Liberty and Death, Chapter 71
Chapter 71
Lysander’s ingredients weren’t actually very hard to find. Berg directed them to a herbalist who had bought a few monster bits the day prior, and she had damn near everything they needed.
“Was I the only one who thought ‘Witch hazel’ wasn’t a real thing?” Cora asked, weighing the aromatic sack she carried. The stuff hadn’t even been expensive. Less than a 1000P for full-on magic ritual ingredients.
“Well, until your hotter twin showed up, I didn’t think witches were real,” Fern said. Cora glared at her.
“You have Ysna in your squad!” She protested.
“Eh, tossing fireballs doesn’t make you a witch, it just makes you a safety hazard,” Fern chuckled.
“Y’all have different standards here,” Cora grumbled. “Back home just owning a cat made you a witch.”
That reminded Cora of something she’d been wondering for a few days now.
“What’s the religion situation, in Tyrinno?” She asked.
“Fuck knows,” Fern laughed. “Ain’t much religion among the enslaved. Some pray to gods of liberation but it ain’t widespread, one guess as to why. The gentry claim divine right by some dickhead’s name, but I’m like 90% sure its just whoever made this fucked up city.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Cora sighed, as they turned the final corner before Luxholme. The house’s walls stood, marred from yesterday’s attack, but currently unassaulted.
Honestly, it made Cora worried. Going this long unbothered by the Chains out in the streets?
Fuckers had to be up to something.
Lux opened the doors, a gust of warm, welcoming air beckoning them inside.
“Never knew how nice it would be to come back to a home that loves you back,” Cora cooed, running her fingers over the thick wooden gate as it closed behind them.
The gust of wind swirled around her, warming and embracing.
Soon, Cora would have been hugged more times by her house than she had been by her mom.
‘Welcome home everyone!’ Lux announced, ‘if you would, please, head to the Grove, Kyra is waiting for you. Tania was as well, but she got distracted.’
Cora laughed, and made her way through the house.
“Still need us, bosslady?” Fern asked, Emily following like a ghost behind her.
“Nah, if you’ve got stuff to do, get to it, but be ready for the attack. Gonna need your tough tushy on the frontlines, okay?” Cora asked. She clasped forearms with Fern Arnold-style, and gave Emily a nod of acknowledgement and thanks. “Sorry I couldn’t find you two some more action.”
“Eh, we coulda tried our luck with Ingrid, but getting ourselves killed would just make Lux sad,” Fern laughed. She wrapped an arm around Emily, and guided her off.
“Lux,” Cora asked as she weaved her way towards the grove, “would you work with Mike to see if he can find anyone interested in helping Berg at the shop? Poor woman is working herself to the bone, and while she kind of has an alive house as well, it isn’t as good at taking care of her as you.”
Cora felt the warm rush of adulation that always surrounded one when flattering Lux. It was a hell of a good positive feedback loop.
‘Of course Cora! Would you like us to look into hiring outside help if no one is interested?’ Lux asked.
“Oh, I bet someone will be, especially after the attack. I’m led to believe there’s no place safer than a Techgraft’s shop. But yes, please, not gonna force anyone. Obviously no slave labor, or anyone who uses it, if we have to hire out.”
‘Wouldn’t dream of it!’ Lux sang, and her immediate ‘presence’ faded away.
Cora pushed through the double doors into the courtyard, and marveled at the dichotomy of the scene.
The Grove, as ever, was flawless; verdant and pristine. Cora had been rich back home, she’d seen some of the most beautiful places the world had to offer, and the Grove that now lived in her own backyard compared with them well.
The area surrounding it, though, literally looked like an active warzone. Mortar craters littered the earth outside of the Grove’s protective shield, making the courtyard look like the surface of the moon.
That alone would have been enough to create the warzone image, but, well…
There were a lot of Chains to butcher.
Cora felt like she’d numbed to that a little too quickly, but it looked like she wasn’t alone. While cutting into a dickhead’s skull to get to the good bits didn’t bother her, a lot of the people here seemed to think it was an absolute fucking blast.
