AN: OK a few quick things before I get going on this. FIRST… I can't believe how many people have written to tell me how much this story has meant to them in one way or another, I've done my damnedest to do justice to the heavy themes in here, to draw from the well of your own rich inner lives and create characters who you can connect with, feel for, and become invested in, through all the triumph and tragedy they experience, it isn't ME that brings them to life, its YOU, because you make them part of you and recognize yourselves in them. So… well done you. :) Embrace your own complexity, the richness of your experience, because no matter how banal you may 'think' you are, the fact is that if you can connect to the characters in this rich world I'm striving to populate, there's more to you than you thought.
SECOND… These next few chapters after this one will have very limited perspectives, focusing primarily (though not totally or exclusively) on the siege of Prart and the characters involved, though I 'could' end it in a chapter (albeit a long one) I would do an injustice to the characters, and an injustice to you who have stuck with me all this time. AFTER these few chapters are done, I'll need a little bit of a break from 'God Rising' and I'll be doing more of 'The Synod' and 'Shadows in the Deep' (working title), then it will be back to the usual routine.
So… with all that said, on with the show.
...Nazarick…
Neia stepped through the portal, her face was a mask of resolve and her body was straight and proud as a veteran warrior, a speaker, a leader, a breaker of walls and a commander of armies. Inside, however? She felt a flutter in her stomach.
She thought back to 'the test' when Demiurge had informed her that her lord commanded that she end her life, and then he handed her a weapon to use for that end, which would only foil her attempts. She thought of the futility with which she'd tried to stab herself, cut herself, only to find the weapon useless as it would not obey her will. It had been the ultimate test of loyalty, of the sort only a personal servant of the Supreme Being could create, ensuring loyalty without destroying the body of the loyal.
It made her the only pure human that she knew of that had been completely accepted as being 'welcome' in Nazarick.
As she walked across the floor her footfalls echoed over a silent chamber. Few guardians were present today, Demiurge and Albedo were at the top of the steps to the throne, flanking the Sorcerer King. Cocytus stood off to one side not far from where she'd be standing, and Vanysa watched curiously from a far wall. 'Will he be taking my head, or will she be taking me away?' Neia wondered privately.
It reminded her of the first time she'd encountered the Sorcerer King, when she'd knelt and taken a risk, offering up her head to pay the price of offending him if it was necessary. Even then he had been kinder to her than Remedios Custodio.
Now? She wondered if Cocytus was stationed there to carry out the offer she'd made what seemed like forever ago. If it was to be, then it was to be. She resolved not to disgrace herself before her master by begging, pleading, or putting blame on the Queen or on Blue Rose.
Her echoing footfalls ceased and she went down to one knee, lowering her gaze deferentially as she removed her visor and stored it away. "My King, Neia Baraja reports to you as ordered." She said, and as her voice echoed around the chamber, a look passed between the two that Neia caught only a strained glimpse of from the edges of her eyes.
"Raise your head, Black Paladin." Ainz said, and Neia looked up.
The look passed between the two guardians again, and she could not mistake it this time.
"I would hear in your own words what happened at the meeting." Ainz said in the straightforward manner she had come to expect from the god of gods and king of kings.
"As you wish, Your Majesty." Neia said, and then relayed the account truthfully to the last detail.
"So who was at fault for the injury to Queen Calca?" Ainz asked with a hint of curiosity, "In your honest view, speak freely."
"I was, My Lord." Neia replied. "As the head of security, I made the plan, I selected the guards, I assessed the threats, I approved the equipment, and I let the package approach regardless of my instincts. I allowed the Queen to dictate her own security, and it was because of that mistake that she was injured and nearly killed."
"So," Ainz said, putting his boney fingers together in a steeple shape in front of him, "you take full responsibility for your failure to completely protect your charge? You recognize where you erred?" He asked.
"I do. I am prepared to offer my head to atone or…" Her gaze darted over Cocytus next to her, and then to the erinyes waiting against the wall, "whatever is necessary. To fail your instructions cannot be excused." She kept her voice proud and forceful, determined not to show the ache in her heart.
"Tell me Neia, what would have happened if Queen Calca had been killed?" He asked.
