Neasa stared at the hand she was holding for a second. She was surprised, and a little angry with herself, that she had any compassion for the fallen Elfqueen at all. It was the way Samodiva had said the name. Lele. Who was Lele?
She let it go, the question and the lifeless hand. It wasn’t worth getting hung up on. She had to heal herself, the poison from the yew tree had absorbed through her skin, was interfering with the rhythm of her heart as well. It wouldn’t be a victory if her revenge claimed her life. She lowered herself to sit beside the corpse of vanquished Samodiva and focused her will internally. She had time to focus now. She closed her eyes and focused her magic on neutralizing the poison. It was slow, but the poison was slower. She’d survive this and be able to get back to Isaac. Elena and Chandrakanta were with Isaac, or Isaac could take her to a pokecenter and use a healing machine.
“Well fought, young queen.” Neasa felt her body shooting back up into fight or flight but she knew the voice that spoke. Brethilbereth had returned. “Your foe is slain and you are victorious. Allow me to mend your injuries.” Neasa settled back down and nodded to the older Elfqueen.
Brethilbereth reminded Neasa of Elena in her composure. She was stoic and dignified. Her hair was strawberry blonde and tied into a fishtail braid. Her eyes were chestnut colored. Her face was slender and angular and increased the air of maturity when combined with her placid expression. Quite a far shot from Samodiva’s persistent hostile mask or Nimlothel’s brimming confidence. Neasa wondered what people read from her expression. It wasn’t something she paid much attention to.
She had nothing to do but reflect as Brethilbereth tended to her injury. She could feel the muscle knitting itself back together through the tingling numbness. As her body healed Neasa’s mind kept pulling images and sounds from her memories, trying to find some resolution to everything that had transpired. Everything that revolved around Samodiva.
“Why did I take her hand?”
Brethilbereth looked up from her mending work at Neasa’s question. “I cannot know the answer to that question.”
Neasa sighed. “She thought I was someone named Lele.”
Brethilbereth nodded. “She did speak of a Lele. Samodiva was covertly mourning her death the entire time I was her guest. Lele was the first Elf to answer Samodiva’s call. She had fled from the neighboring farm to escape abuse. The farmer pursued and Samodiva killed him, then her own master when he was going to turn her over to the authorities. The farmers were cousins. This was the catalyzing moment for her becoming one of the unseelie. Her past sowed the seeds but it was her claiming those two lives that reaped the harvest.”
Neasa frowned. She didn’t want to know this. Didn’t want to believe Samodiva could have been right about anything. It would have been so much easier if she was a complete lying monster. Brethilbereth noticed the younger Elfqueen’s discomfort. “Do not allow yourself to be troubled. She was consumed by her darkness. Even in our vast queendom we would not have been able to find a place for her. She allowed herself to descend too deep into the evil of her memories. With nothing but recollections of being abused by the powerful she held tightly to the idea that, as the one now holding power, it was her right to inflict abuse. Claiming power will always destroy one such as she, it is only a question of what would be brought down with her.
“She understood this on some level, too. Not near enough to the surface to bloom into conscious thought, but I believe she knew the loss of her precious Lele was her own doing. She lost her will to rule and I believe she was waiting for her death so she could finally let go of the reins. You gave her that, and you liberated your people from sharing her fate.” Brethilbereth rose from where she’d been kneeling and offered a hand to help Neasa rise to her feet. “Come, it is time to present yourself before your people.”
Neasa took the hand and let herself be pulled to her feet. She rolled her shoulder to loosen up the muscle that was still coming down from the chemical reaction of such a grievous injury. “Why do you think she wanted to die? She didn’t fight like it.”
“Because, young queen, she shared with me the full story of her treachery, including her collaborators and encouragers from within your mother’s court and outside. You still have snakes to drive out of your garden and it is because of her that you will know their names.”
-
Watching Jin, Neasa, and Oleksandra fight for him was nerve wracking enough. Watching one of them fight remotely where he couldn’t even recall her if she became seriously injured was even worse. The fight was over now and the mass illusion magic that was used to show the battle to everyone present in the court ended when the officiating Elfqueen started to heal Neasa. It was over and now Isaac just needed to wait for Neasa to return to everyone waiting. It’d taken an hour between when Neasa and Samodiva set out to perform their tracking task and when the duel started at noon, but only the Elfqueens knew what sort of winding path that took them on so it was hard to say when they should be expected back.