One group of girls was using crowbars to yank the magical chains off a few Chained, while another had a sort of assembly line going on the Links. One girl was popping chests, checking for adrenobytes or any other goodies, before rolling the dude down the table to her friend who had a hell of a system going for cracking skulls like coconuts.
Cora saw Kyra waiting for her at the Grove, but this she had to check out.
“Hey, Rasha,” she said, announcing her presence to the chest-burster woman well in advance. She’d learned that, wearing Linnea’s face at least, it was best not to sneak up on the OG Luxholmers.
Like most of them, there was a flash of fear in Rasha’s dark eyes when she saw Cora, followed by what was becoming a much more common reaction; forcibly reminding herself that this literally wasn’t her abuser anymore.
Rasha gave her a semblance of an easy smile, really only betrayed by that instant of abject terror that had preceded it.
Cora matched it as best she could, looking approvingly over the macabre workflow.
“Did you set all this up?” Cora asked. “You guys are killing it!”
“No, no…” Rasha said humbly, then thought better of it. “Well… yes, I did, but it was the rest of you that did all the killing!”
“Hey, its you that turns a bunch of useless boymeat into the Trish that keeps this place running!” Cora said, beaming. It seemed like a good time to give her a pat on the back, if touching one of the OG’s wasn’t the worst idea in the world. Hawk was a notable exception, since she could snap Cora in half.
“Do you actually like doing this?” Cora asked, as Rasha said ‘a-ha!’ and plucked an adrenobyte off this guy’s heart. “Taking that as a yes?”
“Oh, well… I suppose yes, I do. I get to do things I always wanted to do to…”
Her eyes met Cora’s, Linnea’s, then flicked away.
“I get it. Don’t worry, when they finally kill me, I’ll make sure you get to pop out all my good bits, kay?” Cora laughed.
Rasha barked out her own glee, eyes twinkling, face finally shaking the last of that tension.
“I’ll hold you to that, Cora,” she laughed. “Over heard Mike complaining about you splurging on some nice new tech today, too…”
“How did he–, oh, right, the Majordomo. He’s got access to all that stuff. Ugh god he’s probably gonna make me make a budget,” Cora groaned.
“Ooooo so he was right?” Rasha asked, “what did you get?”
Cora had gotten into the habit of taking every opportunity to engage with the women on Luxholme on friendly terms she could, now that they’d gotten used to her presence at least. And had mostly decided she could live.
That meant she put every ounce of charisma she could into flourishing her new [Midnight Stillettos].
She let Jane take hold a bit, flipping the articulated blades through a complex series of finger tricks, before pulling them back into her forearms with a subtle shink!
Rasha looked politely impressed, but Cora supposed she’d been hoping for a laser cannon or something.
Couldn’t blame her, Cora was too.
“Doubting this is the last time I have to go undercover as Linnea,” Cora explained. “These are in case I get the chance to sift some noble heads before Hawk and the gang ‘No Russian’ the place.”
“I do not know what those words mean,” Rasha laughed, “but I believe I understand the intent. Just make sure the girls bring me back some bodies, okay?”
Cora didn’t know how realistic that was, but she promised she’d bring back at least a few scalps, which seemed to placate Rasha.
She turned to go find Kyra, and screamed.
Uproarious laughter echoed around the courtyard as Cora doubled over, trying to catch her breath from the momentary terror of coming face to face with a snarling Chained.
That terror would have been a lot less than momentary, if it hadn’t immediately been pulled aside to reveal both Kyra’s giggling face, and the fact that the head was fully disconnected from its body.
“Oh my GOD!” Cora gasped, recovering, but only slightly. “Holy fuckin’ shit Kyra!”
“Hah! She got you good boss!” Rasha laughed, almost wheezing from mirth.
“Don’t like bein’ kept waiting, Cora?” Kyra said, with a voice sweet like sugar and the most innocent little head tilt you’d ever seen.
Bone chilling, from someone Cora knew burned people from the inside out as their new favorite form of recreation.