When Mugwang came back again to announce they had successfully executed the order they had received, Tagon stood up and, followed by his warriors, he headed for the cells his newly made prisoners were in.
The three men were in the cell just next to the one Ah-Ra had been thrown back in and, when Tagon asked his warriors to, they were brought to a special room.
On the way, Ah-Ra kept looking at Enoria while begging her not to hurt her family as she would never get the answers she wanted if she was to do so.
It made Enoria smirked, she knew she would talk, it was just a matter of time.
The four prisoners were installed on four chairs, without even being tied and the warriors who had brought them there were dismissed as only Tagon and his masked bodyguard were going to stay with Enoria for the interrogation.
"The world is small, isn't it?" Enoria murmured as she looked at her mother's husband. She wasn't especially waiting for an answer, she glanced at the two boys who were -for obvious reasons- not older than 15. She wondered if they were aware of what their parents had done and what she was going to do to them because of that. They were kids and yet, she wouldn't waver, she had promised herself not to. The youngest boy was keeping his head lowered, as if not seeing anything would help him escape from the situation that was scaring him. The oldest boy didn't seem that scared, he had the same look in his eyes as those men she had killed that day, a look supposed to reduce her to her woman status, to a tool to be used by men for their own benefits.
"What is the meaning of all of this?" the husband asked, "why are we here and why is my wife hurt? Tagon Niruha plea-"
"Please, don't make a fool of yourself by pretending you do not know, this is gonna annoy me even more and trust me, you don't want that to happen," Enoria replied with a small evil laugh, "you already met, fifteen years ago, don't you remember?"
"I don't know what you are talking about," he said.
She told him that she remembered very well his face as he was one of those men who had tortured her when she was still a girl and that he was a lucky one to have been able to escape her that day though he wouldn't be able to do the same this time. She asked him if torturing, raping and selling young girls as slaves was his full-time job but he, once again, pretended not to understand and he affirmed everything was just a misunderstanding.
Enoria laughed at how ridiculous it sounded to her ears and she asked him to explain to her what had happened that day since she didn't want to misunderstand again.At first he didn't answer, then he told her he didn't remember what had happened.
"Should I refresh your memory?" she asked with gritted teeth before she violently grabbed his neck and approached him close enough to whisper in his ears. And so, she reminded him what he seemed to have forgotten:
After poisoning her with something that made her unable to defend herself, he made his men beat her, flog her, burn her, drove woods sticks in her legs until she lost consciousness over and over again. If she wasn't an igutu she would still have scars from those days. They did that for three days. She didn't mention on purpose what his men were going to do with her as her body got used to the poison and she managed to defend herself. She remembered him how she killed his comrades.
At the entrance of the door, Yangcha clenched his fists. He remembered well in which state he had found her after those days and knowing it was because of her own mother she thought was dead pissed him off even more.
The husband apologized, saying it was a mistake, that they shouldn't have done that. His lack of confidence compared to the time he gave orders to torture her made Enoria mocked him. It was unfortunate for him that this time he didn't have poison to make her weak. She wondered were the three other men who escaped with him were, but he didn't answer, he didn't want to tell her.
She didn't insist, she straightened herself and approached the two boys. "Are you aware of what your parents do for a living?"
"Do not talk to her!" Ah-Ra quickly said.
"If you are smart enough, you will definitely answer the question."
"They are traders," the youngest boy replied.
"Do you know what they trade?"
"Fucking bitches like you," the oldest son replied.
"Do you know what happened to the last one who dared to call me a bitch?" Enoria asked as she approached him, "after I broke his arm, I plunged my hand into his chest and I took out his heart, so let me advise you to very carefully choose your words in my presence."
"What for? Our parents already warned us about you, you are a monster so why should I treat a lower being like you in a respectful way?"
"Because there are two ways to die, the quick and painless way and the slow, painful way, which one would you prefer, little boy?"
"I am not afraid of you," he said.
"Then why are you crying?"
"Do not talk to my sons," the husband intervened.
"Alright then," Enoria said as she turned to the two parents, "are there things you are not supposed to know and how many men have you left?" She heard no answers from them and so, Enoria took out one of her swords and threatened the youngest son, who was silently crying while shivering from fear. "Last chance, answer the questions."
But Ah-Ra still didn't reply to the question and, instead she begged Enoria to spare the life of her son as, in a way, he was her little brother.
But that trick didn't work on the Igutu woman and she reminded Ah-Ra that her brothers were dead because of their own mother's betrayal.
"What if I told you they are not?" Ah-Ra replied quickly, "they are alive, I protected them, if you kill us you will never find them but if you spare us I will tell you where they are," she said in a desperate attempt to save her family.
Enoria smirked and sliced the son's throat without hesitation. Ah-Ra and her husband both screamed of despair. Their oldest son was just crying silently, shocked.
