I ran out of time before finding a worthy successor. Marlowe, Talysius, and Stephano remained in Aquilonia with orders to rule in my stead until a worthy trial challenger arose. It was not for a lack of candidates but quality. My standards weren't that high. The three cloth golems would bestow the name of King Conan or Queen Sonja to the next ruler.
I regret nothing. I'd even broken the random disability curse. I got a glimpse of the Perk I could turn it into.
> * Random Ability: You have a random ability bestowed upon you at birth. This ability is transient and removed upon true death.
To hell with that. I set it to erode {Twinkle Little Star}. That rank zero Attribute cap was bullshit.
As Snowdrop breathed her last and oblivion took me, my next conscious moment was at birth. I smelled ash, sweat, stale beer, as well as the usual scents of childbirth.
It took me a moment to recognize the language spoken by the angry people around me. Auvanini Dwarvish. Windemere's dialect.
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Windemere, Dwarven Enclave
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"THERE IS NO WAY MY DAUGHTER HAS A TAIL, STOUTHAMMER!" An angry male voice bellowed, furious. "THIS WENCH HAS BETRAYED ME!"
"Calm down, Fangor!" Another male soothed. "We have time to discuss that. There's no need to make a rash decision you might regret later!"
I heard a scuffle. I couldn't see around me. A wall of bodies covered me.
"Stouthammer, we are brothers-in-arms. I reckon you as my blood brother. But my honor has been soiled by this half breed spawn of my wife! I must rectify it NOW!"
More scuffle, a few punches thrown left and right.
"You are going to make an enemy of your wife's clan, Fangor!" Stouthammer pleaded from further away, probably from the ground. "Don't do it. The Axejaws will be angry at you!"
"They'll disown this harlot posthumously," Fangor grumbled, still incensed.
Dwarves.
I was born as a dwarf and a quick body check with my proprioceptive sense told me what was the problem. I had a tail and my ears were too stretched upward, above my head. I was a half-dwarf-half-beastkin of some kind.
I wept with relief. The midwives holding me mistook it for some problem and a baker's dozen hands rubbed all parts of my body, looking for something wrong. I felt a nipple shoved in my mouth and to ease the minds of my caretakers, I fed off of it. My eyes were still shut. I knew I wasn't blind because I could sense light through my eyelids. I just needed a good bath.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Outside my soul, the drama continued. Skin was all I could see, wrapped in blankets with only a slit for my eyes. A maid held me against her shoulder.
"She is my wife and I'll do what I will to her. She betrayed me and deserves death!"
Oww fuck. I don't mind who my parents rubbed naughty bits with. But this rude dwarf was not my father, biologically or emotionally.
Shouts and screams of terror erupted as the [Wisp of Creation] manifested in her {Gifted Divinity} aspect. A loud bang rang in the room and people ran out of the room carrying me with them. I heard people screaming "monster attack!" and chaos ensued.
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Pandora had a mind of her own. After she fused with Rosalinda and I empowered her with the status from the lich clones, she gained a certain autonomy and a clear behavior that suggested decision-making abilities. The request I made her had to be worded that way because if I said "my mother", that would be ambiguous. In a sense, Pandora was my mother too.
Someone picked me up and we went up and down and across several underground tunnels. The air quality told me we were indeed underground. I was sleepy but I kept half my brain active during my nap. People talked about me, about my tail and ears, and gossiped about Fangor and my latest mother. People quickly dug up rumors of an affair between her and a fox-kin bard, linking their speculations to my obvious signs of heritage.
There we go. I was finally a fox girl. Fox-dwarf girl.
I was brought before some grumpy dwarf that only grumbled as he examined me with callused hands. He was clearly an important man because everyone was silent while he grunted loudly and deeply like rocks grinding on one another. I would love a bath before meeting such an important character but alas, if wishes were unicorns, I would... Oh, wait.
"My daughter Nozmizla dishonored our family," the patriarch declared with solemnity and a somber voice that carried hints of regret. "Fangor Battlehaven can do unto her and this half-breed spawn as he pleases. I care not."
He tossed me to someone else and I was carried away. Still no bath. The blood and amniotic fluid were already dried and caked over me.
I entered Pandora's sphere of influence and felt the {Gifted Divinity} calming effect wash over me. I also felt Pandora had a new soul, a single one, in her. I feared the worst when I heard Fangor laughing maniacally and weeping at the same time. The man was insane.
"What has Axejaw decided?" He asked.
"The patriarch disowned his daughter posthumously," the midwife answered and retched.
"And the halfbreed child?" He demanded.
"She is yours to do as you please, his exact words."
Fangor cackled. Then he cried a bit more. The rough hands of a warrior picked me up by the tail, the clothes swaddled around me falling to the ground. I hung painfully down from my tail at the mercy of my mother's murderer. Before I left the room, I felt the smell of blood, exposed entrails, and broken metal. Pandora was sad.
He walked with me dangling like a dressed prey across the corridors, away from the place I met the Axejaw patriarch. I could hear muted voices mumbling about madness and expressions of pity for me but nobody stopped Fangor. People scuttled out of the way as the mariticide dwarf moved with purpose toward my doom.
Pandora followed closely. Fangor paid the Wisp no attention.
The ground became uneven. I could tell by the fact that Fangor's step slowed down and he bobbed more than often. I also had the problem of some rocks hitting my head as I was still dangling from his hand. The sounds of wheels squeaking and picks picking at the rocks told me we were in a mine.
"Fangor what are you doing?" A dwarf asked.
"Mind your business, Bardot."
"Why are you holding a beastkin child upside down? Can't you see her head is bleeding?"
"This is the spawn that came from Nozmizla's womb. I'm now discarding her shame down the shaft."
"Fangor! This is madness!"
I felt Fangor punch Bardot with the very hand that held me. I hit his thigh and took another wound.
Unchallenged, Fangor walked to a deep shaft. I could feel the wind running down there. It was moist.
Then he dropped me into the abyss.