Chapter: 205 - Gag Me Now (Patreon)

<Contains content which may be considered grimdark>

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Tala had only been looking out at the cityscape for a few minutes, or so it seemed, when Alat grabbed her attention.

-I’ve still got a lot of work to do, but we need to get back.- Alat had indicated that only the most basic of Tala’s memories were back in place, and that seemed odd, but Tala literally didn’t know what she was missing. That left her with an odd combination of anxiety and ambivalence.

Tala took in a deep breath and groaned. There’s no way we could get out of here, is there.

-Not right now, no.-

Go, kill everyone in the hold? Tala wasn’t serious, but she felt tension building within her at the thought of going back.

-First of all, you know very well that most of the people in there are effectively enslaved, just as you were.-

Are. Tala emphasized. We still are enslaved. What else would you call this? She indicated the collar.

-You’re right. This is slavery, but not helpless slavery.- Alat grunted a chuckle. -I mean, imprisoned is hardly accurate, but either Be-thric or a higher city official could trigger the collar with ease.-

Hostage asset, operating under extreme duress?

-Oh, I like that.- Alat hesitated. -Well, no, I don’t like being in this situation, but it is a pretty well worded description of what we are. I like that phrasing.- After another moment, she re-broached the earlier topic. -We need to head back. Being late would be bad.-

Tala sighed, pushing herself away from the stone half-wall that edged the overlook. Sure.

She didn’t look towards the red circle. She’d been able to ignore the scent up until that point, but as she walked back past, the coppery scent of blood filled her nostrils. Lovely.

While it would have been a bit more than a half-hour walk back to the hold, she decided to jog. Ideally, she’d be able to sneak in a bath before the feast.

As she jogged back, she drew brief glances from those she passed, but they always turned their attention elsewhere when they saw the sigil on her chest.

There is a lot of benefit to even my current station.

-Yeah, imagine how much we’ll be able to do within our cage if we win.-

When we win, tomorrow. We’ll be seen as the manifest will of a Pillar of the House of Blood. No one will cross us lightly. She hesitated. Well, those who cross us will be stronger. That was actually a bit exciting, if Tala was being honest.

-But if Be-thric ever discovers we’re compromised, he’ll kill us.-

Hold that thought. One of the beast folk ahead of her had narrowed his eyes and placed a hand on his sword’s hilt. He had a glorious black mane, offsetting he reddish brown fur. He was clearly a fighter, though he was lean. So, he’ll be quick, rather than powerful.

A mostly healed cut bridged across his left eye, though the eye itself seemed to have escaped damage.

The man’s tan tunic bore the sigil that Tali’s memories said was from the House of the Rising Sun. It was one of the purely beast folk noble houses in the city.

The emblem was simple, a horizontal line, with a half circle above it, straight rays coming from the pictograph of the sun.

The House of Blood and that of the Rising Sun had some conflicting interests in the city. Nothing like open warfare, that was quashed quickly when houses were so foolish, but they did clash on occasion.

I don’t have time for this. Still, Tali’s memories offered up what would likely be the lion man’s opening salvo. Great. Insults.

“Blood bag!”

And there it is. Still, to play her part, Tala had to reply. So, she called back, even as she continued to approach. “Move aside, Kitty. I’ve places to be.”

He drew his sword, magic flicking both around the blade, and across the man’s fur.

-Those actually look like fairly reasonable defenses.-

Yeah, but I don’t have time to fight. She considered, then shrugged internally. I suppose I don’t have to pay for my inscriptions, and I outweigh him.

The leonine man was no stronger than the zeme that swirled around them, but his display of power meant he was at most of a Mid race.

Tala was less than a dozen feet from him when she gave a feral grin.

She targeted him, being sure to consider him as something near her, likely to do her harm. Then, she pushed her working around his defenses.

“Down, kitty.” Crush.

The creature’s eyes widened as he dropped like a rock. He clearly fought against the downward force. The result, humorously enough, was that he fell into a sort of bow.

He immediately began withdrawing his combat magics, and seemed to be trying to move power through his body to stand back up.

It didn’t work, at least not quick enough, and Tala was past him.

She sighed, even as she continued on her way. And we’re done.

