Vacant Throne

Useful information was hard to come by in the camp. Not that Alyssa really expected otherwise. The whole point behind hiring people to hire people to do dirty work was to keep the original’s nose clean. That wasn’t to say that she found absolutely nothing. Inside the same tent that the Chief had occupied, Alyssa found a ledger. It didn’t list names or dates, but it did list a price and the… ‘goods’ that were sold.

Some entries were actually material goods. Wolf pelts, a crate of apples, silverware… But for every entry like that, there was an accompanying entry listing off people. Two human adult males. Three humans, one adult male, one adult female, and one young boy. One female elf. And so on and so forth.

Having a much better grasp on the value of money in this place, Alyssa could hardly believe that people were willing to pay so much for slaves. The humans were bad enough, but someone could buy a rather large home in the middle of Lyria for what these people were selling some of the monsters for. She obviously did not agree with the concept of slavery at all, but this was even less comprehensible. Wasn’t the whole point of slaves that they were cheap? Judging by how much she had earned working for Tzheitza and her brief stint as a waitress down in Teneville, it should have been possible to pay a whole team to do a job for a few years with what a single elf cost. Yes, elves were ‘exotic’ and, based on where she had first encountered monsters in Lyria, they were probably not wanted for manual labor or even their engineering skill. Still…

Still, this Chief guy clearly had a market. And he probably wasn’t the only one. Alyssa could easily imagine that groups like this were dotted all around the world. These kinds of people probably sold to groups like the Waters Street gang. Buying all the girls at the Waterhole—both human and monster—had to have cost a fortune. Not even a small fortune. It really made her wonder just how much money their brothel had been raking in for them to have remained in business at all.

As if she needed any more reasons to hate these people.

She had already sent a Message to Brakkt, wondering if Illuna would send out its soldiers to deal with this camp if she could direct them here. Unfortunately, given her estimates of their numbers, Brakkt mentioned low odds of anything official being done despite that this was clearly and obviously illegal. Part of the problem was that a large portion of the city’s guardsmen were out trawling around Owlcroft. Brakkt had estimated that the danger to the body reclamation teams was much higher than initially thought and suggested that each team get a heavy reinforcement from the city.

There were a lot less guards around than there usually were.

Brakkt had suggested that Lyria might do something, either move to reinforce Illuna or to send a contingent of their city guards to deal with the matter. But that wouldn’t be done anytime soon. It would be weeks at the very earliest. This camp might be long gone before then and Alyssa couldn’t really sit around and spy on them for that long. Even if Illuna sent a few people to spy on the camp…

Nightfall was quickly approaching. Alyssa would not be sitting around waiting for days. She had to get Volta out and then get back to Irulon. Too much work to be done to sit around doing other people’s jobs.

Alyssa sat on the wicker throne that the Chief had been using during his meeting with the arcanist. So far, no one had actually come back to this tent. It was probably used only for meetings, though it did have some administrative information like the ledger within. For the last two hours, Alyssa had mostly sat around in wait. Once or twice, she had ventured out to spy on the camp. But there just wasn’t all that much to actually spy on. An hour ago, they had started some kind of communal pot of stew in the middle of the camp. But that was really it as far as events of interest went.

“They probably have somewhere a little more permanent elsewhere,” Fela said. She apparently had some experience with human kidnapping groups like this one. Her clan had needed to fight them off on occasion. “It would act like a small village. Maybe even with crops growing and livestock.”

That made a whole lot more sense than them being purely nomadic. There weren’t dates in the ledger, so Alyssa couldn’t tell how frequently they actually got paid, but she had a feeling that it wasn’t as often as it looked at a first glance. Over a hundred people sitting around doing nothing for a majority of their time would never be sufficient or sustaining.

“So they only break out this big tent complex when they’ve got jobs to do?”

“Maybe when they are on extended outings. Wherever they normally live must be far away or they wouldn’t bother.”

