Glancing either way, Serel nodded and headed over the crest of the hill, watching for danger herself.
* * *
“Geez, that’s a lot of soldiers,” Umar Sharptongue muttered, looking over the small caravan coming down the Dawnway. Called such because it eventually entered Yisara, he was fairly sure that meant that either the people in the carriage were important, or it was filled with important slaves from the border. “Think we could take them, boss?”
“Hmm…” Slaid Darkeye considered, his single eye watching the group, then shook his head slightly. “We might be able to, but those are skilled soldiers by the look of them. Not raw recruits at all. Now, with there being nearly twice as many of us we could probably manage to beat all of them, but what if Westgate notices in the middle of the fight? We might be up shit creek with no paddle.”
“True, but if those are important people, we could do some serious damage this time,” Umar argued, mostly for the sake of doing some damage to the bastards in charge of Kelvanis.
“Maybe, but…” Slaid’s voice trailed off, and a moment later, Umar heard the rustling sound of someone approaching, and he put a hand on his daggers, tensing slightly.
He relaxed when he saw Sam come out of the woods, breathless. His own voice was mild as he asked, “Sam. What’d you come over here for? I might’ve gutted you with those bastards down there.”
“Henry sent me,” Sam replied, gasping as he shook his head. “I took the long way ‘round the hill, ‘cause of what he said.”
“And that is?” Slaid asked calmly, sheathing his own shortsword. Umar managed to hide his own surprise—he’d never even seen the other man draw his sword.
“Henry said that one of ‘em is an Enforcer. He recognized the guy,” Sam replied, spitting on the ground, terror in his eyes.
Umar’s blood suddenly chilled at the information and he went pale. A group of soldiers, even elites, he wouldn’t have many qualms about ambushing. But trying to ambush an Enforcer with them? That would be quite a bit different. All Enforcers could use magic and were well-trained warriors, deadly enough to make most other men balk. He was fairly sure he could kill one from ambush, but if they failed at it, it’d go badly fast.
“Well, that settles it.” Slaid shook his head and sighed. “Umar, call the guys off. We’ll hit a different caravan. One that doesn’t have damned Enforcers in it.”
“Right, boss.” Umar let out a breath of relief, shaking his head, then pulled out a whistle. Blowing into it, he produced a hawk’s cry. He blew a specific pattern, then put it away, thankfully.
No matter how much he wanted to hurt Kelvanis, there was no way he would attack Enforcers unless he was sure that the payoff would be worth it.
* * *
“Serel! It’s good to see you’re back! The Archon has expressed his interest in hearing what you had to report, and…” Jared’s voice trailed off and he blinked in surprise, pausing in the courtyard as one of the women stepped out of the carriage.
She was taller than most of the others, a bit over six feet in height, he thought, and she had hair the color of burnished copper, along with angry green eyes. She looked to be related to the dawn elves, but her skin was pale and of an entirely different hue, like the ancient elves were rumored to be. She was curvaceous, attractive, and had extremely well-toned muscles… and a pair of white-feathered wings extending from her back, along with a soft golden halo above her head.
“High Enforcer Serel, what in the blazes is that woman?” Jared asked mildly, staring at the angel, who was now glaring back.
Serel gave a thin smile as she glanced back, then turned to Jared again. “An angel of their goddess, Adjudicator. She was a guardian of their altar, and set to be summoned when it was desecrated. As we were already there, I set Adam to deal with her. He prepared the traps and captured her without difficulty. At that point, I believed it important to test whether angels can be branded or not.”
“And what in the blazes were you going to do if she couldn’t?” Jared asked, turning to look at Adam. The confident, grinning Enforcer gave Jared a jaunty salute.
“Kill her. Fortunately, it worked. Unfortunately, it seems to be straining the binding to its limits. I believe that a more powerful angel would have escaped the binding by this point,” Serel explained, shaking her head. “As it is, I cannot recommend binding angels in such a manner lightly. I would not have cared to face her without the element of surprise, either. She nearly killed Adam despite facing nine Enforcers. Only the traps proved her undoing.”
