A/N -- This chapter. Guys.... just.... damn. I hope you like it. Also, song, yeah?
Iris's boots tapped to a stop halfway through the room. She and Baron Riasion stared at one another for a long moment. With a snarl, the baron pulled the horn from his belt signaling the women's slaughter to his mouth. The rogue watched nonchalantly as he blew into it. It was loud, reverberating through the room like a drum. No doubt it could be heard throughout the entire estate.
Iris's inane smile never disappeared. She just stared at him with a wicked glee. Another quiet moment passed, and there were no screams of mass slaughter to be heard. Finally, the doors started opening. Everyone watched as a group of scantily clad women started walking in instead of soldiers. In their hands was assorted cutlery. Mainly kitchen knives... but some had forks. Shards of plates. Some even had pans. There were a few with farm tools from the stables. It wasn't as ideal as dipping into the armory, but it was all Iris could feasibly round up the night before. The soldiers would have definitely noticed something missing from their sword stash.
Yet, the kitchen girls certainly hadn't minded sharing, and the stable boys hadn't noticed Iris in the shadows. Even still, lots of women only had their fists. It didn't matter. There were hundreds of women in this estate. Since last night, the baron's allies had taken their final leave, leaving only what was left of the estate's militia behind.
All the women's makeshift weapons ran with blood.
The only clean weapon was the pitcher that had dispensed the Black Widow wine.
About twenty of the girls gathered in the back of the room, as a mainly theatric response to the horn. A final fuck you. Meanwhile, the others lay in wait in their bedchambers, cleaning up the mess they'd certainly made. Riasion went pale.
"You worried about the Eldian army. You worried about the Remorda Guardians." Iris spoke, her voice colder than ice. "But you had an army already within your walls --an army filled of the blackest hate for you. And all someone had to do... was arm them and tell them what they were. What they could do."
The baron clenched his teeth.
"You thought fear of death would hold them back, I think. But tell me, is death really worse than the life you've given them? Think of it. Hundreds of women with everything to gain and nothing to lose versus twenty men with swords. Such unfavorable odds, but you were too stupid to see it because you stopped seeing them as people. You saw them as objects you owned, and who fears an object? No, that was your mistake." Her murderous smile grew wider still. "And then, there was me. I bet I looked like any other woman to your men, didn't I? Another beautiful victim. Prey." Iris took a step forward. "I saw your red room, Riasion." She spread her arms to the grisly scene around her. "This is my red room."
Rhalla watched from where she sat, eyes near bugged out of her head at the way Iris spoke. This was not the girl that she'd spent six months training with. It wasn't the lively girl that had teased her and loved her. Ghost watched too. Of course he had to kill her, but for now, something about her speech stayed his hand. He almost wanted to see where she was going with it. Also, all that blood all over his good boots? Tsk. Tsk. He'd do it in a cleaner place than this. She had to leave the room sometime.
"You stole from me," Iris hissed. "Lives away. People I cared about. Did you feel good doing it?" There was a long pause. "You'll notice you're still standing. I almost wanted to poison you, all with the rest of them. I could have. It would have been easy. I wanted to watch you choke on Black Widow and then fizzle into nothing. But then I kept seeing my sister on those battlements... and then I thought no. That's not good enough. That's just not miserable enough. I see her now, tied to that chair, and death is too merciful for you." Her eyes flicked to her sister, and then back. "Far too merciful."
Riasion just watched her.
"So I had to think, what punishment fit? What punishment would kill every part of you without actually stopping your breath? What pain could I give you that made you feel my mother's pain... my father's pain? I promised myself I'd give you that pain. I promised myself I would wreck any part of you that was even left after your crimes." Iris grasped something in her pocket with a hand. "And I will."
She turned her head to the girls and nodded.
Moments later, the doors opened again. An entire group of women all but dragged William Riasion forward. He was bound and gagged.
That stirred the baron. "Son!" he called out, and started scrambling that direction.
Iris immediately pulled the small throwing blade from the obscurity of her pocket and chucked it right at Riasion's knee. It buried into his skin, knocking him to the blood covered floor before he could get five feet past the table.
"I found the piece of you that was human," she whispered. "Your weakness. Your two weaknesses." She looked up to Nealon. "Originally, your youngest would have went first. But then... I found out that sometimes sons aren't their fathers. Sometimes, a flower indeed grows from manure. You may leave, Nealon." With a quick nod, Nealon got up from his chair and left the room. After he'd gone, Iris looked back to William. "But some sons are their fathers. And sometimes manure cultivates nothing."