“They come out here, harass travelers for a month, then go back home for a while?”

“That’s what I think, anyway. They probably don’t send too many out on any one mission either. The humans would have to respond if a survivor said that a hundred people surrounded them.”

Alyssa wasn’t sure that someone could survive a hundred people surrounding them. Then again, arcanists existed. That was probably another reason why they left groups alone if they looked well armed.

“Of course,” Fela continued, tone dropping. “The humans might turn a blind eye if the group only captured monsters.”

“Well, these people don’t. The ledger is quite clear on that.”

Fela let out a low grumble from the back of her throat. She started to say something else, but stopped abruptly. Standing, her ears twitched back and forth.

“Hear something?”

“Could say that. I hear laughing. Feminine laughing. And the sound of metal on metal.”

Alyssa blinked twice as realization dawned on her. “That stupid cursed sword. She couldn’t have waited one more hour for nightfall?”

She better not have hurt the draken.

With the invisibility shroud still cloaking them from vision, Alyssa tore out from the tent. Fela chased after her.

The air of the camp was completely different. In the short time between when Fela’s ears had first perked up and Alyssa leaving the tent, shouting had started. People were gathering weapons and rushing out in the same direction that Alyssa had entered the camp from. As if she needed any more reason to believe that this was all Red’s doing.

She did not, however, rush off to assist. The cursed sword was insane. Or, at least, Red didn’t think like a normal person. Even under a cloak of invisibility, Alyssa could easily wind up sliced up. If the invisibility went away, she couldn’t be sure that a rampaging sword would have the time to identify friend from foe. Instead, Alyssa closed her eyes and did a quick scan of the souls around her.

Specifically, the souls in Volta’s tent.

There were only two. Plus Volta. The other two must have run out to see what the commotion was all about.

Alyssa rushed off for the captive tent. She threw open the flaps, not even caring if the two guards inside noticed. One was the woman from earlier. The other was someone new. But it didn’t matter. Even though they were on alert with their swords out, they were absolutely not prepared for a hellhound lunging out of invisibility. They barely managed to move before Fela had her claws streaking toward their throats.

Fela lifted the woman up and over her head by the neck, slamming her into the ground hard enough that the woman didn’t move. If she was still alive. The heavy bleeding from her neck didn’t bode well. The man, given slightly more time to respond, managed to raise his sword. Fela caught it with her fur-covered forearm without even flinching. Batting it to the side hard enough to fling it from the man’s hand—along with part of his hand if the blood splattering against the side of the tent was any indication—Fela stepped into his guard and planted one hand on his chest and another on his groin. She didn’t have opposable thumbs to actually grip, but sharp claws worked just fine in this situation. Like the woman, he got lifted high in the air and slammed down onto the ground.

His whimperings of pain confirmed that he hadn’t died. At least not until Fela made for his throat.

Alyssa ignored the fight to the best of her ability, catching most of the action only through her periphery. With the guards occupied, she made a beeline for Volta. Not for the fake body, but for the real doppelganger. The moment the shards of glass that were the boundary of Empty Vessel passed over Volta, the doppelganger jerked back. The surprise melted away quickly enough. The beaten and bloody body of Illuna’s court arcanist melted away at the same time, almost literally. It turned into a black tar, somewhat reminiscent of Kasita’s true form, but didn’t leave any residue behind.

“Alyssa,” Volta said in her real voice. It was probably the first time Alyssa had heard it since their very first encounter in the oasis. “Didn’t expect to run into you out in the middle of nowhere. What brings you to these parts?”

“I wonder,” she said, voice completely flat. “Come on. We have to go rescue your stupid sword before she gets overwhelmed.”

“Red is—”

“Launching a one person attack on everyone here? Probably. I told her to wait, but…”

“Ah,” Volta said, nodding her head as if she understood exactly what Alyssa was talking about. At the same time, she didn’t seem too worried. Perhaps she had more faith in Red’s ability to survive the carnage of a hundred angry humans.

