He bowed deeply to Betran “In the circumstances since there are dueling circles just outside these halls, we should retire and discuss these issues there.”
Bertran nodded his agreement and I moved at his side outside to the imperial dueling circles. Harold was forced to trail behind his second as he moved too late. In the discussion that we had held before setting out, the probability that a duel would be forced was considered highly likely. It was however unexpected that it would be the likes of Harold. He was an ace in the hole for his sept and clan within the sept. For him to be risked over such a power play had seemed remote. Clearly, there were aspects of politics that we had not been made aware of.
Once we reached the inner circle, Harold started to whine. “Sema had been given to me, and your bitch has ruined her. Therefore you must replace like with like so I will take Lara as my bed warmer.”
I remained silent, Bertran simply addressed Davos “ We are here to deal with the insult that your charge uttered. How do you wish to proceed.”
Harold continued to natter about how he was the insulted party and he was due recompense.
Davos sighed “Harold be quiet you are not helping. Sema initiated the conflict and so must live with the consequences, We will raise it with her clan. You are just increasing the insult at this point.”
He switched his focus to Bertan “In the circumstances here and now?”
Bertan just nodded.
“I assume that given the added insult the choice of the first touch or third blood is now off the table.”
Bertan just nodded.
I winced internally at that. For the plan to trigger a simple duel and resolve it with the lowest risk, to life and limb.
Davos said, “You have great confidence in your charge, will you accept surrender or death.”
Bertan replied, “Yes with the understanding that clemency can be granted if it reaches the point that an opponent is unable to articulate their surrender.”
“Thank you. But I do fear that my charge will not be willing to invoke any such clemency.
Given we have settled those preliminaries I understand that your charge has the voice of weapons, I take it that sabers will satisfy as traditional dueling blades offer my charge too many advantages”.
Harold was still whining and muttering that he would cut me into pieces before killing me.
I glanced at Harold and shook my head “War Hammers?”
Davos’s eyes brighten momentarily “Such weapons are not considered honorable as they are weapons of war.”
“Pikes?”
“Such weapons are not considered honorable as they are weapons of war.”
“Two-handed great-sword?”
“Such weapons are not considered honorable as they are weapons of war.”
“Mace and Shield?”
“Such weapons are not considered honorable as they are weapons of war. I do see where this is going. Let us be realistic, what do you want?”
I yield my opponent the choice of his weapon while I take the use of the quarterstaff the first of the weapons of honor. “
The fool that was Harold yelled overriding Davos, “Yes I accept, I choose the light dueling blade”
One eyebrow was lifted by Betran, and Davos’s shoulders sank slightly. “Very well since this a duel to potential death no skills are limited, The duel will continue until death or the surrender of the opponent either by choice or the clemency of the clear victor.”
Betran addressed me “As challenged do you have any words or offers to make before we start.”
Of course, I did after all I needed to make Harold as angry as possible, to have any hope. “ I will accept an apology to myself but more importantly to Lara. Harold is to concede and commit to learning what it is to truly be a man, rather than a running yapping mixed breed dog that can only tear down those that are his betters.”
For some reason, Harold did not find this offer at all acceptable and responded “I shall cut you into pieces and force both that bitch LARA and her fake sister to eat your flesh. After which I will not waste my seed on them but have them thrown to a pack of goblins to breed from… ”
Bertan interrupted and stated to Davos “This shall not happen, for I stand between Lara and any such harm. If you think for a minute that I would accept this insult you will need to place your body on the line as well.”
Davos responded with great rapidity “No it is just youthful spleen, I would never countenance such behavior to any member of the house of the Sphinx.
Since our principals are not able to reconcile, shall we proceed?”
With a wave of Bertran’s hand the circles’ shields were raised. “Toe the line” and we each moved to the lines on the sand. “Salute” Harold moved directly into the on-guard position so I was relieved of having to respond in kind. “Begin”
All I activated was my new feat “See Weaknesses”. I just knew the placement of my hands, and how my feet needed to move. It was equally clear what Harold intended.
