Shit had certainly not turned out the way Jadis had expected.
It took hours of talking things out with her lovers, but Jadis had eventually gotten caught up on everything that had happened while she’d been out of commission. A lot in their situation had changed, but not all of it was terrible. A lot of it wasn’t great, true, but none of it was as bad as it could have been considering the worst case scenarios.
Jadis had planned on going to the capital for the rather personal reason of seeking a priestess who could put a literal pause on pregnancy. It was a somewhat silly reason, from a certain point of view, but considering the dangerous life that she led, Jadis didn’t think it was foolish to want to give those of her lovers who wanted to bear her children that insurance. Of course, Jadis had no plans of dying early. Still, better safe than sorry, especially since it would be her lovers who would be suffering the worst in that situation.
Ironic, then, that no sooner had she resolved herself to travel to the capital, thugs had been sent by First Prince Hraustrekr to drag her there by force.
What had the asshole prince been thinking? Jadis really wasn’t sure, but whatever the reason for the urgency, sending soldiers to arrest her had been a colossally shit move to pull. It was so shit, in fact, that Vraekae had packed her bags and gotten on board the ship to the mainland herself. Not an action the Magistrate of Weigrun took lightly, either. Leaving her post was a potentially dangerous move, but from what Eir had explained, the situation was both convoluted enough, and politically advantageous enough, that Vraekae pretty much had to go and deliver her report in person if she wanted to gain some advantage from the situation as well as prevent things from getting worse. Jadis still had mixed feelings about the icy elf using the trouble to further her own agendas, but at least in this case her actions were also serving Jadis. Vraekae was, in essence, acting as Jadis’ legal representation.
Technically, Jadis had broken the law by resisting arrest.
Of course, as far as Jadis was concerned, she’d just been defending herself against a couple of jackasses that had been sent by General Egilhard to harass her. Which, in a way, she had been. The problem was, the laws regarding jurisdiction in her particular situation were muddy enough that by fighting back against the soldiers sent to arrest her, she’d potentially broken the law. Potentially.
Runar, the huge bear man, had been sent to arrest Jadis under suspicion of consorting with demonic forces. The charges were patently ridiculous and were the kind of baseless claim that were levied against political dissidents when no real crimes could be pointed to, or so Vraekae had assured Jadis. Of course, the fact that Jadis had a literal demon at her side as a companion complicated matters as far as that charge went, but that was beside the point. The legitimacy of the charges was also ultimately unimportant. The important part was the bureaucracy of jurisdiction.
Prince Kestil was the ruler of Weigrun, which meant that everything that happened in that corner of the empire was under his purview. Magistrate Vraekae was the lawfully appointed government official who administered Weigrun, proposed by Prince Kestil and confirmed by the Emperor. For all general purposes, any arrests going on in Weigrun would have to be overseen by Kestil or one of his lawfully appointed representatives, such as Vraekae. Runar had not been sent by Prince Kestil and thus had had no jurisdiction.
However.
Runar was a paladin of Charos who headed a company of knights who worked directly for the empire and the Temple of Charos. They were not mercenaries, but a holy order devoted to the God of Battle and War. They were, in essence, a military extension of the temples and thus had no limits on their jurisdiction. In fact, one of their holy duties was to seek out and uproot any potential cult activity across the empire. They had every right to make arrests in Weigrun, regardless of jurisdiction. While they were supposed to notify Vraekae of any activity they might be performing in her territory, they didn’t need her authorization to execute an arrest.
Of course, they had actually gotten Vraekae’s unhappy permission anyway.
While Runar and his short lackey had been going after Jadis, several of the other Knights of the War God’s Fist had been informing Vraekae of their mission and intentions. There were, of course, ways Vraekae could have fought the arrest and even potentially have had the charges dismissed entirely without Jadis having to go anywhere, but the initial arrest was unavoidable. Doubly so since as soon as the ship carrying the Knights had arrived in port, they had been greeted by the lawful military commander of the region: General Egilhard. He had, naturally, seen no problem at all with granting the Knights permission to enter the city and begin their search of supposed cultists. It was the duty of the army to ensure the safety of the city, after all.
Fucking prick.
