Nua couldn’t keep the smile from her face as she trotted away from the camp and didn’t want to pretend anything about her pleasure as her responsibilities were left behind her. She looked out over the great open lands that stood between where they were and where they were going, and did not mind the wait to get there.

Kaiji was the first to break the silence, in the darkness. “It was a great victory, mistress.” She said contentedly, inching her horse closer to Nua’s right hand.

“Yes, yes it was. Even too much so.” Nua looked over to Sado, “About that… are all the mercenaries in this part of the world bad at their jobs?”

Sado gave a crude chuckle.

Nua gave a grim shake of her head, “I’m not joking, that performance was absurdly bad. Winning that battle was like…” She stroked the horse’s mane as she tried to think of an analogy, “yes, as difficult as mounting this horse.”

Sado’s laugh fell off, “Most of Mict’aratz has better mercenaries than are found here, that much I can tell you with confidence. The truth is I was a little surprised you were hired by Kai’sen.”

“Oh? Why’s that?” Nua asked with sudden interest.

“They are usually content with slugging matches. If you want my opinion…?” He stopped and closed his mouth.

“I do.” Nua prompted, and with a serious nod that belied the happiness that came from her statement, he continued.

“They wanted to get a read on you. Kai’sen is a conservative place, not as much as Da’nak, but very close. They do not like change. To call for you over this is highly unusual.” Sado expressed his opinion with no small caution in his voice, and it was quickly echoed by Kaiji.

“I think Sado is right, mistress. Prince Isaura is very young, but Aubin has been with that city longer than even I have been alive, he’s one of the oldest elves in all the city states, and has guided countless generations of Princes. Old elves tend to like things to stay the same, if they hired you, it was to get a look at you up close. Since you’re disrupting things, they’re mistrustful.”

“They’re right to be.” Nua acknowledged, “I will own their city the way I will the rest of them.”

“Yes, mistress.” Kaiji replied reflexively and passionately. Her face flushed with the excitement of the thought, “But until that day comes, you have enemies.”

“When that day comes, I will still have enemies. But as long as I have loyal slaves… such as you two, I will not fear being overcome.” Nua said with passion equal to that of Kaiji’s own, and for a moment both servants blushed with embarrassment at the praise.

Sado coughed uncomfortably and resumed, “As I was saying, mistress. You’re aware that the mercenaries are the poorest of the poor. Kai’sen and Da’nak are wealthy places, but most of the southern cities are not. They respond to tribute demands by the Tlalmok by sending criminals.”

Nua shrugged, “That makes sense.”

“Yes, my lady, but to have enough criminals they make many laws, some of which are absurd, those laws serve no purpose but to create criminals as tribute. Even for something as trivial as having an affair on your husband or wife, you can go to prison and probably end up as a tribute.” Sado pursed his lips in profound unpleasantness.

“It is actually worse than he says.” Kaiji said with a pitiable look to the south. “The prison lords of those places are powerful, and they sell the prison labor between levies. Being convicted of a crime bears a terrible stigma, employment is hard to find for anyone since prisoners do much of it, and that creates more crime that creates more criminals. So they create crime for the sake of ‘prosperity’ for the prison lords who serve as oligarchical councils to their Princes.”

“That is sad, even horrible, but I don’t see the point of how this explains shoddy mercenaries?” Nua asked, looking back and forth between her companions.

“It means that those who are released, have few options, so they join mercenary companies. Women in prisons can shorten their sentences by having children, those children are raised in city run orphanages that provide little, so it becomes an endless cycle of poverty. Mercenary work is open to all, but because there are always more, life is cheap.” Kaiji explained with gritted teeth.

“So none of their mercenary captains bother to invest in bettering their warriors, it doesn’t matter if they die, that just means they get stored until the corpses can be sent west or further south to the Tlachopan Empire.” Sado explained, “Just yank off the armor of the dead and hand the bloody mess to the next person looking for a way to dig themselves out of a hole.”

“The Tlachopan… right, the third member of the Triumvirate.” Nua reminded herself aloud.