With that since the lines were naturally just outside the range of normal dueling weapons, Harold stepped forward, while I slid the base of the quarterstaff along the ground moving the top to rest on my shoulder with my left hand holding the top of the staff against my shoulder my right hand slammed the base of the staff upwards where it promptly collided with Harold’s pelvis. Unfortunately, there were some very sensitive parts of the male anatomy present in that area. His protections were insufficient to counter his momentum moving forward and the weight of a steel-shod quarterstaff moving upwards with all the strength that I could raise. Several passive skills also seemed to have some unfortunate effects on his body. The only good thing was that his defensive skills had kicked in at the last minute preventing the staff from ripping through his body and exiting out his skull.
I stepped forward and leaned down. Whispering “I find your attitude unacceptable. You have a wrapped sense of what is honorable, and how to live with others. I see no reason why you should find pleasure in women or be able to laud power over others. To this end until you conform to what is truly an honorable man, any time that you feel the desire to rule over the bodies of others you will remember this moment and the pain that you find yourself in.”
I leaned in with all my presence and that which I could borrow from Lara, to convince him that this would be the least he would experience until he became what he claimed. Lara’s and Esters’ fury leaked through my words and seared his spirit drying out his rivers and headwaters.
At this, I stepped away, “since he is unable to yield I yield for him. His words are proven false. He is nothing more than a yapping puppy. As such he is not worthy of an honorable death, let him live with the shame of falling to a simple stick.”
In my mind, I was shocked that he had fallen to a simple fool’s strike. All that was required was to step back and the strike would miss. It appeared that he never truly had to consider his mortality or his or others’ survival, For in that arena there is no honor only what works.
Bertran had disappeared even as I stepped back, and once I was clear of the body that was covered in blood, shit, piss, and vomit, he was collected by his second and whipped away. I guessed for medical treatment.
I returned to the hall and was greeted by Lara and Ester. “Our champion. All honor and glory!” the crowd echoed “All honor and glory!” Interestingly some voices echo from what appeared to be empty spaces in the hall.
Sema had disappeared. We moved to the buffet and took a drink and some food and moved to the small tables scattered around the edges of the hall.
Ester took my arm and held me tightly and in the silence of my mind said “Thank you he has been a thorn in the flesh of my Lara for too long. You achieved more than I expected.” Internally I was shivering with delayed stress. I heard her and could feel the joy radiating from Lara, but I did not recognize the passage of time. I was able to respond to the queries of the party-goers only via the memories that had been implanted. For some uncomfortable amount of time we were the center of attention,
Class Level - Insightful leader +1
Class Grant
Intimidation
Forceful presence
Prophecy Grant
Future path
Damage Mitigation II
New skill - Basic Calmness
Skill Improved - Common Blunt Weapons 3 / 20
New Skill QuarterStaff 5 / 10
Skill Improved - Basic Taunt 7 / 10
New Skill - Basic Critical hit 1/10
New Skill - First Blow 1/10
New Shared Skill
Uncommon Critical Hit 23/30
Attribute Improved - Mind +1
Attribute Improved - Control +2
Attribute Improved - Mental Speed + 1
Uncommon Critical Hit 23/30
By the time that I had moved back to the hall, I had accepted the Feat grants. Of the two class options both seemed to be similar, the only sense I had was ‘Intimidation’ was passive while ‘Forceful’ presence was more active, The active skill seemed better in that I could choose not to use it. Since I had no real sense of the prophecy grants rather than strengthening myself, I need to continue to build the strength of the team so I jumped back to Confusion.
There was an extended period of small talk, and various hangers-on and weak players of the political game buzzed around us for a while. However the stronger avoid us, as we have upset the status quo, So they were not willing to commit.
Eventually, we reached the point where it was politically safe to leave. Lara led us from the hall. I was only starting to recover when we reached the carriage only to discover that Sema had been stripped of her clothes, dressed in a slave’s grab, shackled both hand and foot, muted with a ball gag that left her barely able to breathe and dumped in the floor of our carriage.
{Authors note
I have struggled with the next scene I had a complete outline but realized that while it progressed the story perfectly, it also exposed something that I did not like about myself. I think that all creative endeavors expose much about the creator. I believe that moral behavior is what we do in the small moments where no one knows but ourselves. When the issue is small and does not matter. This has changed how the following scene is written.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
In all things consent is critical. Even when it is a fictional character in a story that may never see the light of day. }
This was unexpected. As we climbed into the carriage we looked at each other. Both Ester and I ask “Lara?” at the same time.
“I don’t know” was her reply “I had expected her family would claim her, and just ignore what had happened. Even if Harold’s family did not.”
