-Mother, I think you should be treating this entire area as hostile ground. These are not friendly people.-

She could almost feel his silver eyes shining through closed lids, and nodded slowly. The looks she was getting from the men working the fields and the women about their homes were cool and measuring, without much measure of friendliness and hospitality, the latter being the big rule that kept neighbors civil with one another.

She figured it was the Imperial design of her armor, weapons, and tack, signifying that she was from a long way away, and so no neighbor of theirs. In addition, the Empire had never been very gentle about conquest or pacification of any society or culture dominated by men, which bred towering levels of resentment that the Empire was perfectly happy to quash repeatedly as needed.

After all, males could only reach Four. It gave women an incredible edge in all factors in life, making them more physically able, more competent, well-trained, skilled, and so dominant, especially in the spellcasting professions. Men could take advantage of their naturally greater strength to tilt the odds early on in their favor, but as they never got above Four, simply putting a well-trained female Five or Six in charge of them basically ensured she could take them on, and any woman of higher Level than that could trounce almost any man, no matter how well-trained.

The Empire usually dealt with overly proud men by killing them and putting their daughters and sisters in charge. It generally only took a generation or two for the gender discrimination to flip in the other direction. Where men had once dominated humanity, ruling by strength and aggressively seeking Levels, now women did, taking up all the positions of power men had once held, because the men had no way of stopping them.

Men were now the second-class gender anywhere the Empire’s reach extended, and all the women knew that if they could Level, they’d be able to dominate the men around them, too. It was harder than it seemed, of course, and men being stronger out of the gate could suppress a lot of women, as Tiya well knew from her childhood.

Those were the eyes she was seeing now, the same as the men in her family. Denied the ability to advance themselves, forever stuck at a false ceiling that had not been there for their ancestors, no longer rulers, forever second-tier to their overlords, and many of their female kin.

Not unexpected for people at the fringes of the Empire, who considered themselves a part of it only insofar as Imperials were around to force them to acknowledge it.

The smart families could gaff the Empire and adjust at the same time. Strength and endurance still had their place in common life, and despite their ravings, most civilians still never got past Three. Most men who reached Four had active military experience, or careers with great conflict.

The smart families simply had the women concentrate on jobs and duties where Levels were important, and the men concentrated on jobs that required more strength and brawn. Fighting against the dictates of the gods was stupid, so work around it as much as possible. If that meant women soon dominated many of the less physical crafting and skill professions, so be it, as long as they contributed to the family. If it meant the man couldn’t be the face of the family, nothing said he couldn’t influence behind the scenes, just as the women had to be satisfied with at one time.

Men raised on tales of the heroic gods often did not take the demotion well, and then their families tended to suffer. Without higher-Level women in the family, they declined with precipitous speed from any positions of power they held, and soon lost everything to the aggressive women with their eyes on the prizes to be had.

A lone woman with a child, even if an Imperial, was still a lone traveler, and lone travelers were the preferred prey of hill bandits and brigands. Tiya knew that well, as her family had never been adverse to a little profitable raiding and looting if they could get away with it, and outsiders were naturally their preferred targets.

But they didn’t know what they were dealing with. Tiya had only confidence in her gaze as she met theirs, daring them to try something.

Her wax-boiled leathers didn’t look overly impressive, but they were just for show. The unseen Force Armor Deuce had put around her was as good as the plate armor worn by elite cavalry, and was only the most basic of the defenses he could give her.

She actually found it amusing. The sorceresses and priestesses most admired by the legionnaires were the ones who buffed up the soldiers with spells, but here she was getting them from a male. There were few male spellcasters of any kind around anymore, mostly because few teachers wanted to spend much time on a student who would never exceed Four, and the goddesses rarely accepted them as novitiates, with the notable exception of St. Celese. Nobody minded having more healers around, even if they weren’t that powerful.

Professions requiring mental ability or agility were basically the preferred province of women, and even if minor spellcasting was still useful, men would never receive much recognition or achievements in such fields.

Then again, Deuce had repeatedly proven he was a far more powerful spellcaster than she had ever met or seen personally, and his gender didn’t seem to be limiting him. She didn’t know why, and she didn’t care, assuming the gods had arranged things that way.

“Don’t spend the night?” Tiya asked under her breath. She would have liked a roof over her head for one night, instead of a rough tent, but if they had to move on, so be it.

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-Whether we stay or not, I imagine we’ll have visitors in the night.-

Tiya’s eyes gleamed as she headed for the only building with a signpost, displaying the Imperial symbol of a tavern. “Which means don’t drink the booze.”

-They are sending runners here and there already. Industrious people.-

Getting brigands into position on the route ahead. Tiya wondered if she should just pull out her axe and shield and start to killing, but figured it would be better not to have to fight the whole village.

She had seen Casters a lot less powerful than Deuce kill villages worth of people quickly.

“I’ll stop in, get directions, and see what they have to see to eat, probably for too much money,” she said under her breath.

---

The old man behind the bar was grizzled, grey, and gnarled, glaring at her with steely eyes that didn’t get any further than a brusque attitude once he marked her accent as not Imperial.

