Cilen stood on the makeshift stage outside the Astaleze castle, and with a sigh, dropped to a seat on its edge, her legs swinging idly below its wooden boards. She clenched her fists and looked behind her, swallowing as the noose cast a shadow over her. Her wrists were still raw where the rope had scratched her skin. The last of the crowd was dispersing, a few disappointed palace soldiers kicking up grass as they left the field.
She had been joking when she’d asked David to keep Cerces from killing her when the dust settled. But the problem wasn’t just Cerces. Her own soldiers had turned against her, choosing to follow the castle’s captain of the guard over her, the army’s general. She had literally been swept up when the Cerces rebels searched the castle for the last pockets of resistance. They’d carried her out of the castle, bundled her up, and dumped her on the stage. She’d had the noose under her chin before David erupted through the crowd and leaped beside her, yelling at everyone in earshot. She’d never seen the boy that angry. Now she understood why they listened to him.
No matter what David did, her forces would never trust her again, neither those fighting for the captain of the guard and those that followed her in the coup that left David and Elana in power. Never mind the rebel warriors themselves. She was untrustworthy. She was the fiend that had killed so many soldiers during the battles fought over the past few weeks. Maybe she had been following the queen’s orders, but they were her tactics. She had planned those attacks.
She slid off the stage and landed in a crouch at its base. She glanced up at the gallows again, then adjusted the collar of her shirt and made her way out into the field in front of her. The wound on her arm had opened up again.
She had been a leader her entire career. The youngest person to ever be promoted to battalion leader. She was the best sword-fighter in the kingdom. And that reputation she’d worked all of her life to build had been destroyed in one day.
What was she going to do now?
Maybe… maybe it would have been better if David hadn’t saved her.
People were cheering in the castle’s courtyard. Cilen looked up; the crowd had migrated away from the gallows and had found some new entertainment. Maybe another execution? She wouldn’t be shocked.
She was shocked.
Samuel, David’s general, had just climbed onto the roof of a nearby shed. He kicked his legs, smiling, and laid a broadsword over his lap. She followed his gaze, but the focus of his attention was at the center of the crowd.
He was supervising something. She knew that much; she’d done the same many times. Not only that, he was immensely pleased with the result.
She moved closer. A few soldiers noticed her, and, murmuring, parted so that she could make her way toward the spectacle. The crowd continued to part, and eventually Cilen found their victim.
A man with jagged black hair, older than Samuel and certainly older than David, sat in a chair with his hands pinned above him and his bare feet trapped in a set of stocks. Someone had inked “TRAITOR” across his forehead, and the word was scribbled all over his bare chest. The evidence lay around the foot of the chair, with snapped quills and shattered ink bottles staining the courtyard’s cobblestones. The ink had started to run from all the sweat coating his body.
“Samuel?” She looked up. “What’s happening?”
“Hi! General Cilen, right?” His smile somehow widened. “Call me Sam, you’ve earned that much. We owe you our lives. And I’m sorry about what happened earlier. We’ve gotten a little carried away with things.”
“Who’s this?”
“That’s Relo. He decided it was a good idea to trade Dave for supplies.”
“He turned David in? That’s how the Prince of Cerces ended up in Astal?”
“Yep.” Samuel shrugged, his black curls bouncing. “Thing is, Dave won’t let me take care of the problem. So now we’re here.” He gestured at the crowd and the chair. “I had to pull Dave out of that thing when I found him. Dave told me to lock Relo in there and let you all tickle him, since that’s how he was treated. I still prefer this—” he raised his sword, “but I respect what he wants. Only fair, right?”
Cheers rumbled through the audience, but whispers muted them. Cilen glanced around. The crowd had switched their focus from Relo to her. She could still feel the rope around her neck, so she regarded the bound man.
“You’re a true traitor.”
Relo gritted his teeth. “You led a coup!”
“Against an illegitimate queen. You turned on a friend.”
“The villagers were starving! You have no idea!”
“Cerces annexed Astal’s three biggest agricultural districts over three months ago. Food had nothing to do with it.”
He reddened under the flush covering his body.
