Bracer was smiling. Arrival at his destination was easy. It wasn’t much farther than he’d thought it would be. The sole delay was finding a few unfortunate travelers along the road that his little band made sport with for an hour or three before dispatching them.

But he hadn’t smiled once, not even when his playthings were crying and begging. The reason being, security was very tight. He looked out over the waystation. The walls were thirty feet high, and even from where he’d sat in the tree, thick. ‘We’re definitely not enough to handle a siege.’ It had been an angry thought that was followed by the angrier thought, ‘All this was for nothing.’

But now he was smiling. Because the large escort was leaving, filing out in rows of four, and they were going East, returning home, not going all the way west to the drop point. ‘Lucky me. Life is so much easier when you can rely on cowardice.’ He caressed his sword affectionately and licked his lips, slowly drawing his tongue around them as he thought of the prize that awaited him. It was only with the greatest of effort that he drew himself back from his fantasies, and drew his bandits up in the treeline to explain what they were to do, and how they were to do it.

Prince Sado sat in his cell with his knees up to his chest. For the thousandth time he touched the gold collar on his neck. ‘Heavy’ He grumbled. At his side, leaning against him in an almost identical posture, was the comfort woman who had been given to him. No collar sat around her neck, only a golden choker shaped like men and women in various stages of copulation. Her identification and ‘advertisement’ of her profession as a high class courtesan. Where he was broad and strong, hard of muscle even after his captivity, she was soft, firm, but like a ripe peach and every bit as delicious. Where he was dark of hair, skin, and eyes… she was fair with eyes of hazel. Though they were closed at the moment.

‘I wonder how much her house made from this contract.’ Sado pondered as he put his arm around her. Still, bound or not, she was skilled and enthusiastic, and had been a comfort to him since his capture.

“Still awake?” She asked quietly with her eyes still closed.

“Yes…” He said in his deep baritone voice.

“I didn’t tire you out enough?” She smiled with her eyes still closed, her ruby lips kissed his shoulder and she let her head rest against his own.

“You’ve… been amazing, when I ascend to the stars after my sacrifice, I will praise your company and kindness, and I suppose, I must praise Prince Rasgen as well for giving me as much… consideration, as he has. This could have been far more unpleasant.” He replied, bemused and with more bravery than he really felt.

“Well, since this is your last night here… let me make it a good one.” She smiled wickedly, and traced her tongue all the way down the center of his warrior’s body, drawing his legs out with one gentle motion of her hand, until she took his manhood into her mouth.

He let out a gasp of pleasure as she exercised her trade and revealed the pride she took in her work. His head tilted back and he saw the large bright white moon through the barred window. A warm breeze passed through that marked the slow turning of the season. In a few weeks the great night rains would be gone, people would prepare for harvests, life would go on. ‘But not for me.’ He reflected as he tried not to think about that, and instead tried to think only of the mouth and the admittedly great skills of the woman who came with it.

She rose, and flung a leg over him, and lowered herself so that she was straddling his body with her own. She pressed her breasts against him and moaned with pleasure at the feel of his hands around her back and his mouth upon her neck. If she was faking it out of professional pride, or genuinely enjoyed him, well he couldn’t tell. If it were false, she was a skilled pretender.

He however, was not, and for the last night of his life among the people East of nightmare, he forgot that tomorrow he would cross that border and be laid out as a feast for the Tlalmok Emperor. One last night, one last kiss, one last touch, one last fuck for one dead Prince walking. He savored it all, the blending of their sweat and the scent of their mingled sex, she milked him of every ounce of pleasure she could draw from his body, until he lost control, and collapsed against the stone wall with the fullness of his release.

After the forgetfulness of their frenzied mating, returned the knowledge of his pending doom, and he took her hand, and gestured to the bed of thick straw that was his for his final night in the waystation.

“Once more?” She asked with a raised eyebrow as she looked down at his now very clearly exhausted male organ.

He shook his head, “No… I just want to lie with you there, until I fall asleep.”

