It took several hours for the Breakers to complete their work, the sound of clinking and clanking armor of body after body began to finally die off as the area was cleared. The cavalry returned as the sun was closing on the horizon, their thunderous hooves and triumphant prancing oozed the feel of success even from afar. The golden banners of the House of Aiwenor flapped proudly in the breeze as they drew closer to camp, and while they made their way in, Nua engaged Ambassador Botisa in her tent.
“You understand the value my Breakers and I represent now, don’t you, Ambassador?” She asked while Kaiji poured wine for her mistress and her guest. The sloshing noise of liquid into the silver cup was slight, and drowned out by the pounding hooves of the excited Botisa. His hands clapped together and rubbed fast enough that he drew them apart again when the heat he made there grew too great.
“I do. Your Breakers are exceptional.” He said with a toothy grin, “I look forward to seeing you all on the battlefield.”
Nua sat back in her seat and waved a hand out toward him, “I’m sure you would, but I promised to end the fight with just ‘one’ of my men.” She raised her forefinger to emphasize the point, and Botisa gave her an indulgent smile.
“Your warriors ‘are’ formidable, but still, one?” Botisa chuckled, but Nua did not.
“If he fails, as I said, I will do it for free. Just do as he says, and I think I can promise you an extensive period of peace. More than that, your lands are not so far from Komestra, I will promise your tribe trade enough to sustain larger numbers, and when everything is ready, I will even accept centaur’s into my mercenary band.” Nua rattled everything off as if she were discussing the weather, and the ambassador finally frowned.
“Even having taken salt with you, Duchessa this is a great deal to offer to us, what are you gaining from it?” Ambassador Botisa searched her face for lies or deception, but found only the smiling face of a confident elven noble woman.
“Ambassador,” Nua took the cup that Kaiji handed to her and raised it proudly, “I realize this is a great deal to take in, and very hard to believe, especially given how little I’ve said is in this for me. However, I am not closed lipped to trick you. I’m close lipped because you would not believe me unless you truly saw my vision as I do. I promise you, one day, not many years from now, you will, all of you will. When you do, you will understand, and we will all be greater for it.”
Ambassador Botisa took that in uncomfortably, “There is one condition I would add then.”
“Go on.” Nua said and took a sip of warm red wine, she held her left hand out as if to accept his question into her palm.
“If your warrior fails and you must present yourself with your forces, then you will tell me what you are withholding now.” Ambassador Botisa said with confident calm.
“That is fair. It’s a promise then, I swear by the salt of my table and the bones of my god, my secret is yours to know if my man fails to deliver. Is that promise enough?” Nua asked, and the ambassador took the silver cup that was waiting for him on the table and raised it between them.
“It is a bargain, Duchessa.” He said, and they drank in one swift draught before slamming their cups down on the table with a loud clap.
“Good, now if you’ll excuse me?” Nua said and turned her attention to Kaiji.
He inclined his head, “Of course, Duchessa.” He said politely, and left them alone.
“Kaiji, how many wounded and dead of our own?” Nua braced herself, her entire body tensed enough that her knuckles cracked.
Kaiji went down to her knees at Nua’s tension. “Mistress, we lost seven dead among our main forces and have one hundred twelve wounded, our worst injured should all be recovered now thanks to our magic casters, we also lost four horses to the fighting. A few still have some injuries that will be healed when mana is restored”
“I see.” Nua acknowledged, “When we return, cross reference their names to the list of loved ones, and if we don’t already own the people on the list, get them. If they have children of age, offer to let them take their parent’s place, and pay for the finest armor to be provided to them, then enroll them in training. If they have none, or those do not want to volunteer…” Nua paused for a moment and thought it over, “If the dead died by frontal wounds, set one of their loved ones free and loan them enough to get established in a village of mine or in Komestra when we get it. Any others on the list, put on an earnings program to buy their freedom if they want it.”
“As you wish, mistress but… why so much?” Kaiji asked with some hesitation.
“If my Breakers fear that death will end their hopes for those they love, they will fear death. If death is no obstacle to their hopes, and an honorable death ensures their success? Then they will fear nothing.” Nua explained, then at Kaiji’s silence, she asked, “You don’t approve, slave?”
Kaiji shook her head, “I just worry, my lady.”
