"Blood mages used to be just a rarity in Al-Shan, nearly unheard of other than amongst the merfolk. It was not until the civil war that much of the populace came to revere one in particular, for Celeysria's exploits were known far and wide. With her rise to prominence, so did a general reverence for blood mages came to be amongst the Al-Shan populace." - Halmout Mansoor, Prime Minister of the Al-Shan Empire.

"Elaborate on the situation while we walk," Xain commanded. He and Layla walked alongside Hu-Lao as they made their way to where the imperial guards had temporarily housed the captives from the brothel. A squad of five imperial guards followed behind them. "And tell me how such a situation left nearly no noticeable trace. The magistrate doted on his son, but he was competent. He would have noticed something overt."

"Most of the people we rescued were legally bought. He had bought prostitutes from brothels and paid them extra to ask no questions, or they were children born to prostitutes sold along with their parents," Hu-Lao explained, disgust evident on his face. "Some others were kidnapped when they moved out of town. Nobody here realized they disappeared, and their relatives elsewhere probably thought they ran afoul of bandits in their journey."

"And the blood mage you mentioned?" Xain asked, somewhat angered at how such things happened with none the wiser. He felt impotent as an Emperor, when some individuals were able to abuse others like this under his watch.

"What we had so far, was that the girl was the child of a whore, sold along with her mother to the magistrate's son two years ago. The sick bastard apparently got a kick from strangling his partners or worse during intercourse… which was how he found that the girl was special."

Layla cursed out several very uncouth phrases under her breath, while Xain took a deep breath as he reined in his boiling anger at Hu-Lao's words. He decided then and there that he should add some "extra" punishments for those to be executed.

"I sense you have more to say?" Xain asked after he calmed down and recollected himself. He somewhat dreaded what Hu-Lao still had to say, as his look suggested it was not anything pleasant to hear.

"She was the only survivor of all the partners the magistrate's son had ever taken. We suspected that he got a kick out of an undying… toy and spent inventive ways to hurt her," Hu-lao continued with a very dark look on his face, his utter and palpable disgust and anger evident as the usually stoic man failed to control his features. "She… has not been receptive to others and only remained silent so far, and as far as we could tell, she is physically in fine shape. Mentally however…"

Hu-Lao had not finished his sentence, but Xain knew what he meant. One look at Layla told him that his wife was furious, and her fury was one he shared.

"Castrate the sick bastard before he is subjected to the thousand cuts. Have the cuts rubbed with lime and salt as well," Xain uttered in a deadpan voice that hid cold fury within.

Hu-Lao nodded grimly to the order.

--------------------------------------

When Xain and Layla reached the in which the imperial guards had co-opted to house the captives from the brothel, he had regained his calm, and tempered the fury that still smoldered in his heart. He schooled his face to present a kind look, and went up the stairs as Hu-Lao guided the way.

His fury resurged when Hu-Lao politely opened the door where they had kept the girl, as Xain saw that the girl was younger than him. Then he recalled that Hu-Lao said the girl was sold alongside her mother two years ago, and it took all his effort to keep his face from a grimace. He quickly calmed himself when the young girl stared at him frightfully and flinched, however.

Layla came to his rescue instead when she slowly stepped towards the frightened girl with her arms open wide and a kind look on her face.

"Calm down, girl, calm and ease," she said in a gentle, soothing voice. "We will not hurt you. The bad people who hurt you will never hurt you again."

Xain watched as Layla slowly knelt before the young girl and very slowly touched her face. The girl flinched away at first, her eyes still conveyed a look of dread and disbelief, but Layla's gentle ministrations slowly took hold.

Before too long the girl allowed Layla's hands to hug her gently, and eventually, the young girl returned the embrace with a tight hug before she cried her eyes out in Layla's embrace.

Xain noticed that Layla's face twitched a little from pain as the girl hugged her, but she gestured with her arm to leave her be. He chose to trust her judgement and just watched as the girl drained her tears on his wife's bosom.

-----------------------------------------

Half an hour later the imperial couple left the room together. Layla's chest was drenched with the young girl's tears and snot as she had cried there, and she clutched the left side of her torso with one hand. She occasionally winced as she walked, until the healer of the imperial guards attended to her.