Most of the assembled Elves were also waiting with nervous anticipation, waiting for their new queen. They stood or sat in clusters and their hushed conversations filled the court with quiet murmurs. There was some commotion right when the mass illusion ended. Someone had attempted to flee from the court but was intercepted by the Golden Elves that had accompanied Brethilbereth. Someone with a masculine voice who urgently wanted to get away. He’d been turned back forcefully.
He was someone older than Isaac. Somewhere in his twenties. Gaunt and gangly with sunken eyes surrounded by dark circles. He reminded Isaac of mugshots of drug offenders. He was dressed in the sort of clothes the Elves wore, handspun fabrics that weren’t dyed, but he had denim pants that had been extensively mended underneath the linen tunic. He had the typical Ukrainian features of light hair and blue eyes, though his eyes were a bit glazed over and bloodshot. There was also a very prominent scar on the left side of his neck. A sunken indent under his jaw with a roughly four sided, geometric shape to it with a thin and shallower tail leading back towards the ear.
An Elfqueen entered the court but she was Nimlothel, not Neasa. The ranger queen of one of the Vesna border courts quickly approached where Isaac was assembled with the rest who were regarded as Neasa’s entourage. Elena, Chandrakanta, and Astoreth along with Jin and Oleksandra. Nimlothel ducked her head in greeting. “Erethueth, Isaac, and companions to the victorious, Neasa asks for you to join her before presenting herself before her subjects.” They followed the Elfqueen a short way into the trees behind the throne, little more than a flat stone with blankets piled on top that was pushed up against the trunk of a tree that had many stems rather than one central trunk.
Neasa, Brethilbereth, and some of the subordinate Vesna Elves were waiting on the other side of the line of trees, one Elf carrying Samodiva’s two handed falx and another the recurve bow that had originally belonged to Queen Vershnyk. Two were carrying Samodiva’s dead body on a makeshift gurney.
Neasa ran to Isaac and threw herself into his arms, not saying anything just holding herself against him, pressing her face against his chest and doing nothing more than breathing. “Hey,” he said looking down at her, “It’s over. You won.”
Jin bounced up beside her harem sister. “Yeah, that was awesome, the way you-” Neasa looked up at her and the weight of emotion on her face cut the Enchantress off. “I mean… You fought well. I’m glad you won.”
Neasa pushed herself away from Isaac. “I did win. It’s not over though. Samodiva had help with her coup. I need to deal with them.” There was a grimness to her voice, a look of great displeasure. She wanted this to be over but the presence of these people meant it couldn’t be for her. “Stand with me, please,” she said while looking up into Isaac’s eyes. He nodded. “And Elena, Chandrakanta, Astoreth. Will one of you use a truth detection spell to help me?”
“I will, Neasa,” Chandrakanta answered.
Neasa turned to Brethilbereth. “Queen Brethilbereth, may I make use of your Elves?”
“Of course. Tuleth,” the older Elfqueen motioned for a High Elf to approach.
“Yes my queen,” was her sharp response.
“I am lending you and your subordinates to Queen Neasa for the purpose of apprehending those she wishes to judge.” Astoreth’s eyebrow rose ever so slightly hearing this.
“Yes, my queen,” was the response of Tuleth and the handful of Elves standing with her. Then they turned and looked expectantly towards Neasa.
“The people I want are the two humans, Hendrick and Petruso, as well as the Elves Annonaria, Csilla, and Ilya. Also bring forward whoever else was acting as an advisor or lieutenant for Samodiva.”
“It will be done,” Tuleth responded. Brethilbereth’s Elves quickly moved into the court. A couple of minutes later Tuleth returned. “They are waiting for you, Queen Neasa.” Neasa frowned when she heard the title. She had a very brief, hushed conversation with Elena and handed her living bow to the Grandelf.
The small statured Elfqueen held out her hand to the Vesna Elf bearing the two handed falx. Its blade was just under a meter in length and the handle more than half the length of the blade to provide control and leverage for its unwieldy form. If her expression wasn’t so dark and dire it would have looked comical, but there was a frightening and obvious intent to use the blade she was holding and hiding behind that Isaac thought he could see a glimmer of despair. She marched around the line of trees that formed the boundary of the court though. Isaac followed quickly.