“I see. Topaz! Take the women to their rooms for the evening, and lock them in.” Jared looked at Serel and asked, “I presume they’ve been ordered not to attempt to escape?”
“Of course,” she acknowledged, then smiled again, almost predatory as she added, “But let’s just make certain, shall we?”
“You will not attempt to escape rooms that you are locked into, or attempt to harm any authorities of Kelvanis,” Serel ordered the attractive priestesses and angel. Pausing a moment for their acknowledgements, she then added, “Follow the elven slave, Topaz, to the rooms she selects and allow yourselves to be locked inside them.”
“My Lord.” Topaz gave a bow, now adorned in the simple, tasteful jewelry he’d ordered for her. The others would require new jewelry, but at least the smith had been warned that more orders in the same design would be coming soon. Though now he had another temptation. Topaz gestured for the women to follow her, and he noticed several of the Enforcers surrounding a large, heavy wooden box as it was carefully lowered out of one of the wagons.
“What’s that?” he asked, nodding at it curiously.
“I’m afraid I cannot tell you, Adjudicator,” Serel replied seriously, shaking her head. “His Excellency commanded it.”
“Ah. I suppose that my curiosity will have to remain unsated.” Jared took a deep breath, then nodded. “Shall we make our reports, High Enforcer?”
“Of course, Adjudicator,” Serel replied politely. “And so you are aware, the six elves are for you. Under the assumption that the Archon does not wish for any of them, of course.”
“Thank you, High Enforcer. That is most welcome news.” Jared smiled at hearing this, standing up straighter, as one of his longstanding ambitions flared a little. He led the way into the manor and led the way to his office. “And so you are aware, Princess Phynis did escape, primarily due to the raiders taking excessive care in their plans. They dropped half a mountainside on the pursuers, after luring some of the scouts into a cave complex filled with monsters.”
“I see. That is most unfortunate.” Serel clicked her tongue in annoyance as they ascended the stairs.
“Indeed. However, we’ve since learned that the cavern complex is actually a dungeon. Thus I’ve found my time has yet another call upon it.” He chuckled, grinning at her startled expression. “His Excellency thought I was calling to report your return when I informed him of the dungeon, and is most eagerly awaiting your report, if I don’t mistake myself. But now I have the great responsibility of building a town for the adventurers who’ll inevitably come in search of the newfound dungeon.”
“That is most unexpected. Dungeons are rare.” Serel paused for a long moment before speaking, this time with more enthusiasm in her voice than he’d ever heard from her before. “I would actually like to try testing my skills against it myself.”
“I hope you have the opportunity, High Enforcer,” Jared replied with a wry smile, opening the door and leading the way to the mirror. Standing up straight, he supplied the mana the mirror needed and spoke firmly. “Adjudicator Jared Falgrave and High Enforcer Serel Swiftblade request an audience with the Archon.”
It took a long couple of minutes, but once again, the Archon’s image appeared in the mirror, and he was smiling broadly from the beginning this time, his voice deep and enthusiastic. “Serel, it is excellent to see you! And Jared, my boy! I’m glad to see both of you are there, and looking well!”
“Your
Excellency.” Serel bowed at the waist respectfully, and Jared bowed his head as well, not speaking.
“No need to stand on ceremony! Tell me, Serel, was your mission a success?” the Archon asked. Jared noticed that the Archon’s eyes were oddly bright as well. This must have been an even more important mission than he’d thought it was.
“It was.” Serel straightened, nodding as she smiled thinly. “Unfortunately, we lost Enforcer James in the process, but the mission was successful in the end. We also made a number of other discoveries that I believe might be to the kingdom’s advantage.”
“Amazing!” The Archon’s eyes blazed as he laughed, and for a moment Jared thought his ruler would spin in place or dance a jig. But instead the Archon asked, “What else did you find, if you would?”