I looked down at Sema, I indicated to the girls there is something wrong here she is showing no signs of any skills. My Identify seems to be able to determine everything about her, but at the same time, it is as if there is nothing to see.
Details
Sema Nameless; Discarded;
Novice 1
Water / Air / Shadow
Attributes
* Body 34
* Strength 13
* Dexterity 29
* Toughness 16
* Endurance 21
* Speed 22
* Agility 33
* Mind 54
* Awareness 49
* Intellect 51
* Mental Fortitude 23
* Control 54
* Mental Speed 33
* Memory 54
* Logic 50
* Flexibility 31
* Spirit 29
* Will 18
* Wisdom 2
* Power 5
* Vision 23
* Focus 28
* Belief 9
* Efficiency 11
* Presence 28
* Luck 1
* Depth 3
Skills
None
Title
Stripped
Feats
None
“Look at her. Her attributes are what you could expect of someone that has reached the mid-thirties in level but, there is nothing left other than that. I don’t understand what has happened.”
Lara nodded “It makes sense. It is both an insult to us, and a way of shifting the blame for Sema’s death from whoever was arranging that conflict to the Family Sphinx.”
I looked puzzled while Ester nodded.
“I will have to explain the ins and outs of this later. But given her failure in triggering either myself or forcing you to initiate the duel, She has been dumped. So rather than doing the deed themselves, they are shifting things to us. But dumping her living body onto us. In particular with her stripped of any useful skills, and wearing I suspect an open slave collar.
We have some choices to make.
Once we leave the castle we can kick her out as she is. Since I think her bonds are linked to you. That is a death sentence in minutes. She would be killed and then harvested for body parts in very short order.
We can release her from the bonds, which would give her some small chance at life for a time. But there are two issues that would be facing her, The slave collar would have her claimed almost instantly. The results would likely be short and brutal life as some type of punishment slave. Even if we removed the collar she would have to flee quickly. The problem for her is that without any active skills, and I suspect now a lifetime of training in household and manipulation skills. Her river system will not respond fast enough. So she would be taken. In this case, her life would be better than that of a punishment slave, but it would be far from what she has experienced to date. And it is more likely that she would be assassinated by her family for bringing them into disrepute in short order.
It must be understood that Clan Sphinx does not have human slaves. We need to sort this out before we reach the compound. There are a few acceptable choices for her. But they all have consequences that have a steep cost.
Let’s see what she wants?”
With a quick flick of a dagger (which I did not even detect being drawn, for that matter I had no idea where the dagger had been hidden given what she was wearing) the ball gag was removed, and the straps on her hands and legs were cut away.
Sema gasped, pulling in volumes of air after being restricted for however long she had been lying on the floor. As soon as she recovered from oxygen starvation she started to cry. I was not sure if it was from the pain of being released from the tight bondage, or from emotional pain, as she had just heard of her likely alternative futures. Sema could guess what was about to happen to her. After all, she knew what she would do in similar circumstances.
Lara started to explain things to me “As a clan and sept Sphinx is divided on this issue in some ways. But simply put we don’t have slaves. Some halls have bonded servants that are restricted right at the boundary of the difference between a slave and a servant. The difference is that the servant must be a willing participant, and a servant receives benefits over and above survival.
While a slave not only must follow the commands of their master but derives no benefit other than short-term survival. The master can spend the slave’s life with no more thought or care than spending the meanest coin. Life energy has significant value as it can be used to power the more complex enchantments. There are other alternatives but none are as easy and simple as just slaughtering a living entity, since the slave is compelled to obey its master it will act as a willing sacrifice. This increases the power of the sacrifice.
Given this, we must release Sema from the collar, there is no other choice that I am willing to accept.
My aunt has made it clear that we are to form a new house within the clan. For this, we need both servants and disciples. The rest of Red has already accepted the concept that they are part of something more than just a collection of individuals. Your leadership in the preparation of the melee
part of the tournament was inspiring, I have never seen or heard organizing teams in such a way.”
I interrupted “It is called Agile” I was about to explain but noticed the stink eye that Lara and even Ester were radiating so I trailed off by saying “I will explain when we have time.”
