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Crime and Cruel and Unusual Punishment

A commission for Leshana

"But wait, please! I'm not - you can't - this, this isn't right!"

The guard with the key managed to indicate, through sheer force of silence, just how monumentally uninterested he was in the rightness, or otherwise, of the situation.

"Please!" Leshana grappled for the thin cloth of the lanky kangaroo's desert robe, her small hands outstretched. "That bastard Carsen, he paid the jury off! I-I, I want to appeal!"

He continued to ignore her entirely, shaking off her grasping paws, and began to walk away.

"I'm a trader! I can pay you, I promise, j-just get a message to my partners. They're lodging at Whitefeather Way, they can-"

The cart, little more than a large iron cage on wheels drawn by feral camels, jolted into movement and she was knocked off her feet, yelping as she hit the ground. The outskirts of Seraphia's capital, Alphasiron, began to slowly rumble past, the pale stone of the buildings starting to give way to the lonely heat of the desert. Leshana desperately tried to find someone else to help her, answer her, give her a way out, but only saw the weary, glum gazes of her fellow prisoners. The two guards driving the cart were Immortals, tall and strong, clad in heavy bronze armour despite the sweltering sun with the Emperor's sigil standing proud on every plate. They were a lost cause, automata-like beings who wouldn't even acknowledge your existence unless you were breaking the law. They would be no help in the slightest.

She curled up the rumbling wooden floor, trying to think, wrapping her two tails around her knees. The soft, fluffy feeling calmed her and helped her think. She'd only gained her second tail a few years ago, and still found it odd sometimes. Leshana was two hundred and ten, which put her in young adulthood for a kitsune. Her fur was soft orange, pure white on her belly and throat and at the tips of her tail. She wore small lenses in a wire frame on her hazel eyes, a new invention from Palutia nicknamed "spectacles", very useful for correcting the slight blur in her vision. Short but fairly curvaceous, beautiful in a wide-eyed innocent sort of way... and very aware that prison was not the best habitat for someone like that. It had all gone horribly, horribly wrong. This was insane. There had to, had to be some way out.

"They won't be interested either," growled a male voice from across the rumbling floor. Leshana looked up, thankful that her spectacles hid her glistening eyes. A brawny crocodile nodded at her from the other side, leaning against the hot iron bars of the cage. "The guards at Alsar Prison. I've been there before. They've heard it all. You can offer them the Emperor's treasuries and they won't lift a finger to help you. Face it, foxy," he scratched at his bare, powerful chest, the scales making a rough grating noise. "you're stuck here."

"But..." Leshana tried very hard to stop her lip quivering. "Look, I d-didn't do it! Carsen just wanted me out of the way! He must have bribed gods know how many-"

"Woah." A voluptuous gazelle sitting next to her, clad in the silk veils of a professional courtesan, kicked at her leg. The hoof stung. "Not so loud, honey." She motioned towards the two Immortals sitting at the front of the cart. "There's only one god here, you know."

"Yes, I know, I know, the Emperor. Sorry..." Leshana had heard of Seraphia's "Emperor". Most of the planet had by now. Merchants like her had to keep a special tab open for that strange, horrifically powerful creature, to make sure they didn't send a wagonload of goods to a city which had been attacked, defeated and devoured the week before. "But anyone can see it couldn't have been me! I just need a review of the case..."

"You're not getting one." said the gazelle flatly. "Thanks to Our Lord And Master," she kept her voice carefully neutral, "the Seraphian Empire now covers two continents. Fastest expansion in history. The bureaucracy is barely keeping up. They're not spending more court time on you. Like 'e said, you're stuck here."

Leshana said nothing, clenching her fists helplessly. The crocodile reached over, placing a large, clawed hand on her leg.

"Stick with us, foxy. We've done this before," He grinned, exposing a large number of sharp teeth. "You'll need some friends in there. The whore next to you is Jezeval. I'm Kaskar. What's your name?"

