Mark of the Witch

16

^^ the Empress's Saber ^^

Each of my Docks in my three Port Cities were upgraded to Level Six remotely, even before I arrived, simply because I needed them to be so, but also as Bait; I wanted more excuses to declare War on 'Earl Trussen', the master of the Thieves' Guild, so that I could Conquer and Reshape his Thieves' Guild into a 'Spymaster's Guild' of sorts, -though I wouldn't change their name officially, in order to retain plausible deniability. As a Conquering Queen, I would need intelligence beyond just a Map, and with these people, plus the Succubi and Incubi from my Kingdoms in Hell, I would be able to create an information network spanning the globe, even without the internet. Plus, because I could make Communication Artifacts now, they'd be able to communicate with me directly... though, I'd need a plan to make sure they weren't barking in my ear all the time.

Now, though, I stood before the gates of the city of Undertow, staring down imperiously at a very uncomfortable guard, who was unwillingly standing in my way. "I-Uhm, my apologies, Duchess... but the Earl has demanded that you remain out of his city."

"His, city? This is my territory, dear, and I have personal Property within. I ask that you move out of my way, son, or I shall move you." Several more guards had appeared now, standing in front of the gates and atop the ramparts holding bows, though they hadn't pointed any arrows at me yet. "I see... he's determined to make you all sacrifice yourselves to save his own skin... in that case..." I waved a hand calmly, activating Teleportation so that Gregarious and I simply appeared in the courtyard of the Earl's Castle. "That solves that, doesn't it? And we didn't even have to kill any innocent soldiers."

"I appreciate that... his actions give me pause." Gregarious huffed softly.

"Yes, he acts quite guilty, for such a supposedly innocent man, doesn't he?" I smiled, marching towards the Grand Hall with a steady, even stride, casting spells as I went. A chaos shield, a Dimensional Anchor, and two Chaos Beams hovering over my shoulders completed my Armaments as I had Gregarious smash the doors in with a roar of effort and a shield charge. "Thank you, dear; guard my back, will you? I imagine he'll have assassins hidden in the rafters, and I'm rather attached to my Kidneys and Throat."

"Understood." He nodded fiercely, standing behind me and keeping pace while his head went on a swivel while my own gaze laser-focused on the face of the richly-dressed man seated at the head of the long war-room table, now standing due to our improper entrance.

"WHO DARES- wait, how did you- GUARDS!!!... guards?!?" He screamed for the guards, but he'd sent them to the Gates to halt my entrance, leaving him with just the household's staff and whatever Thieves and Assassins he had left.

Contrary to his belief, however, I took a seat opposite of him at the table, some twenty feet away from him, then smiled at him politely. "Would you like to serve your guest some tea, Earl Trussen? I am a Duchess, after all, I deserve some form of propriety, no?"

Seeing that I was apparently not going to leap to violence, the Earl regained some of his composure, slowly seating himself again and ringing a bell for a servant silently. "Yes... I suppose you are... I apologize, Duchess Bambini, for not greeting you properly."

"We will discuss your apologies after Tea; there are many of them, after all, and I wouldn't like the tea to get cold." I smiled pleasantly, even as his expression turned sour, and one of my Chaos Beams fired autonomously, melting a dagger into slag before it could reach me, followed by the thrower, who fell to the ground from the rafters in two separate pieces. Simultaneously, Gregarious' shield covered my other side, shattering a crossbow bolt, and my other orb put a clean hole through the shooter's head, sending him also tumbling lifelessly out of the rafters. "My my, you have so many rats in this castle, Earl Trussen... are you quite safe here? Don't worry, I shall protect you." With a wave of my hand, we suddenly all three disappeared, reappearing inside my Faction Pier, still inside the city. Now we were sitting at a circular table in a dark room, with no visible exits. "Indeed, this is much safer, isn't it Earl Trussen?"