With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

9th Sigmarzeit 2512
Evening

I flop back onto the sofa.

"Jesus Christ how is the Empire still functioning?"

Lady Richilde checks for observers, and then flops down next to me.

"Hard work by my uncle."

"Really?"

"He is a highly capable negotiator and diplomat." She sighs. "Though habit probably plays a part. And having an elected monarch."

"The one thing worse than those people in charge of an electoral province is them being in charge of all of them. It's actually quite an eye-opener for me. My home country is a democracy, so I've spent my whole life seeing the worst excesses of democracy, and after a while you can't help but think: 'were things really so bad before we could elect our leaders?'. And now I know."

"I did not think that Graf Todbringer was so bad."

"And I respect your loyalty to your brother's soon-to-be family. Did you not see how vacant he looked? He basically let his courtiers do all the talking until I got him onto the subject of beastmen."

"That is a valid technique. Sometimes it is better not to let people know what you think."

"For a dedicated Ulrician? I'm not playing to stereotypes here, but don't they value directness and assertiveness even more than Sigmarites, who aren't exactly shy and retiring themselves?"

"He has a lot on his mind."

"Like what?"

"His heir is unwell."

I open my eyes and turn my head towards her. "He could have led with that. There's no mortal disease that I can't cure."

"No, not a.. disease. He was born with… Difficulties."

Ah. I think I can work out what she's talking about.

"Has anything I've said to you given you cause to believe that I understand circuitous speech? Do you mean that he's a mutant, or has-"

"No! No. Not that."

"-some sort of deformity?"

"He has… Troubles of the mind."

"Oh."

"Are you unable to correct those? I was concerned that you might have tried that with Count Marius, and then he was… Much the same as he ever is. Perhaps a little more exuberant."

"All he wanted was a head. That was weird, yes, but not all that difficult."

She finally turns her head towards me, frowning. "I cannot understand how you did it."

I shrug. "The human body is made of matter. The ring can reshape matter. For mundane purposes there's nothing really special about a… Neck. I can take a piece of wood, reshape its material to match a section of his neck and then replace it."

"With wood?"

"It wouldn't be wood after I changed it, that's what I'm saying. In material terms it would be exactly the same as human flesh." I shrug. "In my world, our chirurgeons can remove failing organs from a person's body and replace them. It's not a completely safe procedure, but the majority of people who undergo it survive."

"Where do the organs come from?"

"People will them to medicine. The chirurgery needs to be carried out quickly, so people carry cards with them indicating that if they get injured and can't be saved they want their organs removed and used to heal the sick and injured."

"That is… Disturbing. I… Understand that it is intended as a final act of generosity… But taking parts out and putting them in someone else… I cannot help but think of necromancy or the foul deeds of Nurgle-worshippers."

"Dead organs aren't any good. And wouldn't Nurgle worshippers implant failing organs rather than healthy ones?"

"But if the person they're taken from is dead, how are the organs not dead?"

"It takes a while for the body to decay after death. Reducing the temperature extends that further. You still don't have more than a day or so..."

"But what of the mind? The brain?"

"Oh, we can't transplant those."

"No, with Count Marius-. The head was not alive, surely?"

"No, no. I left his brain in his head and created a copy for the head." I frown. That's not a great sentence, but I think that she understands. "It didn't have any… Activity. Ah, honestly, given the complexity of the human brain I doubt that I could create one. I don't know enough about how it records memories."

She lays there, giving her attention to the ceiling.

"Who is Jesus Christ?"

"Hm?"

"You said 'Jesus Christ' as an exclamation. Is that the name of the god of your people?"

"Ah. Sort of. He's the.. prophet whose teachings the main religion of my home country is based on. I'm not actually… A practitioner, I just got a bit… Frustrated."

"At least the Elder of the Moot asked for something practical."

"Yeah. I'll have to pop back and see how they get on with greenhouses. I could build them here but I didn't think it was worth it."

The Moot may be a tiny area, but we need a road built there anyway, which means that we needed to deal with him as well as the ten Elector Counts. And the Moot's existing roads are so terrible that wagoners charge extra if they're employed to travel there, so I'm not holding out much hope that they'll be able to do the work themselves.

But everyone agreed. Everyone agreed, and if this was anything to go by work will start in a year or two. Or three.

"Does the Empire just not do infrastructure projects?"

"Not on this scale. It will be a first."

"If it works. And we've still got to talk to the Tzar. Have you met him?"

"No. I thought that you had."

"Yes, I went daemon-hunting and we sort of bumped into each other, but he's been doing a lot of reforming Kislevite society and I'm not sure that he's got the cash for a major road-building program as well. And I don’t know how the Ice Witches will feel about the imposition of hysh on their land, which is going to be a big issue because the Crown Princess is one and if she doesn't like it then it's not going to happen."

"I will speak to our ambassador and the ambassador of the Tzar concerning the…" She yawns, covering her mouth with her right hand. "Excuse me. Concerning how best to convince him."

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan."

I flop a little further. It was difficult getting a piece of furniture like this made, and the material it's cushioned with will need replacing well before the modern equivalent, but in the mean.. time…

"…with your clothes on?"

Whu-?

10th Sigmarzeit 2512
Morning

I blink at Aranei as-. Richilde stirs next to me and then jerks upright!