Jezeval gave a quiet snort next to her. The kitsune swallowed back her fear and dread and raised her eyes to look at him.

"I-... I'm Leshana."

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Five years wasn't the rest of her life. And when she got out, she and her partners would make sure Carsen's ugly avian face never smirked again. If there was any justice in the world.

***

Alsar had been a prison camp for a long time, even before the Emperor fell from the sky in a blaze of flame and desire. It was in effect a small fortified town, except that it had been fortified for assault from the inside as well. Tall, sweeping walls rose up over the lonely desert sands, the battlements accessible only by the bridges which lay crisscrossing the rooftops, allowing the guards to observe their charges from above. The only way to get from below to above was via crane lifts, controlled, of course, from the bridges.

The buildings of the complex were in the traditional Seraphian style, pale stone with designs in faded colour, strong and flat-roofed. It was perhaps the morning break or similar, as prisoners seemed to be fairly free to move around the "streets", always under the watchful eye of a guard or the impassive bronze helm of an Immortal. The sun beat down overhead, unrelenting and cruel, and competition for shaded spaces was fierce. As Leshana and her new friends entered the prison, she was greeted with the sight of a savage brawl between four prisoners, yells of pain and exertion ringing over the half-hearted cheers of a few onlookers. As the cart rolled past, an Immortal entered the fray, her wide bladed spear tossed aside. Moving with dextrous, unnatural swiftness, the bronze clad figure broke a bellowing rams arm, threw him into his opponent so hard they both hit the opposite wall, floored an eagle before he could even react to her, and grabbed the fleeing lynx who had apparently started it all by his throat, lifting him off the ground. The Immortal gave no warnings to the other, groaning figures, simply striding off and dragging her helpless prey behind her, casually picking up her spear on the way.

Leshana was left open-mouthed, but the other inhabitants displayed only weary resignation. A few friends of the broken men and women helped them to their feet, leading them away to whatever passed for medical attention in this godsforsaken place. The cart rumbled on.

They were led out, manacled, at the edge of a massive square in the centre, easily big enough to hold the entire prison population. Kazkar and Jezeval stepped out ahead of Leshana, stretching and joking amongst themselves as if this was just the end of a long journey home - although they too went silent when the Immortals stepped down from the driver's bench.

Leshana looked around, the stone hot and dry beneath her bare paws, and curled her tails around her legs. There was a raised stone dais in the middle of the square, perhaps once used to execute prisoners whose crimes were too heinous.

She was wondering if it still happened when the doors ahead opened and another Immortal appeared, leading a tall, sinuous lizard with scales the colour of the shining forest and an expression of even more disinterest and disdain than the guard who'd locked her up in the first place.

"Good morning," he said coldly, his accent pure Seraphian. "I am Warden Aliquab. In the name of His Divine Majesty, Emperor Goldeneye the First and Eternal, I now legally own your lives. If I decide you are to be punished, in any way, I have the right of it and I guarantee you I have the means for it."

His eyes roamed over them, staying on Leshana's body for longer than the kitsune would have liked. She flushed, glaring at him. The lizard smiled thinly. "I advise that you do not give me or any of the guards here a reason to decide that you should be punished. There are various rules in this new home of yours, but they all boil down to three main ideas. Firstly, don't try anything with your fellow filth-sacks. No stealing, no fighting, no raping or killing. Secondly, and this one is easier: obey your superiors at all times. Any command given by any one of us is not to be questioned or hesitated about, it is to be performed. And finally, not that you could anyway, but do not attempt to escape. We have had zero successful escapees since the Silver Summer claimed this prison upon His ascension to the throne, and that is not going to change." Aliquab clapped his hands together. "As long as everyone here obeys those rules, I will not have to see your pretty little faces once during your stay here, and everyone will be happy. Understand?"

They nodded. Kaskar looked bored, Jezeval amused. Leshana tried to look sincerely afraid, which was thankfully not hard.

