The look on his stupid face was priceless, it felt so good finally giving the bastard what he deserved. The open-mouthed gape, the dilated pupil, the stench as the body lost control of its extremities. Anders’ corpse started tipping over backwards, sliding off the titanium stiletto I had made. I started to retrieve my hand.

  Except I could not.

  My body was unable to move, except I could breathe, my mana pool was locked. A very powerful human priest was locking me down. I tried to break free, but I was unable. With a flash, almost as if she had teleported, Chione appeared behind Anders, catching his falling corpse. Her hands started shining with healing magic.

  ‘Damnit, she can heal the damage, and wake him up again,’ was my first thought. Followed by, ‘Fuck that, I won’t allow you, bitch.’

  However, no matter my bravado, no matter how much mana I threw at the foreign mana locking me down, I could not break the stranglehold she had on me. Anders let out a gasp, as his consciousness returned to his body.

  Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see I was not the only one frozen, everyone around me was frozen as well. At least they had not drawn any weapons or reacted in any way. I found I could move my mouth, meaning I could speak. “I knew there was something sneaky about you. Who the fuck are you?”

  Chione did not get an opportunity to answer, because Anders started screaming, “You killed me, you motherfucking asshole, you fucking killed me. I’ll rip you apart and feed you to the pigs!”

  “Shut up, Anders,” it came simultaneously from both me and Chione. I added a “the grownups are talking.”.

  Chione seemed to lock him down as well. She then stood up and moved over to me. She made the titanium weapon turn into a bracelet for me to wear. “I’m going to allow you to move and use your magic. Only to allow you to look at how much more powerful than you I am. If you try anything else, I’ll kill all your men while you stand there and watch.”

  “Fine,” I reluctantly agreed. When I was released from her hold, my first instinct was to punch her out, but I reigned in my instincts. Instead, I touched her arm and sent a pulse of mana.

  My eyes widened in fright, all but the top two vertebrae had been transformed. If it followed the same convention as for me, her mana pool would be unfathomably deep. “Who are you?”

  She was clearly a human priest of some kind, but who she followed was the question. She stepped back out of my reach. “I’m Chione, High Hierophant of Ghidana, the Goddess of Truth and Justice.”

  “I see,” I mumbled. I could sense the truthfulness of her words through the use of my newly acquired giant magic.

  “You don’t, otherwise you would not resist joining the rebellion. It’s a righteous one,” she said. “The Twelve have aligned themselves with the Destroyer in a mad quest for freedom for the human race. Led by a vain, arrogant, and traitórous god, who deserves nothing less than being eradicated.”

  “It sounds good, but your frontman has many of those same qualities. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I can throw him,” I pointed out. “With the right magic, I think I can throw him pretty far. Will you let me try?”

  “Stupid arrogant men and your pride,” she grumbled.

  “So, as you can see and hear, he and I are pretty irreconcilable,” I replied with a shrug. “So what are we going to do moving forward. I know that I can’t stop you if you want to kill us. However, I can promise you that I’ll do my utmost to resist.”

  “That depends on how stubborn you are,” she said with narrowed eyes. “Besides Anders making contact with two of the Immortals, the whole trip has been a bust. The other summoned one was killed, he would have been quite the boon for our cause.”

  “And I’m being a stupid arrogant prideful prick,” I helpfully supplied.

  “Yes,” she conceded. “Which is a shame, your powers are magnificent. To be able to make such a leap in power on your first breakthrough is quite remarkable. Most people would have died. Your willpower is rather admirable, however, I guess that’s why you’re so stubborn. However, we wanted to ally with you for your easy access to the dwarves. It would be easier to get hold of iron and so on on the sly. Yet, both you and Anders are incapable of tolerating each other it seems.”

  “Thank you,” I said sardonically. “I pride myself in my stubbornness. Especially when it comes to working together with assholes like Anders.

  “Being stubborn is only good in some situations, not in this one.”

  “So what do you want from me?”

  “Concessions,” she said.

  “And we haven’t even slept together, yet you’re already making demands,” I quipped. “You’re high-maintenance, aren’t you?”

  “I don’t know what you’re rambling about.”

  “Sorry, my attempt at a joke,” I replied with a joke. “Please, do go on. How can this humble one help you?”