“Worry about what, Kaiji?” Nua asked more gently and turning to face her servant, she leaned forward and folded her hands together.
“Mistress, you know me well… I am not boasting when I say I am one of the most cunning people in all of Mict’aratz. I recognize how you are manipulating the sentiments of my people.” Kaiji said it in a whisper, and Nua did not bother to deny it.
“I am, I admit it. Is that a problem?” Nua asked intently.
Kaiji immediately gave a vigorous shake of her head, “No. You are my mistress, this is how the rule is done, but I worry someone else will understand and exploit this if you do it too often.”
Nua relaxed and reached out to take Kaiji’s hand, she drew the kneeling demon-elf closer. “Your care is welcome, but if they do, we’ll simply need to recognize a new enemy and dispose of them. Besides, as it is, this will help many of what are not just your people… they are my people.”
Kaiji eagerly lowered her head into the powerful thighs of her lady, resting her horn on them when she turned her head to one side and accepted the slow and steady stroking of her long hair. “I know, and my lady, I spread the story of your jewelry and its meaning as far as I could during the gathering, by the time we get back, every Komestran will believe you are destined to be our Prince! If only they knew, that you would be so very much more…”
“Give it time, Kaiji, give it time.” Nua said with a deep, weary breath, “Now, what of the wounded captives?”
“After tending to our worst wounded, I had the wounded of the enemy healed and secured, they await your disposal, life, liberty, ransom, death, or slavery, their fates are yours.” Kaiji sighed happily under the caress.
“And what do you advise?” Nua asked, absently looking toward the flap of their sealed tent.
“That depends, do you wish to be feared or loved? If you ask me, it’s better to be feared. It is simple, straightforward, and requires little investment. Love is difficult to win, easy to lose, and I have seen it overcome by fear.” Kaiji advised and gave a wry little smile. “I know it’s odd for me to say that, here as I am, mistress. But remember, I was terrified of you first. You won my devotion over time, but you won my fear in minutes.”
Nua contemplated that quietly, her absent stroking of her demon-elf servant was soothing to her troubled soul. “Can I be both?” She asked, “Are you still terrified of me?”
“My lady, you can be both, but please, please don’t ask about me. That is difficult to answer.” Kaiji replied, and for a moment they were in a drawn out silence.
“How should I be both with these captives? You know more about these people than I do.” Nua finally asked, allowing Kaiji’s request to pass.
“They are the poorest of the poor, probably mostly from Fen’sai or the other cities to the south of it. If you captured any of their officers, you might get a ransome, but my lady, they are not to be trusted.” Kaiji lifted her head and turned her eyes up, “If you let them go, they’ll almost certainly go back to their wretched lives, rejoin the Sellspear company or the Sellsword company or some other group of mercenaries, and you may fight them again.”
“So since I can’t ransom them, and letting them go is just inviting another fight, I’m better off either killing them or keeping them.” Nua concluded.
“Yes, my lady.” Kaiji answered with firm conviction, “But before that, our remaining noncritical wounded are in cots, would you like to visit them?”
“Very much so.” Nua said, and slowly stood so as to not throw Kaiji off balance.
They left the tent with haste, and Kaiji led her through an array of black fabric tents. The soldiers they passed by rendered their salutes as smartly as ever and were quick to step aside to make way for their mistress.
The air around them was warm, though the churned up ground was still relatively cool even through her boots, and the smell of sweat was thick in the camp.
As Kaiji led her lady to the tent, they passed an open area where scores of prisoners knelt with arms and legs bound to heavy posts by iron chains. Nua caught a glimpse of them out of the corner of her eye, they were largely unshaven, thickly bearded men. Their ranks were thick with orcs and goblins as much as humans. Oddly to her mind, there were no elves.
When they saw her, some glared, most turned their faces away like frightened maidens, and some simply hung their heads in defeat, and saw her not at all.
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Finally they were in front of a tent which was colored blue as the sky, and Kaiji opened the flap.
Nua entered, and the smell of blood, sweat, and pain hit her as hard as the groans of men with brutal wounds. She didn’t hesitate beyond the moment it took to appraise the situation. Four rows of cots lay in the wide tent, each one going well back, each one with an arm’s length or more between one another, and among them moved camp followers, mostly women, and a few soldiers tasked with caring for their brethren.
