...Draconic Kingdom...Morning after the summit...
Queen Draudillon counted herself a reasonably competent Queen, admittedly she had an unusually high alcohol consumption, but that had tapered off since the beastmen invasions had been stopped cold. This did not mean she was without challenges, but she was willing and able to work at them, and the benefits of trade with the Sorcerer King had begun to show since the last days of the beastmen war. She'd slightly increased the services her kingdom provided and paid for more healings of the wounded, but now with the founding of Black Justice and their stance on healing, she'd dispatched a request that a temple be built in her capitol, and she was sure it was only a matter of time before this happened. All that said, she also genuinely cared for her people's well being beyond the role of being a pure administrative requirement, so returning the incredibly valuable coin that had been dropped by Vanysa became a personal matter for her.
With no idea where the girl lived, she was forced to have a contingent of guards go out and ask after her, the girl stood out, that much was in their favor, not many peasants were that...bouncy, and she was admittedly rather beautiful, she would be recognized even by those who didn't know her, and in this way they were able to narrow down what part of the city she'd been seen in within a day. A quick sketch of the girl handed to a few guards had helped immensely, the artist, a rather gifted person, had even captured her spirit and 'posed' her playfully and with her toothy grin.
So within a day they knew which quarter of the city she lived in. Within four days they'd narrowed it down to which block, and at first she'd just stationed guards in the area with her description and they'd been told to keep an eye out for her and catch her attention when she was seen...but within four days of that...there had still been no sign. So the Queen ordered them to find her residence. Within two days of that, they'd found her residence and her immediate neighbors, and that was when she received unpleasant news. According to the people who lived around her, she had not been seen since the day of the summit.
When this was delivered to her, the Queen shot up from her throne and immediately went to where she was known to live. The carriage ride was very quick and for that she was very grateful. She wrang her hands nervously, the girl was a personal...friend...servant? Of the Sorcerer King, he had been a guest of his at her palace, she had disappeared immediately after...this did not look good. Her heart beat loud in her chest as Vermillion tried to calm her down.
"Please, your majesty think nothing more of this, she probably asked to go with the Sorcerer King, she's obviously bound to him in some way, having served him in the past, she probably simply went with him that night and that is why she didn't come back here. Please calm down!" He said, leaning forward intently.
"I hope you're right Vermillion." Queen Draudillon said anxiously. "She stayed behind because I asked her to. That makes me the last person known to have seen her, she was alone with ME in MY palace, what would you think if you were in the Sorcerer King's position?"
Vermillion had not considered it that way, and he sat back in his chair and touched his forehead where sweat began to bead. He swallowed anxiously, "Shit...shit...shit...shit...shit. This is bad, this is very bad, this is very, very, very bad." He gazed up at the top of the carriage as it slowed down and began to stop.
"You're right, and its made worse by our very slow response, we have to make up for lost time, gods what if he should return here at some point and ask about her, what would we do then if he couldn't find her and found out she disappeared after being alone with me? You've seen how far he goes for people who work for him, he'll turn this kingdom on its head to find her and I don't doubt he'd burn it to the ground if he thought we were responsible for her dying. Do you want that?!" She snapped as the guards began to dismount from the carriage.
"No." He said.
"Then stop telling me not to panic and start panicking. This is the PERFECT time to panic, this is the exact situation that panicking was made for! Now get down with me and lets find out just how fucked we all are!" She snapped at him again and he went quiet, the door to the carriage opened and she said to the nearby guard who had found her residence, "You, lead us to it."
He didn't have to ask what she meant, he didn't even stop to bow, he spun on his heel and walked into the alleyway to a flimsy wooden door. The alley was grimy, dirty, the cobblestones were loose, the wooden door was practically rotted, it wasn't so much a door as it was just termites holding hands. She paused in front of it, "Are you sure this is her residence? The Sorcerer King knew this girl personally, she served him for weeks, I find it hard to imagine that the same king that would hand over a fortune as compensation for an unpleasant evening would have left her in poverty after weeks of service?" Her eyes narrowed angrily at the thought that his might have been another dead end.
