Most of Arikar is covered by plains and forests, with the northern part of the power taken up by giant mountains and mountain ranges.

Excerpt from the introduction to ‘Power Geography – Salor Takana’

Ashe watched as Erin walked off, nervousness and anticipation both wracking him and he fiddled with his thumbs. Ashe tracked Erin’s steps through the garden, turning to face her even as she disappeared into the door. It was only when she was out of sight that he just realised he’d turned his back on the queen of Arikar.

Ashe whirled around, his eyes widening, and mouth opening as he prepared to grovel his apologies profusely, only to be met by the queen’s narrowed gaze, which dared him to apologise. Ashe closed his mouth, swallowing his words, and the queen’s eyes, narrowed to slits, returned to their normal size, “Good. You’re learning.” The queen returned to her seat on the bench, beckoning for Ashe to join her and, tentatively, reticent to sit casually next to someone as powerful; politically, magically, and physically; as Queen Bloodletter, perched himself on the bench, his body poised to run and his hands twitching.

Looking Ashe up and down, clearly assessing him, the queen waited for Ashe to speak. Ashe decided to take the invitation. “You wished to discuss something with me, Queen Bloodletter?”

“Yes, I did. I presume you have some thoughts as to what I wish to speak to you about.”

Cab chose that moment to butt into the conversation, ‘I know exactly what she wants to speak to you about, though I wouldn’t be surprised if you needed some help to figure it out.’ After saving the three members of Misfortune, for motivations that he still had yet to reveal, Cab had been as caustic and annoying as ever, lording his intervention over Ashe and trying to wrest concessions and favours from the Shinian.

Ashe ignored the demon, as he’d become so accustomed to doing, choosing instead to respond to the queen, “I… have a guess, Queen Bloodletter.” The queen gestured for Ashe to continue and he swallowed, his throat dry, “I think you want to talk to me about Cab. About what might happen to me, now that it’s been revealed that I’ve been possessed by a Demon King.”

“That is mostly correct,” the queen nodded, “though you missed one thing. Erin said something that has stuck with me, something that seems out of character for Cababasi, at least based on what I’ve read of him and what Emyr has told me.”

Ashe frowned at that; what had Erin said that so vexed the queen, she would ask him herself, “I must admit, Queen Bloodletter, that I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Erin told me that Cab killed some of the camp’s guards to feed on them but then left you to take the fall for the deaths. She said something about how he wanted you to face the consequences, so he could feed again. This doesn’t seem particularly in character for Cababasi. From what I know of him, he would have just killed and feasted on all of the guards, both for the sustenance and to keep news of his existence quiet.”

Ashe gave the queen a tight smile, “I… managed to strike a deal with Cab. I would stop resisting him and stop preventing him from feeding, as long as he limited his feeding only to bad people, and to those who tried to attack me. When we were down in the mines, Sam… Sammath… tried to distract me when it happened but we saw some of the guards beating and whipping people who weren’t ‘working hard enough’. People that had collapsed from exhaustion or weakness weren’t spared, and they suffered at the guards’ hands for it. In the camp, they mainly left us alone but, whether out of boredom or some sick taste for cruelty, many of the guards would whip the prisoners and take some sick sense of entertainment out of driving people to their limits. I was spared for my age and Sammath was spared because they simply couldn’t touch them, Erin was spared by virtue of the fact that she never stopped working; never gave them a reason to touch her; but others didn’t have those advantages and Cab killed those guards that I… that we saw engage in the pursuit. I’d also heard others talking about it but I never could figure out which guards it was beyond a few, so those were the ones that Cab killed.”

“In killing those guards and so clearing portraying me as the perpetrator for the crimes, Cab forced the overseer to acquiesce to the guards’ calls for vengeance and send me to be executed which meant that, when I wouldn’t die and the guards would have attacked me to try and kill me, Cab would have been able to feast on them all.”

Queen Bloodletter nodded, “I understand now why Cababasi killed those guards, then, but that still doesn’t explain something. How did you manage to suppress Cababasi’s control over your body and prevent him from feeding? I understand that it’s your body, but I don’t think you realise the sheer scope of power that he and I, as a King and Queen respectively, operate at. Your will and control would be nothing to him. At any moment, he should be able to absolutely crush your control and take over your body without even hurting you or giving any indication that it was coming.”

Ashe opened his mouth to speak; to give an explanation; but no words came out of his mouth. The queen was right. Even against Sammath and Erin, the difference in power between a Dusk Stage and a Viscount Stage meant that Ashe stood no chance against them, even without accounting for their skill. When facing a King, Ashe should be ruthlessly crushed, even if said king had been limited in power. “I… I don’t know.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Ashe turned his attention inwards, to where Cab normally whispered in his mind, but Cab had fallen silent. Ashe resolved himself to ask the demon later, when he wasn’t sitting in front of the leader of an entire kingdom who could kill him with a single finger for the disrespect. Coming back to the real world, Ashe found the queen taking him in like he was a particularly frustrating puzzle, her eyes betraying her fascination and curiosity yet also the frustration she was feeling as gears churned in her mind, inventing and discarding possibilities for the solution to the problem he solved. “That is a frustrating answer, even if I expected it. If you figure out the reason why Cab does not just inhabit your body whenever he wants, please let me know.”

