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Chapter 20: A Traitor's End  (no sex, viol)

When I made it safely back to my own forces, I took a moment
to thank the four quick-thinking crossbow marksmen.

When I entered my tent, the first thing I did was pull the
black hood off, then let my batmen strip my armor off. Then
I bathed. Whatever you choose to call my existence, one
thing is certain. When I exert myself over time, I perspire.
And it doesn't smell any better on me than it does on any
other person. When I was finished, I dressed in linen
trousers and soft leather boots.

I was sprawled in a camp chair when I heard her enter the
tent. I kept my eyes closed, wondering what she wanted, and
what she would do if she thought I slept. She stopped in
front of me.

"What can I do for you, Cynthia?" I opened my eyes and
looked at her.

"They said you killed Salazar. Did you really?"

"Actually, no. I fought with him, but some of my soldiers
actually killed him." I sat up and pulled another camp chair
closer, and bade her sit. As she struggled to get into the
chair, I leaned over, caught her by the arm and lifted her
easily into the chair, then waited as she turned to face me.

"They also said he turned into a monster before you killed
him. What kind of monster was it?"

I sat back with a sigh. "He was already a monster, Cynthia.
Only a monster could have done what he did to you. But yes,
he turned into a beast, a wolf creature. I think most people
call them werewolves. I was taught of them by the name
garou."

I sat up and looked at her closely, cupping her chin in my
hand and studying her face. "How do you feel, by the way?"

She shrugged, as children were wont to do. "I'm feeling
fine. Well, actually, I'm hungry and bored. Aren't there any
other children here?"

"No, no children in camp except you. Do you have many
friends in the castle? We can invite some of them to come
with you to my house when we finish here." I whistled
sharply, and a servant hurried into the tent. "What would
you like to eat, Cynthia?"

"May I have an apple, and some cheese?" She asked me
hopefully. I nodded to the servant and indicated with my
hands that the apple was to be sliced and cored. He nodded
and slipped out. "No, I don't have any friends in the
castle. If they didn't ignore me, they were mean 'cause they
knew daddy was mean to me."

"I'm sorry. But there are lots of children in my castle, and
I know they'll make you welcome." I thought about it for a
moment. "Unfortunately, I don't think we brought any of the
dogs with us this time, either" I noticed a frightened look
on her face, and she sat back in her chair. "You don't like
dogs?"

"NO! Dogs are mean and bite and growl and try to get at me.
Salazar always made me watch whenever they fed the dogs, and
told me when I was bigger; he'd feed me to them. He said I'm
too small for now, though."

"Salazar isn't going to feed the dogs anymore, Cynthia."

She nodded, then perked up when the servant handed her a
small plate with an apple neatly sliced and a couple of
chunks of cheese. She ate hungrily, and I watched with
amusement. "Didn't Kaylene feed you breakfast?"

Cynthia shook her head. "No, she was still sleeping when I
got up. So I got dressed and came outside. I saw you come in
here and wanted to talk to you, but I was scared to disturb
you. Then I heard others talking about the fight, and they
talked like you weren't mean like daddy and Salazar. So I
came in when no-one was looking, so they couldn't chase me
away."

I nodded, and looked at her closer. She was wearing the
dress from yesterday, and when I thought about it, I
realized it smelled of fear and pain. I also realized that
when she'd crawled into the chair, I'd unconsciously noticed
only the top button was done. Her feet were bare, and her
hair looked like she had tried to brush it half-heartedly.
Basically, she looked like a ragamuffin.

And then, almost as if summoned, I heard Kaylene outside
frantically asking the servant if he'd seen Cynthia. I knew
he'd told her she was inside when Kaylene dashed in.

She sank to her knees before me. "Your Grace, I am so sorry!
I slept right beside her, I was sure I would waken when she
did! I was so worried when she was gone!"

"It's alright, Kaylene, she's here and safe. No harm was
done."

Kaylene turned to the girl, and I watched the child looking
around frantically as if seeking a way to escape. "You!"
Kaylene launched herself at the little girl. A look of
terror filled the girl's eyes as Kaylene grabbed her, but
quickly faded to confusion when Kaylene hugged her tightly.
"Please, Cynthia, don't wander off on me! You scared me to
death when you weren't in bed when I woke up! I didn't know
where you'd wandered, I didn't know if you'd fallen in the
river, or gotten hurt by the horses..."

The girl looked at me over the woman's shoulder, then
awkwardly patted her. "I'm sorry, Kaylene. I didn't want to
disturb you. My nurse always hits me when I wake her up. I
didn't want you to be mad at me for waking you up."

