With the dawn of their final day of travel, her babysitter had shifted from Shin to Valdeer, for reasons she wasn't quite sure of. He hadn't given her an explanation and she knew he certainly didn't owe her one.
Valdeer was far more talkative than Shin had been, which Yumi appreciated for about ten minutes.
They had been on the road three hours.
This is clearly punishment, she thought to herself, looking down at her unbound hands. The ropes hadn't been tied back onto her wrists after the scuffle in the camp. She wanted to stay quiet and hope that the conversation would end... Still, she understood that Valdeer was just a cheerful man so she indulged him. "Your wife's favorite meals? Not your own?"
Valdeer's face brightened at the thoughts running through his head, "When she cooks her favorite meals, she is happy. And what I've wanted to see since the day I left home was her smile." His smile was almost contagious. Perhaps if Yumi had known the feeling he described, "I've been away too long. Far too long. Her cooking is just one of the many things I miss."
At this Yumi paused, "You make it sound like you've been gone years," the Crane tribe was only a five or so day journey away. She had assumed they'd been gone only a month, if that.
"It has been nearly a year," he confirmed, shocking her. "Lord Shin is often unlucky with his assignments. First, we were sent to patrol the Winter Coast," he held his hand up, bending a finger for each new location, "The border of the Moon tribe. The Midnight forest –" he looked up at her, "That's not it's actual name but no one can pronounce it. The fog there is a deep, thick blackness that blinds all sense of sight and hearing."
She tried to picture it, "I've never heard of such a thing."
"Nor had I until Lord Shin had gotten on the wrong side of Her Majesty," an expression close to distain crossed the otherwise cheerful man's features, quickly schooled away. It seemed he realized then that he had been saying for more than he should have been, and took the chance to change the subject. "You are quite the topic of conversation among the men, my lady."
Yumi watched from the window as the landscape had changed from the dense forest to the occasional cultivated field, marking the encroaching existence of civilization. "Am I now?"
"None of us have ever been in the presence of an honest-to-goodness saintess before. It's an honor many consider out of their reach."
She thought back to Shin's cryptic declaration that she was the only saintess to be born in hundreds of years. Yumi was sure that he had been exaggerating. "An honor to capture one?" Though it was phrased as a question, the certainty in her voice had Valdeer frowning.
"I wouldn't put it like that, my lady..." But the man seemed to struggle to find what he would put it like. "Rescued?" He offered.
"From my home," her response was flat, but she lacked the bite to sound truly offended.
"From a temple that was burning to the ground."
She gave him a look, "Now, why was the temple burning to the ground?"
The only response to that she got was a sheepish shrug and a smile, the kind of deflection that Shin's men must have picked up from him – or him from them, perhaps. Either way, the gesture itself was starting to feel almost too familiar for her along their journey.
The sensation of the ground beneath the carriage changed, from endless bumps to smoother and cared-for roads.
"Ah," Valdeer said, peeking out of the window, "We're just outside the city now."
Yumi had heard the word 'city' before and had thought she understood what a city was – her village was small, she knew, and rationally she knew that a 'city' would be bigger. As she watched the landmarks of the Crane tribe grow closer, she started to realize just how little she understood the scale of their territory.
Venathca, the capital city of the Crane tribe, was known for it's size, it's architecture, and it's central location on it's particular layer of the Demon world – all things that Yumi wouldn't have known, of course. What she did see was large, tall structures and roads that quickly filled with people living their day-to-day – farmers hauling livestock and grain, one smaller bonasus being led by a child with a stick, events that were probably normal, she realized, but she had never seen.
"What's that?" She asked, momentarily in awe at a large, white spiral structure in the distance.
"Ah," Valdeer leaned over to see what she was looking at and nodded with some sort of approval, "The Western tower." His simple explanation frustrated her, she expected him to continue but when he didn't she prodded him.
"The Western tower...?"
Valdeer seemed surprised that she needed elaboration and faltered for a moment. "It's one of the most famous landmarks in the Crane tribe," he said as if that would explain it. At her blank look, he cleared his throat, "These days it's an archive of sorts, but legend says it's where true magic used to be practiced among the Devora. There's a dais that matches the palace at the very top said to have been used to channel mana through the ley lines of our layer. Sometimes the captain has us run up the steps during training."
