Nua awoke spooning her bodyguard, for some reason spooning the monster always made her feel better. Nothing her Teacher ever did was frightening to her, that time was long past. Waking up before the monster was normal, and more than once when she awoke, she'd lay there and cling a little longer than she needed to.
This was not one of those moments. The sun was still not over the horizon, but as usual, the Duchessa Aiwenor found herself the first to awake in the darkness. She pulled the rope by the bed to ring the bell for Kaiji and Priceless to get up.
She didn't wait long, they were in the door within a minute and at her feet within seconds of their entry. Nua had no urge to linger. "Draw the bath, prepare a brief meal, have the carriage ready, then wake up enough servants and have them given enough gold to make the rounds to every tavern in the city. Distribute advance payments for five days worth of alcohol. The gift of the Duchessa Aiwenor to the city to celebrate her wedding to their Prince. After all that's done and while I'm being dressed, wake that piece of trash in his cell."
Words colder than her breath poured out of her lips, while fire blazed in her eyes, the fine features on her face were clenched tight and she was raw with anger that followed quickly on her wakefulness. Neither questioned her and with a rhythm born of abundant practice, they immediately divided up their chores without a word.
Kaiji helped her lady out of her nightclothes while Priceless rushed from the room to wake a cook and see to as much as she could. The steady dark purple hands of the demon-elf swept lightly over her lady's skin as the cream cloth of her night clothing was removed and set aside, and pausing only briefly to admire the warrior physique, she brought over a dark robe and put it on her to escort her to the bath.
The routine was swiftly executed, and within the hour, Nua was at her table while her closest servants waited mutely at her back on their knees. The weight around their mistress was heavy and she ate in silence. The knuckles of her right hand cracked when it opened and closed, and more than once they watched her look down at the open left hand.
'What's he like, her companion in the gem…?' Kaiji wondered, her inner scholar screaming at her to ask questions that were none of her business, but pestered her often nonetheless.
It was hours like this however, that Kaiji most pitied her mate, so well accustomed to fearing those over her, that even the woman that hadn't harmed her, like this, was a source of anxiety. She maneuvered her fingers over the soft palms of her mate until she held the hand, and squeezed it reassuringly.
"Is the bath ready?" Nua asked without looking behind her.
"Y-Yes, My Lady." Priceless said in a tiny voice with a bowed head.
"Good. Kaiji, you will bathe me and see me dressed. Priceless, you can eat what I've left here for you, then see to the rest of my tasks. I want to be gone in under two hours." Nua's voice was steady, but it was like the calmness of the water's surface where a monster lurked beneath, waiting to emerge.
She stood up, pushing the priceless furniture back without waiting for one of them to move it.
Kaiji heard the sound of Priceless gratefully wolfing down the eggs and biscuits left behind for her before they were five steps from the table.
When Kaiji was in the water with the wood elf assassin, and scrubbing Nua's body vigorously, she felt the tension in every inch of muscle, and put maximum effort into bringing her lady to a state of relaxation. The steam and splashing water were normally welcome sounds, but it was obvious Nua's mind was on something else.
It was mere minutes into the routine that was normally a favorite task of the former Prime Minister when Nua broke the tense silence. "Don't worry about trying to get me to enjoy it. You can't today, Kaiji. Just get it done, this is… just how I process things. I had high hopes for who Freyjin was going to become, a grand vision of her place in my service that spanned for years. A vision of who she might be, and what she might see. That was taken away, and now I am… cross. Just clean me up, and be glad you're on the right side of my mood right now, slave."
Kaiji lowered her eyes, "As my mistress wills it." She said with humility and quickly went through scrubbing the steel like skin clean.
Solution was still dozing when they returned to Nua's room and Kaiji assisted her with the armor. The padding beneath, the undergarments, it went quick. Normally the act of lacing up her lady's boots was almost 'intimate', an act of devoted service. But as she did it this time, it reminded Kaiji of preparing her to ride to war.
She slipped the belt through the loops of the dark pants and rather than bowing her head when she was securing the buckle, she turned her eyes upward to the face of the woman who now ruled her life. Her solid red eyes glistened briefly before she found the words she sought to send across the gap between the two that, though it was only inches, might as well have been leagues.
