3rd Person Shift
Everyone in the basement recoils upon hearing a scream come from the last room. A mournful wail that bordered on sounding inhuman. The pitch was far too high to have come from the man who made the sound, the end tapering off as his voice gave out from the strain. Godiva immediately stopped scolding the Viscount and everyone stared at the last door. After the scream, there were no sounds until a weak woman's voice could be heard. She speaks in one of the many tounges of the Frontiersmen. Sertean, the royal guard approaches slowly listening to the voice speaking, he shakes his head in confusion revealing to the group the words coming from the woman are nonsense. After the babbling, the quiet, almost whispered voice of Isa says something, with these words said Sertean's eyes go wide and fill with rage as his armored hand comes around in a mighty swing, shattering the cartilage of the Viscount's nose. Sertean shouts,
"YOU FUCKING DOG WHORE BASTARD! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!!
The other royal guards have to restrain the armored man as he tries to throttle the Viscount to death, Serteans face turning red he spits venomous swears at the man in his native tongue. The Frontiersman with a lantern tries to enter the room only for Isa's helmet to come flying out and hitting him in his helmeted head. A horse voice, thick with tears shouts,
"Stay the fuck away! Go away! Leave us!"
The Frontiersman does as he is told and closes the door while holding his head. He picks up the discarded helmet and when Godiva tries to enter instead he blocks her. The Frontiersman says lowly,
"Don't... it's not something you want to see."
Godiva stops trying to move forward, her mind racing with concern and fear about the situation, about her friend inside the room. The Frontiersman sets the lantern on a hook above the door, allowing the dim light to enter the room through the barred window. Sertean is eventually calmed down by the other royal guards but he refuses to speak, carefully listening to the quiet conversation inside the dark room. The Viscount whimpers quietly on the floor where he is left.
The conversation continues for a moment, quiet words imperceptible to everyone else spoken between two parties. Then comes the quiet sound of shackles being unlocked with a set of keys. Godiva perks up upon hearing this, hoping answers will come. Then there is silence... no sound aside from the Viscount's whimpers. Then the sound of someone breaking, a choking noise made in the back of the throat, the sound of someone trying to not scream, or no longer able to do so. Then some words, repeated over and over, raising in volume. Godiva looks to Sertean who removed his helmet completely, his eyes red, no longer with rage, but tears... he says under his breath,
"Oh no... no...no... Isa...Fuck..."
The words spoken, now shouted reach a fever pitch, then disappear, replaced by deep sobs, a whole body racked with grief, an immeasurable grief, grief beyond human words and understanding... even to those experiencing it. There is the quiet sound of movement, leather armor scraping against the stone floor, and a footstep. Isa had stood up inside the room. Everyone waits in agonizing quiet as the door opens slowly.
Standing in the portal is Isa, his hair disheveled, face pale, eyes red and distant, and blood trickling from a bitten lip. He takes one slow and heavy step into the light revealing he is carrying something. A body covered in an old sheet. He carries it with utmost tenderness, as if it could shatter if the wind hit it. He approaches one of the glassware-covered tables and pauses in front of it. Sertean, without words, shoves all the glass off the table, clearing it. There are no words or looks exchanged, but Isa places the body onto the table like a mother laying a baby into a crib. He stands over the body for a while, quietly sobbing, hands gripping the edges of the table.
Godiva takes a step to comfort the man but two Frontiersmen block her movement, they shake their heads and gently escort her away. Godiva then hisses to the Viscount,
"Who was in there? What did you do?"
He stammers out quietly, fearful of his answer,
"I-I simply exercised my right... my goddess-given right against the savages. I-I learned enough of their languages to know a few words... I know who she is... was to him...
You need to take me to court right? You'll protect me right?"
Godiva stares at the man in disgust but quickly recoils as a laugh fills the basement. Not a happy one... a bitter and hysteric laugh, then a boot slams down.
All eyes are no on Isa who has turned from his grieving, his eyes streaming tears endlessly as he laughs, his eyes... indescribable by those watching, something beyond pain... beyond rage... beyond sadness. He then speaks through his hysterics,
"Your... goddess-given right? To what? Civilize us barbarians?"
He continues approaching the Viscount his steps slow and heavy, continuing,
"What kind of so-called goddess would allow that? She is so much more civil now!
So elegant!
So beautiful!
So kind!
So sane!
So... So..."