“So as I was saying we have a strong war band that is forming in an unusual way. The level of trust appears to be that that would normally require many months if not years to develop. The problem is that while we have been gifted with some lower-level servants, and interestingly your actions have resulted in most of the army’s servants having expressed an interest in being part of the house.
You are likely wondering what this has to do with you, Sema. I have been thinking about how extremely competent you were at getting under my skin. I think that you were not only well trained but very talented at manipulating people. To that end, I am willing to offer you a position in our household. It is not going to be what you expect. You will start as our room servant. You will clean, and ensure that our space is kept in perfect condition. This will be simple for now but in the field, it is likely to be more of a challenge. The normal bond that the clan expects of its servants will not apply to you. It will be extended to limit the skills that you are able to accept. You, my little liar, will become our perfect foil.
You will be required to focus your talents on being our shield and a detector in the body politic. This will make use of the flows and talents that you have but reduce the danger of having a manipulative bitch as part of the house. The bond extended to allow any of the three of us to flatten any skill that you develop that fails to meet our expectations.
Normally even the stricter houses with the more fundamental branches of the sept allow for some freedoms in developing your skillset. Just so you understand I have no intention to advise you on what skill I will find acceptable. You will need to work that out yourself, but if you expect to avoid punishments then I will give you a clue that Ester does rather like to have a clean environment.
Are you willing?”
Sema crawled on the floor and positioned herself with her arms and legs tucked under her body, her forehead pressed hard into the floor.
“I swear on my hope for a higher place on the ladder of life, to be your most loyal and faithful servant in all things great and small. I offer control of my skills and talents without reservation, I offer this to Lara Sphinx, Ester Sphinx, and Fonial Sphinx with no reservation.”
Lara’s eyebrows popped up.
“That was a powerful oath.”
I paused and looked into myself into that space in my mind where the islands that I used to visualize Lara and Ester, and where previously I had come to sense the rest of the Red team. There was a
new island that had appeared. It was bright and shiny as if it had been created anew.
Other than the island of Lara which was linked to my island by a bridge, all the other islands that I could sense were linked by cables or light chains. Even Ester’s Island was linked to Lara via a bridge and to mine via a heavy cable that was starting to resemble a suspension bridge without decking. None of the linkages looked anything like what was forming to Sema.
I was not sure how I could describe what I was experiencing, Sema’s Island had appeared and was floating beneath the central point of the three islands that represented Lara, Ester, and myself which is different from the visualization that I had from my or rather our delta which I used to represent the power and skills that we as a family could use.
Every part of Sema’s island was visible. Nothing was shrouded in any form of fog or mist, as covered the other islands that I could see. The other members of the Red team were detectable as islands but no details were truly detectable.
Looking down on her island it looked as if it had been swept clean and then polished to a high shine. In the center was a small pool, as I looked at it I was moved into what I had previously determined to be the delta.
There were strong flows but no eddies. My focus was drawn outwards back to the island where a triangular prism was forming. On each face, a portrait of each of us had formed. They seemed more real than anything else on Sema’s island. As I watched it, I came to the realization that it was Sema’s or maybe the system’s representation of the oath that she had just made.
As I had come to expect when things of significance happened there was a stream of notifications that appeared in my Hud.
Class Level - Insightful leader +1
Class Grant
Faint Leadership
Slave Master
Prophecy Grant
Better Blunt
Simple Maker
Title Grant
Better Thrown
Simple Enchanter
Class Level - Sword master +1
Class Grant
Better Edged
Health Body
I was starting to get used to the flood of feats so was able to move and accept “Faint Leadership”, and I then picked up feats that I had been offered at level 8 it was clear that being aware of what was happening around me and the group was going to be critical to our survival. So I selected “Threat Analysis” and “Strengthen Awareness”. As I finished I was notified that Lara had selected “Better Edged”
Feat accepted - Better Edged
This made me aware that Lara was almost certainly being notified about some of the changes that I was experiencing. Yet she had not said anything. Obviously to me, this flagged how important and normally private Feats were.
With the increase in my awareness, and my danger sense. I was more aware than before of the assassins that were now hiding in the shadows. I reached out to my team and warned them that we were returning with assassins in tow.
I gave orders that we were to prepare but to act as if we detected nothing. While I could detect higher-level assassins, I was sure that Elizabeth and Holly would handle threats of their level equally, I was certain that we need to stand on our own feet and deal with those threats that were considered by ours as legitimated by the rules of honor. While I had been loosely aware of the increase in assassins before accepting the feats, both feats had made me much more aware of the quite large numbers that were flooding in towards the barracks.
