The heroes are rewarded

Riolta had little knowledge of what had happened below the balcony when a massive contingent of palace guards suddenly flowed into the suite, with them looking almost as confused as she felt.

Alexia was carried out of the room by five guards, screaming out for Riolta and Redmond as she tried to break loose from their grip. As much as she would like to interfere, the pain from her ribs made it hard for Riolta to stand up straight, much less charge into a group of armed men.

“What’s going on?!” Riolta challenged a nearby guard, a rather tall man who looked suitably nervous.

“Eh… we are under strict orders to ensure that you receive medical attention immediately, Miss.”

“Fuck that, where are you taking Alexia?” Riolta spat out, disgusted at the way in which her lover had been treated. She could still hear her screams from down the corridor.

“I’m not at liberty to say, Miss,” the guard responded, letting out a short yelp when Riolta punched him in the face, the busty archeress toppling over in the process.
Landing on her wound, Riolta groaned from the pain and soon found herself picked up much like Alexia had been, after which she too was carried out of the suite.

Down below, Redmond watched as guards filed out onto the yard, forming a perimeter around him, Harold and the deceased beast. Normally, seeing such a number of guards would have made Redmond feel relieved, but these were palace guards, not city watchmen.

For some reason, Redmond wasn’t made to feel any safer when Dacca appeared from behind the guards, the High Regent strolling out onto the small yard. It was the calm, thin smile that Dacca was sporting which made Redmond the hairs on his neck rise up.

“Well, Good evening sub-captain,” Dacca began, ignoring the dead body, “what has happened here?”

“We’ve killed the beast, your Highness,” Redmond replied, feeling like he was stating the obvious.

“Oh… you have, have you?” Dacca responded, and used small touches to turn his smile into something even more disturbing.

Riolta spent the next three days in bed. Sadly, she spent them recuperating from her wound. And it wasn’t her old room either, but a new one, located on the top floor of the keep in one of its most remote sections.

At first she had expected her friends to visit her, or at least to hear some news about the beast. But the first day went by without anyone visiting her but the High Regent’s physicians and a few servants.

During the second day, Riolta was both frustrated and bored to tears, and began to use her very own methods to try and pump a little information out of the people tending to her. None of them were keen on even greeting her at first, but Riolta soon had them shooting their mouths off. Sadly, they didn’t seem to know all that much, but through her hard work Riolta managed to learn a few very unsettling things.

Firstly, that the beast had been caught, that it had been a lone madman, merely a corporal in the palace guard which had acquired a very rare type of sexually transmitted lycanthropy, and that Duke Leo von Schwechlen was being hailed as the hero who had put a permanent end to the beast’s reign of terror. And that made it seem to Riolta as though Duke Leo was a formidable man, capable of throwing a soirée and killing an unholy beast in the same evening.

Secondly, that Alexia, the younger sister of the mighty champion who had slain the foul monster, had nearly become the beast’s last victim, and that she would be sent to one of her family’s country estates, where she could recover from the awful ordeal which had so trashed her delicate sensibilities.

Thirdly, that the delegation of watchmen had been sent away from the court, as their services were no longer required thanks to Duke Leo’s heroism.

To Riolta, that all sounded like so much poppycock. But then she was hardly in a position where she could protest the official version of what had happened, as she to all intents and purposes was a prisoner in her room, knowing that she would be **** to remain there by **** if necessary.

On the evening of the third day, her ribs having healed thanks to the work and ointments of Dacca’s doctors, Riolta was escorted out of Tharros Keep, after having been informed by one of Dacca’s assistants that a great archery tournament was soon to be held in Poirets, a city in the westernmost part of Zoracia, hundreds of miles away from Tharros, and that the High Regent would be more than glad to pay for her journey there, as a thank you for her assistance in the hunt for the beast.

Incensed, Riolta had told the assistant to go fuck himself with a short-sword, which seemed to upset him quite a bit.

Shortly thereafter, Riolta was back in her hotel-room, still not knowing anything about the whereabouts of her friends.

Dacca had taken Redmond to his office, bringing four members of his guard with him, and there had proceeded to inform his that he was to be thanked for his efforts to catch the beast, but that his services were no longer required.

That had been bad enough, but then Dacca had told Redmond that his services to the city watch would no longer be required either, and that he and his two men were to be honourably discharged. It was implied in Dacca’s speech that Redmond ought to consider himself to get away with his life, and that the honourable discharge was a reward to him for his heroism.

Redmond suddenly realized what had happened; Dacca must have uncovered the identity of the beast’s master, no doubt one of his political enemies, and had rejected physical beheading him in favour of political castration as the man’s punishment.

“And who killed the beast, Your Highness?” Redmond had asked.

“Why, Duke Leo von Schwechlen, of course,” Dacca had told him, “Although you did your part by unwittingly supplying him with some vital information.”

“I think that the lesson which you can learn from this,” Dacca had told Redmond at the end of their short meeting, “is that in politics it is more prudent to look to their standing and abilities when choosing who your friends are, rather than to their… charms.”

On his way out of the Keep, Redmond had run in to Duke Leo, who had scornfully thanked him for his help and had smiled maliciously at him as he told him that Alexia was to be sent away to a remote location, where she could recover from the traumas which she had suffered. Devastated at the loss of pretty much his entire adult life in one single blow, Redmond had staggered back to his small house, where he had spent the next three days in a state of severe shock. He had not tried finding Hudds or Harold, and had had absolutely no interest in getting either absolutely shit-faced, or laid.

Then Quinlan, his wizard-friend had showed up, finding Redmond slumped down in his, looking and smelling as though he had been sitting there ever since he got back.
“Redmond,” Quinlan had begun, after asking him how he felt, “You know the old saying that you shouldn’t get mad, but get even? Would you like to get even?”

Staring at Quinlan with the look on his face like that of a drowning man who had just been asked if he wanted a rope thrown to him, Redmond had nodded his head.
And with a smile, Quinlan had told him how.

Barely had Riolta been in her room for more than ten minutes, which was just enough time to get out of the stiflingly modest dress which she had been equipped with before leaving the Keep, when there was a knock on the door.

Eager to resume being her old self, Riolta quickly put on a pair of black platform shoes and went to open the door.

“Yes?” Riolta asked the hooded figure which she found standing in the hallway, leaning her shoulder against the doorframe and crossing her arms over her stomach to further accentuate both the gorgeous swell of her bared tits and the baldness of her pussy.

“Oh fuck…” the hooded figure groaned.

“Hello Hudds,” Riolta grinned, recognizing the watchman’s voice, “come on in.”