“You’re right, by the way.” Cilen pulled off her gauntlets, grimacing as she moved her wounded arm. “I am a traitor. Thing is, I ended up on the right side of history. You didn’t. You’re lucky David decided not to kill you.”
“David’s just a kid. A gods-damned figurehead they picked as a leader. I’ve been in the army since before he was born!”
“Wait. I recognize you.” She leaned against the stocks holding his ankles. “You were once up for promotion, weren’t you?”
“Oh, now you recognize me?” He spat at her. “You, General, single-handedly destroyed my career as a soldier. If I couldn’t be a battalion leader, what else could I be?”
“A soldier!” She set a hand on the sole of his foot. “You could be a soldier. The army isn’t just a career. It’s a job that matters. And… this has to be over ten years ago. You could’ve come back. Tried again.”
“And what? Embarrass myself again? You were just a little twerp. Still are a little twerp.”
“This little twerp has your feet tied up in front of her.” She tapped his sole and he jumped. “Want to rephrase that a bit?”
He glared at her. “Not at all.”
“Okay, then.” She shrugged and dropped to one knee. His feet, like the rest of him, were covered in ink, but were still flushed under the black smears. Cilen set her nails against his soles, and he jumped with a grimace, despite having been at the mercy of the crowd for gods-know how long. She smiled. This had to be why Elana liked it.
“Let me go!” He struggled against the ties.
“Doubt it. See, I owe David one. More than that, really, though I don’t think he’ll agree. And if you’d done the same thing to me, you’d be dead by now.” She ran her nails down his sole, and he yelped. “If this is all you’re getting, let’s make it good.”
“Get off me, you little— <i>NO!” </i>He shook in the chair, whipping his head back and forth. “Get <i>off!”</i>
“No,” she chirped. No… what a glorious word. Every day since the war started, she had to keep quiet and nod her head as Taria ran their forces into the ground. People blamed her, even though she couldn’t disagree with the queen. But now… now she could do as she pleased.
She grinned. “No.”
<i>“STAHAP!”</i> Relo arched in his bonds as she scratched the sweaty space under his toes.
“No.”
<i>“AHA! NO! STAHAHAP! FUHUHUHUCK YUHUHU!”</i>
“No!”
She continued exploring his soles, feeling his feet twitch under her fingertips. She was in charge… as a general should always be. Deposed or not, she was a general.
She stood, head as high as it was when she earned her first Star of Honor all those years ago. With sure steps she came around the stocks and hooked her fingers in the waistband of Relo’s pants.
“Stop! Don’t!” He tried and failed to ball up.
“No.” She started to pull.
“Not in front of that sick fuck!”
“I’m sorry…” Samuel stood. “What was that?” He stepped forward, awkward on the rooftop.
Cilen held up a hand. “Explain.”
“He’s… gay,” Relo choked out. “I don’t— I don’t wanna—”
“Of everyone here, you’re angry about <i>him </i>seeing you naked?” Cilen raised her eyebrows.
“Didn’t know you felt like that about me, Relo.” Samuel sat on the edge of the rooftop. “What, think I’ll treat you like you treat women?”
“I-I—”
“You’re not as clever as you think you are, eyeing them up behind their backs. Guess I should have said something sooner.” He glanced down at a Cerces warrior below him. “Sorry, Yessmir.”
Cilen couldn’t help a smile as the woman bristled; around her, the crowd picked up renewed offense.
The general turned back to the captive traitor. “Then yes. In front of him, and in front of all of them.” He yelped as she hauled down his pants. She blinked, then stifled a giggle.
Samuel didn’t grant him even that much respect. “Gods, Relo. What on gods’ earth made you think I’d want that puny thing?”
“Lemme go,” Relo repeated, his head drooping.
Cilen raised her eyebrows. He’d already been through a lot. But David has been handed to the army, still asleep and almost defenseless. The false queen Taria had chosen to put him with the princess Elana; if he’d been transferred anywhere else he could have been killed, and Cerces would have stood no chance of winning the rebellion.
Cilen grabbed Relo and spat on him.
The traitor jumped. “What are you doing?”