“Of course, Queen Bloodletter.” Ashe dipped his head.

“But that doesn’t matter at this time. While it is a curiosity, it ultimately serves no purpose beyond satiating my interest. What matters more is that you managed to have Cababasi concede to your desires about whom he feeds upon, and I cannot have a rogue Demon King travelling around Arikar, consuming peoples’ lives. Even if I know that the people he kills are bad people, my subordinates and subjects don’t know the same and having a demon running around, meting out his own form of justice to anyone he sees is breaking any law. People will panic and come calling to me for help, forcing me to put you down, which I can’t physically do while Cab inhabits you and nor can I kill a child in good conscience.

“This puts me in something of a dilemma, as neither can I kill you, nor can I let you go around killing criminals.”

Ashe nodded slowly, swallowing as the queen talked so casually about killing him and knowing that he could do nothing to resist or affect the outcome of that. Only Cab would be able to do anything to affect the queen. Only once he was sure that the queen wasn’t going to speak again, Ashe decided to respond, “I see… that is something of an issue, yes, but I assume you have a plan beyond just exiling me from the kingdom.”

-Queen Bloodletter smiled slyly, “Indeed I do. I believe that, somewhere in the Akantha Duchy, or what is formerly the Akantha Duchy, a precedent has been set to allow those possessed by demons, who have no option but to kill in order to sustain the demon, to replace an executioner in administering the death sentence. With this, I can provide access to a large number of people for Cababasi to consume the lives of because, while the death sentence is rare overall, we are still a kingdom with over seven hundred million residents and many of whom, even if it’s less than one percent of the population, commit crimes. This isn’t even including foreign agents that we capture and sentence to execution rather than trading them back.

“When adding all of these together, that comes to a few dozen people executed every year, which should be more than enough for Cababasi to subsist on, if I’m not mistaken.”

Ashe nodded, “Yeah, it is. But is there any way for you to enforce this or allow me to prove that I’m licensed to execute people? Preferably without any spectators.”

Queen Bloodletter tapped her chin, “That’s a good point. I can give you an executioner’s pass, but that is liable to let others witness the event. If you want it completely isolated, then we will have to carefully pick and choose which executions you’re sent to conduct.” Queen Bloodletter shrugged, “That is something that I will have one of my aides sort out once it comes time for you to actually execute someone to feed Cababasi.

“Beyond this, was there anything that you were hoping to accomplish in Arikar. Is there anything that you wish to do?”

Ashe hesitated, “Not really. I’ve never really thought about the future before. It’s always been enough of a struggle just dealing with the present, let alone trying to plan for the future. Right now, I just want to stay with Sammath and Erin but, well, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to pan out, so I don’t really know.”

Queen Bloodletter smiled lightly, the expression soft and kind, “Maybe. But things never turn out quite the way you expect. I would think that, so long as you accept the offer to stay around and act as an executioner, you’ll be seeing more of Erin. I’d station you in the capital, after all, and Erin’s family estate is quite close so you could visit her often.” Queen Bloodletter paused, “At least when she isn’t out on missions. I’m sure Kaiden would be happy to take you with him.”

Ashe felt himself smiling at the idea of staying in the capital and getting to see Erin relatively often. He’d come to like the stoic girl, even if she claimed that they weren’t friends. At the very least, she’d been good to him by training him and helping him to survive. Ashe didn’t want to lose the tenuous connection he’d formed with the noble girl as he thought she’d make a good friend, at least when or if they finally became friends. “What about Sam, then?”

“Well,” the queen paused, thinking, “I’d be happy to set him up in a house with you, provided he’s willing to stay in the capital. I can’t let either of you stay in the palace; both the nobles and my security team would have a fit; but I can certainly buy a house big enough for two people. As for whether he actually wants to stay, I think he’d like to stay and that he sees you as something of a little brother but, from what I can hear of his spoken thoughts, is uncertain about where your relationship stands at the moment.

“From what Emyr told me, you’d set aside whatever troubles you were having while you were preparing to remain in the camp, but it seems like he fears that your differences are going to crop up again.”

Ashe sighed, “I am mad at him. But I also don’t want him to go away just because of that. I wouldn’t be surprised if he leaves to see the world, though. That was the reason he left Volkar and it’s not far-fetched that he will get antsy, being stuck in a large city. Especially with a culture so far removed from Volkar’s.”

Queen Bloodletter nodded, “I understand, but you also can’t do much at the moment to stop that. Whether or not he leaves is his decision and you shouldn’t stop him. If your friendship fades with distance, then it was never meant to be, and you shouldn’t dwell on it. It may seem an important moment now but, in the future, you might realise that it was quite inconsequential. You never know until something happens, after all.”

Ashe smiled tightly at the queen, nodding, “Thanks. You’re right, which I probably shouldn’t be surprised by. You’ve lived a much richer life than me, after all.”

Queen Bloodletter laughed, “You can just say I’ve lived a lot longer than you have. I know I’m much older than someone who’s only just into their teenage years and accepted it quite some time ago.”

Ashe felt as his smile was injected with a little bit of true mirth, “You know, you’re quite personable for a queen. Very down to earth.”

Queen Bloodletter turned to look into the sky, “It is hard, sometimes, but I do try. After all, I want to be able to just enjoy the little things in life and that’s a lot easier when you have people around you.”