“Bored?” Nua asked of the monster at her right hand.

“Very.” Solution replied, “But that’s normal. I can’t play my games with anyone here, I can’t eat anyone here.” She pulled an obvious mockery of a pouting expression.

Nua managed a smirk at that at least as she looked sideways at her companion. “I understand, Teacher. But we should reach their last known location soon. Once we know which way they’re going, we should have no trouble with the rest.”

“Are you expecting ‘me’ to do all the work, student of mine? That’s cheating.” Solution wagged her finger at Nua until the elf shook her head.

“Not at all Teacher, but let’s be honest, you and I. You know you love it, and I know you love it, and you know I know you love it. It’s a waste of time to tease me that way.” Nua kept the smirk on her face, and got Solution’s curled inhuman smile in return, that which took up most of her face.

Solution let the smile melt away and gave her student a more serious expression of piercing blue eyes. “I suppose that’s true, but I’m still not doing it. Not that I’ll do nothing, but I’m not doing everything either.”

“That is just fine, I’m not expecting you to. I’ll do most of the work, I’m going to have to take an ‘extra measure’ or two along the way, I expect.” Nua said cryptically and Solution didn’t look away, searching the side of Nua’s face as if an answer was hidden there.

Nua kept her eyes straight ahead as she spoke. The road was hard packed earth that had been elevated a few inches above the ground, with small slit trenches reinforced with concrete to ensure runoff of the hard rains. On either side were forests, with thick, tall trees in which birds chirped and sounds echoed out into the open road over which they moved. “It’s not written on my cheek, Teacher. It… well call it a hunch. I bought twenty seven lives, and beat, terrified or both, all of them.” She looked over her shoulder, the twenty-five Komestrans were still looking at her doubtfully and hanging a bit farther back than was polite. “Sure my promise kept their spirits up, and I’ll keep it, but nobody is required to keep their word to slaves. This is desperate, wild hope on their part, they’re not going to dedicate themselves to me whole heartedly just by promise alone, no matter how hard they shout after I pin them to the mud, or what kind of enchanted equipment I give them.”

Solution began to understand, or so Nua felt as the monster's smile returned in earnest as she looked ahead of them. “Should be over here.” She thought out loud as they began to ascend a low hill.

She wasn’t wrong, the trees opened up into a broad clearing, in the middle was a ruin, a pathetic, burned up ruin. “Damn, it is every bit as bad as I expected.” Nua said as she scanned the area. She raised her hand overhead and lowered it toward the ruin, “Go, search for survivors. If you find anyone, bring them to me immediately!”

The twenty five undertook a slow and steady jog that carried into the interior of the village. “It’s a shame, I actually was a little curious about their houses.” Solution said with a shrug.

“What?” Nua asked in dismay as she glanced at her Teacher.

“Their houses, see that?” She pointed to the upright remnants. “They actually built their homes on these interlocking poles with space between for the water to flow so that their houses don’t get swept away. I’ve never seen it before and I was just curious from a professional perspective about how hard it is to maintain. You know, in case our master ever wanted to slum it.” Solution chuckled a little, leaving Nua to look at her quizzically, unsure if her teacher was joking, and unsure if she wanted to know the answer.

So Nua stayed silent, her teacher however, did not. “You know there’s nobody there, don’t you, at least nobody alive.”

It was clearly not a question, and Nua gave a slow bowing of her head in answer, “I know. If there were any infants, they died of exposure, if there were any small children, they’ve fled into the woods and been eaten or… died of exposure, from what I can see from here, I’d say they surrounded the place in the middle of the night, set fire to the homes before the rains, caught everyone in their beds, and ambushed them as they fled their burning homes. I expect a corpse or two used to keep everyone in line, but the fact that there is no pile of bodies tells me this was for profit.”

Nua spurred her horse and began to ride around the far outside of the village, “So, student of mine, what’s the next step, what did I teach you?” Solution inquired with a bemused look at the elf woman’s intense expression.

Nua’s answer was quick and rote. “Know what they want and you’ll have a good idea of what they’ll do. They went to trade people, that means a merchant, a Tlalmok merchant. One probably not far over the border… what do you say to a little night raid with your student?”

“You want to kidnap a Tlalmok merchant from their own ground and interrogate him?” Solution looked briefly surprised enough that her expression made her curly blonde hair bounce behind her, before she nodded enthusiastically.

