The last of the soldiers that had streamed out of the Darkwood entered the town, and the gates slammed shut with finality.
Neer stopped the expression of disgust that tried to form on her face. The humans around her were annoyingly good at picking up on her mood, and she wasn’t in a position to express her thoughts freely.
It was one of the few things she was grateful to her mother for teaching her. Sure, the woman had done it out of disgust for her orcish features, but it was still useful, and Neer wasn’t one to waste any skill.
She moved back from the window, resuming her guard over the man she hated the most. De Hoop glanced at her and then toward the forest, sighing. “You’ll get to kill a lot of people soon, don’t worry. I’ll sate that bloodthirst of yours for once.”
Neer didn’t react. The man had built a horrific, animalistic image of her in his mind, which was one of the few things that kept him from violating her. He had taken his time to break her mind, or at least he thought he had managed it, but he still kept the high-quality collar on her.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/cLgsH9gB/persimmon0-half-orc-female-warrior-green-skin-small-tusks-dark-7014509c-ad18-41c0-988e-aa905d9fbd9c.png]
He said it was out of courtesy for his collaborators, as they might experience discomfort working around an unchained half-orc, but Neer knew it was because deep down, he knew his conditioning hadn’t taken root as well as he hoped.
An hour of silence followed as he worked until someone knocked on the study’s door. De Hoop didn’t react, making the people outside remain there for five more minutes before he gave Neer a nod.
She moved languidly, taking her time. It was one of the few pleasures she had, though she knew it was an insidious one. Her master often used her as an instrument to remind his minions of his superiority. While she enjoyed seeing their fruitless anger, she was aware that it was only another way for the disgusting noble to tie her to him.
She opened the solid oak door with deliberate slowness, allowing the minor nobility of Thelma to stream into the room.
Men and women who should have held themselves with dignity clutched their clothes nervously. As always, they avoided looking at her, skirting around to prevent any contact.
From the recesses of her mind, Neer felt the dull instinct to grab a woman who dared come close to her. She could see it in her mind’s eye. It would just take a sliver of her power to break the noble in two, and then she could use the shock of death to grab the closest knight’s sword and begin to butcher them.
Her collar warmed in warning, and she allowed those thoughts to return to whence they came. It wasn’t the time yet, though something told her a window of opportunity was coming. Whether that was to die in battle or to be free, she didn’t know, but she wouldn’t mind either.
“My Lord Mayor, we thank you for receiving us!” The first of the nobles said, bowing his head beyond what protocol dictated.
It was another thing Neer enjoyed watching. Humans based their societies around strict rules and expectations, but the moment things started going wrong, they went back to being as tribal as the orcs they despised so much. The only man with a shred of control in Thelma at the moment was Dandelion De Hoop, and by his grin, he knew it.
The mages entered the room next, and while some would have thought them the immediate successors of the 104th’s Captain as far as wielders of martial might, Neer knew these specific casters weren’t good enough to do much beyond take orders. Some of the apprentices showed minor talent, which could be nurtured into a real danger to the Mayor’s rule with time, but they were all under control for the moment.
The town vicar followed, a stooped old man with long, bushy white eyebrows and a thin beard that reached his midsection. He was another of those people who could have wielded his power for good and instead had fallen under De Hoop’s wing with nary a complaint after he consolidated his hold.
Lastly, the town guard’s Captain, Bertrand, a man Neer knew to be at least mildly capable with the sword he wielded, entered, accompanied by one of the soldiers she had watched escape from the forest.
The man had unkempt, dirty hair. His eyes were shifty as he observed everyone in the room, paying particular attention to her after dismissing most others.
Neer felt herself match his regard. She couldn’t help it, as it was part of her standing orders of guarding her master.
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However, the man didn’t do anything beyond give her a wary look once he noticed her collar. He contented himself by sitting at the opposite head of the table where the servants had prepared for a meeting with the merchants, who had been postponed when the first soldier arrived.
The dirty man grabbed a jug of wine and poured himself a glass, showing a surprising amount of disrespect to the assembled nobles, but if what she was feeling was correct, he could have probably killed most of the people in the room before being cut down, if she wasn’t there.
She made a note that he was missing a finger on his left hand, just in case they ever came to blows. He likely had developed a style to compensate for that weakness, but it was the kind of thing that could never be wholly solved.
“Well, what have you to say for yourself?!” One of the knights bellowed, slamming a hand on the table and making the dishes rattle.
The Mayor gave him an annoyed look at the loud noise but didn’t rebuke him. It seemed he was just as curious.
The soldier finished drinking his wine and sighed. “T’was a rout.”
Chaos followed those words, as the truth most had known but tried to ignore was made impossible to avoid.
At her master’s signal, Neer let out a burst of killing intent that immediately silenced the room. It was the kind of skill only experienced fighters had, and she had many years to hone it beyond what even talented users ever achieved. Her enslavement would forever mark her mind, but it had allowed her to cultivate her hatred and fury into a dangerous weapon.
