Chapter 72 A Choice.
Endure my children!
Endure your pain! Endure your guilt!
Your choices are your own to face!
And so are their consequences!
Amaret, the Great Sinner.
{28} Nuriss (March) the 1st
We live in that hall for two more days, while more and more women find their way inside. The more crowded the place becomes, the more stressed its residents are. The younger women start fights, pull each other’s hair, and bully the loners while amassing themselves in groups. The older ones refrain from interfering, keeping to their gossip group of friends they had before coming here, bullying each other through gossip and made up stories.
Apparently, every woman below the age of thirty is brought here, even those who are already married and have children. I know that because all some of these women can talk about is the children they left back home, or the husband they miss.
No one dares to bully us or get close to us. Lezere is intimidating enough, and Sharla is too popular in here. The latter moves from group to group, receiving smiles from everyone, fake or not. She becomes the temporary caretaker in this hall, making sure everyone has what they need.
We receive food every day, but the guards outside won’t talk to us. Not until today.
Today a bald man enters the hall. He wears a tailored robe with dark blue and green patterns on it. He walks into the hall with a cane in hand. He observes the women in the room, moving his free hand in his large white mustache. The bald man is followed by a group of no less than 20 guards, some with spears, some with drawn bronze swords.
I avoid prodding with my mana, I don’t want him to notice my presence. “Is this the King?” I whisper. But no one answers me. The women huddle back to the corner of the room into tight crowded groups. I find myself getting dragged into the middle of this terrified crowd of whimpering girls. I make my way forward in order to see what’s going on because I’m simply not tall enough. After getting stepped on and hit by a few stray limbs, I somehow manage to reach the very front.
The guards pick one of the younger girls who shrieks in horror. The man in blue and green shakes his head in dismissal and the guards push her to the other side of the room. The girl sobs on the ground, hugging herself.
The second girl is Lezere. She snarls at the guards showing her teeth. The mustachioed man sneers and shakes his head. The guards direct her to the same side as the first girl, but unlike the younger human girl, they don’t touch her.
They keep on dragging a girl to the bald man who simply shakes his head, then the girl finds herself at the other side of the room with another huddled crying group and the snarling Lezere.
When the guards drag a blond with an ample chest, it's the first time the man nods. “I’m married! I have a husband! My baby is waiting for me back home!” The woman screams, fighting the guards, only to have a blade pressed against her throat to silence her. She whimpers as the guards order her to strip. The man in blue and green nods again, and she’s escorted outside, naked.
I’m the one they pick next. Having my arm yanked like that brings me back to the time I had to grovel before my captors. I’m not taking this again! Not again! I’m going to kill them all! Calm down! Focus! If I kill them all I’ll simply alert this stupid ‘King’ to my existence… bear with it and wait for Sharla to infiltrate his court…
The bald man looks at me, moving his hand in his mustache in contemplation. Then shrugs. “Not good enough for our King.” He shakes his head and I find myself on the other side of the room. The girls there attempt to pull me into their group hug, but I reject and stand by Lezere’s side.
So this isn’t the King… I’m glad I didn’t attack… Regardless, I want him dead! “Remember these people’s faces because we’ll be killing them all later…” I mutter to Lezere in Toml’a.
“Grrrrr… yes chief!”
“I want the man with the mustache alive, I want to make him suffer!”
Lezere moves her shoulders as if she's trying to loose her muscles. “Grrrr… Being cruel to sheep is useful. It makes them obey or turns them into wolves. Being cruel to wolves is foolish, it allows them to bite back and kill you. Never give into cruelty chief. It clouds your mind with foolishness.”
“I know… I’m just… you’re right. Kill him if you can. Do it fast.” I just can’t stop thinking of the slave pens… of all the groveling and… No! That never happened! I hate this! I hate what it’s doing to me! I want this to be over already! I want to go see Kolag and talk to him… I want to keep studying cantrips… the road was so much better!
Sharla gets picked after a few more women. The bald man nods with appreciation and a big smile on his face when he sees her.
“No! No! Please! I beg you! Let me stay here! Please!” She screams as the guards tear off her dress. Naked, she throws herself at the man’s feet, hugging them. The guards pry her off and drag her outside, laughing at her screams. If I didn’t know it was an act, I’d actually pity her. She’s enjoying that… and probably feeding on the pity from all the girls here…
The selection continues. Fifteen women are picked. All of them are blond or red heads with large breasts, it’s obvious the King has a “type”.
The man with the cane leaves with a dismissive gesture to the guards. The guards all aim their spears at us. “Hey you Pigsy! Yea Orc woman! I'm talking to you!” The guard captain points at Lezere. “Get out!”
She growls, standing in place with defience.
“It’s ok Lezere, go outside… only fight if you have to defend yourself,” I mutter in Toml’a. I really don't want to get her killed here of all places... I doubt she can fight twenty men... and if I show magic to help her I'll be exposed...
She nods and leaves the hall. The guards visibly relax and exchange excited looks with one another. The guard captain nods with a perverse grin. “Take your pick boys!”
What the snake?! Are they really that perverse to just attack the women of their own town?!
But they are. Screams break out when the corrupt guards pull women into their arms. It’s obvious what’s coming next.
I wish I knew some sort of a mind-affecting spell, but looks like I have to kill these guards if I want to get out of here… Or I could let one of them have their way with me, that’s probably the smartest thing to do… NO! Not again!