Whatever the case, Alyssa extended a hand out to Volta, helping the diminutive doppelganger to her feet.

“Lead the way.”

Fela, after wiping her claws off on one of the guard’s clothes, fell in step behind Alyssa as they all rushed outside. Though they couldn’t actually move all that fast. Volta’s real body looked like a child. All doppelgangers did, apparently. It was probably some sort of evolutionary defense mechanism, portraying the doppelganger as a child to keep her from being harmed if discovered. For the moment, all it really meant was that Volta didn’t have very long legs.

Alyssa considered just having Fela pick up and carry the doppelganger.

A random brigand emerging from a nearby tent right into their stealth field—consequently right into Fela’s claws—put a stop to that idea. A bit of speed was a small price to pay for keeping Fela free to act as she pleased.

The more they moved through the camp, the more crowded it got. Empty Vessel’s usefulness waned significantly when people were running this way and that before Alyssa could change course. Fela took out another four. Alyssa had to shoot two with her pistol while Fela was busy. While she would have preferred to nonlethally bring them to justice, she didn’t have enough Spectral Chains for the entire camp. Even if she did, she couldn’t really drag them all around with here. There were just too many.

If they didn’t want to have a hole in their heads, they shouldn’t have joined a criminal organization in the first place.

Tenebrael made an appearance. The dark angel zipped around overhead, looking like she was having the time of her life. She didn’t say anything, though she did wave and smile as she stopped by to collect the soul of one of Alyssa’s recent kills. Alyssa figured that she would have something to say later. For the time being…

Alyssa could hear it now. Laughter. Spry chuckles that echoed over the top of the gang’s heads, only drowned out by the clash of metal against metal.

The crowd of people, all armed to the teeth, stopped suddenly.

It wasn’t hard to see why.

Red stood alone in the middle of a clearing. The only things around her were a shredded, bloodstained tent and human bodies. It was hard to say how many bodies. It looked like someone had dumped out the contents of a massive blender after having had it on the ice crush setting for a few seconds. There were a good forty people standing around her. More were coming every second.

If they all rushed in at once, Alyssa doubted that Red would be able to handle it all. Some people would die, surely. Not all of them. If they just stood back and let her kill them in small groups, every single person would surely die. But the psychological warfare, likely unintentional, was keeping them at bay.

Red had probably rushed down to the camp and slaughtered the surprised people at one of the guard posts without any resistance. That had summoned more, who had seen a single combatant standing against them, and assumed that they could take her on. Now, there were at least a dozen dead—probably more—all caused by one person.

People were afraid to become the next body.

Despite being effectively surrounded, fear was the last thing on Red’s face. She grinned far too wide to be possible for a normal human. Like a puppet on strings, she staggered forward, sword dragging along the ground. After three steps like that, she lunged, flying through the air to cross the distance between her and her next target. The sword trailed behind the host’s body as she leapt. With only one hand, she brought it around in mid-air just in time to take off the head of the nearest brigand.

She continued to systematically take apart the gathered crowd.

Alyssa could hardly move. She had seen a great deal of carnage since coming to this world. Just a few moments ago, for example, when Fela had killed or at least maimed the two guards keeping Volta captive. Plus the few they had crossed between that tent and here. However, none of it had been so… graceful.

Red’s form of combat was a laughter-filled whirling dervish of destruction. One that only stopped with a bright red beam sweeping across the battlefield.

An arcanist stood in the back of the crowd, dressed in the same rough leather and dirty cloth that the rest of the camp wore. She had deck of cards fanned out in her hands. The spell, just now fading, was similar to some of the spells Alyssa had seen Lumen use in the past.

She was clearly preparing to use another.

Alyssa aimed her pistol and fired. Three shots. All three slammed into her chest. As the arcanist dropped, Alyssa looked back.

