For the Whored Ch. 111

Renwa sighed. "So what should we do with Terica?"

Elunara shrugged. "No point in a trial, we have all we need. It would just be for show."

"We might need to, before making any major decisions."

"The problem is, we don't have enough physical evidence. Zelinnia can trace the magic all day long, but in the end a non-magic type cannot see what she sees. Yes, she had my books, yes she had the poison, but someone could turn around and blame Lucy instead."

"How is Lucy?"

"Miserable, but holding on." Elunara sighed. "Even the recorded confession would come into question."

"She can't sit in the hold forever." He sighed. "She's tried to kill me repeatedly, killed you, almost killed Jenny, fried the mind of an Admiral, and almost killed my wife. I'm none too pleased with this situation."

"Our options, as they stand, are first a trial by fire, in that we take her out to the public, list her crimes and see what the public wants to do about it. Second, would be to just execute her, either publicly or privately. The third would be to drag her into the wilds and leave her, but she's a pretty well off mage, she could just come back and try again. Another idea would be to ship her ass to Stormwind and let Varian figure it out."

"None of them sit well with me."

"Me either." She raked her fingers through her hair. "I'm going to send a message to Varian, some of the head mages in Stormwind, and a few other contacts, see if we can get a better grip on the situation."

"Good idea. Keep me posted."

Varian stood beside Elunara, eyeing the prisoner. "I see why you're having such a hard time coming to a decision."

Elunara led the way back outside. "She's been magically bound, and has stayed complacent the past couple of weeks, so long as I go down and speak to her ever so often."

"Why you?"

"She believes that I showed mercy to her beloved in his last hours, and that I tortured one of the children of the men she believed responsible."

"Unsettling." He sighed. "I am of the opinion that this prisoner should be executed. She's too much of a risk to keep alive."

"That's the general thought on the matter. I do have an extra concern..."

"That is?"

"She's looking forward to her execution. She wants to die the same way Dak did. By Grogek's blade."

"If that is her final wish, I see no reason to not grant it."

"It just grates me wrong, to give her what she wants after all that she's done."

Terica stood in the middle of the platform, with Renwa and Varian to one side, Elunara and Grogek to the other. Renwa read the list of charges.

He rolled up the list. "Terica, how do you plead?"

"Guilty."

"Do you have any last words?"

"At last, I will have my Dak again."

"Wait!" Lucy ran forward and stopped at Terica's feet. "Please! Did you ever love me?"

"I already have a man. I don't need another one."

Lucy gasped and put her hands over her mouth.

Elunara growled and punched Terica hard enough to knock her to her knees.

Renwa reached out. "Elunara!"

Varian grabbed him by the shoulder and shook his head.

Elunara grabbed a handful of Terica's hair. "YOU!" She slammed the woman's face in the platform repeatedly as she talked. "You are a useless, stupid, bitch," She punctuated each word with a face smash. "and you don't have the fucking right to be a nasty little shit!" Elunara stopped and yanked her head back. "You hurt my friends, you hurt my family, and I'll be fucking DAMNED if you won't pay for what you did to Lucy or Jenny's baby." She flexed her hand and called her dagger. Terica's eyes went wild as Elunara slit her throat and shoved her off the platform.

"Get rid of this trash." She snarled.

"Feel better?" Varian asked mildly, though his lip twitched.

"Marginally." She watched them haul Terica's body away. "Will I get in trouble for not honoring her last wish?"

He snorted. "I figured you'd find a way around that."

Renwa laughed. "This is what we deal with... having Elunara in our town."

"Never a dull moment, I assume."

Lucy still stood there, hand over her mouth, as she watched the woman she thought loved her was hauled away.

Elunara jumped down and wrapped an arm around Lucy. "Come on, Little Lily, let's get you home."

"I can't believe I was so stupid." She laid her head on Elunara's shoulder and wept.

"Don't. You can never predict crazy."

Once Elunara had Lucy into bed, she opened the front door.

Jenny wrapped her arms around Elunara. "Thank you for what you said."

Elunara sighed. "One of these days, I'm going to get my badass reputation back."

"Uh, I think beating the shit out of a bound woman and then slitting her throat in front of the King goes a long way towards that." Mark laughed.

"I tend to agree."

Everyone looked back at Varian. Mark shot to attention, Jenny blushed and scooted backward.

