Thelmé excused herself quickly, leaving Líann to face my ire, but I simply wasn’t that angry with her. Birt was still working on making outfits for me, so Líann’s gowns weren’t really taking up space that I needed. After a bit of back and forth, she agreed to give me the room I needed when Birt’s outfits were ready for me, and we let the matter go at that.
Rather than join our friends that night, Líann and I shared a quiet dinner together instead. We nestled with Bane just as we had the night before, and he wrapped himself around us protectively, exposing his belly so we could bask in the warmth of the fires inside him. I’d intended for a somewhat different ending to our first night together, but the combination of wine and Bane’s heat quickly put us both to sleep.
8
It was several more days before the caravan that had captured the Deathless arrived at the Garrison gates. Even when they were within our walls, the master of the trade group refused to yield his prisoner until the bounty had been paid—an irksome but understandable precaution. Despite her power, bound and gagged as she was, the Deathless could offer no resistance as my soldiers dragged her away to the cells beneath the Palace, and I let her sit there and rot for several hours before I descended the stairs to begin my questioning.
Venna accompanied me downstairs so that she could cast her Spell to prevent the Deathless from using her own magic when I interrogated her. But before we began, I stopped to look over the equipment that had been taken from her. Like the two before her, this Deathless had several soul bound items, and they had been piled against the wall of the cell adjacent to the one she was being kept in.
Leaning against the wall was a staff made entirely from Dwarven Steel. From the stout spike at its base, the metal staff rose towards its crown, where it wrapped around the oval shape of a deep blue stone. It was an elegant weapon, surprisingly light and easy to handle, no doubt due not only to the Dwarven Steel but also its enchantments. Unfortunately, I was unable to decipher them.
On top of her backpack, a set of dark red, nearly black robes lay in a neatly folded pile. I looked over them briefly, not bothering to pick up the garment when I couldn’t tell what its properties were. The backpack itself was no mystery, however. It was a highly upgraded pack, with 50 slots and a 90% weight reduction—most useful. Once I was able to break the Deathless, it would suit one of Khorim’s scouts very well.
The last item was a dagger that lay on the floor beside the backpack. From its sheath alone, I could tell that it was a fairly powerful weapon; the intricate work of the leather and metal inlays gave that away all too clearly. I was fairly certain that it would be beyond my ability to identify, so I was surprised when I drew the blade and its properties became known to me.
Defender’s Spike — When wielded in combat, this dagger increases the user’s defenses by 20%. You are unable to use this weapon, as it is soul bound to another.
I wasn’t sure who I’d give the Deathless’ robes and staff to, especially since I didn’t know their properties yet, but as soon as I could, this dagger was going to Líann. With her Short Sword of Proficiency in one hand and this dagger in the other, she’d be about as safe as I could make her when it came to close combat. Looking forward to presenting my intended with yet another boon, I entered the Deathless’ cell and saw her for the first time. She was not what I expected.
The Deathless was bound by the chains that Hilgreth had forged, and the gag in her mouth prevented her from uttering anything as I sat down beside her. I mistook the woman for a halfling at first, due to her smaller stature, but realized my error almost immediately—her ears were too sharply angled, and the contours of her face were more delicate than any halfling I’d ever seen, yet still not quite elven in their appearance. I hadn’t met any half-elves before, but she was most definitely one of those rare combinations. Dark brown hair framed the pale skin of her face, the darkest I’d ever seen aside from my own, and her brown eyes glared at me with unrestrained hatred.
“I’ve captured two like you before,” I told her, fingering the links around her neck as I spoke. “Both of them are dead now; that stain on the floor is all that remains of the last one.”
I gestured towards the greasy black discoloration on the stone that marked the spot where the other Deathless had met his doom, and her eyes flared wide as she took note of it. I let her stare at the dark smears while Venna completed her casting, and then cast See Truth before removing the gag from the Deathless’ mouth as I began to question her.
“What’s your real name?”
“Aimee Bowers,” Compel forced her to reveal, to her obvious dismay.
“What level are you?”
“Forty-seven,” her shock deepened when the words came out unbidden.
“You see now that you cannot resist me,” I told her quite bluntly. “It will go easier for you if you cooperate from here on.”
“Take what you can, witch,” she spat at me angrily. “I will not betray my Mistress.”
Oh, but you already have, I smiled at her slip.
“Aimee,” I spoke softly as I rattled the chains that bound her. “You would do well to remember that you’re at my mercy, and even better to know that I have none for you.”
She screamed in utter agony as I shoved a thick tendril of rage inside her. The completely unfiltered extension of my shadows ripped through her for only a second before I pulled it back, but it was several moments before she recovered enough for me to speak to her again.
“That was a gentle caress compared to what I have in store for you, should you be stupid enough to defy me,” I offered her in a soothing tone.
Despite my warning, Aimee refused to tell me anything else without the power of Compel to force the words from her. My questioning revealed that she knew a great number of very powerful Spells. Had she not been taken by surprise, I doubted very much that the caravan guards would have been able to survive their encounter with her, let alone take the Deathless captive.