"Yes your majesty," the guard said nervously, "I spoke with her neighbors, she does live her, she took the compensation from the Sorcerer King and opened up a shop, but a new tax was passed focused on her area that made her goods very expensive, in addition several fees were imposed that hit her hard, and she lost everything, everything was confiscated and she was forced to live here." His eyes were a bit nervous, but he was confident he was right.
Suddenly she briefly remembered something the Sorcerer King had mentioned, about something called 'protectionism' but there was no time for that now. "Open it, break it down if you have to." She said sharply, and the bulky guard put his shoulder into it as he slammed himself against the fragile door, it splintered and opened easily, and in they went.
"Seems to me a girl with a fortune in hand would have spent some of it by now." She said as she looked around, the place was a wreck, rotted furniture, rotted bed stuffed with old straw, but much to her surprise there was one nice piece, a book shelf that was clearly not very old, and it had several books on it. Draudillon approached and took one up, "D is for dog." She read the title aloud. "She learned to read?" The Queen asked in surprise.
She thumbed through some of the other books, "Where could she have gotten these?" she asked as she touched them, they were immaculate, there were candles burned down by her bed, she went through far more than the average peasant did. but the real question was the books themselves, they were very finely bound, obviously expensive. "Could she have spent money on these?" She asked the guards.
"We don't know..." They said. "Find out! Send two of your number to the nearest book sellers, ask if they have any of these titles." She briefly scribbled down what she saw here and sent them off. "Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn...Please Teacher...Marmalade Boy...Kama Sutra" She flipped through the books, several of them were filled with pictures, unusual art, but oddly compelling...one of them was compelling for an entirely different reason, and she almost 'borrowed' it, but with some regret she put it back.
She looked around the room, there was food on the table, but it was rotted. "No way she ate this recently." The queen said, "Not after the meal she had at my palace." She began to wring her hands, and in a nervous gesture she opened one of the books to the inside of the cover and read it aloud. "Library of Ashurbanipal...Nazarick." She put the book down like it was going to bite her and turned pale. "Fuck." She said. "We...are...so...fucked."
She pointed to the nearest guard. "Wait here for the others to come back from the book sellers, then lock this place down, I want a guard here every hour of every day, if the book seller reports anything purchased since the summit, I want to know about it." She pointed to Vermillion. "Go to every hotel of note in this city and send word to all those outside of it, if she gave herself a little vacation to reward herself, I want to know where it is and I want to know that she's alive and safe, and I want to know yesterday!" She was getting more and more anxious.
"May I suggest majesty, that we inquire with the Sorcerer King himself? If she is with him, all is well, if she is not, well the longer we delay telling him of her disappearance, the worse this might become. We're well past the point where we can just pretend ignorance, to many people have seen guards looking for her, if he comes back later and investigates himself and finds that we learned she was missing and did nothing..." Vermillion said seriously, letting his voice trail off ominously.
She felt her breathing grow labored, "You're right, you're right of course, I have to get back to the palace, I have to send word to him immediately." She rushed out into the street and got back in the carriage, she had the coachman move like he was being chased by demons, and soon she found herself back in her throne room. She sat on the throne, and it felt more unstable to her now than when the beastmen invaded.
She gave it several hours, waiting only until word had come that the girl had not been seen at any of the finer hotels and no guard had seen a bouncy blonde girl with a toothy smile leave the city in quite some time, two even knew who she was, having flirted unsuccessfully with her in the past.
Grimly, she wrote a secure missive to the Sorcerer King, phrasing it as gently as possible and hoping the fallout would not be to terrible for her or for her kingdom.
...Miles outside the Draconic Kingdom...Night of the summit...
