Kaiji flipped the coin to the one to arrive with the town mayor, and then another to the one who failed… but thought to bring several other people of evident importance. Desperate eyes watched the coins sail through the air to land in desperate and dirty hands, if not for the clinking in Kaiji’s purse, a riot might have begun.
The demon-elf Majordomo didn’t address the mayor right away, instead she pointed to a filthy couple in rags. “You, what happened?”
The husband of the pair was quick to answer, “I… we were traveling from Pas’en, we heard about the new Duchessa, we thought we might be able to buy some land or something, maybe make a life for ourselves when work dried up in the city… but…”
“We were robbed… we don’t know how it happened, but someone on the trip took all our money, we tried to find work here in town but…” The blonde woman lowered her gaze.
“There’s not much to be had. Now we can’t afford to leave and we can’t afford to stay. We don’t know what to do…” He looked up from where he knelt, and bent himself forward. “I’m her husband… I promised a good life to her, I failed. I’ll sell myself to your house, if you’ll give her enough money to go somewhere…”
“Yori no…!” She clung to him and stared up at the wealthily dressed slave. “Promise you’ll keep us both, and let us stay together… and you don’t have to pay. Just… just feed us and let us stay together…” She lowered her head, each taking up the collaring posture to expose the backs of their necks.
“Raise your heads… raise your heads… just tell me, how much was taken?” Kaiji asked gently. She reached into her purse, the rattling of coins raising their heads faster than the order did.
“We had twenty silvers. Enough for a plot of land and a little space to build a cottage.” The one who was evidently named ‘Yori’ answered. He was a youthful man, despite his callow underfed state, he had obviously once been good looking.
“I see.” Kaiji looked to the mayor, “What have you done to alleviate the poverty here? Why is this couple unable to find work? What are you doing to make the mistress’s town better?” The last word was sharply said, and it alone caused eyes to blink while silver coin after silver coin emerged from the purse to be counted out in one hand.
The mayor, a somewhat obese woman with greasy hair and a slovenly look, wore a fearful face at the question. She stammered out an answer as best she could, “Ah, well, Voice of the Duchessa, , there are problems and, well we’re working on some ah, things that might, eh, make things better. But you know… money can’t be gotten from nothing and…” She was shuffling her feet, and Kaiji could smell the self serving excuses like it was the shit district Priceless had been captive in before.
Still, Kaiji played along. “I see. Well, Priceless behind me formerly worked for a judge and several city officials, I’ll be having her go over your books to see where we can find some room in the budget. In the meantime, as I’ve said to several villages thus far, the Duchessa believes in investing in her people. As she conducts her mission for the Prince, it is our task to ensure her people understand that. So with that in mind, Yori, come here.”
The gaunt, hungry looking man slowly rose and stood in front of her. “This is the money that you lost.” Kaiji said, placing twenty coins of silver into his hand. He stared down at it in awe. “This…” Kaiji then said, and put two more in his hand, “Is to feed yourselves while you build your home.” His eyes glistened with tears. “This… is for the willingness to sacrifice for one another.” Kaiji put a single silver coin atop the rest. “I have seen that willingness only a few times in my life, it is worth rewarding just for its mere existence.”
Kaiji looked to the greasy, fat looking mayor. “If he is relieved of those coins for anything other than a sale of land and goods, it will come out of your pocket to replace.”
The mayor’s jaw snapped shut.
“Such is the belief of my mistress, I am but a slave, acting according to her will, that you know her greatness!” Kaiji shouted over the cries of gratitude, but more than the proclamation hit them, it was her utter sincerity in how she said it.
“You who have been given coins are spared the collar, but to keep your freedom, you will have to work!” She thrust her finger out over the little crowd, “This is not a gift, this is an investment, make yourselves a good one. In a few days, work crews will arrive, those of you with special skills, reading, writing, construction, farming… anything or everything you know, may find a use.” Kaiji pronounced. Then looked over to the mayor.
“There are new laws that will be put into place, beginning today, everything is changing, whether you stay mayor or not, depends on whether or not you can change too.” Kaiji’s tone said she immediately had her doubts.
“Priceless,” she said over her shoulder, “Go with the mayor and the great citizens to town hall, all the records should be kept there, have them brought out, go over the books, and be ready to answer questions from the people. I’m sure they will have many… many concerns. I’ll be along as soon as I can be.”
“Of course, Kaiji.” Priceless said sweetly, and when the dark haired demon elf stepped down out of the way, Priceless slid out of the carriage and made her way through the crowd.
Pale faces greeted her, and the chestnut haired slave gestured toward the larger wooden building that could only be the public heart of the town.
