Sword and Snow

Eiry brought the group into another room just off the training room area. The Elders’ palace wasn’t designed with housing prisoners in mind, so they didn’t really have a jail or cells, let alone one designed to hold Cultivators.

In this case, they had trapped the people they had captured in what amounted to a changing room for the training area. The room was very large, and could comfortably hold a large amount of people, but Ray had clearly done some work in it. What was once probably a nice, open room with space to chat and change clothes was now littered with sheets and bars of metal separating it into much smaller, tight spaces.

There were clean strips of space that wound through a few rows of the makeshift jail, but most of the space was devoted to the new holding cells. And in each one was one of the many Cultivators that the group had collectively disabled, held within various constructs made of the Elders’ Qi. Some were trapped in wood, others in metal, but they were all kept in a way that they couldn’t do much to escape.

Emery looked around when she moved into the room, taking note of Quarris, Terrane, and Firmis being closest to the entrance while the rest of the Cultivators were spread out further in. Emery took a deep breath, then turned away from them.

“Let’s go back outside.” She said, waving the group around. “We should discuss what we want to do.”

There wasn’t really any arguing as everyone turned around and filed back out the door. Once it was closed, Emery simply walked a few steps away and sat down on the floor. It was nice flooring designed for a training hall, so it was softer and more pliant than normal wood, which was a nice, little comfort.

“I don’t want to just murder them all.” Emery said outright. “I’m sure we’re basically all thinking it. We’re Cultivators; murdering people that can’t fight back in cold blood isn’t what we do.”

“I’m in agreement with that last part.” Cove said. The other cousins nodded in agreement as well. “But they still deserve it.”

“I’m not above trial by combat.” Ieji said. “Let them reap what they sowed. But do it fairly.”

Avuri nodded. “I’m with Ieji. My anger has cooled a little now that our family isn’t in danger. I don’t want to go in there and murder them wholesale.” She looked back toward the door to the makeshift jail as she continued. “But I also don’t want to let them go free. Not the Sky Realms, at any rate.”

Emery nodded. “Unless anyone is in contention, I think we can let the Earth Realms go. There are a lot of them in there, but if the Elders trust their words that they were hired by the Sky Realms and doing what they were told…Well. I don’t know.”

Emery looked down, second guessing herself. Were they innocent just because they were paid and following orders? She didn’t think so. But it also didn’t sit right with her, just killing a whole slew of people like that. Especially when they were substantially weaker than her.

Glenn looked over to Eiry. “Elder, are they considered prisoners of war?”

Eerie shook her head. “No. They were captured in an incident unrelated to the disagreement between the Cities. They are simply prisoners.”

“What would you do with Flowing Dragon citizens if they did this?” He asked. Emery looked up, interested in where this was going.

“It honestly depends.” Eiry said thoughtfully. “They were stopped before actually committing the main crime here, but were still trespassing. And even if they were under orders, they were still fully committed to following through. They’d probably be jailed with the ability to work off some of their sentences if they chose. I’m not familiar enough with sentencing to tell you how long though.”

“Would you be willing to carry that out against the Earth Realm Cultivators in there?” Avuri asked. “It feels like a better option than killing them or letting them go. And any punishment we could personally give out would probably be either too little or too excessive.”

“I’m not against it.” Eiry said, then turned to Ray. “Ray? You deal more directly with our guard than I do; what do you think?”

“It’s doable.” He responded. “I’m not against it either. I can keep an eye on them that way, too.”

“That’s settled then.” Emery said. “The Earth Realm Cultivators go to the City’s jail.”

“That just leaves the three Sky Realm Cultivators, then.” Mica said.

“I’m not against Ieji’s idea.” Avuri said. “Trial by combat seems fair, given we’re on similar levels. And we don’t need to be nice about it either.”

“And what do you mean by that, exactly?” Mica asked.

Emery chuckled. “She means that we know how they fight. We obviously accidentally picked some bad match-ups last time we fought them. This time, we can choose who fights who.”

“It’s a little distasteful to rig fights.” Avuri said, “But I don’t care much, given what they did. They deserve to have the odds against them.”

“Do we give them the grace of one-on-one combat?” Cove asked.

“Yes. These fights will follow the rules when it comes to the combat itself.” Emery said. “Simple one-on-one duels to the death. No need to get fancy.” She turned toward the Elders and asked, “Do you mind if we hold the fights here?”

Lyn shook her head. “No, that’s fine. There’s plenty of space, and this room is designed to hold up against fighters of our level. It should handle your duels fine.”