Of course, she didn’t bring to bear her full intent, or several people’s hearts might have given out, and she wanted to keep the true extent of the skill hidden for when she made her escape, whenever that was.
The soldier seemed mostly unaffected by it and resumed talking once everyone had gathered their wits, “We got ambushed soon after entering the Darkwood, but at that point, there wasn’t much we could do. We didn’t have information about the enemy forces, as they kept killing our rangers, but the Captain decided to keep pushing.”
Considering that Alpar should have had a devastated garrison from the Incursion, everyone in Thelma had expected the real fight would be overwhelming the Hero with numbers. It seemed that wasn’t the case if the 104th encountered resistance miles away from their target.
“It took us much longer than expected to get out of the forest, and by then, we had lost fifty people and our three cannons. They broke the wheels beyond repair, and we had no wood mage to fix them.” The man continued, sounding morose.
“I told Vettel it was a stupid idea to bring them, but he insisted he needed them in case the Hero wouldn’t go down,” Bertrand muttered to the Mayor, who nodded with pursed lips.
In hindsight, it was obvious that any force with scouting abilities would prioritize attacking the heavy artillery, especially if it wasn’t well-defended and would be hard to repair. Still, Neer didn’t think the Captain had made a wrong decision. If even half of what she heard of the Hero were true, those cannons would have come in handy.
“Get to the point, man! What happened once you arrived in Alpar?!” The same knight as before growled.
The soldier gave him an annoyed look that made the knight puff up, but continued his tale, “They were waiting for us with a much bigger force than we expected. The 105th was at full muster, instead of the broken force we had expected, and they had at least two hundred others who looked like adventurers, armed to the teeth.”
Well, that’s different from what the rumors said. Merchants usually are accurate when they speak of economic issues, but I guess they are not that good at judging the readiness of a military force. Or someone planned this confrontation for a long time and only allowed false information to trickle out of Alpar…
That thought was enough to send a shiver down Neer’s spine, though she contained her physical reaction. She was confident in handling almost anyone in a direct fight. Only people like the Hero and true powerhouses could best her, and even that might not be true if she was given a few years to train herself without the collar holding her back. But facing a shadowy plotter capable of organizing a war so long in advance? No, Neer knew her limits very well. That was not her battlefield.
At least, she took heart in the fact that this terrifying person seemed to be working against her enslaver. She would probably die in the coming conflict if she were honest with herself, but she wouldn’t go down alone.
“Still, Captain Vettel ordered us to fight, even after the Hero came out personally and called for our surrender. Scary bugger, that one. I saw him lop the head off a sergeant without batting an eye, and in the next moment, he was kneeling next to a soldier with a smile, healing him as if there wasn’t a battle going on.” The man continued.
This time, the reaction was more pronounced. Everyone had known the Hero would be the biggest hurdle to overcome, and it seemed they had feared what could happen should they lose.
A female mage hid her face in her hands, shoulders shaking, while most of the nobles fretted, asking each other what they could do and if they could pool together enough money to hire mercenaries from abroad.
It seemed that everyone already understood that they wouldn’t be able to sit on their asses. Retribution for their attack would come, and considering that from what the soldier explained, Alpar’s defenders had not only maintained their readiness but also expanded their numbers with more than a hundred turncoats, they would soon have an army marching at their doorstep.
De Hoop waited until the room was silent before speaking, “I understand it wasn’t easy leaving your comrades behind, but you did well in bringing this information to us. If you go to my steward, you’ll receive your pay and a bonus.”
The dirty man didn’t need to hear that twice. He barely bothered to bow to the Mayor and didn’t give more than a glance to the others before getting out of the room.
The moment the door closed behind him, chaos erupted once again. Nobles and mages shouted over each other, pretending someone did something while avoiding offering themselves.
Finally, her master gave her a look, and Neer brought her hand down on the table, hard. The enchanted wood held, if barely, but the loud bang was enough to silence everyone.
She settled back into position, satisfied.
“I’m sure everyone has relevant observations to share.” De Hoop said drily. “But at the moment, we have a choice to make. We can draft the citizens with Blessings oriented to physical labor, put a spear in their hands, and try to match the Hero on the battlefield, or we can do the smart thing.”
No one made a peep. Though they were all very curious about what this smart thing might be, they all knew their leader to enjoy theatrics and wouldn’t risk enraging him by depriving him of his moment.
On cue, Bertrand asked, “And what would that be, my lord?”
De Hoop flashed him a genial smile, “We’ll prepare for a long siege while we wait for reinforcement. As soon as we are done here, I’ll send an urgent message to Hassel to mobilize the troops. The Hero might be personally powerful, but he won’t be able to do anything against tens of thousands of soldiers.”