7.5

Flames raged all around Zyrdicia. She was alone in the fire, impervious to the heat. The heat of the blaze forced frightened villagers to race out of the hiding places where they had concealed themselves from the torture troopers storming the settlement. Had they known what awaited them, they would have undoubtedly preferred to roast in their houses' cellars.

Zyrdicia hunted them through the flames, viciously slaying everyone she could find. The fact that many of the villagers were non-combatants never registered in her mind. The only relevant detail to her was the need to kill. They were her chosen prey. When she finished the last child, she wandered slowly through the inferno back toward the edge of town where the army was busy burning crops and salting fields. Her bloodlust was momentarily appeased.

As she emerged unscathed from the flames, she felt hundreds of eyes upon her. Many men bowed their heads, certain she was a vision. She ignored them.

A huge crowd of prisoners had been gathered. The torture troopers had executed the men and older boys when the villages were taken. They took the women and young children captive, however, rather than slay them. Glancing at the women, Zyrdicia could tell that most had already been brutalized by the conquering soldiers. While she regarded the pathetic group, an idea began to form. She needed to find Dirk.

He was deep in conversation with one of his generals and his brother when she located him. She caught his eye from a distance and beckoned. The conversation stopped abruptly as he excused himself to come to her. She was pleased that he understood by this point that anything she might have to say would be more important than his generals.

"Hi," he greeted warmly. "Are you finished killing already?"

She smiled. "There is no one left to kill." She gestured toward the captives, "The prisoners. Do you have plans for them?"

"They'll be taken into slavery in the North. They are war booty now."

"There is another option as far as slavery is concerned. A rather lucrative one." Her eyes twinkled. "They are worth a small fortune in Lyr. As soon as word gets out that they are descendants of the Crusaders, they will be the most sought after commodity in the city. They can't be worth much to you in Karteia, but it Lyr..."

"How much?" His eyes narrowed.

She knew she had his attention. "Hard to tell. Slave auctions for such a precious property tend to be heated and unpredictable. My best guess is in the range of a hundred thousand plats as an absolute minimum." In fact, she suspected that the bidding would take it much higher, but she wanted to get an expert opinion on the subject first. "I have no idea how the price will convert into your kolnas, since you don't trade in platinum," she added.

"Of course not. The metal is far too rare."

"The rest of the world uses standard, pure ounces of platinum as a universal currency. Gold is seldom used now. I believe Portia has already worked out the exchange calculation with Cai, transferring our plats into pure gold ingots and ingots into kolnas."

"A hundred thousand ounces of platinum easily would be worth several million kolnas," the prince mumbled to himself. That a few wretched prisoners could be worth such a sum was inconceivable.

Zyrdicia felt her dark mood beginning to give way. The thought of enslaving the offspring of the Crusaders uplifted her somewhat. In fact, she would do it even if there were no money at all involved. She offered, "I own the greatest slave market in Lyr. I don't usually get involved in merchandise acquisition anymore. I'll send for Portia to fetch my Slave Master. He'll be able to more precisely appraise their worth and arrange to broker them. The market's standard brokerage fee is thirty percent."

"Arrange it." He paused. "What will happen to them when they are purchased in your city?"

"Does it matter?"

"Not in the least. Idle curiosity."

"It's better that you not know." She smiled playfully, "It might offend your delicate moral sensibilities."

Portia arrived with Kaz, the Slave Master, a short time later. Kaz was a tall, heavily-muscled man with olive skin and expressive, dark eyes. His head was perfectly bald. The straps of a leather harness-like garment were the only covering on his upper-body. He had an imposing physical presence.

He smiled warmly when he saw Zyrdicia. "Greetings, Your Grace." He bowed.

Zyrdicia looked at Portia quizzically. Portia shook her head and shrugged. Zyrdicia commented, "I think you brought the wrong Slave Master, Portia. This one's formality assures me that it isn't Kaz."

Kaz grinned and approached to kiss Zyrdicia's cheek. "I was afraid I'd done something to piss you off again."

"Of course not. I wouldn't have sent for you if you had."

"I hope the fact that you sent for me rather than Magnus means I'm your new favorite, and you'll move from his lap into mine when you are getting drunk at the Cauldron."

"Ha! I'll be sure and relay that wish of yours to him when I get back to Lyr."

"Hell, I just saw him. I already told him the same thing," he laughed. "He's been moping around since he last saw you." Kaz and Magnus were old friends. Kaz had been part of Zyrdicia's inner circle for years, and teasing was intrinsic to his relationship with her.

"Unlike you, Magnus is a dear."

"A dear?! His stock with women declines when you aren't around! That's why he mopes when you're gone. When you're hanging all over him in public, he becomes the most desirable man in Lyr. Every woman sees you with him and suddenly he's the thing to go after. Portia knows I'm right."

Portia shook her head. "No fucking way are you getting me in the middle of this!"

"Coward," Kaz mocked. He and Portia had a history that went way, way back. He remembered her from the old days when she ran a brothel in the Red Zone. He used to supply her with slaves. They had been romantically involved years ago.

"I didn't call for you to listen to you talk, Kaz. I need some slaves appraised." Zyrdicia pointed to the huddled group of prisoners. Kaz's well-trained eye scanned them slowly.

"It's not a bad cargo, but why are you involved in it? This is hardly the sort of crap that you bother with."

"They're descendants of the Crusaders."

His eyes widened. His full lips curled as he considered it. "Fuck. If anyone was ever going to find them, it had to be you. The city is going to explode over this!"

"I need to know what their worth, dear."

"Come keep me company while I inspect them."

Kaz spent several hours looking over each prisoner with an expert's eye for detail. Zyrdicia and Portia walked with him as he worked. Zyrdicia was relieved to have friends nearby.

