...Outside Prart...

"I never thought I'd see those walls again." Neia said with a haunted whisper as the high walls of Prart loomed before her in hte distance. Already massive, they grew only larger as she drew ever closer. She shuddered as the nightmare came back to her afresh.

"It was an unpleasant memory for me as well." The woman named Skana remarked from not far behind her.

"You were here?" Neia asked grimly.

Skana nodded slowly. "I was a prisoner here." Her mouth shut tight and she lost herself in her own thoughts as they drew closer.

"I'm sorry." Neia replied simply, and felt the shiver intensify. "Have you ever been here?" She asked as she glanced over at Tinamoc.

"A long time ago." The portly merchant replied, swallowing hard as he looked at the battle scarred and broken walls. "It looks nothing like it did back then."

"The last time I saw that city, it was a nearly total ruin, it traded hands twice in three brutal fights. The Demihumans took it, then we took it back, then they tried and failed to retake it. My name was born on those horrible walls, but..." Neia closed her eyes briefly to block the sight of them from herself, "but to me it will never be a place of fame, only death."

"Seems like it should be in better shape by now though. It's been worked on for as long as the capital has been, right? So the capital is nearly finished, but even from here, looking just through the gaps in the walls... well there are a lot of ruins in there." Tinamoc pointed out astutely, and Neia's already narrow eyes closed further as her brow furrowed.

"That's a good point, well we'll find out more soon enough." Neia said with a slow burn beginning in the pit of her stomach. When the caravan reached the main gate, Neia raised her fist beside her head and called a halt. The signal was imitated up and down the line and the snake like line of wagons ground to a stop.

She spurred her horse forward and raised her chin with a silent instruction to her merchant charge, and both of them went on together to the guard house.

Out of it, a guard portly enough to have passed for a merchant if not for his ill fitting, partially rusted armor, approached. Tinamoc withdrew the letter of legitimacy and passage from King Caspond and extended it out to the guard.

Neia looked more closely at him now that he was nearly within reach, his face was unshaven and the beard that grew there was unkempt. His eyes were glassy as if he were partially intoxicated and his motions sloppy. He rested his halbered on his shoulder rather than holding it ready. As if to top it all off, he stank as if he hadn't visited a bathhouse in a month.

But, he was seemingly able to read the letter, which he handed back to Tinamoc. "Very good there but, we'll have to inspect the caravan for contraband and all that."

Tinamoc rolled his eyes and replied sternly, "No you don't, the letter I just showed you expressly authorizes immediate entry for trading purposes. If you try to inspect this whole caravan of goods, it'll take all day!" Tinamoc ran his hands through his hair in a quick, agitated gesture, "Not to mention that I'll have to do an inventory all over again to make sure nobody got sticky fingers while inspecting. I can't do anything until that's done because a precise inventory is required..." He trailed off as the guard coughed loudly and extended his palm.

"Well, I could do a 'quick inspection' for a few coins you know."

"How quick and how many?" Tinamoc asked with a suspicious voice as he glared at the suddenly cocky looking guard.

The guard looked up slyly, opening and closing his extended palm urgently. "Could be over for twenty silvers, and done as fast as the coins hit me pocket."

Neia felt her temper flare up. She yanked her visor away and looked the guard dead in the eyes. He felt the death stare and the cold chill of the grave crawling up his spine. "I am Neia Baraja, squire of the Sorcerer King. You know him, the one who provides all the building materials for the reconstruction of the entire kingdom. You 'will' let this man pass. Am I understood?"

He swallowed audiably and the smell of ammonia hit the air. "I-I, well..." He stammered out and fidgeted nervously.

When he hadn't moved, Neia dismounted from her horse and stalked the ground as light as a feather in the breeze, her boots barely squelched in the mud and muck of the poorly maintained road. A rumble in the clouds overhead seemed to imitate her rising anger.

"I-" The guard began again.

"Open the gate, or I open your neck. He bears a letter of the king, defy that letter and you will be a traitor. What is the penalty for treason 'soldier'?" Neia asked and drew out her adamantite sword and raised it up.

He looked down at her, and felt like he was staring at a behemoth as the hairs rose on his skin. "I, no, go, never mind, forget I said anything. Forgive me!" He shivered as he stared into the gaze of the mad eyed archer.

