The following morning Sado rose early to find the faint embers of last night’s fire still glowing in the pit he’d made. He silently kicked dirt into the hole while Nua waited for him on horseback, and when the last glow died, he mounted his own horse, and rode beside her without a word.

Nua finally spoke to him as they came within sight of Kai’sen. “Don’t get all depressed, Sado. You said yourself, you knew it wasn’t going to happen. You were right about one thing though.” She looked at him out of the corner of eye and saw that his head had turned toward her, she had his full attention.

She raised a finger as they trotted on, the cool morning breeze lightly waved her golden hair, the dew glistened on the grass on either side of the wide dirt road, and in the distance the sun peeked over the horizon, bathing the world in a reddish glow. I have come to accept a kind of motherly responsibility to you all. I’m not exactly pleased with it myself, and don’t think that will stop me from sacrificing whom I must. But… if I can keep you all alive… I will. I won’t waste their lives, let that be good enough, and don’t die uselessly.”

Sado gave a solemn nod, “I obey, mistress.”

It was enough to get him to straighten up and he rode with a dignified posture the rest of the way.

The camp, as it turned out, was well planned, with twenty-five thousand mercenaries spread out over a wide area, with a simple rope fence demarking the limits of the camp, and a simple entryway with two soldiers on duty.

They were well armed men of large size with halberds and short swords, but no shields. They had thick dark beards and white painted armor with a red stripe running from left shoulder to right hip.

“Name and purpose?” A gruff voice that perfectly fit the soldier at the ‘entrance’ asked.

She rendered her customary salute, the fist over her heart, from atop her horse. “Nua Calen Aiwenor, General of the Breakers, here on a contract with Prince Isaura of Kai’sen.” She then gestured to Sado on her left, “This is my bodyguard.”

“You’re early… but she is expecting you.” The same gruff tone came out, “Follow this straight to the center, the command tent is the large purple one, she should be there, if she isn’t… wait until she is.”

Nua didn’t deign to answer him, instead she spurred her horse within and looked over the camp. “So… do cities really sanctify such a large area before a fight? It’s one thing to hear about it, it’s quite another to look over such a wide area… it seems like a huge waste of time when you could go ahead and just end the fight sooner.”

“Yes, my lady. The undead stand in defiance of the stars, and…” He bit his lip.

“What?” Nua demanded.

Sado clenched and unclenched his fist a few times and shifted in his saddle before he spoke, “Not many people know this, however, a long time ago, some of the more desperate slaves turned to necromancy when their situation declined. Many lives were lost, and because so many were turned to undead, there were not enough corpses to send West. The tribute that year was especially hard on some areas, whole villages ended up having to be sacrificed. Undeath doesn’t just defy fate, it damns the living. So…” He shrugged, “various cities spend considerable time purifying the ground to keep the dead from rising. Nobody minds high casualties, contract soldiers are cheap and replaceable, and it reduces the numbers of the other living who need to be given up.”

“So the dead still serve the living…” Nua murmured, “We have something in common at least.”

“My lady?” Sado asked, glancing her way.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” Nua said and as they drew close to the purple tent, she dismounted and tied her horse off to a post hammered into the soft ground outside of it.

Her armor clinked and feet squelched as she dropped down, as did Sado’s when he imitated her action. His hand was kept on the hilt of his sword as they approached the guards.

The tent was dimly lit, and had a simple cheap long wooden table and no chairs. At the table there was only the Prince herself and a dark elf, much to Nua’s surprise. She concealed it with a crisp salute and a greeting. “You must be Prince Isaura and…” She mentally sorted through the list of names she’d gotten, “Aubin, am I right?”

Isaura was hunched over the map when Nua entered, and straightened up in time to see the salute. She looked the elf over, ‘Tall, but then… I’m rather short. Expensive equipment, looks like Taen was right about the wealth.’ She raised her eyes up to meet the stern gaze of her opposite number. “You are correct, and early.”

“I’m not early if I arrive when I mean to.” Nua said with a cryptic smile.

“Where are your soldiers? If an army had showed up here they would have sent word before letting you in.” Isaura’s eyes darted to the dark elf at her side, he subtly shook his head.

“At the battlefield following my orders.” Nua answered abruptly, “The rules of war are few, but they are absolute.”

“Rules?” Isaura’s black eyes narrowed. “There are no rules to war, you go where the enemy is, you purify the ground, you kill them.”

Nua’s estimation of the Prince went down several notches, ‘Still, she is young, barely in her twenties.’

“My Prince, I believe she speaks not of rules that are negotiated, but the way to win.” Aubin suggested with a polite inclining of his head toward Nua.

That seemed to set Isaura more at ease, the tension flowed out of her muscles and she bent back over the map of the battlefield. “I see… alright then, explain yourself, Lady Aiwenor.” Isaura waved her hand with palm up over the map.