"Good. Now get them out of my sight."

***

They were given simple desert robes and leather collars which rubbed against the fur of Leshana's neck, tagged with their name, number and the ever-present crest of the damned Emperor. Sure enough, the relaxed atmosphere when they entered had just been a break, and before the middle of the afternoon Leshana had been assigned to Gang 162, a group of some dozen individuals - various species all short and slim like her, unsuited to heavy lifting - who were currently engaged in weaving cloth on a large, surprisingly advanced loom in one of the innumerable buildings, under the cold empty eye-holes of an Immortal. The work was hard and long, but survivable. Her fingers ached by the time the sun sank over the horizon, and there was no way to signal the passing of minutes until the sonorous toll of a bell rang out over the prison and freed them from the work.

She found Kaskar and Jezeval that evening at the kitchens, hunched in a corner talking quietly, and made her way over to them, carrying a bowl of tagine with grains and some sort of meat. The two looked up stonily, and Leshana hesitated and eyed the empty space next to the crocodile politely.

Kaskar grunted assent, and Jezeval scowled at him, but Leshana sat down, rubbing her sore fingers. "So, um, how was the first day?"

"Ask me again after I do it seven thousand more times," muttered the gazelle bitterly. "This is cruel and unusual punishment."

Seven thousand days was nearly twenty years, Leshana calculated. "Well, what did you do? Were you framed as well, or..."

She wilted under Jezeval's angry glare. "S... sorry. I don't mean to pry."

"And you won't need to," Kaskar said, scraping his bowl clean. "We're going to let you in on a secret, foxy. We're getting out of here."

"You... you mean..." the kitsune leaned close. "You're... you're escaping?"

She could only dare to mouth the last word. Kaskar rolled his eyes.

"We are. You're coming too, foxy."

There was a noisy clatter from across the table as Jezeval attacked her vegetables ferociously, glaring into the bowl. Kaskar ignored her.

"We're... mostly united on this. You're innocent, and you don't belong in here. So we're taking you with us when we go."

"But... but... how?" Leshana pushed aside her conflicting thoughts. "Isn't it too dangerous? There are walls, and the bridges above us, and gods, these freakish Immortals, whatever in the Hells they are, and-"

"Yes, I know it's not exactly easy!" Kaskar snapped. "I know that. We won't be ready to go for a few weeks at least."

"Make that a month," Jezeval said testily. "Getting caught is not an option here. Seraphia doesn't take kindly to people who get found."

"Fine! A month! Look, the point is we're not staying here a second longer than we have to!" Kaskar glared at the antelope. "And that goes for all three of us, understand?"

"Is... is there a problem with me coming?" Leshana asked timidly. "I mean, you, you barely know me, and you just said you had to be especially careful. So why... why are you giving me the chance?"

The crocodile looked at her, suddenly lost for words. "Well," he muttered, "you... you, uh-"

Jezeval groaned. "For the Emperor's sake. Kaskar couldn't bear the thought of someone so clearly innocent suffering with these hardened criminals. You deserve to be free. Of course he's too much a hard old beast to say it out loud, but he's got soft insides."

Leshana peered at Kaskar's scaly outside, which grunted in irritation and embarrassed assent. He didn't smile, but that might be just because teeth like that didn't look good in a smile.

"I... Well, thank you. Thank you so much. I promise I won't let you down."

The two inmates exchanged glances. "Good. Now, we have some of the plan so far, and you're going to have to help. First of all..."

***

The days blurred into one another.

Or rather, they should have done, Leshana reflected sourly as she trudged out of the loom halls into the soft evening heat. Why couldn't she become absorbed in her new life and forget everything until the escape was ready? Instead, every hour and minute was spent waiting for the next bell to ring, every meal spent exchanging glances and significant coughs with Jezeval and Kaskar (they shouldn't be seen together too much, lest someone become suspicious). She'd been given a few assignments herself, mainly just observing the guards' positions at certain times of day and when they were changed. It wasn't much, but she had to admit it fitted her low experience level. The antelope and crocodile were handling the heavier missions.