"No. I won't forgive you. I'll be reporting your actions to your superior. But... as you're moving out of the way, I won't kill you. Just stay out of my sight." She spat into the dirt where he'd been standing as he stepped out of the way, and then she went back to her horse and got back on.

She put her visor back on and the gate slowly groaned open in front of her. She glared at the guard until he was out of sight.

"That was aggressive negotiation if I ever heard it." Tinamoc said with amusement, "I swear if I'd had to do this myself I could have been stuck out there for days, and who knows how much would be stolen." He said in a jolly sort of tone that made it hard for Neia not to smile.

"That wasn't a negotiation, that was a threat. His Majesty worked to hard for we who did nothing to deserve him, I won't let scum ruin what remains before we even rebuild." She clenched her fists tightly to the reigns of her horse and stared straight ahead as they began to creep through the entrance.

"Everything is a negotiation, even threats." Tinamoc said with the finality of a master of his trade.

Neia had no answer to that, and looked around instead. Her voice had carried more than intended, and various heads were poking out or up from where they'd been to see the cause of the commotion.

As they rode into the city, the stench hit her nose harder than a demihuman fist to the face. City trenches were poorly drained and the filth lingered and floated like little boats on the water. Trash heaps were everywhere and there was no evidence that anyone had made any effort for weeks to remove them. Children pawed through the refuse in search of... what? 'I don't even want to know what they're hoping to find.' Neia pondered and the knuckles on her fingers that had finally begun to relax, tensed up again as she looked around.

The solid black and blood red of her and her elites armor and their imposing equipment drew more and more eyes as they moved within. Workers lazed about, chatting or drinking idly at what should have been construction sites where shattered shells of buildings still stood. Rotted timbers, burnt timbers, broken and shattered building stones and bricks that still lay where they'd fallen years before, Neia gritted her teeth as her blood began to boil.

'They can't work even if they want too... they've got no materials, what's going on here?!' Neia wondered furiously. She caught a glimpse of a few women wearing very little but smiles, reaching out and taking men by the hand and leading them away. "At least one profession around here has a work ethic." She grumbled as she passed by a group of enterprising whores.

Tinamoc managed a miled laugh, as did the auburn haired green eyed scout a few feet behind where Neia rode.

"Maybe they do work hard, but, is it really hard work if you love what you do?" The bright green eyed Skana asked rhetorically and let out a bawdy laugh that came out with the beauty of a birdsong in contradiction to its crude cause.

"Funny, but keep it down a bit." Neia remarked and continued to scan the area, ignoring pout of the woman whose joke had failed to draw the laugh she expected.

"What the hell happened here? Or rather... why didn’t anything happen here?" Neia asked Tinamoc, aghast at the poor condition of the city. "Have we passed a single intact house that wasn’t used for prostitution or serving alcohol?

"Well, do you count that?" Tinamoc said, and pointed to a looming home that clearly belonged to a nobleman. "At a guess," he said, "the nobles have been using the supplies you’ve sent here to rebuild their personal estates and the few public buildings they need, but have been embezzling and selling the rest of the supplies, which the black market and criminal gangs have been buying up to use for their establishments, and probably their own homes. Just a working guess though." He said in a voice that suggested he didn’t think he was guessing at all.

A stray slime emerged from a drainage area and slid across the street, it was crushed under the hooves of their horses, its innards further spattered by wagon wheels as they rolled on. "I don't gamble, but I'd wager it isn't a gamble to say that the guts from that slime will still be there a month from now if it's left to the city to clean." Neia wrinkled her nose in disgust, nobody chose to 'take the bet' she'd offered up.

Tinamoc broke the silence next, "To whom were the supplies going?" He asked with his deep set eyes roaming the streets as they made their way to the merchant district.

"I"m not exactly sure." Neia said, the crown put me in charge of the capital and appointed other figures for the other cities, once I pulled our portion, the others would requisition what they needed and send it to their respective contacts here. The one sending materials here was... shit." She said.

"The one who was sending materials here was shit? Well I can clearly see that, but what was his name?" Tinamoc asked with a twinkle in his eye.