He loses momentum in his statement for a round of laughter that turns to heavy hacking coughs resulting in Isa vomiting onto the ground below. He wipes his mouth, mere steps from the Viscount, and says, voice now flat and cold,
"Rape, cutting of tendons, blinding, branding, burning, genital mutilation, abuse of all kinds, and neglect of human decency... those are the tools of civility... right?
All things we Barbarians and Outcasts shun and consider the highest of taboo even to our enemies..."
The Viscount mutters in fear,
"You may hate me for this... but it's a labor of our goddess's love!
You also have to take me to my trial... you cant kill me!"
The frontiersmen block Blake, Godiva, and the other royal guards from getting near either of the men as Isa approaches the sniveling old man. Isa crouches down in front of him and locks eyes for a while, all light, all fire gone from them, his voice flat and without any spark of life he says to the Viscount,
"Hate?
No...
I do not hate you...
I love you... I love you more than anyone else in the world right now. Right now, no one else in the entire world means more to me than you.
I won't kill you...
I'm simply going to show the labors of my love...
Just like you did to my...
Mother..."
The royal guards and Godiva all recoil in horror at this revelation, Blake just stands there frozen in shock. Godiva starts to shout but Sertean grabs her and firmly, but gently covers her mouth and whispers in her ear,
"Do not... this has nothing to do with you."
His voice is cold. The feeling of steel against the back of her neck told her, the Frontiersmen in the room would protect Isa, their loyalty confirmed. Godiva listens, fear and sadness inside her. The Viscount looks to Godiva who stares back, her eyes filled with tears and her mouth covered by Sertean, in that moment, the Viscount knew death would be the preferred outcome.
Isa grabs the man by his collar and drags him into the cell at the end of the hall. With that Sertean and the Frontiersmen escort everyone out of the basement as screams begin to fill the halls. Godiva covers her ears as they leave the manor, they meet with the rest of the forces. No one speaks as high-pitched screams of unimaginable agony pierce through the basement until the doors of the manor are closed and only the sound of the airship's heartbeats can be heard. Sertean barks orders to the Frontiersmen suddenly and they leap into action, collecting wood and building a decorative pyre. When it is complete they line up to form a path from the door to the pyre. Seteran standing on the left of the wood. The royal guards stay away, in shock as the news reaches all of them. Godiva approaches Sertean and quietly asks him,
"Sertean... please... tell me, what happened to Isa?"
He shakes his head as he wipes his eyes. He then tells her,
"I guess the Viscount bought Isa's mother at some point... from his reaction, I truly believe all those things Isa listed must've happened to her for... I don't know how long."
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Godiva then asks,
"What did she say to him?"
Sertean frowns and almost looks like he too will start sobbing. He swallows and answers,
"She... she thought he was his father... finally coming to rescue her...she asked where Isa was... the words she used insinuated that Isa is still a baby... she requested for her baby boy Isa... she didn't recognize him... she no longer had a grasp on reality..."
Godiva stares at the manor for a moment, shocked at what someone she had trusted so much could do to a person. The Viscount had been like an uncle to her... now he is... something... She then asks carefully,
"What was it he was screaming?"
Sertean makes a choking noise and responds,
"He was apologizing to her... he... he most likely took her life out of mercy..."
Now it's Godiva's turn to make a choking sound as she falls to her knees and her stomach threatens to empty into the grass. She begins to cry, incapable of truly empathizing with her friend as she couldn't imagine coming across her mother like this... and in her mind... Isa's current actions... seem just, if only for a moment.
The manor doors are suddenly thrown open violently and something is tossed into the grass. No Frontiersmen approach it, but a royal guard does. He kneels over the object before recoiling violently stating,
"It's the Viscount... he... he is alive."
The other Royal guards surround the Viscount and carefully carry him away. Godiva gets a look at what remains of the man. He no longer has any limbs, just a head and torso, his face had been flayed off, and his eyes plucked from his face. Despite being wrapped in clothing, his genitals are clearly missing. All wounds had been cauterized, but the healer among the royal guards began stabilizing his condition. He can no longer scream, just make wet wheezing sounds, he is then carried onboard the ship Godiva arrived in.
Blake approaches the princess and says in a low voice,
"I think it may be time for us to... well leave. We got what we came for."
Godiva shakes her head and responds,
"No... I will wait for Isa. I'll return with the Frontiersmen."