Nothing was clear-cut about the situation. Runar had jurisdiction, but he should have waited to inform the Magistrate of what he was doing since he was playing in her backyard. His knights had technically done so, but he’d still entered the city and gone straight to arrest Jadis without delaying for that clearance. Plus, Egilhard was the one who had let Runar into the city. Technically he had the right to do so if Runar was investigating cult activity in the military, but the bear hadn’t been doing that. Jadis was a mercenary, not in the army, so Egilhard didn’t have the right to give permission to send a smatterling after her, much less an elite holy order of knights. Further, Runar openly admitted that the information of suspicious activity had come from Prince Hraustrekr, not Prince Kestil. Following the proper channels would have involved reaching out to the second prince and having him investigate the situation, not acting so directly. But since Runar worked for the temples, he still had their backing. Except maybe not entirely, since he’d taken action in the city in the name of the temple while an actual High Priest of Charos had been in the city without even notifying said priest. Not technically necessary, but had he sought Steingrimur’s guidance, he probably would have been told to fuck right off back to the capital. The whole situation was a political and bureaucratic clusterfuck and Jadis wanted nothing more than to just ignore every part of it.
Not that she could or would ignore the storm circling around her. But the desire was still there.
All of that said, Jadis wasn’t upset to find that she was already a mere day or two away from the mainland via ship. The way she’d gotten aboard certainly wasn’t at all what she had planned for or wanted, but at least she was heading somewhere she kind of wanted to be. Kind of.
No one had been left behind, either, which had been a very big concern for her once Jadis had come to terms with her new situation. All of her lovers were with her, as she well knew from the moment of her reawakening, but so was her ward, Sorcha, her Dryad companion, Tegwyn and, most shockingly, Hans. Both Sorcha and Tegwyn had officially signed up as members of Fortune’s Favored with Aila’s assistance. Sorcha didn’t have to, but she’d seen where the wind was blowing and had eagerly taken the opportunity handed to her. Tegwyn had jumped at the chance to leave Weigrun and potentially meet Dryads from different parts of the world. Hans, apparently, had simply packed his bags and shown up at the docks without further explanation once it was time to set sail.
Not everything could be brought along, but none of Jadis’ important possessions had been left behind. Aila had made sure that all of her clothes, weapons, and armor had been packed and stored in the ship, along with all of the company funds. The goats, Billy, Phil, Pan, and Tumnus, as well as the Behemoth, had also made it on board. How in D’s name they had managed to get the massive vehicle on board the ship, Jadis didn’t know, but it had been managed.
The high priests were aboard the ship as well. All of them. So, too, were a whole company of soldiers who were there to “keep the peace” and protect the many high-value individuals on board. Noll wasn’t on board, though. Not that he was staying in Weigrun. Noll was aboard the ship carrying Runar and his Knights, the Prowling Seawolf, which was apparently entirely done for the purpose of making the bear man and his subordinates uncomfortable.
Jadis would have to remember to thank Noll for that little gesture of solidarity.
There were three more ships following along as well, turning their trip to the capital into a small fleet. Considering all the important people on board, Jadis couldn’t say she was surprised. At least Egilhard wasn’t joining them. She didn’t like the idea of that turd muncher being left alone in Far Felsen but having him aboard would have been way worse for her. One had to find the silver linings.
Most importantly in Jadis’ eyes, Alex had been brought along. The demon had been contained in a “cage” as Aila had called it, though it was more akin to a metal block with small holes in a few sides. The box wasn’t custom made but was actually something used by the military when transporting demons or the possessed over long distances. Runar had made quite the stink about Alex once he’d found out about her and to avoid even more incidents, Vraekae had agreed to putting the Demon into a box. Alex had apparently listened to Aila’s instructions and stayed inside of the cage willingly when Vraekae had brought it for transportation. That had changed the moment Alex had been reunited with her, but Jadis was gratified to know that Alex would listen to her companions if she were absent. Being able to follow sensible direction was another point in the Demon’s favor.
Not that Alex was inclined to listen to directions at the moment.
All three of Jadis were walking along the deck of the Rising Dawn. The morning following the night she’d regained consciousness was bright and sunny and considering how long she’d been lying in bed, Jadis had no desire to stay below deck. The Rising Dawn was a huge ship, at least three times the size of the last vessel she’d been on when she’d sailed to the village of Alawar. There was enough room on a ship of this size that Jadis could walk freely around the deck and stay mostly out of the way of the crewmen scurrying around. In fact, it was pretty easy to avoid running into any of the sailors since they were doing everything in their power to stay far away from Jadis. Or more specifically, they were staying far away from Syd.
Syd was wearing a Demon cape, after all.
