A woman sat inside her personal carriage as it was being driven by one of her servants. The carriage was quite large in fact, being capable of holding four people comfortably with room to lay down. Inside she lay on a bed of some of the softest cushions one could find in the sand sea. Beside her lay a tray of fruits and a goblet of wine, which she sipped and ate from. Along with the woman were three children, two girls and a boy between the ages of ten to fifteen. They were all hers, of course, as the woman's profession was not kidnapping but banditry. The woman's eating was halted along with the carriage which came to a sudden stop as soon as the sounds of fighting broke out. A battle had ensued around the carriage but as quickly as it began it had ended with the sounds of men being impaled with swords and spears. A man, one of the bandits, opened the rear door of the carriage and stuck his head in. "My Lady, we've captured the convoy with some hostages!", the man bowed his head as he spoke, not daring to look his mistress in the eye after he interrupted her as she ate. "I shall see them, perhaps they will be useful in life and death", her words were responded immediately by the sounds of men moving outside.
The woman exited her carriage to find twenty corpses scattered across the sands. Those that survived the encounter, merely ten, were put to their knees with their attacks resting swords upon their shoulders. The woman grinned with contempt in her eyes as she turned to speak to one of her underlings, "Captain Jothar, bring out my children. I would have them tested".
"At once, my queen", Jothar quickly moved to the carriage entrance and called inside, "Valoya, Therian, Nilara, your mother requests your presence". Shortly after the children exited the carriage and walked over to their mother. Valoya, the eldest, was all too familiar with the sight of a battle's aftermath. She had been exposed to it the longest out of her two siblings and was relatively unphased by the sight of the bodies. However that did not mean she was interested in it, in truth she cared not for battles as that's what her mother's men were here for, to fight so she wouldnt have to deal with things such as this. The promise of her mother's bandit clan was something Valoya looked forward to with each passing day. Power was her only goal, and with her mother's bandits at her command Valoya hoped to be even more notorious than her mother.
Therian, the middle child, was more than excited to see what had happened. There was something not right about the boy. He loved violence and was eager to take part in battles once he would come of age. His mother often called him "my little bandit" as he would always try to sneak away with the men when they set up camp. Despite his violent nature he never laid a finger on his family, he was always careful towards them making sure not to harm them if they play fought. As for prisoners...that's an entirely different matter, Therian would attend the interrogation sessions and would often suggest torture devices to the interrogator when the time came. All in all the boy was a monster.
Lastly was Nilara, the youngest of her siblings and the only one with affinity to magic. Nilara was probably the most normal of her siblings. She was playful, reckless, and generally a troublesome child with the mischief she'd get herself into around the camp. But Nilara was not innocent, as soon as her mother discovered her gifts she put them to use. Nilara was taught in the ways of necromancy, she was used in combat since she was seven years of age, and she would even perform rituals at age nine. Now she was her mother's favorite execution device. Not only to show the power she wielded through her children but to make Nilara stronger in the event should her other two children fail to succeed her.
The woman spoke to her children with a voice as motherly as a general to his troops. "Which of you will question them?", she asked looking to Valoya who yawned in disinterest before looking away. Therian was first to speak, "I will!" the boy stepped forward towards the prisoners and looked them all in the eye. Some of them whimpering in fear and others met his gaze with anger in their eyes. "Do you know who I am?", Therian asked trying his best to show authority in his words. One of the prisoners answered, "The son of a raider whore!" his insult was quickly punished with a hit to the head with the hilt of a sword from of one of the bandits. "I am Therian Varentia, son of Irialli Varentia, Queen of The Cursed Ones Clan, and if you wish to live you will show respect!"
"Fuck you", the same man spoke again and the same sword hilt struck him again.
"Since you seem to be the bravest of your comrades you shall be the one i receive answers from. First, when is the next convoy scheduled to be sent out. And before you attempt to insult me again remember where you are"
The prisoner stopped himself once he felt the warm touch of the sword against his neck. Blood covered the blade and dropped onto the man's clothes staining it a deep red. A moment of silence passed before the man spoke again, "Next week, but since this one won't make it they will wait a month before sending it out on a different route"
"Which route?"
"From Qatar-Shan to Sekteph and from there to Ahtar"
"City names alone are useless, we need route details!"
"I don't know the route details I've never had to go that route!"
"Don't lie to me!", Therian raised his hand to signal to the executioner to raise his sword. The threat of death quickly squeezed out the truth from the man. "There's a small oasis village between the Qatar-Shan and Sekteph! The convoy stops there to resupply on water!"
Therian turned to his mother who grinned with satisfaction before nodding to her son to return to her side. "W-wait! I told you everything, will you let me go?", the man's once stubborn persona gave way to reveal his true frightened state of mind. Irialli spoke this time to him but addressed all prisoners when she did, "Yes you did answer my son's questions but sparing your lives was never an option. Before you would have been slain by my men and that would be the end of it but you insulted my son and myself...and so a fate worse than death awaits you". The prisoners began to beg, some pleaded with her to serve as slaves, others simply cried while uttering words made unintelligible due to their crying.
Irialli knelt beside Nilara who looked at the fearful men with pity. Her mother had a smile om her face which didn't surprise Nilara as she knew what was about to happen. "Now, my love, just like last time. Make your mother proud", Irialli spoke with genuine care for Nilara in her voice. Strange seeing the current situation was anything but a tender moment. Despite the fact that Nilara didn't exactly want to do this she complied, defying her mother was not an option. Nilara's hand glowed green before becoming enveloped in green flame. She extended her hand outwards towards the prisoners and the green fires spewed forth bathing the prisoners in fire. They screamed for mere seconds before death came for them. Their ordeal was not over as the flames on Nilara's hand became like lightening which struck every corpse on the battlefield. The hearts of all the corpses glowed green so brightly it was as if an emerald sun had been placed in their chest cavities. Once the spell was complete thirty corpses rose from the sands and stood amongst the bandits. Irialla's clapped and hugged her daughter who was anxious to go back into the carriage. "Jothar, put the new members in the supply carriage. If there isn't enough room then kill the extras, have the men search for a spot to camp, away from the battlefield and off the main road. We don't want guard patrols running into us at night", Irialla spat out commands before entering her carriage with her children.
Nilara awoke from her dream. Ones such as this were not uncommon for her. What was uncommon was the reason for her being awake. Someone thought it was smart to scream outside her tent about a fire. "That fire better be pretty fuckin' big for you to wake me up..", Nilara groaned as she got up from her bedroll. Sticking her head out the tent entrance she found that her guards were still there, or was it another couple taking this shift? Either way she wasn't getting out through the front as usual. Pulling out the stake, Nilara crawled out the back and began to head towards the pillar of smoke.