  “You’re not very good at showing subservience, are you?”

  “What’s the point? Either you’re going to let us live, or you’re going to try and kill us all. Do go on, what are your demands?”

  She gave me a hard stare before replying, “Fine. You'll hand Axina over to me. You’re already going to keep Anders’ rebellion a secret. I’m going to need you to keep my secret as well. Furthermore, I’m going to need guarantees you’re not going to work against us, nor try to kill Anders again.”

  “Tell you what, take the bitch, saves me the trouble of killing her. I promise that the Wolf Ridge Hold will keep quiet about anything we’ve learned here. I’ll even go as far as to promise that we’ll keep completely out of the fighting,” I said.

  She nodded satisfied for half a second before her eyes narrowed. “What about the not killing Anders part?”

  “Can I kill him just a few times?” I asked with a half-smile, giving her the big puppy eyes.

  “No.”

  “What about after the rebellion?”

  “No.”

  “Ugh, you drive a hard bargain,” I grumbled. “Fine, I won’t kill the little twat if you promise never to raise your hand against me again.”

  “Kill, maim, injure, or harm him in any way,” she countered.

  I sighed. She had seen through my wordplay. “Fine, I acquiesce. You got yourself a deal. It’s customary where I come from to seal a deal with a good round of sex. So how about we go into my tent?”

  Her hands lit up with flames. “You’re treading a very fine line, right now.”

  “Okay, sorry, I just don’t like being strong armed, I’m usually the one doing it,” I said, backing off a few steps, holding my hands up in surrender. She released Anders and Axina from their paralysation, and they walked away. Anders kept sending angry stares at me. When they were back in the elven part of the camp, the rest of us were released.

  “Fuck me. That’s one scary bitch,” I mumbled.

  “Yet you wanted to fuck her,” Shenerah grumbled.

  “Nah, not really, I just felt like making her uncomfortable, winning a few points you know,” I replied. She scoffed at that and walked away.

  Ethan was the next to come up to me. “Milord, this is bad. This isn’t just a small rebellious lord anymore, this will be a religious war. The Thirteen Kingdoms might lose if it enters a civil war while beset by the elves.”

  “I know, but there’s nothing we can do without getting a bunch of giants and fairies after us as well,” I replied. “I know you’re still loyal to your Gods, but I’ve heard what went down with Ghidanna, how she was blamed for the war between the Elves, stripped of her Justice domain and thrown out of the little club up there. A little shakeup might be what’s needed. No civilization lasts forever.”

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  “But if the Thirteen Kingdoms fall, then so will we. What about my kids?” he complained.

  “We’ll just have to work hard on securing our foothold, including alliances. I’ve already a permanent peace in place with the wood elves,” I said with a faraway look. My thoughts were churning. Before I had not thought the rebellion would have any chance. However, with a powerhouse like Chione involved, as well as her God. Things might become a bit too interesting. Nevertheless, I would never follow Anders. Even if it looked like he was only marginally in charge at best. More realistically, he was just a puppet, a scapegoat.

  “Yes, but there are three other races of elves you don’t have an accord with, Milord,” he pointed out.

  “True, we just have to work on that, don’t we?” I asked rhetorically. “Anyway, how old are your kids?”

  “They’re fourteen and nine, Milord,” he answered.

  “Is there any way to get off the isle?”

  “Not that I can think of, Milord.”

  “Then think long and hard, because whenever shit goes down, I bet that the Isle of the Gods is one of their main targets,” I said. “It’s what I would do. If you know the enemy’s fallback position, take that out first.”

  “I’ll try to come up with something.”

  I started walking back into my tent when I remembered something I needed to ask him, “Can you make teleports?”

  “Milord, the mana requirements for constructing the gates are very high.”

  “Mana is not an obstacle,” I said and filled him in on the experiment I had run on collecting aspectless mana from people without magic.

  His eyes were huge. “That’s incredible, Milord. Unbelievable. Yet I don’t dare doubt you.”

  “Can you do it then?”

  “Yes, it should be doable, Milord,” he said with reverence.

  “Can you teach me how to make them?”

  “I’m sorry, Milord. It’s one of those secrets I can’t divulge,” he said, sounding genuinely sorry. My new giant lie detector told me he was telling the truth.

