Wallace

It had not proven difficult to find Temerity's lodgings in Pelignos, or I suppose, outside of Pelignos, as the rented estate stood outside the city's walls. It belonged to a fey ex-pat, and surrounding it were several acres of farmland. Like the estate, the farmland had been rented out to neighbouring nobles, with large sections being worked by slaves in Vivian's service.

Neither Regina nor myself would be much good skulking about a city, but out here in the country? Well, that was another matter entirely. Regina, in particular, was quite at home, and with her guidance, it wasn't long before we found ourselves lying prone in a slight depression just across the gravel drive, with trees overhead to shade us from view.

Though the sun had set, neither of us had any trouble picking out the sprite soldiers that stood guard on the grounds as the Father hung overhead.

It was brighter within the house, and I could occasionally see an elf passing one window or another, about a third of which could be seen to wear armour.

Temerity would have been nigh-untouchable had she stayed within Parabuteo, but here in Pelignos, in a rented estate... Well, the impossibly dangerous suddenly became possible. Risky, but possible.

"Regina, I'd like you to stay here. Run interference if the sprites try to join the party, but otherwise, I'd prefer if you stay out here."

Though speaking in a whisper, there was enough bass in Regina's voice that I could hear it in my chest, "Agreed," she replied, "And I shall give warning should any visitors come down the road."

I frowned and turned to regard her.

She grinned, and with so many enormous teeth, it was a display that most would find quite intimidating. Though most hadn't seen her hand-fed pancakes by a gynoid, giggling as Regina licked the syrup off her hands.

"You expected me to protest?" she shook her head, "Temerity dealt an insult to your lady. It is only reasonable that you seek satisfaction on your own, though I do wonder how you intend to garner her assistance while also achieving satisfaction."

I turned my wrist and opened my right hand, revealing a palm covered in a glittering silvery material.

Regina smiled, enormous marble teeth shining in the low light, "Is Valentine aware of what you intend?"

"No, the idea only occurred to me when we passed that jeweller."

"Ah, so that's what you've been working on. I had wondered what you could possibly need that you didn't already possess. As for Valentine, it's likely for the best that she remains uninformed. Once you do tell her, I doubt she will be able to keep her hands off you," she observed, and though her tone was serious, I caught the slight twitch at the corner of her mouth.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, "Amity's been rubbing off on you."

She opened her mouth to speak, but I interrupted her, "You shut up," I chuckled, "I'm going, you stay the hell here and try not to laugh too loudly."

I pushed myself up and stepped out onto the road, gravel crunching under my feet, and walked the twenty yards or so to a small circle of light by the front gate where two sprites stood guard.

They heard me before they saw me, turning towards the sound of my footfalls, demanding, "Who goes there?"

"Lord Wallace, here to see the Duchess," I replied without stopping.

"Uh-ah, is she expecting you?"

"Yes, could you get the gate, please?"

The guards glanced at each other nervously, and one of them eyed the axe slung over my shoulder.

One of them put a hand on the gate but paused before opening it, "It's the middle of the night," he protested.

I stopped a couple steps away from the pair and raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure you want to pry into the personal details of the men who visit the Duchess in the middle of the night?"

The sprite bowed his head slightly, his mouth a thin line, and pulled the gate open.

A few elves were in the yard, but the pair on the manor's front door were both sprites, so I crossed to the door as quickly as I could manage without appearing to hurry. It took only a few of my enormous strides, and again, I did not slow as I approached the sprites.

I didn't say a word to them. Instead, jerking my chin at the door as if I expected them to hurry to open it for me.

They did, thankfully, and I ducked inside the manor.

The lobby was empty when I entered. An ostentatious waste of space, there were two large staircases, one at each side of the room. They curved gently inwards, leading up to a balcony above. Set in the far wall at the back of the balcony was a pair of double doors, while at ground level, there was an open hallway leading further into the manor. To my left and right, just before the stairs, were additional sets of double doors. Halls branched left and right from the balcony, and it was from one of those corridors that a servant stepped out, summoned by the sound of the sprites hauling the door shut behind me.

She paused, leaning out from the hall with her hand on the wall, and then her eyes went very wide. The servant disappeared, and I heard rapid pounding footsteps and the cry of "Temerity," echoing down the corridor.

I shrugged and unlimbered my axe. At least I knew where to start looking.

I started up the steps on the right side of the lobby and was about halfway up when I heard a door slam open behind me.

I whirled, thinking it was the front door, but it remained shut. Instead, it was the set of double doors I'd passed heading for the stairs, and emerging from within were a pair of confused elves. While neither wore armour, both men had swords belted at the waist.

I heard doors swinging open behind me. A look back up the stairs revealed four more elves, two of whom had several shining rivets standing out against their tunics, betraying the brigandine they wore.