“I did say I’d make this good.” She looked down, and bit her tongue again to keep from laughing. The head of his penis hardly poked from the top of her fist.
“Let me— oh—” he arched his back as Cilen toyed with his balls and ran a thumb along the underside of his dick. “Stop…”
“No.” Cilen kept tugging. Relo groaned, fought the shackles, then shot a stream of white across his stomach as his eyes rolled back.
Cilen stood and wiped her hands. “There we go.” She turned to the crowd. “All right, I think I interrupted something.”
The warrior Samuel has spoken to, Yessmir, pushed into the circle the crowd had created around Cilen and Relo. Cilen let her past, and she stood over Relo, scowling. “I thought you were watching me, creep.” She lunged and dug her fingers into his inky, sweaty armpits.
He let out an ear-piercing shriek. Yessmir hesitated, her eyebrows shooting up.
“Go ahead.” Cilen grinned. “In my experience, men are a bit more sensitive after an orgasm. Guess that extends to those less than men, too.”
“Thank you!” Yessmir leaned over him and the rest of the militia surged in like vultures. Cilen bumped her way free of the crowd and stopped under Samuel’s perch.
“Thanks, General.” Samuel slid off the roof and clapped hands with her. “I think they can take care of themselves now, no?”
“They’re not children.” She grimaced as an especially pained shriek broke through the crowd’s laughter. “How much longer is he supposed to be there for?”
Samuel grinned. “Two more days. And I think I’ve finally understood why this punishment fits the crime.”
“They’re going to keep going like that until you pull them off him. I almost feel bad for the asshole.”
Samuel laughed. “I like you, General.”
She fiddled with the medals on her chest. “I’m not a general anymore.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to Dave about that.” He smiled. “Want your job back?”
“You want me as a general? But I—”
“From what I’ve heard from Dave, you saved his life.”
“I wouldn’t go that far—”
“You’re the reason the rebellion won.” He handed her his longsword. “Heard you’re great with one of these, too. I’d be proud to stand by your side.”
“You would?”
“Absolutely. Now, we need to pay Dave a visit. I want to make sure you’re treated right.” He clapped her on the back and guided her out of the courtyard. Behind them, the screaming continued.
<i>“OH! No, nahat again! Stap! Oh—”</i>
She had been joking when she’d asked David to keep Cerces from killing her when the dust settled. But the problem wasn’t just Cerces. Her own soldiers had turned against her, choosing to follow the castle’s captain of the guard over her, the army’s general. She had literally been swept up when the Cerces rebels searched the castle for the last pockets of resistance. They’d carried her out of the castle, bundled her up, and dumped her on the stage. She’d had the noose under her chin before David erupted through the crowd and leaped beside her, yelling at everyone in earshot. She’d never seen the boy that angry. Now she understood why they listened to him.
No matter what David did, her forces would never trust her again, neither those fighting for the captain of the guard and those that followed her in the coup that left David and Elana in power. Never mind the rebel warriors themselves. She was untrustworthy. She was the fiend that had killed so many soldiers during the battles fought over the past few weeks. Maybe she had been following the queen’s orders, but they were her tactics. She had planned those attacks.
She slid off the stage and landed in a crouch at its base. She glanced up at the gallows again, then adjusted the collar of her shirt and made her way out into the field in front of her. The wound on her arm had opened up again.
She had been a leader her entire career. The youngest person to ever be promoted to battalion leader. She was the best sword-fighter in the kingdom. And that reputation she’d worked all of her life to build had been destroyed in one day.
What was she going to do now?
Maybe… maybe it would have been better if David hadn’t saved her.
People were cheering in the castle’s courtyard. Cilen looked up; the crowd had migrated away from the gallows and had found some new entertainment. Maybe another execution? She wouldn’t be shocked.
She was shocked.
Samuel, David’s general, had just climbed onto the roof of a nearby shed. He kicked his legs, smiling, and laid a broadsword over his lap. She followed his gaze, but the focus of his attention was at the center of the crowd.
He was supervising something. She knew that much; she’d done the same many times. Not only that, he was immensely pleased with the result.