"Make them pay, mistress. For our sakes. Avenge your children." Kaiji whispered, and having finished as Nua shoved her knife into the sheath on her belt, Kaiji went to her knees and bowed her head.
"I will. Now… let's go see the prisoner." Nua barely kept back the urge to spit the words, speaking them with a calm tongue instead.
It was a short trek even for the large estate, before Nua found herself in front of two of the twenty-five original members of the Breakers. They snapped to salute, putting fists hard over the armor that covered their hearts, their short brown hair cropped high and their helmets hiding their eyes. Komestran heavy infantry, their halberd's snapped to an upright position immediately.
In a single motion like they were one creature they stepped aside to open the way to the door.
"He is alive?" Nua asked.
"Yes, My Lady." They answered together.
"Let me take care of that." Nua responded, she could feel their excitement.
The door key clattered until the lock clicked and the door creaked as it swung open. Nua stepped into the place where Vargas once lay broken and in pain after his fit of madness.
'Freyjin came here, she took care of him all night long… how much strength did it take for her to do that? I couldn't have.' Nua contemplated that as the half elf lay barely conscious on the floor. He was a little worse for wear given his imprisonment for months. But still as she remembered him, some dirt and lost weight aside.
She nudged him with her boot, "Wake up." She snapped.
Heavy eyes began to flutter open.
Nua did not waste time. She went down, grabbed him at the throat with her left hand, and lifted him to his feet. She looked down into his still bleary glazed eyes, the scrambled thrashing was already beginning. 'He'll remember this moment fondly before I am through.' She bared her teeth, yanked him toward herself so that her mouth was at his ear.
"You're going to tell me everything, and I'm going to skin you alive." He barely registered her words before she slammed his body against the stone, her left arm locked, her false hand began to squeeze. 'Yersin, how much can you make it hurt to drain life?'
'I can make him beg to die in seconds.' Yersin answered happily.
'Do it! But don't kill him!' Nua growled at her partner, and a hideous wail ripped out of the half-elf's throat that was torn down to a gurgle while his eyes bulged almost out of his head.
She felt his body begin to weaken in her grip, and finally, she let go. The criminal slumped to the ground, and Nua's foot came up, and came down hard on his right ankle, snapping it like a twig.
A cry came from his lips again that became a sob as he clutched at the injury.
"Do you know who I am?" Nua demanded at last.
He gave a tiny, fear filled nod as he lay there looking up at her.
"Good, I like saving time, efficiency is key. Now, tell me everything." Nua barked, and he looked confused, his lips opening and closing without words coming out.
Nua's foot rose and fell again, snapping his right hand at the wrist, he ground and rolled onto his back, clutching at the fresh injury and whimpering in agony.
"There are a lot of bones in the body, and I'll break every one of them if that's what it takes. Tell me what I want to know." Nua ordered and put her foot on his chest, she began to press down.
She could see the broken fear in his eyes when he finally managed to speak.
"Wh… what are you asking?" He coughed out in a fit, her foot pressed harder.
"Wh-what are you asking… My Lady!" He squeaked out, and the pressure began to lift, allowing him to breathe more freely.
"Months ago, you had a hand in taking my property. I contented myself with killing your goblin and carving up the orc, allowing 'you' the luxury of the city prison. Two of your comrades however, got away. Do you know who I mean?" Nua asked him, and she saw the understanding pass over his eyes.
"Y-yes, my lady. Sort of. The dark-elf, Saelin. And then… our e-employer. Ri-Right… my lady?" He stammered.
Nua's grim smile loomed like the sun over the world.
"Yes, very good. Let's start with the easy one. He got out of the city after Priceless was recovered. What can you tell me?" Nua demanded.
"Blackmailer, thief, and sometimes a killer. He uses a corkscrew dagger, ah, he, he likes to think of himself as a classy criminal." The half elf gave a blood choked laugh that resulted in some bloody spit falling out of the side of his mouth.