I cleared three steps in a single stride as I headed up the stairs. The elves began to draw their weapons but were cut short.

"Please," Temerity called down the hall, "I'm sure none of this is necessary."

Temerity stepped around the corner at the top of the stairs. It made her guards visibly nervous, as it meant she was the nearest of the group to me. She wasn't quite in range for me to reach her with the axe, but one good lunge and I was pretty sure I could catch her with the top spike.

However, the angle was wrong as I currently held the axe across my body in a more defensive pose. Her words might have stayed their hand, but they were still on edge and would be on me in an instant if I aligned the axe to strike.

The Duchess leaned against the wall, her relaxation performative as she brought one arm across her waist while the other raised a finger to her lips.

"Whatever are you doing here?" she asked as she regarded my axe with amusement.

I shrugged, "You've got some information I want. Figured I'd barge in, beat the hell out of your guards, and make you tell me."

"Aww, you're still mad about my amateur hairdressing, aren't you?" she laughed.

I would have rolled my eyes if I hadn't been worried about taking them off Temerity.

"Do you have to practice derisive laughter, or does it come naturally?"

"I thought I made clear where you stood the most to gain and where you stood the most to lose? But it seems you don't learn as quickly as I might have thought. Or perhaps you're just that attached to your fey whore. Oh, I'm sorry. Whores get paid, don't they?"

My eyes remained fixed on Temerity, but behind me, I could hear the soft rasp of metal on leather and the creak of floorboards.

"So she's just a harlot, really. You'll have to forgive me," she continued, "she spends so much time at The Blushing Maiden you'd think Valentine lived there," she tapped her chin thoughtfully, "Actually, I seem to recall she did live there for a while," Temerity balled her fists and held them close to her chest, "Good gods, Wallace," she urged, "Put down the big stick before you get yourself hurt and come back to Parabuteo with me. You prefer fey? That's fine, I'll shower you with fey. Fey who don't look like flat-chested little boys. Or maybe you like boys? I'll get you those too," she rolled her eyes, "But please, stop fooling around with someone else's broken toy. You're only embarrassing yourself."

"You're very lucky I need you alive."

I started to bring my axe around as if readying to lunge at her. Behind me, a step creaked, and I snapped a leg out behind me. I felt it catch one of the men full in the chest and turned my head in time to see him sail clear over the stairs and land in a heap where the far wall met the floor.

The other elf, expecting a somewhat different start to this fight, looked on with wide eyes. He collected himself quickly, and with his sword already raised to strike, brought it down in a chop that would catch me in the upper thigh.

I was ready and swept the butt of the axe across to block. Unfortunately, I was still facing up the stairs, which made the strike awkward, and while there was still enough force to knock his blade aside and club him in the head with the haft of my weapon, it only knocked him off his feet. He half-fell, half-stumbled to the side, landing on the stairs and tumbling down a few steps. He was still conscious, but at least for the moment, not an immediate threat.

The remaining guards were already at the top of the stairs when I turned, with Temerity nowhere to be found.

Four across, the staircase was actually wide enough for all of them, though it was far from ideal. Perhaps with shield and spear, they might have held it. But they had only swords, and they'd not be able to pack in so tight if they wanted to swing them effectively.

That left the pair in armour to block the top of the stairs while the unarmoured pair hung back.

There was a bang as I crossed the next several steps in a single bound and thrust the axe forwards to catch the right-most man in the chest. The metal plates riveted within his garment kept the spike from his flesh, but the impact was enough to rattle his teeth, and he couldn't help but stumble back a step.

With the long axe stretched out before me, his partner thought to capitalize on my poor positioning. He ducked to the side and thrust his sword for my underarm.

A risky move, to be sure, but an effective one. The elven men were no smaller than human men. In fact, these guys seemed a bit on the taller side, but I was in an entirely different weight class.

And they knew it.

Temerity's guards were well trained, and they were smart enough to know that they had to end this quickly. Most of all, they were brave enough to take risky openings when they came up.

But they'd never trained against an opponent like me. How could they have?

The best they could do is imagine themselves, except larger and stronger. Doubtless, they had actually spent time thinking about how to fight me. After all, for all Temerity's bluster, she must have seen this coming.

And it was exactly that sort of thinking that had failed them.

The problem with the sort of lunge I made up the stairs is that it leaves you vulnerable. It's effective as hell to whoever you catch on the end of your weapon, but it puts you in a terrible position. Everything about the biomechanics work against you, and you're left with little leverage to move your weapon quickly to respond to an attack by another enemy.

I knew this. They knew this. Hell, Temerity had been trying to goad me into exactly this sort of strike, and against anyone else, it would have worked. Without leverage, they'd lack the strength to manoeuvre their weapon to block the strike, and the swordsman would drive their blade home.

But I'm not like anyone else. My axe flashed down, the haft knocked his blade aside, and I kicked the little shit through the railing.

