Lord of Chains

There were no kings in the southern jungles, but Lord Admiral Yumi Trafammer was as close as it got. He had an army, an estate tucked away in the mountains, and a fleet that demanded taxes. Yumi couldn't influence Bayreach, but he could strangle the jungle around it. He could strangle the ocean. They called him a tyrant and the Piranha of the South Seas.

Dvini hated his guts, and it took a lot to make him hate.

If Yumi was king, then Dvini was the duke, and the only reason he wasn't squashed under Yumi's boots was because of how close he stayed to Bayreach. Now that he was expanding, Yumi was a problem again. Dvini was flanked on either side by a pair of swashbuckling guards who walked with misplaced arrogance and chattered to themselves.

Yumi's palace was constructed out of wood and clay, an ugly thing with more than two dozen rooms and a wide tropical garden. They walked past curved palm trees and squat slaves toiling away at the soil. They glanced up at Dvini as he passed, fear in their eyes. They weren't his, but they'd heard their own stories about the Licani slaver who cut his competition to ribbons. Dvini didn't pay attention to them.

He wore his best for this occasion. Dvini wore dark, boiled leather armor with threading of gold. The golden lines of his armor snaked like bright veins. He had a high, closed collar for safety. Around his shoulders was a thin grey cloak with floral patterns around the edge. On his hip hung a sheathed short sword. Weapons were a little redundant on Licani considering they could literally rip people apart, but Dvini was more than competent with a blade.

It was hot as sin, but Licani didn't sweat, and he knew that his panting and dripping tongue made his escort uncomfortable.

They walked up long steps into the palace. Cool air washed his mouth and he let out a sigh of relief. Heat. Dvini hated the heat. Roguish guards lounged on benches and against wells. Some slapped down cards, others drank from stained rum bottles. At the end of the opening hall was a wooden throne, its back outlined by massive shark's teeth. Sitting sideways on the throne was Yumi.

The Lord Admiral was a middle-aged man with a big, braided beard. His sun-tanned skin looked like leather. He was missing a pinkie finger, the joint ripped off his hand long ago. A wide brimmed, worn hat sat crooked on his head. When he smiled, Dvini saw he didn't have his two front teeth, and he stuck his tongue between them. A large cutlass leaned against the throne. It was big enough that from tip to handle it was as tall as its wielder.

"Lord of Chains!" Yumi bellowed. "That's what they've taken to callin' you outside of the jungle. Quite the moniker."

Dvini stopped at the foot of the throne. It was raised on a dais, meant to elevate Yumi over his guards and visitors, but because of Dvini's towering height they looked each other in the eyes.

"Quite." He grunted. Gods, did he hate that smug, smelly bastard.

"And you're expandin' now too? Bayreach too small now for the ambitions of the Lord of Chains?" Yumi grinned.

"Just as the seas weren't enough for the Piranha of the South Seas."

"You sharpen that tongue any more, Dvini, and I'll consider it a drawn blade," laughed the Lord Admiral. Dvini didn't take the bait, frowning instead.

"I've come to talk business."

"Business, business, with you it's always work. Don't you ever kick back, have a drink, get your dick wet? You're gonna work yourself to death at this rate."

"You have deals with the northern kingdoms." Dvini said. Yumi's bluster flickered for a moment.

"You're a well learned man. I hear you've got that imp Derry Volks working for you."

"Aye, that I do."

"Nasty bastard, that one. You know what happened to his last employer?" Yumi propped his shoulder on the arm of his throne, baring the hole in his teeth.

"Chopped him up, fed him to the bay sharks. I'm aware."

"What's stoppin' him from this time around?"

"I'm not his old employer," stated Dvini. "Nor will I make the same mistakes."

"Everyone thinks they're special, Dvini. Everyone thinks they're smarter than the man next to them."

"Bold words, coming from you."

"You should learn when you should and shouldn't draw that razor tongue of yours."

"Now seems as reasonable a time as ever."

"You aren't holed up in Bayreach right now. What's stopping me from just getting you out of my ass once and for all?" Yumi reached over his head, fingering one of the embedded shark teeth. Dvini had to remind himself of how dangerous the Lord Admiral was. Yumi, for all his attitude, was still the man who wrapped the noose around Bayreach and started to pull the knot tight. He was the first one smart enough and mean enough to realize the only way to break the port city was to break the legs it stood on.

Though, Dvini was as much in his way as he was in Dvini's way.