Blake starts to make a protest but falls silent before stating,
"Be careful...I don't know if he can be trusted right now... "
Sertean shoots Blake a harsh look causing the hero to cower and leave. Godiva understands Blake's concerns though, Isa had hurt the Viscount, he had tortured him badly, and he isn't mentally well at the moment.
As the smaller of the airships lifts off and begins steaming away Isa appears in the doorway. In his arms is a decorative rug made of Salamander Fur (asbestos fiber) that had sat at the foot of the Viscount's hearth. All can see that there is a frail figure gently wrapped in the fireproof fibers. What had once been an artistic masterpiece now has become a funeral shroud. Isa walks between his men, his eyes streaming tears quietly as he carries his mother to her pyre. All the Frontiersmen he passes remove their helmets in respect for the dead and for their mourning leader. He places the wrapped body gently onto the stacked wood and stares at her for a moment before moving to the side of the pyre. He gently unfolds an edge of the cloth and kisses the exposed face of the woman.
Her face is gaunt from starvation, and her hair which once was beautiful and gold, is now stringy and pale. Marks of long-term abuse mark her face, but now her eyes are closed in eternal rest, and despite the damage she looks peaceful in rest. Isa bends over and kisses the forehead of his mother for the last time, he says something in her ear that no one can hear, nor will ever know. He stands up straight and looks to Sertean and asks his friend quietly,
"You knew her too... is there anything you can say?"
The armored man nods and approaches the body before speaking lowly to the woman he has known since childhood. With final words spoken Isa replaces the cloth, covering her face. A Frontiersman comes from the final airship carrying a plain-looking urn, the ship had kept a small supply for the occasion of someone dying on this mission. Both men step away and Isa turns to Godiva and in a defeated voice asks,
"My princess... will you please light the pyre... I have no flames to spare."
Godiva is initially taken aback by the question but nods, creating a small flame,
Minor spark
She chants in a quiet tone and a small jet of flame spits from her outstretched hand and into the pyre. The kindling underneath catches quickly and soon the pyre is burning with intense heat, the shroud doesn't burn, but the body underneath does, the shoud separating the remains from the wood ash. Everyone just watches the pyre as the Frontiersmen leave their lines to stand around the flames in a circle. All of them remember those lost due to the fall of their people. Some remember their own torments or what they had witnessed. Some think about how grateful they are that their family members avoided this fate, or had died in the initial raids, spared from worse fates.
The flames reach their peak, towering into the sky. Godiva watches Isa intently who stares into the flames, his tears drying to his face, and his eyes distant in thought...
Perspective Switch to Isa
Why did I do that? What reason did I have to make that man hurt in the way I did? I don't feel better because I did...I don't think I got proper vengeance for what he had done...it didn't heal any wounds...
Did I do it for myself? Did I do it for my mother? My father? My people? No... I did it because I wanted to hurt myself. To kill what little decency I had left as a human. Simply killing the man would have succeeded in revenge... maybe I could have done it slower than usual...but I took every little bit of evil in my mind out on him, and it has not been purged from my heart and mind. I feel hollow... I still killed my own mother...
What else could I have done? Her mind... it was gone, what she went through made my own horror seem... trivial. She didn't even have to describe it to me... everything was written across her frail frame, in some cases literally. She didn't recognize her own son had grown... my voice and body haven't changed all that much since we last saw one another, she had been blinded so I can understand some initial confusion, but all I spoke she couldn't grasp it. She couldn't understand or even comprehend the idea she was anywhere else but at home many years ago. I don't know if I could've gotten her out of there... she would have fought me tooth and nail, she almost did when I tried to unlock her chains... she called them... she called them...
her wedding bands...
Somewhere in her broken mind, she had... normalized her situation along with her injuries...which all were debilitating I... I took mercy into my own hands. I hugged her... which she tried to return with tendonless arms. I placed my shoulder against her neck and put my hand on the back of her head and I embraced her with all I had... even as weak as I am... she couldn't struggle by the time it was far too late. Her last words,
"I love you..."
Now... staring at her pyre...as her enshrouded body is reduced to ash... I don't know if I made the right choice... would time heal her mind? Could some powerful mage mend her wounds? Do I have any right to decide what I did at that moment? The worst part is... I'll never know that answer.
Standing here the thought of leaping into the flames does cross my mind, but I don't, that won't make things right. That wouldn't make my mother happy. I no longer feel like sobbing or crying. My throat burns. I can't feel the heat of the flames in front of me... just the chilly wind that blows by... in and through the hollow cavity within my chest. I don't feel right now... I am... empty...