“That is also part of how Da’nak’s problems are minimized. Since they don’t technically have much in terms of slaves, just ‘convicts’, the demon-elf city doesn’t have to worry about the influx.” Kaiji hung her head, “That city makes me proud of this.” She said and touched her bronze collar.

“Kaiji… what do I need to know?” Nua asked reservedly.

“Da’nak… it’s an ancient city by any measure, but the Queens and Kings over it have never cared about anything but my race. It’s the only truly demon-elf city in Mict’aratz, or the world, as far as I know. Some, like me, have always understood that we’re part of the world, and some Kings and Queens have seen value in our eyes and ears being in many places, but for the most part we are seen as aberrations. You should know, mistress. As soon as we enter that city, by Danakian law I am considered free, no demon-elf slaves exist there. If you want me to remain outside…”

“No.” Nua said with finality.

“Mistress…” She blinked back affectionate tears for a moment, then cleared her throat and focused. “You’ve heard that the sacred city is a haven for slaves to run to, if a slave of some other race can flee to it and stay for a year and a day, they’re free. It’s a ‘safety valve’ that keeps rebellion to a minimum. However, there is a twisted side to that.” Kaiji could not raise her head as she explained, and it was several long moments of silence before she could continue.

“But the truth is that it’s just an ashen dream. Da’nak only accepts so many per year, the best of the best, a skilled smith, a weaver, some exceptionally skilled figures, but the rest? A miner, a farmer, a common laborer or maid? They are forced to stay outside the city and wait until they are allowed in, and most of them, most never are. Some end up selling themselves back into slavery to the city of my birth, just to avoid being preyed on by those who gave up and became bandits, or to avoid dying in the wild, or to avoid monsters that prowl the less thickly settled lands. Demon-elves prove our demonic heritage… feeding on hopeless dreams.”

When Kaiji finished speaking, the weight of her information was great enough to crush all impulse to conversation until they made camp for the night.

When the urge to sleep finally brought two of them to yawning, Nua took pity on her servants. They were doing their best to be stoic about it, but as she looked at them, it was clear that they were worn out from the events of the day. ‘It’s times like this, I’m glad I’m a priestess of the god of death… perks like my endurance are truly wonderful.’ Nua mused and called a halt for the night. Within minutes their camp was laid, and Sado was sound asleep, Nua chose the moment of his first loud snore, to speak to Kaiji in private.

Nua wasn’t sure if what she said next was comforting, but as she knew it, it was the truth, and that was all she could offer her servant. “After thinking about what you’ve said… that’s no different than me, Kaiji. I prey on the hopes of slaves for my own gain, I twist their hearts to love me, to get them to kill for me, to die for me, in the hopes that I’ll get for them what they can’t get for themselves.” Nua snorted with derision, “If that’s a demonic heritage, what does that make me who intends to do it to all the city states?”

Kaiji felt the cool ground beneath her, and held to the small bedroll as tightly as she could. “You’re not evil, my lady.” She gave a weak, but tired smile and yawned.

As her eyes closed, Nua could only stroke her forehead and whisper more to herself than to Kaiji, “The fact that you think that, only shows how evil I’ve really become, because that is the only good in this wretched world. I’ll be evil enough to give you all to paradise, and if my god does not despise me for my sins, perhaps get to hold my own dream too…” She went to all fours, and kissed the dark purple forehead of her servant as she slept, then went to sit by the fire and poke at it in idleness until it died and left her awake in the darkness with only the stars to watch over her.

Priceless looked over the documents on the desk. She actually found it in her to ‘glare’ at them in fact. “Marriage proposal. Marriage proposal. Marriage proposal. Marriage proposal. Marriage proposal.” Each one she read over that was in some way suggesting the joining of houses, she set aside with disgust. “None of them are good enough for her.”

‘My goddess of deliverance will be empress one day, a petty provincial count is barely good enough to drive her carriage!’ Priceless groused, and then finally got to something else, and felt her blood run cold.

