Written by: AtheistBasementDragon
Edited by: The Usual Gang of Drunken Perverted Idiots
...Prart...
Neia finally went back to her room after hours of wandering, and as she opened the door, she announced herself, "Skana, I'm back. I..." She instantly froze. Nobody was there, and it was obvious nobody had been. Normally, Skana's clothes would have been put aside and she'd be in bed. Neia walked into the bathroom, the tub was dry as a bone. She checked the wardrobe, nothing had been put back, wherever Skana had gone, it hadn't been here.
"No..." She said to the empty room, to the world, to the Universe, to herself. "No..."
Skana was gone. Wherever it had been that she went in the city, she hadn't come home to 'their' space.
Neia tried to pretend it was normal, she took off her clothing and drew a bath. She sat there at the edge, letting her feet dangle in it as the boiling water rose, she liked it hot, even if it hurt at first. She bit her lip, hating the emptiness, hating the silence, hating what she'd done, hating what she'd said.
The water fell loudly into the tub on full blast and she was grateful for the noise, anything was better than the silence. When it was full, she slipped in and began to wash herself, her face blank to the point where even CZ might have told her to show some emotion.
It held for awhile until she was well and truly clean. She didn't want to get out though. She curled up into a ball and sat there, her head barely above the water, and let herself slowly roll forward into it, until her forehead rested on the bottom of the tub. Which was why she did not hear the knock on the door at the entrance to her room. Nor did she see Lakyus enter to see if she were present, nor was she seen or heard in turn. It was only after Lakyus had left and her forehead touched the stone bottom of the tub that she screamed, she let her arms fall away from her and then she pounded on the smooth stone surface, bubbles flew from her mouth to burst on the surface as she screamed beneath the waters until she was forced to come up for air.
"Moron." She said, her face returning to the neutral mask. "Of course she's not here, you told her you shot children and you shot your own comrades in front of her. Why the hell would you expect to find her here to hold you or to make love to you after learning and seeing that? Stupid."
She got out of the bath, standing up quickly and letting the water that clung to her body gently fall away from her back into the tub, then she stepped out and began to dry herself off with a nearby towel. She didn't bother to change into anything, she didn't care. If she was called back to the wall, it would take only a minute to dress, and then she could go kill more of their comrades. Nobody else had to bear that burden, it was her duty, hers and hers alone.
She saw her reflection in a window, shook her head, and climbed alone under the covers, caressing with one hand the place where Skana had slept the night before, and that was how she fell asleep. The rain came down hard outside while she slept, and also within her dreams, her mind carried her back to the day the priest turned assassin died, he just hung there by the rope, and she dreamt the same moment again and again, before she turned away from his corpse and walked home, she envied him. It was not a restful sleep.
...Cabin in the Woods...
Vanysa used a duplication scroll and handed stacks of the Queen's pardon and promise to the doppels before returning to the camp. In the predawn hours when everything was still dark, she took to the air over them all and dropped the documents everywhere. As soldiers stirred and found the copies of the Queen's offer... a number of them walked out immediately before their absence would be missed, including the guards who would actually miss them.
But that was not enough. Vanysa laughed from the position she'd taken up outside the camp after her latest little foray, she'd left him invisible this time, only for a few hours, but that would be enough to ensure he survived at least.
She counted off the seconds as the doppel's did their part. She smiled patiently, letting the moments of the events she had orchestrated pass slowly. A doppel had taken on the form of a child, a little blond girl. One who looked very much like Vanysa herself had been when she was very young. The doppel's form had every indication of being deceased, and having not died peacefully, but what was most important was 'where' the doppel had concealed itself.
The private latrine pit of Astraka himself. She rather pitied the doppel on dits unfortunate role in this, but it had obeyed without complaint. The other doppels had done their part as well, and had lured a charismatic captain away from his post. They had disguised themselves as ladies of the evening that lived outside the city, and were hoping for some easy money, as they sought seclusion, one of the doppel-whores 'tripped' and fell, she looked down at what she at tripped over, and froze.