Nua did not laugh, so he chose to elaborate. "He's an actor. Moved around for years, I… he first became part of the Red Shadows after he killed one of our targets, he screwed some noble's wife, threatened to blackmail her. He didn't know we were already doing that, it was enough to get her to go to her husband. Not about cheating on him, no, she thought he was one of ours trying to get more out of him. Her husband hired some investigators, a specialized team out of Komestra, they caught 'us' and killed a few of our people. I don't mind telling you, My Lady, we were confused. They were easy marks… of course we caught on after kidnapping her in retaliation."
"Is she one of the bodies that ended up in the water?" Nua asked reflexively.
The half-elf blinked, "You… ohhhh… that explains a-a lot." He shook his head, "No, Saelin was clueless until he went back to try again, found her in her room, he's told different stories about what happened, so I don't know. But he killed her, and the husband to cover his tracks. Whatever story he got out of her or him was enough for him to track us down himself, and he was in. He likes to steal from rich people, as he put it, "What's the point of stealing coppers when you can steal gold, and you hang or go to prison for both?"
The half-elf spat up some more blood onto the stone when he chuckled, "He-He made a good argument, worked with us ever since, he'd pick targets, scout them out himself, he'd seduce the wives, look through letters for information, eavesdrop hiding in the house, we got a lot of gold robbing shipments he let us know about. He'd hide under beds and in wardrobes and attics after seducing someone in the house, pretending like they were going to get caught. It worked a lot."
"And is he how you met the other man?" Nua demanded, the half elf hesitated, and she put her boot on his stomach.
Fear lit in his eyes.
"No… we… we never met him." The half-elf insisted, "He always worked through proxies. Like-"
"Karlo." Nua guessed.
The half-elf didn't reply.
"A few months ago, a young man, probably rambling about Kaiji, one of my slaves?" She pushed his memory a bit, and it did the trick.
The light came on in his eyes, "Yes, I remember him. Stupid kid, he came in with gold, rambling about… well, he wanted her as his personal property. He talked about 'freeing' her, but…" His derisive snort was almost answer enough. "He really hated the mousey woman. He wanted her dead or taken away, and Kaiji for himself. No way he was going to let that one go, whatever his first thoughts, I've seen it before." He chuckled a bit, "Young idiot in love with a slave, fancies making her a wife and himself her hero, decides he can have everything he wants without letting her go…" His head scraped along the stone as he coughed and laughed.
Nua shot down to the ground and slammed her right fist into his gut, crushing his body in, her eyes hot with fury, he clenched at the injury and entered a coughing fit.
"Focus." Nua snarled. "He was a proxy, fine, who was Karlo a proxy for?"
The coughing fit went on and on, until the half-elf finally managed to groan out, "I don't know! I swear! We… I… I can't remember his face, his voice… he did… I know he came by sometimes between jobs but…"
"Do you know who the man worked for?" Nua demanded. "He's no common criminal, someone like that doesn't commit pathetic crimes like slavenapping and the like for a handful of coins. Not a chance." Nua shook her head in denial.
"I… I don't know! He showed up again awhile after you did. I know… the cunt, the cunt saw him… the one we kidnapped… she wouldn't talk! He wanted information on you and we couldn't make her talk!"
'They mean… they mean Priceless.' Nua reached down and closed her left hand slowly over his throat, she lifted him up again, dragging his broken ankle over the floor and raising him up until he was pinned against the stone wall. His good hand started clawing at her false one.
"Her. Name. Isn't. Cunt. I gave her a name. Say it. Say her name." Nua commanded him with a raw and brutal tone, the cooling breath seemed to become colder as it wafted up to his hopelessly spasming body.
Gurgles were coming out past his tight, thin lips, his feet kicked and his broken ankle hit the stone wall several times, only adding to his pain. "Go on. Say her name. I know she must have said it… she loves her name." Nua's eyes were raw and fixed on her prey, "Search your memory… search it well."
'Gods above, stars, what was it?! What was she calling herself?! Who bothers to remember… I didn't know that little detail would have any value, a slave's name is worthless… was that it? Worthless? No… Pricey! Costly! Something… guess! Guess!' He screamed inside his head.
