Freyjin sat down opposite Priceless at the desk of their mistress, “So… you want to counter rumors with rumors… not about the ones who used to head Lur’gin, but the ones who work for them.” She folded her hands together in her lap and gave it a moment’s thought.
“I can help you with that, with the information your eyes and ears have brought, I should be able to track down any dirty little secrets they have.” Freyjin replied, only for Priceless to shake her head.
“Sorry Freyjin that’s not what I mean. These don’t have to be true. We just need to get them out there. Humiliate, shame, and ruin the liars.” Priceless replied with tears in her eyes, her little hands formed little fists on the desk and she shook with anger.
Freyjin did a double take and blinked at her.
Priceless took that to be hesitation or doubt and bitterly spat, “They’re lying about my savior! She gave you back your daughter, you of all people know they’ve gotta pay for that!”
“I agree, I’m just surprised at you.” Freyjin said and looked the woman over as if seeing her for the first time. “You’re the most gentle person I’ve ever met, and you’re suggesting this?”
Priceless wiped her eyes roughly for a moment and then did her best to glare at Freyjin with shaking brown pupils. “It’s true… I know I’m weak hearted. I can’t bear to hurt anyone… but I don’t want to fail her trust… and even I can do this much. Except for the one trip with Kaiji,” she looked briefly out the windowed wall in the direction she now believed her lover was, then refocused her attention, “I rarely leave the estate. You go out often, you must know places that can be helpful for this.”
“What about the ones behind it, the former executives of Lur’gin? They’re the ones behind it, that much you can be sure of.” Freyjin asked.
Priceless put a hand on each of her forearms and squeezed, “I know they’ll probably be killed. I know it. I won’t be sad for them, I hate them. But I can’t say, ‘kill them’ I just can’t…” She looked over to the closed door for reassurance, and then lowered her eyes.
Priceless gave a half embittered smile to the Steward of the estate and said, “This is why I’m glad I’m hers. She’s kind to me. Kaiji is kind to me. I’m safe with them. But I’m not fit to be free. I can’t hurt anyone, I can barely say no to anyone, and I’m always afraid of being hurt. In what world is someone like me ever meant for anything but serving people who are strong enough to do all that? The best I can ever be is loved enough by evil that it doesn’t want to hurt me.”
Freyjin let that sink in for a moment. “Priceless…” She reached across the desk to the woman she’d helped to rescue and after a reticent moment, the brown haired woman accepted the extended hand with her own.
“It’s alright, I know what my mistress is, what my lover is. I listen to them talk, casually planning out the deaths of those in the way. I know what Kaiji did to Diana’s family, and I’ve been closer to the mistress than you have been. She says evil is the only good, maybe she’s right. When I’m here like this, safe, warm, well fed, and it’s all because she took me in? I can’t even think of how to say otherwise. But even knowing that… I can’t order people killed.” Priceless’s lip trembled, “I just keep thinking of their families and how sad everyone around them will be, they’ve got loved ones who would miss them… and I hate my own weakness. I hate that I can’t strike back like everyone else…”
Freyjin squeezed the hand she held, “Maybe that is part of why you were left to handle things here, you’re not Lady Solution, a vicious monster who I can’t even begin to explain at all. Let alone figure out how she came into the service of Lady Aiwenor, or their strange relationship. You’re not Kaiji, a ruthless devotee. You’re not even me, I’m less trusted than you, because I love my children enough to argue and even fight my mistress. Your own kindness might be the key to why you’re trusted with this.”
Priceless thought that through in silence. “Maybe… maybe you’re right. Maybe there is something more I can do.” Her eyes turned away to the window, she recalled the way her mistress would often go and stand there, looking out over the estate and the city.
Priceless chose to imitate her, letting go of the comforting hand, she stood up and walked to the same space with deliberate steps. A hand folded behind her back to form a fist, the other pressed flat to the glass. The sun was slowly setting, but she could see the now empty grounds over the massive estate, and a fair part of the city as well. Her eyes glanced down to the grass where a bloody red stain once lay, now long since vanished except from memory. ‘That was where she took revenge for me.’ Priceless recalled, and let her eyes roam, searching for inspiration.
“I have it!” Priceless grinned and whirled on the quiet, seated Freyjin.
“Public works!” The temporary Majordomo shouted. “Yes! We counter the rumors by shaming the ones who spread them. But we also make sure nobody wants them to be true! When someone doesn’t want to believe something… they won’t no matter what. When somebody wants them to be true, they’ll believe it no matter how stupid it sounds. A long time ago, when I worked in a brothel. Some of the customers desperately wanted to believe the girls who worked there liked them. They wanted to believe they were desirable to these beautiful night ladies. So they did, some spent lots of money, even enough that some girls had their freedom bought.” Priceless snorted with derision, “The girl always just disappeared along with whatever money was left with them after being let go, while the ones who paid all that coin were left heartbroken and confused when the promises that the now free woman made, came to nothing. I pitied them a bit, but only a bit.”
