NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7.1 – A Sweet Memory
With Draxis gone, Taisha raced up to the unconscious Vic, pulled her in close, and wept.
"Wake up for me, Vic." She said, a knot tightened in her chest. "I don't want to lose you."
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Ten years ago in the stockades of Nymphea, the capital city of the Kingdom of Cassun…
Taisha walked along the seemingly endless hall of iron bars pinching her nose. The stench of rot and shit clung heavy in the air. Many of the prisoners were half-demons, and she might have caught sight of a dark elf or two. No doubt, not a single one of them wanted to be caged like a wild animal.
A lot of them were underfed, emaciated to the point where their skin hung loose against sickly skin. It was as though the guards just threw them in here and forgot. She wondered how long some of these poor souls had been in here.
War was a gruesome affair even for those not directly involved. Taisha knew this first hand. Escaping Raisvayel was no easy feat, but she was glad she did even though it came at great cost. Now that the Demon Wars had ended, there was no shortage of blame to throw around and scapegoats to take the fall of others' misfortunes.
These prisoners were among the ones unlucky enough to be caught in the crossfire simply for being in the wrong place. Just last night she witnessed an orc blamed for the petty thievery of a soggy piece of bread. Whether he was guilty or not, he definitely didn't didn't deserve to lose his head.
But such was the state of the world. Cassun had it tame. She heard rumors back in Orcus the new Demon King was putting entire families to the sword for conspiring alongside Septus— the former Demon King that plunged the world into war in the first place.
Hate could only beget hate, and she was but one succubus among a sea of broken creatures seeking redemption. As soon as she concluded her business here, it was back to the baths to wash off the stink.
"The Princess said the prisoner in question would be at the end of the hall… " She mused to herself as she glanced into each cell. "But does this hall even have an end—?"
Right then, she fell back and slammed against the bars of one of the cells. A blistering orange-scaled hand clutched her arm, threatening to snap it.
A desperate voice whined from behind her. "Get me outta here, will ya? I ain't done nothing wrong!"
"Let… go!" She ignited her free hand and tried to aim it inside the cell, but another grimey hand snuffed it out.
"The succubus said let go." Another voice from the end of the hall called out.
Taisha was surprised to find herself free of her captor. She backed away from the cell and saw a frozen orange-scaled half-dragon with his arms in the air.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry… please don't kill me…!" He choked between tears.
Taisha turned her attention to her savior. It was a young half-demon girl, maybe no older than herself. Long silver hair shrouded sunken cheeks and fell past a skinny frame, strewn alongside the pile of rags she sat on top of.
"What did you do to him? Taisha asked, not wanting to face the man in question.
The girl sniffed the air, pulled back her long hair, and looked up. She had red eyes, a rare color among half-demons. There was a sharp exhale of breath, followed by a cough before an answer came. "I just spooked him a little."
Taisha looked the half-demon over again from head to toe. This was supposed to be the girl Princess Aurora wanted her to check on. There doesn't seem to be anything interesting about her other than the eyes. Maybe there was a mistake.
"What's a succubus want with me? You my executioner?"
"I've come to speak with you, believe it or not." She tried to get a better look at the girl's face, but she dared not get any closer to the bars. The girl shifted in her seat, clinking the iron shackles around her ankles.
"Great. Maybe you'll make for more enjoyable conversations than my fellow inmates' groaning." The girl said, sneering. The pained cries of other prisoners suddenly sounded a lot louder in Taisha's ears. She tried to tune them out to no avail. The girl, having noticed her discomfort remarked, "It's not so bad after a while."
Taisha sighed deeply, then asked, "What's your name?"
"Victori—" The girl grimaced, glanced off to the side, and cleared her throat. "Vic."
"Taisha." She introduced herself with an instinctive curtsey, a leftover habit from her days as a slave. "Vic? Not a very feminine name."
"Yeah, well… I don't like it either."
"Where are you from, Vic?"
Vic leaned in as though she were about to tell a secret. "Orcus. Raisvayel. Some valley in the Oaken Wealds. Take your pick."