Not for the first time, she wondered about them. Jezeval and Kaskar had so far refused to tell her anything personal of themselves, or even whether those were their real names. And what crimes had they committed to end up in here? Neither of them had ever claimed they were innocent.

Then again, helping her escape at such personal risk was a pretty major act of kindness. Despite their refusal to trust her - probably justified - the two were good people underneath. She'd be willing to look past whatever misdemeanours they'd committed.

The kitsune twirled her tails wearily as she exhausted her train of thought, heading towards the mess halls for the evening meal. Time would pass, and if this country's feathered god really was a god, and a merciful one, she'd be free eventually.

"...and it is by his mercy that you reside here rather than in the pits of the Hells where you would meet your end. All flesh and souls alike are to be rendered unto him as he sees fit, and yet he has chosen to allow you the chance to take the rudder of your own lives once again even after you have steered them into the path of devastation."

There weren't usually any preachers on the grounds. Apparently Emperor Goldeneye didn't go into ritualised worship that much. Leshana drifted towards the gathering crowd beneath the official, a stout patridge in the gold-edged robes of Seraphia's considerable bureaucracy who stood on one of the guard bridges above them. What was he actually talking about?

"And yet his Divinity is like no other so-called "deity", for he walks the earth with those who are his property. He is your god as much as you are his possession, and he would see all of you secure in your rightful place in this universe." Finally she seemed to be getting to some sort of point. "His Divinity will visit unto this prison upon the morrow, to see the state in which his wayward followers are kept and to judge them for himself." The avian sniffed, looking down at the rabble beneath her. "His word is law and his deeds are will made manifest, and without even a glance he can read your soul in its entirety. They had best be pure souls or you will find his mercy suddenly coming to an end."

She continued, speaking about confessionals to be held and rites to be done, but Leshana was not listening. She stumbled away from the crowd, tails twisting around her ankles and head whirling.

The Emperor was a telepath. Everyone knew that, though few seemed very clear on exactly how it worked. What was certain was that he'd be able to see her conspiracy to escape clear as day in her mind.

But on the other hand, he'd see her innocence, how she was framed for a crime she had never committed. How she was only trying to sneak out unfairly because she had been locked in unfairly. His word is law. He could free her without the slightest effort. But would he?

Another thought spun into her brain. Kaskar and Jezeval - probably not innocent, and actively plotting to escape. The Emperor would know, and unlike Leshana they'd have no mitigating circumstances. They'd be dead unless they escaped tonight. She couldn't let that happen. But they weren't ready! They couldn't smuggle three out tonight

The kitsune leant against a wall, flicking her hazel eyes across the twilight. Either she stayed here and hoped for mercy, or she tried to escape and hoped for success. Neither option seemed wonderful. Not for the first time, she was struck with the bitter unfairness of all her situation, the hot helplessness burning in her chest.

No. Think about Kaskar and Jezeval! They had no choice at all but to attempt escape. She was lucky by comparison. Whether she stayed or went, they had to be warned.

She hurried off into the gathering gloom, breathing hard with exertion and anxiety. They weren't in the mess hall, nor in the corner of the main grounds where they'd meet and discuss plans. They weren't at the site where Kaskar's strength had been employed to help build a new block of cells, or where Jezeval had worked as a cook. Finally, she tried to recall the cells they inhabited. Third building from the square of execution, seventeenth and eighteenth cells - somehow they'd managed to stay together. And there they were through an arched doorway, huddled in a corner, speaking in low, urgent whispers. Leshana hurried towards them

"...how the hell are we going to get her past them as well?" Kaskar muttered, his bass rumble carrying across the hall. They must have heard already. Leshana slowed to a halt, her large ears twitching curiously. For a second, she hung back.