The Duchessa approached the first cot where a young man lay with two broken legs and a severed hand bandaged at the stump. Human, in his twenties by his look, still clad in his armor. Nua put a hand on his chest. “You look like hell, soldier.” She said, “I’ll bet you fought like it.”
He managed a coughing laugh at that, “I tried, mistress… I took down… I think four, before some big fucker of an orc knocked me down… he got my hand, but I got his balls before he could finish the job.” He gave a confident, half broken laugh. “I got trampled after that though… that’s how I got these.” He gestured to the shattered legs with his stump.
“I’m proud of you.” Nua said with warmth, her hand reaching out to touch his cheek, “You made your city proud. Do you have any family…?”
“Seush. My name is Seush, and… yes mistress, my sister works in your kitchen. I don’t know whatever happened to the rest of my family, but they’re on the lists you had made… if they haven’t been found now…” He turned his eyes away, “I don’t think they survived our fall.”
Nua looked over her shoulder to Kaiji, who immediately came closer and was already whipping out her quill. “Get the names of our wounded, put their families to the top of the priority list for finding. Any who are found, they’re to be bought and brought to my estate immediately.”
“As you wish, my lady.” Kaiji replied, but Nua was not done.
“Also, if any of them were mistreated by their owners before coming to me, take those names as well, have them reported to the Prince as having flouted the laws of the late Lady Sobella. Put that way, he will take it very… very personally.”
The young soldier’s eyes filled with tears, his stump went up as if the hand were still there to grasp at Nua with. “My… mistress.”
Nua gently pushed the arm down and leaned over him, she kissed his forehead as one might an injured child. “Hush, rest now, my warrior. Everything will be fine, because I will make it fine. One way or another.”
She stood, and let the young man relax at her direction, and moved to the next. Kaiji followed her, moving from one to the next as she stopped to speak with every wounded man or woman as if they were her injured family, taking names to reference later, until it was all done.
When Nua made her way back to the tent flap, she turned around, and snapped a salute to her soldiers. Though cracked and broken, the chant was clear as day. “Aiwenor… Aiwenor… Aiwenor…”
‘These will walk naked through the Tlalmok Empire for her, that much I am sure of.’ Kaiji thought as she reflected on the earlier advice that she’d given to her lady.
“Now to the captives.” Nua stated, and made her way over to the kneeling prisoners.
They were a miserable, filthy lot. Their armor had been stripped away, leaving them clad in whatever filthy garments they had beneath, most had barely better than common cloth, a few had tattered gambesons or old boots. ‘Kaiji was right, the poorest of the poor.’ Nua thought as she walked from one row to the next until she made her way back to the direction they were trapped facing.
When she was in position, centered in front of them all, she spoke loudly enough for them all to hear. “My name is Duchessa Aiwenor, and in case you didn’t notice, you lost today.”
Curses came from a few, most were too sullen or frightened even for that.
“I’ve been advised that I should kill you all.” Nua barked, and then let that sink in, she waited as protestations and pleas came from the myriad ranks. Her hands folded behind her lower back, and when the noise died down, she went on.
“It’s also been suggested that I simply enslave you all. As I own Lur’gin, that would be the simplest thing, and the most profitable.” She announced just as loudly, and when silence met that unsurprising announcement, she brought out her left hand and extended it to them.
“However, I am going to offer you a third option. None of you look like you have two coppers to your name. I know there is not a chance you’ll be ransomed, and we all know your cities don’t care enough about you to buy you back, do they?” Nua knew she was just guessing with the last question, but bitter noises in answer told her she was correct. Curious looks were cast her way at the unspecified third choice.
Nua spoke plainly to them, her face serious at first, but growing more bemused as she went on, “If I let you go, you will go back to your mercenary companies again, because you have no other choice, forgive my criticism, but your equipment is just one step above garbage. Mostly, I expect, you just snatched it off of whatever corpses you managed to ‘find’ it on, which was in life no better off than yourselves, am I wrong?”
Some reluctant heads shook in response, it was enough for her. “Why go back to a shit company? Submit to me. You have seen my soldiers’ armor, you have seen their weapons, and you have seen me win. My soldiers get to keep most of the plunder, and even though they are slaves, I let them keep money in the bank, and they can earn their freedom. Offer your lives to my name, and the next time you march to a fight, you do so in something closer to that.” She pointed to a passing soldier.