As for her own crimes, they were as numerous and despicable as Zedd’s had been. She had traveled with both Zedd and the other Deathless I’d captured, Drogan, whose name she finally revealed to me, and shared in their depravities. The death and torture of innocents were among the least of her transgressions.
Although I tried to get Aimee to relinquish her soul bound items, despite using my most persuasive measures, she refused. I finally had to give up when she lapsed into unconsciousness for the third time. I would have awakened her again, but my Aura was beginning to run low, so I simply left her to recover before I would begin working on her again later. Besides, the only questions I had left for her pertained to her Mistress, and Aaden was still working on unravelling the mystery of the links that prevented Aimee from answering any questions about her.
“All that power,” Venna lamented as we began heading back upstairs. “And they use it for such evil purposes.”
She hadn’t wanted to watch as I interrogated the Deathless, but Venna had been able to hear Aimee’s answers to my questions from where she stood outside in the hallway. Not only had Venna heard the litany of her crimes but also the long list of her talents as well. Had she chosen to fight beside me rather than her unknown Mistress, we might have swept aside any resistance quite easily, and my conquest of the Dark Lands would have been a much less daunting proposition.
But while Venna’s thoughts dwelled on what might have been, I pondered a curious fact about what was. Although Aimee didn’t know what level Drogan had been, both she and Zedd were only in the forties—still quite powerful, yet far below me. Despite their brutal and self-serving nature, the foul Deathless had not matched my progress. I’d thought that the time I had spent growing my Realm cost me experience, and perhaps it had. In the long run, however, my decision to focus on building support had only made me stronger. Considering boosts like the Commander’s Bonus to party kills and the boon of Saibra’s Oath, all the choices I’d made that had, at first, seemed to slow my advancement, had come back to help p
ower me forward instead. The evil Deathless had sought only to empower themselves, but still wound up far weaker than I was—a rather ironic observation.
I’d made Saibra wait for us with the rest of my guards, not wanting to expose her to the unpleasant questioning of our Deathless prisoner, but I filled her in on what we’d learned as we made our way back to my residence. Very little of what I told her came as any surprise; she was more than aware of the utter barbarity that existed in this world.
When we reached the outer chamber where my secretaries had their offices, Talína gestured to me urgently, calling me to her desk for some important message. I would have expected her to have sent a messenger to me if there was some matter of true importance, so I was somewhat surprised by her actions.
“What is it, Lína?” I asked when I approached her station.
“You have a guest requesting to speak to you, Empress,” Talína wrung her hands nervously, a completely foreign gesture for the normally composed woman.
“Who?”
No one I knew should have provoked such a reaction from her, and both Venna and Saibra drew closer to hear her reply.
“Emilda,” she whispered in response.
The last time I’d seen Emilda was the last time I ever wanted to see her, and anger rose inside me as Talína spoke her name to me. She’d denied me the opportunity of questioning Drogan by killing the Deathless, an act I had neither forgotten nor forgiven her for.
“Have her removed from the Palace,” I replied coldly. “And let her know that she will be killed on sight if she dares to return again.”
“Empress… If I may?” Talína ventured cautiously.
“Go ahead,” I softened my tone slightly. “But know that I have little patience regarding this… woman.”
“I know what she did,” Talína quickly replied, “and you’re right to be angry with her, but she also clearly understands the magic of the collars that these Deathless wear—perhaps she could be of some use?”
She’d made an excellent point, which was not an unusual occurrence and actually something I’d come to expect from her. Without any information from us, Emilda had severed the collar’s link to kill Drogan, a property we had only discovered by accident. If she could help Aaden neutralize the links without killing Aimee, I might learn a great deal about the Mistress she’d mentioned, maybe even enough to forgive Emilda for her prior transgression.
“I’ll speak with her,” I relented. “But if she has nothing to offer, it will be a very short and unpleasant conversation—for her.”
Talína directed me towards the west meeting room, and both Venna and Saibra followed me in as I opened the door and ventured inside. I expected to see Emilda there and was only mildly surprised to find Marli by her sister’s side, but I ignored my old friend as I spoke to Emilda.
“You have one minute to convince me to not toss you out that window,” I growled at her as I gestured towards the open glass.
“I have earned your ire, Empress,” Emilda kneeled before me. “Please let me try to redeem myself.”
“My sister told me that you’ve captured another Deathless,” she continued, taking my silence for permission to continue. “I know a little about the sort of magic used to create the collars that bind them and am here to offer you my services to try and neutralize their power.”
“One of my own Evokers is already working on that very issue,” I replied flatly.
“So I’ve heard,” Emilda responded. “Forgive me, but how long are you willing to wait for him to solve this riddle?”
“Are you that confident in your own abilities?”
“Yes,” Emilda finally looked me in the eye as she answered.
“I’ll give you three days to prove yourself to me,” Emilda’s eyes widened at the brief window I’d given her. “Give me the answer by then or remain in my disfavor forever.”