The assembled Elves of the court all had similar looks of apprehension. They all had an idea of what was to come. The same as what had come when Samodiva claimed the right to rule. Forced onto their knees in front of the throne were the individuals Neasa had tasked Brethilbereth’s Elves with gathering. The man with the scar on his neck was one. Another man in a Sapphire League Rangers uniform, but with all of the identifying patches and rank tabs removed. Then there were five Elves. One with golden hair and eyes like wheat stalks who was about as tall as Elves came. One of unremarkable build with black hair that reflected the green of the canopy in its highlights and blue eyes. One with brilliant platinum blonde and green eyes who was willowy like a scaled down version of Elena. An athletic one with green hair and eyes and a finely crafted quiver on her hip, and another average proportioned redhead with green eyes dressed in robes.
They were the five individuals Neasa had named, plus Virag and Anfisa, Samodiva’s acting captain of the hunt and chief magus, respectively.
“Chandrakanta, please activate your truth spell.” Neasa spoke her request loud enough for the entire silently waiting court to hear if they strained. Her next words were projected to be heard effortlessly. “You, Queen Samodiva’s consorts, lieutenants, and ministers. You are gathered before me to receive judgement for your part in aiding the treacherous fallen queen.”
Hendrick, the haggard man with the scar, made as if he was going to stand and flee but was kept in place by the blade of the Elf behind him. Petruso, the man in the ranger fatigues, had a stoic and resigned look. Annonaria and Csilla started to mouth silent pleas while Ilya resembled Petruso in her demeanor. Virag and Anfisa were both fearful but still and silent.
Neasa moved to stand beside where Hendrick knelt. “Hendrick, consort of Queen Samodiva. I accuse you of treason and rape of my people. Your predations are well known to all of the court. Do you have anything to say in your defense?”
“I didn’t rape anybody!” Hendrick responded in a shrill voice.
Chandrakanta wearily stated, “He’s lying.”
“I’m not lying, you can’t rape pokegirls, they’re pokegirls.”
Neasa’s mouth twisted into a snarl but Chandrakanta said with a curious voice, “I don’t detect a lie, so he must believe what he says is true.”
Neasa shifted the awkwardly large sword in her hand. “Who did you rape, Hendrick?”
“No one!”
Chandrakanta sighed, “A lie.”
Hendrick whined like a trapped animal. “It wasn’t rape, she enjoyed it. She’s a tamer girl Samodiva captured, she always wanted it because of Samodiva’s magic.”
“I don’t care what he considers rape, he’s guilty!” Neasa hissed. She twisted the handle of the falx in her hand and started to raise the blade.
“Queen Neasa, wait.” Endzela Elefkveen Vorona, the Elfqueen captain from the Vorona Corps who had come to witness the duel, spoke up. “You wish to remain with your tamer, Isaac Markiyan, correct? As an officer of the Vorona Corps I will not be able to leave an incident of a pokegirl murdering a human unreported. Even given the circumstances.”
“He raped them! They were my retainers, my friends! She let him do it to hurt me!” Neasa turned to look at the assembled Elves, “They weren’t the only ones. Who among you did he force himself upon?” Many hands and murmurs were raised from among the spectators.
“The league will not see it our way, even with his violation of the human girl they will not sanction his death. I will not stop you from taking his life, but you will be branded as unseelie and hunted by the leagues.”
“He deserves to die,” Neasa shouted as her hands jerked the blade upwards again.
A dark and low voice filled the air. “He does,” Astoreth said. “Queen Neasa, allow me to question your prisoner.” Neasa glared at the much larger infernal as if to intimidate her but Astoreth would not be cowed. “Trust me, the laws of humans are my domain.” Neasa didn’t answer audibly but dropped the falx into one hand and stepped away.
Astoreth pulled a handheld computer out of her breast pocket and crouched down low to put her face close to that of Hendrick’s. “State your full name, for the record,” she said in her distinct, rumbling growl.
Hendrick failed to consider the concept of self incrimination. The law, in the immediate sense, had saved his life after all. “Hendrick Antonovich Fedorov.”