She gave a demure smile that belied her trade, and went with him to lie there.

“Tomorrow, they’re taking me, you’re probably the last person I’ll be able to talk to. I guess I have to live with the fact that one hundred lives are spared because of me. That will have to be enough.” He said regretfully, “I never saw this coming, though. Could you… hear me out, before I sleep?”

She gave a small titter of silver laughter. “You men always think you’re hiring us for sex, but the truth is… that’s just a precursor to what you really want. For us to listen and leave. You say we gossip… but when the sword you’re born with hangs like a tired snake, you talk like women.” She kissed him on the lips, delving playfully with her tongue. “Go ahead… Prince of Komestra. It’d be my pleasure to hear you.” She let her delicate hand find his as she lay facing him, and as their fingers intertwined, he began.

“When I ascended to the purple, I had… such dreams. Komestra, I don’t know if you’d ever been there. But we are… were, a proud people. A strong people. Our lands were fertile, our victories many.” He snorted, “My best two advisors, Onimeus and Kaiji, practically raised me, and I loved them like family. But… they couldn’t see what I saw. How the annual wars kept us from being able to face the real threat in the west. If only… if only they had listened. If only everybody had listened. I… I thought if I could make Komestra’s military might unbeatable, I could ‘force’ the other cities to listen to me. Force us to unify, to face the threat of the Tlalmok together as one. They both said I was naive. Turns out… they were right. I dreamt all our great cities coming together, one army, our orcs and elves, demon-elves and humans, the halflings and even the dwarves farther east. All under one banner… I thought… we could do it!” His eyes welled up. “I thought… if I could turn slaves into citizens, farm the land, raise my numbers, in twenty years I could raise a large enough army that everybody would have to listen. Onimeus and Kaiji both told me that they’d turn on me. Onimeus even told me we could win if only Rasgen didn’t take part. I didn’t listen. I was seeing only the vision of what could be… and in the end I destroyed us all. So… that’s it. Last epitaph of one stupid, headstrong Prince… and it’s spoken on a bed of straw to a hired courtesan.”

“Of the highest caliber.” She smirked a bit. “But that… is quite a dream, Prince of fallen Komestra. If only you could have made it real, who knows?”

He didn’t answer, his eyes were already closed and his breathing became regular. She lay there, still holding onto his hand. A bitter smile on her face as she thought of the impossible vision. ‘If things had been a little different, he might have become the greatest Prince in a thousand years. Now… he’s just going to be a meal for the Tlalmok emperor and his people will be in chains until they have no identity left. Very sad. Very, very sad.’ She thought, and gently let her hand fall away from his as sleep came over her as well.

“You call that hidden?! God damn city twits…” Nua barked, “Get down here and see for yourself, you’re more obvious than a six foot erection on a three foot dwarf!”

The two slaves jumped down out of the tree, clumsily, but without any broken limbs, and came to where Nua stood.

“Now look!” She said harshly and ran over to the tree [Agility Boost] she whispered, and jumped from branch to branch in quick, successive hops that left them wide eyed until she stood at what was supposed to be a blind. “I see you. Can you see me?” She demanded with her hands on her hips.

They nodded dumbly.

“Then it isn’t hidden, is it?” She asked rhetorically, and they shook their heads with red faces.

“I’m trying to keep you all alive here. If you’re trying to die, just shove your swords into your throats and be done with it, then at least you won’t die tired.” She groused at them and hopped down. “One of you stand here and watch, direct the other, that way you can see where the problems are, and compensate accordingly without me having to walk by and yell at you.”

“Yes, Captain Aiwenor!” They responded quickly and saluted her in the fashion she’d taught them.

‘In time I’ll show them where it comes from. Maybe tonight, they’re all working hard. A good story might set them at ease with me, help them trust me more.’ She thought as she went over to the next station.

A few bandit corpses had been nailed to the remains of a burned up house, and a distance away, her followers were shooting arrows into it relentlessly. “Good, but keep your legs out like this!” She kicked one leg back from one of them by a few inches. Then went to the next and as he drew the bow, she tilted it slightly up. “And aim a little higher, the arrow will arc in flight.”