"Hey, Hot Stuff."

He lifted an eyebrow. "You're in a better mood."

"I got to slit someone's throat. Of course I'm in a better mood.

"Ah, there's that sadistic bitch we all know and love."

"Damned skippy. Want to come in? You guys can come on in as well."

"Uh, well..."

Jenny tugged on Mark's sleeve and jerked her head.

"Sure. I guess."

Elunara shared a grin with Varian. "Come on, you can all have some fruit punch. Be quiet though, I don't know if Lucy is sleeping or not."

"I'm not." She sighed.

Elunara brushed her fingers across Lucy's cheek. "All I want is for you to be well. If you need to lie down, please do so."

"I'm kind of tired of crying." She rubbed the heel of her hand across her cheek.

"Good girl. Now, you can either have something to drink with us, or you can go attack something at the shop."

"A drink would be nice."

"She's been living with you?"

Elunara looked back at Varian. "No, she's not part of the collection." She shrugged. "I just didn't want her to be left alone at such a time."

Jenny snorted. "And you don't want people to think you're nice."

"Hush you."

Varian laughed. "Elunara has always been a strange one." He accepted her cup of juice. After a sip he coughed. "That's a little strong, don't you think?"

"The fruits here naturally make their own alcohol. You combine a few in a jar, and suddenly you can knock out dwarves. I try to keep to the tamer lot."

Varian eyed the cup. "I might want to ship some of this back with me."

Jenny sipped and groaned. "I haven't had any of this mix since..." She swallowed and bit her lip.

Elunara sat the pitcher down and wrapped her arms around Jenny. "It's ok."

"Gods it hurts." She whimpered as she curled up in Elunara's arms.

"I know it does. It will for awhile."

"I just... I want to go back to Stormwind." Jenny turned to Mark. "Please, I want to go back home. I hate this awful place."

"But... I..." He reached out.

Elunara sighed. "You know, Mark, I'd greatly consider it." She shrugged. "What do you have here?"

"I have... uh, you? Wait, that sounds bad."

Rolling her eyes, Elunara laughed. "If I wasn't here... why would you stay? Give me one really good reason you should stay here. Jenny wants to be away from this place. What does she have? An insane brother, the loss of her child... So I am who I am, wouldn't you both be happier back in Stormwind?"

"We are nearing the end of this campaign." Varian put a hand on Mark's shoulder. "I think you should come back with me. From what I've been told by Elunara, I believe a Captaincy is in your future."

"Really?" He whispered.

"Mark, take care of Jenny." Elunara put her hand on his cheek. "You can always stop back by for a little while. Besides, who better to send back to sing my praises to the troops that will come through, and prepare them for the day when my family can go back?"

"I guess my decision is made for me." He murmured.

Jenny tightened her arms around Elunara's waist. "Thank you so much." She whispered.

"Just... let... go..." Elunara gasped for air.

"Oops, sorry." Jenny laughed. She launched herself at Mark.

"I can go if you want me to." Lucy whispered.

Elunara ran a hand down Lucy's back. "Honey, you should go where you want to. You are free to stay in my home until you know what you want."

"I never had anything in Stormwind. I hated my commission; I only joined because my father made me. Terica... she was so supportive and understanding and pushed me to do what I could. She encouraged me to take this campaign, said that Renwa's town had a trainer that could whip anyone into shape. I fed on it and came here. I hated it even more. It was you that saved me from my misery. It was you who made me feel like I could be more." Lucy laid her head against Elunara's shoulder and wrapped an arm around her back. "I would kind of like to stay with you."

Elunara shrugged. "Then do so. Go back to work at the Tannery, you're quite gifted with design." She ran her hand over the belt.

"Wait, she did that?" Varian eyed the belt. "I've been staring at that thing since I got here."

"Aw, now I'm offended you weren't staring at my ass." Elunara winked.

"Hey, it's a two for one deal." He laughed. "But the work is top quality."

Lucy blushed. "Thank you very much."

"I bet our leatherworkers would love to have you, but I see you're set to stay here. I'm fine with that. Maybe after the campaign is over. Adventurers are making great strides in the raids." Varian nodded.

Elunara sighed. "Well, until we reach a point in which we no longer need to send out large swaths of troops into this hellish place, Grogek will need to train them and prepare them. I stay with him, my family stays with me." She shrugged. "Of course, I'll miss this house. I put so much into rigging it for all the fun."

