Kaiji woke on the morning of the fourth day, and found her head upon the shoulder of her lover. The cool air blowing through the open windows of the luxuriant carriage had long since removed the scent of their desires for one another, leaving only two happy, sleeping women for the preceding hours.
When the eyes of the demon-elf began to flutter open, she moved inadvertently and the horn on her head brushed against Priceless’s face at her cheek. It was enough to wake her mate, and the two stirred to life together. Kaiji stretched out her limbs and let out a yawn, which was quickly joined by another from her companion. Outside, the sun was just peeking over the distant horizon, bathing the world in a glow that was still faintly orange.
The carriage bumped slowly over the inexpensive dirt roads, and after one particularly hardy bump, Priceless pursed her lips and reached for her clipboard.
She’d written half a word before Kaiji was awake enough to notice her actions. “What are you writing?” She asked, lifting her head to try to get a glimpse.
“Just a suggestion that our mistress may want to look at getting the roads paved.” She faintly smiled.
Kaiji gave her Priceless an indulgent smile in return, “Now there’s a dream, whoever heard of paving so much roadway, the expense of doing something like that would be… well let’s just say Prince Sado suggested it himself once. But after I showed him how much it would cost, even he changed his mind. But you can present it to the mistress if you want.”
Priceless huffed and glanced out the window. “It seemed like such a good idea though…”
Kaiji kissed her shoulder, “It is, but ideas have to be carried out, maybe there is a way to do it, but I don’t have an answer.”
“Well who knows, maybe the mistress will have a suggestion when she comes back.” Priceless said with confidence in every word.
“Maybe so. Maybe so. But until then, well we’ve seen some villages, but now we’ve got to visit a town. A town full of desperate Pasenians.” Kaiji glanced out the window beside her, the forest was thinning out, and some wagons and other travelers were on the road, some looking much better off than others.
“Desperate?” Priceless asked with interest, her eyes flicked from the view of the passing open fields where people were working the land, a hunter carrying a deer over his shoulder, the labor of success bearing down on him every step, yet on he went without breaking his stride.
“Yes, I call it ‘revenge of the slaves’.” Kaiji explained and propped her head up in her hand and her arm against the window of the carriage. “The glut of my people being sold onto the market before the arrival of our mistress has had far reaching consequences. Soldiers hired by Prince Rasgen are finding themselves dismissed, they have to find work again. Some of them would have gone home to find their former jobs taken by slaves they themselves helped to capture. But not just them, everyone who bought a slave to do the work for them, no longer needs the labor of someone who is ‘free’ to do it. Now what’s left? They have to go from the city to the country, move to another city, or out into the wild. Some become bandits, others sell one or more of their children to avoid starvation for everyone.” Kaiji reached up and touched her collar self consciously.
The voice of Priceless became wistful, reflective, and she instinctively reached over the soft fabric seat, to find the dark purple fingers of her Kaiji already there to greet her with a warm hold and a firm, affectionate squeeze. “That was probably what happened to me then.” Priceless looked the other way out the window, “I guess I’d never thought about it, but if whoever had me… well maybe she had no choice. Maybe I had little brothers or sisters, maybe it was a choice to sell me or they die…”
“Priceless…” Kaiji said kindly, “Don’t…”
“No, it’s fine, it’s actually a nice way to think of it, that I wasn’t sold for nothing, that the hell of those years actually saved some people… that maybe somebody missed me, mourned me like the dead…” Priceless squeezed back, and looked over to her lover with shimmering eyes, endless pools of beautiful reflective brown, like her chestnut hair, she gave a loving smile, with tiny upturned corners of her lips.
“And you know what, you were worth it all.” Priceless managed a playful wink, and the brief moment of reflection passed like a candle wick that had run out of wax.
Kaiji sidled closer, “You were worth the fall of everything I loved, too.” She whispered and kissed the forehead of her mate.
The carriage began to slow down, interrupting the moment, and a quick glance out the window told them why. The low walls of a town were up ahead and closing in. The town had a simple wooden gate good enough to fend off bandits, worthless against anything else.
