Unconquered Pt. 01

"One tenth?" Ember asked.

"Shush," Gor snapped.

"Wait, you've all been treating June like garbage because her..." Ember frowned. "Great-Great-Great Grandfather did it with a devil?"

"Ho...is it that many?" The headwoman asked.

"Yeah," Ember said, confidently. "That's almost two centuries ago -- that's eighty thousand days, give or take a day when the Sun oversleeps." He shook his head. "That's ridiculous. Besides, June is nice."

"Stop making up numbers!" Gor snapped.

"I'm not!"

The headwoman pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's because she's still part evil. And now she's stolen the only defense our village has against real monsters." She sighed. "Cut him loose, Gor. We'll have to organize a search party -- maybe we can hunt her down to Nex..."

Gor pushed Ember out of the room without so much as a by your leave and closed the door up tight. Ember scowled...and then started off. His hands clenched as he walked, then unclenched and he kept walking in a furious, scowling funk until he hit a wall. He stumbled backwards, rubbing his nose -- and saw Jigatai the Mighty glaring down at him. His arms were crossed over his chest and he muttered. "You sticking it to the devilblooded?" he whispered.

"No?" Ember asked.

"I bet devil cunt feels real good," Jigatai snarled. "Good enough to turn against your whole world?"

"I...don't know?" Ember cocked his head. "I'm a virgin."

"Likely story!" Jigatai grabbed his shift. Ember was about to ask in what Cycle would a boy of eighteen years would possibly fucking lie about being a virgin when he was saved from having his teeth exploded across the whole landscape by being too skinny and too lazy to get clothing that fit him. His whole body slipped out of his shift and he fell, wearing nothing but his loincloth, to the dirt before Jigatai as Jigatai swung his fist at where his head had been moments before. Jigatai's immense fist smashed into the wall of the headwoman's building and his face went from green to white as the blood rushed from his face.

Then he screamed. "My hand! You broke my hand, you devilfucking traitor!"

"You're kinda focused on that!" Ember shouted as he scrambled to his feet and sprinted away, his bare red back flashing in the sun. "Maybe you're projecting a little? Ah!" He ducked around a building as Jigatai hurled a rock with his good hand after him.

***

Ember, normally, would have run home and hid for the rest of the day, until Jigatai the Mighty no longer wanted to turn his skull into so much powder. And his friends. His friends definitely would have gotten the message by now as well. But June was out there, and the whole village was assuming she was evil...and Ember wasn't going to let his only friend down. And so, rather than running home, he made a beeline to the apothecary shop, no matter how many odd looks he got for running in nothing but loincloth and sandals.

The shop itself was abandoned. The apothecary was down by the tavern or the well, prolly, telling everyone about how evil and mean June was. And so, Ember ducked inside and began to search around himself, rubbing his chin. "If I was June, where'd I put my secrets?" he thought to himself. In his mind's eye, June appeared and looked at him, sarcastically.

What? His imagination said. You think I'd just tell you?

Ember frowned. "Ah!" he snapped his fingers, then went to the small room that June slept in. She had packed up her personal shrine -- she worshiped the gods of knowledge and learning that were popular in the Regency, and she had taken both the tiny statuettes. But the rest of the place had every sign of being packed up in a hurry. She had even left behind her pleasurer -- a knob of wood that Ember had watched her carve with awe.

Are most men that big? he'd asked.

Eh, no, but we're none of us perfect, she had said, casually.

Ember started to rummage around in the small wicker baskets that held June's clothing when he stepped on something crinkly. He picked it up and saw it was a scroll -- but it was covered with notes he recognized as June's handwriting. He cocked his head. None of this made sense to him -- it was all in Regency script. He couldn't read that. Of course, he couldn't read any script. So, Ember tried to spot things that did look like something he recognized. He saw a drawing of the dead goddess that cried out the river. He saw a weird squiggly line, several drawings of trees...a few dots...

Ember's mind took the images, jumbled them up, and suddenly, the unwove before his eyes.

He was looking down at the village from the top of one of the swords, standing on the hilt. And the line that June had drawn led straight into the Wildfree Forest. Which was full of fair folk. Unchained undead. Crawling demons. Mad gods. Bandits. Blood mages. Ember whimpered, his knees quivering as he remembered all the stories he had ever heard in passing about the Wildfree Forest. Once, according to Old Chuien, an entire Regency legion had marched past Rataka. It had been ten thousand men and women, with the finest spears, the best armor...and not a single one of them had ever returned from the Forest.