“Mister Fedorov, you were the consort of the Elfqueen Samodiva, ruler of the court found near the ruins of Kamianske up until earlier today when she was slain by the Elfqueen Neasa, correct?”
“Yes, this is correct. I was her consort, that’s all.”
“What were your duties, as her consort?”
“I… I’m the human who tamed her and her Elves. That’s all I did. Provided taming.”
“So you were her tamer?”
“No, she killed her tamer.”
“She killed her tamer and then you assumed the responsibility of providing her and her Elves with taming. Were you financially compensated for providing these tamings?”
“I- no. There’s no money.”
“Did you benefit from providing these tamings in anyway?”
Hendrick blinked as he thought. “Samodiva protected me. Had her Elves give me food and clothes and stuff.”
“Those are all things a pokegirl may do for her tamer. And how long did this arrangement between you and the Elfqueen Samodiva carry on?”
Hendrick thought. “It’s been five years.”
“So for five years you’ve been providing taming for the Elfqueen Samodiva in return for her offering protection, food, and shelter without it being an expressly agreed upon business transaction. Do you agree that what you defined could be seen as the role of a tamer and his or her pokegirl?”
“Yeah, yeah I guess that’s what it was.”
“Mister Fedorov, were you aware of the Elfqueen Samodiva’s violent actions and the actions she ordered members of her court to perform?”
“Yes…” Hendrick answered with a great deal of uncertainty in his voice. His mind was piecing together the implications of where Astoreth’s questions had led him.
Astoreth grinned wickedly, “Thank you, Mister Fedorov. And, for the record, you admit to engaging in sexual acts with a human girl the Elfqueen Samodiva captured and kept in a lust induced state, correct?” Hendrick looked at Chandrakanta and hissed through his teeth. “Answer my question please, Mister Fedorov.”
“Damnit, yes.”
Astoreth pressed a button on the side of her device and replaced it in her pocket. “On top of the rape of the female tamer, Mister Fedorov has just confessed to being Samodiva’s tamer while possessing knowledge of her crimes. He is therefore complicit in every criminal act for which Samodiva could be found guilty.” She rose to standing as the blood drained from Hendrick’s face. “All the league needs is a copy of this recording, as well as Mister Fedorov’s neck here, and he’ll get what he deserves.”
Neasa’s face twisted in confusion. She wanted to kill Hendrick herself. She’d wanted him to die when she stabbed him in the neck the day she escaped. She still hated him for what he did and what she allowed him to do to her. But it was more important that she be able to stay with Isaac. “Then we will take him to the humans when we release any humans Samodiva captured as slaves. Get him out of my sight.” The Elf standing behind Hendrick jerked him to his feet and shoved him off to a corner of the court. “Petruso of the Sapphire League rangers, I accuse you of treason. You betrayed your oaths to the Sapphire League and conspired with the Elfqueen Samodiva. Do you have anything to say in your defense?”
Petruso glared up at the Elfqueen who was only a head and shoulders taller while he was on his knees. He sighed, shot a glance towards Astoreth, and then spat on the ground off to the side before cursing under his breath. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.
Chandrakanta sighed. “He’s lying.”
Petruso snarled, “The hell I am! The league didn’t take care of me so why the hell shouldn’t I watch out for myself?!”
Endzela stepped forward, “You were the ranger assigned to the waystation in Kamianske. There’s no way Samodiva would have tolerated your presence unless you were collaborating with her.”
“Yeah, fine. So I filed some falsified reports about the composition and disposition of the court. It was to save my own skin.”
“And your fraudulent reports resulted in great harm befalling the people of the Sapphire League,” Endzela glared. “Pathetic. Queen Neasa, I advise you to send this oathbreaker to the league as well.”