King Astraka was an unhappy man, a very unhappy man. He sat in his carriage with arms folded and stewed. He'd looked WEAK. He snarled and fumed, that girl...that damn girl had made him look like a coward. He was a KING...and he couldn't meet the eyes of a jumped up SQUIRE?! The hell was wrong with him...or her? He fumed over the matter to the point of distraction, and he looked at the unconscious girl laying across from him. It disgusted him what he'd done...but the opportunity was there and he had to take it. She knew a great deal, and he needed that knowledge if he was to survive. So he'd had his coachman pretend to be working on a wheel, hoping that the opportunity would come, and as if the gods favored the action, it was already dark and the desire for privacy had seen the absence of any guards in this area. She'd skipped out happily, bouncy hair dancing behind her and looking down at the little sack of coins. It was an invaluable sum to give to a mere peasant as an apology, even the notion that a king should apologize to peasants was a strange one, she should have just been grateful to be present and to eat with them, that alone was gift enough.
It ate at him, it ate at him a lot. And whether he would admit it or not, his conscience was a problem, but a king's duty was not to his conscience, it was to take the actions necessary for the greater good. So he killed his conscience lest it could make him play the coward again as he had under the eyes of that monster with the vicious eyes. As she giggled at her sudden wealth, he came behind her, and before she could turn around or skip one more step, he struck her on the back of the head and caught her before she could fall. He was a soldier through and through, and though he didn't like what he was doing, he knew how to do it so as to not take her life. She had dropped her coins, but as he shoved her into his carriage, he rushed back and snatched up the sack and the few that had fallen out, and had his shocked coachman drive them out as quickly as he could.
Now there he sat, looking her over, she was a very pretty girl, the sort of thing that pervert Handor would have enjoyed. He looked her over again and again, she was very tempting, but his eyes narrowed, it was an ugly thought and he was fairly sure she'd be less than happy with this, and so...not willing, and whatever his faults, that was not one of them. To bad. She was lucky it was him, and not his predecessor. 'Ah Handor, how I wish I'd been the one to kill you.' He sighed at the thought, and tore the sleeves from her clothing and then he rolled her over onto her stomach, and used the strips to bind her wrists and ankles. Fortunately they were long, but not quite long enough, so he cut part of the legs of her pants off, just below the knee, and rolled her over onto her back again, and he improvised a gag, testing out the knot, he found it secure, not perfect, but plenty good enough, and then he settled back down into his seat and crossed his arms again, and settled in for a wait. He did not envy the headache he was sure she'd have when she awoke. The sun was just cresting the horizon, she'd be awake soon.
...Ambush site, morning after the massacre...
Neia looked over the prisoners CZ had taken. Neia had not taken any herself, there had been no opportunity to surrender given, and so none taken. CZ however, had chosen to take them, and now fifty men sat bound and under guard in a pit they'd been made to dig to hold themselves under the arrows and spellgun of their captor. They were bound in the hole and they were obviously frightened. Neia's visor concealed her eyes, but they knew who she was by appearance alone.
Most of their people had returned to the 'camp' before sunrise, taking circuitous routes around the village to avoid leaving any indication of who had been there. There was no way that the villagers could have missed the chaos taking place so close to their homes, the fire and noise was less than a mile away, and even if it had been distant, peasant did not equate to stupid, and they seemed to have thought better than to investigate.
"Well I can't say I wanted prisoners." Neia said, "But you did the right thing by the Sorcerer King's justice. We can still lure their comrades past the village, as long as they follow through to the other side, it will be fine. But I'll need you to stay here and watch these men personally." Neia's voice had an edge to it, a hard edge, and the men in the pit who stood nearly naked with an improvised barrier above it in the form of supply crates stacked around the perimeter, shook with fear. Neia looked over the edge and down into it, "You are alive because the Sorcerer King prohibits the execution of those who have lost the will to fight, you are alive because of the grace of the god of justice, whose wisdom stands above all. Think long and hard about the difference between how you would have treated US...and how we are treating YOU." There were some nervous looks and a smattering of 'Thank yous' uttered, a few wept, happy that they were going to live. "Can any of you read?" She asked.
One man hesitantly raised his hand, he was young, perhaps in his mid teens, he had a patchy growth of hair on his face and stormy gray eyes, he still had the gangliness of youth that Neia remembered of those years, but he was filling out into a strong looking man. Neia reflected that, if this manish boy or boyish man survived to the end of all this intact...he would be quite handsome one day. "You? You can read?" She asked in disbelief.