"Our mutual acquaintance, Derry."

Yumi snickered. "You think he'll avenge you?"

"No."

"You aren't giving me a convincing argument."

"Are you going to be the man who gets between Derry and his payment?" Dvini cocked his head to the side.

"He's a Dwarf. Their loyalties are as loose as mountains of gold."

"Sure, if you were paying with mountains," grunted Dvini. Yumi frowned at that.

"What, you in with the banks?" He asked, and Dvini's silence answered. "By the Devils of the Deep, you may as well have sold your soul to the demons of the Great Dark."

"Tri-Mast Bank has been a very good friend to have," Dvini hummed. Tri-Mast Bank was the largest bank south of the border. The northern half of their continent was deep in the pockets of a bank from the Kingdom of Yulin, and they were Tri-Mast's biggest competitor. Tri-Mast would be in trouble if Bayreach's great foundations started to slip because of the Lord Admiral. They and Dvini had similar goals.

"You can't trust them."

"Derry's salary is insured by Tri-Mast. Of course, without me, that money doesn't get to him, since I have to sign off on the checks," Dvini let his lips curl into a nasty smile, baring his yellow fangs. "And he'd never get that money if you decided to 'get me out of your ass,' as you put it."

He watched with great satisfaction as Yumi's brows knotted together and his frown deepened. Besides the desperate ruling families, Dvini was one of the first to embrace the new concept of banking. However, unlike kings and queens who relied on the taxes of their fickle citizens to pay back loans, Dvini had a much more reliable source of income to repay Tri-Mast, even on interest.

"Fine, za Krotka," growled Yumi. "You've got me there." Dvini shrugged.

"I'm here for business."

"What is it you're thinking about?"

"I've expanded, as you know. I know of your deals with the northern kingdoms, that certain families from them don't get harassed by your vagabond army and shaken down as a 'tax.' I know you give the Kingdom of Yulin and its vassals preferential treatment," Dvini narrowed his yellow eyes. "I want a deal like that. You don't tax my employees coming in and out of the jungle."

A murderous, smothering silence fell in the court. The guards stopped what they were doing and looked up. The two who had been escorting Dvini inched away from him as if he were poisonous. Yumi cocked an eyebrow.

"You, a two-bit sex slaver, want the same deal as kings?"

"Yes."

"They pay me a flat rate for their safety, that's how it works. Bayreach isn't going to defend outside interests, so they can't stop me, and no king is going to march an army in a jungle to remove me, so they pay. And I'm guessin' your pockets aren't as deep as theirs," sneered Yumi. He was right about that. Bayreach would defend itself, but not the soldiers and merchants from other lands, so Yumi swept in and positioned himself between the two. Bayreach was the most important port in the south, protected by its own bruisers, and damn near a lawless mess. As long as you didn't murder or rape someone in broad daylight, you'd be fine. Bayreach justice was just as nonchalant as its laws. Justice was found in the bellies of bay sharks, more often than not.

People wanted into the city because of its lawlessness. It's where exotic, illicit goods could thrive. If you had something interesting and strange, you came to Bayreach. If you wanted to spread your influence and allure, you came to Bayreach. Many roads and routes led back to the city, and the reason Yumi was tolerated was because of the dense jungle. It was cheaper to appease him than kill him.

For now.

"And you haven't done me one favor, Dvini! Never. All you've done is keep me out of Bayreach even though I never did you wrong before." Yumi lamented. Dvini didn't need another powerful, ambitious man in the city. Keeping Yumi in the jungle for so long was the best position, but now here they were, because Dvini wanted more.

"I haven't, have I?" Dvini asked.

"No, never!"

"And what about Calindra?"

Yumi froze in his throne, eyes narrowing dangerously. There were some lines you only crossed when you were willing to take ruinous risks. This was one of them. Yumi stopped lounging, fixing himself in his throne like an Emperor of fuck-all. He leaned forward with a snarl on his face.

"I paid that debt, and you swore never to speak of it again."

"I'm a slaver, you're a pirate. Our words are worth their weight in pig shit. Only gold and contracts have weight."

"You leave her out of this."

"You leave my employees alone."

"No!" Yumi roared, and his guards flinched back. "I paid my debt to you for Calindra, and that's that. I don't give two fucks if it was your word, or gold, or if I signed a damned blood pact, I paid. You cannot hold that over me anymore."

