Demesne

Yhal instinctively flinched back from the blow, retreating to make space from the attack and aborting his grab to maintain his balance, before darting forward to try again, his other hand now ready to protect himself.

The movement had been a feint however, and Shana had immediately pulled back to kick his right knee.

Riz had a very vivid memory of Laven basically kicking the same way, although that woman's kick had been higher up at… well, the target Shana had missed.

Unfortunately, Shana had been too close, and instead of a knee-breaking kick it had merely pushed Yhal's knee outwards, causing him to stumble forward from his own momentum, his grab becoming an attempt to catch himself before he hit the ground. His descending head was met on the way by Shana's rising fist under his chin, and even at a distance the sound of the impact was a loud crack. Yhal's head was lifted up by the impact, and he seemed to hang there for a heartbeat as Shana quickly stepped to the right, out of the way of his fall, then twisted her entire body throw a second punch into his temple. She struck straight on, and he was sent tumbling to the side, finally falling to the ground.

"Karina," Riz heard Rian saying, "as a responsible adult, I need to tell you something, and I need you to listen…"

To his credit, Yhal had a presence of mind to roll out of the way, narrowly avoiding Shana's barefoot heel stomp where his head had been. The stomp turned into a kick that sent dirt and leaves flying into his face, making him flinch again.

Shana turned and ran for a nearby tree. As soon as it was between her and Yhal, she started to scramble up the trunk of the tree, her bare feet and hands seeming to stick to the wood. She'd always been good at climbing.

Yhal had risen to his feet, his expression confused and angry, scowling harder as he saw Shana running behind the tree. Wiping some dirt off his face, he rushed after her. His knee didn't seem hurt by her kick since he wasn't slowed down, but by the time he rounded the tree Shana was nowhere to be seen, hidden above his line of sight up on the tree. He looked around in confusion, and was facing the wrong way to be able to do anything as Shana kicked off from the tree—Riz, Rian, Yllian, Karina and everyone else from both demesnes all lunged forward a step before they could stop themselves—and fell through the air. She hit Yhal's shoulders with both feet, knocking him down again as she landed on his back, one hand on his head to pushing it forward and causing it to strike the ground.

It seemed a waste to hit the shoulders when his head was right there, but Riz supposed there was a chance that could have broken his neck. She would have thought the Lady Binder would immediately press the advantage, but instead Shana hesitated for a moment, tilting her head. Then Lady Binder nodded, even as both hands began to punch the back of Yhal's head like someone enthusiastically beating a drum. Oh, she recognized that one! She'd seen Rian doing that to some of the ones he'd had to fight! Shana was doing it right too, turning her whole body with each blow for more power. She managed five blows before Yhal tried to rise, his hands pushing him off the ground and twisting to the side to throw her off.

"Get off—!"

That was as far as Yhal was able to get before a leg wrapped around his neck and shoulders, the back of the calf pressing against his throat. Shana gripped that leg's ankle and leaned back, pulling it taut around his neck while her other leg folded over Yhal's face to blind him. With her free hand, she continued punching him in the head, her knuckles now slamming into his temple. Yhal thrashed violently as he got to his feet, trying to dislodge her, but his every movement caused her leg to press harder against his throat. His hands tried to reach for her, but Shana was able to lean from side to side, her childish flexibility allowing her to tilt out of the way, or parry Yhal's hands aside with her free hand.

Yhal changed tactics, pulling at her legs to try to pry her off his neck. In response, Shana reached down and started pushing her fingers into his eyes.

"Just checking," Rian said, sounding very calm as he turned towards Rilianne, "we didn't lay down any rules against blinding each other, right?"

"N-no," the Deadspeaker said, and the shock in her voice made Riz look towards her. She was staring in horror at the fight, as were most of the witnesses.

"Ah. Then we have no reason to interfere, then. Incidentally, can you fix gouged out eyes? Asking for a friend who might render someone half-blind soon. Karina, this is another one of those things you shouldn't do, all right?"

"Yes, Lord Rian."

"It's also not a way to kill seels, so don't try it with them either."

"…yes, Lord Rian…"

"She doesn't usually go for the eyes that hard," Yllian commented, sounding just a little bit smug and proud. Well, Riz supposed he had been telling them she was perfectly capable of this. "I suppose it's because she's doesn't have to worry about healing it herself."

"Or it could be she's been feeling really vindictive because of all the disrespect Yhal's been giving her," Rian said. "Probably copied that from Lori—ah, he's finally decided to use the tree."

Yhal had managed to get to his feet but still couldn't get Shana off, and had to use one hand to protect his eyes as his other kept pulling her leg from his throat. He was also blindly stumbling backwards into a tree, ramming himself into it backwards in an attempt to knock her off. Shana was retaliating by striking his side with the heel of her other foot, hitting him in the flesh under his rib cage as she alternated between trying to gouge out his eyes and punching him in the head, baiting him to try defending against the wrong attack.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The larger man's movements were growing more panicked as Shana continued to press on his throat. Desperately, Yhal turned himself around and let himself fall backwards to the ground, his hands on Shana's legs to hold her in place as his arched his body. Shana struck the ground with the full force of his weight on her, and she let out a pained cry that had Yllian taking another step, and Riz had to pull him back.

Despite the impact, Shana's grip didn't weaken, and Yhal's movements grew more frantic. He tried to get back up again, but with Shana weighing him down, he couldn't get the leverage from his position since he couldn't use his arms to push himself up. He kept trying to reach over his head at Shana, but she was able to fend him off with her free hand as he began to thrash desperately, movement growing weaker and weaker.

Finally, his arms went slack.