Neasa nodded and stepped beside the tall Elf with hair like wheat after Petruso was ushered off to stand with Hendrick. “Annonaria, Csilla, and Ilya, I accuse you each of treason and breaking your oaths to Queen Vershnyk.” Neasa had the falx in both of her hands again and twisted the handle in her grip. “By confession of Queen Samodiva herself, given to Queen Brethilbereth, it was you three who suggested the coup against Queen Vershnyk. Annonaria, you were Queen Vershnyk’s administrator over provisions. You had a prominent position and yet you were unsatisfied. You turned to Samodiva after my mother repeatedly refused your urging to expand. We had plenty, we didn’t need to take any more land. Csilla, you were a charlatan. You knew nothing concerning magic and gained your position through deceit. Mother could have exiled you when Golloriel came to us and proved you false yet Queen Vershnyk offered you mercy. Mercy which you repaid in betrayal. Ilya, you… you served Samodiva the entire time. You swore a false oath to my mother to gain access to her court and see if there were any kindred spirits for your true queen among her people. You found Annonaria and Csilla. The three of you…” The leather wrapping on the falx’s handle gave out a tormented groan from the torsion Neasa’s grip was inflicting on it. “Do you have anything to say in your defense?” The three accused stared up at her without saying a word. “Anything to justify what you did?” Still silence. Neasa’s snarled and her eyes were filled with pain and confusion. She raised the falx above her head with a shriek, “Anything?!”
“Neasa stop,” Isaac moved away from where he was standing witness to grab her wrists. She twisted in his grip. Neasa was strong enough to free herself from him, more than strong enough, but she didn’t. “Neasa, is this the sort of queen you want to be?”
Her enchanting green eyes flecked with sparkling emerald locked onto his. “I don’t want to be a queen,” she whispered harshly. “But they-” She loosened the grip on the blade and stopped fighting to continue the imminent executioner’s swing. “They… What they did to my mother…”
“Queen Neasa, if I may offer you counsel,” Brethilbereth said as she stepped forward. “You called upon the Law of the High Queen for your vengeance against Samodiva. Do so again. We have punishments for worms like these.”
Isaac let go of Neasa and she dropped the falx back down to her side. “What punishments?”
“Mark them as pariahs. They will be forbidden from hunting or gathering food. They will be forbidden from entering any shelters. They must live as paupers, subsisting on the good will of those who know their treacherous nature. If they survive this for a year, two years, however long you deem fit, then their punishment will be complete.”
“I don’t want them. I don’t want…” Neasa stopped what she was about to say but Isaac noticed her mouth start to form a word that started with possibly an- or en-. “I don’t want them here.”
“Then I suggest you exile them, and I will take them to my court to suffer such a fate.” Neasa stared into the eyes of the older Elfqueen for many seconds before nodding.
Neasa stepped before each of the three doomed Elves and cut into their cheek with the point of the falx, the same point that had torn through her shoulder. “You will bear this mark for a year, and live as pariahs in the court of Queen Brethilbereth. Then, should you still live, your crimes will be forgiven though I forbid you from returning here. Go.” The three remained dumbfounded and the Elves standing over them had to lift them and herd them off to the side.
Neasa stood before the last two of her prisoners. “You two… Virag, you I hunted with. Anfisa, you were learning under Golloriel. Why were you brought before me?”
Tuleth answered from where she stood at the end of the row of prisoners. “They came forward when I ordered any advisors or lieutenants of Queen Samodiva to present themselves. Virag identified herself as the captain of the hunt and Anfisa as the chief magus.”
Neasa shook her head. “Lele was Samodiva’s captain and she didn’t have a magus. She appointed you both after the raid on the humans, didn’t she?”
Virag bowed her head. “Y-yes, Queen Neasa.”
“Yes, my queen.” Anfisa mumbled.
Both flinched when Neasa raised the sword but relaxed when she gestured wearily away from where the condemned had been shuffled. “Then you’re not complicit in her treachery. You two will see the slaves Samodiva took returned to the humans.” She looked at the last two Elves acting under Tuleth, “Release them.” Brethilbereth’s last two Elves stepped away and Virag and Anfisa rose and bowed before standing off to the side.
Neasa dropped Samodiva’s massive and bloodied blade onto the mossy stones and then she turned with a still, neutral expression towards the rest of the Elves. There was still a dangerous light in her eyes though. The coldness of her expression suggested to Isaac that she wasn’t done passing judgement, not yet. Her eyes drifted up into Queen Vershnyk’s trinket tree. “The three who remained loyal to my mother; bring down Luljeta, Golloriel, and Deryn.” Elves quickly complied, laying the comatose High Elf, Grandelf, and Avarial on the roots of the trees. “My bow,” she reached out with her empty hand and Elena returned the living weapon she’d been keeping for the Elfqueen.
