Kaleria and the survivors of her troops returned to Heaven Peak. Nigh started to retreat before the rising sun, revealing the tall, magnificent white walls of the duchy’s capital. The capital was built on a natural clearing that surrounded the duchy’s tallest mountain. At the top of the mountain, in a place where clouds touched stone, stables were built; this was the place where the tamed hawgrs thrived. The bastions of the royal palace occupied the center of the mountain, connected to the city below by a huge stone bridge. Near the bridge was the Academy of Sapon, a place where Sapon knights trained to become worthy of the title of member of the royal cavalry. Four barracks were located to the north, south, west, and east of the city. Dozens of large farms were built near the city walls to supply the city with food and wool. Hunters regularly brought abundant game from the forests. To the north of the capital, the walls were split open to reveal just enough space for a harbor, allowing hundreds of fishermen to take their boats to a vast lake near the city to catch fish.

In the center of the city was the Dome of Learning. It was one of two places in the city where long-lost technology still functioned. It had been built at great expense to protect the precious equipment inside from the harsh conditions of the Living Lands. Computers and film projectors straight from the Old Word filled the halls of the dome. Knights and soldiers of the Duchy could not use firearms, but that did not mean they never studied them. Films with detailed instructions on the advancements and weaknesses of firearms were rigorously studied, and the nation’s Abnormals worked hard to develop tactics against them. Valuable medical recipes were stored on terminals, and alchemists no longer lost precious knowledge of the plants of the Living Lands when some of them died and flames destroyed their work. This helped to greatly advance medicine in the Duchy. Martial arts, knowledge of metalworking, even knowledge of the elementalists were—all were stored here.

Across the grand plaza from the Dome of Learning was a tall, gray building surrounded by a force shield. This was the Embassy of Iterna, the second place where advanced technology worked. Unlike the Dome, Iterna officials did not care about the dangers of the Living Lands and used a humming force shield to keep the strange atmosphere of the Living Lands away. Neighbors complained about the sound of the shield at night. Despite the protection of Marcus Sapon, the Embassy decided not to ignore the commoners and installed soundproof windows and renovated their neighbors’ buildings for free. It all seemed to happen overnight; Iterna’s drones worked day and night. By the time they were finished, the locals near the embassy had new homes, and the drones themselves had begun to rust. The people were worried about the safety of their homes, but nature had not yet damaged the newly built houses.

So far, the embassy staff has been counted at fifty people. Ambassador Jordia Barjoni, a tall, stocky elderly man, always elegantly dressed; his nephew, Tim Barjoni, an attractive young man without a single scar on his body, who always acted weird near Kaleria. A few secretaries and a small group of soldiers. The rest of the embassy consisted of hired hands from the local population. No doubt Duke Marcus used some of them to spy on Iterna’s diplomats, but from Kaleria’s point of view, Jordia was cunning enough to never let that become a problem for herself.

On the slope of a mountain was the great jail. This was a place where the nobility or political prisoners were held. Despite its impressive size, it was rarely full and had only a skeleton guard. Before the invasion, the situation in the Duchy had been mostly calm; no one had tried to overthrow the House of Sapon from within for a long time, much to the disappointment of Duke Marcus.

To the west of the city, near the main armory, was the Academy of Elements. Elementalists from all over the Duchy came here to train, gain knowledge, and forge new weapons. In the basement of the Academy was the mysterious source. Kaleria never saw it, and the elementalist who visited her house declared she had no aptitude for transformation. Duke Marcus, Lady Hampin, the fifth wife of Marcus, and Solgon, the brother of Marcus, all visited the source when they felt ready. According to the stories, the source was part of the weapon that destroyed the world. It was a dangerous thing, but if you were lucky enough, you could gain power from it. Marcus and Hampin gained powers. Solgon died. Marcus never revealed exactly what happened to Solgon, only that it was a terrifying experience and that Solgon was not to blame for his own death.

Kaleria signaled her troops to return to the barracks to tend to their wounds and landed near her mansion, near the stone bridge. Her parents, distant relatives of Marcus, once owned it. Unfortunately, her mother died in childbirth, and her father drank himself half to death and allowed a beast to gore himself on a hunt.

Her hawgr, despite its wounds, gracefully landed before the entrance to the mansion. His paws, capable of ruining both stone and metal, restrained themselves, sparing the grass. Night servants hurried forward, prepared to treat the wounds of beast and rider. Kaleria allowed them to lead her to the stone bench, where they removed her armor, and the house alchemist treated and bandaged her wounds. Most of her injuries were already half-healed. In addition to strength and speed, her abnormal physiology provided some additional advantages. However, without proper treatment, burns and scars would remain, and torn wounds could fester.

“Are you fine, my lady?” Ituriana asked in a tired voice. Kaleria’s old servant, the one who had also served as Kaleria’s wet nurse when she was a child, stood waiting for orders from her mistress.

“Why aren’t you in thy bed yet? I gave thy strict orders for you not to wait for me.” Kaleria asked in an annoyed voice. It was the knight’s duty to protect his subjects, but duty runs both ways. Subjects must also do their part to make society work.

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“My apologies, my lady. I was concerned for your safety.” The old servant bowed.

Kaleria lost herself in thought for a moment. Should she order Ituriana to be whipped for insolence? No, she needed her servants to be fresh for tomorrow. Causing physical pain would only make them less effective. Besides, Ituriana was too old, and physical punishment could be fatal for her. The woman struggled to keep her posture straight and tried her best to keep up with the youngest servants in Kaleria’s employ, ignoring the wrinkles on her face and the dryness of her paper-thin skin. Ituriana’s eyes, once so bright, now sank deep into her cranium. But the gentle light was there, and it stayed Kaleria’s hand, making her remember the songs her servant sang to her. She will show leniency today and think about how to instill discipline in her servants later.