Kaylene sat back with a snarl and looked at me. I could see
a killing hatred for this "nurse" in her eyes. Fortunately,
Cynthia hadn't noticed, and Kaylene calmed before she turned
back to the little girl. She kneeled before the child and
looked her in the eye. "Cynthia, I promise never to hit you.
I certainly won't hit you for waking me up, or any of the
other things every child does or needs." She looked at the
leftovers she'd spilled on Cynthia's lap when she'd hugged
her. "I definitely won't hit you for wanting breakfast!"

She picked up the last few slices of apple, then offered
Cynthia her hand. "Come on, we'll feed these to the Duke's
charger, Horatio, then we'll go get a bath."

The girl scooted off the chair and took Kaylene's hand.
"After bath, can we go see the river? I like rivers! And
then can we see the horses?" I watched them walk away, still
discussing the activities to come, then gave another
whistle.

When the servant entered, I spoke: "Find Mystique, and have
her attend me."

A short time later, Mystique sat in the camp chair that had
so recently served Cynthia. "The preparations go well for
the attack?" When she assured me they were, I turned to the
matter I'd actually summoned her for. "I know this is
unusual, but I desire it. Tonight, I want someone to find
clothing for Cynthia inside the castle. She can probably
tell you where her bed was, but I'm strongly suspecting you
won't find anything decent there. I want a half dozen nice
dresses that will fit her with minimal adjustment. Oh, and
if your searcher does find Cynthia's room, and finds a nurse
there, I'd be pleased if the nurse died, either "naturally"
or a suicide is acceptable."

When I later saw Cynthia wander by with Kaylene, she was
wearing one of my tunics like a dress, and I suspected
Kaylene had needed to hem it quite a bit even for that.


It was the night of the attack. We had a waning moon, and
although a new moon would have been preferable, the heavy
cloud cover was good enough. My forces that were not already
inside the castle were ranged to either side of the gate,
hugging the castle walls in their pitch-black cloaks and
hoods. Carlton finished placing the containers that held a
mixture of charcoal, sulfur and saltpeter against the gate.
The squad that would make the first entry pulled back as he
put spark to the coated twine that ran to the containers
through hollowed bamboo tunnels.

The night lit up as a fireball shattered the gates of Castle
Gaiford. We swept in and easily overcame the stunned and
dazed guards we met at first. I knew we were technically
outnumbered by 2 to 1, but surprise had taken a good part of
the advantage from the defenders, and when Terrence's forces
found themselves trapped with attacker to the fore and
behind, they yielded quickly.

But not all yielded, and the final battle in the Count's
throne room was fierce and bloody. Blade meeting ringing
blade, screams of pain and rage, officers screaming orders
to troops preoccupied with survival all filled the room. As
I drove my blade through the chain-mail hauberk of my
opponent, I saw Terrence hiding behind his throne. I jerked
my blade from the corpse it skewered and fought my way to
the dais and the throne, smashing the hilt of my sword into
the face of one man that tried to oppose me, and crushing
the skull of another with my gauntleted hand.

Terrence saw me approaching, and began to run. I caught him
in the doorway behind the throne and smashed his head
against the doorjamb, knocking him cold. Then I cried out in
a voice of doom. "Terrence is taken! Throw down your arms
and yield!" Then I stepped from behind the throne and held
him high by his collar for all to see.

Most threw down their arms and knelt in surrender. But a few
refused, and my forces quickly slaughtered them.

The rest of the night my people searched the castle for
holdouts and lurkers. I had all of the surviving occupants
held in the throne room under heavy guard while I went back
to my camp with Terrence.

"Terrence, before I have you executed, I'm going to give you
the opportunity to do that which is right." We entered my
tent, and Cynthia looked up from where Kaylene was telling
her a story.

"Daddy!" She cried, and moved towards him.

He stepped hurriedly back. "What magic is this? I saw her
blinded and silenced!"

Cynthia stopped, hurt by this rejection of her.

"I brought you here to apologize to your daughter for the
evil you inflicted upon her. Would you waste this last
chance for forgiveness from the one who loves
unconditionally?"

"She is my daughter only because her mother was stupid
enough to carry her to term. I offer her no apology, and
regret only that I allowed Salazar to do my will, rather
than using my own hands."

Cynthia began to sob at this vicious rejection, then ran to
Kaylene and hurled herself into the woman's arms. Kaylene
gathered her up, and carried her from my tent. But as she
passed Terrence I heard her speak.

"If the goddess granted us the time, I'd see you beg for
death a thousand times before she took you. Instead, take
the knowledge that the daughter you despise will live and
lead HER people to prosperity and greatness! May you scream
for all eternity in the depths of the Abyss!"