“A Northerner,” he said, the word half-curse, half-curious. “What brought you down here?”

“Mustered out. Curious about the south. Nothing to go back to,” Tiya replied, watching him bundle up some rough bread, cheese, and dried ham. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing, and she wouldn’t have to see if she could snipe a squirrel or rabbit, not that Deuce had trouble locating them for her.

“Zat so?” Welcome news, if they planned to kill her. “Got a babe with you, too...”

“My son!” she declared proudly, frankly startling him. “Nothing for him to look forward to in the Empire, either.”

The old man’s eyes flashed with barely-concealed hate. “Truth enough, woman. Not going to spend a night? It’s late enough to be going, and your horse could use the rest.”

Said horse was being treated by Deuce at the end of the night, and consequently it was as spry as a yearling colt. “We’ll be fine, so I’ll not be imposing, not that I’ve much coin on me.” She slid across the silver to pay for the rations, and he scooped it up without hesitation. Say what you like about the Empire, everyone trusted their coin. “How far to the next town?” she asked calmly.

“Twelve miles, if you stick to the river road,” he said quickly. “Water’s good, should have no problems with it. You want some wine to go with you?”

“Nursing a newborn?” she scoffed at him, and he had enough awareness not to press the point. “Anything dangerous from the hills?”

He hesitated, as if afraid to say something, and she wondered if he’d actually give her a warning. “There’s been hill ogres come down further away from town, maneaters, picking on the peddlers and hunters if they can catch ‘em. They’re big and loud and smell like nothing you’ve met afore, so you can usually tell they are about, but be careful if you want to light a fire.”

“Cold camp, then. Got it,” she nodded. “Take care of yourself, old-timer.”

“Miss,” he managed to get out without spitting.

---

-He’s sending up smoke to let them know you’re coming.-

Tiya looked back, seeing some thick black smoke coming up out of the tavern. It would be visible for some distance.

“Clever. Should I go back there and cleave his skull?” she wondered aloud.

-Our problem is ahead of us. There’ll probably be at least six of them, with bows.-

She smirked. “And you’ve that spell that wraps me in invisible armor, and another that bounces arrows like they are rain.”

-It’s like I want to make sure my mother stays safe, or something.-

Tiya grinned. “I’ve fought with magical help before. Six brigands is nothing. If they are experienced hunters it could be bad without more help.”

-You are assuming that we are going to play at all fair, Mother.-

There was getting some extra buffs from a Witch, and there was the help her son gave her. Tiya smiled even more widely.

------

The ambush, such as it was, was indeed set up properly. There were spotting posts up above the trail by the river, screened by brush and stone, with line of sight to one another, and a second trial below the hill line, where the spotters could run to join the ambushers without being seen.

Muddied blankets layered with old scrub, dust, and even pebbles camouflaged their hiding positions at the turn, with space for a half-dozen archers to rain down fire from above, out of reach of any hapless travelers sticking to the rough road below them.

Illusions and invisibility, along with floating Disks that could ignore the rough terrain, turned that all on its head.

Deuce was propped up invisibly on a Disk, while the gelding ambled along the road below, happy to play his part with an illusionary rider on his back. Naturally the intentions of the brigands tripped Deuce’s Detect Evil at V, Behold the Heart of Darkness, and they had plenty of warning as to exactly where the men were.

Tiya wasn’t truly invisible, as it would keep getting broken by her attacking the men, but blurred camouflage worked perfectly well if she stayed still, and when the spotters scrambled out of cover after signaling with waves to their companions, they ran right into the edge of her axe and died on the ground after a second cut ended their kicking misery by chopping off their heads and starting the process of vivisizing their bodies so the wolves and ravens wouldn’t get them.

Tiya scrambled along the trail with a measured pace, glancing at where she knew Deuce was slowly and invisibly following, paralleling the gelding below to keep the illusion intact, the floating Disk he was on ignoring the rocks and dips as it drifted along.

He could even drop a temporary illusion atop her, making her look like the dead man she had just killed at a glance, if they were looking for the spotters to join them.

The third one was a little suspicious when he saw number two crouched and trotting for them, wondering where number one was and why he hadn’t come on ahead.

Then Tiya’s crossbow bolt took him in the throat, and he fell convulsing to the ground

-The rest of them are around the big rock ahead, Mother,- Deuce’s voice came to her as she split the scout’s skull with a crack of her very keen axe, now glimmering with layers of magic that helped it bite very deep, indeed. -There are four down by the road with spears, and two more archers up above.-

Tiya bared her teeth. Two in front, two in back, and archers from the side peppering their victims who didn’t choose to surrender. A classic ambush set-up. “Give me some Silence,” she called out softly, and a moment later, the world went very quiet, indeed.

With no chance of being heard, she sprinted for the last position, her crossbow slung back and only her axe in hand, the spear down on the gelding.

It was two hundred yards and the trail was very rough, but that was why she’d been practicing the lightfoot all the months she had been pregnant. Dips and knurls in the stone that were just waiting to twist an ankle and send her tumbling were nothing much when she was skating over the ground, pushing off with the force of her soul more than the force of her soles.