Surprisingly, the surviving leaders of the army were not all men. Sure, most of them were, as military service was a predominantly male occupation, and noble ladies weren’t exactly the type to go leading campaigns, as a rule. However, obviously not all women shied away from the battlefield, even amongst the nobility. I, myself, was proof of that. So, I wasn’t entirely surprised to see that, out of the twenty nobles and officers stripped and placed before me by the army before they ran for their lives, four of them were women.
My troops bound the prisoners, and brought them into the fort to face my judgement. Several of the prisoners I knew already. Baron Emery Daybranch and his two children, Gaylord and Avelina were nobles from Nearfall. More specifically, they were the nobles whose territory had, on paper, included J’Nast and Trenia. When I claimed my kingdom, I’d cut their barony by a third. Of course, if they had actually been doing their duty as lords, I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish that so easily.
Duke Owyne Emberlance had been the noble under them, who was actually in charge of the dukedom that I’d usurped to form my kingdom. Emberlance had fled J’Nast the moment my forces took Trenia to ‘consult’ with Daybranch, leaving his daughter Elicia with orders to hold the city at all costs. She had, instead, surrendered it to me in return for being named Lady Mayor of the city. Now taking the name Frostlance, she had disavowed and disowned her father who had left her to die.
Then there was General Barnet Loweye. Born a commoner, but his exploits in battle had given him the right to start his own minor noble house, House Loweye. I would have expected a better campaign out of someone with his reputation, but perhaps the Baron had been the one running the show?
The final ‘worthy’ that I recognized out of the group was Wymon Silverhand, the leader of the largest merchant house in J’Nast before the change in rulership. He had fled with Duke Emberlance, and, unfortunately for him, had discovered that his subordinates who he’d left behind were more than capable of running things in his absence. Those same subordinates were all too willing to swear fealty to me in order to gain control of their old boss’s businesses. And much of his former wealth had gone to building my castle.
That still left eleven men and three women I had not learned the names of. But that did not matter terribly much, at the moment. After all, their former lives no longer mattered. Perhaps, if I had been interested in ransoming them off to their former lands, they might have been worth learning, but Nearfall would not do the same for my commanders, so I saw no reason to do so for theirs.
As the naked men and women were forced to kneel before me, I looked them over. None of them were badly hurt, or near death, but not one of them was unscathed. The mob had not been gentle in casting them down, after all, and more than one commoner amongst the levies had a grudge against the nobles. Several were already starting to get bruises on their head and face, and I’m fairly certain that Lord Gaylord had lost a couple teeth.
“Well, well, well. You foolish little creatures thought you could take what I had rightfully won, because you had angels on your side. Perhaps you should have paid more attention to the way the wind was blowing, rather than your own greed? Of course, it matters not. You are all mine to judge, now. Your former ranks, titles, and wealth mean nothing to me. There is no way to buy your freedom, or escape this fate. The only question is what, exactly, I will do with you.”
I paused, and looked over the group. “Because I think it will entertain my loyal followers, I will give each of you a chance to plea your case, and beg for leniency. Do a good enough job, and I may offer you a lesser punishment. Insult me, and I will ensure that death will seem a blessing by the end.” I pointed to the general. “General, you may start.”
The general held himself proudly, despite still kneeling naked on the ground in the middle of the fort’s walls. “Queen Rimedancer, I will only say that I followed my oaths to the best of my ability, and ask that, whatever you do to me, that you show mercy to those officers who served under me. They deserved better than to have the Baron’s brutish strategy be their undoing.”
Ah, the general did not beg for himself, but asked clemency for his underlings? How noble. And it pissed off the Baron, if his outraged sputtering was any indication. “Which of these, then, are the officers you wish me to offer clemency to?”
“Ouen, Nicholas, Bartelot, Richart, Warren, Elyscia, raise your heads!” At the general’s command, five men and one woman raised their heads, a mix of anger and resignation in their faces. “These six have served with me for years, and I vouch for their good conduct.”