Priceless shook off the memory and went on to explain her meaning to a cockeyed Freyjin. “The most dangerous rumors are the ones that might create a division between her and the people, so, we commission great things for the people! New fountains named after their heroes and laid in public places. We commission statues of the Prince and his ancestors in heroic poses, works of art in public buildings. We even look at the shit district… flooding…” Priceless could not suppress the shudder of remembered fear and pain, “flooding there kept me from being found sooner. What if we did something about that?”
“Those are big expenses, Priceless. Are you sure the mistress will approve?” Freyjin asked with reticence.
Priceless didn’t answer immediately, when she did, answered in a very small voice. “Mistress gave me her trust, this is the best I can think of that I can do. If she punishes me for this… I have no choice but to accept that I failed her. But… I think this is something she would approve of. We can hire lots of Pasenian labor rather than just buying up slaves, and we can hire them from places where the rumors about her are being spread. They’ll beat up the rumor spreaders themselves when my goddess’s coin pays for the bread their children eat.”
“That won’t kill the rumors.” Freyjin cautioned.
“Even counter rumors against the spreaders won’t do that.” Priceless countered. “But it will make them not matter much. I’m still going to have to meet with the executives, I have a lot to learn about the way the Lur’gin company is run, so they can’t be killed even if I were capable of it. But at least we can make their lies worthless.”
“Alright, that’s fair.” Freyjin acknowledged and stood up, “I’ll talk to some of the servants who venture out a lot, when they go out, I’ll put out a call for free people looking for work to come to the estate. I’ll also have them find out what places are missing public use water fountains and anything else we need to know to make this an effective effort. Then I’ll have Tir write up something for Prince Rasgen inviting him to a private dinner here.”
“Wonderful. Thank you, Freyjin, you make this so much easier.” Priceless gave a grateful smile to her counterpart, and the Steward stood up from her chair.
“I’m happy to help.” Freyjin replied, and left the office with brisk steps to carry out the assignment.
----------------------------------------
The little round coracles were actually rather comfortable, albeit strange to ride in given their tendency to rotate a little. But the demon-elves guiding them seemed to know their business and it was barely noticeable. The waters were clear blue, and Nua couldn’t resist looking behind her over the side, how deep the water was, she couldn’t be sure. But she was seeing straight down to the bottom, and it looked quite deep. Fish swam and plants danced and swayed with a low current that seemed to exist somewhere well below the placid surface.
“Underwater river, mistress.” Kaiji said when she saw Nua’s confused expression.
“Ah… what?” Nua blinked.
“Underwater river. It’s far, far deeper than it looks, but some of our more skilled magic casters in the past, who took an interest in that sort of thing, found some curious currents that flow independently of the rest of the lake, following a kind of underwater canyon. The only way anyone has ever been able to describe it is,” she shrugged, “an underwater river.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Where does it go, just around the lake?” Nua asked with intense curiosity. She took a copper coin from her pocket and dropped it in, where it hit the water with a little ‘bloop’ noise and promptly sank. She watched as it sank straight down, then was caught and yanked away faster than an arrow from a bow.
“No, there’s a hole down there, but nobody knows where it goes from there, people have tried to find out, but nobody and nothing ever returns. They’ve dumped blood, coins, and other things hoping to find where it might come out. But?” Kaiji shrugged again, “It isn’t at any location anyone here has ever found, some think it even goes all the way to the world ocean.”
“And nobody has ever used magic to explore it themselves?” Nua asked.
“Some brave explorers who thought they had armor and magic enough to survive the trip, made attempts in the past. But they never came back and their bodies never surfaced. Now it is forbidden for any demon-elf to try, though nobody cares if other races try to do it.” Kaiji explained just as they reached the other side.
A long tan silk rope hung down from above just at the small patch of land that jutted out from the plateau where the coracle docked. Kaiji tugged it and then stood patiently. They sank a few inches into the soft ground, but stopped before coming up much past their ankles in the tan sandy ground.
Kaiji pointed up, “Just be patient, my lady.” She said as Nua looked around her and their coracle left them behind, then followed Kaiji’s upward pointed finger.
A platform was slowly descending toward them, though she couldn’t tell the size just yet, it was clearly at least big enough for all of them.
Nua spoke through gritted teeth as the platform came closer. “You all stay close to me. Obey me instantly and without question, or I swear to your stars that when we get back, I will remind you why I am feared.”
The aura around Nua began to change, it felt like winter’s chill descended around her. ‘Yersin, how much negative energy do you have?’ Nua asked her gem.
