*Fan Art Submission: Nua at the Grave

When Nua rode through the gate there was no fanfare, parade, or glorious accolades to be had. Her twenty five were well armed and armored enough to draw notice and attention, but not famous enough among the commons to bring people to a stop on sight. They navigated the long road and sparse space in the streets. People bought and sold goods, bartering took place in ever greater numbers. Slaves in bronze, iron, silver, and leather collars were plentiful and moved about in clothing befitting the status of their collar. The few bronze collared slaves with purple tags spoke loudly, proudly, they yelled at the free who would wheedle their master out of one more coin, and even at each other when the free didn’t feel like dealing with them. In various corners, the poorest of the poor wore rags and held out cupped hands or cheap, chipped wooden bowls begging for coin. Haughty horsemen trotted along the street, not even noticing the rabble that knew well enough to get out of the way.

It was a living city that moved about with a thousand different purposes. Through that chaos, Nua’s little band moved with relative ease. The sound of marching feet of the slave warriors was unique in their absolute uniformity. A single step sang from the stone when they hit ground, but in one thing they were imperfect. They did not look straight ahead. Instead their eyes were cast up slightly at the slender back of the woman who had bought their lives and bled with them, and down to their fallen prince who now stood in rags and a golden collar.

Prince Sado swallowed as he walked behind the pair of odd women, and in front of the formation. He stared back and forth from one to the other. ‘If I close my eyes… It's like leading soldiers again. My warriors… my warriors…’ He felt tears form behind closed eyes for those who had died already, and who would continue to die. ‘Those are my people behind me. Their lives are hers to dispose of, and now I am the same as they are. In the hands of an unknown. Kaiji… if only I had your guidance now.’ He lost his heart to memory for a moment as he walked to meet the victor who had claimed his freedom.

He rolled his eyes, ‘I should have listened to Kaiji before.’ He clenched his fist and then looked down sullenly at the stone under his feet. The clip clop of the hooves from the two horses in front of him brought the memories of his own horse to mind. It had cried as it died with a spear in its noble breast… the way it tumbled to the ground, kicking and whinnying. The fear in its huge eyes as it saw its own death descending on it. The crack of the spear as it broke against the stone of his city. The pain in his flesh brought Sado back to reality. He opened his hands and saw that his nails had torn through the flesh of his palms and caused them to bleed. Small streaks of red smeared over them, and only then did he force himself to remain calm.

He felt the heartbeat in his breast begin to slow as they made their way through the wealthy district, and all the way to the palace. Sado’s steady footing faltered as they came close, and he bumped into Nua’s horse in that distracted, clumsy moment. She looked over her shoulder and down at him. “Watch yourself, Prince of Chains.” Nua said softly.

He nodded hastily and drew himself up with a squared and dignified posture. Nua gave him a satisfied nod as the guards approached. “Keep your dignity, no matter what happens, even I can’t say for sure what that will be.” She whispered softly and gripped the reigns of her horse tighter in her hands. Sado noticed this and suppressed the curiosity, keeping it from showing on his face.

Then she was relaxed, like visiting an old friend. She looked behind her to Sergeant Vargas. “Hold my soldiers here, out of the way of the gate, but wait for me. Keep formation, don’t let them be seen slacking off in discipline. There will be time to relax later. Understood?” She asked the question in a crisp tone that told them it was an entirely rhetorical question.

Sado watched the still unfamiliar salute being rendered to the elven captain. “The little ones,” Nua pointed to the twin girls, “they can relax, and Freyjin can fall out of formation to come with me.”

“Yes, Captain Aiwenor.” Vargas replied with a brief salute.

Nua returned the salute, and when he dropped it, she turned to Sado. “You, Prince of Chains, take him.” Nua smacked the unconscious Bracer in the face to indicate her wishes, and Sado took up the limp form of the former smuggler over his shoulder.

“Freyjin, grab the sack of ears, and follow.” Nua barked it smoothly to the woman, and she heard the twin girls whimper as Freyjin shushed and reassured them of their safety before following.

A pang stabbed Nua in her heart, but only a pang before she showed her back to them.

“Solution, you’ll probably be bored by this part, why don’t you wait here until I get this out of the way?” Nua asked, only for Solution to shake her head.

“No, I’m guarding you, that’s my job.” Solution looked ahead where the guards moved sluggishly toward them. “I smell fear, so much fear and sadness inside there.” She licked her lips and rocked slightly in the saddle of her horse.

Nua’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “I see.” She said shortly, “Well let’s hope you stay bored.”