"Yes ma'am, I ah...worked for our village priest, he taught me so I could help him more." He said, his voice still at a somewhat crackly pitch and filled with uncertainty.
Neia's eyes narrowed behind her visor. "How old are you boy?"
"Fifteen ma'am." He said with at least some measure of manly self respect.
Neia rubbed her forehead. "The hell are you doing here, you're to young for this?"
"Priest said if'n I came here, my papa, I-uh-mean my father could go to Heaven." He said.
"What?" She asked as if she did not believe it.
"My father was executed, killed a man over a cow, was'n accident, the man hit his head on a rock, but the priest said it was murder anyway, so my p-father, he got hanged an so I had to work for the priest for money, then all..yah know, that stuff happened, an he said he'd take care'a momma for me an my father, he'd go to heaven since I fight for the gods."
A sinister picture began to form in Neia's mind, the change in her demeanor was palpable and she began to soften, they began to visibly relax as they picked up on the decrease in her hostility.
"Is your mother beautiful, son? Do you want to see her again?" Neia asked, putting a note of kindness in his voice.
The boy actually beamed. "She's very pretty, sister is to, kinda didn't want to go because now tha' father's gone I was watchin out for em, but...gotta eat an the priest said he couldn't pay me no more, an he told me gettin father to heaven is good work. I do wanna see em again though, I miss home."
Neia paused. She took out a copy of her book of Black Justice and said, "Here, catch!" He looked up in confusion and she lightly tossed the book down.
"What's this?" He asked.
"Listen son, you want to get home, and I want to send you home...alive, and not in a box to be buried in. The fight is over for you now, you're a prisoner, we don't kill prisoners as long as we don't have to, and the only way we have to, is if you make us. So you stay there in that hole for now, OK? I want you to read that book out loud, and I want everyone else in that hole to repeat every sentence after you, that way we know you're not planning with each other on how to escape, not that you could, but this way I know I can send you all home alive...alright?" She asked as gently as she could manage.
The boy nodded numbly, "You're nicer than I thought you'd be."
"Thank you," she said, "But give thanks to the Sorcerer King, its his will that no one die before their time." She took off her visor and looked down in the hole, her eyes swept over the group, "do not bring that time on yourselves. Am I understood?" A chill swept over them as they felt the threat of her wrath over them, and the boy hastily opened the book and looked down at it, and began to read.
"Justice requires action..." She heard him recite as she moved out of view, she sat down on the other side of the crate and pulled her knees up to her chest, closed her eyes to the world, and listened to the words of her god, and she, the terror of the corrupt and the destroyer of cities, put on her visor to hide her weeping, glad for the moment that it was only she and CZ up there, as the rest of Black Justice, the Blood Miners, and the Vines, had moved to other positions. The majority went back to their original camp, and 'broke it' like usual and began to move, certain that they were being shadowed by the smaller forces that had no idea that their ambush had been shit wrecked well ahead of them. Some moved into the woods in place of where the ambushers had, while others waited at the base of the hill, ready to charge around the corner...effectively they had stolen the ambush of their enemies and made it their own.
Neia remained on top of the hill where she could provide direction and instruction, and CZ guarded both her and the prisoners. As Neia sat where she did, the terrified face of the young soldier she'd slain came back to her again and again, she wondered about his life, where his mother was, and if there was any way she could have avoided killing him. She had no answer, but she was grateful for the Sorcerer King's justice...without it, she would have killed those men down there, and there would be more to haunt her dreams. She wondered if that boy's mother was really being looked after. Or...was she being 'looked after', and what of his sister? There was no point in telling him her thoughts, it might be nothing. Perhaps it really was just a coincidence, that his father died leaving a family unable to care for itself, that a young boy should fall under the sway of the most important man in any village, and be dispatched to fight for what they all believed in, perhaps it really was a kindly priest whose only eye for the vulnerable women was to their wellbeing? But she doubted.
She shook off her reverie when she saw CZ waving her over.
"They come." She said as the two stood next to one another, Neia had good vision, but nowhere near as good as CZ's. The maid demon pointed at the moving dots that were now a few miles away.
