Nua’s departure was swift, her false hand clenched tight into a fist, her skin tingling and her temper was rising. Raw, unbridled rage pumped through her body. ‘They’re like the Theocracy! They’re ‘just’ like the Theocracy! They’ll pay, one day, I’ll make sure they pay. I don’t need the power of the Dark Savior to make it happen, I just need to wait for His Majesty to give me the opportunity. I will have my kingdom, and then I will burn everything I hate.’ Nua kept her thoughts to herself and drew her cloak tight around her body as she walked out. She moved so swiftly that her small entourage was in a quickstep to keep up with her.
The sound of her feet on the stone was like the cantering of warhorses, confident and firm and filled with the crisp urgency to get where she wanted to go. The guards, seeing her coming and the cold expression in her eyes, opened the door well before she reached them. She went out without hesitation and down the steps, the gate ahead was opened no less quickly than the last.
She exited without speaking to anyone until she saw her soldiers a stone’s toss to the left. They had helpings of fresh bread and what smelled like cheap beer in small wooden cups with the first letter of Prince Rasgen’s name burned into the side to identify city property. ‘So they gave my soldiers bread and beer to thank them for avenging the death of a sibling? Fitting.’ Nua mused and stood in front of them.
Nua’s voice was cold and savage, every word like it was meat torn off the bone. “Come to attention! We’re returning to the hotel for now. I will send a slave to acquire food and drink for a proper feast, and then we’ll answer the question of who will see a member of their family free first.”
Nua didn’t look back the entire way, though she felt Solution’s eyes on her. “Pick it up a little.” Solution whispered, and the horses began to trot a little faster at their insistence.
“You’re thinking of something stupid. I know you are.” Solution said while looking straight ahead.
“Yes.” Nua replied without hesitation or adjusting her forward gaze.
Solution’s expression did not change, her blonde curls bounced around her, and her expression was bemused, with a tiny smile on her face that did not change as she spoke. “It’ll be easier if she dies. The Prince’s heart will be broken, he’ll be weakened. If he’s weakened, the city will be weakened. If the city is weakened, you’re strengthened. Don’t let sentiment bar your path. That is weakness, and what is weakness?”
“Sin. I see that. But there may be a way. And I like her. It’s one thing to kill her, it’s another to leave her to that fate.” Nua responded with an uncomfortable growl through gritted teeth.
“Remember your promise, and keep your sentiments in line.” Solution said succinctly.
“I know. I know…” Nua said without glancing at her Teacher. “But you know, there may be something else. Something… punitive, something that may help me long term, and at least punish them. Maybe that will be sufficient.”
Solution glanced at Nua through the corner of her eye, her student was calm, and if her hands clenched the reigns a little more tightly than usual, what of it? ‘I’ve known this one for how long now? Fourteen years or more? She endures well at least.’ Nua’s face wasn’t changing expression, but her eyes were hard as steel. Solution felt her body nearly melt with delight, ‘How wonderful, how sensual, how beautiful… pain, pain is on her mind… pain and death. But whose? Sobella? Is she thinking of how to overthrow Rasgen and take this city?’ The maid of their divine god felt a warm glow throughout her monstrous flesh that crossed the border from common pleasure to arousal.
“Yes… I have something. The Tlalmok Emperor is going to die. And Sobella is going to be the one to kill him.” Nua whispered and a slow smile spread out over her face. Solution looked at her quizically, while Nua threw back her head from atop her horse, struck by the beautiful inspiration to murder, and laughed the way she had the day she left the city of her captivity behind, had she not been on horseback, Solution felt for sure her student would have started to dance.
When they returned to the hotel, Nua formed them up while she remained on horseback.
She spoke loudly, her sharp eyes raking over them so firmly that each one felt like they alone were the focus of her gaze. “I have some affairs to settle first, Prince of Chains, you will follow me. The rest of you, remove your gear and for now, return to your cages. I can’t very well have a bunch of iron collars running around unguided. Freyjin, I will let you remain outside of your cage with the two children left in your care. Your responsibility is to see that the equipment is properly stored and that water is provided for all. In addition, have everyone write the name of someone they want set free, and set those into a saddlebag. Write it for them if you need to. When that is done, ask to be shown to my room, I will be waiting.”
She dismounted her horse, and was just about to walk away from them, when she turned back once more and spoke. “You all… did a truly excellent job. You have earned your rewards, continue to serve your mistress well, and I promise, there is more to your life than you have yet experienced.”