The guards finally came near, and Nua rendered ‘her’ salute to them. “Captain Aiwenor, returning with the smuggler named ‘Bracer’ for the personal judgement of the Prince of Pas’en.”

Eyes widened on the pair of fresh faced young men, their hazel eyes might have belonged to twins, and they spontaneously removed their helmets and held them over their hearts, revealing identical faces and proving their brotherhood. “He killed our brother, ‘Captain Aiwenor. We who are two, were once three, thank you, thank you for avenging our loss.” They spoke in unison and with deep sincerity in their eyes that was shown true by the welling tears.

Nua was briefly flummoxed, her mouth opened unexpectedly, then closed, then inclined her head to them and said, “I am sure he died bravely, I’ll raise a cup to him. But you should also thank them.” Nua turned to one side and gestured to where her slaves were moving out of the way of the gate to allow others to pass through when needed. “My slaves, the twenty five of them, fought valiantly, and together we brought him down. If you wish to show gratitude to anyone…” Nua winked, “the Prince is rewarding me, so how about you reward them. Give them some water, some small rations if you can, and make sure nobody bothers them while I’m gone.”

“Ma’am… you want us to reward… slaves?” The twins asked in unison and looked at her like she was from another world.

Nua cocked her head, ‘That was a mistake, they threw me off more than I thought just then. OK, recover it.’ She thought and put on the most arrogant ‘look down your nose’ expression she could manage. A picture came to mind, the expression of Pharmakia, and a memory she could never shake. ‘So… you love my husband, do you slave…?’ Nua recalled the question, the cold eyes, the curl of the lip, the open stance with legs shoulder width apart to take up more space. She adopted it as her own at that moment. “Don’t you give a dog treats when it performs well? Isn’t avenging your brother worthy of something? I’m getting a very large reward, give them scraps of thanks, at least.” She jerked her thumb behind her in the direction of her little company as she encouraged the small act of generosity.

The twins looked at one another, nodded, accepting her reasoning. “As you say.” They replied in unison, and by some curiously silent method, decided who would return and who would stand guard. “Go on in, and again, with our gratitude.” The remainder uttered, and Nua walked past him with Sado, Solution, Freyjin, and a slowly awakening Bracer in tow.

Their steps echoed on the stone steps, the great double door creaked and groaned as the guards opened it for them and then fell into step beside her. Nua felt her skin tingle as she moved through the great open hall and then down the narrow stretch. A part of her wanted to laugh. ‘Is this real?! Is this really me?! Am I really doing this?!’ She cried out in her head with supreme happiness. ‘A less than nothing slave, now a leader of men, a warrior, a killer of… not insignificant skill if I do say so myself. Thank you… Raymond, Solution, Your Majesty… Dark Savior.’ Gratitude swelled in her breast and boldness followed hot behind it, her feet moved with swift and clipped echoing confidence. She ate up the distance and closed the space to the large door that led to the open court of Prince Rasgen. The finery on the walls, the paintings and portraits, she barely saw them.

Ahead there lay only another step in her ambitions, and she savored it, her mouth watered as if hungry, her hands swung at her side, her eyes stared unflinchingly forward and with such intensity that the guards beside her unconsciously fell back as if afraid the heat of it would burn their flesh if they drew to close.

Solution felt the change in her student, and her twisted smile was only barely kept human in proportion as she watched desire, hunger, and the lust for triumph take hold in her pupil.

She didn’t wait for the guards when she reached the doors, she flung them open herself, protocol was nothing but a delay, a barrier, the doors flung open loudly as if running from her fiery passion. Her eyes held a golden glow as she entered and eyes about the court flung to the unexpected entry.

“Prince of Pas’en!” Nua called out energetically as she came to the required distance, “I have returned as promised!” She snapped out the crisp salute of fist over her heart and inclined her head to him. “And I have brought a gift!” She exclaimed, sweeping her arm behind her. Sado approached and, going to his knees, he lowered the now very conscious Bracer, who immediately began a futile struggle with a single flopping arm and leg.

It was only then that Nua noticed the unshaven face, the haggard look, the drawn, pallid face. At his side sat a no less drawn and worn out Sobella. The deep purple flesh of a demon-elf had become the kind of ashen gray that Nua recognized as a sign of heavy tears. The entire court seemed silent. She looked around her.

The Prince spoke in a hushed and grave voice, his head barely raised. If he cared that she still didn’t kneel, he gave no sign. He looked down at the form of Bracer, and then at the kneeling man that had laid him down.

“Prince Sado…?” He said softly, his eyes widening as he looked to his former rival.