Aranei shakes her head. "If I must tolerate a human as a co-consort, you should at least do the job properly. Remove your clothes, and I will begin your instruction."

 

Break Time

17th February 2013
16:51 GMT

Focus.

Physical check? Human head back. Kon's a living kryptonian/human/genomorph again and Cernunnos is still himself as well. The gate here looks the same as the one in Duat, and the sacrificial altar-. Yes, there it is-.

"Human." The sheeda man standing next to the altar-. There's a hole in his chest, showing his lungs as they move with his breathing while also showing that his heart is entirely absent. "I know you."

We're on a stony cliff overlooking the ocean, and just visible out to sea is the familiar shape of the island of Themyscira. It's nothing like this close to a larger land mass in reality, so wherever we've ended up has moved it.

Get to that later.

"While I have no idea who you are at all."

"They told us, when you killed the queen. That was the last of our hope."

Kon and Cernunnos spread out slightly to the left and right. Kon's not giving the sheeda all of his attention as he listens for other threats.

"You don't need to raid the past any longer-."

"We can't!" He bares his teeth, which are surprisingly pointy. "Our future is no longer our future! I left my whole family behind and I will never see them again!"

Oh. Right, yeah. Their future still exists, but unless things go very badly wrong that's not our future any more.

Kon shrugs. "Your future was kinda evil."

"We had a life whose greatness you will never comprehend and you condemned it to death by your refusal to know your place! You are fit only to be chattel! CHATTEL!"

He expectorates the word, clearly losing whatever self-possession he had. Interesting that he doesn't appear to be Anti-Life controlled, particularly given that I don't think it would be all that difficult to turn him. Unless… Would the sheeda be resistant?

"You were making an almost sympathetic point until you said that. So, ah, you're under arrest."

He draws a knife with his right hand. Obsidian. Fits the Aztec look of the portals but I'm not sure-.

He pricks his left thumb and presses it against the altar, the red stains immediately changing colour to match the black of his blood.

"And now you are trapped, and your hearts will be offered up to the goddess who will give me the revenge I long for!"

He smiles beatifically, and there's a quiet sighing noise as the portal behind us closes.

"Okay, so, we're looking for a female elf? We have reason to believe that you were involved in her abduction."

"Stupid creature, do you not understand what I've done?"

"Yes, you've closed the portal to Duat, 'trapping' us. But we already know that there's a portal to Otherworld somewhere around here, and that-"

I point to where the island of Themyscira sits in the ocean.

"-is home for me and Superboy. So, ah, honestly? This is better for us than finishing the original investigation." Kon frowns at me. "Which we're still going to complete, but… You've been a real help, which is why I'm not branding you and compelling you to answer my questions. So, please: what's this all-"

"Hahahaha-."

The rocks and sands at the bottom of the cliff erupt upwards as a colossal creature leaps up from under the ground! Kon, Cernunnos and I leap off the ground and into the air as a vast hand slaps down onto the altar, sheeda and inactive portal and obliterates them, along with most of the cliff. The huge creature responsible stares up at us, head locked onto-.

Ugh-.

What? The.. sky is a flat surface about a hundred metres off the ground. No escape that way, and I don't think that breaking the structure of the local universe would have good results.

The giant creature resembles a cross between a human and a toad. The head is mostly human, but broader and having a wider mouth. The ears are larger as well, and have bulky earrings hanging from them. A decorative headdress made of what I think is some sort of woven material sits on her head, more like a tiara than the stereotypical feathered headdress. Her torso is unusually broad like her head, and has the same hole in the chest showing that her heart has been removed as the sheeda had. Her hands put me in mind of a sloth: short fingers with long claws. She wears a skirt in the Aztec style while her legs are disproportionally short, or are jointed in a non-standard way, and her skin is covered in scales. Her bare feet have the same claw-heavy structure as her hands, and they're digging into the ground.

"You know who that is?"

I shake my head. "None of my records on Aztec deities include up-to-date photographs. Cernunnos?"

"I avoid gods with a taste for human hearts."

"Looks more like someone has a taste for hers. Which Aztec god is it who eats hearts?"

"All of them except Quetzalcoatl."

He frowns as the Aztec goddess turns to face us.

"Huh. Guess we got lucky. Do you think that sheeda was controlling her?"

"He didn't have a heart either. I suspect we'll only find the one in charge when we find where the hearts have gone."

"She's not getting in the water. Do we need-?"

The sea beneath us erupts and we all evade as spires of rock shoot up towards us! I see the shockwave as they thrust the air aside before slamming into the sky-roof-. Dodge again! Her feet are squeezing into the sand and-.

"Waghaaaaaagh!"

I throw up! Everything I ate jumps out of my mouth and my stomach tries to follow it-.

In the corner of my eye I see the Aztec goddess's head split in two, a new mouth appearing between the left and right sides as it fully opens and her tongue extending up from her neck!

"Grughaaaaaagh!"

The world dims and my head-. I feel something hit my left side, but it's… Distant. I'm.. moving..?

Ah…

Not chemicals. Not shortness of oxygen. Probably not telepathy-. Magic. Tattoos and wards have a maximum absorption rate-.

"Feed me!"

Rockrockrock!

I form rock drill constructs and fly, smashing my way free from the spines that threaten to crush me! A glance shows that the other two are doing better, but-.

But while we've been dodging the giant heartless woman has been making a bridge for herself.