He hit the ground in a shower of splinters, and I took the last couple of steps to the top of the stairs.

"I won't tell Temerity if you guys want to-"

My vision went white with the sudden flash of light and heat just at my right shoulder, and the concussion was enough to make me take a stumbling step to the left.

I was still blinking to clear my vision when the elves, either less startled or more used to this sort of thing, attacked in unison. Even with the enchanted clothes, for a moment, I thought they'd still manage to cut me open. The clothing was set to firm up under impact to spread the force of the impact, but it was still cloth at the end of the day and could only do so much.

I stumbled forwards, driving the weapons deeper and sharpening the pain in my stomach, but I caught one of the pair by the front of his shirt with a free hand.

He struggled, and I felt the sword come away from my abdomen as he raised it to strike at my wrist where the sleeve didn't cover. And then he was sailing over the railing to join his friend.

I stepped into the space he'd occupied, hoping to put his friend between me and the spellcaster while I cleared my vision.

Dimly, I made out a flash of movement, and with both hands back on the axe, I managed a clumsy block.

My vision was coming back faster in my left eye than the right, and over the guard's shoulder, I saw the mage. Not just any mage, the mage, the first I'd ever seen. Temerity's mage, who had thrown the lightning bolt in my defence during that first fight with the sprites, and who had set all this in motion when he'd told Temerity not to teach me magic.

The elf guard jabbed his sword forwards in a probing attack, but by this point, my left eye was clear, and my right was getting better by the second. It took only a tap from the axe to knock it aside, and he drew the weapon back in a flash.

I struck out, but it was a feint, and as he dodged backwards, I hooked his weapon with the beard of my axe. Then, I planted my feet and swung the axe around. The sword came free of his grip and went sailing clear over the railing to strike the far wall.

I let go of the haft with my left hand and grabbed him by the front of his tunic. His hand was at his belt in an instant, but he found himself sailing through the air before he could draw his dagger to plunge into my forearm.

The guard on the stairs had found his feet and his weapon, just in time to catch a face full of elf, and the pair went down in a heap.

The mage raised his hand, and I closed my eyes just in time for another lightning bolt to strike my shield. This time my feet were planted, and the concussion did little more than ruffle my clothing.

Three quick strides carried me down the hall, and I caught his wrist before he could set his hands on another bit of copper.

"Stop," I whispered.

The mage grabbed my wrist, and there was a feral look in his eyes, like a wolf trying to decide whether it was time to start gnawing off its paw.

A simple application of Move Body to mimic the effect of a sleeper hold, and he went limp, dangling from where I held him by the wrist. I set him down just gently enough to make sure he wouldn't bounce his head off the floor and stepped over his unconscious form.

It wasn't hard to find Temerity. I followed my ears, padding lightly down the carpeted hallway towards the metallic racket coming from one of the doors on the left.

I set my hand lightly on the brass knob and tried to turn it, finding it locked.

With a slight nudge with my shoulder, the latch popped out of the frame, and there I stood within Temerity's bedroom.

Her sword belt hung from the bedpost, and scattered on the bed were bits of armour. She'd managed to get some of it on, and aside from the arming doublet, she wore a breastplate and was partway through buckling on her cuisse, which covered the thighs.

She froze, hands still on the buckle, as I entered.

Temerity was breathing hard. It's not easy work, getting into a suit of full-plate in a hurry, and it's even harder when you've got to do it by yourself. I was actually kind of surprised that she'd managed to get the breastplate on and that it didn't look crooked.

I shook my head slowly, "Always with the lightning. Fire, ice, both of those are great options. But no, every idiot's got to run around chucking lightning bolts at me. Thankfully I got wise after the second time someone stopped my heart."

Temerity threw herself at the sword belt, but the armour at her legs, improperly fit, fell around her knees. Still, she just managed to stretch out her fingers to grasp the hilt and pulled the sword free of its scabbard as she fell.

She fought back to her knees, kicking wildly to free her legs of the useless armour as she used the bedpost to pull herself up.

"Come on then," she demanded through gritted teeth.

"Nah."

I raised a hand. Now that I didn't have a bunch of elves within knife range...

I flicked my wrist, and Temerity's sword spun from her hand, flying to land behind the bed. I made a beckoning motion and Temerity, carried along by her breastplate, drifted towards me.

She fought and sputtered and struggled and twice pulled daggers from god-knows-where, but I'd absorbed a couple of ounces of iron and had more than enough Movement and Metal mana to spare. The blades flew from her hands, just like the sword had, and when she drifted close enough, I wrapped my hand around her neck.

It was only for a moment, just long enough to transfer the raw materials and finish the enchantment. There was no flash of light, no mystic glow, but when I opened my hand and let her fall to the floor, my palm was free of the silver sheen, and she had a six-fingered handprint wrapped around her throat.