I spun around and stalked out of the room without allowing her a chance to reply. Rather than join me, Venna stayed behind to introduce Emilda to Aaden and get her started on the enormous task I’d assigned her, while Saibra followed me into the antechamber to my suite. Lunch was already laid out for us, and I sat down heavily on one of the chairs before making myself a plate.
“Three days is a rather short time to unravel the mysteries of such a powerful item,” Saibra bluntly offered as she sat beside me.
“If Aaden tells me that they’re making good progress, I’ll lengthen her leash a little,” I replied between bites.
“That deadline was never real, was it?” Saibra glanced at me sideways, recognizing the false sense of urgency I’d instilled in Emilda.
“It’s real enough,” I told her. “Especially if she proves to be of no worth during that time.”
Saibra nodded as my intention became clear to her. Emilda had three days, not to truly solve the puzzle of the links, but to demonstrate her value. If she failed to do so, she’d have burned her last bridge with me.
I’d originally planned to return to my questioning of the Deathless after lunch, but other matters kept coming up that diverted me from her interrogation. When it grew late, I gave up on the idea, and after briefly delving into Saibra and finding nothing amiss, I kissed her goodnight and retired for the evening.
Líann was waiting for me as she was most evenings, already curled up comfortably with Bane. Although we still spent many nights in our own bed, Líann was growing increasingly fond of sleeping with both Bane and me by her side, as was I. The attachments between the three of us were only becoming stronger as time went by, which was no small wonder, considering the bonds that we shared.
“How did your questioning go?” Líann asked as I settled in beside her.
“As expected,” I sighed in frustration. “I found out a lot about her, but nothing about the one holding her leash, other than the fact that it’s a woman.”
“Still, that’s more than we knew before,” Líann offered encouragingly.
“How many more Deathless are there?” She prodded when I remained silent.
Shit—I’d forgotten to ask that. I was so focused on finding out all I could about Aimee, and even more preoccupied with what I knew she couldn’t tell me, that I hadn’t questioned her about the other Deathless who served the Dark Lands. Well, at least that gave me something to rip out of her in the morning.
“I don’t know,” I answered Líann. “Honestly, I forgot to pry that out of her.”
“Perhaps I should accompany you tomorrow,” Líann offered, half mockingly. “It seems like you might need me to keep you on track.”
“I’d prefer it if you didn’t,” I objected immediately. “It can be quite ugly, Líann. I don’t want you to see me doing the things I have to do to make her talk.”
She’d never watched me actually question a prisoner before, and despite how much of my darkness Líann had seen, I wanted to shield her from witnessing me unleash my shadows so brutally.
“I’ve felt the depth of your shadows,” Líann replied intuitively. “There’s nothing you could do that I haven’t experienced before.”
She could not have been more wrong about that. I’d shown Líann a great deal of the darkness inside me—she’d demanded no less of me than that. But even while I was unleashing my shadows on her, I was also constantly holding them at bay, keeping her safe from my darkest impulses. I might have felt free to let myself explore my demons with her, that was Líann’s V’Ríel after all, but there were limits to just how far I was willing to let them loose—for both our sakes.
“This is very different, Líann,” I tried to explain. “You’ve felt my darkness, but it’s always been tempered by my love for you. The shadows I unleash on this Deathless are not so restrained—they’re cruel; I’m cruel, vicious even. It’s not a side of me that I ever want you to see.”
I had absolutely zero regrets about the things I’d done to this Deathless or the bandits and others I’d unleashed my darkness on. And although Venna and some others had witnessed me doing so,
there was something different about Líann. She was my darkness, yet I felt a profound need to protect her from its deepest depths—as if they might just swallow her up whole if she ever fell into them. I knew that was a very real risk for me, even before the Dryad had warned me of that fact so long ago, but something told me it was also a risk for Líann as well. She was drawn to my shadows, incredibly so—it took no great feat of imagination to envision them corrupting her should she be seduced by their powers.
“You feel very strongly about this,” Líann clearly sensed my mood once more. “I’ll admit that I’m curious, but I’m willing to honor your wishes since it means so much to you.”
Her concession came as quite a relief. It wasn’t often that she gave in to me so easily; Líann was quite willing to fight for what she wanted, and she usually got it. My Táriel was somehow able to get the better of me most of the time; her long decades of experience in maneuvering her opponents combined with my own desire to make her happy both weighed heavily in her favor.
Rather than stir up anything else, I just laid back down and made myself comfortable again. Bane had remained silent during our exchange and didn’t offer any thoughts on the matter as he wrapped himself around us. His deep thrumming purr echoed around the room, lulling me to sleep quickly in the dim light of the few candles that lit the cavernous room.
After breakfast the next morning, Venna and I headed back to the cells to resume my questioning of the Deathless Evoker. Just like my traps and summoning magic, the Spell Venna used to prevent her from casting could be maintained indefinitely, only requiring that she keep a rather large pool of her Aura reserved for holding it in place. After ensuring that the restraining magic was still active, Venna stepped outside, leaving me alone with the Deathless again.
“Good morning, Aimee,” I greeted her while pulling the gag from her mouth. “Are you ready to chat a little more?”
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