Kaiji pointed to another of the destitute, “What happened to you…?” She asked, and sat down on the step of the carriage to serve as more than the voice of her mistress, she served as her ears as well.
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The morning of the fifth day came and went, and despite recent horrors, Sobella appeared to Nua to be in good spirits. The demon-elf helped her break camp with great ease, extinguishing any smoldering remnants of fire, rolling their kits up, and mounting easily. A smile was plastered on her face when Nua’s hand grasped her own and helped her up onto the horse.
Sobella all but basked in the warmth of the body to which she clung, the horses hooves on the trot that morning had a jaunty, pleasant echo, and Nua matched her energetic mood by belting out a drinking song not two minutes after they’d begun.
When they paused for their afternoon meal, the city was in sight. Distant, but in sight, the stones were thick, massive, and gray. Most notably to Nua however, were the massive pyramids that reached for the sky like mountain peaks.
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“You can turn around.” Sobella said while sitting with her legs crossed in front of Nua while they ate some of the bread, meat,and cheese.
Nua took a hearty bite out of a round hunk of yellow cheese and while chewing on it, she furrowed her brow and waved the hunk in hand toward Sobella. She chewed quickly and swallowed. “None of that!” Nua said when she finally gulped her bite down.
“I told you, there is nothing to worry about. So they want to make me fight?” She shrugged, “I’ve killed their kind before today. Granted it was Devor Empire rather than Tlalmok… but they are just people.” Nua said emphatically.
“They are born, live, die, and can be killed. The fact that you’re going to be the weapon that kills the god-emperor should tell you that much.” Nua kept her brow furrowed and narrowed her blue eyes at her companion. “Like I told Prince Rasgen. You’re my friends, that’s who you put yourself out for, the very decree of my god is that love is defined by laying one’s life down for their friends.”
Sobella was holding her bread in hand as Nua spoke, and when the elf was done and took a large hearty bite of rich flag bread which she’d placed a few bits of cheese and meat before rolling it up, the demon-elf froze.
She laid down her bread into the grass, rose to her knees, then brought her face forward as if in supplication. “Thank you…” She choked out, “When… well, before all this began, before my fate for this was revealed to me, my Prince and I spoke of you. We both wondered if… if we might have to kill you, if you might be a threat.”
“That is hardly a confession.” Nua snorted and put a hand on Sobella’s head, running her fingers over the hard skull and dark hair. “Princes have duties, and you were close to him…”
“No, that isn’t what I want to say… you interrupt a lot, you know that?” Sobella gave a fragile smile at her tiny criticism. “What I want to say is, though we haven’t known each other long… whatever we considered as a possibility before, is unthinkable now. I couldn’t go through this without you, I couldn’t. If I can bless you from heaven, I will.”
“Sobella… get up. I’m the last person you should bless.” Nua looked toward the city, “I’m cruel. So cruel I stared a blessing in the face, and spat on it. Watched it die before my eyes, let it die before my eyes. Then clung to it anyway, became a sinner, and now I… I…” Nua shut her eyes and stood up, whatever words were in her heart were clamped down on. ‘Kaiji… Priceless… Sado… everyone I enslave and manipulate… Lenah, Straen… moments like this, telling myself that this is how it has to be… just seems inadequate.’
She shook her head and squashed the sentiment like a bug in her fist. Sobella watched the moment pass over her escort and stood up. She put her hand on Nua’s shoulder, “We’re in a hellscape, whatever wrongs you’ve ever done, or ever will do, ironically, all you can be here is my hero.” She smiled with a hint of fragility to her face, the quavaring smile propped up by Nua’s hands over hers.
“I get to thank you now this time… so, thank you.” Nua ended her unpleasant thoughts and taking two more quick bites, she went to the horse and stowed the remainder, then mounted up. Her hand went out, and Sobella took it without hesitation, putting her foot against the horses flank, she pulled and got up behind where Nua sat, and they rode on to the city.
Reaching it didn’t take as long as Nua expected, it took longer, which told her uncomfortably that it was much larger than she first thought.
Sobella took out the skull shaped horn, and blew as soon as the guards were in sight in the distance.
They were unable to hear the clamor at first, but when they did, it was accompanied by drums. A great booming noise echoed so far over that it seemed to crash against the distant stone of great mountains and return again. An army of sound that shook the blue sky, and eyes of blue and eyes of red rode into it.
This time, Nua said nothing, Sobella’s back straightened on its own, her hands held on to her escort’s waist, her eyes cast upwards to the massive walls on which beastmen walked with the casual arrogance of the strong.
Nua narrowed her eyes at the walls as they had no crenelations, no barriers to speak of. ‘What kind of sense…’ She wondered, until she noticed something else.