Dvini's lips curled into a smile. He didn't want to hold her over his head, but he knew she would rile him up. Calindra's name was just a tactic. That's what he wanted, to put Yumi in an irrational mood, tip the favor. "And how would the Kingdom of Yulin react then, knowing she's your lovely little consort?"

"I won't let a single one of your men leave the south."

"Derry is already gone. All I need to do is write a letter, and you'll have a much bigger problem on your hands." Dvini said.

Calindra, Princess of the Kingdom of Yulin, was one of the highest profile slaves Dvini had ever 'sold.' Truthfully, she ran away from Yulin, went missing, ran into Dvini, and he arranged the meeting between her and Yumi. To Yumi it was a sale, and all he had to do was leave the slave ships alone. To Calindra, it was her dear friend Dvini giving her to the safety of a man who would keep her identity a secret. Dvini really couldn't remember why she ran off. The details had been fuzzy, and he wasn't keen on remembering people's long back stories.

"You're crossing a line, Dvini." Yumi's knuckles were white from gripping the throne.

"Kill me here, and you'll have Derry Volks and his whole kinfolk breathing down your neck. Harass or shake down a single one of my employees, and I'll make sure that Yulin gets to you, even if they have to burn down the whole jungle to do it. You're a pirate, Yumi. Do whatever things pirates do and stay out of my way." Dvini snapped. The guards looked at each other, then at Yumi as if expecting the order to attack. That order would never come. Dvini hadn't walked into this building with a half-assed plan. Yumi would have ground him into nothingness if he did.

"You're in dangerous waters right now." Yumi's voice rumbled up from his chest.

"I don't intend to be chum," Dvini snorted and Yumi bristled. "So, do we have an agreement?"

"Didn't you just say our words are worth nothing? Where's the contract?"

"The contract lives with you and breathes the same air as you, and the protection clause is the Royal Army. Do we have an agreement?" He asked again. Dvini took great pleasure in watching Yumi try to think of something, anything, to get out of the situation. Dvini took even greater pleasure watching the old pirate slide down in his throne, teeth clenched in anger.

"We have an agreement." He forced the words out.

"Wonderful. I'll let Derry know the good news. I can see my way out." Dvini didn't wait for a biting retort. He turned and made his way back toward the door, cloak swishing as he walked. The guards stared at him, then back to Yumi, then back to him, confused why this Licani was able to talk to their leader like that and walk out in one piece. Dvini stepped out into the muggy courtyard and took a much-needed breath.

Curse ambition. Dvini didn't have love for the politics of expansion. He didn't even know why he was so keen on making more money, or why he wanted more power. It was just something he felt he had to do, like a boulder tumbling down a hill. Even though Yumi was a big problem now, Dvini knew he was a small player in the larger world and the more Dvini pressed against the world, the more it would press back.

Would he break against the great castle walls of the northern kingdoms? Would he be sucked into the archaic ruins of the east? Would he be driven back home to the west, where he swore never to return?

He couldn't allow that. Those weren't options.

A slave stood in front of him once he stepped past the estate walls. He was a stocky, dark skinned man with worried eyes and a doughy face. When Dvini frowned, so did the slave, and he looked like he very much didn't want to be in the way of a Licani, let alone a notorious slaver. The slave coughed into his hand and gulped. He was sweating, whether from the heat or the situation.

"Mister Dvini," started the slave.

"Get on with it."

"The Lady wishes to see you." He squeaked. Dvini cocked an eyebrow.

"Lead on." He said, and the slave nodded quickly before trotting off into the jungle. This could be a ploy by Yumi. Would the Lord Admiral really be so stupid as to test his luck? Dvini did back him into a corner, and dangerous men did stupid, violent things when they felt there was no way out. He listened for any odd sounds and made sure his sword could be drawn quickly.

The slave wasn't leading him anywhere specific, just going deeper and deeper into the jungle. They ducked under vines, steered clear of sunbathing pythons, skirted around towering trees, and dodged ankle breaking roots. Once they were deep enough into the jungle that even Dvini would question his ability to navigate it, the slave stopped. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a handkerchief, and dabbed his forehead.

"Dvini!" A girly voice squealed, and a woman popped out from behind a tree with a pair of worried slaves. She looked every bit like a Princess should. Her face was perfect and without a single blemish, youthful and doll-like. Her petite frame was hidden in a big, poofy white dress that had large shoulders and a wide skirt that somehow wasn't dirty in the middle of the jungle. She was small and dainty, barely cresting five feet. Curly, thick blonde hair flowed over her shoulders and down her back. She had plump, pink lips, was wearing blush, and her bright blue eyes glittered in the sunlight.