When we had been discussing the risks and issues that might arise at the ball Lara had made clear that there were strict rules that the levels that could be used by high levels in attacking those in lower levels. These rules were why the ruling septs had attempted to damage opposing factions by the use of such actions as assassination by monsters. And holding members at certain levels so that they could circumvent the rules.
The tier that we should be facing was the second tier of honorable behavior. With Lara being the person of rank within our collection this meant that our attackers were limited to the first two tiers. The lower tier was allowed to attack in numbers, but those of comparable tier are only allowed similar numbers to the primary group that Lara was part of. The other rule that was important was there should be a certain level of deniability. I had to think that this is why we were attacked by Assassins. Somehow one of the larger factions or septs had become aggravated by our actions at the ball or earlier at the battle royal. This was resulting in being flooded with excessive numbers of the first tier.
As low levels were considered to be under level 50, there were limits to the levels that could attack another party. It was always acceptable to attack up, but if a faction broke the rules about who could attack low-level members, then other factions could do the same. In the far past, this had occurred, but the results had been catastrophic. Neither side had survived, or if they did they faced centuries of rebuilding.
This resulted in a large amount of conflict occurring at the lower tiers where replacements were more affordable. Of course, the troops would be slaves, or the lowest of low ranks, that were expected to breed, to produce the required numbers. It was unusual for the likes of the outer court families let alone the inner court families to become part of this constant low-level conflict,
This was at the heart of why it was important not to have killed Harold. While I was certain that he would have tried, and since I did not have the same protection I had been at real risk. For this to have escalated to the flood of assassins was outside Lara’s expectations.
Was it due to the speed of my victory, the injuries that I had inflicted, or possibly the pressure I had placed on his spirit, or even that we had not allowed Sema to die?
It could just as easily be something that was completely outside anything that we had done. I did not have any expectation of ever being able to answer!
Politics is complicated., and i was never very good at it.
So the best that we could do was put in place the planned actions, The bonus on perception was likely to make the next short interval far less bloody than we had feared, even allowing for the significantly increased numbers.
We had placed Red 2 into the kitchen on punishment detail, for some infraction that they had cooked up. Boris was supervising the squad, Yelling, and generally making himself a complete arse of himself. Of course, the squad was fully armed and was aware that their role was to protect the servants.
The weaker squad members were downstairs nominally training, under the supervision of Adam. Everything was as ready as we could rightfully expect.
We slowly walked up to Fanny and Robert, who were waiting for us, in the center of the room.
I started by saying “I am not sure but on average things went about as well as expected, We did not cause too much of a scene, but circumstances were against us.”
And without a change in tone or volume “Kill them.” With that, there was a flurry of action. Skills activated. Blades flashed. Blood sprayed across the floor. We had acted before the assassins had been ready to strike.
Around us were the more competent foes, who had reason to believe that we had not detected them. They came to a shocking conclusion as they died which we had been aware of them. Robert ignored those that were targeting him, requiring hasty action from Ester to save him from multiple daggers in the back. She had to trigger a long cooldown skill that allowed her to split into multiple shadows. The assassin that had targeted her fell to the follow-through that shattered the skull of the first assassin that had targeted me. Lara danced between the two deflecting their blades into each other. Her first strike removed the lead leg of the assassin that had targeted my left side as they crashed to the floor. We wove through sprays of blood and excrement.
Robert stayed focused solely on the attackers of Fanny. The first had a dagger sliced through his lower groin moving upwards to lodge in the heart of the assassin. The second was not as fortunate as he blasted their legs off, followed moments later by their hands. Screaming “The sacred ones are never targeted!!!!!” He started to punctuate his cursing with bolts of fire that burned segments of the arms or legs of his target. He clearly planned to slowly blast the assassin to pieces. Fanny’s eyes widened with the realization of the passion that he was displaying. She step forward, grasped each side of his head, and planted a passionate kiss on his lips. Shocked, the bolts that were already in flight faded, and the last living assassin in the barracks was allowed to expire.
Fanny broke the kiss and told Robert “You are mine, and I am yours for now and forever”.
A ringing chime sounded in my mind. It resonated with the power of prophecy.