"I don't know!" hissed the gazelle. "This is like last time. You're the reason we're bringing the bitch so it's your bloody problem!"

"If we get caught it's our problem, Jezeval. And right now you can shut up about that, alright? We have bigger problems."

"No, listen. Just because you never got used to eating vegetables, you want to jeopardise both of our lives? Listen, we have to leave her behind."

"We are not leaving her behind! That's desert out there for a hundred miles. We will not be able to carry supplies for the whole damn trip! So we're taking the self-carrying supplies, alright?"

"This is just because you like how she looks. I said this, I said there are dozens of morons in this godforsaken place who'd jump at the chance at escape_ and also have the experience to not probably cock it up!_ But no, she looks tasty, she's what the goddamn predator wants, so here comes Kaskar's Kitsune!"

She was so stunned that she didn't even gasp, simply standing in the doorway with her mouth open, so quiet and so still that Kaskar and Jezeval didn't even notice her. It might have saved her life.

Then a noise came from outside, some brawl or argument. Who knows what it was? Perhaps just the universe tripping her up once again.

Kaskar looked up, and saw the kitsune standing there. He froze, as did Jezeval. No-one spoke for a moment.

Then Leshana said, quietly, "You were... you were going to... to eat me."

Kaskar ran his clawed fingers over his scaly skull. "No..no, no, no..." he groaned, more to himself than to her.

"You've, you've done it before, and you were just going to let me tag along until you got hungry."

Jezeval clenched her fists.

"Is that why you're here? Is that what you did? They never found the bodies so they couldn't charge you with murder? You, you utter, utter-"

"SHUT THE HELLS UP!" Jezeval roared, charging into her. She was six inches taller and who knew how many pounds heavier than the small slender fox, and before Leshana could react she had been barreled into the walls. Her vision sparked, her head exploding in bright fireworks of pain. The gazelle smashed her fist into her gut, sending her choking and reeling, and as the kitsune doubled over Jezeval drove her hoof into Leshana's knee, which snapped gorily.

The kitsune gave a gargled scream of agony, a tattered heap of soft fur on the floor, and Jezeval gave her another kick. "Someone will have heard. We've gotta get out, right now. Emperor's Claws, what a mess."

She snatched up a pack, or at least a brown blur picked up a paler brown blur. Leshana's eyes were glazed with pain and tears. She had hoped so much...

"Kaskar, come on. We'll just have to ration things, okay?"

The crocodile stood over her. Leshana tried to crawl away from him, making a small whining noise.

"What a waste of good meat," he snarled, and stamped on her neck with horrible strength. And everything went black.

***

The blackness twisted. Like a deepsea leviathan, something larger than she could imagine moved beneath the surface, brushing against her tiny mind here and there. And slowly, she rose.

She did not hurt any more, Leshana realised as she filled her body again. Her bones were unbroken, her muscles no longer bruised. She lay on a silken sheet, bright sunlight pouring in from the arched window.

It had been a dream. All of it. She had slept too late at Whitefeather Way and awoken from a dreadful nightmare. She slid out of bed, tails curling around her knees, and stumbled over to the window, taking great, heavy breaths.

Outside lay Alsar's great square, with the executioning dais in the middle.The air was heavy and hot, but far too silent for this time of day. She was still here. The world was not fair but cruel.

Leshana felt her knees shaking, as if they remembered being broken. What in the name of the gods was going on? She spun around, tails awhirl, heartbeat back to the usual fearful tempo. There was the luxurious bed, far finer than the rough cots she'd slept on before. Rich furnishings in Seraphian style. Even a suit of bronze armour standing next to the door.

The suit moved. Leshana yelped in alarm. It was an Immortal, so silent and so still that she hadn't even recognised it before. "Gods! I... uh, sorry. I didn't..."

The Immortal ignored her, raising its shining arm and pointing to an open doorway. Its great spear stood ramrod straight in its other hand.

"I... alright." She went through, hesitantly, eyeing the creature behind her. It did not move to follow, at least.