Neia shook here head, "No, I mean I just remembered, it was Count Handor, it was his man that was caught pilfering supplies in the capital. He also had one of my men killed, we took down all those who were directly involved in the killing... but before a captive could publicly implicate Count Handor, he was killed in prison while under guard. I don’t know who the Count’s contact was here, but if I had to guess, he’s dealing directly with one other noble, or he’s dealing with the temples, I’ll know which it is, soon enough." She said.

"How will you know?" Tinamoc asked. "They’ll tell me." She said, pointing to the buildings. Understanding dawned on Tinamoc"s face.

"Ahhhh," he said, "so basically anyone with an intact house or business, must be in some way connected with the trafficking in stolen goods, so if the temples have been restored..."

He paused as Neia interrupted. "...then the temples are in on it." She said with a snarl. Go ahead and get yourself established in the market district, but I suggest not setting up more wares than we can effectively guard. Rent a warehouse we can easily protect, and only take out what you think will sell that day, it may extend our time here for several days, but frankly, I think that will work out for the best." Neia said.

Tinamoc stroked his chin thoughtfully, "Yes, I think that will work out. Plus it will be nice to be in one place for a few days, now where will you be while I finish going on my way?" He asked.

"First I’m going to check out the nearest temple, then if it is in bad shape, I"m going to talk to the priest, if it is in good shape, then I’m going to the local governor to introduce myself." She said.

"Introduce yourself gently?" He asked with a little frown and an implied criticism.

"That depends on them. But I’d prefer that if possible. If it’s not though, well then so be it." She shrugged off the implied ‘concern’ and gave him a wolfish grin.

"I'll see you when I return, Tinamoc." Neia said abruptly and then pointed at the scout behind her. "You, Skana, follow where he leads, keep our charges safe."

"Ma'am!" Skana rendered a quick salute and sat up a little straighter and her bright green eyes shone happily. 'If she'd been like this the last time we were here, those demihumans would have run for the hills.' Skana thought admiringly at the crisp picture of militaristic power that cantered away on horseback. Her legendary bow swayed back and forth as if calling others to look at the hero who bore it.

Neia was barely aware of these things, she kept her eyes focused on the spire of the temple. 'How differently it looks now.' She thought with a slight pursing of her lips, 'Once it seemed so mighty, so towering... now... like a big drum. Loud because it is hollow and empty inside.' She kept her face neutral as she rode, though every clip and clop of horse hoof over dirty stone only inspired more contempt. Contempt that spiralled into anger only barely held back when she reached the temple and saw the hovels that surrounded the huge and perfectly maintained, ornate structure.

The people around it were as shabby and unkempt as the hovels in which they no doubt lived. Many still trudged with haunted, hollow, empty eyes, and those were the more vigorous. Others were barely at a shuffle, going about their hopeless moments of life as if the siege were still fresh and their captivity ongoing.

In disgust she spat at the street in front of it and wheeled her horse about and rode toward the other large structure she could see. 'The governor's... home.' She thought, a sudden catch in the last word throwing her mentally off balance for a moment as she was reminded of her own lack of a place of her own.

Her eyes stayed locked onto it as she recalled the place where she grew up and the home she'd once had. She found few to be ones she wished to recall, and distracted herself and the quickening of her beating heart by bracing herself all the more firmly, all the more rigidly on her warhorse.

Two guards in polished and well maintained armor stood out fron of the iron gate. They remained stiff until she stopped her horse and dismounted.

"I’m Neia Baraja, and I am here with the royally commissioned merchant Tinamoc, I wish to see the regional governor. Is he here?" She asked in an abrupt, clipped fashion, standing just inside their comfort zones.

"Yes, lady Neia," a guard said, “I will send word of your arrival, could you wait here?" He asked with some timidity, the grip he had on his weapon tensed and shifted slightly as nerves revealed themselves at her identification.

"No," Neia said, "I can announce myself, and I don’t need company." She said with steel in her voice, she walked past the guard without another word, she pushed on the gate to open it with the confidence of one who owned the place before he or his companion could sputter a protest. She sniffed in contempt, 'They're marginally better than the ones at the walls or in the common streets but... no spines, and the lot of them carry more beer in their bellies than muscles in their sword arms.' She took slow, deep breaths to force herself to remain even tempered and withhold judgement. But it was not an easy internal fight for her.

