will be done my lord." She acknowledged, and Ainz considered his work to be complete.
"Gate." He said, and a hole in reality appeared in front of them. "Now Blue Rose, would you care to come with me?"
He stepped through the gate, leaving the burning city of the dead behind him, and Blue Rose was quick to follow.
-END OF PART ONE-
AN: And there you have it, the long awaited burning of Wenmark. I trust it left you satisfied that it was worth the wait? I can be a poor judge and harsh critic of my own writing, so I leave it to you to tell me...is this good...or is this not? Earlier today I felt very off my game in writing the other works, but published anyway because I was moved by the strong wishes of reviewers and messages asking when it would happen and frankly hoping I'm not dead. 'lol' I also kind of blame my vacation for dulling my a little bit, leaving me to relaxed, so I HOPE this is up to a worthwhile standard. But all is not over. Part ONE of God Rising has come to its conclusion, but there will be an aftermath, a miniature epilogue, before I begin Part TWO as the war begins. How quickly you GET that epilogue and PART TWO...depends on how well 'fed' I am with reviews. :) Mwahahahahahah! I know, its evil, but I love feedback, so I'll hope you forgive me for asking for a bribe in feedback form. :) Yes I'll still count a one word review, but if its not to much to ask, I'd like to hear more, favorite scene, favorite line, favorite character, what you'd like to see, how you felt as you read the story, were you moved, were you angry, did you weep with emotion or crow at the victory or final vengeance, inquiring writers want to know! ;)
Well, till the next part! ALSO...Kudos to those of you who got the Genghis Khan reference (Ainz's speech pronouncing sentence) the biblical references to Judas and the 40 pieces of silver, and any of the other little references to history found in this one. The richness of history and reality itself is the finest inspiration I can think of. I hope that this chapter and this story, has given you cause to agree with me.