‘An abundance.’ He replied, ‘Do you need it?’
‘No, but I might. My instincts are screaming at me right now, maybe it is nothing, but it’s like when I was in that nest of vipers, I could feel their hatred even when I was hooded. Someone up there, hates me, and nobody powerless will know enough to feel that way. That limits the options.’ Nua replied with cold reason, to which Yersin did not have a ready answer.
‘Not to worry, it’s all at your command whenever you want it, my wielder.’ Yersin answered and she could hear the amusement in the voice in her head.
The platform hit ground with a soft thud. It was a metal platform with a waist high rail and a number of bars that were sufficient to keep someone small from, say, stepping over the edge beneath the rail itself.
A moment later the platform began to rise. “How did they know we were in?” Nua asked.
“They didn’t. They simply didn't care, you called for it, they sent it. If you haven’t the sense to get in after it comes down for you, then they are happy to let you stay down here.” Kaiji replied matter of factly.
Nua couldn’t help but chuckle at that, “I can appreciate that.”
As the platform rose slowly up, Nua looked at the plateau more closely, the painted stone seemed entirely natural, with endless whorling patterns that caught the light of the sun and seemed to dance as it reflected the light in some places and captured it in others. Closer to the surface it was clear that there were some lower, below ground places.
“The lower districts are never a good place to live, not anywhere.” Kaiji said and pointed to the openings, there were no demon-elves, only orcs, goblins, humans, and a handful of halfbreeds of some sort or another, and even a wood elf or two. “They stay in the lower areas and come up to work for the city, taking their assignments from the temple at the center. Some can’t take it and… that is why those openings are where they are. So that those who give up, can simply kill themselves. They end up following the underwater river to whatever end that is.”
As if on cue, a despairing looking goblin staggered to the opening as they passed, closed his eyes, opened his arms, and let himself fall forward, dropping like a rock and without a cry of fear.
“Abandon hope, menials who enter Da’nak. The skilled ones typically walk out, but the others…? Here is where hope dies.” Kaiji replied and pointed away from the plateau, on the distant side of the lake there were some ramshackle buildings, a semi-permanent camp, “They just don’t know it yet.”
“Nobody ever tells them?” Nua asked, aghast.
“Some do.” Kaiji said and touched Nua’s hand, “But the Starwatcher faith doesn’t, so many won’t accept that for most of them, the hope is false. The runners run, and then…” She pointed down with her other hand.
“Your hope isn’t false, mistress… that is part… part of why I treasure you.” Kaiji confessed as they reached the top.
Nua didn’t answer as she was taking in the environment around her. The buildings were clearly part of the plateau itself, like the people who settled the place had literally carved the city top down and then hollowed out what they needed for themselves. Kaiji drew her hand away and folded it behind her back.
The buildings were bright and beautiful, being of the same nature as the stone of the upthrust plateau and around them were demon-elves in great numbers. They wore clothing that in Nua’s mind was both very beautiful, and incredibly bizarre. She did a double take, “Wait… are they wearing… feathers?” Nua asked as she looked more closely.
“Yes, they raise birds here, parrots are popular, but far from the only thing. Common cloth is uncommon here, so instead they take thin weaves and then pad it with feathers from birds.” Kaiji explained, leading them through painted streets where no horses trod, but carts passed by pulled by other races that had fled their homes for the promise of freedom given by the sacred city.
Bright dresses of yellow, gold, blue and red, along with cloaks of turquoise and emerald patterned from giant bird feathers were all plentiful. The demon-elves who walked about the streets paid only the scarcest of attention to their coming, though they did merit curious glances here and there, usually from people dining at outdoor cafes off of stone tables and sitting on unmoving stone seats.
“Don’t we need to check in somewhere…?” Nua asked with a wary eye.
“No, I’m sure she is expecting you.” Kaiji replied as they walked the streets toward a large palace with spires thrusting up toward the sky.
“How… exactly would she be expecting me?” Nua asked, furrowing her brow with a doubtful look around her.
“Queen Vexia, my mistress, is not one to be trifled with. For all her failings, she is old and intelligent. She probably guessed that when you accepted the contract with Isaura, that you would stop by here to see her. But that is just a blind stab at one possibility.” Kaiji admitted.
Nua relaxed a bit, “That does make sense.” She uttered.
“I still don’t like this… but I’m with you to the end, my lady.” Sado said with quiet resolve.
They made their way to the palace in due time, demon elves holding mage staffs rather than swords or other more common weapons, crossed them at the door to bar the way.
Kaiji raised her hands and stepped forward. “I am Kaiji, born of Da’nak, and formerly of Komestra, presently of Pas’en, and I come with Duchessa Nua Calen Aiwenor of Pas’en at the behest of Queen Vexia.”