This difficulty was redoubled when she saw the opulence within the manor, the rich goods, clean carpet, expensive art on the walls... she felt bile in her gut with every step.

"Bah, it’s one thing for the Sorcerer King to have better than this, he gives to his people, this man... he is clearly only stealing from them. I wonder how many homes these were taken out of." She fumed under her breath as she walked down the hall. Memories of the past carried her feet where they needed to go even without her having to control them, so it did not take long for her to find the appropriate office.

Great heavy double doors stood unguarded before her, causing her brow to furrow. 'I may not be inclined to whoever runs this place now but... still it is strange to be unguarded. She reached for her sword, though not without a pang of longing for His Majesty's wonderous bow, and drew close to the door.

The great thick, heavy wood was intended to be opened two handed, she placed a single one on the left side, the drew her ear close, inching against it with silent steps. "Mmm...mmm...mmm...ahhh..." She heard the straining sound, the heat of which melted away her initial concern. She pushed hard upon the heavy door, it snapped inward as if kicked by a horse and slammed hard against the wall with a thunderous noise.

There within the office, the regional governor sat behind his desk with his eyes rolled back into his head and his body bouncing in slow rapid motions, his face flushed and his hands down near his waste. A glass of wine and an empty bottle sat in front of him to his right, and from beneath the desk, a noise of suckling and the smacking of lips hit Neia's ears.

The noise stopped both members of the busy pair and the governor's eyes snapped down to her in outrage. Outrage that became fear when Neia snarled out an angry, "Get her out of here!"

Beneath the desk there was an audible thud from a head striking the surface as the person beneath struck themselves from trying to stand up without thinking. Out from under the desk a moment later, under Neia's stern eye, came a woman who to Enri's eyes looked underfed. A startling contrast to the governor's 'overfed'. Her skin was almost yellowed and her brown hair was far from clean. Her left eye was blackened from an impact, and she began to rush out with her head down, still gathering her dress up to cover her chest.

Neia's face was first a red blush of embarrassment, followed by a dark purple of anger, one that mirrored the governor before his 'spirit' deflated entirely.

"Who are you to..." he began, but Neia did not let him finish.

"I am Neia Baraja, the one who is providing the supplies you’re using which I receive from the Sorcerer King, and I am here with the royal merchant Tinamoc as his personal escort."

Fear stayed on his face as he looked her over, he saw her eyes moving up and down, taking him in. He was rather... large, but not in the strong way, his jowls flapped as he spoke, his skin was pale, not much for the outdoors, his clothes were very fine, with flowing white ruffles and frills over rich, brightly colored dyed cloth. He was bedecked with numerous beautiful jewels that spoke of his wealth. However around his office she saw barely a scrap of official paper or any sign of books. Neia’s immediate impression: He was worthless. ‘The opposite of His Majesty in every way.’ She thought contemptuously.

"I’d like you to explain the state of Prart." Neia said as she put her hands behind her back and folded them one into the other. Her feet were shoulder width apart and if she at first glance looked like a soldier speaking to a superior, where their faces were clear, it was the opposite. She stared with ice blue eyes as he opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish without saying a thing.

"The capital is much larger, even with your population increase, I know what supplies have gone out, and we haven’t been shorting you, but somehow only the noble houses, temples, and government buildings seem to be intact. Unless of course we count the brothels I passed by. Speaking of which, why are there so many brothels, I passed THREE just on the way here from the city gate." Neia demanded with a bite to her last word.

The governor wrung his hands fretfully, "Well... it’s an easy way to make coin, and, well, what else is there for them to do? And as to the city, well it was heavily damaged, we have been working, but it’s just... taking a little while." He said as his eyes darted around as if looking from an escape from the ice blue eyes that stared him down.

"And... why haven’t you FOUND other work for them to do? I saw that woman had a black eye, exactly how did she, or any of these others, end up in the flesh trade?" Neia asked. Her face turned dark and she removed her visor, staring daggers at him and said further, "I also saw workers with no materials to work with, I know we sent a shipment of materials to you just recently. Where are they? Show me your records." She snapped.