This seemed to be some sort of guest quarters for Alsar. Even the corridor was finely furnished, and she glimpsed other rich rooms on her way down. On ground level was a larger dining hall, with benches and tables currently pushed to the sides. It was occupied.

Leshana froze. The occupant looked up from a dossier they were reading, clasped in one gigantic claw like a doll's book, and fixed her with a bright, mismatched gaze.

There was no mistaking the massive frame, eyes higher than her own even though the creature was quadrupedal, even though it was lying on its flank. Two great wings lay folded at the sides, thickly plumaged in silver and icy blue. A bronzed wreath lay upon the avian brow above heterochromatic eyes, one deep purple and one shining gold, both gazing deep into her own. Long, elegant ears swept back from an avian visage expressed in stylised grace many times in murals and statues.

She was a merchant. She was good at reading people. But this creature... there was arrogance, yes. Power and confidence and playfulness and even kindness too. But that was just what he was displaying. She couldn't tell a thing about what he was.

Emperor Goldeneye the First and Eternal, the Silver Summer and Lord and Master of the Empire of Seraphia, grinned at her. His beak pulled into a coy smile, and his voice was smooth and rich just as unknowable. "So good of you to join us, Leshana. We hope you slept well?"

He knew her name. The kitsune started, managing to wrest her muscles back into action. She knelt hurriedly, keeping her eyes lowered. "Y-your, your majesty. Um, I, y-yes."

"We are delighted. Not bad for a little fox found with a broken neck, internal haemorrhaging, and nineteen fractures." The strange creature set aside his papers, folding his claws before her. For the first time, Leshana noticed that he wasn't alone. Sitting with his knees drawn up to his chin, against Goldeneye's great fluffy chest, was Warden Aliquab. The lizard looked at her, quivering very faintly, his eyes full of pleading desperation. Leshana stared at him, helpless and confused, as the gryphon continued. "I healed you, of course. It's a skill which I have learned with great difficulty, so I hope it's appreciated. Now, on to business." He ruffled his feathers, his smile widening. "In one way, it's actually quite pleasing. Alsar has never had an escape in three hundred years of service. It's been incredibly, boringly... ugh...competent. But in another way... this prison is my property, as are its inhabitants. And defying it is defying me." The gryphons voice turned to ice and steel without even a pause, and Aliquab trembled, closing his eyes in feeble terror. "And no-one, _no-one _ever does that twice."

Then the smile was back. "Now, sweet little fox, I need to know where they were headed. Obviously I could pluck the details out of your head, but sifting through all the memories is rather boring work. So, where?"

Leshana swallowed, her brain thankfully kicking into autopilot through terror. "They... they were planning to head away from Alphasiron, y-your majesty. Escape capture. Then they'd circle round towards the nearby settlements, try to blend in with them. That's why they... they needed... supplies..."

Leshana remembered. She hunched over, keening weakly with horror at the memory. Kaskar had... he had been going to...

"A hunter was he?" The gryphon had plucked the details straight from her head. "Preying on my citizens? What a despicable creature. He'll get worse than death this time, rest assured." He spoke with a total lack of irony, and only chuckled when Leshana failed to stop herself from thinking this. "Don't worry, my dear. A lot of people think that. Yes, I do dine almost exclusively upon my subjects," Aliquab whimpered very quietly, "but that doesn't mean they can do the same. You are all equal to my stomach, and none of you should be raised above another without fair process."

"I... I see."

"You don't, you just don't want to be eaten." The gryphon smirked playfully, his tail twisting. "Yes, you did take part in the escape. Aided them too. But it doesn't look like you would have really gained from it..." He blinked, and again Leshana felt the vastness of his strange, fragmented soul. "Ohh. And now it seems that you're innocent?"

She gasped despite herself. Finally, to hear someone say it out loud. Stay calm. Stay steady. "I... there is no hiding the truth from y-you, your m-majesty."