Yumi looked at him as if he had grown an extra head, to which Valdeer gave some pause.
"You don't understand anything I'm saying, do you?" He asked, trying to keep any form of judgement from his voice. Yumi's cheeks flared with embarrassment regardless, and she looked away. She decided not to ask him anything else.
The carriage stopped then, the door opening for Shin to climb inside before it took off again. She eyed him wearily, noting the bags under his eyes and the hesitation on his face.
"You look worse," Valdeer said in way of greeting, seemingly not surprised by their captain's state.
"Nothing twenty days straight of sleeping won't fix," he shrugged, running his hand down his face in exhaustion. "Not that I'll probably have that luxury," he muttered.
"What happened?" Yumi asked before she could think better of it.
Shin gave her a dry look. "Nothing for you to worry about," he said in way of dismissal.
Wouldn't want to expose weakness to an enemy, she told herself. It was probably why he had made himself scarce until they were too far into the city for her to be able to make a run for it.
Shin leaned forward before she could say something snide in retaliation. "Look, things are going to get a lot more complicated from here on out," he started. "I'm going to need to tie you back up."
Yumi glared at him, her suspicions being confirmed far earlier than she had expected. "That whole 'not a prisoner, not an enemy' thing was a cute little story," she said, lifting her hands up for him to bind.
Valdeer looked as though he wanted to say something but Shin held his hand up as if to stop him. "Not my prisoner, not my enemy. To be frank with you, Saintess, the majority of the people in this caravan would likely toss themselves from the Hardsea cliffs if you asked them to," at her surprised look he quickly supplied "not that I would allow that to happen."
"But why?"
The silence seemed overcomplicated and heavy with consideration. "If you really don't know," Shin said slowly, as if tasting the words somehow, "It would be safer for me to not explain."
At this Valdeer looked aghast "Captain –"
"For all of us," he looked at the other man sharply, silencing his argument, and then took out a thin piece of rope from his pocket. He knotted it around her outstretched wrists, the knot tighter than it had been previously. He gave it a tug as if to test it and then nodded to himself with some satisfaction, "I can only hope he was right about this," he muttered.
"Who?"
"Nothing," Shin shook his head.
As he did the carriage came to another stop and Shin and Valdeer both took out two daggers as if rehearsed and pointed them at her – the shock of which had her scrambling up in her seat. "Oh, sit down will you?" Shin snapped.
The door to the carriage opened before she calmed down, and the look of panic on her face must have been exactly what the two men were hoping for. A guard dressed in far more flamboyant clothing than they looked them up and down and narrowed his eyes as he saw her.
"I believe His Majesty said no prisoners," the guard intoned, giving them a sharp disapproving look.
"Fine," Shin turned his dagger's handle and offered it to the guard, who reached out for it, "But you explain to him that you felt it necessary to kill a Devorian saintess." The guards hand stilled and he looked over at her in shock.
"I –" He paused, and Yumi felt the strange invasion of his mana as if it were testing hers – the same feeling she had any time she had dealt with strangers in the temple. "So it is. My apologies, your –"
"Could we get moving?" Shin cut him off with a cold look, "As you can see we have her under control but my arm is getting tired and I'm sure the vice captain feels the same."
Valdeer, who Yumi had known to be a generally cheerful guy, had been steely and emotionless during the entire exchange, "No, captain. I've loved holding a dagger without rest for hours on end," the lie was smooth and unquestionable. The guard nodded at them and closed the door.
A beat after they began moving again past the check point, Shin and Valdeer put their daggers away with an annoyed look plastered on both of their faces.
Yumi slid back down in her seat, looking between the men with an equally annoyed look on her face. "And let me guess. I'm not getting an explanation for whatever that was about, am I?"
Shin and Valdeer exchanged a look, to which Shin shrugged. "No one knew there was a saintess until it was known there was a saintess."
"Are you always this vague?"
"Yes," Valdeer answered for him.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"I've been told this will be worth the trouble," Shin said simply, ignoring Valdeer. He rubbed his eyes, the exhaustion showing again. "I'm going to need to gag you."