None of the beastmen carried bows, nor anything like the crossbows she’d seen field tested. ‘Close combat masters, but that is all…’ She thought and managed a smile in spite of herself. The great gate in front of her, unlike that of Kirakira Prison in the Minotaur Kingdom, was not merely banded orichalcum and painted thick wood, the gate itself was stone. Granite like the wall. This was somewhat curious to her as she watched it open so smoothly, but as she drew closer, she saw and understood.
‘Wheels, they’ve set the gate on wheels… but how do they keep someone else from… they’ve got to have some kind of locking mechanism…’ Nua pondered the problem all the way through the gate, she glanced behind her as the gate was drawn shut, and saw the levers embedded into a slotted path in the stone.
A slew of giant bearmen were working in perfect unison, handling the levers, the wheels that had been pointed out perpendicular to the gate, aligned with it on the turning of a large wheel that took three bearmen to use. Then the constantly pumping levers slowly brought the gate back down, and it was again like part of the wall.
‘Ingenious engineering.’ Nua thought, unable to resist giving a nod of respect to the Tlalmok empire, more worrisome to her was the education behind such feats. ‘A powerful, vibrant society does not fall easily.’ She reminded herself, and true to the last few stops, a line of beastmen stood on either side of the road holding up a yoke for them to pass beneath.
The sound of the horse’s hooves became a more familiar ‘clip clop’ as the road went from the dirt outside the walls to the stone within. She glanced left and right, the beastmen here were of the sort she’d come to expect, but they were clearly far more extravagant. Pandamen had bright colors over white fur, birdmen wore dangling jewelry, lionmen wore stripes in their manes, some even wore capes or cloaks with chains to hold them in place.
The buildings of the great city were clearly of the same stone, but vibrant shades and delicate flowing murals showed the richness of their existence.
Every surface was a canvas, and everyone a work of art. But there it was as she went under the yoke with Sobella at her back. ‘The smell of meat.’ A smell Nua knew too well.
Nua glanced at a canvas past the crowd at her right, a great mountain with an eagle over top, looking to one side with its feathers spread and rain falling overhead. She looked to her left, where a great and noble face was shown, a liger beside a line of ligers. ‘The imperial line…’ She realized from the almost identical faces showing from father to son. Their arms out, and down below their feet, a map of their great empire, standing on it, were the many races of beastmen.
But still, the smell of roasting flesh and the sight of beastmen with bloody maws, and their children no different than themselves. ‘They must die but… the world will lose something when they do.’ Nua reflected with a hint of sadness.
She was snapped out of that reverie by a large pantherman at the end of the row. He did not bow his head, and his yellow eyes almost glowed with intense interest. “Welcome to the city of Tezcatli. You will come to the arena immediately for the ceremony.”
Nua looked him over, powerful, muscular torso, a bright green cloak hung behind his thick dark fur, arms as wide as a slender body, with fierce claws that had been, to her surprise, painted many colors. From his cat ears hung hooped earrings of gold and silver that complemented his dark fur, he was, in a way, beautiful.
Nua kept her composure and inclined her head with courtesy he had neglected. “Of course… mayor? Governor? I don’t know your titles, will we not have time for me to acquire the supplies for the rest of my journey before the ceremony?” She asked in a voice as sweet as honey, an almost childish delight on her face that clearly caught him off guard.
“I was informed that you are alone, you are aware of the ritual are you not?” The pantherman asked with the constant growl rumbling at the back end of every word.
Nua nodded, “Of course. First we will watch you kill, then I am going to have to fight, and then after that I can leave.”
The Pantherman’s short jaw fell open, closed, then fell open again, “You think you can win… don’t you, elf?”
Nua raised her chin and stared down at him from atop her horse, “I know I can.”
The pantherman seemed torn between amusement and anger, “You aren’t from the east, are you?”
Nua shook her head with sharp denial, “No. I am from west of the Devor Empire.”
That settled it, the pantherman began to laugh, he looked to his left and to his right, “Come! The west believes it can win! We must teach the west the meaning of fear, the meaning of death!”
It was all Nua could do to restrain her laughter.
When word spread that the escort, who rode alone toward the heart of the Tlalmok Empire believed she could win, the shouts and laughter echoed like the drums that heralded the coming of the tribute. They rose higher and higher for a full minute before the pantherman ruler stopped his laughter enough to turn around.
When he did, and before he had taken even three steps, Nua's face lit up and her golden eyes glowed like twin suns in the sky. Sobella sensed her intent, and held on only lightly to her escort. Nua then arched her back, her long golden hair swaying in the light breeze, she tilted her head, and began to sing the happiest song she knew. Her crystalline voice began to replace the sound of anger or mockery, until the only sound there was, was the voice of the elf, singing her way to her death.