The memories from Tali really wanted Tala to either kill the man or at least to give a parting verbal shot, but Tala restrained the urge.

The beast-man would be released once she was a block or so away. So, there would be nothing to clean up, or deal with later. Instead, she put the encounter out of her mind.

She thought through what Tali knew on the subject of Eskau and Pillars. Yeah. If he ever finds out, we’re dead. The House has well established procedures for passing on the protian weapon to a new Eskau in the event that a Pillar becomes displeased with theirs.

The thought passed through Tala’s mind once again, and she almost tripped. Oh. Oh!

Alat let out a pleased sound within her head. -Yes. I like what you’re thinking.-

He doesn’t have a protian weapon. I’m his only option. The procedures for the loss of an Eskau’s weapon include the stripping of the Pillar of all current and former titles. In some cases, it results in outright banishment.

-So. When we win, tomorrow, his fate will become tied to ours.-

Tala nodded. Even Tali hadn’t known all the details, but she had known that a prospective Pillar could withdraw from contention without loss of honor up until the contest began.

But when we win. Our death would mean a crippling of his position within the House. He would be worse off than if he never put himself forward for consideration.

-So, don’t get detected until we win.-

Then, we’ll be safe, from him at least.

Alat made an uncomfortable noise inside Tala’s head. -Well, why wouldn’t he just seize us, and redo the memory wipe?-

Tala grimaced at that. The timing was such that her look of clear displeasure caused a blue, female hue-man to shrink to the side of the road.

Tala almost apologized to the clearly terrified woman but realized that Tali would never have done that. So, if Tala did, it would stand out too much.

I hate this. She thought back through Tali’s memories then, looking for an answer. Oh. Interesting.

-What?...oh!-

Tali’s earliest memories were of course, fabricated, and thus unreliable, but Tala had easily found what was likely the first real memory from her time as Tali. Such an extensive overhaul required weeks of slow recovery. We were able to train and improve magically, and in other ways, but we would not have been a functional Eskau during that time.

-Yes, I see now. During that time, we were “recovering” our memories with his help. In fact, he was building them within our mind. It took him incredible effort, and it took him literal months to get Tali’s personality fully established within our blank mind. So, he can’t just erase us again. That would be the same as killing us.-

Essentially. Eskau are expected to perform their duties daily for their Pillar, and any other ranking member of the house. My convalescence would end him as quickly as my death.

And from their memories of the arcane, he would realize the repercussions instantly. Be-thric was nothing if not cunning. Well, arrogant, narcissistic, pronoid…no…that’s not true. He’s pronoid about the universe and paranoid about everything in it.

Her recovery was an unmitigated disaster for him.

That begged the question. Why did he risk it?

The first part of that answer clearly lay within the fact that he’d succeeded, utterly. If not for Alat’s integration into her consciousness recovery scripts, Tala would be forever gone.

By his questions, and how he’d had Tali test out various parts of her abilities, Tala didn’t think that he could simply look at her inscriptions and understand them. Nor had he gotten the details from Tala, herself, before wiping her mind.

He likely blanked our mind, instantly, then took us away as little more than a comatose shell.

Deep revulsion built within her at the very idea. So, he didn’t know about you. Even so, why take the risk?

-We’re clearly missing some important line in this inscription.-

Tala shook her head as she ran. Not to mention: Why did he come back for me? Why didn’t he just grab another to become his protian weapon?

-I don’t know, but we’ll need to listen closely over the next few days. That will likely be enlightening.-

The arcanes do like to be rather… monologue heavy in their ceremonies.

They both shuddered at the memory of the extensive ceremonies they’d accompanied Be-thric to. Tali had gloried in the honor of attending. Tala and Alat had no such delusions.

One such ceremony came to the forefront, where Be-thric had been required to establish himself as a potential pillar.

Tali had been forced to kneel, bowing face down outside the hall. Even her enhanced hearing had only heard the drone of voices, some of them shouting while remaining indistinct.

-To be fair, I think the Head of the hold was livid with Be-thric for putting a human forward as an Eskau candidate. That was likely not entirely standard.- Alat didn’t put much hope in the utterance, however. There were too many examples to pull from.

Well, we’ll have to see now, won’t we.

-Or… we could let Tali handle it.-

Tala felt like something was crawling up her back. What would happen to us?