Neasa remained still and impassive, still holding that judging light in her eyes. She stood there silently looking over the Elves for a painful stretch of time. It was as if she had returned to the Neasa who was when Isaac had first met her. A Neasa who was angry and afraid and constantly fighting with herself to hide it.
With no other sense of what to do, what should be done, one of the Elves dropped to one knee and shouted as the rest of them followed suit. “All hail Queen Neasa, Daughter of Queen Vershnyk.”
“The Dumb Queen.” Neasa cut off the answering chorus with acid from her lips. Samodiva’s corpse was louder than the kneeling elves. “That’s what you all called her, wasn’t it? I am her daughter, should I not inherit her title?” The Elves all stared up helplessly, each unwilling to look to her neighbor to see if anyone else had any understanding of what was about to happen.
“I will not sing out my call and I will not hear your oaths.”
Her tone had been completely level, but now her tiny frame started trembling. She grimaced at them all and her hiss was laden with contempt. “Don’t you kneel before me. I don’t want any of you cowards! What did you do when she slew our queen, our protector, my mother? You knelt!” She glared out at them, daring any to challenge her accusation. None rose. “I reject you and I command this forest to reject you! You have until the next quarter of the moon to be gone from my lands.” The canopy of trees rustled and trunks groaned ominously above and around the court. The Elves fearfully cast their eyes upwards. She threw her hand towards the direction of Dnipro. “You want to throw yourselves before someone’s feet? Go offer yourselves to the humans!” Slowly, without word or expression, the Elves one by one came to their feet and cautiously backed away. Neasa screamed at them as they retreated.
“Pathetic slaves!”
“Miserable chattel!”
“Take your possessions and any slumbering loved ones and be gone! Go!” Neasa’s voice cracked as she failed to extend the low O vowel sound in one last tortured cry of, “GO,” but all of the Elves were out of sight so she didn’t need to scream coherently anymore. She screamed her agony to the trees and then fell to the forest floor clutching her living bow to her chest as she sobbed. It was finally over.
Isaac was there, kneeling right in front of her when she wiped the tears from her eyes. Jin and Oleksandra were there too. Elena was there, Chandrakanta was there, Astoreth was there. Her mother’s advisors were finally taken down from the tree where her mother used to hang all of her beloved gifts. The cowards were banished. Samodiva and her horrible lieutenants and treacherous ministers were dealt with.
Neasa was still fighting to wipe away everything still pouring down her face. Isaac gave her a cloth and she finally managed to get all of the fluids under control. Her vocal cords were still over stressed and clenched tightly, her words coming out in a croak. “Isaac… will you wake them for me?”
Isaac had almost agreed to it automatically when the image of the process came to him. The three pokegirls from Queen Vershnyk’s inner circle who had remained adamant in their loyalty to her memory were not alive, as far as he could tell. Seemingly dead, or dolls. Neasa read his face and followed his gaze. “I will help you so it doesn’t feel like you’re… It’s what my mother did to help her consort awaken anyone brought to her while they were in the Nothing.”
Isaac thought of something. Perhaps it wasn’t an appropriate time to ask given how much distress Neasa was undergoing but he asked it without considering that. “What happened to your mother’s consort?”
Neasa looked at him questioningly. “Mother’s consort? He became old and returned to his family. Before I was born. She didn’t really have one when she died, she was relying on Petruso,” Neasa scowled after saying the ranger’s name. “Before that she made due by enticing a tamer passing through her lands, or one of the farmers from Dnipro before he was deployed here.”
Isaac thought for a moment. Petruso didn’t look old enough to be a ranger when Neasa would have been born. So the man who provided the sperm to conceive her was likely a farmer from Dnipro or a random passer by. No one with a meaningful connection to her. The three Elf-type pokegirls underneath the tree, trapped in their feral states were the only ones. The only people she had besides her harem sisters, the big sisters, and him. “Yeah, I’ll bring them back.”
Elena had stood silent and watched this all transpire, fighting not to produce her audible tick, preventing herself from clicking her tongue. This wasn’t what Neasa would want, not when she had time to distance herself from all of the emotions warring within her. The three witnessing Elfqueens and their retinue were leaving, following after the combined Elves of Queen Vershnyk’s Samodiva’s courts. The banished. Elena followed after the Elfqueens. She’d confer with them to see what could be done.
(-[|]-) End 14.2 (-[|]-)