“There are three items of interest in particular. An angel was summoned, and we successfully branded her with one of the divine brands,” Serel explained, her words indicating that they’d used one of the golden brands used on priests and priestesses. “However, it strained the power of the control crest and I believe it may not function on more powerful angels.”
“Oh? I had not thought they would work on such potent beings. That is interesting indeed,” the Archon mused in obvious interest. “And the others?”
“The high priestess of the temple was also the actual archpriestess of Medaea. The one who we thought was the archpriestess in Yisara is actually the second in command of the church, and deals with most of the secular concerns of the faith.” Serel’s voice was amused this time as she glanced at Jared. “Adjudicator Jared requested that the high priestess and five others be returned to him to be his personal slaves. I believed that this should be left to your judgement.”
“Oh dear. They would be so upset if they knew what had happened.” The Archon chuckled, shaking his head again and grinning at Jared. “And what were you planning to do with six priestesses of Medaea, my boy?”
“Ah… seven, actually, Archon. I took the one that provided us the information on the temple for my service.” Jared was suddenly uncomfortable with the Archon’s knowing look. “As for what I was doing… well, you know about my issues with magic, of course. I need magi to defend me, and I have a rather unusual book that describes a particular way of combining mana.”
“And what book is this?” the Archon pressed gently, tapping his fingers together.
“It’s titled Melding the Rainbow: Six Colors Become One,” Jared replied hesitantly.
“Oh ho! I’ve heard of that one! No one has ever been able to get the rituals to work due to the participants not being able to fully cooperate.” The Archon’s eyebrows rose, and he thought for a moment, then narrowed his eyes. “On the other hand, they are all of the same faith, same gender, and slaves. You can command them to work together and they have no choice but to obey. I presume you intend to use the high priestess as the focal point?”
“Ah, yes, My Lord,” Jared replied instinctively, startled that the Archon had heard of the book in question. He’d thought he had the only copy of it, but he might be wrong about that.
“In that case, have at it. Let me know if it works. I may even want a copy of your book in that case,” the Archon murmured, and then looked to Serel, who’d mostly ignored the conversation. “Now then, Serel. You had another item of interest to me?”
“Yes, Your Excellency,” she acknowledged, smiling broadly this time. “The temple is built on a ley line node. As is usual, one cannot teleport into the temple, but the other end is in an old temple of Medaea located in Yisara. In Golden Vale, to be specific.”
For the first time, Jared saw the Archon struck speechless. After a moment, the Archon began to slowly laugh. And Jared understood why, because Golden Vale was a valley city well behind the front lines, and one where the nobility of Yisara sent their heirs to socialize and establish relationships with their peers every autumn. It was also supposed to not be connected to anywhere outside of Yisara by ley lines for teleportation, which had protected Golden Vale from sneak attacks for centuries.
“Oh my, am I glad to hear this! Jared! You’re to prepare a strike force for this fall. Grab the heirs, and we’ll see if we can’t trade them for a bigger prize.” The Archon grinned broadly, then spoke more sternly. “But no branding them. If we’re going to gamble, let’s go big. I want their queen, and I think she will have little choice if we offer the heirs of her nobles in exchange for her.”
“Your Excellency, I would like to volunteer for the raid,” Serel offered, her own eyes glittering in excitement. She obviously liked the idea of the challenge, which made Jared smile. He’d always liked Serel’s enthusiasm, even if she’d largely ignored him.
“No, no, I’ve got some plans that require your special touch, Serel. You’ll be busy with those when the raid goes off.” The Archon shook his head, and at her look of disappointment, he smiled. “I promise that no one else can perform the task I have in mind, Serel. Now, is there anything else to report?”
“No, Your Excellency,” Jared replied calmly, suppressing the urge to ask for the angel. He had the priestesses he needed, and he should be happy with what he’d already been given.