“I am, Prince Rasgen. Or I was. Now the only thing I am Prince of is Chains. But yes, before your victory, I was Prince Sado of Komestra.” He raised his face to look at where his rival sat, from where he himself knelt.

“So it’s true.” Rasgen whispered. But though he looked and saw, his eyes were lacking in their lustre.

“Sire?” Nua asked uncertainly, folding her hands behind her back while she cast her eyes about her. ‘It’s like they’re all one half dead right now. I’ve seen zombies with more life to them.’ She thought as she took in the hung heads and mournful looks. “Has something happened?”

Prince Rasgen gave a slow half nod. “We got word that the tribute of Sado had been taken, some have suggested it was a Komestran raid.” Rasgen added, then turned his eyes from Sado to Bracer and then to Nua.

Both Nua and Sado shook their heads. The former Prince of Komestra spoke up loudly and boldly, and did not turn his steely look away from his former rival. “No, Prince Rasgen. Bracer raided the wagon I was traveling in. He said he was hired by a merchant who wished to be the one to present me as tribute himself. I was ‘recovered’ when Captain Aiwenor ambushed Bracer and his band on their way back from the raid, at one of the villages the smuggler destroyed.”

“I… see.” Rasgen said with uncharacteristic slowness. “How many casualties did you suffer, Captain Aiwenor.”

“We lost one man.” Nua said, and at their feet, Bracer began to swear.

“Fucking bitch! You bitch… you fucking elf trash, the Theocracy should have just raped all your kind to death and tossed your meat to the dogs!” He howled in rage and bowed his back, pounding his one remaining hand on the stone as he screamed his words out in fury.

Nua felt the old fear of human anger well up within, only for it to be immediately extinguished by the wave of rage that swept through her blood to all but burst her heart. She looked over to her bodyguard, “Solution, take his tongue, would you? He’s being rude to the Prince.”

“Gladly.” Solution giggled, and Bracer began shaking his head desperately. “No! No! No!” He cried out as the violent refusal of his shaking head continued in a hopeless motion. Solution put her knee on his chest and jabbed her hand down into his tight shut mouth, shattering his teeth, and out of sight of others, her hand dissolved it away all the way to the base.

She withdrew her hand as a closed fist, and reclaimed her position at Nua’s right hand with her fist closed tight behind her back as if nothing had happened.

“Let’s see him talk that way of my kind again.” Nua smirked at the wailing remains of what had been a human of some renown. There were some pale looks at the cold conduct of the elven captain. Bracer still let out strangled moans that were more like heavy breaths, but it became easy to ignore him.

“My apologies, Prince of Pas’en.” Nua gave a half bow with lowered eyes, “I should have removed his tongue before he could say such offensive things. This however, does bring up something else. Bracer, in a province of my homeland, was once known as ‘Cerebrate’. I believe he is now a wanted man there, and after he is punished ‘here’ I request permission to send what is left of him, home for disposal.”

Prince Rasgen placed both of his hands on the armrests of his throne, and slowly pushed his body up to a standing position. “Stand him up.” He ordered calmly. Sado hefted the limp and groaning form onto one leg as his former rival approached. Rasgen grabbed Bracer by the hair and yanked his head up so that their eyes met. Burning hatred roared like flame in his eyes. Cerebrate’s eyes were rolling through the pain of his lost tongue, “You… you have no idea what you’ve done. You don’t know, and worse, even if you did, it wouldn’t matter to you. You’d have done what you did anyway. You’re a dog! No! Worse than a dog!” Rasgen’s eyes bulged and he spat into Bracer’s face. The shouting and white hot hate, coupled with the spit on his ruined pride seemed to bring him around. His eyes focused on the Prince, and though toothless, tongueless, and in pain, he savored the agony in the face of the young ruler.

Rasgen unconsciously looked back at the shaking Sobella, and Bracer’s mouth fell open in a silent, tongueless laugh even through his pain, as his understanding grew.

Rasgen dropped his hold on the smuggler’s hair. “No man has ever caused so much suffering to me as you… your greed has cost me the touch of the one I love. Do you even know what that is?!” Rasgen lost all sense and backhanded Bracer hard enough that they heard the cracking of his jaw.

Sobella’s heart melted as he proclaimed his affection for her with shameless, raging abandon, and lowered her eyes, unable to watch his sorrow transform into rage.