Nua shrugged with her arms out and her palms up, “Well, interrogate him ‘to death’ at least. I did promise you could eat, just eat slow, bottom up, till he says what I want to know.”

“So what was the point of sending them in to search?” Solution asked with her interest piqued.

Nua gave Solution a mock surprised expression of open mouth and wide eyes. “Teacher, didn’t you tell me to give people what they need to see in order to believe in you?” She waved her hand out front, “Komestrans may not much like Pas’enians, but they’ll see I’m showing care and concern for common folk not much different than themselves. That’ll make it easier to win them over.”

“Do you actually have any?” Solution asked with a smirk.

Nua looked around and listened as her soldiers tore through the rubble, and spied the ground as she rode. “Villages around here are mostly humans. There are only three human men I ever loved, one of them had me tortured after I gave him my virginity, saying I was ‘dirty’. The other whipped me and sold me because of his wife. Still… Aalon did do… a lot to atone.” She caressed the knife at her side, “Only one human though, do I ever really care if I see again or not. I don’t hate them all like I used to, but… well you wouldn’t understand, Teacher.”

“What wouldn’t I understand? You know I don’t care if any humans live or die at all.” Solution giggled.

“We almost share common ground in that, Teacher. But the point is, I have reason to mistrust and dislike them. I don’t immediately hate them on sight, but whenever I see a human, I immediately wonder what they’d do to me if I were helpless again and in their power. You were always strong, I wasn’t.” Nua explained and halting her horse, she dismounted it and followed a series of indentations in the ground.

“Well, you’re still weak, but weak is relative. You’re not as weak as you used to be, little mistress of pain.” Solution said from atop her horse, to the back of her student’s head as Nua paced out to the edge of the forest.

“Oh those clever bastards, that’s how they did it.” Nua laughed viciously, “Looks like Bracer is no idiot.”

“Let me guess, illusion and fire?” Solution inquired.

“Yes, I’ll bet this leads straight to a smuggler’s path, probably not even very far in, and I’ll just bet that it comes out near the Tlalmok border, and that they’ve got a contact on the other side of that, probably at the nearest inhabited area.” Nua grinned smugly.

“Very good, student, very good.” Solution gave the faint praise as Nua returned to her horse, just in time for her soldiers to begin to filter out to where they were.

“No survivors?” Nua guessed as they began to silently fall in.

“None.” Was murmured many times.

“Unfortunate.” Nua said glibly, “But the good news is, we’ve found the route they used out, follow me.”

They looked at her dubiously, but followed as their owner and her bodyguard rode toward what appeared to be a grouping of trees, and passed right through it. Understanding was dawning on their faces as they pierced the veil of deception and found the area beyond had been burned back and bushes uprooted for a fair depth, until they came to a wide trail with the remnants of deep wagon tracks in them.

“Those were loaded down with people.” Nua said decisively, and spurred her horse forward, ignoring the sick green expressions of the slaves following behind her.

Uncomfortable looks were easy to feel, and even easier to hear, the sound of clinking armor as heads turned back and forth, and city people thrust out into the wilderness for the first time responded with anxiety.

“Relax.” Nua ordered, “No animals here should bother you, and even if we encounter a monster, which I doubt, it’ll likely avoid us to look for easier prey, just stay sharp and follow.” Her commands were brusque, authoritative, and confident.

The sound of turning heads and clinking armor diminished, but didn’t vanish.

They churned the road to muck for hour after hour as they trudged onward. The faint breeze was comfortable, and Nua felt herself entirely at ease within the comforting embrace of the trees on either side of her. So much so that as much for her own happiness as for anyone else’s, she began to sing.

Heads stopped turning to focus on the unexpected. She sang a song of her homeland, the great palace tree, the home of Queen Zesshi, her golden voice soared like birds of the air, and all the world ceased to be. Her eyes closed and she swayed as if dancing to the music of her own making, every word elicited a vision of the epic of the impossible Queen and her journey to the throne. When she was finally done, and the last sound vanished into nothingness, it was replaced by sudden applause.

Nua snapped her head around in open mouthed surprise. “Oh, I forgot you were there.” She laughed at herself, and gave a halfway version of a performer’s bow to their praise.

“Another!” A bold woman in the back shouted. Nua recognized the voice of the elf she’d put down who fought for what was probably a daughter. A pang of guilt, however small, touched Nua’s heart as she reminded herself of the name. ‘Veema… Veena… something like that.’ Nua thought, and politely bowing her head, she quickly picked another.

“This one is called, ‘Ballad of the Doomed Demon’. Pay attention, it tells the story of the Dark Savior and the ascent of the one god of this world.” Nua said seriously.

She then took a deep breath, ignoring the curious eyes behind her, and her golden voice went an octave lower, as she began to sing the story of the fallen paladin, the rise of the Black Paladin, the wrath of god… and to her surprise, Solution’s voice joined hers in an almost perfectly complementary alto. ‘I didn’t know she could sing… let alone knew this song. Teacher is full of mysteries.’ Nua basked in the warmth of music, and in the musical partnership that formed out of nowhere, they went on without a break, without a pause that the music didn’t demand. The burning of Wenmark, then the nightmare of Yaksun, the destruction of the Golden Fortress… the last march to the grim capital.

And as it came to the last siege, as one, Nua and Solution pounding fists upon their respective chests, creating a thunder effect for the final crescendo that was picked up by those behind her. This continued until twenty seven fists pounded twenty seven chests, and the song came to a close with the kings and queens of the west, bending their knees in final submission.

Applause came again when the song closed, and Nua managed another blushing bow as she half turned around. “That story is true by the way.” She said happily, “This isn’t a legend, the Dark Savior still lives, I met her a few times. Not someone you want to get on the wrong side of, but I hear she’s settled down a lot in the last twelve years. Her daughter was actually taking over my temple when I left to come here.”

Murmurs behind her were followed by stares that she could feel boring into the back of her head.

“If you have questions, ask. I’m a priestess first after all.” Nua said brusquely, then added, “But if you’re not going to ask, stop staring, it’s rude to stare at your owner. Hell it’s rude to stare at anyone.” She didn’t look back, and a few faces looked away.

Solution restrained her laughter as first one question, then another, came to her student, and Nua set about the process of explaining her faith, her god, everything. ‘Who knows, maybe she won’t just conquer, maybe she’ll convert, too.’

This amusement on her part continued until Nua raised a fist beside her head to call for silence as they reached a break in the forest.

She looked out through the canopy to see that the sun was starting to set. “We wait till dark, then you all wait here, Solution and I are going to cross the border, we have to pick up a guest.”

They stared again. “What did I tell you about staring?” Nua asked sharply with annoyance when she got off her horse.

“Y- wait, Mistress, ah, I mean, Captain Aiwenor… you’re going to cross the Tlalmok border?” a beefy young man with a baby face and a small nose surrounded by freckles, asked her as if he didn’t believe her.

Nua looked at him as if he was an idiot, staring down her nose at him as she answered. “Of course, if I had Bracer here to ask where Bracer was, I wouldn’t need to ask the question.” She let out a laugh and shook her head, “But since I don’t, we need to know from someone we ‘can’ find. The best one for that is going to be the one he does business with, which is probably going to be over that border, and not far away.”

“Nobody crosses the Tlalmok border.” The elven woman muttered.

“Well, I’m here, not this ‘Nobody’ person, so until ‘Nobody’ shows up to do it, I’ll have to do it instead.” She answered with scathing sarcasm and her blue eyes glared at her followers. “Listen to me,” She said harshly, slowly raising her left hand to just below her chin and forming it into a fist as she spoke. “I ‘am’ crossing that border. I ‘am’ going to find the one I want. I ‘am’ going to rip the information about Bracer, from out of his mouth if I have to reach into his maw and tear it off his tongue by hand!”

“You will all stay here. You will wait for me. Remain a little ways back from here for your safety, but when you hear my whistle, come out. I won’t be long, so don’t get too comfortable, do you understand?” Her words brooked no argument, and though doubt still met her, there was no further argument.

Silence filled the time as the sun teased their sense of anticipation with it’s slow descent into the horizon, the orange of the dusk gradually giving way to the black canvas of the night. Nua heard a noise behind her, and saw her slaves on their knees raising their hands up to the stars and whispering their wishes and prayers in common worship.

“Foolish. Their gods leave them in chains and as food. By my gods will, I will set them free… when I can, and see them made strong.” Nua muttered out her thoughts, and didn’t need to look in Solutions' direction to know that the demon was moving with her as she broke the clearing and headed over to the other side. Behind them, they left the sound of worthless prayers and futile worship of the slave warriors, as they went to worship the god of deeds, by deeds, and the god of death by bringing death.