"Which of my judges sent you down? They'll need a talk after this. I, and only I, am above the law, Leshana. This is ridiculous." Goldeneye flicked his long ears with frustration. "Well, nothing for it. I've already chosen most of my meals for today, and there's no reason to have you rotting away here with no good reason. You're free."

The kitsune opened her mouth and closed it again. That was it? All this terror and it was so suddenly over? Finally she managed to mumble a weak "R... Really?"

The Emperor waved a claw. "Well, you will be. I'll get the paperwork done by this afternoon. Blasted bureaucracy... anyway, just go get packed up and you'll leave on the evening supply carriage. I promise it." He ruffled a wing coyly. "And you'll have a wonderful tale to tell your fellow merchants. Minus Carsen, that is. Now go on. And worship me sometime. Your soul is rather adorable." His eyes winked. "Your little spectacles doubly so."

The traitor's name made her jump again. Everything seemed to be oversaturated and gleaming. Goldeneye's feathers were the softest, sleekest silver Leshana had ever known. Or maybe she was just able to see the world's colour again. She pushed her spectacles back up her nose with an embarrassed flush, bowing again. "You will not regret this, your Majesty. Th-thank you. Thank y-you so much."

The Emperor didn't answer, already disinterested as he lowered his beak to murmur something to the presumably ex-Warden, who trembled. Even now, Leshana understood that he had not acted out of mercy or kindness but simple amusement. She left quickly, stepping out into the sunlight as if she had just emerged from three months of night. Free!_ Free!_ After all this the universe finally showed her what she knew to be true: in the end, it would work out.

Leshana almost skipped back to her quarters, ignoring the baleful stares of her now ex-cellmates, and was packed in ten minutes flat. No souvenirs. All she wanted was to leave this hellish chapter far behind. A few short hours of waiting and she'd be on her way back to her alife.

Once again, the waiting became difficult. She'd been granted exemption from work that day, so Leshana sat on her cot and watched the bright sun climb higher in the sky, her tails twisting with anticipation. Time passed appallingly slowly

When the sun hung directly overhead and she was certain she was going mad, a guard knocked on the bars. Leshana started. She'd finally been close to dozing off. "Oi!" he snapped. "Get moving! All prisoners to the main square!"

"Oh, um... I'm, I'm not a prisoner. Not anymore. I was... I will be pardoned, you see." Leshana smiled politely. The guard, a blocky, red-furred muskrat, glowered at her through the bars.

"Dunno what we're supposed to do with you, then. If you're still a prisoner right I'd say bleedin' well get going. It's the Emperor himself. You do not wanna pull an absence today, kitsune girl."

He left, leaving her fuming at "kitsune girl". But still, she had absolutely mindnumbingly nothing else to do. And the monstrous gryphon had not pardoned her yet... best she be a good prisoner until she finally didn't have to be a prisoner at all.. Leshana sighed, leaving her pack behind, and trudged off one last time to the main square. The sun beat down on streets utterly deserted, beneath the crisscrossing shade of the upper bridges. It was rather unnerving.

The entire prison population filled the square. A sea of heads, shifting in impatience and confusion. They were hemmed in by lines of guards and Immortals, surrounding the central platform completely. Leya squirmed in at the back and craned her head to see. Nothing on the platform. What were they here for?

A glint caught her eye, a sparkle of white in the sky just beneath the boiling sun. A ball of fire was streaking down towards them, perfectly vertical and eye-wateringly fast. The crowd saw it, and reacted as crowds do, slowly and confusedly, the air filling with the rumble of fearful voices and shuffling feet as people tried to get out of the way, pressing into others, the panic rose, and the entire thing could almost have become a riot-

The fireball landed with a roar of burning air and a noisy splintering sound on the stone platform, dissipating in an instead as heat washed over the crowd, replaced by the click of cooling rock. Suddenly everyone was quiet. Slow as death itself, Emperor Goldeneye straightened up from the crouch he had landed in and surveyed his property.