“Very well. Then we just need to pick the match ups.”

Ieji held up their hand. “If it’s alright, I would like to take Terrane myself again. I wanted to take care of him in our first fight, but held back because we wanted whatever information they may have had. I would like to do my job properly this time.”

Emery nodded. It wasn’t often that Ieji asked for things, let alone for permission to actually carry out a kill. She wasn’t about to argue - she also knew that Ieji wouldn’t pick a fight they couldn’t win.

“I believe you should be the one to take on Firmis, Emery.” Glenn said. “His defenses were very good when it came to taking blunt hits from us, and it required a lot of raw force for us to overcome him. I think your blades would have a much easier time of it, especially given your general skill.”

Mica agreed, nodding fervently. “I think you could dance circles around him.”

Emery looked between the two and nodded. “Very well. I trust your judgment on that one.”

“That just leaves Quarris.” Avuri said. “She’s honestly not a great match up for any of us. Her technique is well constructed to deal with physical attacks against her, and we’re mostly physical based fighters.”

“I’ve never been much of a fan of throwing fire, but it would certainly come in handy against enemies like this.” Mica said with a sigh.

“I think we have two decent choices here.” Emery said. “I would say either Avuri or Glenn.” Emery turned to her wife and continued, “Avuri, I think you could manage the fight if you relied more on your less structured techniques. To be honest, I think I may have gone overboard when I told you to bring out the cannon. Your Blizzard Dragon would probably be effective against her, as would any of your more water-based attacks.”

“You’re forgetting her armor.” Avuri said flatly. “I did hit her with a Blizzard Dragon. It just didn’t do much.”

Emery considered that. “I think you would be able to overpower her armor with enough power and Qi. Your Dragons are certainly strong enough when you want them to be. But putting that aside,” she turned to Glenn, “I think Glenn is the other option. You have powerful seeping attacks with your techniques. I think you could conceivably pack enough punch to overpower her defenses, full stop. I don’t know for sure though.”

Glenn and Avuri locked gazes for a moment, mentally trying to sort out who would be the better choice here. Eventually, Glenn looked away back toward Emery. “I vote Avuri take it. She’s certainly stronger than I am. And since we don’t know whether my attacks would simply get turned into wood chips, I think she’s the safer option.”

Emery nodded, then looked at Avuri. “What do you think?”

Avuri took a breath. “I’ll take the fight.” She said finally. Emery was right - the attack that had broken on Quarris’ armor was far from her strongest. Avuri knew she would need to give it her all when they fought because a normal approach wasn’t enough to break through. But she had at least proven that her attacks could breach the physical barrier of the orbiting stones, which would be the problem for Glenn.

“Very well then.” Emery said, wrapping up the conversation. “It’s decided then. We move the Earth Realm Cultivators to the City’s jail, and I will fight Firmis, Ieji will take Terrane, and Avuri will take on Quarris. Any objections?”

No one raised any hands or voices. Emery turned toward the Elders. “I know you’ve said it’s our decision on how to handle this, but do you have any objections or guidance?”

Each of the Elders shook their heads in turn. Emery nodded affirming their choices. “Alright then. Let’s go deliver the good news.” She said, and rose to her feet.

Everyone followed suit, standing and making their way toward the makeshift jail room once more. This time, once everyone was in, Eerie took the lead. She clapped, the sound much louder than normal, and it reverberated through the whole of the room. It got everyone’s attention though. Even a few of the Cultivators that had been asleep snapped awake to listen.

“Judgment has been passed on the lot of you.” She said. “Those of you in the Earth Realm will be moved to the Flowing Dragon City guard jail. They will see to your sentencing there. Given your trespassing and more than thirty attempted murder charges, you should all expect a fairly long sentence.”

Eiry then met eyes with each of the Sky Realm Cultivators. Quarris and Firmis looked steady enough, but Terrane’s eyes were going wild. He was also, by far, the most restrained. “For the three Sky Realm Cultivators, it will be trial by combat, to the death. Your opponents have already been chosen, and the trial will take place just outside this room.”

“You have an hour to mentally prepare before the first of you is brought out. Make the most of it, but you will not be unbound until you are in the training room.” She smiled, the attempt looking more dragon than human. It was a harsh warning. “If you try something shady, you will not like the consequences. That is all.”

With that, the dragon woman spun on a heel and walked back out. The procession followed her silently; it was the most commanding and stern that Emery had ever seen Eiry act, and it left quite the impression.

Once the group was back in the training room, Eiry motioned everyone to the floor.

“Warm up. Stretch. Prepare. You have an hour.”