The Right Of Conquest

Doom returns to his normal form shortly after the city falls. He collapses to his knees and begins to shake, bracing himself against the ground. His allies approach him cautiously. It is Kasi who eventually works up the strength to approach him and ask if he is alright. He turns to her and then exhales, "yes, I'm fine. That just took a lot out of me. I need to rest. Command the monsters to find and gather everyone still alive in the city. If anyone resists they can do whatever they want to them," he says and Kasi nods.

"What was that?" she asks cautiously and he hesitates.

"My final form apparently. The fight against Alkadabuki was closer than I hoped, but I won as you can guess and Gitta should have brought her to the dungeon where she's hopefully already being contained as per our plan," he explains and then sighs, "when the monsters are finished, I'll be in the King's chamber," he says and shakily gets to his feet and wanders off.

Elizabeth's **** body, post labour is found on the wall and brought to Vox who does what she can to ensure she’ll live. No one can say what happened to the child and the assumption becomes that one of the monsters might have eaten it. Doom is unhappy about this possibility, but there is little that can be done about it.

Any of the city's defenders not yet killed are locked up, this includes Rio Maldega who is in the prison and gives up without a fight especially upon seeing Kasi and Cara. Liana Vessi is found in one of the palace rooms sobbing and praying. The Queen's Servant was found surrounded by a number of dead monsters in the palace courtyard. Her sword is stained with blood and she is sitting on the gutted corpse of one of her victims when they find her. She gives a shrug, "we lost then? Are you going to try and kill me or is it just back in a cell for me, cause if it's killing me I will take many of you with me, if it's to a cell I'll come quietly," she speaks and is soon escorted to a cell.

Samantha Vimes, Meya, Liyu and the rest of the city guard don't attempt to put up a fight, however many of the civilians in the city were brought to the guard house to be protected. Samantha Vimes is waiting on the stairs of the guard house when Doom's forces arrive. Meya and Liyu are with her, both look terrified, but Samantha is calm, "You've won and taken the city. It's not my job to protect the city, just its people, so as long as you don't intend to slaughter the people of this city I have no quarrel with you," She states to Vox and Belleza who are the ones who arrive there.

"If you don't intend to stand in our way, we at least have no reason to fight you, though I can't promise Doom will feel the same," Vox admits.

"then I will speak with him when he comes to see me, I should inform you some of yours were to be executed, I rescued them and they are here in my cells for their protection, when Doom wishes to come speak with me I will also see about releasing them to his custody," she adds and Vox and Belleza seem surprised at this.

"we'll inform him," they say and leave the guard house alone.

The servants of darkness meet together in the King's Chamber. Doom is lying on the bed, resting as he listens to them explain things.

"I suppose when I'm better I'll go see Commander Vimes about those prisoners..." he agrees.

"Doom, might I ask," Cara starts and Doom turns his attention to her, "what is the plan now for Saluma?" she asks and Doom looks thoughtful.

"A good question, I have no intention of staying here and ruling this country. I'll have to find someone else to rule this land as I intend to move on to Mnemaria as soon as possible," he explains.

"With Raig and Croya both dead, a suitable ruler might be difficult to find," Cara admits and Doom nods in agreement.

A bit later Doom is feeling better and goes to visit Samantha, "Greetings commander, once again I find you to be one of the most sensible people in this city," he greets her and she shrugs,

"I am sure there were many others before your various slaughters," she says grimly..

"Perhaps, now then about these prisoners?" he asks.

"We have one Isidora Bell Maple, Maja, Ina and Lara, who I believe were concubines of lord Raig?" she says..

"Indeed,” he confirms, “What do you want in return for their release?" Doom asks and Samantha sighs.

"Nothing, they will be released regardless after all they have done nothing wrong as far as I know," she says, "besides anything I could ask of you would be pointless, if you felt like it you could kill me and everyone else in here and free them yourself, I will release them because it's the right thing to do, I only have a request, that the people of Saluma be left alive, that I and the rest of the guards be left free to continue to do our job and protect the people of this city," she says.

Doom looks thoughtful, "I think I can agree to that request. If your guards will not cause problems then there is no reason to impede them. My only goal is to take back this city, not kill its people. A city is nothing without its people after all," he responds smoothly and sees her noticeably relax.

“You’re fairly reasonable yourself it seems,” she says and he laughs.

“You should hold onto your judgment of me until you see what I have planned, that being said, you have served in this city for how long?” he asks.

“About thirty years,” she answers.

“So, you’ve served through both Raig and Albus’ administration of the city, what are your thoughts about who should rule it now?” he asks and she looks surprised.

“If you don’t intend to rule the city, I think leaving some of your servants here to oversee an election might be the best option. After all the city is itself inhabited by a mixture of darkness and light followers at this point. No one appointed by you would be seen as legitimate by one hundred or even more than half the people of the city at best,” she explains.

“Anyone who was elected would still only be a puppet for my rule though?” he explains and she nods.

“Of course, but the people would still probably want a ruler who was one of them even if they understand they are still under your rule in the end,” she adds.

“Are democratic governments a thing in this world?” he asks suddenly.

“Yes actually… Alms Amour is somewhat a special case in that regard, it was seen by the light as needing to be subjugated so rulers of the various cities were appointed and of course the darkness doesn’t much care for democratic rulers, the strong merely take command when they can, regardless of whether they’re a good ruler or not,” she explains, “obviously there are non-democratic aspects of course, but the rulership of most of the light's towns are democratically chosen,” she adds.

“Interesting indeed,” he says and then smiles, “perhaps I should simply leave you in charge, I’ll appoint you as leader and then you can if you so desire hold an election,” he offers.

“Why not just hold an election immediately?” she asks, confused.

“Because I have no desire to be seen as a proponent of democracy and I also have no intention of staying here for longer than need be, I have one last thing to do here and then I will be moving on to Mnemaria,” he explains.

“I see… Well I can’t stop you from doing whatever you want,” she says and he smiles.

“Indeed you can’t,” he says. The conversation is clearly over and she heads inside, Meya and Liyu quickly following her, not wanting to be alone with Doom. She returns a bit later with Isidora, Maja, Ina and Lara. Isidora seems surprised to see Doom, Maja and Ina just look dejected to see him instead of Raig and Lara continues to look confused.

“Welcome back, Isidora,” Doom greets her and she gives him a respectful nod. He glances at the other three, “we’ll be heading to the palace, I’ll decide what to do with these three there,” he explains and with Isidora helping bring Lara along, the five of them head back to the palace.