-Oh, nothing. We’d both be tucked into the side of her mind. We could watch what was happening, and take back over at a moment’s notice.-

Would I have to keep from thinking? Could she hear us like I hear you?

-Great question. She should be able to, just like she should be able to remember all your memories, but I’ve segmented our mind. She’ll only have access to her part, while we have access to both.-

So, what? We can commentate on what she’s doing?

-I suppose you could think of it that way, yes.-

Tala grunted. She was almost back to the hold. We can try it, I suppose…

She slowed to a stop next to the massive doors.

Following Tali’s instincts, Tala raised her right hand, letting the magics scan the key-ring.

With a whisper of power, her authorization was recognized, and the person-sized door opened before her.

She stepped inside to the sound of music playing in the distance.

The yellow garden?

-Seems like, yes.-

Good, we should be able to get to our room to bathe in Kit.

-No, Tala. Tali bathes in the house baths nearest her room. Don’t break her routine.-

Right. She was still getting used to hearing the other set of habits and making the decision appropriate to the situation.

This is weird…

-Move quickly. We have half an hour before we must meet up with Be-thric.-

As if the thought of him summoned the arcane, Be-thric came around a corner up ahead. He paused upon seeing her, before a broad grin broke across his features. “Tali! My fantastic candidate.” He let out a grating laugh. “You are wonderful!”

Tala knew that she needed to bow, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

-Tala. Come on. You can’t fail this quickly.-

But she couldn’t. She simply could not force herself to bow to her captor, to the man who had tried to steal everything from her.

-Tala!-

Tala growled internally. Tali. Now!

*      *      *

Tali dropped to her knees as Master approached. “Master. What have I done to make you so pleased?”

Her Master caught her shoulders, even as she tried to bow and lifted he back to her feet. “An armor’s guild reached out to us, begging forgiveness for one of their smiths.” Master was beaming. “Apparently, he is their most gifted rising star, and you spared him.” The man laughed gleefully. “The head of his guild was so grateful that we’ve been able to shift a good portion of the contracts for the maintenance of our House’s equipment over to them. You’ve saved our House a small fortune over the next few years.”

Tali bowed her head, feeling conflicted. She had wanted to end the altercation peaceably, but once they’d actually hit her? She’d wanted them dead. But that isn’t what her Master would have wanted.

“I’m so glad that you’ve finally learned the lesson: Often, an enemy is more useful alive than dead.”

“I strive to please, my Master.” She bowed her head

He waved that off. “Enough, you are not a simple servant any longer. When we secure my ascension as a Pillar of this House, we will be considered one. Let us start breaking that habit, now.”

Tali was, once again, conflicted. I need to bow to him. He is my superior.

+Oh, gag me now.+

-Hush, this is important, Tala.-

Tali shook her head once. “I…I don’t agree. We will never be equal, but I will honor your command.”

“Good, good.” He was still grinning ear to ear, his perfectly white teeth in stark contrast to his onyx skin. “If it were just that, I’d be pleased with you, but the statement at the overlook!” He giggled with barely contained glee once more. “I cannot believe that you were able to spot a spy trailing you. I had not realized your magic-sight had progressed that far. And leaving a circle of blood behind? Truly inspired.”

Tali hung her head, then. “I’ve deceived you, Master, even if unknowingly.”

+What is she doing, Alat.+

Alat sighed, though only Tala could hear it. -Being herself…-

“The raven was an accident. I didn’t know it was a spy.”

Her Master paused at that, considering. After a moment, he waved it off. “Honesty was the right choice. It doesn’t matter, however. The perception in the city is that you foiled a watcher of the House of the Rising Sun.”

Tali nodded. “That explains both the falconine’s reaction when the bird died, and the anger of the leonine who tried to slow my return.”

Her Master’s eyebrows went up. “Oh? Do tell.”

She conveyed the reaction of the bird-folk to the death of the raven, and her brief encounter with the lion man.

“You continue to please me, Tali. I am continually justified in my choice to raise you up as my candidate.” He grinned. “Even your mistakes, or accidents, bring gain to our House.”

“You honor me, Master.”

