The Longest Road, Part 30


When the blaze of crimson magic finally dies down, you're left kneeling in the tattered ruins of your tent, gasping for breath. Your every nerve is alight as you try to understand what just happened. Your senses were always superior to those of mortals, but now they bombard you until you're nearly overwhelmed. You clench your eyes shut, clutching at your head. But even blinded, the sounds, the smells, the touch still hammer at your perception.

Through the haze of searingly vivid impulses, you isolate Khaytala's voice calling out to you in worry. Then you feel her hand on your shoulder. That, too, sets off a blast of sensation, but you're slowly accustoming yourself to the new state of affairs, bringing it under your control. With a bit of experimentation, you find that you can alter your level of awareness to tolerable levels, tailoring it to suit your needs. It's still shaky—you'll need to experiment with it later—but for now it seems to be manageable.

You slump back into a sitting position, looking up wearily at Khaytala, who is understandably perplexed. "What the hell was that, Talavar?"

"I don't know," you say honestly. Then you hold up your hand, offering her a look at the brand on your palm. At this point there's really no keeping it a secret. "It just... appeared on my hand, not long ago. I don't have the first clue what it really is, but it keeps doing... strange things. Remember that trick I used, binding the assassin to that agreement? This is what let me do it. But apparently, it's also... unruly."

Khaytala stares closer at it, then shakes her head. "Never seen anything like it. 'Course, what I know about magic you could write on a single page with plenty of space left over." She glances up at you. "You sure you're feeling alright? Did that light show do anything else to you?"

"Maybe..." you say, musing. "I... feel almost as though I could..."

You focus your mind, following an instinct that you didn't have mere minutes before. Then your body shifts, warping fluidly, and suddenly you're wearing the form of a human, stocky with red hair and a beard. "Huh. That's new."

Khaytala's eyes bulge at your sudden transformation. Truth be told, it's rather strange for you as well, though that doesn't stop you from experimenting. You become an orc next, followed by an elf. You try a dwarf after that... but although you strain, you can't quite get yourself that small. While you are able to adjust your body mass to some extent, it seems to be only within very limited constraints.

You also notice that no matter which transformation you take, you are unable to remove the brand from your flesh.

"Damn, Talavar..." Khaytala murmurs. You're inclined to agree, as the two of you exchange looks of mutual bewilderment.

Your tent is ruined, but fortunately the two of you don't have very far left to go. Within a few days, you see the border of Kovora, unmistakably marked by the looming fortifications of Melca's Wall. Khaytala tenses at the sight, but you lay a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

You approach one of the gates, and apparently the orcish guards know to expect you. They wave you through, wary looks on their faces. You ride across the open plain, making straight for the towering fortress. The guards there let you in as well, and you ride into the courtyard before dismounting.

Kelissa hurries out to greet you as one of the other servants takes charge of your horse. Already the news is starting to buzz through the fortress, the inhabitants questioning whether your new companion really is who they suspect her to be. You pay them no heed, turning instead to Kelissa. "Where is her majesty?"

"In her study," she says, unable to resist stealing a brief, awed glance at Khaytala herself. "I will take you there right away."

The maid leads you through the courtyard and into the large stone building at its center. From there you walk up a set of side stairs and to a door, which Kelissa unlocks and opens. You see a room that was clearly designed to be opulent, but has since become disorganized, overtaken by books, papers and other clutter.

Lily is in the center of the mess, bent over a writing desk as she glances between two official-looking documents, comparing them with an intent, studious frown. She's also using a quill to write on a third piece of parchment at the same time, which has left her fingers smudged with ink, and given her a few stray smudges on her face as well from careless touches. She glances up as the door opens. "Hello, Kelissa, what's—"

Then she sees you, standing just behind Kelissa. "Oh!" she exclaims, shooting to her feet and making a reflexive, embarrassed attempt to tidy her surroundings before giving up. "You're back! Does that mean..."

And then she notices who's standing just behind you.

The young Witch Queen's breath catches in her throat, and there's a period of strained silence as the two of them look at each other. Heroine and evil queen, face to face. "I... I bid you welcome," Lily says at length, licking her lips.

Khaytala steps past you to enter the room. Her tall, muscular build stands in stark contrast to Lily's slight, willowy frame, and it does not escape anyone's notice that Lily's staff is leaning in the far corner of the room, well out of reach. Kelissa tenses, ready to throw herself forward in a—futile—attempt to defend her mistress should the need arise. The heroine's expression is unreadable as she sizes up the ruler of the nation that has caused so much pain for their world... and for Khaytala specifically.

You resist the urge to speak up and guide the conversation. There's a time and a place for your guile, but this is something your mistress needs to accomplish. Khaytala is doing this because she wants to see for herself who "the Witch Queen of Kovora" truly is.

And in your estimation, the best course is to let her see exactly that.