Cheers were at her back, and she heard the sound of armor being discarded as hopes drew closer. “Mistress, what of myself?” Prince Sado asked.
Nua hesitated and glanced at Solution. “Tell me, Solution, do you think my status would be enhanced, or degraded, by a nearly naked golden collar accompanying me?”
Solution looked the Prince up and down, his clothing was pathetically simple, peasantish. Just what could be managed on the move, she thought of the maids of Nazarick, and the way leaders responded to finery in submission versus the submission of mere peasants. ‘Easy answer.’ She realized a moment later and approached the Prince. Her delicate hand came up, touching his shirt, and then gripped it hard and pulled him with a sharp yank, close to herself so that his ear was close to her lips. “I guard the Mistress. Understand that if you betray Lady Nua, you will envy Bracer’s fate for a decade before I allow you to die. You will fail to even scratch her, but the attempt alone will lead to a fate for you that will make the Tlalmok vomit in disgust. She is mine.”
Sado felt his heart leap into his throat, he could not even swallow when the feeling of the fabric of his clothing pulled at his muscled body and he found himself listening to the whispers of a voice that seemed to lose a hint of its humanity up close.
She didn’t do as Nua had done, and ask him if he understood. For a moment, confusion pulsed through him, and then it hit. ‘Whether I understand or not, will be shown by my actions.’ When she released him, he stood erect as the Prince he still was in his heart, and waited for the mistress with the breath of death to speak.
Solution’s answer was more long winded than Nua expected, though it took only a moment, her hands went to her hips and she stared down her nose at her student. She spoke as ‘teacher’ once again. “Give him armor, and a sword, a gold collared bodyguard will be a suitable display. There are two paths to elevation, my student. The first is to degrade others so that they are less than you, the second is to elevate them so that they raise you up further. The former is the path of the weak with no pride, most of the time. The second is the path of true kingship. Imitate your Dark Savior, imitate your god.”
Nua bowed her head, “As you say, Teacher.” Nua’s reverential voice, so vastly different from how she spoke to all others, struck Sado afresh.
‘I must understand more of their relationship if I’m to prosper close to them. What I wouldn’t give to hear Kaiji’s voice about now. Or that of Onimeus… I was such a star damned fool…’ He thought to himself while they waited, with the grip on him released, he went to the place where the soldiers were disarming and snatched up what he needed for himself.
In spite of it all… Sado savored it. The feel of armor, the weight of a sword at his side, the helmet on his head. The gentle clink of metal and the smooth swish of straps that secured it to his body. His breath picked up, and he drew the sword from out of his sheath, he hadn’t noticed that ‘his’ people fell to watching him.
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He closed his eyes, lost to the world, gone from the moment, the collar forgotten, he began to pass through the preparatory motions of a swordsman. Slow, sure… perfect. The blade swept slowly out in front, his body twisting from one sure foot to the next. They would plant and he would shift, his sword moved up with the tip out before him, then down, and into a two handed hold… a ritual performed a thousand times a thousand times. Finally, he sheathed his blade and opened his eyes and turned to his Mistress.
“I am ready, Mistress, and… I am grateful. It feels good to bear a sword again, even if I must wear this.” He reached up and touched the golden collar.
Nua’s expression didn’t alter, she accepted his gratitude with silence.
“And it feels good to see you bear it!” A familiar voice said from Sado’s back, he whirled and paid mind to the cages farther away.
“Onimeus!” Prince Sado shouted, his mouth fell open and his eyes popped open as he’d been kicked in his balls.
“You know that one?” Nua asked rhetorically, her curiosity suddenly piqued. ‘The odds of that are very low… I smell something afoot with this development.’ She thought with patient curiosity, she strode over to where the Prince stood.
Sado pointed to the cage where the slave sat with legs crossed and a serene expression on an otherwise weary face.
“Yes, he was one of my advisors, alongside Kaiji.” Sado’s face turned strawberry red with shame and he looked down at his feet. “Another… Another I didn’t listen to, who if I had, we might have survived.”
“I see.” Nua said abruptly and approached, walking through the knot of slaves who were already moving to their cages.