Nua folded her hands behind her back, and approached with Sado close at hand, a mere two steps behind her at her left hand. Nua looked the map over and pursed her lips, “May I speak freely?” She asked as she looked at the crude work.

“Please, be my guest.” Isaura’s arrogant tone grated on Nua, but she kept her annoyance down.

‘Used to bandits for hire more than soldiers I think.’ Nua decided, and for a brief moment she considered playing the part, but then thought the better of it. “Very well, Prince Isaura your map is absolute shit.”

Aubin stiffened and Isaura’s eyes flashed with anger.

Nua didn’t give either a chance to retort. She took her left hand and stabbed the forefinger down at one spot after another. “There are three hills here where they will enter the field, and there is nothing but a circle in each spot. Nothing to indicate elevation or even that these are hills rather than say… depressions. The marker for the forest is much larger than it should be considering the small size of the woods, all your proportions are off, and nothing indicates what the ground is actually made of. Packed earth, greenery, stone… by the bones of god I would fire your mapmaker. Maps should be precise and detailed, because those are your eyes on paper.”

Aubin and Isaura were taken aback by the blunt tone Nua took on the matter, they reared back as if slapped, and Isaura gritted her teeth. “I am sorry this doesn’t live up to your expectations. But there is no time to make another.”

“No, I suppose not. It will have to do, now, where are the rest of your mercenary leaders, shouldn’t they be here as well?” Nua frowned immediately after speaking, as both Isaura and Aubin chuckled.

“Their job is to run in and kill, what’s for them to say here?” Isaura asked. It took a considerable effort not to slap her own palm to her own face when she heard Isaura’s question.

She looked over her shoulder at Sado, “No wonder your people were such a terror on the battlefield, you’re the only ones who knew what the hell you were doing.”

Isaura’s face turned purple with rage, and Aubin put a hand on her shoulder, it had an immediate calming effect that allowed him to speak.

“You shouldn’t speak so disrespectfully to your employer, mercenary.” Aubin remarked, and Nua inclined her head with contrition.

“I apologize for my remark, but you hired me because you want to win. I will be blunt, because there is a time and place for subtlety and this is not it. I have offended you though, and I will make it right.” Nua rested her hands flat on the table and leaned over the crude field map.

“How?” Isaura inquired in a slow drawn out manner.

“With life. With respect, Prince Isaura, war is my business. I’m sure by now you’ve heard something of my reputation, which is why you sought me out. I won’t be asking for clients, I won’t be offering my services, they will come to me. If you accept my apology, allow me to show you why that is.” Nua said with a bold, biting tone.

“Fine, if you think you can do better than a Prince who helped bring down Sado and Komestra…” Isaura looked almost amused, a cocky smile on her face as she spoke, until Nua looked over her shoulder and spoke.

“Sado, would you care to answer that?” Nua winked at him, and he did not bother to hide his grin.

“Gladly, my lady.” He said, and spoke harshly, “Simply put, Prince Isaura, you didn’t win because you were good at what you did, you won because you could afford to lose more than I could. It took all six of you to bring me down, and had just Pas’en joined with me, you would have lost. Your soldiers have little better discipline than the bandits you call mercenaries and you rely on brute force far too often. Why do you think I believed I could win even against the six of you combined? Because Komestran warriors have spent ages developing cohesion that we hold even in the chaos of battle. I just underestimated the cavalry of Pas’en and the power of some of the mages the other cities could bring to bear. Even then… you barely won, and I know what price we made you pay by the end.” He pointed to his mistress, “Listen to my mistress, or pay a brutal price.”

“Sado?!” Prince Isaura stammered as she looked at him more closely in the dim light, he raised his chin to reveal the golden collar.

Aubin’s jaw briefly dropped as he looked at Nua like she was a strange creature never seen before, “You made the prince a bodyguard?!” He exclaimed.

Nua was busy taking the little wooden figures representing troops and positioning them on the map, and so didn’t look up. “Yes, he’s a good slave, loyal to a fault, a little… naive, but a good man and I trust him, because he trusts me to look after his people and not use them like toys.”

“I am a fallen Prince… but I have not forgotten my duty to my own. So yes, I am loyal to her.” Sado said with his heart bursting painfully at the praise she heaped on him, but he concealed that with a hardened gaze.

“There.” Nua said and straightened up. Her hands spread out over the edges of the map. “Form your soldiers up in this way, with my Breakers at the center, and you will not lose.”

That drew their eyes down to the map, “You’re not serious.” Aubin asked, “Your center is so thin, they’ll be broken through with ease.”

“No, they won’t.” Nua crossed her arms in front of her chest, “However, they will expect that to be the case, and that is what I am counting on.”

“The wings of the formation are powerful, but… I just don’t see how this can work.” Aubin emphasized again.