“No, Your Excellency. I will be transporting our acquisitions to the capital tomorrow afternoon,” Serel replied, bowing her head again. Her dissatisfaction had vanished as quickly as it appeared on her face.
“Good. I expect all of the Enforcers to come with you. You deserve a reward for a job well-done. I look forward to seeing all of you.” The Archon smiled at them for a moment before his image vanished.
For a minute, silence filled the room. Jared was considering what to say to Serel, his heartbeat quickening, and just as he opened his mouth, Serel spoke. The Enforcer smiled thinly as she turned to Jared, nodding slightly at him. “Adjudicator. I imagine you have things to do, so I shall take my leave.”
Jared blinked in shock, watching her leave, and then smiled helplessly as he shrugged and murmured, “I suppose I do. Drat.”
Chapter 24
Topaz resisted the urge to close her eyes as she, along with five of the other priestesses, filed out of Jared’s room. The gathering of priestesses in his bedchamber had been eerily similar to when he’d renamed her, save that he hadn’t deflowered all of the other women first. No, he’d been saving that for afterward. At least he wasn’t planning to try and do it to all of them in a single night.
She shivered, looking at the others. Amethyst, Diamond, Emerald, Opal, and Sapphire had come out with her, while Ruby was still in Jared’s room. Opal had confused her when she’d been given an orange gem, until she’d realized that he meant for it to refer to a fire opal. Diamond was the high priestess, and she reflected that even though she personally hadn’t heard the other women’s names, the jackass had told all of them to forget the old names of each other and only consider their new names to be their ‘real’ names.
Sighing, she finally asked in a soft voice, “Are any of you hungry? We can get food for you before bed if you’d like.”
Most of the others looked at her in shock. After a moment, Sapphire asked somewhat angrily, “I don’t think that’s the main concern most of us have! Why aren’t you more upset about this?”
“I’m not as upset because I unfortunately went through this a few weeks ago myself. I had my name utterly stripped away as well. I can’t remember what it was in the slightest,” Topaz told her in a mild tone, shrugging as she added, “I’ll add that if you worry over your name and try to remember too hard, you can cause yourself to black out and lose the older memories of your name faster. Mine is entirely gone. And I’m also not certain that my mind hasn’t been warped slightly by the experience either. I’m sorry, I’m just trying to be practical and to help you try to get comfortable. There’s nothing else I can do.”
“Ah. That makes sense of a sort. Though your advice will be hard to follow,” Diamond replied slowly, shaking her head. “Trying to not think about something is difficult.”
“
I know. Believe me, I know.” Topaz’s voice grew quieter as she sighed. “I’ll try to help as I can, though.”
“We’d best eat something, no matter how unpleasant our situation is,” Diamond decided, looking at the others. “Come on.”
“Yes, high priestess,” Opal said in resignation.
“Follow me, then,” Topaz told them, heading down toward the dining room for Jared. She’d initially thought it was odd when he’d added a large table and more chairs to the dining room after her arrival, but now there were eight of them. It certainly explained his decision. Leading her way in, she slipped into the kitchen to order a light dinner for them before returning to find the others sitting down.
“So what does the Adjudicator have planned for us?” Amethyst asked, nervously playing with a fork. “Besides… bedding us, I mean.”
“I honestly don’t know. He rarely has me do anything, and I’m often at his side as little more than a status symbol during the days,” Topaz told her as she took a seat, considering what to tell them, then sighed. “But he’s also had me practicing a particular form of magic that I’m… well, I was less than pleased with. For some reason it’s not as unpleasant anymore.”
“And what might that be?” Opal asked suspiciously.
“Put bluntly? Sex magic,” Topaz told them without flinching. On the other hand, they all blanched slightly as she continued, “It’s primarily a method of gathering additional mana and storing it, but it also allows a few other things, like controlling fertility and a few unique spells. I also believe it may be addictive, but I’m not certain.”
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