But this did mean that June was going the opposite direction of the search parties. He didn't have to worry.

She'd be...

Okay, not safe.

But...

June knew what she was doing.

Right?

And she had a sunsteel spear. She could handle herself.

Ember looked at the map. His jaw tightened and he rolled up the scroll.

"She'll be even better with me helping," he whispered, softly. And so, despite his quivering knees, he ducked out of the apothecary and headed for the storehouse. As he walked, he heard the whispered rumors flinging about village -- the sounds of people working themselves up into an anxious tizzy. Fortunately, this meant that no one paid him much mind as he came to the storehouse. The only guard that Gor had set there was talking with two other village women.

"Nah," The guard, Korrine, said as she flexed one of her muscular arms. "I got this. Not a single mouse could slip past my eagle eyes." She hefted her spear, then twirled it around.

Azati and Rashi both cooed, nearly collapsing in waves of sapphic delight.

"In fact..." Korrine said. "I once actually tussled with June Devilblooded. It was just after she, uh, well...we'd both been drinking. And it was absolutely wrestling." Korrine coughed. The two girls nodded. Then Azati opened her mouth.

"Oh! Do you need something, Azati? Anything for the most beautiful- uh , one of the most beautiful girls in the village!" Korrine said, nodding eagerly. The correction soothed Rashi, who smiled primly at Azati, but Azati was pointing over Korrine's shoulder.

"Oh, is my strap out of place?" Korrine adjusted her woven breastplate.

"No, it's just...isn't that Sleeping Ember?" Azati asked.

Korrine spun around in time to see Ember, who had heaped a basket of food and the spear onto the saddles of a midnight black horse -- the corsair the village kept for running messages. Ember rubbed his hands together. "All right, horse," he said. "This can't be that hard." He swung himself up.

"Ember!" Korrine shouted, her voice squeaking with alarm.

The horse reared, kicked out its hooves, and shot off on the road, leaving behind flaming hoof-prints.

Ember clung to the horse's flanks as the corsair shot past one of the watch-swords, so closer that it whacked the stores and the spear off, leaving both clattering in the dirt, where they could be easily picked up by the village. Ember tried to think of that as a good thing. Then he clung tighter as the horse continued to surge forward, hooves sparking with his speed. The horse seemed happy at least, and slowly, Ember felt him settling from lightning fast to merely fast. This allowed him to peek up -- which nearly set him tumbling from the back of the horse's saddle.

Still. He was going along the river. Towards the forest.

Great!

This was a great plan!

The horse only slowed once it reached the trees proper -- its hooves moving from a fierce gallop to a canter to a trot. With each step and each increment of slower horse-ness, Ember managed to sit up a tiny bit more, settling back in the saddle. His thighs ached and his balls felt as if they had been mashed with a hammer. But he was at least no longer about to fall off the horse's side. He looked around himself slowly as he rode forward, his eyes wide. The forest surrounding him was immense. The trees grew higher than any building he'd ever seen -- some were taller even than the swords that pin-cushioned the landscape around his village. And he saw that the forest creatures were tending to their own business happily: He saw squirrels chewing on acorns. He saw deer grazing -- bounding away as he drew near.

He heard the babbling of a brook.

The croaking cry of an owl.

The breathing of his horse.

"This is nice," Ember whispered, softly. "Okay..." He rummaged around on his person until he found the scroll that he had tucked under his armpit. He unfurled it and squinted at the map. He was now supposed to travel northward. He craned his head up and saw the Sun and the Moons overhead. The Sun was still shining brightly, and he saw Ruby gleaming to his left. So, that meant he was going north. Ember nodded to himself, then slapped the neck of the horse.

"We're good," he said.

The horse snorted and tossed his head.

They rode past a large tree that had collapsed ages back and been carved into the shape of five sleeping men by some ancient tribe or artist. Moss grew around the bodies, but they were still visible.

They rode past a rock that floated in the air, chained to the ground by lines of moss and vines that had reached up to snare it. The rock made a quiet singing noise -- and Ember wanted very badly to touch it...but knew that if he deviated from his course, he'd get hopelessly lost. He couldn't even see the sky now.