She looked down in 'horror' at the little hand that poked out of the earth, as if its owner had died trying to claw their way out. The captain, a decent man, immediately recognized what it was and dug with his bare hands into the earth and pulled out the 'body'. He yelled for help, the doppel-whores cried out in fear, being close to the command tent of the would be king of men, a number of guards rushed over, Astraka did not stir, passed out drunk as he was.
Disgust ran thick. They might have killed him, but the guards at his tent, no less disgusted than the rest, found he was 'not present'.
The doppel 'whores' heaped their disgust on the army, using their simulcrae of beauty to best effect, their honeyed words overflowing with contempt for those who followed a man who took pleasure in ending children, remarking that "You must be getting paid a fortune for this, if you would put that on the throne of the kingdom."
Thus reminding them, that they in truth had not been paid at all. "So you must be very afraid of being killed by the Queen." Which prompted word of the amnesty to spread like wildfire to the few that didn't already know it.
One by one the doppel-whores made mention of the things that 'surely must be true' about the would be King of Men, each of which only served to remind them that no... the king was a drunkard, he was a violent killer who slaughtered his own friends and his own women, he was a child killer and a sadist, he was a glutton, he was lazy, he was a coward, he was jealous and envious, he was lustful for the weakest and most defenseless. He was greedy, he was slothful and unreasonably proud, lording himself over those beneath him with little respect to their contributions. In the end the doppel whores asked when denials met their claims, "Well, why are you all still here then?!" They leaned forward angrily and stamped their feet, and very few soldiers had an answer.
As a result of this, it didn't take long before Astraka's army began to melt away. Vanysa laughed and laughed and watched as the stream of soldiers headed towards the city where the members of Blue Rose opened a gate and let them in, having had the Queen's own notice to go by, they knew which gate to open and what to expect.
There were a handful of soldiers who remained loyal to Astraka, people who were too heavily vested or too guilty of too many things for them to change sides, but they were simply not enough to stem the tide, and had they tried, it would have become a riot they could not contain.
She was still laughing back at the city when she gathered the cavalry together under the leadership of Blue Rose. The tension was palpable, this was to be a small operation, small but brutal, a pinprick really, compared to the masses beyond, but it would hurt who Vanysa hated most in all the world.
When Astraka woke up in the morning and staggered out of his tent in abject confusion to find that his camp is all but entirely empty and almost all his army gone, he panicked, fearing a battle had happened, but as he looked around, he could find no sign of it. The few soldiers he saw, looked utterly dejected and 'empty' of spirit and will. They moved like they were already dead.
"What the hell happened?!" He asked in horror and shock. His remaining soldiers wouldn't meet his gaze. They bore the look of men who were just 'lost' and had no idea what to do. "Tell me?!" He demanded, approaching one of the soldiers and grabbing him by the shoulder.
"They deserted." The soldier said as he went to one knee. "Your Majesty, they have all gone." He picked up one of the scattered pieces of paper that were still blowing around the remains of the camp, and offered it up to King Astraka.
The King snatched it up and read over it. He shouted in rage and tore it to pieces and scattered the document to the winds. As the sun began topeek over the horizon, his 'allies' would surely see that his camp was all but abandoned, and even if they didn't, he had to let them know, he had no chance of helping take the city as things were.
When the soldier explained about the dead child they'd found with his latrine pit, his shouts redoubled and he sputtered denial after denial after denial.
The soldiers who could hear him came to kneel and show that they, at least, still remained. Some believed him, some obviously did not, others he sensed did not care one way or another, others clearly thought he was guilty, but were either greedy for some yet to be named reward or thought he was 'like them' and so were glad of his guilt.
His army had been reduced to just barely over two hundred strong, it was a disgrace.
"Send a runner to Remedios and Suchala, let them know that some trickery has stolen my army." He said angrily, "But we are not leaving yet, we'll take our supplies and move to join the encampment of our allies, we will take this city and..."
"Sire." A soldier stood up and pointed with alarm, a small force of cavalry had come out through the gate.
"No..." Astraka shouted. "NO!" His allies wouldn't know that his army was gone, they'd think he could handle such a small force, they'd leave him to deal with it, but he couldn't, and he knew it.
He gripped his sword tightly.
Vanysa left her position and approached the cavalry that was forming up at the gate, she wore her human shape for this, a horse had been readied for her.