Maybe I should… but I’m incapable of that… Not to mention… can I really stand by and do nothing? Why not? I don’t owe anything to these women! If I kill these guards the King will know about my existence and I’ll have to leave town… That’s alright, we can always camp outside the town’s walls…
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Yes, but I’ll be warning this ‘King’ that there’s another mage apprentice in town. It’s a problem. It’s safer if he doesn’t know… That means I’ll need to let these guards have their way with me! I can’t do it! Not again! Never again! Come on! Think!
But I don’t have the luxury of time to think. A shaved middle-aged guard grabs my wrist with a lusty appreciative look in his brown eyes. “What’s your name fire-flower?”
Ew… “Inara,” I answer dryly. My lack of fear halts him in place. All around us the guards are pulling screaming women and tearing their clothes off.
“Are you not scared of me Inara?” The man's yellow teeth show through his perverse smile. “Have you ever been snaked by a man before? Or you never had your jar opened?”
What am I going to do? Kill him! This is what I wanted power for! I will not be treated like that again! KILL THEM ALL! MONSTERS! ALL OF THEM!
I move closer to him, pressing myself against his body and gliding my hands on his cheeks and jaw. The man’s brown eyes open wide, he did not expect such a reaction. A disappointment blooms on his face, as if he'd enjoy resistance more than compliance.
MONSTER!
I glide my hand down to his neck, forcing a seductive smile on my face. “Felul felik”
The lust in his brown eyes turns to shock, and then horror when I cover his bleeding windpipe. He gurgles in a desperate attempt to breathe or speak. I kiss him to muffle the gurgles and taste his metallic blood under the foul breath. The groans, moans, and cries in this hall, drown the muffled desperate sounds he makes.
I pull him down with me, to lay on top of me. Just to avoid attracting any attention from the rest of these perverse beasts. “I’ve been with enough men like you. This is why I learned how to do this…” I mutter as I crawl out from under him. It doesn’t matter, he no longer has any life in his eyes.
Now I have to leave.
And leave all of these women to their fates?! I can't do that!
Why not? What's stopping me? I don't know them? Is it really worth it to expose my presence to the king just to save them?
Yes! Venom! I know what it's like! I can't just sit by and do nothing!
I'm not doing nothing. I'm eliminating the King and killing this problem at its root. Helping these women now will compromise eliminating the King... I have to choose one of the two.
I crawl toward the exit. Doing my very best to ignore the women's pleas. I notice that a few of the women didn’t get dragged by the guards. Some of them dare to run or crawl toward the door, others are stuck in place watching in horror. With more women than guards it makes sense that not all of us get picked. The guards are too busy with the ones they chose to notice or care about their dead friend or the women that make their way outside.
“Please! Your grace! Help us!” One of the women does notice what I did, she screams at me for help, half buried under a guard. “I know you can! You can change everything here! You can…”
The guard put a hand on her mouth, shutting her up. “No one is coming ma lass, no one! No matter how much you pray! The sorcerers don’t care about a tiny little flower like you!” he declares without even looking up.
I should help her! No, that’ll just alert the King. But I've already killed someone! He'll know! A wind blade may seem like a dagger cut, and they didn’t take away the weapons, not to mention they leave their weapons laying around… so they’ll think a woman had bested a guard. I was discreet about it… but if I kill them all the King will know for sure…
Isn’t this what I wanted power for? No. I wanted power so I won’t be helpless. So I will be able to keep myself and the people I care about safe! Not so I could be some sort of hero… I’m not Kolag. I don’t know these women. I won’t risk my plans. Risking my plans will actually hurt them more in the long run, if I fail to take over this city, this will continue...
Apathy… this happens all over the world anyway, and if I risk exposing myself here I won’t be able to free them later… Yes. Apathy. Nothing I can do. Apathy. VENOM WITH THE APATHY! I know how this feels for them… And Kolag wouldn’t just stand by and do nothing…
It’s wrong! I can’t just stand by!
But if I don’t, I’m putting my friends’ lives at risk… I can't risk Lezere. I can't risk everyone. If the king knows I'm here, some of them will probably die... Is it really worth it? These women can wait a little while longer...
I'll be putting their lives at risk. Yes! At risk! Yes! But they’re all at risk for even coming here! It’s not a certain death!
Where is Jerro and his predictions when I need him?
Argh, I can’t just stand by and do nothing, I have to help them… I guess I’m more like Kolag than I thought…
I change my path, crawl to the guard, and mutter another wind blade into his nape, covering his mouth with my other hand. “Thank you!” The woman gasps and whispers in relief.
I sigh. This goes against my goals, against my way of living, against my apathy. But I can’t shut off my memories either. Leaving these women to suffer is something I won’t be able to forgive myself for. And just thinking about Kolag’s judgmental look drives me to action.
I know I’m not changing a thing, this keeps happening around the world, and my actions here won’t matter in the larger scale. But right now, with everything happening in front of me, my heart takes over my actions and I can’t ignore it. Even if it means I’m foolishly warning the ‘King’ of my presence. Even if it means someone I care about might die from these actions...
Enough thinking! I've made my choice! NOW KILL THEM ALL!
*~*~*
Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: formed: 1 gem replenished per five minutes.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 66
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 6 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 18 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 14 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 27 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 4 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 40/41 gems
Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freeze.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray.
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s lesser shield. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body.
Spells known:
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb.
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison.
Focus capability: 12 patterns
Social status: Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries.
Wealth: 1854 Magic Gems. 1421 Golden Peas, 17 Silver Scales, 37 Copper Bits.
Items:
Magical necklace. Contain a 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keep the pouches’ content fresh.
Fresh rose petals, 22g
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 10/100
Companions:
Languages:
Toml’a
Sinteo
Myrsha
Felul
Injuries and scars: