General Leaman sat in his cell staring at the floor. The stone was cold, like most everything else. His stomach growled, his fingers closed over it. ‘I know I could have stood to skip a few meals but… this isn’t quite how I thought I’d do it.’ He thought and clenched his jaw and his fists. “Damn it!” He shouted for the tenth time that day. His voice echoed around his bare cell then out the barred small window and down the nearly empty hall. Footsteps reverberated on distant stone, which he caught when the echo of his curse finally died in the air.

He leaned back against the stone wall and craned his neck back to stare up at the ceiling. “Where was I… oh right… Six hundred and twenty-four, six hundred and twenty-five, six hundred and twenty- damn, lost track again.” He said with dejection as anger gave way to despair and he lowered his head to stare at the stones between his bare feet. “One, two, three, four…” He started the count of stones all over again.

He scratched his beard, “At least the bitch is dead.” Leaman muttered.“That means my Prince is safe.”

“Safe from whom?” Nua asked when she approached the door. She looked through the bars to where the rotund Leaman stared back in disbelief, his bright lips paled along with the rest of his face, with the blood drained from it. His mouth opened a little as if he wanted to speak but had forgotten how.

“You…?” He finally said in a rough, quiet voice.

Nua chuckled a little, “Me? Why would he need protecting from me?”

“How are you still alive…?” He asked and slowly rose to his feet. “Even if Sobella told you everything, you…”

“Would have had to fight in the arena?” Nua asked rhetorically and gave a polite nod. “I did, I fought a lionman named Timnah, he was fierce, and I lost something to him which vexes me a bit,” Nua turned her head to one side to show that her hair was slashed short to the shoulder, “but I killed him in the end.”

Leaman paused, “Your hair… the black…?”

Nua hung her head, “Sobella, some of it at least. After she died, I cut some away from the rest, to remember her by. I gave some to Prince Rasgen, I was going to give some to Lodira too, but…” Nua sighed and faced Leaman again. “I heard about her family, so… did you do that too? Did you kill Ulmin, his family and leave Lodira and a soldier alive as a scapegoat? You know she’s dead now, don’t you?”

“I did nothing of the kind!” Leaman roared out enraged and half charged, half waddled to the door. He slapped his palms against it, and the heavy wood rattled at the blow. “I was just out to kill you! I had nothing to do with Ulmin’s death and I don’t know who did!”

“Why?!” Nua’s inflection became soft and she stepped closer to the door, “Why would you try to have that happen to me… what did I ever do to you… to any of you, that you would use Sobella’s sacrifice like that?! Why did I deserve to be… to be torn apart in front of a crowd, when I went out there in service to your Prince!”

“That’s why!” Leaman snarled, “Because you’re a foreign gash who will bring him to ruin! You don’t give a damn about any of us! You’re a Duchessa here, but you say ‘your’ Prince, not ‘our’ Prince. You’re not loyal to him, or to this city, or to anyone… you had to die, before you brought down everything I love.” Leaman inhaled deeply, then spat through the bars.

Nua accepted the disdain passively, she reached up, and wiped the spit away from her face. ‘Human scum…’ She intuitively thought, and then closed her eyes to count to ten.

When she reached the number and had calmed herself, she spoke again, wiping his spit on her pants. “Sobella was horrified and disgusted by what you did, you know. That was why she wrote that letter, she counted you a friend, and you used her.”

Leaman grabbed the bars and shook them hard, growling like a rabid beast.

“Lodira is dead, Sobella is dead, and you tried to kill me, failing only because I was better than my opponent, and because Sobella was braver than you knew. A lot of people are dying around you, aren’t they General Leaman?” Nua asked quietly.

He grew sullen and quiet at that, Nua however, was not done.

“Is that how everything happened? Did you conspire with the priests to send me alone with Sobella, and Ulmin found out, so you killed his whole family and left Lodira alive so that she would bear the blame? Were you tired of your prince screwing another ‘foreign gash’ like Sobella? Did you get the Tlalmok to accept her as a substitute for Prince Rasgen so he’d finally marry and produce an heir? From outside this door, General Leaman, it appears everything that happened, happened for your benefit. Or at least what you thought of as such.” She stood there, silent, waiting, Leaman’s expression was pensive for a moment, and then his wrath overcame him.

His arms reached through the bars and grasped at Nua, who stepped back from the bars to let him grasp, twitching with rage at the empty air.

“Bitch! You bitch! No! I never wanted anything bad to happen to Sobella! I had nothing to do with Ulmin’s death…” General Leaman practically roared it.

“I see… but the part about you and the priests wanting me dead…” Nua shook her head and turned her face away from General Leaman and back down the hall. “Is that enough, Prince Rasgen? Are you convinced now, the Starwatchers conspired with General Leaman to have me killed. That is why I was sent alone into the Tlalmok Empire.”

Rasgen stepped into view in front of Nua and squared off against the fallen general. “I would never have believed it. My priesthood, the people responsible for adhering most closely to the will of the stars… colluding with one of my nobles, one of my military officers no less, to assassinate a noble? Particularly one I personally appointed?”

General Leaman’s eyes bulged out of his head and his hands snatched back to grab the bars. His fat face pressed between them as if he thought he could slip through. “My Prince! My Prince... I was trying to protect you! You can’t trust this one! You’ve got to trust me! Please! For your sake, for the city’s sake!”

Prince Rasgen’s face turned purple with rage, “Trust you…? Trust you?! I did trust you! A lack of trust was not ‘my’ problem General Leaman!” He jabbed his finger outward, pointing to the fat face pressed between bars. “The lack of trust was yours. You did not trust me, your Prince. I settled the question of Duchessa Aiwenor’s status myself, and you couldn’t leave it alone!”

Rasgen’s green eyes were flashing with rage and every word dripped like venom from a serpent’s fangs. “I should have you executed for this…”

From behind him, Nua spoke up, “Prince Rasgen… Sobella asked for mercy…”

Rasgen slowly turned his head away from the horror faced General. “You’re right… but what would you suggest?”

Nua chewed on her lower lip for a moment, then replied, “I heard a story once, a sailor had enough of the sea, so he put an oar over his shoulder and walked away from the water until someone inland asked what it was for, and that’s where he settled down.”

“Amusing anecdote, but what’s your point, Nua?” Prince Rasgen asked with a hint of annoyance.

Nua did not disappoint. “I’ve heard that there is an ocean far, far to the east of here. Give him an oar, a horse, and some supplies, and have him ride east till somebody asks why he’s got that oar, and that is where he’ll spend the rest of his life in exile. A little mercy will keep the rest of his family from opposing you later. Besides, he denies killing Ulmin and there’s no evidence of it.” She sighed sadly, “He’s an old man… and regardless of what he did, I believe he deserves some mercy after years of service. I can forgive him.” Nua lowered her eyes and shook her head, “For the sake of his family, and the peace of the city.”

Prince Rasgen gave a sullen answer. “Fine… However, General Leaman, I want the name of every priest involved in this incident. I will be sending a scribe to you to take this information down. If you reveal everything, then exile it is, with enough money to live comfortably until your old age.”

“My Prince!” General Leaman howled as Prince Rasgen and Nua made their way away out of the dungeon. Desperate hands darted through the bars again, grasping at those who were well beyond reach.

The howls for Prince Rasgen followed them both all the way to the final closing of the door cut the sound off entirely. They did not know he screamed until his voice cracked and tore, and he could scream no more.

Nua followed the Prince to his office and he immediately gestured to a chair. Nua took a seat and the Prince took a bottle out of the desk drawer, opened it himself, took a swig, and slid it over to Nua, who caught it in her waiting palm.

“To Sobella, and to Justice.” She said and took a swig in turn. The warm liquid went down smoothly, and she slid it back over to the Prince.

“You’re used to things being rough, aren’t you, Nua?” Rasgen asked with a half smile.

“Yes, I am. Until the Dark Savior came with her god, things were terrible in the west. You got tougher or you died. It seems that this place isn’t that different in some ways.” Nua answered while Rasgen drank.

“Most nobles would have at least asked for a glass… but not you.” He said tentatively.

Nua’s half smile didn’t leave when the bottle came back to her. “Like I said, I’m used to rough, and you’re the host, that would have been rude of me. Never insult your host.” Nua recited the expression passively, accepted another gulp out of the bottle, and slid it back.

“Are you alright? I read through Sobella’s journal. You had a very difficult time out there. I still find it hard to believe you killed Timnah, he was famous even among us.” Rasgen leaned back in his chair and rested the top of the back against the wall.

Nua grimaced and her entire face tensed, “You want the truth? I’m not, and probably never will be, not after seeing them play ‘make a wish’ by tearing her horns from her head while she screamed in pain… no, I’m not alright, Rasgen.” Nua answered with a slow shaking of her head. “I’m hardly a good woman, but everything I do is with purpose. They… enjoyed it. They did it because they could, because they wanted to, and they loved every moment of it. Thank you, for coming to see me, it was probably for the best that I wasn’t left alone. However…”

“People like us don’t get many equals.” Prince Rasgen finished the thought with a sad smile, “Right, ‘the loneliness of Princes’ the longing for companionship and genuine affection… those are popular themes in plays and dramas and… tragedies. I suppose Sobella’s and my story, or maybe mine and Lodira’s, or both… will be written down soon.”

“I’m sorry, again, I am sorry.” Nua said and meant it, the bottle slid back and forth between them both, and when it was empty, the Prince took out another like it, opened it with a loud ‘pop’ noise and began to drink again.

“You did what I couldn’t do, you’re the last person who should apologize to me, Nua.” The youthful Prince replied and wiped his eyes, “Has anything new taken place for you, other than the marriage proposals?”

Nua choked on the wine and began slapping her chest when some of it spewed at his question. She coughed for a minute while the Prince laughed. “You didn’t think I’d know about that? How many were there?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t gone through them.” Nua grumbled and looked down, “How did you know?”

“I’m the Prince, of course I’m kept abreast of these things, and there were fourteen. There is also a betting pool on who you’ll choose.” Rasgen looked amused as Nua blushed.

“By the bones of my god…” She groaned and rolled her eyes.

“You didn’t see this coming?” Rasgen asked with a cockeyed smile.

Nua looked at him and took off the glove of her left hand, “I’m damaged goods, Prince of Pas’en. Even though most of your people don’t know what this means or what I do… even though the rest of me is… not bad to look at… I’m a mutilated foreign woman who has made enemies very quickly.”

“You’ve also made friends with the Prince of Pas’en, displayed enormous wealth, and more courage and cunning than any dozen women I could name. Maybe men in the west are particular about women appearing… perfect. But not here. Life is far too short, brief, and dangerous. You’re a rare one, and we all see that.” Rasgen said, catching the bottle as it came back to him.

Nua narrowed her eyes, “Rasgen…?”

“If you’re asking if I plan on making it fifteen… yes.” Prince Rasgen replied, all humor gone, nothing but sincerity in every word, he leaned forward, bringing the chair away from the wall and leaning forward. “Become my consort, Nua Calen Aiwenor, and you can rule beside me. That will settle things with the priests, they won’t challenge the Prince’s consort…”

Nua looked touched, to his surprise, she gave him a very tiny smile and rested her elbows on the desk and propped her head up by cupping it in both hands. “I didn’t think I was exactly your type, Rasgen.”

He looked her up and down, appraising her as a man does a woman, Nua preempted him, “If you say a word about ‘not minding them small’ I’ll use this left hand to spank you, Prince or not.” She chuckled, and it was his turn to flush and shake his head.

“That wasn’t what I was going to say. Every woman I’ve ever loved, Lodira, Sobella… they were all passionate women, and for all the coldness you display outwardly, there’s fire in you. Fire I find… irresistible.” Rasgen replied, “Your left hand doesn’t bother me, it avenged Sobella, that’s enough for me to treasure it.”

Nua kept her blue eyes locked on his green, “You’re not joking, are you. You’re really serious…” She whispered the words in disbelief.

“You’re either bad at accepting, or bad at turning offers down, but you’re not helping my comfort level either way right now, just so you know that, Nua.” Rasgen managed a playful smile while his heart pounded within. “Sobella told me before she left to marry well, have good children, and if the woman wouldn’t mind… name one after herself.”

“And you think I fit the bill?” Nua asked sweetly.

“I do, yes.” Rasgen answered directly.

“I might not.” Nua admitted reluctantly.

“Why is that?” Rasgen raised an eyebrow, “You’re a noblewoman of my city, and I am fairly sure after what I read, that you wouldn’t mind naming a child after Sobella.”

“I mean, I might not even be able to bear children.” Nua replied bluntly, her hands clenched into fists. “A… a long time ago, I was… weaker. Back then, I was captive, a prisoner, when I was pregnant by the man I had loved. I tried to hide it, but that is difficult to hide. So they used something on me to force me to… to lose the baby. That part always works, one of the side effects though, is that some cases create permanent sterility. I’ve been with others since that time, but never again was I faced with the prospect of a child.”

Rasgen’s flush had nothing to do with embarrassment, “Oh, I, uh, I didn’t know. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to bring up something as painful as that.”

Nua wiped her eyes vigorously and blinked rapidly for several seconds, “No, it’s fine, the truth is, I don’t even know for sure if I can or can’t. I’ve never had it checked by a mage, so I don’t know for sure. I never had the courage, I guess. I didn’t want to know. Better to throw myself into work”

“What about a… magic spell to cure it?” Rasgen asked with some hesitation.

“I thought of that, Rasgen, but when part of you has a mutilation long enough, it’s part of you. Low level spells won’t do. It would take something beyond the sixth tier, and I know of only one source in the world capable of that, and the need…” Nua shook her head, “the wait for that is very long, this isn’t easy to say, and I would appreciate you keeping it to yourself.” Nua leaned forward and reached over the table with her right hand and placed it over his, catching and holding his emerald green eyes she added, “But if you’re serious… you deserve to know the truth, you might not get what you’re asking for.”

“So… Rasgen....” Nua dragged the words out slowly and sat up straight, “Are you still asking?”