She bit her lip and her mind raced. "There would be no 'Calca' to be loyal to and the justification for the Sorcerous Kingdom's presence would have been all but erased, the usurper king could have turned on Remedios and crushed her as an assassin and thereby won over of many of the Calcan loyalists. Her offer of her kingdom as a province to you would be null and void, it is possible that you would have pulled your forces out when the usurper from the south offered favorable terms to you, sufficient that you would have had to accept them to avoid appearing to be just another conqueror." Neia said rapidly, giving the most rapid summary she could think of.
"Is that everything?" He asked patiently, drawing looks from Demiurge and Albedo as he undertook 'Deep Understanding pose number three'.
"That is all this servant can think of at the present, sire." She said, her face turned red from embarrassment that she couldn't see as deeply into matters as he could.
"Good enough, then you are aware of the significance of the near loss." He stated, and she nodded mutely in turn.
"What did you learn from the experience, what should you have done differently?" He asked.
"I shouldn't have let my charge go within a striking distance that could not be intercepted. I should not have allowed my VIP, even of senior position, to dictate their own security, and I should have given increased threat status to a powerful individual, regardless of the perceived probability of their taking action." She said in quick succession.
"What did you do right?" He asked.
"We had covert security available, adequate force protection from a crack adventurer team, healing potions on hand to ensure her immediate restoration, mounts for rapid escape, proper secrecy for additional security, and a preplanned route that took us to safety." She said truthfully.
"So, to sum up, you delayed an army of many thousands by an additional half a day, protected your charge when she was injured by covering her with your own body, used your prepared measures to ensure her survival, and everybody escaped with their lives while killing two members of one of the more powerful Theocracy Scriptures. It isn't a perfect win, but it is well within expectations, and more importantly, you learned from your mistakes." Ainz said, pointing to Neia to emphasize the significance of his words.
"Forgive me sire, I would never dream of contradicting you, but…" She began
"You're going to power through it anyway?" He asked, somewhat bemused.
Demiurge and Albedo were looking less than pleased at that
"No, Sire. It is just, I thought I was to be punished for this, am I not to lose my head for what I almost cost you, am I not to be… is she not here to take me to…" She paused and barely got out the euphemism, "...make music?" Neia's mouth was partially open and her eyes were wide and uncertain.
The disapproval from the two guardians had disappeared as they understood the meaning of her question, they remembered quite well Sebas's indiscretion, the lost battle of Cocytus, the mind control of Shalltear, each time the one who had failed, had expected to suffer or perish, and considered it right to do so.
"No." Ainz said flatly, "Your success was not total, but you did your duty and your charge is alive, moreover the advantages outweigh the minor harm, in addition, you have learned from what went wrong so that you will not repeat your errors in the future." He said, all but praising her.
"Defeat," Ainz said, "is the mother of victory, from those things which go wrong, you can learn, grow, and do better next time. Experience is a great teacher in that regard, and on this occasion it only cost us a healing potion. You performed satisfactorily."
"As His Majesty says, so it must be." She said, lowering her gaze again. "Yet, forgive this humble servant a question, but if my lord already knew all this, why have you summoned me, am I to be simply replaced?" She asked, with a quiver in her voice.
"No. I wished to know what you learned, but I also wished to know how you fared after such a strenuous action. You have faced terrible perils, taken countless lives in my service, and now you were forced to confront your torturer, while being forbidden from striking her down under a flag of truce. So tell me, Neia, are you well?" He asked with concern.
"Majesty…" She whispered softly, at a loss at the clear depth of his concern for her.
"I am ready to fight, to strike down your enemies, my resolve is harder than adamantite, and all that I am stands ready to be ground into dust for the sake of serving you well." She said with a joyful smile that could only come from serving an absolute ruler.
"Of that I have no doubt." Ainz said thoughtfully, "However, there is one thing unique to you which has drawn the interest of my guardians."
"My Lord?" Neia asked in disbelief.
"Demiurge." Ainz gestured to her, "I permit you to explain."
"As you wish, Lord Ainz." Demiurge said with a smile. "Pope Neia, from the beginning of your devoted service to our lord, your true service, after your death at the wall some years ago, you developed a 'class' of sorts." He said.
"A class?" She asked, now completely lost.
