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Much fanfare was made of the trial. More than I would have dared to hope. It seems my luck has 8een returning of l8.
The High8loods surely intended to make a spectacle of my conviction. They filled the court8lock with peasants ravenous for the comeuppance of a 8lue 8lood. I wasn’t a8out to deny them what they came for.
It was kind of the authorities to supply me with phalanx of such impressiona8le spect8ors. The weak wills were nearly as thick in the air as the rust in their veins. Funny how my other senses seem to have piqued since exchanging glances with the dragon. What an extraordinary specimen. How I’ve come to covet the creature since it ruined my fleet. I know too well the whispers of a dangerous new infatu8tion when they 8eckon. 8ut I digress.
It was simple enough to nudge the hostility of the low8loods from one aristocrat to another. The su8juggl8ors could not have 8een pleased, 8ut nor could they have 8een altogether unamused, I would expect. I wonder if this was part of their unfathoma8le game? I’ll never understand their riddles.
I found it something akin to exhilarating to o8serve as they descended upon her; hands groping to restrain her. Alas, I almost feel pity for some of the low8loods, for many a lim8 was taken 8y the neophyte in a fee8le 8ttempt to defend herself. The sheer num8ers however where more than enough to restrain her.
I only regret I didn’t get to hear the opening st8ment the neophyte had prepared against me. The case she compiled from all that evidence she 8urned must have 8een damning. I 8et her remarks would have stung worse than when she severed my arm. She certainly would have shown me gr8ter mercy 8y taking the other instead!
Alas, I mock to disguise the extent of my regret.
Had my escape not necessit8ed her demise, she would have made a lovely rival. If she’d only discarded her childish preoccup8tion with justice, we might have made a striking scourge. Had we inched 8lacker we’d have torn red miles across the land and sea. Unfortun8ly, the only miles to 8e found through her 8ureaucratic calling were those of red tape. When so ensnared, one is eventually 8ound to 8e choked.
Furthermore I realize now that my actions against her may have 8een excessive, for you see, when an opportunity for revenge presented itself I all 8ut gleefully took it. My fleet destroyed, an arm missing and the loss of my eye left me feeling…8itter. I took it upon myself to punish her, satisfying my own anger of at the time, as well as satisfying the needs of the low8loods and su8juggl8ors alike. For 8oth the high and low88loods desired not only for 8lood to 8e spilt, 8ut also for entert8nment.
The mass of low8loods proved to 8e easily prompted, my heightened awareness only assisting in my task. Those that had 8een injured 8y the neophyte were easily replaced 8y Trolls with all their lim8s intact. As they dragged her to the gallows I couldn’t help 8ut notice her outfit 8eing torn, leaving her looking less than a presenta8le force of the law. It was then, as they 8egan securing the noose around her neck that my idea for revenge 8lossomed. 8efore allowing her neck to 8reak I sent out a simple order to my easily swayed hoard: make her pay; make her suffer.
The low8loods responded with a disgusting amount of eagerness; something I can only compare to the eagerness seen in a 8ark8east when 8egging for scraps in the nutrition 8lock. They tore at her outfit, pulling her lim8s wide, leaving her splayed for all to see. The neophyte to her credit was impressively silent, only giving a look of utter contempt to those in the crowd. I daresay this look was even what earned her the title of Redglare, for her gaze surely would have 8urned holes through the crowd had she 8een a dragon.
With her outfit ripped open I found myself wishing even further that my freedom did not necessitate her demise, for she was quite lovely to 8ehold. Her outfit hung off of her, tattered and ruined, 8ut her colors still stood out vi8rantly against the crowd: teal and red against a sea of 8lack, 8rowns and maroon. Her 8ody was already 8eginning to 8lossom with mottled 8ruises from where the crowd had gra88ed her forcefully. Teal streaked her skin striking a lovely contrast against her grey visage. The neophyte’s teeth, ever sharp like a dragon’s maw, clacked against lim8s that wandered too close to her face. More than a few low8loods lost a finger in the following events, for it seemed attempting to restrain her head was a futile exercise.
My order of suffering seemed to spur on the crowd with little effort; I didn’t even need to keep prodding them to continue after the first hand gra88ed the neophyte’s 8uldge. Oh how I can only imagine what was running through her mind at the time. Her 8ody shook so violently I thought for sure she would slip from the grasp of the crowd, 8reaking her own neck on the noose that hung around it.