“There is no pain in all the world that is on par with what you’ve inflicted on me!” Rasgen shouted in fury and, bringing up his foot, had brought it down on Bracer’s knee hard enough to shatter it, and sending him crumpling to the ground, yanked out of Sado’s hold. But Rasgen was far from finished, he straddled the fallen smuggler, grabbed his throat, and pulled him halfway up. His eyes locked on the fallen man, “So I think it fitting that nobody alive ever suffers as much as you do in return!” He shouted his words to the entire court, spittle frothing from his mouth and flying onto the face of the smuggler. “I sentence you to be torn apart by dogs in the city arena! But know this, Bracer of the far off land! It will not be as quick as it sounds. I will hire healers and their students, and they will be healing you while you’re torn apart! You’ll be ripped to pieces again… and again… and again, for hours, until they run out of mana! Then and ONLY then, will I permit you to die!”

Rasgen dropped the once arrogant smuggler with a thud, back down to the stone, and the smell of ammonia hit the air as Bracer wet himself in terror and flailed hopelessly.

“I won’t eat until this man dies!” Prince Rasgen said as he stormed back to his throne and sat down. “And I am hungry, so waste no time!” Ministers and functionaries rushed to make his will known and begin the preparations in earnest. “Now, Captain Aiwenor…” Prince Rasgen managed to utter with some greater calm and a part of his formerly noble air was restored with the promise of a vendetta fulfilled. “You’ve done a great service, if you wish his body sent west, I leave it in your care after he dies. But that is not a reward.”

Nua tore her eyes from the remnants of a man that now had only tears and terror filled expressions to speak with. “It was my honor to assist, highness.” Nua said and half bowed again. “But we brought these also, so that you’d know we didn’t leave fertile ground for another to rise up in his place.” Nua turned behind her to where Freyjin stood in near stillness.

Her arm waved back, and then came forward. Freyjin obeyed, bearing the grim proof. “Present it.” Nua said without blinking and with a blank, expressionless face.

Freyjin gripped the underside of the crude sack and turned it upside down, out tumbled ear after ear, stolen from the dead of Bracer’s band.

“I don’t need to count them, whatever you think is just, is just.” Nua said formally and gave a deep bow to the royal.

Prince Rasgen, his eyes still darting from the pathetic wretch of a smuggler, and back to his captor, and to the pile of ears, spoke with great enthusiasm that briefly seemed to drive out the depressive air that hung over the great hall when Nua had first entered.

“First, I grant you my friendship, which you say is the greatest of prizes. My table will have a seat for you when you come to call. Your cup will not be empty while I have wine to fill it. You will not be cold, while I have fire to warm you. You have fully avenged those lost to the smuggler, and at least partially avenged what he has cost me personally.”

He drew himself up to his most regal posture, and with that palpable change in mood, the cold air of the court seemed to warm up by a few degrees. Nua however, felt the covetous eyes of others on her as they sensed the change before it hit.

He did not keep them in suspense, “But while friendship warms the heart, it does not fill the belly or keep the rain off one’s head. You’ve been staying at our finest hotel, but I think you deserve a proper home. More than that, you deserve a proper standing in this city. I grant you the purple of your choice. Prince Sado’s Komestrans killed off some of our nobility, leaving two estates empty, and our purge of one who betrayed us for him, emptied a third. There is a purchase cost of course, I cannot waive that away. But I somehow don’t think that will pose a problem. One hundred and fifty platinum for Baronessa, two hundred and fifty for Contessa, Five hundred for Duchessa.” The Prince raised a hand to stop her from speaking when her mouth opened.

“Each of these comes with an estate, and the rule of a town or two, and a handful of villages beyond the city. There you may rule as you wish, so long as you do not violate the laws or customs of Pas’en. Now, make your choice. Or you may refuse, and I will at least insist on giving you some compensation… as a friend for whom you’ve done a great favor.” Prince Rasgen spoke with the truest warmth when he said this, and leaned eagerly forward from his throne, while Sobella reached over and covered his hand with her own.

Nua answered easily, “I will take the title of Duchessa, and the money will be delivered promptly by my slave, Kaiji, when I have returned to the hotel. What about my other condition… my friend?” Nua ventured with a warm smile spreading slowly over her face.

“You may buy up any slave you wish, as promised… however, it must be at triple the cost of their purchase and training if the other party is unwilling to sell, in order to compensate them for the effort of having to find a replacement. Also, they must find a replacement before you can acquire the one you wish.” Prince Rasgen replied, “This will be delivered in writing to you along with the key to your estate and the escort that will lead you to it.” The Prince proclaimed and sat back on his throne, a buzz of conversation filled the court at the sudden elevation of an outsider… and at the tremendous cost imposed on her which she seemed utterly nonplussed about meeting.

“I can hardly wait, sire.” Nua said, and gave him a second deep, full bow.