More likely than not, this girl was a refugee. Many from both the Empire of Orcus and the Republic of Darcie had fled south during the war, and more still poured into Cassun in hopes of a better life. Of course, that was a pipe dream seeing as how poorly one was regarded if they weren't a dwarf or a light elf.
Taisha was also one such refugee who could have easily ended up in one of these cells. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately depending on the circumstances of her deal with the crown, she came into the service of Cassun's enigmatic Princess. Whenever she tried to broach the subject of why she was chosen, she would always receive the annoying 'Kishishishi!' laugh.
At the end of the day, it didn't matter that she was being ordered to run around like a lapdog. She was still being treated better here than she would be in Orcus. Additionally, being under the thumb of someone with political clout was always good.
"Do you know why you're in here?" Taisha waited for an answer that never came. She already knew the answer from Princess Aurora. The only reason she asked was to find out if the girl who called herself Vic was aware of what she'd done.
"Did I kill anyone?" Vic finally asked in the midst of the silence, her voice tinged with hesitation.
Taisha thought back to Aurora's report. There were no casualties as a direct result of what happened. Some noses were broken and a cow that had been tipped over was all the commotion amounted to. Quite tame for an enraged half-demon.
It wasn't an uncommon sight, in fact it became more rampant during the Demon Wars and in its aftermath. Half-demons lose control over their demonic heritage and fall into an uncontrollable rage. There were only really two options to deal with them— knock them unconscious, or kill them. One of which was much easier to do than the other.
Come to think of it, there was one death. A human woman was reported dead at the scene, but the clerics' autopsy revealed it was sickness that led to her demise. "No, you didn't. A woman did die near where you enraged, but it wasn't your…"
She lost her train of thought as Vic pulled her hair away to listen. Tears welled up around her crimson eyes and she had crawled up to the bars without Taisha's notice. When the half-demon realized where she was, she retreated back to the rags, pressing her back up against the stone wall.
"Did you know that woman?" Taisha dared to ask, but again her question was received by silence. It was only for a moment, but when Vic had drawn close to the bars she looked pitiful. That pathetic expression reminded Taisha of herself.
Her hands moved on their own, weaving a sigil in front of the keyhole all the while asking herself, why? She stopped caring. It no longer mattered to her that it stunk like a pig sty, or that the prisoners' moans were getting on her nerves. The half-demon girl sobbed softly, but it rang so loud in Taisha's ears she felt her heart shattering with each whimper.
A metallic clink informed her that the spell suceeded. She opened the iron gates, it creaked so loud it echoed down the hall and back.
Vic looked up and panicked, "What are you doing? Get away from me!" She threw her arms up to strike, but Taisha took her hands. Vic was trembling, tears streamed down her face like a broken dam. Taisha thought she just looked so pathetic. That's all it was.
Without sparing another second for Vic to retaliate, Taisha sat down beside her and pulled the half-demon into an embrace. Vic shivered, her body tensed, then she relaxed. Taisha struggled to calm her own breathing, but once Vic stopped struggling there was peace.
Taisha sucked in a deep breath. She had no idea what to say, but hot tears also began to streak down her cheeks. She swallowed the lump in her throat and nested her chin on top of Vic's dirt-caked hair.
Her thoughts drifted to memories of her sister, Talisa who used to hold her this way when they slept. She thought about everything she lost in Raisvayel. Taisha and the girl she held in her arms were not so different. Which meant Vic must have suffered… and to suffer at all was just too much for someone so young. Taisha finally found the words to say, though she was the one who needed to hear it the most. "You'll be okay. I'm here for you. You'll be… okay."
⚔ ⚔ ⚔
Taisha woke up to the moonlight shining through the gaps in the window. Dried tears had crusted around her cheeks and ruined her makeup. When she tried to get up, she felt something tug against her. A small hand clung to her arm, it was the half-demon girl she was sent here to meet.
The girl by her side twitched in her sleep, occasionally a whimper and growl escaped her pale lips. Taisha felt the hand clutch tighter, nails digging into her arm cut into the skin. Eventually Vic let go and turned the other way, falling to her side but remained fast asleep.
She took this opportunity to get out of the cell and shut it close, this time as slowly as possible so as to not cause a ruckus.