"I hear you are planning to tangle with your ex again," Kaz mentioned.

Kaz took a frightened blonde woman's head in his large hands and turned it to better view her face. He noted copious bruising, gently running his thumb along her cheekbones. The slave market's healers would have to eliminate the bruising before placing her on the block. Fresh faces were worth more. Bruises suggested damaged merchandise.

He continued talking to Zyrdicia without looking at her. "Joking aside, Magnus is pretty worried about you. He thinks trying to talk to Azriok about the shit Zyr is stirring up is going to blow up in your face."

"It already did."

Kaz and Portia both turned abruptly and stared at her. Portia touched her hand. She looked over Zyrdicia's shoulder and noticed Blackpool was watching them. He was probably in earshot.

Portia's eyes reflected her concern. "What happened?"

Zyrdicia told them the story, from the summoning of the Howler up to Azriok's arrival in her dreamworld. She didn't elaborate beyond that point, though.

Kaz bent down to examine a little boy not more than seven. Tears streamed down the orphaned child's face. The slaver was oblivious to the anguish as he looked over the small body with his appraising eye. "And he was angry about you kicking his ass in the Astral Plane?" he prodded.

Behind him, Zyrdicia answered, "Not really. Azriok was...quite affectionate."

"Oh, shit. You didn't!" Portia whispered, shocked.

Zyrdicia eyes widened innocently as she nodded. Her facial expression made her look very young.

Kaz laughed. "After a hundred years who could blame you. Does that mean you two have finally made up?"

"No. I hate him more than ever."

Portia shook her head, "What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking. I was swept away by seeing him again. It was amazing. What was I supposed to do? I can't slay him in my dreamworld. Killing is an expression of power, violence and pleasure. So is sex. It was the next best option."

"I think I missed the part where this blew up in your face," Kaz remarked. "So far it sounds like things went smashingly."

"So smashingly that he decided to haul me off with him to Hell and keep me with him forever."

"Damn. After all this time, he still misses you." Kaz shook his head in disbelief. "You two don't have sex for a century and then all of the sudden you do, and you are still so good for him that this god decides he want to keep you in his bed for eternity. We should all have such problems."

Zyrdicia couldn't resist laughing. He was cheering her up. "He almost trapped me there, you idiot. Had he succeeded, we wouldn't be talking right now. I would be as good as dead. He's no longer in the game to protect me. He's trying to capture me."

"Oh, like that will happen. You've perfected playing hard to get. You've had more practice at eluding capture than any woman I know."

"Yeah, but this isn't about stupid, mortal men thinking with their dicks. This is about an ancient deity who is the epitome of evil."

"And who apparently can't get over you. As we all know, he also happens to be the only entity in the universe who does it for you. How many times have we listened to you whining about fighting with him? I think nothing is even remotely finished between you."

"When did you become Azriok's cheer leader?"

"Since I saw your face as you were telling the story. You were glowing. You deserve to be with anyone who can make you look like that."

"I was not glowing. Considering the experience in its entirety, it was awful."

Kaz looked as though he didn't quite believe her. He knew that Magnus had his own theories about Azriok's stormy past with Zyrdicia. He was well aware of his friend's belief that Azriok was dangerous and destructive to her. Ultimately, to Kaz, those theories seemed self-serving. Kaz knew that Magnus was inconvenienced by the Edict, that it was one of his life's great frustrations. "Whatever. All I know is that all your gloomy predictions about never seeing him again just went up in smoke. Not only did you see him, but you found out he still wants to be with you. Life could be worse."

Zyrdicia smiled softly at that thought. In a sense, Kaz was right. Azriok did still want her, at least. That was a happy thought. Right now it didn't really matter what he wanted her for. In a more lucid moment, she would eventually realize that his desire for her could only be self-serving and dangerous.

Kaz finished examining the slaves. "Shall I give you my best guess about their worth now?"

"My guess was a hundred thousand. Was I close?"

"That's far too conservative," he answered. "The children alone will bring more than that. The House of Innocence has become a major consumer of young flesh in the Red Zone. They'll be able to command a premium for Crusader progeny. Then there the circus promoters-they will be desperate to feed some of the little ones to the new Hydra at the coliseum. There will be a vicious bidding war. A half million plats at a minimum."

"Let me go talk to the client."

Zyrdicia didn't have to look far to find him. His back was to her. She approached silently. She put her hands on his shoulders and leaned close to his ear before whispering, "Five hundred thousand ounces of platinum."

Dirk froze. He knew the sum would more than cover the cost of the summer's campaign. He tried to contain his excitement. Not only was his army deep inside Tronin, but the conquered province's residents would finance the invasion. He caught one of her hands on his shoulder and squeezed it. "How long will it take?" he asked softly.

"Probably a week. They'll have to be prepped for market. After they're sold, we'll transfer the gold to Castle Blackpool."

He turned to face her, still holding her hand. "Why should I trust you to do that?"

"I built a flourishing financial empire by always keeping my business partners happy."

He arched an eyebrow. "Only your business partners?"

Zyrdicia smiled flirtatiously in answer. "Do you want me to sell them or not?"

"Obviously." He started to bring her hand to his lips. The spikes lining the top of her gauntlets complicated the gesture. He turned her hand and kissed the underside of her wrist. "The slaves will bring me millions of kolnas and apparently obligate you to tend to my happiness. I can't imagine turning away such a proposition."

"It's a financial transaction not a marriage contract," she sneered playfully, pulling her hand away. "I'm going to take the merchandise to Lyr then. I'll join you at Castle Tronin eventually."

"When?"

She was in no hurry. The castle would still be there whenever she arrived. The effect of Kaz's presence convinced her that she needed some time to decompress with those who cared about her. "Does it matter?"

"Of course it does," the prince smiled seductively.