The atmosphere of the palace was familiar enough that he had no choice but to call it home – the same atmosphere he had spent his entire life trying to crawl away from. Having his own regiment was a start, but even his title of captain was oppressive in its own way, an anchor that was yanked in and out of the sea at the whims of royalty that had no problems other than sitting on their plush cushions, pointing at maps and telling him to fetch.
He was tired.
But more than that, Shin was angry. Constantly simmering beneath the surface of his skin.
Angry then as he had been sent on another escapade that he hadn't been expected to return from.
Angry now as he pulled the ropes he had knotted too tightly against the delicate skin of the sharp tongued saintess. He led her, tied and gagged, down the long, ornate hallway that the royalty of the Crane Palace loved to boast about – its carved marble and golden treasures a statement to any visitors that the Devora stood proud and tall above the rest of the Demon World.
He did have pride in that.
He had more pride in the knowledge that it was a lie.
Oh sure, most Devora believed they were the most sophisticated, powerful, and most intelligent race of demons that existed. He would even go as far to say that it could be true, considering his last assignment had him witness a demon ogre they had hired eat its own leg off after confusing it with its dinner.
There were, however, seemingly endless depths to this world. Layers and layers of demons of varying strengths and abilities that, if legends were to be believed, gave way to Gods. He had seen first hand the powers that existed out there that nobles stuck in this pompous palace had long forgotten existed.
"My prince," Valdeer whispered low enough so that only he could hear, reminding him that he was one of those damn nobles himself. He flicked his eyes to where his vice captain's gaze was aimed and saw the check point guard that had held them up earlier had already made his way to whispering in the king's ear.
His eyes, which had not left Shin's until that moment, narrowed on the saintess that he pulled behind him.
See, father, he wanted to taunt him, aren't you glad this once I came back alive?
Instead he flung his arm forward, causing the saintess to fall forward into her knees onto the red carpet that trailed from the hall up to the dais where three of the royal family sat. The girl looked up at him with both confusion and anger – if he were being honest he didn't particularly care despite the fact she was a saintess. She'd live, perhaps not with the same spoiled opulence she was no doubt used to, and for that she should be thanking him.
"A saintess?" The king's voice rang, echoing throughout the hall despite his normal speaking volume. An amplification ability belonging to a scribe who made the mistake of demonstrating it once – he now attended every meeting at the king's side, ordered to use his mana only for royal benefit.
Shin quickly examined the royals in front of him – his cold eyed father, his mother with whom he shared too many similarities in appearance, and his brother whom shared far too many features with their father – before replying. "An unexpected spoil," he merely said, practiced disinterest painting the tone of his voice despite the murmurs of the attending crowd.
The saintess looked back at him with real hatred in her eyes, growling something he was sure wasn't ladylike beneath the gag. At that he couldn't hide the small smirk that crept to the corner of his mouth – it was a good idea to gag her after all.
"One would believe the captain of the advance guard unable to heed the instruction of no prisoners," despite his words he could see him glaring with desire at the saintess, the words merely an excuse for whatever punishment he saught next. "Like an infestation you must squash every insect lest they breed and multiply. To leave a Moon Tribe creature alive..."
"The Almacian scholars have written that the saints do not belong to one tribe or union," the crown prince stepped forward then, his multicolored eyes focused on the king – one dark and blue, the other as red as the moon. Shin knew the crown prince well enough to know that the way he gestured his arm, the way he lifted his chin when he spoke, even the glazed look in his eyes were all subtle imitation of the king – a conscious attempt to mirror his mannerisms. "Killing a saintess of any tribe would be tantamount to killing one of our own," the crown prince's implication hung heavy over the room.
The king's lips twitched, if in amusement or annoyance was anyone's best guess. "Prince Ikuto, your wisdom is well appreciated in moments such as these."
Shin prepared himself for the inevitable back and forth, suppressing the urge – just barely – to commit treason and roll his eyes. The weariness starting to awaken again in his veins reminded him sharply that he had other problems, his eyes snapping for a brief second to he saintess still shaking on the floor and then back up.
"Keeping her alive has merit," the king mused, leaning back in his throne so that his dark hair covered his eyes as he contemplated. "Though the body of a saintess hanging from the gates sends a message few would dare to ignore."
There was a time, long before Venathca, that such talk would would have ones tongue cooked over hot coals while still attached to their body, regardless of rank.
Oh, how Shin longed for those times.