"Your Majesty," Dvini dipped his head. She rushed over and lightly beat on his chest.

"I told you not to call me that! I'm not royalty anymore. For you, it's Cali." She beamed up at him. The only one who thought she wasn't royal was herself. As far as Yumi, Dvini, the slaves, and the rest of the world was concerned, she was still the rightful heir to a large kingdom and no amount of words would change that.

"Of course, Cali, apologies," hummed Dvini, and he placed his hand on her head affectionately. She wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him in a big hug and burying her head in his belly. What an odd sight it must have been, a Princess and Licani together.

"You didn't tell me you were visiting Yumi."

"We had to talk business."

"About your slaves and all that, right?" She asked.

"Roughly speaking. I don't want to worry you with the details, little one." Dvini kept his tone soft. Calindra wasn't aware of the specifics between his and Yumi's deal, just as Yumi didn't know the secrets Dvini and Calindra shared. Their meeting and courtship were all built on lies he planted.

"You work too hard." She said.

"Time slows for no one." He said.

"Is that something they say out west?" She asked, and Dvini suppressed a bubble of anger.

"No."

"Can we be alone?" She turned to the slaves. They looked between each other, fiddling with the buttons on their sweat soaked shirts.

"W-we are deep in the jungle, Your Ladyship," stammered one. A valid concern.

"Pretty please?" She pouted. They looked like they were going to protest before but then saw Dvini looming over the Princess and glaring down at them. They were alone, deep in the jungle, with him. That was worse than braving a trek back. The slaves nodded dumbly.

"Yes, of c-course, Your Ladyship." And they all started to scramble between the trees, ducking under the hanging palm fronds and trying to avoid the spiders the size of their hands and the pythons thick as chains.

Then it was the two of them alone. The heat pricked at him and he started to pant, tongue lolling between his teeth. Maybe it was unseemly, but Dvini didn't even notice when he did it. Calindra pressed herself against him again, as if she was going for a hug. Her hands traveled down his hips, over his thighs. Dvini cocked an eyebrow and glanced down at him. She looked up, smiling and looking sad.

"Yumi isn't the best to me." She said.

"He keeps you safe."

"That's the bare minimum."

"That's what's needed to keep your whereabouts a secret from Yulin." Dvini said, though he forgot why it was so important. Calindra leaned against him, fingers dragging against his leathers.

"When you found me, I was so scared," She whispered. He only heard her because of his heightened hearing. "And I didn't know where I was going, just that I had to leave. That first night, when we were together, and you held me and told me you'd keep me safe," Did he really lie to her like that? "Yumi has never done anything like that for me."

Her fingers tangled with his belt buckle, and he saw what was going on here. Calindra tugged on it but didn't try to force it open or force herself on him. What could a five-foot-tall girl do to an eight-foot Licani anyway? She just hid her face under her curly, golden locks and mewled pathetically underneath him while yanking on his belt, trying to get him to decide for her. That's what she wanted, wasn't it? Just like when he decided to help her, to save her.

Or, that's what she thought.

Calindra was neither a buyer, nor supplies, so fucking her was a possibility. She trusted him, far more than she should have. If Yumi ever got too cocky, ever thought he could cross Dvini...No one was closer to the Lord Admiral than Calindra. No one could talk him out of a crazy idea like the adorable little Princess. She wanted Dvini, though the feeling wasn't mutual. Sex was power. The pleasure of it was only marginally important. What was important to him was getting Calindra to love him, so that when he needed to tighten Yumi's noose, she would help him pull the knot tight.

And whether she knew it or not, she was his link to the Kingdom of Yulin.

He guided her hands over his belt buckle and tangled his fingers with her. Taking the sign for what it is, Calindra shuddered.

"This is so wrong," She mumbled as she undid his belt. "You're a Licani, and I'm with Yumi and..." Calindra trailed off.

"It'll be okay." Dvini lied, keeping his voice soft. He helped her, wiggling out of his pants. They slipped down around his ankles, and he kicked them into the underbrush. As a Licani, he didn't need to wear shoes considering his feet ended in giant padded claws. His legs were covered in the same grey fur at the rest of him. Calindra dropped to her knees, her dress poofing up aroud her. She looked so silly down there, youthful face inches from his crotch.