Chapter 214

"Goddamn demihumans, demonic curses, trash and scum, pests, slaves, and plagues…" Remedios mumbled under her breath while she rocked back and forth on the horse as it meandered on the long road back to Hoburns. The capital of one of the great human kingdoms, it was not as populous as Kami Miyako, or Baharuth, but its history was rich and strong. The one blight, its border with nonhumans and the inability of her Kingdom to properly cooperate with the Slane Theocracy to purge the Abelion Hills.

The thought occurred to every ruler to come to the throne for the past hundred years. 'We have them surrounded… if only we could invade from both sides…' On paper it was a sound strategy, but even for all her dimness, Remedios saw the one fatal weakness.

'Some of the damn demihumans are inordinately powerful, and one of their heroes could stop a unit cold.' The thought wasn't far away, and it kept her up more than one time at night. The one great fear was paired with that one great failed hope.

That one day the demihumans might find true unity and invade. Now, if the message that had her on the road read true, she was going back to Hoburns precisely because that was happening.

'Kingdom of Demalbion, and of all things… 'her'? The traitor?!' Remedios looked over her shoulder, a prison wagon rolled on behind her and she clutched her cloak a little tighter to her when the autumn breeze picked up.

Inside were the parents of the traitor that became the Queen of Frost. The ex-member of the Nine Colors, the Mad Eyed Archer and his wife, a former paladin of great renown. Remedios let her horse slow down and shifted it to the side, allowing the horse-drawn wagon to roll forward and catch up to her. She sat up a little on her horse and looked into the window. The couple was asleep.

They looked worse for wear, clad not in the honored gear of Holy Kingdom warriors or nobles, they now wore prison garb with bright yellow Xs marked on the front and back, the woman resting her head on the shoulder of her mate, and him resting his head on hers.

'It's hard to believe that they could be the parents of a traitor and a monster…' Remedios acknowledged that much, privately. A bruise, ugly and dark, swelled up half of the face of Neia's father, a blow Remedios recalled giving in vivid detail when he got in the path between Remedios and his wife.

'I was just following standing orders… kill demihumans who cross the border… What's the problem? They're all supposed to die, we just tried… tried to execute someone for letting nonhumans go… how long ago now?' Remedios tried to recall and could not. It all blurred together.

And yet reading the letter she received from the Holy Queen, it couldn't have sounded more displeased if the woman had been swearing at her.

Worse… as Remedios looked away from the chained sleeping prisoners she unconsciously put her hand on the pouch that held a different letter from her sister giving special advice to ensure that the couple remained completely unharmed, and that one was… 'Alright, I'm not very smart… She's always been the smart one. Fine. But I've never felt so talked down to as in that letter… what did I do?!' She wondered that over and over again.

And still found no answers, no matter how much she thought it over, all the way to the gates of Hoburns before her train of thought shifted to something else… the simple happiness at seeing her Queen. At least 'that' brought a smile to her face.

"If." Neia retorted, her hands upturned the same as Gustav's, resting on her knees. "That makes a fine retort for the history books," she narrowed her terrible eyes at him, "But there is no confusion here. That 'if' depends on whether or not I get justice for what was done to my envoy. Take your 'if' Commander, right back home with you. If I am not given her head, I will take it."

Gustav Montagnés clenched his jaw, tried to meet her eyes, and despite all his vast experience, quickly failed.

"That's the only justice there is in your Kingdom." She hissed. "You taught me that! If I don't take it, I will never get it."

"And what of the innocent people you'll kill trying?" He practically pleaded and barely kept his hands rooted in place. "You were a protector, you hunted to save them, are you going to kill them just as easily? Your own parents are in that number! Will you kill them too!" He shouted, and that got a reaction.

Neia stiffened, her head went back as if struck and the back of her head caused the springy tree to sway wildly for several seconds. "Are you threatening them?" She finally asked, her open left hand twitched a little, causing the talons to click when they touched one another.

"Would it help if we did?" Gustav asked only half in seriousness.

Neia was surprisingly pensive, looking away from him for a moment. "I honestly don't know. I should say 'no of course not, go ahead and kill them if you want', but I genuinely do not know how I would respond to someone taking hostages to use against me. All I can say is… I love my parents. But they taught me to do my duty, and what I thought was right. If I sacrificed my people for the sake of hostages, I don't think I would deserve to be here. I guess… if you want to hurt them, you can. But if you do?" Neia asked rhetorically, placing emphasis on the word he used before to dare her.

"I remind you I will have far more hostages than you, and if my former Kingdom kills my family, there will be no reason left to be kind. Now, are you authorized to give me Remedios' head or are you not?" Neia demanded once again.

Gustav denied it with a shake of his head. "No. We can't just give up a citizen like that. She can be punished severely, stripped of her rank, her honors, and beaten to within an inch of her life."

"But not one inch more." Neia finished, and he nodded his assent.

"Then we are done here. The Queen has made her choice. Pass my words to the Holy Queen then. The quest for justice is waged in a long dark night, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Whether she sees it with me or not, is more up to her than I. Now…" Neia stood up and pointed in the direction of the wall, "get out of my Kingdom."