The saintess, pulling at the ropes now, let out something akin to a scream of rage that sounded more like a gurgle due to the gag. Two for two on the gag idea, Shin smugly thought as a grin spread on his father’s face.
It was obvious that this was more for the benefit of scaring the saintess and waving his word around to the courtiers and attendants that surrounded them than it was any true intent to harm the saintess. He pitied her momentarily, as she’d have no way of knowing that.
The queen, having sat in quiet and feigned disinterest leaned over to the king then, whispering some no doubt dastardly plan into his ear. The king immediately barked out a laugh which echoed loudly through the hall, the amplification of it bouncing off the stone walls in an unpleasant and surrounding manner.
"Such a practical solution my dear." He snapped his fingers, gesturing at some scribe that waited, pen at the ready, for any impromptu decrees to be written into law. "We cannot risk having a saintess fall into the hands of the enemy, and a such wealth of fortune would be far too precious to waste."
The look on Ikuto's face fell in relief, the way Shin had come to recognize when something had gone his way. Shin felt himself relax in turn – Whatever outcome the prince had sent him out to ensure had been achieved.
"You have been of age for some time," the queen, their mother, addressed Ikuto. "Perhaps this saintness could prove a suitable concubine –"
The saintess let out a another snarl and attempted to stand. Shin placed a foot on her back, knocking her back down and holding it there while he met Ikuto's eyes. There was a hint of victory there at their mother's words, and Shin sure Ikuto saw the annoyance in his.
All of this for that?
She continued to writhe under Shin's foot, her body far too weak to shake him off. The king looked down on her with contempt, the same look he would give any subject who defied him. With a sigh, Shin pressed his foot harder into her back, bending over so that she could hear him clearly.
"Bow, saintness, and remember that a concubine does not need hands to breed," only Prince Ikuto had the decency to blanche at the words. They had their intended effect though, and the saintess stilled beneath him.
"Perhaps a bit of taming in the dungeons first," one of the noblemen in the chamber laughed, several of them laughing along with him.
"That won't be necessary," Ikuto said with the false amusement he had come to perfect during his many years. Shin knew, however, the thought alone probably unsettled the prince's sensitive stomach. The Crane tribe wasn't known for being kind to prisoners of war, concubine or not. "I'm sure the saintess will come to behave just fine after a bath and a meal," he looked at the queen, bowing in thanks, "if I am to accept the gift of a wife, I should trust her discipline be placed in my hands."
"Very well," the queen intoned, perhaps realizing on some level that she had just been played.
"Captain," Ikuto addressed Shin with his title, something that most nobles thought he did as a slight but in reality was it was his preferred title. "Perhaps you and the vice captain could transport the saintess to my seating room while the attendants arrange rooms in the east quarter."
Shin nodded, and he and Valdeer gave a stiff bow. The dismissal was clear, and Shin pulled the saintess up by the ropes and twisted her to face him.
Tears had silently made their way down her face, and there was a noticeable stain of blood beginning to form on the gag from where she had either bitten her cheek, lip, or tongue.
Not least of all was the burning look of hatred on her face too. So you like them feisty, brother, he laughed to himself, not able to picture his demure brother going for a firecracker – but, he supposed, he was expected to have a few wives. Perhaps he was going for variety.
The crowd watched them leave – no words of congratulations for the victory, no promises of abundant feasts any other collection of Crane shoulders would get. The norm for the advanced guard at this point.
"Those..." Valdeer made a choking sound as they rounded the corner to the outer pavilion.
"You can call them what you wish Valdeer, I'm not going to report you for treason for having a potty mouth."
"Forgive my impudence my lord, but a saintess! In a dungeon!" Valdeer's expression was aghast.
"What else can you expect from them? Half of them haven't left the capital city since they were born." They came to the entrance of a large sitting room, to which Shin slid the door open to see two female attendants preparing tea for two. "For most of them that's hundreds of years."
The attendants bowed at Shin, who gave them a charming smile in return. Valdeer shook his head at this and the saintess, still gagged and behind them, scoffed through the cloth – the attendants looked at her with open curiosity, until Shin stepped forward.
"If you wonderful ladies could fetch me some cotton and bandages," he asked smoothly, touching one lightly on the arm, "and two more cups if you wouldn't mind, the vice captain and the saintess will be joining us for tea."