Onimeus didn’t wait for her to ask the question, “I assume you are Mistress Nua, my new owner.” He smiled in spite of the bars and kept his back straight, “I am as he says, Onimeus, a military strategist of some renown and… some misfortune.” He snorted and rapped his knuckles against the bars beside him. “Lady Kaiji… slave Kaiji, acquired me on your behalf, she says…” Her pursed his cracked lips and went silent.
“You have permission to freely repeat her words.” Nua said as she read the sudden doubt on his face.
Prodded on, a moment later he continued, “She says,” his voice went very low, “You are our only hope, that if I serve you, I might help my fellow Komestrans once again. Tell me… is she crazy? Is she telling the truth?”
His eyes danced as they met her own, she stared into them, he was an older man, by human standards, but she’d grown adept at reading humans, regardless of their age. “I think that depends on what your hopes are, Onimeus of Komestra. I am ambitious, your people are useful to my ambition, and I reward what is useful. If you serve me loyally, then you will get a chance to make a better life for Komestrans. If you don’t, if your people fail a second time…?” She spread her hands out in front of him and looked at him inquiringly with her head cocked slightly at an angle.
“If you don’t… well, what fate do you think is theirs? This is a simple rule of life. To a king, everyone is a pawn, to those who would be kings, every other king is an obstacle to be removed. I won’t make a bargain with you, because I don’t need to. I tell you what I told the Prince of Chains. I will make your people something to be feared again… but only if you follow me faithfully. You can refuse, and I’ll sell you off, then maybe nothing changes. If you like their fates, and your chances, tell me now. If not?” Nua extended her right hand with the palm up, putting it through the bars.
Onimeus listened to her, searching her beautiful angular face, the sharp eyes, the twitching ears, he looked her body up and down, appraising her not as a man did a woman, but as a leader did a newly met leader. The hardness of her body, the firmness of her stance, the calculating eyes. Even the way she strode to him, direct, certain. The way her hand thrust into his cage to call for his submission. He appraised it all for good and ill, and for a moment her hand lingered beneath his eyes.
Kaiji’s conversations came back to mind, ‘She was never flighty or foolish, and… this one has returned my Prince and let him bear arms, she even listened to her attendant. Maybe Kaiji was right?’ He asked the question of himself, only to dismiss it. ‘She makes a point, if I do nothing, nothing changes, if I am close to this one, maybe something can.’
“I obey.” He said finally, and taking her wrist in one hand, and cupping the backside of her hand in his, he lowered his face to the giving hand, and kissed her palm. “You are my Mistress. My talents are yours to call on, until you want them no more.”
“We will see what that is worth. For now I suppose you’ll be waiting a while longer, we’ll meet more formally later, for now, I have things to attend to.” Nua withdrew her hand and turned her back to him before he finished so much as a full nod.
“Prince of Chains, Solution, let’s go. I’m not sure if my slaves are in or out working, but if they’re out, we’ll just use the hotel staff to see to the rest.”
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...Earlier…
Kaiji emerged from the office after what felt like forever, the exotic nature of her flesh, the rarity of her kind in a bronze collar, she could feel the walking dick with legs lusting after her. However she kept her calm and went over the requirements of her mistress. “Old horses bound for the slaughter, damaged and wounded ones, we need one hundred of them, can you meet those needs?”
She kept her hands folded in her lap, sitting as demurely as she could, and kept her chin raised to show off the bronze to ensure he didn’t push things.
“Those are very nice.” The cavalry officer said, staring openly at her breasts.
Kaiji folded her arms in front of her chest to hide them further. “Ah, sir, my mistress will not offer me, I’m not bound for that kind of thing. I, yes I thank you for your praise.” She swallowed the ashes of her pride with the words of gratitude she did not even slightly mean, “But I must tell you, I am bound for the purple tag on her return, it is only for her absence that I do not bear it now.”
Doubt crossed the swarthy face, his dark eyes moved over her face and sought the deep crimson of her eyes. With no pupils to speak of, only the deep red, he could not read a lie.
“Who are you buying for?” He asked hesitantly.
“Mistress Nua Calen Aiwenor, she is away in pursuit of the smuggler, Bracer. A mission personally given to her by Prince Rasgen. Her nobility is assured on her return. If my Mistress believes you have overstepped your bounds with voice… she will be deeply offended. I realize I only bear the bronze, and not the purple tag, but she will ask how I am treated. If I am treated poorly… well you know of Bracer, do you not?”