She moved closer. A few soldiers noticed her, and, murmuring, parted so that she could make her way toward the spectacle. The crowd continued to part, and eventually Cilen found their victim.
A man with jagged black hair, older than Samuel and certainly older than David, sat in a chair with his hands pinned above him and his bare feet trapped in a set of stocks. Someone had inked “TRAITOR” across his forehead, and the word was scribbled all over his bare chest. The evidence lay around the foot of the chair, with snapped quills and shattered ink bottles staining the courtyard’s cobblestones. The ink had started to run from all the sweat coating his body.
“Samuel?” She looked up. “What’s happening?”
“Hi! General Cilen, right?” His smile somehow widened. “Call me Sam, you’ve earned that much. We owe you our lives. And I’m sorry about what happened earlier. We’ve gotten a little carried away with things.”
“Who’s this?”
“That’s Relo. He decided it was a good idea to trade Dave for supplies.”
“He turned David in? That’s how the Prince of Cerces ended up in Astal?”
“Yep.” Samuel shrugged, his black curls bouncing. “Thing is, Dave won’t let me take care of the problem. So now we’re here.” He gestured at the crowd and the chair. “I had to pull Dave out of that thing when I found him. Dave told me to lock Relo in there and let you all tickle him, since that’s how he was treated. I still prefer this—” he raised his sword, “but I respect what he wants. Only fair, right?”
Cheers rumbled through the audience, but whispers muted them. Cilen glanced around. The crowd had switched their focus from Relo to her. She could still feel the rope around her neck, so she regarded the bound man.
“You’re a true traitor.”
Relo gritted his teeth. “You led a coup!”
“Against an illegitimate queen. You turned on a friend.”
“The villagers were starving! You have no idea!”
“Cerces annexed Astal’s three biggest agricultural districts over three months ago. Food had nothing to do with it.”
He reddened under the flush covering his body.
“You’re right, by the way.” Cilen pulled off her gauntlets, grimacing as she moved her wounded arm. “I am a traitor. Thing is, I ended up on the right side of history. You didn’t. You’re lucky David decided not to kill you.”
“David’s just a kid. A gods-damned figurehead they picked as a leader. I’ve been in the army since before he was born!”
“Wait. I recognize you.” She leaned against the stocks holding his ankles. “You were once up for promotion, weren’t you?”
“Oh, now you recognize me?” He spat at her. “You, General, single-handedly destroyed my career as a soldier. If I couldn’t be a battalion leader, what else could I be?”
“A soldier!” She set a hand on the sole of his foot. “You could be a soldier. The army isn’t just a career. It’s a job that matters. And… this has to be over ten years ago. You could’ve come back. Tried again.”
“And what? Embarrass myself again? You were just a little twerp. Still are a little twerp.”
“This little twerp has your feet tied up in front of her.” She tapped his sole and he jumped. “Want to rephrase that a bit?”
He glared at her. “Not at all.”
“Okay, then.” She shrugged and dropped to one knee. His feet, like the rest of him, were covered in ink, but were still flushed under the black smears. Cilen set her nails against his soles, and he jumped with a grimace, despite having been at the mercy of the crowd for gods-know how long. She smiled. This had to be why Elana liked it.
“Let me go!” He struggled against the ties.
“Doubt it. See, I owe David one. More than that, really, though I don’t think he’ll agree. And if you’d done the same thing to me, you’d be dead by now.” She ran her nails down his sole, and he yelped. “If this is all you’re getting, let’s make it good.”
“Get off me, you little— <i>NO!” </i>He shook in the chair, whipping his head back and forth. “Get <i>off!”</i>
“No,” she chirped. No… what a glorious word. Every day since the war started, she had to keep quiet and nod her head as Taria ran their forces into the ground. People blamed her, even though she couldn’t disagree with the queen. But now… now she could do as she pleased.
She grinned. “No.”
<i>“STAHAP!”</i> Relo arched in his bonds as she scratched the sweaty space under his toes.
“No.”
<i>“AHA! NO! STAHAHAP! FUHUHUHUCK YUHUHU!”</i>
“No!”