“Neither will they.” Nua answered without averting her gaze. “They’ll think it an oversight, or overconfidence, and they will see it as an opportunity for an easy win, and again, they are wrong.”

Prince Isaura thought it over and traded a silent glance with Aubin, who after a long pause, nodded.

“Alright, Duchessa. We’ll do it your way, on three conditions.” Isaura said and raised her thumb, fore, and middle finger. “First, that you forfeit all payment if we should be defeated.” Her thumb lowered, “Second, for every five hundred dead of my city’s professional services I suffer, you sacrifice one fifth of your payment… assuming we follow your plan.” She lowered her forefinger. “And third, if we are defeated, if I need mercenaries again, or rather, ‘when’ I do, you come work for me for free to make up for your failure here.” She lowered her middle finger.

“Agreed.” Nua stated without hesitation, “On one condition of my own. Assuming all comes to pass as I have said, you allow my merchants the right of first collection come the harvest time. We’ve prepaid for grain and rice you see, and I want to get it to market quickly. Speaking of which…” She pursed her lips briefly, “I have heard that most of these engagements tend to be fairly brief and kill very few. But from the way you’re speaking, this engagement will be particularly bloody.”

“Having second thoughts?” Isaura taunted. Nua stared at her in stony silence. Isaura cleared her throat and finally answered, “Yes, the truth is, while most of the time these engagements are fairly brief, have you heard what happened?”

“No, I haven’t. It wasn’t part of your request.” Nua answered with a more professional tone as she pushed for information.

“Fine, the city of Fen’sai is a common place for one of the three… well, now two, great smugglers, to bribe officials for the registration of a stolen person as a legitimate slave. Sometimes they get a noble son or daughter or someone else important during travel around the south. Nobody likes it, but most of the time all it takes is a ransom for the document to be hushedly destroyed and the important person returned.” Isaura gritted her teeth as anger began to overtake her.

“This time, however, they got the son and daughter of a Marquis, and they both killed themselves. Fen’sai denied involvement, and sad as it was, that might have been the end of it. But the Marquis had several Fen’sai judges assassinated, and boasted about it. We ‘cannot’ deny our involvement when he does that… they gathered a few allies, and now…” Isaura took a deep breath, “Now, they’re more confident, their numbers are nearly equal to our own and they want to make a real fight over it.”

“They’ll regret it.” Nua said and thrust out her right arm. “Have we a bargain?”

Isaura took another long look at the elven woman. The mercenary was a stark contrast to herself, powerfully built despite her lean appearance, ‘And she won Sado’s loyalty well enough to make him a bodyguard.’ She thought, and after a long moment, Aubin reached over and clasped Nua’s forearm in the Prince’s stead.

“It is a bargain.” Isaura stated.

“Good. If you’re extra pleased with my performance, as a bonus, send cheap wine or beer and bread or rice to my soldiers for the trip back. They’ll remember the favor next time. Komestrans I have heard… never forget.” Nua said with easy calm that belied the double meaning of her words.

The rest of the morning was spent in more idle conversation about the makeup and training of those involved, and some interesting tidbits about the general pool of the mercenary organizations and how they were used, but finally the time came to go.

“Will you be at the battle, or not?” Nua asked as she was about to leave.

“No, I am no warrior, Aubin will be there in my stead. He speaks for me in all things. He is my voice.” Isaura replied and Aubin raised his chin to reveal the purple tag.

“Very good then, another time.” Nua bowed politely, then rendered her salute and departed, Sado rendered a salute in turn, and they left, pushing aside the flap and making their way outside.

When they were alone, Isaura looked over to Aubin, “What do you think?”

“Either win her over… which I don’t think we can do, or we have her killed as soon as possible.” Aubin replied immediately.

“That is an unexpectedly strong reaction.” Prince Isaura replied.

“I’m very old, my Prince. The city-states of Mict’aratz have only survived as long as we have because we avoided disruption. Stability is our strength. Since there is nobody in the world who can defeat the beastmen to the west, all we can do is keep them placated. We need order to do that. Anyone who disrupts that order, has always been put down. Neither Sado nor the slave rebellion were the first in the last thousand years or so to be disruptive. There have been others. All were wiped out. That one that walked out on us? She is a disruptive element, one we are better off quietly killing before she can cause a serious problem. Between Taen’s information, and this encounter?” Aubin’s voice fell to a whisper, “I have no doubt.”

Prince Isaura took that advice in, considered it, and then slowly put her hand over Aubin’s. “We’ll get rid of her as soon as we can. I’ll speak with Taen while you’re away.” Isaura promised, “As a bonus… I don’t like her, so I’ll even enjoy it.” She said with a cheery smile.

Aubin could only return her smile when he answered, “My Prince, it’s been over twelve hundred years of serving your line, and it never fails to surprise me that every single generation, somehow reminds me of the man who first took me prisoner. I am truly the luckiest dark elf to ever live.”