A report from the watch answered the inquiry about the one who provided information on her whereabouts. Her fingers trembled so much while holding the paper that it shook beyond her ability to read it, and so she laid it down flat on the table. “A peasant found stabbed to death with a coin in his pocket that would have come from the House of Aiwenor.” Priceless read the words out loud, and for a moment she felt a dint of sadness for the one who took part in her rescue, however small. “She did say there was one who never came for his reward, now we… know… why…”

She fell quiet. She checked the date. “This doesn’t seem right.” Priceless murmured.

“What doesn’t, slave?” Solution asked as she walked into the office.

Priceless felt the predatory, hungry eyes on her as she always did, as if the monster was wondering how she would taste. A shudder ran through her flesh, but the brown haired girl did her best to keep her voice level.

“My lady, the… the peasant who, you know, said the things about where I was? He died, or it says the person who had the coin from it, was found dead anyway. But it doesn’t seem right.” Priceless kept her eyes on the paper so she could pretend not to see the beautiful monster.

“How doesn’t it seem right, lower lifeforms die all the time? You kill each other, rob each other, destroy each other without a second thought.” Solution responded and put a gentle hand on Priceless’s shoulder.

Though the touch was light as a feather, it felt like a taunt. She didn’t entirely suppress the shudder that time.

“M- ah, Lady Solution, the death happened after the rains, the same day I was rescued. If anyone knew I was being recovered, they would have killed or moved me. And why kill him later? After I was rescued, most of them were taken, it doesn’t make sense to kill him and risk being caught when they should be running away.”

Solution gave that some thought, and Priceless turned to the next page where a drawing of the man’s face and torso sat, including his injury. The monster snatched up the drawing, “Slave, I don’t recognize him.”

“Is that important, is he not the one, my lady?” Priceless asked and chewed on her tongue with a growing sense of anxiety.

“Yes it is, slave. You inferior beings forget things all the time, most of the time, I don’t bother to remember your faces or names or anything. But if I see a picture, I should at least recognize one of you, and I don’t. Meaning he isn’t the one who gave up that information.” Solution answered, her fingers tensing around the paper.

“So then… Lady Solution, how did he end up with a gold coin of my mistress?” Priceless asked with a growing uncomfortable certainty that she was not going to like the answer.

“Either he stole it, or someone gave it to him. He was murdered, but the coin was still with him, so it wasn’t robbery, but there’s no way someone in the shit district wouldn’t rob him after killing him. My guess, he was killed so we would think our helper was dead.”

“But… why would someone want that?” Priceless asked. “Unless…”

Solution finished the thought unhappily, her assassin mind going into a sprint. “Our information source was one of the ones responsible, maybe even the one in charge. He sold out his people so we would lift the restrictions on the city, he let you be recovered because we wouldn’t be able to justify keeping the gate controlled with you returned. It was his way out. Can you remember anything about the one who questioned you, slave?”

Priceless clutched her head tight as she could, pressing hard onto her skull with her fingers with her head bowed. She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. “No, mistress, I’m sorry, I just can’t.”

“I would say it is because you’re an inferior life form… but I can’t either, in fact, the ones that were caught and questioned, they couldn’t say anything about them either, not even the orc, and he was tortured to death. I think we’ve got a talent bearer on our hands… a very powerful one…” Solution concluded. “Write down everything you can remember, slave, and make a note of this, I’m going to have to speak with my student when she returns.”

“Yes, my lady, but in the meantime, you never visit me, so how can I serve you?” Priceless asked with a delicate voice and downcast eyes.

“The list of locations for the rumor spreaders’ homes or families. I have threats to make, or if I’m lucky, carry out.” Solution licked her hungry lips, and a shuddering Priceless slid a document to the side of the table. Solution took it up without a word and walked out.

The purple tagged temporary Majordomo went on to the next document and read over it quickly. ‘A request for aid from Yanmelin… that’s only a short divergence on the line of march home for the mistress, she said they’d end up in civil war if she played it right. I don’t know if I should be more impressed with her, or Diana. No… her… it’s always her.’ Priceless felt her heart skip a beat and went to call for a servant to rush this information to her mistress as fast as possible.