She continued exploring his soles, feeling his feet twitch under her fingertips. She was in charge… as a general should always be. Deposed or not, she was a general.
She stood, head as high as it was when she earned her first Star of Honor all those years ago. With sure steps she came around the stocks and hooked her fingers in the waistband of Relo’s pants.
“Stop! Don’t!” He tried and failed to ball up.
“No.” She started to pull.
“Not in front of that sick fuck!”
“I’m sorry…” Samuel stood. “What was that?” He stepped forward, awkward on the rooftop.
Cilen held up a hand. “Explain.”
“He’s… gay,” Relo choked out. “I don’t— I don’t wanna—”
“Of everyone here, you’re angry about <i>him </i>seeing you naked?” Cilen raised her eyebrows.
“Didn’t know you felt like that about me, Relo.” Samuel sat on the edge of the rooftop. “What, think I’ll treat you like you treat women?”
“I-I—”
“You’re not as clever as you think you are, eyeing them up behind their backs. Guess I should have said something sooner.” He glanced down at a Cerces warrior below him. “Sorry, Yessmir.”
Cilen couldn’t help a smile as the woman bristled; around her, the crowd picked up renewed offense.
The general turned back to the captive traitor. “Then yes. In front of him, and in front of all of them.” He yelped as she hauled down his pants. She blinked, then stifled a giggle.
Samuel didn’t grant him even that much respect. “Gods, Relo. What on gods’ earth made you think I’d want that puny thing?”
“Lemme go,” Relo repeated, his head drooping.
Cilen raised her eyebrows. He’d already been through a lot. But David has been handed to the army, still asleep and almost defenseless. The false queen Taria had chosen to put him with the princess Elana; if he’d been transferred anywhere else he could have been killed, and Cerces would have stood no chance of winning the rebellion.
Cilen grabbed Relo and spat on him.
The traitor jumped. “What are you doing?”
“I did say I’d make this good.” She looked down, and bit her tongue again to keep from laughing. The head of his penis hardly poked from the top of her fist.
“Let me— oh—” he arched his back as Cilen toyed with his balls and ran a thumb along the underside of his dick. “Stop…”
“No.” Cilen kept tugging. Relo groaned, fought the shackles, then shot a stream of white across his stomach as his eyes rolled back.
Cilen stood and wiped her hands. “There we go.” She turned to the crowd. “All right, I think I interrupted something.”
The warrior Samuel has spoken to, Yessmir, pushed into the circle the crowd had created around Cilen and Relo. Cilen let her past, and she stood over Relo, scowling. “I thought you were watching me, creep.” She lunged and dug her fingers into his inky, sweaty armpits.
He let out an ear-piercing shriek. Yessmir hesitated, her eyebrows shooting up.
“Go ahead.” Cilen grinned. “In my experience, men are a bit more sensitive after an orgasm. Guess that extends to those less than men, too.”
“Thank you!” Yessmir leaned over him and the rest of the militia surged in like vultures. Cilen bumped her way free of the crowd and stopped under Samuel’s perch.
“Thanks, General.” Samuel slid off the roof and clapped hands with her. “I think they can take care of themselves now, no?”
“They’re not children.” She grimaced as an especially pained shriek broke through the crowd’s laughter. “How much longer is he supposed to be there for?”
Samuel grinned. “Two more days. And I think I’ve finally understood why this punishment fits the crime.”
“They’re going to keep going like that until you pull them off him. I almost feel bad for the asshole.”
Samuel laughed. “I like you, General.”
She fiddled with the medals on her chest. “I’m not a general anymore.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to Dave about that.” He smiled. “Want your job back?”
“You want me as a general? But I—”
“From what I’ve heard from Dave, you saved his life.”
“I wouldn’t go that far—”
“You’re the reason the rebellion won.” He handed her his longsword. “Heard you’re great with one of these, too. I’d be proud to stand by your side.”
“You would?”
“Absolutely. Now, we need to pay Dave a visit. I want to make sure you’re treated right.” He clapped her on the back and guided her out of the courtyard. Behind them, the screaming continued.
<i>“OH! No, nahat again! Stap! Oh—”</i>
