The Imperial Sorceress

Chapter 4

I woke up in a private tent. I looked around and tried to get up; however, my body was sore. I inspected the work of my pupil, not scars and it didn't hurt to touch it. Excellent work, she had a talent for healing which I hadn't seen until that moment. She entered with a water jar.

"My lady, you should be resting." She approached and helped me to sit. "Are you better?"

"Indeed, by the way, an excellent work." She smiled at me, taking pleasure in the few compliments that I was going to give her in her life. "Help me get up. I wanna see our guests in the cells."

She turned pale. "My lady, lord Tremio, he didn't give me other options," She stuttered.

I sped through the dusty roads between the tents of the camp.

"Lady Dominica, don't run so much you're still recovering," I didn't answer and she came alongside me. "I'm sorry, but he is a Duke. What can I do?"

"Ludovica. If you wanna take my job you should know how to assert yourself." She looked at me nervously. "What? Really, do you think that I didn't know? Don't worry, you aren't the first to try it, but warn you that I don't plan to retire." She breathed easy and nodded.

We arrived in a camp square where the men were crowded. Ludovica and I made a way between shoving and shouting. Many of the men were already drunk although the sun had not set. They must have recovered part of the city while I slept.

After passing between a couple of half-naked men, I could see it. The boy was tied to a stake, arms outstretched. The wound that I had given him was almost closed; however, he had a lot of new. Small cuts on his arms and legs, chest burns, and bruises on his face, besides his shoulders were red due to the sun.

"How long has it been there?" I asked Ludovica.

"About six hours. I wanted to remove some draining tattoos when I realized the plan of the Duke, but these guards didn't let me get close," she said, pointing to two men who were on each side of the boy.

"It's probably for the best. The duke was using him for the enjoyment of the men, but the guards were making sure that they didn't push it too far. If they had seen the boy recovering quickly, they would have been more extreme with his punishments." I felt a lump in my throat when I said those words as if what they were doing to the child wasn't extremely cruel.

I approached but one of the guards stopped me. He was the captain who had tried to finish 'my work' in the tower some hours before. A young black hair man. I guess he was 30 something years old.

"What are you doing?" I asked with a killer look.

"Follow your orders, my lady," he said with a mocking smile.

I would have broken all his bunds for this disrespect if I had had enough magic at that moment.

"You understood perfectly my orders. You should remember your place."

He changed his expression to something more formal when he realized that he was speaking with the most powerful sorceress of the empire. "Indeed my lady. I explained your orders to the duke. For this reason, I'm now here, preventing someone from killing the monster."

I didn't notice that while I was arguing with the captain, the Duke of Florentia, with a squad protecting him, approached us. Everyone around me genuflected. I didn't have to do it, and even if I had to, I was angry enough not to do it.

"Lady Dominica. It's a pleasure, I'm sorry I couldn't say hello before. I had obligations. I'm sure you understand."

The Duke hated me, he had his reasons. Firstly, I had impeded his ascent as the right-hand of the emperor, well, his, his father, and his grandmother. His family has spent generations trying to expand the territory of their dukedom with lands of the Zuro kingdom initiating a new war. I wasn't willing to allow the greed of these stupid nobles to cost so many lives, Zuro was the main exporter of medicinal herbs.

"I understand," I said with my best cynical smile. "However, we should speak about this situation. I had given others orders. I'm sure it was a misunderstanding."

"I lament it. I was informed that you had asked that we not kill him, and I supposed it was so that our men enjoy providing adequate punishment." All the men started to cheer and throw stones. They were so drunk that the guards received more blows than the boy.

"Not. The mestra, a powerful creature capable of paralyzing a regiment of the imperial army, it's not a gift for the enjoyment of men," I couldn't avoid grinning. "It's a gift for an emperor," the crowd calmed down.

"You two," the Duke said, pointing at the guards. "Take the boy to a cell. I have to speak with Lady Dominica privately." He made a gesture with his arm for me to accompany him.

"Indeed." I made a gesture to Ludovica to come closer. "This time don't separate from the kid, and remove part of the draining tattoos," I whispered and she nodded.