“Oh, you’re the one…” The pair uttered. Nua took note that they were not quite identical to Kaiji, it was a matter of curiosity, demon-elf horns all seemed to differ, coming from the side, the back, the front, and how they curved. Their eyes were always solid, but some were purple, others black, others blue or green or red like Kaiji’s. Little differences were jarring at first, but taking change in stride had become second nature to her at last.
They opened the way into the palace saying, “Just go straight ahead.”
“No escort?” Nua remonstrated the place.
“None needed. But I expect she will have guards where she is.” Kaiji replied to her mistress, the palace stone had been painted a royal purple and lit with enchanted bricks that had been inserted into the otherwise singular continuous structure that the palace was carved to be. The gentle glow of white light made it easy to follow the path laid out in front of them, and they found themselves at a thick stone double door with four guards armed with mage staffs at the ready.
“Duchessa Aiwenor, and her servants, the Queen is expecting you.” A particularly tall and broad demon-elf male uttered, and at his nod, the four grabbed a nickel bar secured into the stone, and pulled slowly outward.
The stone groaned under their pull, and Nua found an almost empty audience chamber. Empty… save for one purple skinned demon-elf. Her horns thrust up from her forehead and curved backward, a tail lashed behind her and curled down to the right side of a throne of dark stone, and sharp looking fingers dug into the stone armrests where she sat.
Nua had barely approached with her companions before the Queen began speaking.
“So, you’re the one.” Queen Vexia groused openly, leaning slightly forward on her throne as if to stand, but she did not.
“I am definitely me, majesty, whether that makes me ‘the one’ depends on what you mean.” Nua said with an obtuse smirk.
Vexia ground her teeth.
“The one I’ve heard so much about.” Vexia replied.
“Oh, you’ve heard much? I imagine most of it is bad.” Nua said with a passive shrug.
Vexia cocked her head. “You admit it?”
Nua bowed politely, “With pride. Your idea of bad, is my idea of... well let’s say ‘productive bad’. I’m not opposed to you, Queen Vexia, simply some of the things you’ve done are in my way.”
Vexia stewed on that for a moment, and Nua spoke again, “It has been a long ride, may I sit, majesty?”
Vexia looked bemused rather than angry for a moment and lifted her chin before smirking, “I am afraid I have the only chair, and I am not offering my lap.”
Nua gave a pleasant laugh of her own, “I brought my own.”
Vexia looked at her with a skeptical eye, searching for the chair for a moment before she gave up. “If you brought it, you may as well use it...”
Nua inclined her head, “Thank you, highness.” She said. Then snapped, “Kaiji! Sado! I require seating!”
It was hard to say who was on all fours faster, but a moment later Nua was on Kaiji’s back with her feet up on Sado between his shoulders. “Better. Thank you, majesty.” Nua said with warmth.
Had she not been purple, the vex queen would have turned it with rage.
“You bring a demon-elf into my sacred city as a slave?! Don’t you know our laws?! Any demon-elf who enters here is immediately considered free!”
“I see.” Nua said, nonplussed. “You heard the Queen, Kaiji, you can go free.”
The Vex Queen had a victorious expression on her face and her arrogant upthrust and cocky look seemed as if it would never fade... until Kaiji erased it with a shout.
“I refuse!” Kaiji announced. Turning her head to the Queen. “Remove my collar and I will put it back on myself! I will not leave her service.”
“You have your answer, Queen Vexia.” Nua added, affectionately patting the dark hair of her devoted servant.
Still seeking after some victory, Vexia looked more closely at the human. “You, human... I have it in my capacity as Queen here to liberate whom I wish. Would you wish to stand again? Or continue to be her footstool?”
Vexia spoke to him but flared at the disruptive wood elf.
“I refuse. If this is how I may stay in her service, then this is how I remain!” He snapped with a defiant glare utterly at odds with his posture.
Knuckles cracked from tension on the throne.
“I brought nothing with me that you could take, Queen Vexia. And before you ask about our lives...” Nua gestured to Sado, “He is the former Prince of Komestra, and one of the greatest warriors in the city states. I am seated on Kaiji Najin, former advisor to him and a magic caster of great skill. As for me...” Nua extended her left hand with her palm up and the black gem glowing. “Well, given who you are, I’m sure you already know. I killed Timnah, I defeated Sado, I broke Bracer, and I have over three thousand victorious warriors a very short trip from here. They’ll be ‘vexed’ if anything happens to me. Maybe you could make a fight of it and win, but none of the city states would ever trust you after I came to you at your invitation.”
Vexia glared quietly as she puzzled on what to say next.
But from beneath Nua, Kaiji kept a mental sigh of exasperation to herself that she would let out loudly later. ‘This… this is not as diplomatic as I hoped my mistress would be.’