“Very well. I offer you six this choice. Your general has forsaken his own chance at mercy for you to have a chance at something better. Therefore, I offer you my foot,” I said, stepping my left foot forward slightly. “Crawl forth, and kiss it, and you shall be given the life of a slave in my household, where you shall be fed, and housed, and clothed. Though the rest of your days will be spent in my service, you will not be abused or mistreated unless you do something to warrant punishment.”
I paused for a moment, and then continued, with steel in my voice, “However, if that is not to your liking, then, for each of you that refuses, your general’s fate will grow worse, and those who refuse shall join in it. You will be the ones who decide how much torment your commander suffers. Choose now.”
The woman, Elyscia, was the first to break. With tears on her face, she crawled forward, and kissed my boot. The five men followed soon after. When the last of them was done, I nodded, and looked to one of the soldiers. “Fetch clothing for them, suited to their new station and the cold. Treat them as servants of your Queen deserve.”
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As a runner went off to bother the quartermaster, I turned back to face the general. “You have shown honor, General, and care for those under your command, like a father would his sons and daughters. As a child of the frozen north, and the tribes who roam the lands beyond the Worldspine Mountains, I commend you. As the queen deciding your fate, I must condemn you. But you will not suffer. Captain, your axe is called for! Make it quick, and clean, for he has won that much mercy from me with his care for his subordinates.”
Captain Whiterazor stepped forth, his two-handed axe in hand. Looking at the general, he said, “Bow your head, so I have a clean shot at your neck, General.” Loweye bowed his head, extending his neck. His eyes were closed, and a look of resignation was on his face as the axe fell, with his head meeting the cold dirt a moment later.
I nodded once, when it was done. “Take his body away, and bury it with the bodies of the fallen. His soldiers shall accompany him to his soul’s rest.”
Now, there were thirteen of the twenty remaining. I pointed at one of the six remaining men I did not know. “You, next. Who are you, and why should I spare you?”
“Barnard is my name, your Majesty. I am a cleric of the Red Knight. I joined the army because my oaths required it. All I ask is that my body be given over to followers of my faith for the proper rites to be done.”
There was something I had not expected. “The Red Knight, hmm? Then I sentence you thus. You shall be taken to Trenia, and put into service at the shrine to your goddess there. For four years and a day you shall not touch weapon or armor, nor wear any clothes but a loincloth. Instead of combat and strategy upon the battlefield, you shall wage your battles against dust and grime, cleaning floors and other such menial labor. The paladins Balde and Gery shall oversee your punishment, and be answerable to any lapses you show. Do you understand me?”
The man straightened slightly, and then bowed. “I thank you for your mercy, your Majesty.”
The next man was somewhat arrogant, since I’d been merciful so far. Or perhaps he was just full of more zealotry than sense. Either way, he declared himself a paladin of Torm, as did the other unknowns. Their righteousness did not shield them from their fate, however, as I bade Sanvi come forth. One by one, the sorceress cast a spell, and the five men were changed into women.
That little use of the Polymorph Any Object spell to permanently change their gender was followed by my laying several curses upon all seven of them with my Curse of Despair power. They each suffered a -6 to their STR, CON, and WIS abilities, and then a further -4 to all their attacks, saves, ability checks, and skill checks. Essentially, until or unless they received several spells to remove curses, their lives as holy warriors were over.
But that was not the end. Finally, I gave them their true sentence. From that day forth, they would spend the rest of their lives serving in the brothels of Trenia, where their divinely granted good health could be put to use warding them from any diseases that their customers brought them.
That pronouncement of doom caused the women to try and fight, perhaps in hopes that they would get killed, and be spared their fate. My troops were not some rabble, however. They were subdued quickly, and cheers went up through the fort as I ordered them to be put to use immediately, so that they could have a start on their ‘training’ before they reached Trenia.
The servants of Torm deserved worse, but I knew this would torment them more than any torture resulting in death that I could devise for them. I would just have to settle for the knowledge that they were going to be disgraced, and that there was nothing they could do about it. That, and the money they would earn me.