She put on a blank, snow white mask and 'turned' her hair so that it was black as her erinyes shape. She looked at the cavalry around her. "Remember!" She shouted, "You can kill all the soldiers, but do not touch their king, he belongs to me! I want him to run! I hear he's good at it anyway!" She said, drawing a laugh from those who knew of his disastrous defeats and retreats.
Vanysa was no swordswoman, she wasn't a fencer, but... human shaped or not, she had her erinyes strength and her erinyes toughness, and she doubted very much that there was a sword over there that could scratch her.
The doppels, of course, could be counted upon, one of them rushed over to the king with a horse. "Sire, you must flee! We will buy you time! Go to Hoburns, avenge our defeat on the bodies of all traitors!" He said vigorously, making a much exaggerated gesture out of his salute.
Astraka's face was grim. "You survive this, soldiers, and I will make lords of all of you."
He got on the horse, and began to ride away, the doppels and the remaining soldiers formed up to receive the charge as Astraka rode through the biting cold, abandoning his camp and his remaining forces.
The thunder of hooves was a beautiful sound to Vanysa as she rode forward shrieking with the call of judgement, men quailed in their guilt as her little force of a few hundred cavalry, supported by a team of five adamantite adventurers in the form of Blue Rose, smashed into the pathetic resistance, they swarmed around the little host, she knew that a few hundred yards away, runners were alerting Remedios and Suchala that something terribly wrong was going on in the camp of King Astraka, they would be waking up, donning armor, rushing out to look, but by the time they worked it out, it would all be over.
Metal clashed with metal and Vanysa tore through flesh with glee, a poor fool ran with a hammer, only for her to snatch it away in midswing, spin, and bring it to the side of his head. The little force was surrounded entirely and though they made an impressive effort, that effort was worthy of only a few minutes of life before the sound of clashing between metals stopped.
Scouts were rushing from Remedios' camp, it would be only minutes before they understood the camp was wiped out.
Vanysa whirled to the force that had been put to use for her, "Burn everything, there is no time to take anything, then rush to the city as fast as you can, leave nothing but ashes!" She said in a rushed voice.
They understood, but as they acted on her instruction, Lakyus turned to her, "What will you do?!" She asked hurriedly.
"I have an... intimate acquaintance to visit, and I'll just bet he's still here." She said grimly. Lakyus didn't ask, she joined the others in burning or destroying all they could, and as fire jumped up all over the ruined encampment, both armies recognized entirely that something terrible had happened to their ally.
Most of the camp was aflame by the time they got away, but Vanysa had one place she knew she had to see. She'd never asked about prisoners before, it hadn't been a part of her mission, so it hadn't occurred to her, but knowing that the torturer was here changed things. She ripped down tent after tent, she wasn't worried about the scouts, they would withdraw soon, they wouldn't search to closely, not with all the fire rising. They would report back, and a larger force would come soon after, that gave her time.
Tent after tent fell down with nothing to show for it. "Come out, come out, wherever you are." She said in a sing song voice, she 'turned' her hand so that her talons were free and she sliced rope after rope, it must have been thirty tents before one came down on a human shape, it wasn't the tent she expected, it was obviously a supply tent. Then it dawned on her, he'd planned on running alone and was packing up when chaos happened. She smiled as her feet crunched on the clumps of cold hardened dirt. She started slicing away at the fabric. The figure underneath was struggling, it was a large shape and it immediately made her think 'pig'. Even the fingers she couldn't see, were obviously thick, given the way the fabric formed around him as he struggled to disengage himself from the fallen little structure. She started to laugh and sliced faster and faster, cutting away at the cloth from the outside while he struggled within, little streaks of blood stained the fabric as she went through the tent and hit fingers or hand, he tried to pull back, she could tell that he'd fallen, she was blissful as she tore more and more away. Before pulling she made herself visible, she returned herself to human state entirely.
When that was done, he looked up at the masked woman in shock and confusion. "We meet again." She said, her voice muffled through the mask.
"Who're you?" He asked as he struggled to stand, she kicked him in the chest, knocking him on his ass. He tried to get up again, she kicked him again, refusing to allow him to his feet.