"Lady Neia," he began nervously, "I can give you our distribution records, but I don’t have them myself, they’re at the warehouse in the main office, why don’t you settle in first, you’re a hero to the people of this city, I’m sure they’d be ecstatic to know you’re here, and you’ll have a chance to speak before the crowds again... I can gather the relevant officials and we can have a meeting tomorrow to go over all the details of the reconstruction." He said ingratiatingly. He started to stand, forgetting his pants had been down, and hastily began to pull them up and buckle the belt beneath his gut.

For a moment Neia almost went on, but his disheveled 'pants down' moment, left her feeling dirty just being in the same room. A shiver of disgust ran up and down her body... and his suggestion had merit. 'I see he's guessed my weakness... I wonder if I will ever tire of my desire to promote His Majesty. No... no I won't, definitely not.' She thought happily, and failed to suppress the smile as she pondered the joy to come in spreading the ideals of justice and strength. She took out her visor and put it back on.

"Very well, tomorrow at noon I will return here and I expect to see the relevant officials and the paperwork for distribution and your reconstruction plan for the next few months. I had better be satisfied." She said.

"All will be as it should be." The nobleman said with the utmost courtesy in his every word.

So Neia walked out, snatching the door closed behind her, leaving the nobleman alone and to her thoughts, very likely grinding his teeth in anger.

She left the manor, mounted her horse, and cantered away from the guards without a word, for a while she was without aim, she simply looked around and took in the sights. She saw a shopkeeper hand over bread to someone, but no coin trade hands. Curiosity sparked, she approached, 'Are they doing some kind of barter system here now? Will that one come back later to work? Is that what they've been reduced to?' She wondered.

The smug look she saw on the face of the recipient when he turned in her direction to walk away, warned her otherwise. She stopped her horse in front of the baker, his white apron gray and brown from dust and dirt, his face was worn and slightly yellowed from poor diet, his hazel eyes were sunk deep into his head and barely had more than a hollow look to them as he tried to meet her eyes and failed.

"You, what is your name?" Neia asked him gently as she brought her hand out to one side so that her finger was thrust squarely toward the space between his eyes.

"Selar." He uttered barely above a whisper.

"Did that man buy bread, or did he steal it?" Neia asked as gently as she could.

"He... bought it." Selar uttered with downcast eyes and shifting feet.

"With what? I saw no coin." Neia's voice was more curious than anything at the unexpected answer, and she cocke dher head slightly.

"My life. I give bread, he gives me another day to live. That is how it is in Prart." Selar said glumly.

"I see." Neia said, "Do not move from that spot." She gave the order as she would to one of her soldiers, and wheeled her horse around. It was only when her back was to him, that Selar saw the bow on her back out of the corner of his eye.

“By the gods…” He whispered as memory stirred of green armor, cries of demihuman terror, and a wild woman running along the crenellations killing her way into legend before being swarmed under... and somehow still walking among them the same day.

"You." Neia said as she brought her warhorse in front of the man she'd seen take bread.

The smug looking man was beefy looking, but had a layer of fat from overindulgence despite his size. He had an unkempt brown beard and, like most of the city, he stank.

"Yeah?" He said with some trepidation as a full blown warhorse barred his way. He relaxed some when he saw it was a woman on top of it, only for the tension to return three fold when she saw her armor and weapons.

"I want to buy that bread." Neia said brusquely and looked down her nose at him from behind her visor.

That had him quiet. He blinked dumbly, "Five copper." He blurted out.

Neia looked down at him and playing along, she cocked her head curiously, "I don't understand, that isn't the currency here."

"Uh... what?" The brute asked dumbly.

"Right, I'm told that the currency is life, I let you live, you give me bread, isn't that how it works?" She asked sweetly and let a tiny smile grace her face.

"Ah, uh..." He began to stammer until Neia put the tip of her sword out in front of his nose.

"One of two things will be on this blade in about three seconds. Your blood or that bread." She said with the serenity of a priest, it wasn't a hard choice.

The bread slid along the tip of the sword, and Neia turned her horse back the way she'd come.

"Next time it won't be bread." She said sharply, and trotting the horse back to the baker, she held the blade out to him.

"Take it." Neia commanded flatly, and as if he'd been offered a gift of the gods, he touched the bread with both hands, and slid it down off her sword.