“Now, we have the real leaders of this assault against us. At least amongst the mortals. Let us start with the merchant. Why should we not do to you as we did to those paladins?”
Despite his earlier looks of arrogance, Silverhand was near frantic as the fat man squirmed about on the ground. “Please! I have money! Even with the losses from the businesses you stole from me, I still have wealth! And I have connections in other lands. Valuable connections! I could introduce you to them.”
I shook my head, dismissively. “Your former second introduced me to all your contacts worth knowing already, and your remaining wealth is not worth considering. But you claim that I stole those businesses from you? I did no such thing. You fled, abandoning them, and your people. So, I ‘liberated’ them from your mismanagement.
“But I guess a greedy pig will always be a greedy pig, unaware of his own faults. Captain! Have the merchant taken to the kitchens. Tell the cooks that we are having a feast to celebrate the victory, and that our dear merchant is to aid in the meal.”
The merchant and captive nobles looked confused. Only the Baron’s daughter seemed to notice the laughing, predatory looks on some of my soldiers’ faces, most notably the goblins, as the merchant was led away like the pig he was. Her face grew properly fearful, though I noticed that she made no move to try and warn the other nobles.
“Next, we have the former Duke, who ran away from his responsibilities at the first hint of danger, and left his daughter to try and defend his lands while he went to hide in safety. I have no interest in hearing your excuses for this foolhardy attempt to ride the baron’s coattails back into your old lands. You may have this chance to beg for death, if you like.”
“Hah! I’ll never beg to the likes of barbarian filth such as you!”
“Ah, excellent. Guards, unman him, and then ensure that he does not bleed out. He shall be given as a gift to the Lady Mayor of J’Nast, Elicia Frostlance, to serve as her slave, or whatever other torments she might enjoy bestowing upon him. Let the abandoned daughter sit as arbiter of the father’s fate.”
The Duke screamed as he was dragged away, with some kind of idiotic refrain about how I couldn’t do this. I ignored him, and turned to Lord Gaylord, the Baron’s son. “Well now. What about you, little lordling?” I paused as the Duke’s pained wail informed everyone that the first part of his sentence had just been carried out. “Perhaps you would like to join the duke? Or the merchant? Or perhaps the paladin’s fate was more to your liking?”
However, the Baron answered for him. “Hmph! You won’t do anything to us! Those lesser nobles and commoners might be one thing, but we are of House Daybranch! You may have tricked those others, but you wouldn’t dare kill one of the Barons of Nearfall! You would face the entire might of the country, then, and they would destroy you. No, you’ll ransom us back, the only question is how much do you want?”
“Does this pig speak for the piglets, as well? Or do one of you have more sense in your heads? Come, come. We can’t have this go on all day, or we’ll miss dinner.”
Avelina, the daughter, clearly had a better head on her shoulders than her father or brother did. While her brother looked defiant, and told me he stood with his father (even though they were both on their knees), Avelina put her head to the ground, and cried, “He does not speak for me, your Majesty! I submit to you, and whatever judgement you make, but I do not wish to share the same fate as my father or brother!”
“Coward! Do not expect me to come and rescue you, once my freedom has been restored, you ungrateful bitch. Your use in marriage will have already been ruined by these barbarians tainting you.”
I ignored the Baron’s outcry. “Guards, take those two to the kitchens, to go with the merchant. It appears that we shall have three little pigs as the center of our feast tonight, instead of one.”
The Baron’s face went pale as he realized the meaning of my words. It took his son a few moments more to get it through his skull, but by the time the two of them started their protests, the guards were already leading them away to the kitchens. Which left just the girl.
“Sanvi, her face, if you please.”
The fallen archon touched the young noblewoman, and a healing spell washed over her, taking away her bruises and wounds. When that was done, I said, “Avelina of no house, former daughter of House Daybranch, you are sentenced to serve as a slave of House Rimedancer for the rest of your days. You shall attend Us in our bedchambers or wherever else We see fit. You will start tonight, serving at my hand during dinner. If you are good, I may even let you have a taste while it is still warm. Guards, get her something to wear, as befits her new station!”