They rode past a massive, sleeping bear with three heads. The eyes were closed, and the snoring so loud that it shook Ember's bones. But he still did not breathe until they were well out of sight.

Finally, Ember and his horse emerged from a thicket of trees and into a clearing -- and here, Ember gaped in awe.

They were standing before a foot nearly the size of two rice paddies, broad and made of carved marble. The foot rose to an ankle, and the ankle rose to a leg, and the leg rose to a thigh, and as he craned his head backwards, he could see that the statue that towered overhead blocked out the Sun and all but one of the Moons. It was of a beautiful woman, her forehead marked by a circular divot, like a third eye or a bead stuck into her head. Her hair was done in curls and buns, tumbling along her shoulders, and she had one arm lifted upwards, as if she was holding a spear -- but the forearm had snapped off who knows how long ago. The trees had been so thick that Ember hadn't known he was even approaching it -- and it was distant enough from the village that the curve of the world had concealed it.

"How far into the forest am I?" Ember whispered.

A rippling crack filled the air. Trees tumbled -- off to the left -- and the horse whined, kicked and flung Ember from his back.

Ember crashed onto soft moss -- hard enough to drive the wind from his body -- and he wheezed as his horse sprinted off, terrified. When Ember had sat up, still wheezing, he saw that the trees that had fallen were to the west, and four of them had been cut down, as if by axes...but in a single instant. Standing on the largest of the trunks, surveying his handiwork, was a man that stood almost seven feet tall, shimmering with a brilliant green light, clad in armor of pure emerald glass. A sword that was nearly as long as he was tall sat on his shoulder, the edge shimmering like liquid.

Behind him marched men in the lamellar armor and red capes of the Regency.

"Someone nab that horse!" the man said, his voice jovial. "Prize horseflesh, this far from the Burning Sea."

Several men jogged off.

No...

No, they were women. And as they ran after the horse, their capes flashing, Ember realized that the lamellar armor was cut very oddly. He rather thought if one was going to go into battle, it'd be a good idea to cover the butt, the thighs, and a the chest. But the armor had great big holes between each woman's bust. Two women walked up to flank the man with the emerald armor and he casually reached down to fondle her rump, like she was a peach-tree in his garden. His grin was wide -- and looking past the armor and sword, Ember could see he had sharp teeth and eyes of pure green.

The green glow faded about him as he walked forward, then paused, looking down at Ember. He pursed his lips.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Uh..." Ember blinked. "Sleeping Ember. Who are you?"

The man laughed. "Oh my! Oh my heavens! Oh by the Ten Billion Gods! Look at this rube! This simpleton! This utter uncouth lout! He looks upon me, the pinnacle of the Regency's mightiest army, and asks...who are you?" He smirked, then swept his blade out in a twisting arc. As he spun it above his head and twirled on his wrists, the world around him filled with wind. Rose petals sprang into being, whipping around him as the man sprang, like a dancer, into the air, and then landed on one massive stone toe. He thrust his sword into the air.

The world froze -- and light stabbed down from the heavens, illuminating him, the rose petals, and his sharp smile.

"Cutting Roseblossom, Generalissimo of the Jade Army, Viscount to the Sagacious Regent of Heaven, Chosen of the Unconquered, Infused Knight of Wood!" He brushed his fingers through his hair -- which Ember saw was longer than even his -- and flicked the curling green locks into the breeze. "Unlocker of ten thousand chastity belts and ruler of the hearts of Queen Hypatia and King Regenin of the Burning Sea, and personal sire to five thousand cherished bastards...it is I! Jerin Kah!"

He slammed his blade into the toe before his foot, the stone cracking.

Ember gaped at him.

"I...wait, how many people did you say you-"

"Ten thousand," Jerin Kah said, cheerfully.

Ember blinked.

"...and...two, technically," Jerin Kah said, shrugging his shoulder. "But to truly count the courtship of the Dragon of the Seven Mountains, one must accept lovemaking that is also battling while plunging off a mountaintop." He flashed a grin. "Which I do."

Ember stood, wincing. "W-Well, uh, once, I, uh..." He groped for a story of equally impressive stature. "Once, my neighbor's rooster sired a chick that had three legs."