She rode off before he could muster up a thank you, and left him with a story he told till the end of his days.

Neia's ride through the city left her only more and more disgusted, and eventually she found herself at a large fountain in a great open square. The city square was bustling, but the fountain was dry, empty, and full of cast off trash. Like a microcosm of the city itself.

"What an image this will make... the glory of my god carried to the weak from atop a ruin full of trash." Neia muttered and hopped up, carefully avoiding as much of the fetid pile as she could, and landed at the top of the fountain with the easy grace of long practice.

The statue that made up the fountain cap was of a human, it was stained and cracked and broken in places, but, with his broad shoulders and upturned squared jaw, it was dashing enough. 'Whoever you were, thank you for giving me your shoulders to stand on.' She thought and silently uttered a prayer for the resting soul of the dead man.

Then she began to speak, putting every ounce of passion and power into her voice.

"I am Neia Baraja, here on a trade mission from the capital! People of Prart, I would know how you live!" She shouted.

The buzzing of the crowd began to still, the weight of her name drew eyes and ears, and one man close by shouted simply, "Poorly!"

"My home is still destroyed, our shops are ruins, the palaces and temples are rebuilt, but what of us? I show up every day at the same construction site, and have only enough materials to work for a few hours or less and then nothing. I’ve only rebuilt three homes in two months, and those were homes nobody owned, which the governor then began to rent out as it was "city property"!

"The price of grain is outrageous, and it is worse with any other foodstuffs, I’m eating barely more than when the Sorcerer King freed me from a prison camp!" Another person shouted.

Neia listened as the complaints rang out, the crowd was getting agitated as they vented their frustrations, Neia began to get a clear picture of just what was happening in Prart.

As her session went on, and the crowd began to grow, Neia saw that negative attention was coming her way. From behind her visor, she shifted her eyes to watch as a group of guards pushed, shoved, and cursed their way to the front of the crowd.

Eight in number, with a pair of archers and swordsmen, and two pair of spearmen, they wore simple iron half plate, shin guards, and leather boots. A quick appraisal in her mind and she'd made her determination. 'Cheap and shoddy, and with discipline no better than their gear.' She barely suppressed a snort of contempt, but let them come to the front without calling them out 'yet'.

"Ay, you lot, go back to your lives, and you up there, get down, no public gatherings without official permission!" One of the men, apparently the leader, said. He was a grizzled looking man missing a few teeth, but otherwise unremarkable to look at.

"I have permission." Neia said. "I’m on a trade mission escorting the official royal merchant, so the security and wellbeing of this town IS my business, and I’m speaking to the people who live here. Now unless you wish to take an issue with that, BEGONE!" she snarled down at them with her nose upturned as if withdrawing from a bad smell.

It sent a spark through the crowd, which was clearly not used to seeing the guards dismissed by anyone, and it agitated the guards, who were used to getting their way. Dismayed whispers poured fuel on the fire of the guard’s building anger and he and his company shook enough that their armor rattled.

He thrust his finger up where Neia stood and snapped out sharply, "The security of Prart is our business missy" the guard said. "We’ll say how secure it is and well it does, not this rabble!"

He opened his mouth to say more, but Neia seized on it. "You DARE!" She let her voice carry far and wide, "You DARE to call THEM RABBLE?! They are the PEOPLE of this city, the citizens of the Holy Kingdom, they survived Jaldabaoth even at their weakest, they endured, they carry the seed of strength in all of them, the King of another country, the very GOD of Justice, Ainz Ooal Gown, personally saw worth enough in them to see to the preservation of their lives! How DARE you refer to them as rabble! How DARE you dismiss their concerns! I will have satisfaction from you for insulting them!" Neia shouted, ensuring every word of what she said hit every ear.

"My people, I ask that you make room, I will have to teach these men a lesson about their place in this city!" She shouted, and the crowd began to push itself back to the edges, opening up room in the square. The guards were caught... off guard, this was not how things were supposed to work, this was not how things were supposed to go.

"Who you want’n to fight, eh?" The grizzled leader asked with a nasty grin.

"Do you all share his opinion?" Neia asked of the other guards. Coarse laughter greeted her, which was answer enough.