Varian raised a brow. "Like?"

Elunara whacked a cabinet and out popped a board with paper tacked to it. All stared at a picture of Elunara in a compromising position.

Varian laughed. "Are these...?"

"All over the house?" Elunara kicked a cabinet and another one popped out. "Yeah. There's a few my lovely lovers haven't found yet."

"Ask her about the couch." Mark snorted.

She closed the latches in the cabinets and walked over to the couch. Yanking a lever, she pointed. "Bed." then yanked it a different direction. "Sloping." She yanked a different lever, popped a few latches and climbed on, wiggling her butt. "Ass play." She laughed and popped it together again. "I spent WEEKS designing this fucker. It can help with all sorts of fun positions."

Varian laughed hysterically and wiped a tear. "Only you."

"I've rigged the entire house to be fucked in, one way or another. Even the banisters are reinforced in half a million ways to allow for all sorts of fun and just about any weight."

"I'd like to try some of that out." He murmured. With a laugh he shook his head. "Lu, you are a riot. If I didn't have important things to get back to..." He shook his head again.

She ran her fingers down his breastplate. "One of these visits, you should take up my offer. Though, if I get back, any house I wind up in will have to be re-fitted for my enjoyment." She winked.

He ran a finger down her cheek. "It's a date."

"I feel really weird witnessing this." Mark mumbled.

Varian laughed. "Elunara has a knack for making you forget that people are watching." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Anyway, I better be going, before you wrap me up in your spell and dump me in the nearest bed."

"Damn, I was so close."

"I have to argue with Elune... you're a full blown succubus."

"Not MY fault you're so edible." She laughed. "But, come on; let's get you out in public so you can return to the air of dignity."

"That would be best."

They stood at the portal, Jenny wrapped around Elunara. "Come on, little dove, this is what you wanted."

"I know. But I'll miss you so much."

"You'll be happier there, I just know it. Besides, being a Captain's wife is quite the status jump. Think of all the friends you'll have."

Jenny sighed. "Well, Terrance never really let me have friends. So..."

"And there you go. You head out from here, a different person than when you left. Take the town by storm, my little dove."

"I never asked why you call me that."

"Because you have wings, you just need to spread them and fly."

Jenny nodded and went to Mark's side. "I'll think about you, until you can come back yourself."

"You can be the president of my Stormwind fan club." She winked.

Jenny nodded and then stared down the portal. Hand in hand with Mark, they reached out at the same time and were gone.

"You know she's going to do it." Jordan sighed.

"It'll give her something to hold on to during the rough days." Elunara turned and walked away.

He groaned and tried to shift his hand to his head, but found it trapped. Blinking away the fuzz in his brain, he raised his head and looked around. He was laying face down on a healer cot.

A face came into view. "Oh, you silly man. Look what you've done to yourself."

"Tippy?"

She kissed his forehead. "You brave thing. You saved Zelinnia's life, and let her find the culprit."

John shook his head. "I what?"

"Don't you remember?"

Ina snorted. "He's in no shape to be talking." She placed a hand on his head and he returned to the dark.

This time when he awoke, he put his hand to his head and tried to sit up. Hissing in pain, he laid back.

"Well, he's up again." Ina looked into his eyes and nodded. "He'll be fine. Just hurt for awhile. We'll do what we can."

Tippy took his hand and smiled. "There you are." Patting his hand, she sighed. "You gave me quite the fright. Do you remember anything?"

"I remember... seeing another blade rise up. It was going for Zelinnia, and I just... acted."

"Well, you shoved Zelinnia out of the way, and the sword sliced across your back instead. You've got a chunk of your back missing that's about six inches wide and about a quarter inch deep. The whole thing. It was... a mess."

"Ugh."

"Any lower and you'd be dead." Ina snorted.

"Elunara kept you stable until she would get you here." Tippy rubbed John's hand on her cheek.

"You'll have a spectacular scar."

"But, you're a hero now. You saved Renwa, and then saved Zelinnia. Because of that, and the fact that your act allowed Zelinnia to trace the magic, well, the town loves you now."

He ran his fingers through his hair. "Wow."

"Marry me."

"Uh, what?"

"I already asked Elunara if I could. Marry me."

John blinked as tears streamed down his face. "I'd like nothing more."