"Price-less…" He gurgled out and the grip released, he dropped into a crumpled heap, pain shooting from the broken places when they hit the stone floor.
"Good… very good." Nua said with succinct dismissal. "Now, there's no reason some common gutter trash would need information on me, so… who did he work for?"
"I don't… I don't know. Why would he tell us that?! We're bandits, thieves, blackmailers-"
"-And murderers. That's the really interesting part to me. So let's go through your murders. I'm guessing 'you' killed Karlo."
"H-How…?" He stammered.
"His body was in the water. My slave noticed the various types of injuries. Blunt trauma for some which fits the orc, round stabs, presumably Saelin from what you're saying, axe blows, which fits the goblin, so… that leaves you." Nua crouched down over his crumpled body.
"So, what can you tell me about the rest of the Red Shadow's kills? Who was disposing of the bodies? My slave already figured out it had to be people with a boat or boat access, and that there was more than one, and that it was the same ones over years. If she had lived, I'm sure she would have worked out exactly which workers it was. But since she's dead and you're here?" Nua reached into a pouch at her side and drew out a slip of paper.
"Write their names." She ordered him, and he looked up at her dumbly.
"Q-Quill?" He asked.
"You've got fingers and your own blood. That will do." Nua spat back, and deprived of even that little dignity, he obeyed, scrawling a pair of names.
"What was their motive?" Nua asked with idle curiosity, "Everyone that worked in that area was a slave, what did they have to gain?"
"Coppers, just coppers. They liked to gamble, liked whores and drinking… what did they care about a few bodies? They'd hide the corpses for the coins to take a little pleasure with." He grunted out and tried to wipe his mouth as he wrote down their names.
Nua thought that over, "Alright, yes, I could see that… no reason to be loyal to anyone who left them in the shit."
"Then start telling me about the various kills you went on… and… by the way, in case it isn't obvious… it was probably Saelin who got you taken out of prison, you remember they tried to kill you?" Nua prompted him.
His glazed eyes widened as he struggled to recall the fevered minutes. "Right… th-the priests. They took me… heresy. The routine, I was… a drunk splashed something on me…"
"That would be where the poison came from. The Prince explained it all to me, Freyjin saved your life, and it cost her her own. She died saving trash like you… she was a mother… she was… she was my property… that means you stole from children, slave children mostly, and you stole from me. Now…" Nua grabbed his unbroken wrist and began to squeeze with her left hand.
"Whether out of gratitude to the woman who gave you one more day in your worthless skin… or because your comrades betrayed you… I don't care, but you will start talking. No group of thieves gets this high a body count easily."
He began to whimper at the growing pressure and the sound of cracking bones.
"I… My Lady… ah-owe… it hurts… listen to me…" He squeaked out, "It's not that simple. The Vice Lords handle most things…"
"What's a 'Vice Lord'?" Nua asked, furrowing her brow down at the broken man.
"You know them as the Great Smugglers. They operate between cities, carry word to all kinds of gangs like mine. That includes things like contract killings from one city to another. The man… the man we can't know, he probably works through them too. He-he likes proxies." The half-elf grunted again.
"I'm fairly sure he comes out of the shadows sometimes. He came out to kill you. He came out to have you captured, and he probably came out of the shadows to kill Prince Rasgen's father or to direct them toward the wrong man. He seems to like to set pieces up, and then move them himself. Wouldn't you say?" Nua's voice became almost conversational, even friendly while she let the depth of betrayal sink in.
"I… yes. We did frame someone back then, but it wasn't me! Saelin broke into his house and put a vial of stuff in a wardrobe is all! He might know more about the guy behind all this though! I don't! I don't!"
"So… where would I find Saelin?" Nua asked pointedly.
"He… well, dark elf whores, he'll screw anything on two legs that he can blackmail, but he really likes his own kind. Find some of them, you'll find him eventually…" The half-elf relaxed completely, going utterly limp. "I… I don't know anything else. I swear it. If he's in the city, and if he's behind my getting taken out of prison to be killed, then… then he's working with the boss. Nobody else would be able to get him to come back here. I promise."