Most noteworthy, it actually had a few small towers, crude, simple wooden things that a single flaming arrow would burn to ash, but enough to show that the town kept a watch. Kaiji thought through the implications of that. ‘So they have enough wealth at least to have some people in unproductive but necessary jobs. Perhaps that means we can expand it more.’
Priceless watched the change on Kaiji’s face, from warm and loving, to blank and clinical, the wheels turning behind blood red eyes told the chestnut haired slave that there was going to be plenty of work ahead for the day.
That work ‘emerged’ as soon as the carriage slowed to a halt in the center of the town. Like they were crawling out of the woodwork of the many wooden buildings, bedraggled people in virtual rags appeared and surrounded the carriage.
Kaiji waited patiently until the driver descended and opened the door for her. Then, she put a foot and the step and rose up with her chin raised to reveal her status. However she didn’t descend from the carriage, rather she remained on the step that carried one in or out of it. Those who gathered were gaunt faced, callow, almost yellow among the humans and the elves. A once beefy looking orc had skin that had turned from vibrant green like a leaf, to a sickly ‘vomit’ shade of the same. Some of those who gathered in the rags of once bright colored clothing, held children with them.
They didn’t wait for Kaiji to speak.
“Food!”
“Work!”
“Money! Please!”
“I’ll sell you my son if you’ll just give the rest of us some food…”
“Help me! My child is sick and I need to pay for healing! I’ll sell you myself if you’ll pay for it!”
“I fought for the Prince!”
Wails of desperation from a dozen voices blended into a chorus of misery and outstretched, thin, desperate hands were grasping at the air for the coin they could only hope the rich traveler would bestow on them. A mother wailed in misery, “I have a daughter you can buy, she will work hard… just give me coin to feed her sister…” Beside her, a waifish girl went to her knees and bowed her head, trying to appear as submissive as possible to save her sibling from starving to death.
It sparked a competition among the desperate who knelt in turn before the wealth Kaiji seemed to represent with her fine travel clothing, expensive carriage… that she was herself a slave meant nothing, as she wore a purple tag, she was as good as royalty in the flesh.
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She cleared her throat and felt the curious eyes of Priceless behind her. Her arms went up to call for silence. “My name is Kaiji Najin, I am the Majordomo of Duchessa Nua Calen Aiwenor, who has become the lady of this town!” She drew out a silver coin and held it aloft, she felt the desperate eyes on it like it was the god of life descended to their world. “This goes to the one who brings the mayor of this town to this spot, we have much to discuss, and you may remain here while I do so, believe me… it will be worth your time!” She flipped the coin into the air and snatched it back in hand decisively.
A moment later she was wondering as she watched several run off, ‘How can people so hungry, move so quickly?’
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Nua remained within the room with Sobella for some time, though she had been about to leave, Sobella grabbed Nua’s wrist. Reflex nearly took over at the sudden gesture, her body halfway through the turn that would break the grip before she caught herself.
Nua’s face softened when she saw the wavering will in Sobella’s eyes. “Please… I know you want to go out there. Maybe… maybe you need to go out there and get things.” The demon-elf courtesan’s fingers were tight as her feeble strength could muster, “But just stay with me for a little longer. Don’t leave me alone here right away…”
“Alright… alright.” Nua said as kindly as she could, “I know how it feels…I’ll stay with you. I will. You tell me when…” She let her words fall away and came in close, putting her arms around the half broken soul, she brought one up behind Sobella’s head and pushed her gently to lay her head on Nua’s own shoulder. The hard bone of her horn kept the warmth from her cheek, but Nua’s hand made up for it. She stroked her as gently as she could with the fingers of her right hand, allowing the woman to feel the promise of impossible strength through her false left hand.
“What will you do?” Sobella asked, staring at the blank wall of the longhouse as she tried to find comfort in the arms of her escort.
“What?” Nua asked, confused by the question, she looked down at the dark haired demon-elf.