Jerin Kah's expression was an astoundingly complex one. Somehow, he managed to compact condescension, utter pity, mild disgust, and abject arrogance into a single, mighty sneer. "How good for your neighbor," he said. "Now..." He hopped off the toe, then frowned. "Wait a second...who was here first..." He spun to face Ember again. Before Ember knew it, he was dangling off the ground, Jerin Kah holding him aloft with the same ease Ember would have used on a bug. Ember grabbed at his wrist, choking as Jerin Kah glared at him. "Who touched the Temple of the Third Unconquered?"

Ember made a gagging noise.

"Oh, right," Jerin Kah dropped him and Ember collapsed to his knees. He gasped.

"I don't know!" he said. "I'm just here, chasing after my friend June."

"Sir!" One of the lady soldiers shouted, pointing up at the statue.

Ember and Jerin Kah both looked up.

There, at about the thigh, was June. She had her backpack, straining with supplies, on her back. For a moment, Ember thought she had abandoned the spear. But then he saw a gleam of sunsteel and realized she had snapped the blade off and hung it from one of her belts. She was carefully scrambling up, moving from handhold to handhold with a casual, unhurried pace. Jerin Kah stepped away from Ember and shouted. "You there! Devilblooded!"

"Fuck off," June called over her shoulder.

Jerin Kah rubbed his chin. "Mmm...a fiery spirit, needing a taming huh?" He licked his lips, his eyes focusing on June's butt. Which was impressive, considering how her backpack concealed most of it.

"I don't fuck monsters," June said, casually, her voice sounding faintly distant.

"Monsters..." Jerin Kah scowled, then hefted up his sword. Before Ember knew it, the long edge was pressed to his throat. "You are one to speak, devilblooded! By the order of the Regent, you are to come down here -- or I will slit this villager's throat."

June paused in her climbing. She looked over her shoulder -- then sighed, letting herself dangle from but one hand as she swung herself around to look more fully at them.

"You know, this isn't a really good argument for you not being the monster, villageburner," she said, her voice dry.

"Villageburner..." Ember whispered.

"The Regent has sent me out to claim the treasure of this temple-"

"Your Regent," June said. "Killed the Unconquered, took his place, and has been corrupting everything King Bahul ever built."

Jerin Kah's eyes flashed. They literally sparked with fury. His hand tightened on the sword and Ember squeaked as he felt the blade drawing a thin line of blood on his throat. "You lying little devilblooded whore!" He swung the sword -- but not at Ember. Instead, he swept it towards June, who yelped and let go of the temple as a wave of concussive force exploded from the blade. It fluttered in the air as it shot forward, leaving behind a cascade of rose petals. It struck the thigh that June had been clinging to just as she dropped onto the out-thrust knee -- and stone and dust exploded into the air. Bits of debris showered onto her shoulders as she pinwheeled her arms and tried to remain standing.

June grabbed into her backpack. She hauled out a flask of brilliant orange, uncorked it, and drink it in a single smooth move. When she tossed the empty flask down, it shattered -- and she breathed out a ball of flames, which grew wings, a long neck, a beak. A bird of flames screamed in fury and shot towards Jerin Kah. Jerin batted it aside with his sword -- but it exploded as his sword touched it. Jerin Kah went tumbling and Ember sprawled onto his back with a yelp.

Everything went black.

***

Ember struggled back to consciousness -- his head ringing like a gong. His eyes blinked and blurred and he shook his head.

He could hear, distantly, Jerin Kah shouting: "Take her alive! She's a thaumaturge! I said take her alive!"

Ember slowly stood, the world seemed shrouded and foggy -- everything was blurred. He could see that Jerin Kah and his soldiers were ringed around a solitary figure. Jerin Kah had his sword sheathed and was smirking as he moved from place to place in the formation. Ember stumbled to his feet and started to walk forward, wobbling. In the mass of soldiers, surrounded by a cloud of obsidian birds that flapped their wings in a glittering pattern -- their bodies razor sharp and deadly looking, was June. Several broken glass vials were collected around her feet -- and she held one last one.

"I promise to you," Jerin Kah said, his voice sounding distant even as Ember walked close. "I never would have attacked, had I known you were such a remarkable woman. The Regency needs as many thaumaturge as it can get, after all."

"I preferred it when you were calling me a whore as opposed to just acting like I was one," June said, her voice tired sounding. "No, wait. Whores actually do something nice for people. You're asking me to become a tyrant." She spat. "Fuck you and the army you rode in on."