"Talavar told me you don't want a new war," Khaytala says at last, her voice blunt and direct. "He says that you ordered your army to stop the raids on our villages."

Lily glances quickly over to you, then back to Khaytala. "I've... tried," she says honestly. "My position as queen isn't as strong as I'd like. There many who disdain my authority."

"Yes, we ran into some of them ourselves," agrees Khaytala. "But Talavar... Talavar thinks that I can help. If I join you, alongside him."

Lily swallows. "If you are willing to do that, I would be... very grateful," she says, in a small voice. This whole endeavor was her plan from the beginning. But now that she's actually come to it—facing one of her enemies' most revered warriors in the flesh—it's clear that she understands with even greater clarity just how much she's really asking.

Khaytala moves closer, until she's standing directly in front of Lily. "You want me to trust you, that you're telling the truth," she says quietly. "To trust you with my life. To trust you with my friends' lives. To trust you that this isn't all some kind of trick."

The young queen looks up at the warrior towering over her. Then she gives a single nod. "You're right," she admits. "That is exactly what I'm asking. I can't even give you any assurances, other than my word. My word, and... and I can give you my own trust."

Taking a deep breath, Lily slowly reaches out. She takes one of Khaytala's large, calloused hands in both of her soft, dainty ones. Khaytala doesn't resist, allowing her hand to be guided to the hilt of her sword, allowing her fingers to be closed around it. Then Lily uses that shared grasp to draw the sword from its sheathe and bring it around to press the cold metal against her own throat.

"If I can't convince you to trust me," she says shakily. "Then I'm dead already. This... this was my only plan. The only plan that might work, where I could still live with myself. If it won't work... then... then..."

If you'd made a play like this, it would have been a grand gesture calculated to strike at the other person's psychological weak points, designed to aim them in the exact direction you wanted them to go. But it's obvious that's not what Lily is doing. She's not in control. You can see her hands trembling as she holds Khaytala's arm. Unlike you, she can't read people well enough to know how this is going to go. It's obvious to everyone in the room that she's no master manipulator.

Just a desperate young girl who is very, very scared.

Khaytala's expression immediately softens. Reaching up with her other hand, she detaches the young queen's hands from hers, then quickly sheathes her sword. She follows that by wrapping an arm around the girl and pulling her into a warm, comforting embrace. Lily's eyes widen before she's pulled against Khaytala, who uses her other hand to stroke the girl's head. "Don't worry, kid," she says. "We'll make this work. I won't let anyone hurt you."

You swallow a smirk as you watch the outcome you knew all along was inevitable. On top of all the work you'd done to seduce and incline Khaytala's heart toward you... you also knew the simple fact of her strong protective nature would make her exquisitely vulnerable to Lily, once she realized what the current Witch Queen was truly like.

Eventually the two break apart, and you can tell from Khaytala's expression that she no longer has any doubt that she made the right choice. With that settled, your conversation starts to turn toward your next steps, and how to make the official announcement to the people of Kovora. You explain how to play this for all its worth, using it to shore up support by framing it as a great victory for Kovora and a grevious blow that the Witch Queen has engineered against her foes.

The rest of them agree, and Kelissa even offers her own suggestion: that Khaytala needs a new outfit that will truly sell that narrative. Khaytala looks a little nervous at that, but the maid is in her element, allowing no dissent. Soon Kelissa is rushing her off for measurements, and you can only imagine what it is she has in mind for the final prodcut.

Which, in turn, leaves you and your mistress alone together.

The two of you listen as Khaytala's nervous protests fade down the hallway outside, until finally you're left in silence. This presents a very rare opportunity, not just to talk to the queen, but to do so alone, perhaps allowing for more private matters to be discussed.

On one hand, you could inquire more about Lily's past, which might give you more insight into her situation and her character. That could be useful going forward, both in regard to her and to others related to her.

Alternatively, you could inquire more about the question on the minds of you, Khaytala and the heroines' leader: why didn't she just surrender to the heroines, when she clearly has no desire to rule? Why keep up even this form of opposition, however non-violent? She seemed reticent to talk about it before—especially since you were molesting Rysanial at the time—but you might be able to get a little more from her if you inquire in this more private setting.

There's also the matter of the brand on your palm. It seems to be more dangerous than you realized, nearly ruining your plans when it prompted a violent reaction in you that almost led to you harming Khaytala. The Witch Queen is young and inexperienced, so despite her raw power she probably doesn't know as much outright lore as more learned practitioners. Still, she is a mage, and might at least know more than you do if you were to ask her about it. Perhaps even enough to help control it better.

Or you could ignore all that, and just concentrate on attracting her affections as quickly as possible. You'd still need to start slow, of course, gradually easing your mistress into your seduction. But you could at least start laying that foundation, just based on what little you know of her so far.