"Thank you CZ." Neia said and took her friend's hand and squeezed it affectionately. "For everything." She smiled and took off her visor, CZ never flinched from Neia's eyes.
"Cute." She said, and put a sticker on each of Neia's cheeks. And she began to move away, back to where the prisoners were contained, and then she did something unusual, she looked back, pointed at Neia and said, "Also Strong." And she returned to sit on the crates and looked down at the band with indifferent eyes as they read the book sentence by sentence. Neia gave her a slow and somber nod and moved to the edge of the hill.
She watched as the dots became larger, and to be safe, she laid herself on the grass with legs out and head only inches off the ground. She still had an excellent visual, but as she saw her people approach and began to pass through the road that cut the village into two halves, the other groups came into distant view, they couldn't be seen from where her people were moving, but from her view atop the hill, she could see everything for miles, she put all other thoughts out of her mind and watched as her group went in to the village, and then passed beyond it. The buildings were not high, but it was a village of a few hundred people, so it was trivially easy for a small number to break off from the carts and take positions on the sides of homes and other buildings.
The shadowing groups became more evident in their numbers as they drew closer, they were a few hundred total, a handful of cavalry and some infantry, they began to close the distance, and suddenly her caravan took off, the carts and horses and people afoot sprinting as if to cross the danger zone, and from the forest came more of her people as if to catch them in the flank, it gave the appearance that the trap had been sprung after they thought themselves spotted, so they charged hoping to catch Black Justice in the back, only to find...as they closed and got a better look at both groups...that both wore the same armor...and both groups had turned and were charging at their front. No sooner had that realization hit their psyches, than the archers of the Blood Miners and the Vines came from around the hill and launched arrows into their unprotected flanks, and those who had dismounted and briefly concealed themselves behind homes and other buildings charged in from the rear. Neia stood up at the top of the hill, locked on her target, poured power into her arrows as she hefted the Ultimate Shooting Star, and by then it was not a battle, it was not even an ambush, it was pest extermination, caught from three sides and sniped from the hill, all expected support absent, there was nothing to do but die, and die they did, though they did not lack the will to fight, having had more stomach for death than the last, no chance to surrender was offered or asked for, and the killing did not stop until the moving did.
Neia descended from the hill and shouted orders, "First treat the wounded, check them for survivors, if they have any wounded, treat them, but also secure them, we take prisoners among those unable or unwilling to fight!" Skana approached and held out her hand, and Neia clasped it firmly and gave her a grin, "You did well. It was a bold move to 'charge' our own lines like that." She said.
Skana returned the grin, "I'm Skana the bold, wouldn't much live up to the name if I didn't do that, or this..." And then she pulled Neia in and kissed her, hard and fiercly, and just as Neia began to melt, she broke the kiss and stepped back with a giggle. "See. Bold. And you're looking better, like part of you is back. Not like yesterday."
Neia blushed, not much caring to make her affection a spectacle, but all it did was draw some laughs her way as their forces resumed treating the wounded of both sides. "I ah...well I think I just feel reminded of why I'm doing this, I didn't mean to make you worry." She looked a little ashamed of herself, and Skana took her chin between thumb and forefinger and closed the gap between them to inches again.
"Don't be, you understand, I'm supposed to worry about you, as my commander, my pope, and my love, whatever happens, yes I'll worry, but we'll get through it." She said, giving a soft smile to the mad eyed archer.
Neia shook her head with a laugh, "You're a bold one, careful though, or that boldness will get you into trouble one day!" She grinned as Skana laughed in return.
"Uh huh, I'm going to help check for supplies among the dead, we don't have a lot of time, I don't know where Remedios is, but when this unit doesn't check in again, she's going to come looking for it, and I don't want to be here when she gets back." She backed away and Neia waved her off with a roll of her eyes.
She then called over to one of her other members and said, "Go to the village, tell them who we are, and tell them who we just wiped out, tell them that if they bury the bodies, we will pay them for it."
"Just ours ma'am?" The soldier asked.