“When you get back, I mean. What will you do when you get back?” Sobella probed.
“A lot of things.” Nua answered cryptically, “Don’t worry about my future, I’ll be fine. I have a house to build. That will keep me busy for years.”
Sobella slowly disengaged herself and brought her red eyes up to face her comforter, “I suppose it will. I hope you find happiness in it.” Sobella replied… “Go on, I’ve kept you long enough for my own selfishness, get what we need… you’ll find me huddled in a corner when you return.”
“I won’t be long.” Nua replied, and when the grip was broken, she went back out the door and closed it hard behind her.
The air that swept over the town of Silence was like that of any other place. There was a bit more of a ‘meaty’ smell in the air, more blood than usual, but what one would expect from a place where animal meat was sold. She took a deep breath and walked towards the smell. ‘Where meat is sold, goods will also be found, where there are goods, there is knowledge.’ She thought, and ignored the stares of beastmen seeing a calm wood elf in the emperor camisk that covered her armor and equipment.
She was halfway to the center of town before she recognized something so significant that it forced her to stop and lean against the stone wall of a building. Her hand slapped against her forehead. “Ow…” She muttered, cursing herself for having done so with her left hand.
‘You alright, partner? Don’t go bashing your own head in, I don’t know if you noticed, but I can’t really get around without you.’ Yersin asked her, she laughed, drawing more curious looks from the already curious beastmen who stared at her so blatantly as they passed.
“Yes, I’m fine, that was dumb but… I noticed something just now that I am trying to process.’ Nua answered, briefly closing her eyes and forcing her breathing to stop.
Not far away, she could hear the sound of a flowing fountain, and around her, beastmen were talking and laughing among one another. She could hear the haggling of beastmen merchants and the slightly higher voices of beastmen children.
“...Careful with that stone, stupid! Or you’ll have to pay for it!” She heard someone shout out of sight where something was being built.
‘What’s that?’ Yersin asked with a hint of curiosity touching his voice.
‘People. The Tlalmok are people. I’ve been thinking of beastmen as nothing but somewhat more intelligent monsters. But look around. This could be any human town, any elven town. Children with their parents who are out buying goods, workers building homes… these creatures… these people don't ‘hate’ humans. Or elves. Or orcs or goblins or minotaurs. No more than we hate cattle or sheep or fish. Their rituals to terrify the sacrifices are just that, part of their meal preparation. If we could taste things the same way, we might try to frighten cattle, sheep, or deer as they do.’
Yersin’s laughter rang through her mind, ‘Softening your attitude toward them a little bit, partner?’
Nua shook her head and opened her eyes, she pushed herself off of the stone wall against which she leaned and resumed following her nose.
‘No, not really. I was just thinking of them like the Theocracy humans, they hated my kind, they savored our suffering for the sake of it, seeing us turned into food when times were tough at the end of the war was just the natural end of their supremacist beliefs. But even many of them resisted that order in the end. These beastmen… they just see us as cattle, eating to live. Maybe they do enjoy the cruelty of what they do to their prey, but who knows? To most of them it is probably a chore like slaughtering a calf to feed your guests, just something you have to get out of the way.’ The thought passed through Nua’s head as she rounded a corner and found what her nose was looking for, the marketplace. She did her best to ignore the torsos and limbs that hung from hooks, and focused on other details. ‘Their stalls are wooden, but their buildings are almost entirely devoid of any wood at all. Even their tools have little wood to them, they’re mostly solid metal.’
Bit by bit she ticked off the fine points as she contemplated how to fight a war of annihilation against the powerful beastmen. Most towered over her. Though not the tallest of women even among the elves, Nua knew herself not to be diminutive. And yet, except for those who walked naturally stooped forward, they were one and all taller than she was .
A large stone golem stood in the center of the marketplace holding two axes each easily half her height. It simply stood, and waited. ‘Yersin, can you tell me anything about that golem?’ Nua asked.
‘Go up and touch it, and I’ll see what I can find out.’ He answered within the gem.