Red was down on one knee, sword planted in the ground in front of her. She wasn’t dead. Not yet. That wouldn’t last long if the rest of the brigands had their way. Despite the sharp reports from her gun, more of the group were advancing than were startled by the noise. Perhaps they simply thought the noises were from more spells. Whatever the case…

“Fela,” Alyssa shouted, even as she moved to aim at someone who apparently had the wherewithal to notice where the shots had come from despite the invisibility.

The hellhound charged forward. Red may have been a graceful dancer, but Fela was just as effective in combat. Fela’s style of fighting was more akin to a sledgehammer. She pressed forward like an unstoppable force, easily beating everyone between her and Red into pulp.

Alyssa picked off a few that might have avoided the main brunt of Fela’s charge. However, her main focus was not actually on the people around Fela and Red. Alyssa kept her eyes peeled, looking for any other arcanists that might be around. There probably weren’t many. Arcanists could make a decent amount of money doing far more legitimate work than thievery and kidnapping, but there were probably at least a few.

“Red!” Volta shouted at the same time that Fela started her charge. Her voice trembled, laden with genuine worry and fear. Without even conjuring a new decoy body for herself, Volta ran out of the invisibility field, stumbling over bodies as she followed in Fela’s wake.

Swearing under her breath, Alyssa made the snap decision to cancel the invisibility spell. She raised a hand into the air and channeled Tenebrael’s power to its fullest extent.

Light flooded over the land. The brightest, most intense light that Alyssa had managed to create so far. Modeled after the light from angelic halos, it even had a hint of the warmth that was present in more divine sources. It wasn’t perfect. Not yet at least. She needed a lot more practice and probably a lot more knowledge to go with it.

But it didn’t need to be perfect.

Clenching her fist, Alyssa cut off the light. She opened her eyes, glad to find that her ploy worked.

Most everyone was covering their eyes in some way or another. Some had fallen down. One looked as if he had been hit by a friendly sword. One of the guys closest to Alyssa actually had tears streaming down the sides of his face.

Alyssa showed no mercy. The man in front of her got two shots point blank to the chest. She turned to fire another two at the man closest to Volta.

The slide locked back. Pistol empty, she immediately switched to spells. A fireball carried a man off his feet, engulfing him in flames at the same time. Her own All Shall Burn sent a sweeping beam of burning fire straight through the stomach of another arcanist.

Between her efforts and Fela’s claws, the way to Red was mostly clear. For the moment. Alyssa ran up and grabbed Volta by the upper arm. She was stumbling around as well, blinking a whole lot more than should have been necessary. Probably half blind from the light like everyone else. Her makeshift flashbang had not discriminated between friend and foe. Fela seemed mostly fine. Though, looking at her, the flames that should have been near her eyes were gone. She had her eyes squeezed shut. Despite the handicap, she also had her claws in someone’s chest. With a half-turn and a swing, she flung the man into a more distant group of brigands.

Regrouping, Alyssa got her first good look at Red since she went down.

Red’s entire leg was off. The injury wasn’t bleeding. Whatever spell the arcanist had used clearly and visibly cauterized it. She wasn’t in danger of bleeding out, but she wasn’t going to be dancing around with her sword anytime soon. Or rather, the sword wouldn’t be dancing around with that body? Alyssa had to wonder just how much it actually cared for the flesh and blood when it could just throw the sword at someone to get a new host.

The cursed sword was still grinning. She didn’t look pained in the slightest.

Volta dropped to the ground at her side, looking far more concerned about the situation as she managed to blink her eyes open.

Tenebrael hung overhead, faint smile on her face as she watched the ongoing conflict.

Alyssa paid the angel little mind—she wouldn’t interfere in a conflict between mortals—instead moving with Fela at her side to stand between her companions and everyone else. There weren’t many left, but there were more than enough to be a danger. Especially with Red down more-or-less permanently.

The Chief stood in the middle, staring Alyssa down.

Alyssa met his glare with one of her own.