“Go and sleep. All is well for today; the mistress of the house is back,” Kaleria said, getting up. She ignored her alchemist, who was worried that if he did not treat the wounds properly, they would ruin her skin. “Let it be,” she finally snapped. Her abnormal physiology will keep her healthy long enough, but for now she needed to make a report. “Prepare my official dress; Duke Marcus has waited long enough for mine report.”

“Are you sure you are in condition to…” Ituriana began talking, but the knight cut her off.

“Go to sleep and shame me no more. I need you at your best tomorrow.” Kaleria stormed off to her bedroom, leaving the servants to take off her field clothes and dress her in attire suitable for a meeting with the Duke.

On her way to the palace, Kaleria encountered an unusual procession. Sapon knights, all on their hawgrs, were escorting a ragged group of the disgusted Malformed out of the jail. Citizens had gathered along the road, hurling curses and rotten fruits in abundance at the damned monsters. Priests walked at the edges of this strange procession, spreading blessed incense to contain the vileness and safeguard young women from giving birth to one of these monsters.

Unlike other Abnormals, the Malformed had little use for technology; even the use of blades was too much for them. No two were alike; here were monsters covered in bone growths, with bone saws for arms, walking alongside towering beasts of tentacles and muscle. All were chained, and the creatures hissed at the crowd, spurred on by the sharp spears of the knights.

There were both adults and their whelps here. She saw a towering goat-headed Malformed, close to six meters tall, walking with its hands tied behind its back; its third arm, some sort of bone, was broken. The creature looked out at the crowd with wild panic in its purple eyes and bleated incessantly. Next to it walked a spider creature, taller than several riders on their hawgrs. The proud beasts seemed to dislike this creature more than others, screeching and trying to bite its bound legs at every opportunity. Two more Malformed were made to drag this spider.

The smaller monsters looked no less hideous. One had poisonous fumes coming out of its pores, another was covered in chitin, and the third had more eyes than skin on its body. They hissed, bleated, and barked at the crowd, but Kaleria detected a hint of panic in their voices. She had no mercy left for the starving and beaten beasts. Once, back when she was a mere squire, she tried to save a similar creature, only to have it rip open her belly without hesitation. Their size made them easier to kill, that’s all.

“Lady Kaleria!” A knight in brown armor threw his arm high and walked to her. He alone was without a hawgr, and on his shoulder he carried a spiked mace longer than her body. Where other knights wore the proud insignia of their houses, this man’s armor was bare and covered in dirt. “It’s well to see thee in good health.”

“The same to you, noble Ludwig.” Kaleria made a graceful bow, allowing his ruined lips to kiss her glove-covered hand. “What’s the story behind moving the filth?”

No one showed any mercy to the Malformed. A marauder might be captured and put to work. A murderer might be given the right to marry and have children. But the Malformed were worse than raiders—worse than any slavers from outside the Living Lands. They ate humans and did unspeakable things to women, and they reproduced faster than any cattle. As was the custom, most of the Malformed were tortured to death in front of the palace to avenge those they had killed.

“Stange, isn’t it?” Ludwig flashed a smile. “The fiends had cost us three lives before we had completely massacred their invasion. Two thousand rapists, all dead because they failed to cover their tracks properly.” The man slapped his leg. “We planned to burn the rest alive to honor the goddess, but the ambassador asked us to turn them over to his care. The Duke granted the request, and so here we are, taking the fiends to the embassy.”

Ludwig was a duke’s bastard. Duke Marcus and Lady Hampin loved each other like no other, but a man has his urges. When one of his whores bore a child, Lady Hampin heard the whore’s plea and agreed to spare the child’s life. She burned a bastard’s mark on the child’s face, forever scarring the otherwise handsome man’s left side. An ugly burn scar encircled his eye and moved down to reveal his bare teeth. Out of pity, Lady Hampin admitted the young boy to the knights, even though he would never earn himself a steed. A few haughty knights tried to bully young Ludwig out of his position, and he introduced them to his mace. The boy may not have had his father’s awesome powers, but distilled Sapon blood ran through his veins, far more potent than Kaleria’s own blood. With a single stroke, both his rival and his steed were reduced to a bloody puddle.

A Malformed, small enough that Kaleria could step on it and kill it, hissed at a painful sting. The creature spat at the knight behind it; the yellow mucus stained a pristine knight’s greave, and the woman cursed and reached for her sword. Still smiling at Kaleria, Ludwig moved his arm and pressed the bladed edge of his mace against the knight’s gorget with enough force behind his movement to raise a gust of wind in the street.

“Temper, temper, sirrah,” he chastised the knight, showing his tongue to the Malformed. “I would weep if you made me break you for ruining an Iternian property. Duke Marcus will need all able hands in the coming days.”

“That he does, bastard.” The knight bowed her head. There was no insult in her words; Ludwig had no proper right to be called a knight.

Kaleria patted him on the shoulder and moved on. It took her only a short time to reach the entrance of the royal palace. The guards recognized her and let her pass. Duke Marcus and his wife should be in their bedchambers near the throne hall, almost at the top of the palace. Kaleria walked up several long staircases and passed through the Hall of Remembrance, where dead heroes of the duchy and family members of the Sapon family slept their last sleep entombed in stone walls.