  “It was too much to hope for,” I mumbled, before heading back into my tent. I needed some quiet to process what had happened and to think about what to do moving forward.

----------------------------------------

  The visit with Ilmadia’s family was free of any drama. She was from a poor family that mostly subsisted from a bit of hunting and foraging. A little growing of herbs. They were mostly outcast of the elven society already, so they had no problems breaking that was the taboo of welcoming home the daughter they thought lost, if only for a couple of days.

  As we came closer to the city of Thesathas, Yathanae grew more and more fidgety. Most of the time she looked like a scared rabbit about to bolt. I managed to get her to talk about her family, something that we had never really talked about. Except for her and Emma.

  “My family is nobility. I guess you could say,” was the first thing she told me after she started talking. “Not real nobility, because then I would be kin to Queen Ayda, either through marriage or birth. However, my family is the stewards of Thesathas on behalf of the Gladelord who controls the territory.”

  “That’s what they do, not necessarily who they are,” I prompted her.

  “Fine,” she grumbled. She took a deep breath before continuing, “My father, Lysanthir, is the enforcer, he makes sure everyone pays their taxes and is in control of the city guard. Last I knew, my older brother, Tarathiel is part of the city guard. He’s the weapons master.

  “My mother, Velatha, is the de facto ruler of the city. I don't think a single decision about the city has been made in the last five hundred years that have not been made by her. The Gladelord is more interested in his meditation. Which means he’s spending his time at his pleasure palace with men and women from all the different races.”

  After she had been silent for a minute, I saw that she was not going to tell me anything else. Again she had not told me anything about who they were, just what they did. I would have to take another approach it would seem.

  “Was Tarathiel the one who taught you how to fight and hunt?” I asked.

  “No,” she just answered simply. After a few moments, she seemed to realize the answer was insufficient and provided a longer one. “No, it was my older sister. She was the oldest of the three of us. She was the one who taught both of us how to fight and hunt.”

  The grief was evident in her voice. As empathically as possible, I asked, “What was her name?”

  “Tinesi.”

  We lapsed into silence for a long while after that. I really wanted to ask what had happened to her, but the vibe I got from Yathanae was that she was not ready to talk about it. Eventually, almost after half an hour, she answered the question without being prompted, “She was on a hunting expedition to the north, the only region she had not hunted in before. She had a goal to hunt down at least one of every known animal in the world.”

  Yathanae dropped into silence for another minute, before she continued with tears streaming down her cheeks, “She was lodging for the night in a small frontier village. There was an orc raid. She single handedly fought the group of fifty orcs to a standstill, eventually routing them. However, the wounds she had received were grievous, with no healers in the village, she succumbed before one could get there.”

  “I’m so sorry, love,” I said, reaching out to squeeze her hand. That made her break down, and she started sobbing. With a bit of help from her, I managed to get her pulled over on my horse, and I hugged her in front of me. It was the first time I had seen her that vulnerable, and it broke my heart.

  We rode like that for fifteen minutes before she said anything again, “I joined the army because they were planning on a punitive expedition against the orcs, but then you humans attacked. I never got to avenge my sister, instead, I ended up a prisoner of war.”

  I kissed the top of the head. “I’m sorry you didn’t get your revenge, but I’m not sad about the fact you became a prisoner of war. No, don’t misunderstand me, I think it sucks for you. But if it had not happened, I would never have met you and Emma. You’re just as important to me as Lily. Then again, I’m just a selfish bastard.”

  “Look for the good in the bad?” she asked in a weak voice.

  “Some people say that.”

  “You don’t?”

  “No, I say when something bad happens, something good will usually happen too. That doesn’t mean you forget or forgive the bad, you get even. Even if it takes a long time,” I said. “Vengeance is the best dish that exists. Warm or cold.”

  “People normally try to dissuade me from vengeance, my family did.”

  “That’s only because they don’t have the guts or power to take that revenge,” I said dismissively. “Leaving grievances unpunished just fester and festers, eventually it becomes unbearable and you get broken. Taking revenge doesn’t relieve the pain and sorrow, but it allows you to look in the mirror and say, ‘I did something about it!’. And that’s the most important thing.”