Ever since she’d literally broken out of her rune-reinforced confinement with a casual ease that made even Jadis pause, Alex had taken to hanging off of one of Jadis’s bodies constantly, whether Jadis wanted her there or not. Without words, she had made it very clear that she was not going to be separated from Jadis any time soon. Jadis didn’t mind the sentiment, though there were times when the demon’s constant presence did cause some awkwardness. Particularly in the tripping over tentacles department.
Alex had come up with a solution to that problem all on her own, though. With her large arms wrapped around Syd’s shoulders and her smaller arms around Syd’s neck, Alex hung off Syd’s back like some kind of disturbing cloak of tentacles. It was still kind of awkward, but it was a lot less so than having the nearly naked demon girl plastered to her chest.
It was nice to have a constant hug, anyway.
“Are you purposefully trying to scare the shit out of all these poor sailors?”
Jay glanced down at the speaker, not entirely sure she was happy to see High Priest Sholto standing at her side. The goblin man was wearing a heavy fur cloak, though his hood had been left down to expose his bushy orange hair. He wasn’t looking at Jadis, but instead was staring out across the ocean to where a coastline was just barely visible on the far horizon.
“No,” Jay answered the priest’s question. “I’m just not interested in hiding Alex from them. It’s better for them to see her and get used to what she is, rather than hide her and let rumors spread.”
Sholto snorted derisively.
“Are you sure you’re a follower of Destarious?” he asked with a teasing tone. “That’s the kind of thinking I’d expect out of one of Valtar’s ilk.”
“Not everything I do is for him,” Jay replied dryly. “He knows it. If he wanted a zealot, he would have found someone else.”
“I doubt he had many options for Nephilim who would be willing to take him as their patron over their own Mother Goddess, but I take your point.”
There was a short silence between the two of them as they continued to watch the faintly visible shores. Jadis wondered what the Central Continent was going to be like. Weigrun was a subcontinent to the south where it was colder, so apparently the central continent had a warmer climate. Did that mean there would be jungles? Deserts? Steppes? Jadis didn’t really know, but from the few descriptions she’d gotten from her lovers’ hometowns, she didn’t think it would be too different from Weigrun. At least, not drastically so. Then again, what did she know? It would be fun to find out, anyway.
“Just in case it wasn’t clear,” Sholto abruptly spoke up, his thin voice partially drowned out by the sound of the waves. “The Temple of Destarious will vouch for your character. It is plainly obvious you are not a cultist.”
“Thank you for that,” Dys said with a raised eyebrow. “Honestly, I wasn’t entirely sure if you’d be getting involved in all this bullshit.”
“Think nothing of it,” The goblin waved a small hand. “Of course, you are consorting with demons. One demon, anyway. And you did have an extremely potent blade of malediction in your possession. And you have formed some kind of sex cult thing with a harem of women who practically worship you—”
“Okay, you can stop right there,” Jay cut Sholto off. “We are not a sex cult and my lovers do not worship me.”
“Worship… Jadis…” Alex repeated as she caressed Syd’s face with one hand.
“Thank you, Alex. That is not helping.”
Sholto let out a loud belly laugh, his eyes sparkling with amusement. He grinned widely, his expression dripping with mischief. Jadis probably would have been more nervous in other circumstances, but she’d spent too many days with Jack the Incorrigible Fetch to be bothered by the teasing words of a mere High Priest of the God of Chaos.
“Only a jest,” Sholto chuckled. “One would have to remove all context to view anything I just said in a negative light. Of course, rumors have a wonderful way of doing just that, don’t they? Have some care once we arrive in the capital. Rumors have wings, after all, and they fly farther and faster than you might think.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jadis told the priest.
She meant her words, too. While Jadis herself wasn’t inclined towards rumor mongering, she was no stranger to the scene. In fact, considering she’d come from a world set in the age of the internet, Jadis felt like she probably knew more about fast-spreading rumors than anyone on Oros could even begin to comprehend. There were probably going to be a dozen different versions of the same story told about what happened between her and Runar spread around the city the moment the ship docked. Those dozen different stories would mutate and grow and who knew what they’d look like in a month. She wouldn’t be surprised if some hypothetical versions involved Vetregin showing up and blasting the city with an ice storm.
Well, whatever. There wasn’t anything Jadis could do about the things other people said. She knew who she was and what she’d done. She didn’t give a damn what random people on the street thought. All that mattered was what her companions thought. Those were the opinions she valued.
…Then again, there was one other person whose thoughts would probably make a difference to her.
God, she hoped Emperor Somerulf wasn’t as big an asshole as his son.
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