Nua let that sink into her mind for a moment, "I see, that does sound like everything useful, scrawl out the names of all the dead you can recall, and then we're done here."
He nodded limply, rolled onto his side, and using blood on a finger, he wrote down each name he could think of, which unsurprisingly to Nua, looked to roughly match the number of bodies in the water.
She took the sheet off the stone floor, blew on it a few times to dry the blood, and then set it aside.
She began to interrogate him about the circumstances of their kills, any guessed motives, and she was just wrapping up when Kaiji came to the cell.
"Mistress," she said with a gentle voice, "Everything is ready for you, the others are outside in formation, your carriage is prepared, and… I had something to eat."
Nua got up and turned around, "Good, well done, slave." Nua said and looked down at the ruined heap of a bandit whose name she didn't bother to ask.
"Now you let me go?" He muttered the question.
"Let you go? No." Nua answered with surprise.
"Oh, back to prison, My Lady?" He took care to add the second time.
"Prison? No of course not." Nua replied again as if he were daft.
"But… you said…" His heart began to sink as he recalled her words.
Nua gave a slow nod to him. "Right. I said 'you're going to tell me everything, and I'm going to skin you alive. I didn't say or I'll skin you alive. 'And'. Meaning that's next."
Panic filled his face, "But I told you everything!" He shrieked.
"Yes, yes you did. And now you're going to get skinned alive." Nua took him by his sandy blonde hair and yanked his head off the stone and dragged him up to his knees. "You took my slave. You let them beat her, you hurt her to try to hurt me. You're working for people who want me dead, who will hurt everything that belongs to me to do it. My slaves are my children, and what does a mother do for her children… she makes the ones who hurt them… suffer. One of mine died because of you, however indirectly. Now that I've got the information she was after… it's an insult to her memory to keep you alive!"
Nua stood up, and began to drag him out of his cell toward where Kaiji stood with pride and joy etched on her dark purple face. The guards at either side of the door stood a little straighter and more proudly when they heard her words.
He was dragged as far as to where they stood when she dropped his hair. "You two, drag him outside. I want a very special wrap to wear when I visit the prison."
The heavy infantrymen shouldered their weapons and looped an arm under each of the half elf's armpits and began to drag him out after their mistress and her majordomo. The sound of scraping broken flesh was drowned out by his pleading sobs and agonized cries, a long blood streak trailed behind them until they made their way outside.
A formation of her warriors, Freyjin's unit, stood in full gear, it was clear some were absent, but it was enough.
They had already erected posts to hold him secure. 'Kaiji's direction.' Nua concluded, and had him dragged over the grass and bound in tight leather straps. He was already breathing fast and hard, stripped to the waist, he began to protest as best he could, darting his eyes around in search of a friendly face.
The demon-elf woman with solid red eyes stood with her head slightly down and hands folded in front of herself. "Please! Stop her! Tell her I don't deserve this!" He cried out in a screeching voice.
"The slave you called 'cunt' is her lover." Nua said as the straps were secured to his ankles.
His face fell, in front of him were almost two dozen helmeted heads. "I'm not an enemy! I'm not a soldier! Please… I never-"
"They're here," Nua interrupted from behind him, "because Freyjin was part of their unit. If you'd talked sooner, there'd have been no need for your friends to kill you, and Freyjin would still be with us." Nua grabbed at his light colored hair and yanked it back, "If you'd never taken Priceless, maybe none of this would have happened. My slaves are my children. That makes me their mother, that makes Freyjin and Priceless into their sisters… and do you know what that makes you?" Nua snarled into the half elven ear.
He darted his head back and forth.
"A warning for when I go to the prison to talk to everyone there." Nua growled into his ear with cold and deathly breath, and then he heard the sound of her knife, and felt it against the skin on his back.
"I wonder how long you'll last before your heart gives out under the knife of the Skinner Prince." She wondered rhetorically. Then he began howling in pain, as she began to remove his skin.
She was done when he died of a heart attack, having lasted far longer than he would have wished.
AN: Thank you for the sponsorship that makes this story possible. If you enjoy this story, consider throwing me a cup of coffee at ko- fi dot com /tellingstories