The swarthy, lean officer, shifted uncomfortably in his seat. ‘I hadn’t planned on laying a hand on her anyway, but… if she’s telling the truth? I guess maybe baiting this one a bit is a bad idea.’ He let his body relax, almost slumping in his chair.
“Right, well then business.” He said, moving on as if none of their last exchange had taken place, “We can’t do one hundred, but we can provide you with fifty and keep you on the top of the list to provide more. Horses are valuable, but when they’re old, dying, injured… well, sometimes there’s nothing that can be done for them.”
“I see, that will do for a start.” Kaiji felt her body relax with his, the sexual tension in the officer having dissipated, she lost all sense of fear, and longed deeply for the tag that would protect her from rogues like this one. ‘No wonder Priceless didn’t want to come in here, poor thing.’
The haggling over coin was the easy part, horse meat wasn’t worth much and horse hide wasn’t worth much more than the meat. It still felt like it took longer than it did, and she wiped her brow when at last the price and delivery were agreed upon and she’d closed the door behind her.
She looked around frantically when she found that Priceless wasn’t standing where she’d been left. Kaiji wanted to shout, she wanted to call out, her eyes moved around the area, people were going back and forth about their business, the street bustle was becoming truly large as the day had worn on.
She moved as fast as she could to the far end of the training grounds, closer to the common street, her head darted left and right, her dark hair swaying behind her. “Priceless.” She said calmly. “Priceless.” She said a little louder, she looked to a nearby bench, she looked up and down the cobbled streets, but her companion was nowhere to be found.
She bit her lip and scratched her left horn idly, “Maybe… maybe being here was too much, who knows what life she led among the horsemen… yes, she must have gone back to the hotel.” Kaiji spoke to herself out loud, a rare thing, but with no Priceless to speak with, it was all she could do to keep herself under control.
She walked as fast as she could, one foot in front of the other, eating up ground as she kept herself back from a full sprint only by the greatest of efforts. Her heart pounding in her breast. She kept to the walkways beside the open street, ignoring merchants hawking their wares and dodging in and out of crowds, until she made her way back to the massive building.
A deep sigh of relief came out when she saw servants inventorying and removing armor and weapons. ‘The mistress has returned, at last! No doubt Priceless is at her feet right this moment and attending to her every need.’ She felt her pulse begin to go down and the heartbeat with it while she moved up the long stone steps and into the grand lobby.
She walked briskly over the smooth floors and looked with a pang at the fine dining area on the other side which, once, she had patronized with pleasure. Her eyes didn’t linger there for long, ‘The taste of Priceless’s affections, is better than ten thousand fine restaurants.’ She told herself with blossoming happiness. It was a shamelessly lewd thought, and in spite of herself, she felt her heart quicken with a brief laugh of amusement. There was no more point to shame for her, not anymore, and she knew it. ‘Tonight, if we can share our cage again, I’ll make it hard for her to keep from waking up the mistress.’ Her lips parted, but she held back the laugh so as to not arouse any ire from those within when she reached the door.
She took a deep breath, ‘Slave Kaiji… time to get to the real work again.’ Kaiji told herself, and opened it, she walked the short narrow hall that opened to the wider room and prostrated herself at the feet of her owner who stood at the space between, as soon as she drew close enough.
“Welcome back, Mistress.” Kaiji said and, in a fit of boldness and gratitude when Nua came a little closer, touched her tongue to the top of her owner’s boot.
Nua lowered her right hand, accepting the gesture, but offering to allow the more common greeting. “It’s good to be back, and yes, we were successful. I’ll be sending you to the palace shortly with five hundred platinum coins, and then after Priceless returns, I’ll be offering a purple tag to each of you. Assuming of course, you two have earned it while I’ve been away.”
Kaiji suppressed a mental sigh of relief, ‘Oh thank goodness, Priceless returned here, and the mistress sent her on an errand.’ She suppressed her tears along with her sigh, and rose to her knees and lovingly kissed the giving right hand of her owner.
“Mistress…. My Mistress…” She whispered as she graced the hand gently, kissing the palm with the deepest sincerity. ‘Remember her advice… learn to love her, learn to love serving her, bind her to your heart and your heart to her… affection is the only chance for safety…’
Kaiji lived that advice, and was swallowed by the moment to such a degree that she did not notice that her Prince was in the space beyond, let alone the dawning look of understanding on his face while he watched the unthinkable take place before his eyes.
Nua’s warning words about his people’s fate echoed like thunder in his mind.