Characters: Master Luna, Kendira, Queen Isabella, Fallon, Gena, Cara, Lucilla, Rachelle
Location: The Tournament of Champions, in the arena
Time: Day 4 - 3:41 PM
She was tall—taller than the rest—at least seven feet in height, with twisted black hair that flowed longer and further than anyone who stood next to her. She looked forward. Her eyes were a forgotten blue, a color not yet made, and her arms and legs were so pale that they were almost translucent, like soft layers of gossamer stacked one on top of the other. Bangs curled over her face like the fangs of snakes. When she turned her head, the bangs turned too, swaying like snapped twigs in the wind. Despite her size, it was barely noticeable until one got close, until she found herself staring up at the great Mage from chest-high. The Men couldn’t even see her face if she stood over them. Her muscles were toned but thin, pale but shadowed, visible and yet hidden under her dangling garments that moved as she did. She wasn’t wearing a robe like the others Mage, but rather a two-piece suit, like a genie. Around her chest, she wore a black shawl that draped over her upper arms, missing the curves of her shoulders, and then rained down the front of her belly in a downy white silk. Behind her back, it rained down farther, thicker, darker than the front, so that it came down to her knees in a black cape fashion. Her leggings were cloth, tied at her waist by a belt the color of the moon, which folded tightly over her thighs like packaging over meat. Her slippers were black, like most of her garments, but drawn high and thin like boots. When she walked, she walked on air, an inch above the sand that blew gentle clouds from below.
“M-Master Luna!” Isabella said, trying to cover the eleven bodies scattering the ground with her small figure. “How are you? It’s so good to see you again. I missed you like my dearest friend.” Realizing her innocent act wasn’t going to work, she narrowed her eyes and let her arms fall to her side. “What are you doing here anyway?”
Master Luna remained by the doorway, but her voice boomed over the arena as if she were on loudspeaker. “I have been watching the tournament, Isabella. Every moment of it. And I do not like what I have seen.”
Gena whirled around, clenching her staff. “Hey, I won the tournament fair and square. You can just—”
Master Luna waved her hand. Screaming, Gena was hurled into the air by a sudden gust of wind that shot from under her like a geyser. When Master Luna brought her hand down, Gena came down with it, slamming into the arena floor so hard that Isabella stumbled backwards. The heel of her slipper cut into Gena’s thumb.
With the same hand, Master Luna gently raised her fingers to the sky, causing ghostlike arms to wrap around Kendira’s fallen body and pick her off the ground. Her head dangled as if she were a marionette. Slowly, the arms rotated her body and lowered her feet to the sand. Then they touched under the young apprentice’s chin, seizing her skin with the gentleness of rain, and lifted her head up. For a moment, her head remained there by the power of the arms. Then the arms dispersed into dust and Kendira was holding her head up on her own, blinking, weary, opening her eyes to the world again. The first thing she saw was the smile of her master and it was met by a smile of her own.
“Master Luna…” she breathed, combing back her messy hair. Remembering her place, she bowed her head, which was no longer bleeding, and spread her arms like a bird.
“You were not at the Abbey when I returned. I thought you might come here.” Master Luna’s smile vanished and she hovered closer to her apprentice. “It was a foolish thing to do, Kendira. I told you not to leave the Abbey.”
“I know, Master. Under the circumstances, though, I didn’t think—”
“You do not speak to me that way, Kendira. Speak into my eyes.”
Realizing her head was still bowed, Kendira straightened her back and looked up at Master Luna. “I’m sorry, Master. There are events that have happened which forced me out of the Abbey. I…I came looking for you. I knew you would know what to do.”
“Lies!” Isabella stamped her foot. “Master Luna, she came to interfere with my tournament! Her and her friends. All of them. Men and Women. They came to ruin me. This tournament is not about them or their satanic beliefs. It’s about justice and the hierarchy and…well, me. It’s all about me. I rule this kingdom and I will not stand for disobedience amongst my people! I want this pompous brat punished. You have the authority to do that.”
Master Luna turned her gaze to the Queen, looking down at her under cold eyes. “Isabella. Listen to me. There are two people in this land that you do not talk to like that. One is the person you are addressing and the other is the person you are speaking of. Kendira and I deserve respect. Now, Your Highness, I suggest you choose your words more wisely and change that nasty little tone of yours, or I will put you over my knee and spank you until your royal behind matches the color of your dress. Are we clear?”
“You can’t speak to me like that…” Isabella growled, but she knew the Mage was right. The royal court had no authority over the Arcane Order. If it did, she would have locked Master Luna up the first day her mother had handed her the crown. If it did, she would have destroyed that whole school of sorceresses and demons. All magic was evil anyway. Anything that had power over another life was evil. Isabella knew that. She hated magic. And she especially hated anybody who used it. Except for Gena. Gena, her good friend. Gena, who was kissing dirt now.