I keep thinking though... about all the things going wrong in my life right now. Every single one.
Every slight, every problem, and every annoying thing going on right now. As the flames lick the sky in front of me a spark must've landed within the hollow inside of me and it found some dead ashes... but within them was a charcoal... a sudden reaction... sudden heat... light... fire...rage...anger...sadness...everything... nothing... all burning...all becoming fuel...all becoming ash...and reforming into furnace coal. I will not accept this... I will not accept a single... fucking... thing...
All these problems I have right now. All the political bullshit...Duke Hasslerouge...the Frontiersmen. All of them are trivial compared to what I just went through, and all of them are solvable. All of them easily fixed if I just decided to solve them, if I took responsibility and grew a spine. On top of these, I have a new problem.
The Viscount by all means is an innocent man according to the laws of this kingdom and the laws and rules of the national faith. His links to the Demon King are non-existent, he wasn't wrong, as far as he knew he was acting well within his rights to do what he did, even as terrible as they were. Any faith... any Kingdom... anyone who can claim these actions as just... shouldn't exist, and if I still live, they will no longer.
I swallow my pride, my fear, my apprehension, and my own traumas. I know what must be done. I know what I will do.
I turn around, my back to my mother's pyre. I look at the Frontiersmen before me, almost all being of the Stella Coyote. They look to me, in pity and in their own grieving for their own losses. I harden my face and speak to them in our native tongue,
"Today is a horrible day. We witnessed a mere part of the atrocities committed against our people. While this one... my mother, hits me hard, it hurts me beyond any pain committed against me, but from what I've experienced and know she isn't the only one to be treated in such a way.
For too long have I been a coward, for too long I have been fearful for my own life and well-being. This has allowed for our abuse to continue for too long and now...with this tragedy...with this murder of my heart... I no longer feel this fear. So let it be known."
I glance sideways to see Godiva staring at me in confusion, having no idea what I am saying. That is good because what I am about to announce would be considered treason, and possibly a personal betrayal. I clear my throat, and state in a confident tone,
"I am Isa, son of Garland and Streya, I am the final Voivode of the Stella Coyote, my claim and title gained through a fair and just trial. Of the Stella Coyote none have denied me, nor challenged my claim. I no longer shirk my leadership due to my failures. No longer will I hide...
With my title, I have gained the right to lead our people, but I am no longer satisfied.
Witness me here as I make my bid to ascend to the role of High King of the Frontiersmen. In our time of bondage, in exile from our home, I believe the situation is dire enough for this ancient role must be filled. In division, we fell, but united we may once more gain our freedom.
Come any and all who wish to deny me my bid. Who wish to challenge me for my title and role. I will take up the mantle of the highest servant and will serve all the Frontiersmen so that we may once more be free men.
Those who back my ascension kneel and you will become equals. I will not take this role to rule, I will not be your tyrant, I take this role as a servant, and those who kneel will also serve and for that, we will all be equal."
I don't know how to end this speech, but I got my point across and placed my bid. I stare at the Frontiersmen before me as they quickly make their decisions. Almost as if by one they drop to a knee, and in that moment they are my equals and beloved friends. I look over to Sertean who is on a knee but he is looking up at me with a hard look, not one of disappointment or anger, but determination and acceptance, and deep within his eyes I see it, relief, as if this was something he had been waiting for.
I do have the right to claim this as it is part of our ancient culture. It is said that during the greatest times of need for all the Frontiersmen, a leader may stand tall above all to lead the Frontiersmen out of danger. This is not a prophecy, it is simply a fundamental aspect of government for the Frontiersmen. I will have to defend my bid, but if I succeed, I can begin solving many of my problems, and I will.
As the fire begins to burn down I turn back toward the flames and make a closing statement,
"As my first act... the Frontiersmen as a whole, all past grudges shall be ended, will declare war against the church of Serena, the main body that has caused our people so much pain and suffering. All those blessed by the goddess, are our enemies. The Alrius Kingdom will fall by our hands, but we will not become them in our vengeance. We will show them our mercy, and in that, they will be in agony..."
Everyone behind me stands up once more as the last of the flames die down and I open the urn. I look over at Godiva once more who is staring at me with a look of utter confusion and a little concern. I give her a thin smile and a nod to calm her concerns. Despite my claims and goals, no harm will come to her, or at least I hope it can be a reality.