"I'll give your sister back. I'll let you live," he begged. "Don't kill my son. Please don't kill my son."
"You think I'm going to kill your son? How predictable is that?" She flashed another cruel smile. The rogue raised her eyebrow, and then the conversation veered off. "Do you want to know what I found in your red room, when I visited?"
To answer his question, she pulled out an hourglass that had once timed the men's turns with the girls. Just as the theme, the sand was red inside. "How fitting that I find a red hourglass," Iris referenced the marking on the underside of the black widow spider. She walked right up to stand by his son. "How long is the time for this thing? I've heard ten minutes. It takes twenty minutes for a normal dose of Black Widow." Iris pulled out a vial in her other hand. "But what about a double dose? Do you think that'd do the trick? Do you think that'd be a perfect ten minutes?"
Baron Riasion struggled to stand. "Please, gods... Please, gods, don't do it. You said you weren't going to kill him. Please. I'll do anything. Please."
"I won't kill him," she said. Still, she removed the gag and wrenched his jaw open with her hands. Everyone watched as she poured the whole vial down his throat. He wretched and coughed on it, but still, the liquid went down. He screamed out, but it was muffled by the cloth shoved right back in his mouth. His father screamed. Suddenly, the stoic man's eyes flooded with tears.
"You said you..." he looked at his son in desperate disbelief. "Oh gods, William! Oh gods, no. My son!"
Iris walked to where she was just out of the baron's reach. With a small tap, she turned the red hourglass upside down on the floor in front of him, letting the sand start falling.
His tear-stained face was confused.
"This is the bit that sets the punishment apart," Iris said. "In ten minutes, your son will be gone from this world. He'll liquefy, just as your men did. Dead or alive, his body will dissolve on this floor. Into nothing." She chuckled. "It's so ironic. For the first time, yours will be the hand of mercy. Do you know what I mean? I'm not going to kill your son." Her lips twisted. "You are."
Suddenly, Riasion very much looked his old age. "I won't... You don't expect me to..."
Iris motioned to the women, who brought William Riasion forward and tossed him beside his father.
"I expect you to rip that knife from your leg and kill your own son -your own flesh and blood," Iris whispered. "And you will, or he'll die a far worse death. And you'll watch. You'll feel the pain of losing a child. That is guaranteed. And there's more. You'll either feel the guilt of murdering him... or you'll feel the guilt of letting him suffer. And your child will pay for his crimes -what he did to countless helpless women-- at the same time. That's what I call two birds with one stone."
He looked at Iris, horrified. He said, through sobs. "You... are... a monster."
For a moment, everyone saw Iris's leer rescind. Suddenly, there was a great sadness in her eyes. Rhalla watched a trace of humanity return for a second in Iris, washing away the anger for something far more desolate. It was the look of lost hope, if ever one existed. It somehow reminded Hench of an empty, broken down hut painted in sepia -dismal and dark and gloomy, in the middle of a parched and cracked nowhere. Abandoned, with nothing else for miles. Not even trees. After a moment, Iris said. "I don't care what I am anymore."
What had happened to her sister? Rhalla wondered.
The rogue's venom returned. Iris remembered again... these two men raped children. They deserve this. They raped her child sister. "Time is running out," she motioned to the hourglass. "And you still have to dig that knife out of your skin. I'd get to it. He's already looking pale, isn't he?"
With shaking hands, the baron dug the knife out of his knee. He howled in pain as it released, but he didn't have time to recover. Gritting his teeth, he focused on his son. "Son, I love you. I love you. If I ever loved anything, I loved you and your brother. I'll be so quick, you won't feel a thing. Just look at my face. Just look at my face," he whispered.
The knife went in quick, right to the heart. William Riasion died into his sobbing father's arms. Minutes passed. Then, the body did nothing. It didn't disintegrate. It was bloody... but it wasn't Black Widow bloody. Nothing happened. After long enough, the baron came up from his tears, trying to figure out why the poison wasn't destroying William inside out.
"He's not..." the baron looked up at Iris with enough despair to drown an ocean. He understood. "You didn't poison him. You didn't fucking poison him, did you?" the baron screamed out. "Oh gods, I just killed my own son for nothing!"
"Wrong," Iris went deadpan. "You executed him for his crimes. Mercifully, even if he didn't deserve it."
There it was: the promised pain. Baron Riasion was destroyed. Rage pumped up the vein in his forehead. Finally, he looked back to Ghost. "What the fuck are you doing just sitting there?" he yelled. "Why the fuck didn't you save my fucking son?!"