+Can’t we try to kill him? Just a little?+

-We’d fail.-

+But the look on his face when we attacked him!+

-As we died?-

+Fine…+

“Now, go get cleaned up. The feast will begin in an hour. You don’t need to seek me out beforehand, as we had planned. Just meet me at the eastern entrance to the great hall, then.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Oh, and Tali?”

“Yes, Master?”

“I’m going to push for a competition without restrictions.” His smile pulled up on one side. “I want to see them quake before you.”

Tali felt a wave of joy run through her from her toes to the top of her head. Oh, by the Master, is he really going to allow it? “The iron paint?” It was the one training method that he was hesitant about. She was only allowed to use it when she trained in seclusion for at least a week at a time. With the upcoming clash, she’d expected to either be dead, or have daily duties as an Eskau. In either case, she’d assumed she’d never be allowed to use it again.

“The iron paint.”

Before she could respond to his confirmation, he held up a hand.

“But not for the feast. You can apply it afterwards, and by tomorrow’s conflict, your magic will be echoing in reality itself.”

This was huge. Master almost never allowed her to use her iron paint. He said that it looked too much like she was trying to pretend to be a hue-man, and that deception would be seen as weakness. But now, after she was introduced as his candidate before the others, the paint couldn’t be seen as an attempted disguise.

It would be seen for the thing it truly was.

The mantle of death.

+Oh, rust. She’s serious. She actually sees herself as death incarnate.+

-Shush. I’m trying to watch.-

*      *      *

Tali walked up to her Master just under an hour later.

The hue-man was dressed in incredibly simple clothing. His tunic and pants were both simple linen, though dyed a deep, blood red, and a similarly red rope was all he had around his waist.

She had taken the opposite tact, per his request.

Her overtunic hung down to just above her ankles. It was slitted up the center and down the sides to allow for easy movement, while maintaining the illusion of formalwear.

She wore close fitting slacks and shirt under the overtunic. A wide belt complimented the outfit, carrying only her weapon and her dimensional storage.

The overtunic was a bone white; the belt was black; and the shirt and slacks were a blood red.

All were fashioned from her morphic clothing.

It was ironic that her clothing was more flexible in its form than her weapon. The clothes had been incredibly easy to delve deeply into, and could take almost any form her mind could conjure. The weapon could only be a knife, sword, or glaive, though in all three forms it cut better than any mundane weapon, and while shaped as either of the larger two, it burned that which it cut.

But this night was about her Master, not her weapons.

Tali didn’t detect any vestiges on him, so he at least wished to have the appearance of being unarmed.

“My candidate. Welcome.”

She gave a slight nod, trying to honor his request, while still honoring him. “My Master.”

They were the only people waiting outside the eastern entrance to the great hall.

Two servants stood beside the double-doors, ready to pull them open when commanded to do so.

“Are you ready?”

“Of course, Master.”

He gave a half smile. “You are a fascinating creature, you know that?” He patted her on the top of her head. “I am glad that I didn’t kill you.”

She frowned. “Master?”

He sighed. “That was a foolish mistake. Alter.”

+What?+

-He just shifted Tali’s memory. It looks like she now believes that he said, “I am glad that I didn’t let you die.”-

+How? How can he do that so easily?+

-She trusts him utterly. She has no desire to resist his suggestions.-

+This is… kind of gross.+

-Indeed. But informative.-

+How so?+

-I’ve now felt his power directly, and seen how it works. It is exactly as you guessed, based on Tali’s memories of her “recovery.” There is no way he could wipe our mind and rebuild a useful personality in less than a few weeks.-

+That’s fantastic! But how can you be sure?+

-The feel of the power. How it was utilized. This isn’t a question of strength but dexterity and complexity. A mind is a lace tablecloth, and I just saw how he handled redoing a couple of stitches. Trust me.-

Tali smiled. “It is my deepest desire to prove your faith, justified.”

+Yeah… there is no way I could play her, convincingly…+

-You aren’t lying.-

Her Master turned to the servants. “We’re ready.” He glanced to Tali. “Remember?”

She nodded, taking her place one step behind and to his left. Together they walked forward even as the doors were pulled open.

A booming voice announced them as they stepped into the brilliant light of the feasting hall, “Announcing prospective Pillar Be-thric and his Eskau candidate, Tali.”

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