The young girl had cracked two of her ribs in a slightly overzealous hug, as she had not known how to control her strength. Layla had now shown any sign of distress during the past half hour and silently bore the pain. The young girl had muttered incoherently while she cried, and eventually collapsed and fell asleep after she wept for half an hour straight.

They had allowed her the rest. God knows the child definitely needed some, just the idea of the abuse she had withstood in the past two years made Xain feel revolted to the core. With a cold voice he decreed his next words to the imperial guards in earshot.

"I changed my mind. Have the sick bastard castrated, then have him watch as his cronies were given the thousand cuts then drawn and quartered. Keep him alive after his thousand cuts, heal him, repeat it, then heal him again. After that I want him drawn and quartered," Xain stated coldly.

Layla looked at him with some trepidation from the side, but soon hardened her mien and nodded grimly as well. In this situation? She felt it wiser to allow Xain his fury, as it was directed at someone who well deserved it.

---------------------------------------

"What's your name, child? Fear not. You will not be harmed by those men ever again. This oath We swear as the Emperor," said Xain as he coaxed the young girl the next morning.

It might have been a bit paradoxical for a fifteen year old boy to call a thirteen year old girl a child, but the young girl was thin and malnutritioned, and short as well. She could have easily passed for a child of ten or eleven. Her black hair - properly cleaned for the first time in who knows how long - looked silky and fell down to her shoulders.

The girl looked at Xain with some trepidation, and her pretty eyes widened when he said "Emperor", as she almost gasped in surprise. She pinched the skin on her left arm with her right, a sight that nearly made Xain and Layla chuckle, until they remembered why the young girl was brought before them in the first place.

"I- no- This dirty subject's name is Ying, your imperial majesty!" Said the girl as she gave a hasty bow of respect. Even a girl who lived her whole life in a brothel like her knew what the emperor meant, and she dared not show disrespect before such an august personage. "Ying as in Shadow, the madame once told me."

"Never call yourself 'dirty' again. What those filthy excuses of men had done were by no means your fault, nor should you ever be disparaged for it!" Said Xain sternly with an angry frown. "Is that understood?"

"This d- this subject understands, your majesty," Ying said as she quivered when she saw Xain's angry mien. "M- my apologies!"

Layla nudged Xain discreetly and reminded him of it, and he schooled his face to a neutral expression once again.

"Rise, you are not at fault, child," Xain said, as he studied the girl. "Are you aware of what you are?"

"This subject does not know, your majesty."

"Surely even in the brothels they have told stories of C- the Blood Demon, had they not?" Xain asked, as he almost slipped and called Cal by the way he usually did. He continued after Ying answered him with a nervous nod of the head. "You, Ying, are very likely a Blood mage, much like the Blood Demon of renown."

Ying gasped at that revelation, and looked at Xain wide-eyed - as impolite as it was to gawk at the emperor that way - for a while before she nervously looked between Xain and Layla. "This subject humbly asks the emperor what that would mean?" She managed haltingly after she mulled her words for a while.

"You have two options before you, Ying," Layla answered to her question. "Should you wish to live your life in peace, your decision shall be respected, and we will either provide you with work or arrange one to your preference. You shall be free to do as you wish with life."

"M- may this subject be so daring as to inquire about the other option?"

"To serve the Empire." Xain answered this time, with a calm, majestic tone. "Should you choose this path, you would be trained for battle, and you will likely be made to risk your life on the battlefields. The choice is yours, and We shall allow you to ponder over it for as long as it takes."

"This subject t- thanks his majesty for the benevolence."

"As for those horrible men, rest assured that by this time tomorrow, they shall never hurt anyone, anywhere, ever again," Layla added as she tried to soothe the young girl. "You might want to skip the execution though, it is not a pretty sight."

"No, your ladyship," said Ying, her voice firm for the first time. "I would like to witness their end with my own eyes."

---------------------------------------

When the Magistrate's son and his cronies were executed in public the next day, Ying stood beside the seated imperial couple as they watched from a balcony. Throughout the whole gruesome ordeal, the girl kept her eyes wide open, and Layla could have sworn that she had not blinked even once throughout the time.

As the magistrate's son was torn into four pieces by horses, Ying turned towards Xain and Layla, bowed low and gave a palm-over-fist salute to them, before she said in certain words.

"Your majesty, this subject chooses to serve the empire with my life."