Nua approached, she felt the stares and intermittent silence as the unusual sight of herself caught more eyes, before they recognized the symbol on the front and back of the white camisk, and went about their business again.
She removed the glove then laid her hand on the knee of the golem, and that required her hand to come up to the height of her chest. She kept her fingers close and concealed, pretending to stare up at the glowing dark eyes and look it over in absolute awe.
She felt the sense of smugness around her, it was easy to read their thoughts even without the power to actually do so. ‘Look on our mighty works, a golem like this, it is beyond you mere beasts. See our power, see our glory, and know your place.’
Nua however, dismissed the smug pride at her back, and spoke only to her partner. ‘Well, Yersin, what can you tell me?’
‘It is actually an ingenious design, no wonder nobody was able to dispel the animation magic before.’ Yersin replied with a hint of admiration in his voice.
‘What do you mean?’ Nua asked with personal as much as professional interest.
‘If you wanted to make a golem, what would you do?’ Yersin pressed the question hard, a rarity at best for him, and so she gave it pause to think.
‘I would cast a spell on the stone shaped being I had made. If I could do magic like that, at least.’ Nua mentally huffed.
‘Right, so would anyone else, but whoever developed these was a genius, without an intelligent magic item… that also happened to have been a genius magic caster at one point…’ Nua suppressed her urge to laugh at the obvious pride in his words and could picture him within his comfortable home, his gaunt face tilted up and daring her to challenge the claim, which she did not.
‘Well, the point is, this isn’t a stone golem. It’s water.’ Nua went numb when Yersin said that.
‘Water?!’ She exclaimed and stared at the obviously carved stone monstrosity. It was made of granite, obviously ripped from the many mountains the Triumvirate had at their disposal.
‘Water. You might not know this, but granite is an incredibly porous stone, whoever made this gray monstrocity, first they carved it out of granite, then they imbued ‘water’ with the magic of motion, and I would say they soaked the stone in it, when the stone soaked up the water…’ Yersin let the sentence hang after speaking, and Nua’s mouth began to open.
‘That’s… that’s ingenious. Casters would be targeting the stone, not realizing that it is the water within that was actually controlling the stone, dispel would never work because they would never know what to actually target!’ Nua began to laugh.
She tilted her head back, staring up at the dark glowing eyes that promised death to all who disturbed the peace of Silence, and laughed a deep, rich, full laugh as she understood.
Tlalmok beastmen looked at her sudden peels of musical laughter, and among them who were capable of pity, the thought was the same. ‘The poor little animal has seen our power and found it too impossible to bear, she has gone mad.’
Nua however, was filled with unutterable joy, ‘Yersin, I could almost kiss you for this… but tell me, do you know of anything that could be done about it?’
‘Well, the water based ones, yes? Magic fire hot enough could boil away even enchanted water, but there’s no certainty that this is the only type of golem the Triumvirate has. This is just a town, so you can’t expect the best here.’ Yersin pointed out to her with a faint hint of rebuke in his voice.
‘You’re right of course, but it solves an old mystery we were never able to answer about the Devor, how they were able to make so many golems, they plagued the minotaur kingdom for centuries with tools like this. Nobody ever got a close look at one intact, and now the Tlalmok just hands it to me. Though to be fair, what were the odds of someone like you being along for the ride?’ Nua asked with a gleeful smile spread out over her face as she covered her partner with a glove again and went about buying the few items she needed, from curious to indifferent stalls of merchants before making her way back to a waiting Sobella.
When Nua returned to the longhouse of stone that held nothing but the horse and a fearful demon-elf with a smile on her face that she could not disguise. Sobella stared at her escort’s face with parted lips from the corner she’d huddled into.
‘So you’re sure, Yersin? This magic can be imitated?’ Nua asked for the third time.
‘It would take sixth tier magic… or it would take mana from death, but yes it could be. You just have to be willing to let me work some exceptionally dark necromancy. Are you willing to let me enslave the souls of the dead for you?’