"You don't know me?" She cocked her head to one side, as he landed on his back a third time when she kicked him once more as he tried and failed to rise. He snarled.
"Nuh uh!" he rolled over on his belly and tried to get up from all fours.
She kicked him in the ass, knocking him flat. "Yes, yes you do." She said. "Perhaps this will jog your memory, stupid." He snarled at the word 'stupid', and tried to rise, only for her to cross to his flank and kick him in the kidney, he fell on his other side and clutched the injury with a squeal of pain.
"Speak... no pain, no speak... much pain." She said. He shook his head, she rolled her eyes behind the mask.
Her hair returned to a blond shade, and she pulled off her mask. "How about now, do you remember me now?" She smiled down at him.
His eyes showed a faint hint of recognition. "Purty, so purty... softee..." He drooled, his eyes glazed over, she laughed, and kicked him in the face, right in the nose.
"I broke your goddamn nose, you bitch." She said with a laugh, the words tickled his memory further, and confusion hit him.
"But... you dead?" He asked dumbly.
"Yes." She said gravely, with hate in her voice.
"I got better." She added, and her wings popped out of her back and she turned into a demoness again. A lot better." She said, laughter pouring out her mouth as fear came across his face, she jumped on him and started cutting, biting, tearing at the flesh of the torturer Astraka had sicced on her. However frenzied it looked, it wasn't. Far from it, she was precise. She severed his tendons and tore at his kneecaps. Every place she stabbed was done in such a way that would still allow a person to survive for hours or even days, until at last he was left as a sobbing, trembling, screaming mass of stupidity and pain.
She grinned down at him, "Speak... or no speak... there will be much pain." She said happily, and when the gate opened, she dragged him through by the hair, and cast him down at Neuronist Painkill's feet.
"Hiya Neuronist, sorry I have nae been by to play with you, but I gotcha a present. This'n is a rank amateur when it comes to hurtin people, but he really likes hurtin girls, how aboutcha teach him a few things? Vanysa asked.
Neuronist looked over at the agonized body of the torturer.
"Oh, how delightful! Tell me, do you know if he's ever had kidney stones?" She said as she rubbed her hands together.
Vanysa shook her head, "I didn't ask, I leave'm all to you, I've got one more to go get, but there's no rush with him, I know where he's going, and the doppels will be tracking him anyway. Still, I have to head south, there is just a little bit more to do, and then... I will feel so, so much better." She said with a smile, "When I come back, we can play with this one together."
Neuronist gave her that terrifying grin that Vanysa found so charming. "Till then, my dear." She said, and began to chain the torturer to the wall.
Vanysa waved farewell and sent another gate request, it opened swiftly, and then she was gone.
...Prart...
Neia woke up early in the morning, it had been an unhappy rest. Her arm, which normally was lovingly draped over her lover turned wife, was now resting on an empty side of the bed. Her eyes fluttered open as she looked at the empty space. She looked at it for a long time, as if willing Skana to exist there again, as if trying to deny what her eyes were telling her.
"She really... she really didn't come back to me, where'd she go? Where did she stay?" Neia whispered to the empty space, the room felt so large now. "Could you really not even bear to look at me after that?" She said to the empty space, a little louder than she meant, because a knock at the door answered her.
"Come in." She said, hopefully. She kept her face neutral when CZ opened it, walked in, and closed it behind her.
"Sleep?" CZ asked.
"Badly." Neia answered.
"Why?" CZ asked.
"Skana is gone." Neia said in a hollow voice.
CZ started to speak when the horn went off.
"Shit!" Neia shouted and threw her armor on, "CZ, take Skana's position for now, go! I'll be right behind you!"
CZ hesitated only a moment, and that begged a question of Neia which she didn't have time to ask, CZ never hesitated. Nonetheless, she went, as she rushed out the door she saw a blood covered Lakyus down the hall.
"Lakyus what happened?!" Neia shouted as she ran, the adamantite adventurer didn't wait until she caught up, but immediately filled Neia in on the mass desertion of Astraka's army during the dark hours, the sudden charge organized by the demoness that finished off the remainder, and Astraka's 'sort of' escape.