They loosed, and one of the arrows struck the crotch of a corpse. “Although… hit there and I think you’ve accomplished just as much. But if you aim small, you’ll miss small. So aim a little higher. Maybe Komestrans have ones big enough to make that the best target, but I doubt these bandits are so lucky.” She managed a smile at them and after seeing it was safe, the slaves began to laugh and return her smile to them.

She then went and checked the pitfalls that a group of six were digging near where the blinds would be hidden. The slaves were covered in mud and filth, but they were digging hard. “The lives of your fellow Komestrans depend on you digging those holes! Your city fell, but you didn’t! Will you fail your brothers and sisters a second time?!” That was all it took for them to dig like moles. She looked down into the pits, they were three feet deep, just as she’d ordered. “Good, now, I want sharp stakes down there, go to the tree line and start making them. Nobody reaches the archers without some ugly wounds.”

She moved on before they’d even gotten all the way out of the holes. Yorig rushed up to where she stood. “Ma’am, I’ve shown them where the stones are, they’re big enough, but moving them will take time.”

Nua shook her head, “Not really.” She turned and shouted, “Solution! I need your help!”

Solution approached from where she was standing with her arms crossed, and looking quite bored. “Yes, Lady Aiwenor?” She said in the perfect posture of a servant with a slight bow forward.

Nua could feel the barely suppressed look of amusement.

“We need heavy things moved, you’re going to help me.” Nua ordered, and as Yorig turned and led them into the wood, Nua felt the bliss of the trees around her again and her enthusiastic mood began to rise even higher. It didn’t take long to find what they were looking for.

“This is it.” Yorig said sadly, “These… my friends and I, we used to play ‘King of the Hill’ on these boulders, knock each other off and see who could stay up there the longest, I never won for long but, it was always fun. We’d pretend to be the great defenders of the village, or mighty heroes from stories… now… now…” He reached out and touched a stone. “I still can’t believe it.”

Nua put her hand on his shoulder sympathetically, “Life is full of horrors we can’t believe, but are real nonetheless. Betrayal from those we love, hurts more than the injuries they inflict on us.”

She clenched her eyes as the memory returned… her desperate cry for him to come back, the yank of a leash, and then he was gone, and she had to endure the bidding again… ‘Years ago, I’d have cried over that memory… today…?’

‘Would you like to kill someone… it’s been a few days and I’m getting bored, you’ve got all these people, surely you wouldn’t miss a few of them, they do belong to you after all, just replace them later.’ Yersin asked with plaintive and exasperated tone of voice, but Nua had not a moment to answer, another, more present voice called her away...

“Captain?” Yorig asked hesitantly. “You alright?” He looked down at her with pursed lips.

She snapped out of it, and shook her head, “It’s fine, just a memory, let’s just say you’re not the only one who knows a thing or two about the pain of being betrayed by those you love.” She spat out the words like they were spoiled milk and looked over at Solution. “Come on, help me.”

Solution shrugged and punched her hand into a boulder as tall as two men and broad enough around that it would have taken twenty or more, holding hands with arms outstretched, to encompass it. She then simply walked away, dragging the stone behind her.

Yorig stared, open mouthed at what he saw while branches and trees cracked and broke in her wake.

“Show off.” Nua rolled her eyes. [Lighten Load][Lesser Strength] She uttered her arts, took up a rock larger than her body and put it over her shoulder, then began to walk after Solution to the road leading into and out of the village of the dead.

The work went on and on like that, pits were dug, blinds were built, archery was practiced, basic swordwork was undertaken. Gradually, the ambush spot was prepared. And the first day came to a close with the setting sun and the cover of night, bringing them together at camp outside the southern entry.

“Well, Sergeant Vargas, how did it go?” Nua asked as he stood in front of her and rendered the salute she’d taught him with a fist over his heart.