"Yes, I didn't think much of it at first, despite its relative rarity. You see, your voice 'reaches' people, and it is more than simply public speaking, a skill like any other, but rather you have been growing in the ability to persuade, to draw ears to you, to get people to believe you. You already are aware of some aspects of this, aren't you?" He asked seriously as he descended the steps, stopping one step from the base, in front of her.
"Yes, Lord Demiurge. I… I have accidentally used it sometimes, I don't fully understand what is happening." She said, a little anxious shake in her voice that had not been there when she expected to perish.
"Vanysa, do it." Demiurge said, and the fury approached. Neia looked past Demiurge, up to the Sorcerer King, he nodded quietly, and she relaxed her body for whatever what was going to happen.
Vanysa, in a small act of kindness, Neia supposed, held the form of a human, and she knelt down to Neia's level, offering some further physical reassurance that nothing bad was going to happen. She gently touched Neia's cheek, and turned her face to meet the storm gray eyes of the blond female.
She looked into the whorling eyes of Neia Baraja and held her gaze for a very long time, until at last breaking it, she looked up to Demiurge and shook her head, then she stood and stepped back, giving a sweet, reassuring smile to the pope.
"Lord Demiurge?" Neia asked inquisitively.
"That was our first experiment. It is no secret that you have slain many, many people, and it is also no secret that you harbor deep emotions over the elves, and… other matters. As Vanysa is an erinyes, she can detect guilt, she was hoping to determine if those things that have troubled you, are a direct cause of the changes that have taken place in your general capabilities." He explained.
"I don't understand." Neia said bluntly.
"Neither do we, that is the point of experimentation." He said with a wry devilish grin that drew a laugh out of Vanysa.
"Master?" Neia asked, unable to accept that there might be something he didn't know.
"We know 'what' you are, for the most part, but you have developed something unique about yourself that is a blending, a hybrid if you will. Your ability to impose fear and terror is similar to that of a death magic user on the one hand, yet you are a paladin, which normally is limited to holy magic, which we have seen that you can also use. There has never been anything like you that I have ever seen, therefore it is unlikely that there has ever been one like you at all." Ainz explained, as if to a child.
"If that which made you could be properly understood, you could be the basis for an army of Death Paladins who practice sacred death magic… or holy death, the guardians are still arguing over what to call it." Ainz said with a roll of his red orbs, like a father over squabbling children.
"You swore yourself to the service of our lord, if we must tear your body apart to find the secret within you in order to give it to him?" Albedo asked.
"Then tear me apart here and now." Neia said without flinching.
"You will assist Lord Demiurge with his experiments as soon as he summons you." Albedo said in an authoritative voice.
"When the gate is opened, I will go. I will ensure my final affairs are in order at all times, that I may give up my life on command." Neia answered proudly.
"Take care not to trade away your life too lightly, Neia Baraja." The Sorcerer King said gently.
She felt her heart practically burst at his kindness, it reminded her of when she went to the wall and he seemed to say, 'Come back safe' it was as if he were a father or grandfather sending her off to the world, hoping she'd come back home again. The terror others felt in his presence seemed to her to be like a warm embrace.
"I will hold Your Majesty's words to my heart, as tightly as I hold the very thought of Your Majesty." She said with a slight upturn of her lips, her control slipping enough to let a smile through.
"Now, you must return to Prart I assume." He said, "You are about to face a siege, and I know you have much to do. But as you go back through that gate, know this." He said, and she listened intently.
"I will not let a single death be for nothing. One people will come from this, where there stood many before, do not forget it. In this crucible of necessity, all distinctions, all racial lines, all beliefs that do not preserve one's life in battle, are burned away, leaving no vices, only the virtue of common brotherhood, that no elf hate human, no human hate dwarf, no vampire regard another as nothing but a meal, you will all stand as one. When you take your places on that wall this time, Prart will not fall." Ainz said, drumming his words into her very soul.
"It will be as you say, my beloved God of Justice!" She shouted and sprang up from her knees and spontaneously rendered a salute, her words echoed back and forth against the walls with such power that they who occupied the throne room, wondered how long it would take for them to die.
The echo was still going when Ainz dismissed her, and she marched back through the gate to the city from which she'd come.
When she was gone, Ainz turned to Demiurge. "What do you think?" He asked.