Unfortunately for her the crowd was not a8out to let her die 8efore they made her suffer.
Clawed hands 8egan groping against the neophyte, claws scratching in many areas while a few tauntingly tweaked her 8reasts. Those that attempted to arouse her where met with silence or sneers. Only the assault on her 8uldge seemed to gain any real reactions from her.
I could not help 8ut watch with a sense of fascination as one of the low8loods actually shoved aside the one who had 8een groping her. This particular Troll had decided to degrade the neophyte further using his own 8ody. He positioned himself against her, his 8uldge poking out from his trousers, and with little fanfare (perhaps a taunt was given that I missed, for the crowd was loud and I made it a point to keep my distance, least they 8ecame too unruly and difficult to control) the low8lood forced himself inside her nook, as far as I could tell 8urying himself as deeply as possi8le.
The neophyte’s howl of pain was palpa8le. Her entire 8ody jerked violently; again the only thing saving her from a 8roken neck was the crowd restraining her. Jeers and calls of encouragement rang through the crowd, drowning out any further noises she might have made. His hips rocked 8ack and forth, fast and with such force I could almost feel his thrusts myself. I could see from my vantage point that Redglare had screamed for at least the first few thrusts, 8ut now her eyes were screwed shut, her teeth 8ared in a grimace of pain. It seemed that when this Troll finished it would not 8e the end of her torment, though admittedly, I did contempl8te ending her punishment for a moment. His claws left large gashes on her hips as he found his release, mustard yellow genetic material gushing into her and draining out as he removed himself from her. He was quickly replaced 8y another Troll: the usual qualms of mixing genetic material with multiple Trolls seeming to have 8een cast aside. She would 8e afforded no rest, for as soon as one Troll finished another took their place, 8ut the crowd was growing restless taking turns. She was forced up, in a mockery of a sitting position, her 8ody pressed flush against the current Troll who found himself 8uried in her nook. Her teeth quickly found the low8loods throat, sending great 8ursts of maroon into the air. The crowd, to my amusement, was not put off 8y this in the least.
They seemed to take it as a challenge. The Troll whose neck had the misfortune of meeting the neophyte’s teeth collapsed, leaving a vacancy for another to fill. She was gra88ed forcefully 8y several others, one of which gra88ed her 8y the throat, holding her in place while he sneered at her. A Troll positioned himself 8ehind her and quickly, to my own surprise, 8egan violating her waste chute. The horrified look, mixed with so much pain, will 8e forever etched into my memory. Had her protein-chute not 8een o8structed, I am sure her scream would have 8een loud enough to shatter my auricular sponge clots.
The Troll’s act was depraved enough to give pause to the rest of the crowd, for a hushed silence fell over them. Her strangled groans just 8arely reached me, mingled with fevered gasps for air, over her assailant’s grunts and the sound of his thighs slapping against her 8ackside. I almost took pity on her and ordered her captor to loosen his grip.
Almost.
I realized that this was a small mercy on my part: letting her choke. With the air cut off to her think pan her senses would slowly dull, lessening the pain. I decided to allow her this small act of kindness. The Troll restricting her protein-chute finally eased up, as the grunts of the other Troll cut off sharply, his 8rown genetic material spewing from her. Her sharp inhale was quickly replaced with a poorly repressed so8. Watery teal now marred her otherwise lovely face.
Perhaps it was this sound that reminded the crowd of their task, the reason why they had come to the court 8lock in the first place: to see a 8lue 8lood hang. And so, with no further pushing from me, the low8loods tightened the noose around her neck.
To Redglare’s credit in the moments 8efore she met her end she managed to stand nearly straight as the crowd stepped 8ack from her in order to avoid falling through the trapdoor 8elow her as well. Her gaze turned to me for the last time, our eyes locked for the 8riefest of moments. Had she not 8een a8out to die I would have swept her off her feet then and there, for the h8te in her eyes was strong enough to make swoon.
Alas, it was not to 8e, for in the next second her 8ody dropped from my sight, a sharp crack echoing through the court 8lock. My opponent disposed of I quickly ordered the low8loods to clear the area; my trial was not done yet.
With the court8lock cleared, all that remained to o8struct my freedom was His Honora8le Tyranny himself.
Upon reflection, Redglare showed the foresight of a true seer in thieving my arm 8efore the trial.
It permitted a fair fight.