Enthusiasm lit up Vargas’s face, and his hands became quite animated, fingers opening and closing into fists, as he went through it all. “Ma’am, it’s going well actually. We finished the pitfalls and almost all of the concealment for them, those will be done first thing in the morning. The stakes are already in place, with the thatching finished, so other than that, all we have to do is fighting drills and positioning drills, and we’ll be ready when they get here.”

“Excellent.” Nua said truthfully, “Alright, time to eat, and swap out your foot coverings, I’m not having a single slave laid out with rotted feet or infection from scratches in the blood and muck from today. I’m not going to waste a healing potion on stupidity.” She made the order sharp, but her face was a mask of concern that wasn’t lost on the little band.

When the fire was going, the boots were off, and food was bubbling in a few pots, Nua sat herself on a few rocks watching over her slaves. ‘My slaves… my property. I bought these people… people… and now I’m going to send them to fight, maybe to die. For me to advance ‘my’ goals. Nua… is this what you want? Look at them, they already lost everything else, are you going to take away their lives too?’ She asked that question of herself, losing herself to the thought.

‘If it would get Raymond back, well how far would he go to return you to life? You can’t do less than he would, than he actually did. But even forgetting that, think about what your goals actually are! If everything goes how you want it, you can free them again, that’s a better chance than most ever get. You might even be able to restore their city and get most of their people returned to their homes. And on top of all that, the Dark Savior’s prophecy is coming and everybody knows it. Well, ‘back home’ everybody knows it. The minotaur kingdom is getting more and more militant, in no small part thanks to you. It’s only a matter of time before they tell the Triumvirate to screw themselves when they demand tribute. And only a matter of time before Mu’Ulm really tears up one of their larger raids. Mounted minotaurs is a crazy enough idea. Minotaurs riding undead horses is a whole other level. Just… don’t throw their lives away. Use your slaves with care, and one day… when you can… make it right. No matter what it takes.’ She turned her face away from where the slaves chatted among themselves and wiped her eyes, looking out into the darkness where Solution was no doubt gathering prey.

She looked for so long and with such focus that she almost didn’t notice the slave that knelt in front of her with a bowl of stew raised up and her head cast down. ‘This is Veena? Veema’s mother… whatever the name… the child who was sold.’ Nua felt a pang in her heart as the posture of the elf warrior offering food in supplication. Against her better nature, she sometimes savored human submission, even when she ached to end it, yet one of her own, whose humble eyes were no doubt still filled with fear as they lay downcast and longing for the touch of a lost loved one, hit too close to home for Nua to feel anything but hatred for herself.

“Food… for our mistress, our captain. We wait for your permission to eat.” She said deferentially, Nua took up the bowl and held it in her lap.

“Eat. You’ve all earned it today.” Nua said with her nose turned up slightly, and they quickly began scooping up bowls of the meaty stew.

The elf woman looked up at her with disbelief, “Y-you’re letting us eat the meat of the stew, not just… vegetables and broth… I thought, I thought…”

Nua held her right hand out with her palm up. “I permit your supplication.” She said arrogantly.

The elf woman performed the submissive act of gratitude as Nua spoke. “You are going to be fighting, some of you, may end up dying. Nobody should do either of those on an empty stomach and what does go in there, ought to be decent. You’re warriors, slave warriors, but warriors. You will be fed like those who fight. You are my Breakers. I bought your lives, but I know that not all worth is measured in coin, and loyalty is not so easily bought.”

“Y-You speak of your promise?” The elven woman whispered with breathless hope.

“I do. Anyone who dies fighting, well I had my slave visit you for a reason. Your death will buy the freedom and safety of any captured loved ones. But… only if you die bravely. Die running away, and I forget they existed just the same way as I forget cowards. But you who fights the hardest of all, well, you know I can afford to keep my promise. Keep faith with me, and I will keep faith with you. There is far, far more lying beyond this day in my eyes, than you could possibly believe. And for those of you who live to see it, you will praise the day I bought you. Even Sergeant Elf Fucker.” She chuckled a bit at the memory, and Vargas turned beet red again.