Decades ago, before the Great Rebellion, Stulak had been a merchant's paradise as it was at the trading crossroads of the north. It contained so much wealth that when the forces of Danaash were forced to retreat they burned the city to the ground and most of the wealth with it. House Osten never bothered clearing most of the destroyed city afterwards. They merely paved over it leaving a massive and poorly mapped catacombs and sewer underneath the city, unimaginatively referred to as The Underground. Soon enough, the Underground became a haven for criminals, runaway slaves, and spies. Most disturbingly of all, it soon became home to what were known as the unterdöten, formerly beggars and homeless people who lived in the Underground, they had mutated thanks to the excessive dumping of toxic concoctions from the arcane university and sorcerer academy once they had been rebuilt.
The local Ironwood Syndicate, the massive criminal organization that stretched throughout the Free Kingdoms, Daanash, and even beyond, was the closest thing the Underground had to a ruler, though in fact they only mapped out part of it and actually controlled a smaller part of it. Most of Rinessa's money paid for a map to the closest exit outside the city as well as supplies. Rinessa wanted to keep some for after their escape so she passed on paying for an armed escort, even though their path took them through unterdöten territory. That and the look their would-be escort gave the two of them reminded her too much of Umbroze.
Seva said little after they had fled the inn keeping except to ask for permission to make water now and then. She stayed close to Rinessa as they traveled the dank and dark Underground. The hours pressed on until she guessed that it was well past nightfall. Unfortunately, there was still more than a few hours' worth of walking before they could finally exit the city so she called for Seva to stop so the two could rest.
They took shelter in what she could only guess was what had once been a leatherworker's shop. They ate their rations, dried salt beef, in silence until Seva spoke up. "M...M...Mistress?" She looked up at the girl, surprised. Seva flinched. "W...why did..." She looked down at her beef, as if it held some answers.
"Save you?" Rinessa finished for her. It was a good question, one that she had pondered during their entire flight from the inn. "I don't really know why to be true Seva," she said. "All I can do is tell you the story that I think of whenever I think about that question.
In western Otrek lies the lands of House Hargrave, a minor house sworn to my father, Grand Duke Osten. Twenty three years ago or so, Count Hargrave had three daughters but his youngest was a fantastic beauty even at ten and three. This girl not only had just had her Gift of sorcery emerge but she had a spelltouched look that some sorcerers get. Silver hair and golden eyes, in fact. Her father was thrilled for her to come of age so he could craft a beneficial marriage for his House. " Rinessa paused to take another bite of the salty meat.
"But word got to my father that House Hargrave had been shorting the taxes due to him. So he ended up seizing most of the House's fortune and took this beautiful daughter of Count Hargrave back to his palace as a 'ward.'" She spat out the last word. "A ward. In fact, she was a slave in all but name. A girl of ten and three years when he carried her off. When His Highness took the girl he not only did so from behind, like a slave, but he did it whenever and wherever he liked. During the day, the dead of night, in the bedchamber, the baths, or in the middle of a party, it didn't matter. And instead of nurturing her Gift, the girl was forced to use her sorcerous talents to add 'spice' to her daily 'lovemaking' with His Highness."
"Two years of that continued until the girl gave birth to a child, a daughter. By that time the novelty of had worn off for the Grand Duke, so he sent the sorceress back home but kept his bastard daughter and raised her in his palace. Perhaps because he cared for the daughter but more likely out of continued spite.
"Three and ten years of melancholy passed for this girl. Yes, His Highness allowed her to see her own daughter once a moon but that seemed to drive the girl deeper into misery. She ate less as time wore went on and rarely used her Gift at all, let alone developed it. She went from being a prize plum to a girl her father couldn't even force on anyone.
"The only ray of hope for the girl was that her daughter would have the Gift herself since she, too, was spelltouched. Alas, the daughter's thirteenth birthday came and went and, as it turned out, she was one of those very rare spelltouched that did not manifest the Gift. Upon hearing the news the girl went to her room and hung herself with her own clothes. And that was the end of her." Rinessa finished her jerky and wiped her hands on the wax paper it had been wrapped in.
Seva wasn't sure what to say but did manage to mumble, "I...This one, rather. This one is sorry Mistress." She paused. "This one thinks she understands why Mistress saved this one."
Rinessa let her hair down and pulled two blankets and two bedrolls from her backpack. "Do you? Well you'll have to explain it to me someday."