When she left, I summoned Carlton. "Prepare a sleeping
draught for Cynthia. I want her to sleep comfortably for at
least sixteen hours, while we attend to other matters." When
I said that, I looked coldly at Terrence.

He tried to glare back. "You dare not punish me. I care not
what you feel, because my Father is still your Liege. He
won't allow you to harm me."

"Actually, I received a message from His Majesty yesterday.
He washes his hands of you, and declares Gaiford to be
Regency of Warrington until Cynthia, Daughter of Terrence
reaches her majority or His Majesty sees fit to name a new
Count or Countess."

"He also instructs me to conclude this matter as I see fit.
So, with that in mind, I choose to punish you for your abuse
of your daughter."

He turned to run, and I slammed him to the ground, then
rolled him onto his back. I knelt on his chest and held my
hand up for him to see. I watched his eyes widen in horror
as my nail lengthen and curved into a wicked claw.

"Did Salazar use a similar claw on Cynthia? I suspect he
did, since her eyes were mostly undamaged. But I have no
such interest in preserving yours." I ran the tip of my claw
around his eye, watching the terror on his face.

"Your Grace." Carlton spoke from behind me. Terrence looked
up at him with hope, but his face filled with dismay as I
did nothing to hide my enlarged nail and Carlton seemed
unconcerned at the sight. "Cynthia sleeps, as you
instructed. You may begin the prisoner's punishment with no
worry of disturbing her."

"Thank you Carlton. I think we'll begin now. Terrence, I'm
going to take your eyes, then your tongue. I'm going to
leave you your ears. I want you to hear it when I pronounce
your sentence."

I forced the tip of my claw into his eyeball, and as his
screams of pain rang through the camp, I pulled it out of
the socket. A long piece of tissue ran from the back of the
eye into the socket, and Carlton handed me a small knife to
sever it. When I did, it snapped back into the bloody hole
of the socket. Then I removed Terrence's other eye.

With Carlton holding his mouth open, I took hold of
Terrence's tongue, and ripped it from its roots.

"Did you prepare the potion to stop the bleeding? We don't
want him choking to death on his blood before we execute
him."

"Yes, Your Grace." He handed me a vial, which I poured into
Terrence's mouth. He gagged and choked for a moment, but the
blood flowing from his mouth soon ceased. I got off him and
stepped away. "Summon two guards to assist the Count to his
throne room. I'll be there shortly, and I want his people to
know what I have done to him before I get there."

When the Count was on his way, I went back to my tent and
dressed in my robes of State. I placed the Ducal pendant
around my neck, and belted the Sword of The King's Champion
to my hip. Then, with an escort of ten soldiers, I made my
way to Terrence's throne room.

When I entered, the room fell silent. When I sat in the
Count's Throne, a cry went up from my forces: "All hail His
Grace!"

"As commanded by His Majesty, Garret V, King of Alseron and
my Liege Lord, I, Alexander Halc'on de Pena, Duke of
Warrington, declare the County of Gaiford a Regency of the
Duchy of Warrington until Cynthia, Granddaughter of His
Majesty by His acknowledged bastard Terrence, reaches her
majority."

The crowd was suddenly very noisy, and I let the rumbling
continue for a few moments.

"Furthermore, by his actions, Terrence, bastard of Garret,
has shown himself to be a Traitor to the Crown. By His
Majesty's command, I sentence Terrence to die by
strangulation, and when his body is without life, that his
head be stricken from his body and displayed upon a pike
before the gates of Castle Gaiford for no less than ninety
days. His body is to be chopped to pieces and fed to his
dogs. When said dogs have finished consuming him, the dogs
are to be killed and burned upon a pyre."

"My forces, with reinforcements sent by His Majesty and Her
Ladyship, the Marquise Eleanor, will remain in County
Gaiford to maintain the peace and security. Civil
disobedience will be punished severely."

"The Regent Alexandra Simingtin will take Office tomorrow."

The news that the Regent was a woman caused a massive
outcry, but I'd expected that. I knew Alexandra was capable,
and she would eventually win the people's support, if not that of 
the lesser nobility.

With Terrence following me, I lead the crowd out of the
gates of the castle. A rope dangled from the sky, and if one
looked up, one could see a heavy beam had been attached to
the rampart of the castle. It stuck out a dozen feet from
the stone walls, and the rope ran through an eyebolt at the
end of it.

Terrence was led to where the rope hung down. At my signal,
the rope was looped around his neck. "Behold, a traitor's
death!"

At my words, the soldiers up on the wall began to drag
Terrence into the air. When his feet were twelve feet from
the ground, the rope was tied off, and Terrence was left to
strangle in mid air.

I walked away as he died, and the next day left County
Gaiford for the quarterly audit of Warrington.