"I am really starting to lose patience with you, if you want to lie to me to save your family, at least make an effort to find good excuses," Enoria said in a sigh, "I know exactly where my brothers are as I am the one who buried both of them. Wonchul's throat was sliced while he was trying to help protect the children. As for Wonjae, he took an arrow to his neck and he choked with his own blood before dying in my arms, so don't pretend you protected them," she explained with gritted teeth.
"How could you? How could you do that to an innocent boy?" Ah-Ra screamed between her tears.
"And how could you do that to the innocent girl I was?!" she retorted before she calmed herself, "I told you I will make you regret what you did, you should have never tried to kill me. Moreover, it was nice of me to kill him quickly, I could have torture him just like what your precious husband did to me but I offered him a quick and proper death. Now, make your choice, do you want to tell us everything you know and die quickly with the rest of your family or do you want to suffer before?"
"I am telling you nothing," Ah-Ra replied.
"Please spare us," her husband added.
" 'Please spare me', 'don't do that', 'I am begging you', I used to say that too when your men were beating me while laughing but that didn't work, so do you really think I will let you go?"
"We won't talk."
"You will," Enoria said with a smirk before she turned to Tagon, "I would like to question them privately. There's a few things I want to ask that concern family matters, you see."
Tagon stayed silent for a moment, evaluating if it was a good idea to actually let her do that, but he agreed, he could feel and had seen how much hatred Enoria had for the people in front of her and so, he was sure she would not try to protect them if they knew something about him or Saya.
She thanked him and assured him she would not disappoint him, she would get the answers they needed.
When the Union Leader turned his back to her to leave, she glanced at Yangcha and she saw in his eyes all of his worries concerning the actual situation she was in, she didn't flinch, she knew what she had to do and, head-high, she looked at him leaving behind his leader. They had to be sure Ah-Ra, her husband as well as their men, didn't know too much about them and in the quick look they had exchanged she knew Yangcha was aware she would do everything necessary to protect their own secret.
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The door was closed.
Outside, the two Daekans who were asked by Tagon to guard the door, were attentive, on alert to be sure Enoria wouldn't let the prisoners escape.
But they could hear that letting one of them escape wasn't in her intentions. Screams and cries were the only thing that could be heard on their side of the door. The warriors were used to those kinds of noises, they had been at the origin of many of that kind and yet, it still made them shiver.
Sometimes it became silent, they guessed it was when Enoria was asking questions and then was waiting for answers but those moments weren't long and the screams and cries only intensified after those quiet times.
The sun was already getting down when Enoria finally came out of the room. Her clothes, just like her hands, were covered with blood. Some drops of blood were running down from her disturbing emotionless face.
The two warriors didn't say anything at the view of her in that state, from the screams and cries they had heard, they already knew she hadn't been nice with the prisoners and yet, the blood on her clothes, the coldness of her look, were like reminders of what she was capable of as a warrior and as an Igutu and they didn't like having such thing in their surroundings.
When they were about to take a look inside of the room, Enoria quickly closed the door behind her as she warned them it was up to them to look inside but that she hadn't held herself back. Fierce, the two Daekans told her not to worry as they had probably seen worse, and with a smirk on her face, she left them to their curiosity and went to inform Tagon of what she had learnt.
The two guards were too curious for their own sake. Inside the room, it was a butchery. There was blood everywhere. The three people bathed in their blood. Enoria had beheaded the son, and the husband had a big hole in his chest, his heart was on the ground. Ah-Ra was full of cut, a dagger in the heart.
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Tagon made Enoria enter after she had knocked and announced herself. Seeing the blood on her clothes and skin, he guessed the three people were dead.
They were, indeed and she had got the answers they needed: Ah-Ra didn't know Saya and Tagon were Igutus, the secret was safe.
Of course Enoria didn't tell Tagon that her own secret too was safe: none of the men sent after her when she was sixteen had seen things that could have been a problem if mentioned out aloud.
She continued by explaining that her mother had confirmed multiple times she was the only target because she lived with the fear of being found since the day she had spotted her Igutu daughter. Ah-Ra had sent the majority of her warriors to her in the forest but ten of them were still alive and they had to reunite before sunset in a small hut in the poor part of the city. She had told her the hut was easily recognizable, there was a snake drawing on a sign.
Enoria informed Tagon she wanted to be the one to take care of those men as well, they couldn't let them live as it was too risky if they knew that an Igutu was close to Tagon.
Tagon was pleased by Enoria's determination and even though he proposed to her to send some Daekans to do the job, she insisted on being the one killing them. She wanted vengeance as some of them were among those who had tortured her when she was younger and she wanted to be sure they would suffer before dying. She reassured the Union Leader that she would make it pass as an accident so that it wouldn't bring problems to him.
When Tagon asked her what her plan was, she explained to him that she would give them back the blows they had given her before, make sure they wouldn't be able to escape and then start a fire to erase any traces of their existence.