Shana didn't relent, maintaining her position, her leg still pressing against his throat. Still, they could hear her start counting. "One… two… three…"

Rian stepped forward where everyone could see him, turning around with a smile on his face and clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention. "So, honored witnesses," he said cheerfully. "Shall we declare this the Dungeon Binder's victory, or should we wait for her to finish choking out Yhal in case he's holding his breath and faking?"

"….seventeen… eighteen… nineteen…"

"Or is this the part where someone says this is some kind of trick?" Rian continued. "If so, what kind of trick was it? We didn't feed Yhal anything, so it's not some kind of poison. And how likely is it that we somehow bribed Yhal to fake getting defeated?" He looked at everyone, clearly waiting for them to say something. "No one? So, you all agree that Yhal was defeated fairly?

"You have made your point, Lord Rian," Rilianne said. "We concede that this is… that this is the Great Binder's victory."

Rian nodded, turning to look out over the assembled witnesses. "And does the rest agree?"

"She wins," Otin said.

"Definitely," Xiasam added, looking approving. "Laven taught her well…"

"Witnesses?" Rian prompted.

There was a general chorus along the lines of 'yes, she won', although many of those saying were obviously still shocked at what they'd just seen.

Shana finally untangled herself from Yhal, rising unsteadily to her feet and clearly in pain. Then she suddenly straightened, arching her back and nodding in satisfaction as she obviously healed herself. Turning towards them, she made a beckoning gesture.

"Well, come on," Rian said, turning to Rilianne even as he began to walk towards Shana. "Dungeon Binders don't come to people. People go to Dungeon Binders."

Rilianne hesitated only a moment before she began to follow him. Riz followed as well, her strides eating up ground as she passed Rian. Despite this, Karina reached Shana first, clearly checking her friend for injuries, patting off dirt that had gotten stuck on the Lady Binder's clothes and handing her back her boots. The Lady Binder stood in dignified silence as this happened, her eyes on the approaching witnesses and wizards as she slid her footwear back on, the laces hanging loose for the moment. Wordlessly, Rian and Yllian moved to stand on either side of her. Her man was smiling that cheerful, almost vapid smile again, while Yllian was glaring sternly to keep himself from beaming with smug pride.

"Many of you know me," Shana said, her cold eyes sweeping over the people in attendance. "As you have heard, I am the Dungeon Binder of River's Fork Demesne. I am not a figurehead or a puppet for Lord Yllian or my uncle. Anyone inclined to believe otherwise will be corrected as this civilian was corrected." There were winces at that last. Everyone knew that they were all no longer militia since they'd opted out or retired, but no one actually wanted to hear 'civilian' applied to them "You will be settling in my demesne, and in doing so have implicitly agreed to acknowledge my authority. Any further attempts to challenge that authority will also be dealt with."

There was a moment's silence as everyone glanced down at the fallen Yhal. Riz could recognize the looks on their faces. While they weren't cowering, their expressions ranged from 'well, it would be embarrassing if that were me' to 'Eh, I can take her, I know what Yhal did wrong… but it doesn't seem worth it, so I won't'.

"Are there any objections?" the Lady Binder asked coolly. "If so, step forward now so I can beat you unconscious too."

Silently, without looking away from the crowd, Rian held out his walking stick to the Lady Binder. Shana accepted it, also without looking, and rested it over her shoulder, and it definitely looked nothing so much as a child-sized club.

Riz might have been spending too much time around the Great Binder, because she'd been a little surprised no one was stupid enough to take Shana up on that.

The Lady Binder swept her gaze across the crowd one more time and nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Wizard Rilianne has conveyed your intention to settle in my demesne. On behalf of the Great Binder, Binder Lolilyuri, who rules over this demesne and Lorian up river, I hereby accept. Tomorrow, we shall begin the process of transferring you all to live in the dome in the demesne's center. Wizard Xiasam!"

The Lady Binder's voice had hit such a tone that everyone had immediately straightened, and surreptitiously tried to form up into ranks, while the Mentalist had instinctively saluted, right fist clenched, elbow bent and forearm held out in front parallel to his chest. He looked ruefully at his hand, but did not drop the gesture. "Yes, ah, Dungeon Binder!"

"You will make a complete list of all the members of this expedition, sorted according to family and grouped by who sleeps together in tents," Shana commanded, and it was a command. "Note the ages of anyone too young to enlist. I expect you to be done before tonight. Deliver the list to Lord Yllian at the dome. Understood?"

That last word had just the right harsh crack to trigger another instinctive response. "Yes, Great Binder!" the Mentalist said, now looking bemused.

"The assignments for the first batch of those moving to the dome will be released tomorrow," Shana said. "Everyone is to prepare to break down their tent and begin moving at noon at the earliest. Understood?"

It was the tone again, and haphazard ranks saluted out of habit. "Yes, Great Binder," they all said, more or less together.

Shana nodded in satisfaction. "Until I send for you, everyone will hold position here, especially the wizards. Wizard Rilianne, see to it that Civilian Yhallisu is examined for injuries. However, unless it is imminently life-threatening, he is not to receive treatment. I will heal him at my leisure."

Rilianne's face was perfectly smooth as she performed a crisp salute. "Yes, Great Binder!"

The Lady Binder returned their salutes. "Dismissed." Arms dropped before she turned sideways to Yllian. "Lord Yllian, I will be returning to the dome. You may remain here at your discretion."

"Yes, Great Binder," he said, pointedly not saluting.

With a nod of acknowledgement, Shana turned and began to lead the way back towards the river so they could head back upstream to the dome.

Everyone, even Karina, remained silent until they were far from the camp.

"Huh," Rian finally said, "we didn't need to have Yllian sneer after all. Just as well. People might have thought he was constipated."