The passerby wore brand new looking boots, carried a shield of steel, wore a helmet free of rust, and full plate armor whose faint scratches showed it was not easily pierced.
“With just what that slave earns from plundering the battlefield today, he could buy any of you two or three times. Why work for someone else who gives you only a few coppers and burdens you with the need to get your own shit equipment from the unlucky dead? I am clearly offering you the superior choice.” Nua raised her chin as if to dare them to defy her claim, and for a moment no one did.
“An’ifn we don’t?” An ugly looking orc groused from the front rank.
“Then I let you go free.” Nua replied offhandedly. “Maybe we meet again in battle, and you die then instead. Maybe you give up that life and… do what? When was the last time any of you had a full stomach?” She pushed. “Offer me your throat, and you will not go hungry. Offer me your throat, and one day you may own land. Offer me your throat, and you won’t be disposable trash anymore.”
“Trash?!” The orc thrashed in his bonds, but Nua did not flinch from the term.
“That’s how they treated you, didn’t they?” Nua demanded of the ugly green orc, his tusks were broken, but he bore no other wounds, which told Nua he’d damaged them a long time before. His deep set eyes blazed, but he didn’t deny it. His stomach growled, and set off a chain reaction among other captives, whose bellies rumbled demandingly.
“The only difference between giving me your throat, and walking out of here, is that the next one you serve who tells you you’re free to come or go, will not give a damn about whether you live or die. I treat everyone who belongs to me as an expensive investment. My warriors are trained heavily by the best of the best, and I equip them like it.”
“I already know how to fight, elf!” The orc snarled.
“Not well enough to win, orc.” Nua quipped.
“It was five to one!” The orc growled.
“Then let’s make it one to one, orc.” Nua quipped again. The rest of the captives were drawn into the moment while Nua turned her attention to a guard. “Have that one unlocked, and give him a sword.”
“You’re going to fight me yourself?” The orc glared as if he doubted her.
“No, that wouldn’t be fair, I’ll pick someone weaker.” Nua replied, and glanced at Kaiji. “Bring Sado… no, bring Vargas.”
“At once, my lady.” Kaiji rushed away, while the rest of them waited, the rattling keys took several minutes while the correct one was identified, and the orc gradually rose to his feet, rubbing his wrists, for a moment Nua half expected him to simply charge at her.
When Kaiji returned, Nua wasted no time. “Vargas, take off your armor, and beat that one till he submits. If he wins, he goes free with a five gold prize.”
Eyes widened at the enormous sum that was, in that one instant, more than any of them had ever seen up close.
“As you command.” Vargas said professionally and began to strip down to nothing but pants and boots. His shield lay with grip up and the rest of his equipment neatly stacked in the center of it.
As soon as Vargas stepped forward, the orc charged, and it was all Nua could do to keep from rolling her eyes. The orc was big, towering over Vargas by a head and a half, and to say he was broad was an understatement. But that was all. He dropped the blade charged with hands up over head like he was going to simply grab Vargas at the shoulders.
‘At least he understands his size advantage, but… clearly he’s had exactly no real instruction. Just a dull brute.’ Nua dismissed him as an easy win, and she was not wrong. Vargas brought his knee up into the orc’s crotch, then as the orc fell, he went back with it, got his foot on the orc’s sternum, and rolled the brute backward. The orc landed hard on his back, and Vargas got up, then gave him a sound kick to the jaw before putting a foot on his throat.
“Yield or I press down.” Vargas ordered, and a wide eyed orc went limp.
“If you want to fight like that, go to your knees.” Nua ordered, “Good work, Vargas. Tell the cook I said to give you an extra ration tonight. Also, send some collars of iron over this way.”
“My lady.” Vargas answered blandly, saluted, then went to don his gear again and depart.
Nua looked over to the guard, “Get the rest of them unlocked.” As the guard obeyed her orders, Nua gestured to the rest of them, “Go to your knees, and you belong to me. I will feed you. I will train you. I will equip you like gods of war. I will give you victory. I will give you hope. Or… if you don’t like that option?” Nua shrugged, “As soon as you’re unlocked, get the fuck out of my camp.”