Tagon could almost see fire in her eyes that were burning with determination, hatred, desire of vengeance. It didn't make him uncomfortable or bother him but he thought that someone who was capable of doing such things was better as an ally than as an enemy.
He approved her plan which he recognized was smart but he still chose two Daekans to assist her as he didn't want any of them to escape, just in case what Ah-Ra had said wasn't exactly the truth.
She didn't mind as long as they were discreet but she reassured Tagon, she wouldn't let any of them escape.
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After having changed her clothes and washed the blood away, Enoria executed her plan quickly. As she had planned, she waited until the members of the gang gathered in the hut. Once they were all in, she asked the two Daekans to wait where they were while she was going inside, and though they didn't want to obey her, they did.
They heard noises coming from the house but they didn't step in, a moment after Enoria got out as if she had just paid a courtesy visit. They saw her blocking the door to make sure no one would ever get out and then, she joined them.
"What now? Do we put the house on fire?" Mugwang asked.
"My apologies," Enoria simply said as smoke started coming out from the house and screams of agony were heard, "I think you misunderstood what I had planned to do. That's not the house I wanted to put on fire."
"You- did you burn them alive?"
"Yes, I did," she answered with a coldness that sent shivers to them, "by putting the house on fire, they would have lost consciousness before the fire would have even started touching them, they did not deserve such a sweet death. I wanted them to suffer and so, I made sure they would."
"You are cruel."
"Funny coming from someone who had put Atturad on fire to get rid of an entire species who, unlike those actually burning assholes, had done nothing wrong," she simply replied before she walked away.
When she was out of their vision field, Mugwang shivered. "I swear to you that woman is giving me the creeps," he murmured to his comrade who just nodded in agreement.
They focused on the house again, hidden, to make sure no one was getting out and indeed no one got out. The citizens tried to extinguish the fire but it was too strong and soon, no more screams could be heard from inside the house.
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When the two Daekans headed back for the Palace, they were surprised by Enoria, waiting for them in the corner of a street.
"Tagon would probably like you to report what happened, let's go, I have other things to do," Enoria told them before she led the way.
"Who does she think she is?" Mugwang complained in a murmure, "she is ordering us around like she is a boss lady. And look at her calling Tagon Niruha just by his name, I swear to you there's something odd about it."
"Be careful Mugwang, it almost seems like some kind of jealousy," his comrade said with a small laugh before they followed the boss lady anyway and Mugwang continued to complain about the words of his comrade.
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The two Daekans let Tagon know that no one had survived and that, consequently, the mission had been a success. They were praised before Tagon sent them to rest and he was once again left with only Enoria and Yangcha.
"You showed yourself merciless but you did well," Tagon praised her, "you are allowed to rest until tomorrow."
"How generous of you, it's a pity I can't kill my mother everyday, I would be allowed to rest more often," she replied, sarcastically, "can I have the authorization to go anywhere I want without being watched over like a little kid?"
"As long as you are here tomorrow morning, I see no objections, but let me remind you not t-""Not to do anything foolish and not to divulge anything, I know, I am not a child and I am not stupid," she interupted.
"Of course," Tagon said with a smile, "you seem to be far from being stupid. Where will you go?""Somewhere I like to rest. And don't ask where it is because I won't tell you. This is my secret place. I won't talk to anyone and I will be back tomorrow morning. You'll be nice to inform Taealha and Hae Tuak not to have me followed. So, can I go now?"
"You can but if you are not here tomorrow morning, you know that I will send warriors after you, don't you?"
"I know, I do not intend to run away, just trust me on this."
"Then go, before I change my mind," he replied with a smile. Trust? Could he really trust her? He didn't really know yet, he only knew that that merciless woman intrigued him.
"Thank you, Niruha," she said as she bowed with a smile then headed for the door. She had just opened the door when Tagon called her name again, she stopped and turned to look at him.
"Out of curiosity, what's the animal tattooed on your ankle?" the Union Leader asked her.
"A wolf," she replied as she slightly lifted her dress to show him her right ankle.
Tagon smiled, it kind of wasn't surprising. "That suits you well," he said before he allowed her to leave.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Niruha," she replied as she finally left the room.
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- She is interresting... don't you think? Tagon asked Yangcha with a smile.
The masked warrior looked at him and just shrugged. He couldn't show interest.
Tagon laughed. The Union Leader knew he wouldn't get a real answer from his warrior who rarely showed any kind of emotion but even though he never answered or showed interest, Tagon knew Yangcha always listened carefully to his words.
- I know. You are not interested in women, I wonder if you will ever let a woman catch your heart...
The warrior shrugged again making Tagon smiled.
"I already did." Yangcha thought.
Indeed, a woman had already stolen his heart many years ago and he did intend to find a way to join her as soon as he would be released from his duties.