Ghost looked amused. "Who do you think I am? Saving your son is far out of my job description. I am paid to kill Iris. And I will do that so long as you are alive to pay me after it's done. That is my contract."
"She's right fucking there!" Riasion screamed. "Do your gods damned job!"
Ghost sighed. What a waste of a good pair of boots. He stood, and gave a little bow to Baron Riasion. "Of course."
Iris looked to the assassin, to the baron, to the massacre, to her sister. She had already lost Kayde. But when she looked over at Rhalla... there was something in her sister's eyes that sapped everything from her soul. Hench was staring at her with such fear. Such shock. Such horror. Hench wasn't looking at the bodies. She wasn't looking at the baron. She was looking at Iris.
It was that moment that Iris realized she'd seen that look from her sister before, every time she'd spoke of the men that raped her. Every time she'd spoken of the monsters made flesh. It was in that moment that Iris realized what she'd become. A monster. She looked around at the floor... and she'd done something awful. She'd done it for her hatred -for justice. And it had felt so good. It still felt good. It had felt right. But had it been? They'd deserved every bit; that was without question. But what did that make her now? Just like them.
And now her sister thought she was... looked at her like she was... no, it was too much.
The very last bit of faith, that small bit, Iris had in herself... in life... snuffed out.
She looked to the baron and the women. He was one man in a herd of hundreds -and he couldn't even walk anymore. He'd never make it out of here alive with them here to serve justice. They had won. Nealon would release Rhalla the very first moment he was able. He'd promised Iris that last night, in the women's quarters. She had been skeptical at first, but she could always tell a liar from his counterpart. It helped even more that the women had vouched for Nealon's mercy since day one -so Iris believed him.
When the darkness drowned her, and she realized that her purpose here was served.... Iris looked up at Ghost.
"You're paid to kill me?" she whispered.
He nodded.
"And when that happens, what next? Do you kill the women?"
Ghost stopped for a moment. "You seem to be asking me about my loyalties," he questioned, clearly curious. "I am not loyal to Baron Riasion. Once my contract on you is finished, I take my gold from his stores and return home. Just like that. These women are of no concern to me, whatsoever. The baron is left to the mercy of those around him, it would seem, in his position. That is none of my concern."
Iris shut her eyes for a minute. When they opened, sorrow glistened. "Then can I make a request?"
"A request?" Ghost asked, puzzled.
"Yes," she nodded. Without reaching for her weapons, she walked until she stood two feet in front of him. "Two requests."
He saw that look in her eyes. "What requests do you have, Miss Iris?"
"Have someone cover her eyes when it happens. Don't let her watch." Iris's voice was very soft, and she glanced at her sister's feet. She couldn't bear to meet Rhalla's eyes -not now. She couldn't look at her sister after what she'd done... what she planned to do next. Her gaze found Ghost's face. She took one more step toward him. "Make it quick."
Again, the assassin nodded.
When Rhalla realized what her sister meant to do, she immediately struggled hard against her chair. She fought like a hell-beast. She cried out against her gag. Oh gods! Don't do it, Iris! Gods, I can't lose you. I can't lose you! Gods, no! The binds were chains, and they held the woman down. Desperate tears poured from Rhalla Gwenneth's eyes. Sweat glistened from every pore, but she was so helpless. Her sister was going to die! No, her sister was about to suicide!
The knife was held to Iris's throat, who just waited patiently to die.
Fearless.
Rhalla's heart was breaking over and over again. She was screaming, but it was drowned by the cloth in her mouth.
"Cover her eyes," Ghost directed one of the women, gesturing at the struggling Rhalla. "As the lady has requested."
Everything in the mighty Hench was shattered. Her heart threatened to beat out of her chest, especially when a warm hand cupped off her sight. The guardian yelled again, to no avail. No. When that hand moves, my sister is going to be dead! Fucking dead! Gods PLEASE NO PLEASE NO PLEASE DON'T KILL IRIS PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE.
A moment passed. There was a slight sting on Iris's throat, drawing a drop of blood. And then...
"I rescind the contract!" the baron spat from his spot on the ground. "You won't get paid for killing Iris Gwenneth!"
Ghost's hand dropped immediately from her throat. "I beg your pardon?"
"You heard me," Riasion told Ghost. Then, he looked at Iris with a sort of sick smile. "You know, you're right. Death is too fucking merciful." With another look at the assassin, he raised a shaking hand to the bound Hench.
"Your contract has changed. Your contract is now Rhalla Gwenneth."