The two hurried off, giggling between themselves.
In their wake Ikuto soon followed, his expression relaxed and far more pleasant, the mask of the crown prince discarded for the moment.
"Oh for – untie the poor woman," Ikuto chided, looking the saintess up and down as he grabbed the ropes himself and began to untie them.
His delicate fingers struggled for a few moments while Shin watched the saintess' face. She was quieter than expected, something that Shin had the wisdom to be weary of. He nodded to Valdeer.
When the knots were loosened enough for Ikuto to slip the ropes off of her hands, the saintess pushed him to the ground and made for the door – she got as far as about two steps before she ran into Valdeer's chest.
"Now my lady, please," he said sincerely, "no one in this room is going to hurt you."
Shin noted that Valdeer made no mention of those outside the room.
Wise, frankly.
The saintess yelled something through the gag as Shin helped Ikuto off of the ground, watching with amusement as Valdeer tried to calm the saintess.
"I understand that this is a lot to take in," Ikuto said, stepping forward with his hands up as though he were taming a wild animal. "Please sit for tea. I give you my word that nothing will happen to you here."
Shin, who had already sat down, let out an amused huff of air. "You realize your word means nothing to her?"
Ikuto gave him a disapproving look, "You are not helping."
"I'm not trying to." He shrugged, "She'll run out, the attendants who are probably about to walk back through that door will see, run off, report it, and she'll be decorating the dungeons by sundown and neither of us will be able to convince the king otherwise."
"Or," he gave the saintess a pointed look, "she can eat her pride and sit down, have some tea and maybe some dessert if my charms are still working. Ask questions. Get answers."
The saintess contemplated this for a moment, glancing between Valdeer and the door before stomping to an empty cushion and sitting down with a huff. She used her now free hands to pull down the gag in an angry, jerky motion.
"You – you–"
So not the tongue, he thought.
The two attendants slid the door back open and the saintess had the right sense to pause her speech. They fluidly set down a woven bowl with the supplies Shin had asked for and placed two additional cups on the table. Valdeer took his seat then, thanking them, and one of the attendants placed a plate of cookies in front of Shin and gave him a meaningful smile.
When they left, the saintess paused for a moment longer, her face reddening as Shin picked through the bowl for a wrap of bandages and the cotton.
"You are – just – all that flowery 'not enemies' talk and then you threaten to cut off my hands–"
Shin grabbed her face by the chin and tilted her head side to side, repeating the motions he had done at the lake and cutting off her rant to dab at the drying the blood with the cotton.
"Technically, saintess, I didn't threaten to cut them off at all. The only one who has hurt you, is you." He let her go with a dramatic sigh, "really now, did you have to bite your cheek so hard you bled? Isn't that a little dramatic?"
The noise of anger the woman made was similar to that of a whistle, and she held her wrists up, showing off the rope burn from where he had tugged her, "so you don't consider this to be harm?"
"That's what these are for," he held up the bandages, quickly grabbing one of her wrists before she could put them away again. He deftly began to wrap the burns there, ignoring Ikuto's stifled chuckle, and then gestured for the other wrist. The woman glared at him, a look he was sure her face would be permanent stuck making, before providing it.
All the while, Ikuto had calmly poured four cups of tea, despite Valdeer having insisted that he do so. He took a measured and peaceful sip from his cup with all the dignity that a crown prince should have.
"Well then," he started, his smile firmly locked into place. "We've established a truce at least for now. I realize this has been... A lot for you to take in, surely."
The saintess snapped her gaze over to the crown prince, looking him over in earnest for the first time. Shin wondered what she saw – the cold facade they both were forced to wear in front of the court? Or did she see his frail frame and gentle eyes that saw far too much and not enough at the same time?
"Truce implies even an ounce of trust, and I'm taking the 'fool me once,' stance on that one."
Ikuto laughed, "that is fair enough. As the captain said I am sure my word means nothing to you, but I would give it anyway."
The saintess reached over to take a cookie from the plate in front of Shin, her eyes narrowing.
"And why should I listen to you?"
"Because," the prince said, his mismatched eyes focused on hers, "my life is in your hands."
This chapter was previously 'Chapter Three...' ignore the subtitle in the image aaa
art by