The choice was stark. Leave with nothing, very little chance to find equipment that fit, and rejoin a defeated mercenary band in the hopes of eating, but keep their freedom. Or submit and hope that their captor’s promises were not false.
But it was a choice.
As they were unlocked, some stood up, and took off running for the edge of camp before their captor could change their mind.
But among the many taken, thirty, including the defeated orc, went to both knees and bowed their heads forward. “Congratulations, welcome to the Breakers. You’ve made the right choice.” Nua stated when the collars arrived, and one by one they were fitted to the iron by one of her men.
“Get them fed well, and get them some decent clothing.” Nua ordered the soldier that was busy locking them into her service. She then glanced to Kaiji, “Have their names added to the rolls, they’ll be their own unit for now, until we get back and have them fitted for proper equipment and get them trained so that they’ll be something more than meat shields.”
“As you wish, mistress.” Kaiji replied at the same moment as the laboring soldier.
Nua paid no mind to the acknowledgement. She desired only to be alone.
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Priceless’s lip trembled when she read the paper in front of her. On it were a list of rumors identified by the eyes and ears around the city.
“The Duchessa Aiwenor isn’t freeing slaves, she’s executing them to trick the others.”
“The Duchessa Aiwenor prohibited the sale of children in order to keep their abuse on her lands a secret.”
“The Duchessa Aiwenor plans the eradication of the faith.”
“The Duchessa Aiwenor mocks the traditions of Pas’en.”
“The Duchessa Aiwenor has a hideous blight on her body.”
“The Duchessa Aiwenor did ‘not’ save children, she took them for herself so that she could violate and abuse them.”
The list went on and on… only growing worse as the list expanded for pages. They stopped short of ‘treason’ that would involve the Prince, but they were quite happy to involve the temples.
She felt her lip quiver as her beloved mistress was mocked, insulted, slandered, and worse, her eyes welled with tears of anger, and the paper in her hands tore when she lost control of her grip.
She shrieked and began tearing the paper up on purpose and shot to her feet. “Bastards. Bastards! Bastards!” She screamed in her first true anger in a very long time. Before her mind's eye passed the memory of her wonderful mistress storming through the door and ordering her freed from her bonds.
Priceless slammed her hands down on the desk, breathing hard, eyes wide and staring at the shining reflection of her face on the polished table, though partially concealed by torn bits of despicable paper. “I thought I was ready, I thought I was prepared for the things they’d say about her, but it’s too much, too much too much too much too much too much… she’s the one who dragged me out of hell… she gave me my Kaiji, she gave me a home, she saved my life and killed the one who hurt me… this can’t stand. It won’t stand, I won’t stand it… how could they? How could anyone believe it?” She muttered in growing anger and then, still on her feet, reached for the list of names.
Some provided by Kara, those had room numbers with them. Others had descriptions, names, even a few residences or job sites. She dropped herself down in the chair and her elbows on the table, then letting her head fall forward, she grabbed her hair and almost tore it out in frustration. The pain was strangely comforting as a distraction from what she felt in her heart.
She sniffled a little, despising her own tears of anger that seemed to blur out solutions. “Alright, the mistress left you to be her voice beyond the estate, what would she do? Think, Priceless.” She asked the question and then ordered herself to think harder as if that might have some effect.
Every bit of her body felt tense as the anger held on like winter chill to the air.
“They probably have no debts I can use to get them into collars and sell them off to the mines…” Priceless muttered the possibility, she felt her blood race at the prospect of doing something like that to someone, but then she thought, ‘Can I… kill?’ And immediately her heart stopped dead, and she knew, ‘No… no. I can’t bear to kill someone… I can’t… I just can’t I can’t I can’t… no matter how much I hate them…’ She let out a puppy-like whimper as her wounded heart sought a balm and found none. ‘If only I could get as angry at them as the ones who took me… maybe… but that was a moment of heat and pain… could I have held onto that to watch them die? Why am I such a worthless coward…?’ She cursed her weakness and tried to focus on solutions, ‘There has got to be something ‘I’ can think of and order.’
“Bribing some of them will work but…” She was muttering her frustration, only to let a smile form on her face when an idea came to her. “So you like spreading rumors do you… alright… fine.”