Neia shook her head. "No. All of them. They'll draw a silver for every body they bury, and that we will pay the priest for performing the services over them...but also that we will be back at some point to see that the work was done. Tell them that when someone else comes by eventually to find out what happened, they can say that Neia Baraja has killed them all, and that the dead were buried in accordance with their religious beliefs."
"But...why?" He asked with surprise.
Neia sighed. "My first instinct was to sever their heads and put those on pikes all along the road here for that vile bitch to find...I admit...but I don't want to be that person, and I would be violating the Justice of the Sorcerer King. So we'll show respect to the dead, no matter whose side they were one, they are all equally dead, so give them equal respect. That is what the book of Black Justice says, so that is what we will do...even if it is hard." She sighed, feeling very tired all of a sudden, and the soldier moved back to the village, it took him over twenty minutes to coax someone to come out so he could explain everything, and by that time the work of seizing weapons, coin, food, and useful armor was done, while a half a dozen Vines had died and two dozen Blood Miners, Black Justice had only a few injured, the reverse ambush had been a complete success.
That left the matter of the prisoners, and to that end she purchased two carts out of the village and had them modified with a series of iron loops being added, and the prisoners were one by one taken out of their hole and bound to the loops within the long wide carts, it was crowded, but it could have been worse, they were depressed and dejected, but they were alive, and Neia reasoned that they would be thankful for that later. They had lost their war for now, but not the hard way, not the way of the ones who were even now having graves dug for them.
As they began to pull away, the prisoners saw some villagers digging holes, and one of them ventured to ask..."What is happening? What are you doing to our comrades? Just dumping them in a mass grave?"
Neia shook her head as she rode on her undead mount beside the prisoner's cart, which was also flanked by CZ and Skana. "No, we paid the villagers to dig proper graves for them, and we paid the priest to give them their final rites." Her voice was grave and she didn't look at the man, but she could tell from the feeling she got that he didn't believe her.
"You're not turning them into undead?" He asked in disbelief.
"No. Absolutely not." Neia replied.
"But..." He began and she sighed, cutting him off.
"Yes we use the undead, we use them for labor and for security, and yes there are cases where someone might be turned into an undead against their will, a killer or a rapist or something of that nature, however it is not a crime to be a soldier, and as far as I know those men and women back there did nothing but fight for the wrong side. Therefore it would be a violation of our faith to turn them into skeletons, it would be an egregious violation of the will of our god to abuse someone's body, and because our god tells us all are equal in death, we must offer the dead equal respect, and bury them in accorance with their religious beliefs. Anything else?"
The man looked down, he had nothing else, but some of the prisoners were obviously moved by the kindness, if they had anything more, they said nothing, and Neia clicked her heels against the flanks of her undead mount and moved to the front of the formation, that was her place, and she had a job to do.
AN: Well here is my next double release, I hope you're all happy with it, though this is 'tomorrows' double release (I went on a spree and wrote four chapters in one day) I'm releasing it some time this evening in the hopes that most of you will just 'see it' in the morning. So of course, enjoy. And of course if you want to 'ensure' you continue to get double chapter releases, the way to get that is to either donate blood or platelets (providing me a photo of your arm being vampired by the blood sucking Red Cross...(yes I made the word 'vampired' up, I like it, go with it) OR donate food to a nondiscriminatory charity, you know what I mean, not one of those that kicks people out over their orientation or won't feed single mothers or any of that...OR you can simply donate a sum to bdgiving dot org and let me know you did it. Every donation earns an additional double release day.
In case you're wondering WHY I'm going this route...Six years ago my eldest son contracted a rare strain of Spinal Meningitis, and he fell into a coma, shortly after his 13th birthday. So every year from the date of his birth, until the date of his death, I do a considerable amount of charitable work in his memory, because that was the kind of kid he was, and that was the kind of man he would have been. THIS year, I've been incorporating media efforts, including my secular humanist facebook page, and now...well this. :) If I can both entertain you all...AND properly honor Gabriel's memory, hell yes. :) Donating blood saves lives, donating food feeds families, and if you do that just so you can get more overlord fanfiction...then fuck me if that's not the best goddamn use fanfiction has EVER been fucking put to.
So...enjoy.