Master Luna ignored the Queen and returned to her apprentice with a veiled smirk. “Kendira. That was a good move you used on the Paladins. Your training in frost spells is definitely improving.”
“Yeah, and who’s going to revive my bodyguards?” Isabella asked.
“Save yourself some copper. Hire new ones.”
Isabella’s knuckles turned white. She bit into them and turned away, muttering something under her breath and fingertips. Fallon tried to put an arm around her, but the Queen suddenly whirled back around and pressed her face as close as she could to Master Luna. “…Go away. Now. Get out of Felwinter, take your demon spawn with you, and don’t let me catch here on my soil until the next Tournament of Champions. Or I swear, Master Luna, I will talk the council into discharging both you and your apprentice for good. You know I can do that. You know it all too well, don’t you? They listen to me. And you know what? When you’re broke and hungry and want a new position in my world, you can come crawling back to me on your hands and knees because that’s the only position I’ll ever give to you. At my feet. And you’ll learn to love me. This is my kingdom and you will learn, Master Luna. You will learn, or by Dai Celesta herself, I will watch you hang. You’re nothing to me. You may be something to all these people watching, but I know what you’ll all about and you’re just about out of time. You’ll be dead before my mother returns. I’ll see to it. Because as long as she’s gone, you have no friends in the royal court.”
“You have grown taller since I first met you,” Master Luna smiled. “Unfortunately, you have yet to mature. You will always be that little baby girl who speaks too much.” Her eyes drifted to the broken cage on the ground, where a couple of tiny naked Men were peeking out at them. “I believe those belong to me now.”
Isabella started to argue, but she realized it was useless. She had no control over Men who actually survived the tournament. It was so rare that she had forgotten. “…Give them to her, Fallon.”
Nodding, Fallon bent down, scooped the Men back into the cage, and locked the door. She tried her best to bend the bars back into place and then handed the cage over to Master Luna.
Without thanks, the great Mage snatched the cage away and tucked it under her arm like a mother bird does to her baby. “This is not over, Isabella. When your mother does return—and she will—the three of us are going to have a long talk about your antics as Queen. I do not think you will enjoy the punishment we have in store for you.”
“Keep talking,” Isabella said, finally summoning up her usual spunk. “Every word you say is just another kiss you’ll be giving to my feet in the end. You will bow to me yet.”
“I do not think my body can stoop so low, …Your Highness.”
“Begone! Both of you.”
Master Luna turned to Kendira. “Thank the princess for her kindness, young apprentice.”
“I’d rather not…” she answered, fidgeting. She didn’t want to get in the middle of this, even though she knew Master Luna had the upper hand. Nobody ever talked down to her master. Nobody ever could.
“So be it,” Master Luna shrugged her bare shoulders. “We will go now. Come, Kendira. I know you must wish to speak to me.”
“Yes, I have something very important to tell you.”
“Then we will go to the Tower of Azure. I will feel safer speaking there. I hope you do not mind if we borrow a horse, Isabella.”
“Take what you want,” Isabella said, but it was more like a command than an offering. “Just get out of here.”
Smiling to her apprentice, Master Luna turned her back to the Queen and walked towards the arena door. Kendira lingered for a minute. She looked over her shoulder at Rachelle, still unconscious on the ground, her body sprawled out as if imaginary waves had thrown her there, and then hurried to catch up with Master Luna.
Isabella watched them leave, standing alongside Fallon and Cara, and then looked down at her Paladins in disgust. “A lot of help you were. It’s nice to know my personal bodyguards, the best of the best, are fully capable of defending me against a puny, loud-mouthed Mage.”
“Shall I call in the Clerics?” Fallon asked.
“No. Leave them there. They make better carpets than bodyguards anyway.” To prove her point, Isabella walked across each of the Paladins, purposely stepping on the spaces between each piece of armor so that her back heel would pinch their skin. When she got to Lucilla’s body, she stepped down extra hard and then kicked off her head, clicking her heels together in the air. Her feet touched the sand again.
“I was wrong,” she said. “They make terrible carpets. Revive them so I can wallow in their utter uselessness again.”
“…Yes, Your Highness,” Fallon said. She looked at Cara, who frowned, and then walked away.
For the first time, Isabella noticed Rachelle’s body on the other end of the arena. She looked back at Cara. “What’s your name again?”
“C-Cara, Your Highness.”
“Right. Clara, go see who that is.”
“Right away!”
Isabella watched her go and then sighed. Then she noticed the entire audience was on their feet, staring at her, expecting her to say something. She looked around, down, up, and then threw up her arms in frustration.
“That’s it, people!” she screamed, kicking Lucilla’s corpse. “Go home! All of you! The Tournament of Champions is over! I have no more use of you. Just go away. It’s over… It’s over.”
Giantess World