  She thought about that for a few moments. “Most people say that taking revenge is a bad thing.”

  “Those are the people who believe justice is blind and works for them. Justice is not something that is given, justice is something that you’ve to take,” I responded. We lapsed into silence as we continued the ride with Yathanae snuggled into my chest. It was not until the walls Thesathas came into view that she moved back to her own horse.

  Thesathas was a big city, easily the size of King Alfred’s capital. However, I was a bit disappointed. Fantasy movies, and the few books I had read, all depicted elven cities as something amazing, unique, and aesthetically pleasing.

  For the most part, I could not see any difference between a human and elven city. The architecture was mostly similar, though the decor and colours varied a bit. The biggest difference as far as I could tell was that the elven city had more parks and green areas.

  We rode into the city, surrounded by the elven troops, with Queen Ayda in front. As soon as the people saw their queen, the cheering started. An impromptu welcoming parade was thrown. Only when we had passed people, did they seem to notice the humans mingled together with the elven troops.

  At the centre of the city, there was a large palace. Surprisingly that was not our destination. Instead, we headed for a large mansion, which was still several times smaller than the palace. Yathanae must have seen the confused look on my face. “The palace is the Gladelord’s, the mansion is my family’s, as long as we hold the position of stewards.”

  “Ah, I guess that makes sense,” I replied. When we rode up to the manor, the household guards, servants, and the trio of what I assumed was Yathanae’s family, were lined up outside of the manor, patiently awaiting our arrival.

  There were also a few other elves standing with the family unit. Many of them carried facial features that resembled Yathanae’s. The woman I had pegged as Yathanae’s mother was standing in front of the group, with her husband just a single step behind her and to the left. The young man I thought was Yathanae’s brother was standing on her right, though a handful of steps behind his mother.

  “Your Majesty, welcome to Thesathas,” Yathanae’s mother intoned, as she knelt and bowed in front of Ayda. The rest of her family and servants following her example just a half breath later. “This one apologizes on behalf of the Gladelord. If the lord had known of Your Majesty’s arrival, he would be here to greet you, Your Majesty. This one has sent words of the monumental event that is your arrival.”

  “I doubt he’ll surface long enough to greet me,” Ayda replied. “That great-great-grandson-in-law of mine has always been a miserable cur. What Gweyir sees in him, I’ll never understand. It’s not like they spend any time together, with her spending all her time at court. If not for your competent rule, Thesathas would have fallen into dire straits long ago.”

  “Your Majesty’s words are most kind,” Velatha said, bowing her head further. “May this one inquire as to what the purpose of the unexpected but delightful visit is? So that this one might better facilitate a joyous stay?”

  “I’m only here for the benefit of your daughter,” Ayda said and moved to the side. So did the soldiers between us and Yathanae’s family.

  “My daugh—” Velatha started to say, looking up. As soon as she caught sight of Yathanae, her eyes widened in surprise, then flashed to joy, then grief, and lastly confusion. Which still warred with unshed tears of joy.

  “After her enslavement, Yathanae has been lucky enough to have found an owner who’s not as close minded as humans normally tend to be,” Ayda explained. In a low voice, she added, “Even if he’s a bastard. He’s negotiated a deal that allowed him to bring her home for a few days.”

  Without a trace of emotion in her voice, despite her eyes telling otherwise, Velatha said, “My daughters are both dead. Tinesi fell to the orcs in the north, and Yathanae’s spirit was killed the day she was taken prisoner by the despicable humans.”

  Each word fell like a strike upon Yathanae, I could see that her calm facade was starting to crack. I knew that her mother’s words had hurt. Ayda waved her hand dismissively. “A tradition that has been upheld too long. With newfound allies and hope for a better future, a future of freedom for those enslaved by the humans, we’re going to make an edict countermanding that tradition. Enslaved elves are no longer considered dead.”

  As soon as she heard that, Velatha flashed to her feet and rushed to her daughter. Her husband was only a single step behind her. Yathanae sprang from the horse, to be enveloped in hugs from her parents.

  I smiled seeing that reunion. It was what Yathanae deserved. If I could get away with it, I would let her remain here. Her brother’s reaction was different though he strode forward, not with happiness, but with anger all over his face. “I’m going to kill you and free my sister!”