She kneeled on the floor, clutching at her neck for a moment before I saw her make a visible effort to calm herself. She bowed her head and struggled to her feet, tilting her head back to stare up at me defiantly.

"What did you do?" she demanded, not a trace of fear in her voice.

"Well, after your little stunt with the amateur hairdressing, as you call it, Valentine decided some changes were necessary. We developed an enchanted tattoo that strengthens her body. Of course, as you seem so keen to point out, Val has some unique tastes, so she had me work on a few other features. So there I was, trying to figure out how the hell to make you cooperate, and I realized Val had already figured it out for me. Of course, the tattoo on your neck hasn't got any of the strengthening enchantments, but it's got everything Val thought might be fun," I assured her, "Of course, Val's version of fun is very different from most other people's version of fun."

She leaned forwards and spread her arms, "Really? Where's all the leather and chains? Where's the succession of total strangers to-"

I gave Temerity a jolt through the tattoo. I didn't want to overdo it. It only needed to be enough to let her know I was serious and could do what I claimed. So I kept it light, the sort of thing that would get Val a touch excited without making her too insatiable.

The pain drove her legs out from underneath her, and she went right to the floor, clutching her throat and gasping.

I winced. God, if anyone deserved it, it was Temerity. But we were past the point of fighting. I'd won, and while she may not have been shackled, she was, for all intents and purposes, my prisoner. The pang of guilt stole something from my anger, and I felt myself beginning to calm.

"Temerity."

"Damn you," she coughed.

"What's my sigil, Temerity?"

"Damn you, why does it matter?"

"What's my sigil?" I insisted.

"A silver hand on-" she froze.

"Exactly," I replied with a grim nod, "So here's what's going to happen. You're going to tell me how to reach your contacts in the sprite resistance, and you're going to give me whatever sort of assistance I need as the sprites rise up to kick out all the old slave masters. And when all that's done, if you've behaved yourself, I'll remove the tattoo. Until then, I suggest investing in a nice turtleneck."

She laughed and stumbled to her feet.

I shook my head tiredly, "You already did the derisive laughter. I don't think it's suddenly going to start working this time."

"Oh, enough of your glib bullshit. You're taking the city. You're taking it from Simon, and you're taking it from the fey."

"Very perceptive," I replied sarcastically, "Glad you figured it out."

"Oh, that's not all I've figured. Just look at you, furious and yet terrified to really hurt anyone. Gods, if I had your strength, it would have taken mere seconds to get through those guards, and yet you go out of your way to be gentle with them. You're not cut out for rulership. It's absurd. But you're strong enough to try, strong enough to make a good go of it. And what will happen, I wonder? So you have the little fiefdom beyond the mountains, and it's given you a taste of the good life? Well, it's not going to be so easy here in Pelignos. Your subjects won't ache to follow your commands like that little sl-"

Temerity hit the floor with a gasp, and spent a good minute writhing in pain before she could find the energy to continue.

"The sprites will be rabid for fey blood, and you'll only be able to keep them in check for so long. And the fey, you'll protect them, but they won't give a damn. They'll see you as the root of their troubles. So you'll be trapped between two wild animals, eager to tear into you or each other, and you'll be so terrified of hurting either that you'll hardly raise a hand to defend yourself once they tire of your half-measures and rip you to shreds."

"Well. Interesting prediction, but I somehow doubt it's going down that way."

She pushed herself up onto her elbows, looking up at me with a self-satisfied grin.

"But you're right. It won't happen that way. And do you know why?"

"I know you're going to tell me," I sighed.

"Because you'll know you can stop it. You'll know that all you need to do to restore order is beg. The sprites, only the gods know what they will do once they're free. You won't be able to count on the city guard, in so far as it even exists. They won't be loyal to you, their old masters, or anyone else but themselves. But my elves, my soldiers, my house guard, and the city guard have discipline. They do as they're told. So if I tell them to keep the peace in the city, they will. And maybe if you really grovel," she went on, shifting to a mocking pout, "I'll tell them to be really, really gentle, so no one gets hurt. Wouldn't that be nice?"

"You know, I appreciate the offer, but I think I'm good."

"Go ahead. Your pride will only make it sweeter when you come calling for my help. I will have you on your knees, and Valentine, well," she laughed, "It's tradition, you know, for the victor to hang the banners of defeated enemies in their hall. Silver hand on a purple field, mmm, perhaps I'll put Valentine on display. I'd have to be careful though, can't have her enjoying herself too much."

I wanted very much to shock her again but refrained. The first time I had felt guilty, the second time justified, and if I did it a third time... Well, I worried that I might begin to enjoy it.

"Get up," I sighed, "I've got to take the city for your evil plot to work, so why don't you stop ranting and do what the hell I tell you? I've got work to do."