"Well, My Lord, we have eliminated one source of her power. I wondered if a sense of guilt might fuel her, but that isn't it, Vanysa's assistance eliminated that, and she's not harboring any demons within her, otherwise their occupation would have been noticed for the same reason. This 'growth' seems to be entirely native to her body, though just what allowed it to develop, I cannot say." He said, lowering his crystal eyes in disappointment.
"Take heart, Demiurge," Albedo said, "you know two ways it doesn't work, you will find the answer." She said confidently.
Vanysa nodded emphatically, "And if'n ah can help, yah know ah will." She grinned broadly.
Ainz half expected Albedo to give a firm rebuke to the fury for speaking up, yet to his surprise, she did not, it was a good sign as far as he was concerned. He chose to 'test' those waters a little further. "Vanysa, you were coming to ask me for some materials in order to target Astraka?"
Her eyes turned vicious as they tightened on her face, her lips curled in a sadistic smile that bared her teeth even as they morphed into the fangs and her erinyes shape emerged. She knelt before the stairs and said, "Yes, My Lord, to carry out my plan I require the following, if you will permit it." She then drew a list from her pocket and read it off.
Again, he thought Albedo would speak up, say something about a useless expenditure of Nazarick's resources, or at least snap at her a little, yet this also did not come to pass. "Albedo?" Ainz asked of her, "What say you to this request?
"I say it is well within reason for her intentions, sire. He will suffer much for damaging a loyal servant of our god." Albedo said, looking down at the kneeling fury.
"I agree." Ainz said, "Your request is authorized, draw the materials you need and depart at once."
"My Lord." She said happily, then stood, bowed, and withdrew herself, skipping happily down the hallway humming a little tune.
...Prart…
Neia's return was greeted by a sigh of relief from Queen Calca. She immediately went to the woman who saved her life and embraced her. With her cheek pressed to Neia's own, she couldn't see the surprise this brought to Neia's face.
It was only when Calca stepped back that she registered the look for herself.
"Is something wrong?" Calca asked.
"Ah, no Your Majesty, I just… I didn't expect that welcome." Neia said, somewhat fumbling over her reply.
Calca shook her head and grabbed Neia's shoulders. "Lady Neia, you saved my life out there. You may not have felt like it was a success since, yes, I did get hurt, but you pulled me out before I could die, your planning kept healing potions on hand, your insistence on undead mounts despite the risk of the reaction gave us the means to escape quickly, your forethought about keeping your demon maid partner in the woods gave us the means to force a break to the threat. The real mistake was mine, you tried to tell me not to let her close but… I didn't think she'd do that, I thought it would be closer, and that maybe she'd just leave and…" She shook her head vigorously.
"It was foolish, I know, and I've learned from that. I'll never be so quick to take chances like that again, not least of all because I don't want to forget the risk I put you at." She said in a self-deprecating manner.
"Your Majesty, risks are part of my job." Neia said dismissively, waving it away with a roll of her hand.
"Not what I mean. I mean I know I was more at fault than you think, but no matter what you say, I do have some guilt at least, and I was worried that the Sorcerer King might blame you as much as you blame yourself. I know he doesn't rush to violence, but nor does he shrink from it, and I feared you might bear some terrible punishment as a result, if he held you to be as guilty as you hold yourself." The Queen said with a voice that all but broke.
"If I had gotten you killed, the woman who saved my life, I… No, I don't even want to consider it." She said.
"Think nothing of it." Neia said confidently, "Keeping you alive was my job, you're alive, just try to stay that way." She began with a blunt, professional voice, but ended with a wink at the Queen, who found it in her to let out the start of a laugh. "Now I've got to go, I'd like to see to the last preparations for this place. The enemy will arrive sometime between tonight and tomorrow morning, and I want to know that our soldiers are completely ready before they get to making next year's baby boom." Neia said with a confident expression.
"Of course." Calca said, "I'd like to join you, I trust that isn't a problem?" She asked archly.
"Not at all, Your Majesty." Neia replied, "Just make sure to heed any warnings I give you as we walk the city."
"Not to worry, General Neia Baraja, I'll follow your instructions to the letter as long as you're heading my security. After all, I can trust you." Queen Calca said with great confidence.
They then walked out of the room towards the exit, and Neia took extra care to keep her face entirely neutral and said not a word when they passed a mirror, and Calca visibly flinched.