"Then all of you. Here. Now. Or are you just cowards in armor?" She said with a contemptible smile on her face as she jumped down from the fountain and walked to the center of the square with her hands folded behind her head and turned to face them.

They were almost too shocked to move. Her visible contempt was driving them to boiling anger. So it was with clear pleasure and sadistic smiles on their faces that they fanned out in a semicircle.

Neia looked at them with a bored expression on her face to meet their gazes.

"Apologize to the people of this town now, or do it from the ground when I’m done beating respect for them into you." She said.

That was too much for one of them, he broke from his friends with a spear lowered, charging full tilt at Neia. She reflected briefly that he must not have had much training if this was his method, and she simply stepped aside, grabbed the spear behind the point, broke it with her free hand, and then beat him about the head with the wood that held the point, and he collapsed in a heap after two or three carefully controlled blows.

"You two, bind that one!" She said, pointing to two people in the crowd.

They hesitated, but that was enough to drive the remaining seven to act, the archers went for their bows, but Neia had hers out faster and fired two shots before they could even load, her arrows went into their bows where their hands held the grip, severing fingers and causing them to drop the remains of their primary weapon. As their bows clattered on the stones they dropped to their knees in pain, clutching at their wounded hands. She then stored her bow and drew her sword, her sudden action had given the remaining five pause, but she gestured with her free hand for them to come at her, turning her palm up and drawing her fingers toward her repeatedly.

The guards glanced at each other for reassurance and fanned out farther around her, closing the distance gradually, something Neia wasn’t going to allow to happen. Contrary to what they expected her to do, she rushed the spearman on her left, grabbed his weapon with her free hand, pulled him forward as she twisted her body, and gave him an elbow to the face with such force that he crumpled then and there. "That’s four." She said coldly, casting off the weapon in contempt before she turned to the next nearest man. When he hesitated, she stepped on the tip of the spear, bouncing it up to her hand, and threw it left handed, butt first, into his throat. As he spasmed she closed the distance, pulled him off balance, then hit him in the back of the head with the hilt of her sword. "That’s five." She said again, and by this time the now desperate remaining three responded by simply charging her.

She leaped to one side, rolled, and activated a martial art that sped her up considerably, by the time they had turned half way around, she had grabbed one man by the throat and was pushing him into the others, the power in her legs propelling him forward, the remaining three were tangled up, and they crumpled in a heap. Neia responded to this by kicking them in their faces as they struggled to get up. "That’s six", she said as one fell unconscious, "that’s seven" she said as the next one went out like a candle being struck by a sudden wind, "and you make eight." She said as the leader managed to free himself from the tangle of now limp limbs and tried to rise, only to rise directly into Neia’s armored fist, she grabbed his helmet, yanked it off, and beat him about the jaw with it, before throwing it aside to grab his hair, and throw him towards the fountain. He fell with a clatter with his face in the garbage, and as he was bent over it, Neia considered the best lesson she could offer. Fear and intimidation was the way of authority here, that much was clear, and Neia knew quite well that there were only two ways to deal with that, and while killing was easy, there was a better option.

As he tried to push himself up, Neia walked behind him, grabbed him by the back of the neck and held him in place, and then before the entire public, she took out her sword, cut the back off his pants, then turned the blade vertical to the ground, and she began to spank the fellow on his ass with the flat of her blade. "Don’t... ever... insult... the people... you... are supposed... to protect!" She shouted, "Now APOLOGIZE TO THEM THIS INSTANT!" The man flailed and struggled, but all for nothing, as the beating went on. "Apologize NOW! To ALL of them!" Her voice carried, and laughter began to ring out, at first small, but the more he cried out in frustration against her, the worse it got, until laughter had so filled the square the others showing up, without even knowing what happened, were laughing at the grizzled guard being spanked like a child, until he could bear no more and he shouted, "I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!"

"What are you sorry for?" Neia snapped.

"I’m sorry I insulted the people of Prart!" He shouted.

"Again." She said.

"I’m sorry I insulted the people of Prart!" He shouted.

"Again." She said.

"I’m sorry I insulted the people of Prart!" He shouted so loud his voice cracked.

"Good enough." She said and yanked him up and threw him back, causing him to stumble and land on the ass she’d just beaten red.