Neia was pleased by this turn of events, and it showed in a formidable expression. Her face, though it seemed blank and neutral at first, was clearly a mask of stone, and the driving rage in her eyes held a deep well that even Lakyus considered dangerous to dive to the bottom of.
"I should have been informed of the operation immediately before it happened. But... It was a calculated risk and it paid off, and we've now got thousands more soldiers with us, so I'll let it go. But in the future, these things should be run through me." Neia said in a voice as cold as ice.
"You're right, I'm sorry." Lakyus said sincerely.
As they moved out into the city, Neia grabbed Lakyus's shoulder and halted her, she then held out her hand, "You've been a good friend out here, and I won't forget it, I mean that, I've lost... a lot of things, but I won't forget what I still have." She tried to turn her mind away from the missing Skana, she desperately wanted to ask Lakyus if she knew where she was, but such a concern had to be shoved aside, to think of one's wife when battle was near was not what she should be doing, and she knew it.
Also, she was afraid of what the answer might be. 'It's fine, it'll be fine, Skana will come to do her job at least, somewhere, somehow,' she thought, 'Even if she can't...' She cut off the thought as she remembered the pale expression on her wife's face when Neia calmly explained the deaths of children and with equal calmness ordered and tended to the deaths of the hostages.
Lakyus clasped the hand firmly, Neia seemed... so much more than what she had been when they first met a lifetime ago, when as a skilled scout, she sought the aid of Blue Rose and been turned down flat. In some ways, the head of the adventurer team counted that as a black mark on their record that would never wash away, from a practical standpoint she still considered it the right decision, but as the stories spread of the Sorcerer King and the mad-eyed archer, the right decision became a shameful blemish, one that left her eager to reconnect and perhaps make up for the first refusal. Now, here they were, outnumbered against the largest combined army the world had ever seen, and neither felt the least bit like they could lose.
"The same to you." Lakyus said, "I'm glad to stand with you, so is the rest of my team."
"We can speak for ourselves." Gagaran said as they emerged out of the manor behind the pair. "But... she's right." The large woman said with her unflappable large grin.
"Wait, who is guarding Queen Calca?" Neia asked with concern.
"I would imagine whoever is in charge over at Hoburns, what's his name... Robel. And also probably Skana." Lakyus said, "That was the other part I was trying to tell you, the capital has fallen, that demoness woman wrought merry havoc all over the place, I don't have the time to fill you in on everything." She said as they rushed quickly through the streets to the wall. "However, the bottom line is that the Queen is sitting on her throne, Astraka's last armies are destroyed, and that force outside, along with whatever the South has got chasing Gustav around, is all that is left."
Lakyus gave a professional smile, turning the corners of her lips up in a knowing expression.
"Wait, Skana is in Hoburns?!" Neia asked in shock.
"She went last night, with the Queen." Lakyus said casually, "I tried to let you know, but you weren't in your room, I let CZ know to tell you when she saw you, but..." She trailed off and shrugged.
Neia slapped herself in the face, "I should always let CZ finish speaking." While the gesture was one that showed her annoyance with her own haste and self absorption, it had another purpose; to hide the tears of relief welling within. She didn't know just 'what' Skana felt right now, but at least she had her ignorance, and not the certitude of revulsion.
She went up to the wall and took position, there were siege towers rolling into place, taking over what had been Astraka's position. She'd walked the entire wall of the city and looked carefully at those who surrounded them. Whatever Suchala was, an idiot wasn't among them. Each gate was cut off by a central camp just beyond the reach of siege weapons and bows, and wings sprung out from each camp that would allow them to attack and flank anyone who exited through the gate. Further back lay cavalry commands that were little more than companies meant to run down anyone who tried to sneak out over the walls. The destruction of Astraka's position by way of mass desertion... and a demonically initiated cavalry charge at the remnants, meant that either Remedios or Suchala had to reoccupy the position in force, that would take time. Neia gave a contented, smug smile. Time, after all, was on her side, not theirs.
AN: Well y'all did it, I'll be doing double release days for awhile, I'll get started on them on the 15th, but here's the latest chapter for now. Great job y'all, part of the donated funds went towards building a school in Uganda, I still have to figure out how to distribute the rest, but I'll figure that out by this weekend. In the meantime, reviews feed me, do not leave me to starve. :)