"Do I have your attention?" he said softly. The rich tones carried through the entire square. No-one dared speak.

The gryphon smiled. "Excellent. Prisoners of Alsar, you are here because life is a changeable thing, and I know that better than anyone. That is why your crimes are paid with hard labour and incarceration, rather than a slow, lingering death. I believe you can be of use to my Empire again, even if you have strayed from the path once."

"But no-one ever defies me twice. Those who do not submit to me in mind and soul can serve me in only one way." He was stalking around the dais, displaying to full effect the sheer size and power of his form. He'd been carrying something, a sealed bronze pot the size of a small table, which glowed a little with residual heat. "And I think you know what that way is. Yesterday this prison defied me again. Two escapees dared to try and take back their lives, now mine by divine right. They will not get far. But some of you may not believe me. Or maybe the lure of freedom will be too much."

He returned to the centre, ears ramrod straight. "You do that, little prisoners, and you condemn not just yourselves but this very prison. And today I am going to punish the prison for its defiance."

There was a moment of confused, terrified silence.Goldeneye rolled his mismatched eyes. "No, obviously not all of you. That sort of renders the whole point of prison a bit pointless, doesn't it? Come on. No, what I am going to do is pick from this contained one piece of parchment. There are over five thousand pieces, one for each prisoner in my possession. And if you're chosen, then I don't care what your crime is. You... will... die."

He caressed the words like a lover.

"You will come to me, and I will swallow you whole." Goldeneye laughed aloud, feeling the psychic ripple of the words pour through his prey. "Oh, believe me, it's no rumour or propaganda. I really do eat like that. No-one enters my belly already dead... and no-one leaves it alive. You, poor, poor chosen prisoner, will slide down my gullet - I'm told it could almost be a pleasant trip if it wasn't so one-way - and slowly - oh, I like to take my time administering my justice, so very slowly - you shall enter my stomach." Suddenly, the gryphon's proud stance seemed to be deliberately emphasising the soft, slim pale blue of his underbelly, showing it off to every horrified eye. "Digestion will occur, as is only natural. You will, still, be alive for almost all of it until you are little more than a brain, floating in liquefied flesh and agony. Only after that will I give you oblivion. And to everyone who counts themselves lucky to escape... until the squirms have ceased, not a single creature leaves this square. Watch well and remember, this is the price for freedom. You are mine, every one of you. Mine forever."

He flashed a dazzling smile, padding smoothly to the pot, and raised a claw over it. He giggled cruelly, holding the position for a few seconds, sweeping his terrible eyes over the crowd. Life and death was in his talons.

There was nothing but stunned, fearful silence. Leshana felt certain that five thousand people had never been so quiet. The Emperor's ears twitched sensuously, as if he was listening to the hush itself.

He plucked a single scrap of parchment from the bowl, and looked at it. The population held their breath.

Goldeneye's eyes widened. He gave a little snort of what could have been amusement or regret or both. That hooked beak parted, and spoke a name.

At this point, dear reader, there is hardly any point in writing the name spoken. You know who's name it was.

No...

Leshana's entire being seemed to have become frozen in time. Her body could not move, and more, her mind could not function. She was still standing there, her ears still filled with the gryphon's silky tones as he said it.

A moment passed.

There was a moment of horrible dysjunction as she realised that he had said her name again. It was even smoother this time. It was playful.

"Well? You entered this lottery, little fox. Come up and claim your prize." Goldeneye purred the words, now looking straight at her, along with a growing number of prisoners. There were three hundred feet between them and yet he spoke like a lover. She managed to regain control of her lips.

"But I...I was..."

"Leshana. Come up here."

Swallowed... digested... death... agony...

"Don't disobey your owner, little fox. Remember what I said about people who defy me a second time." The crowd was watching her in silence.

Her legs suddenly took a step forwards, without her brain being involved in the activity at all. Leshana started, and Goldeneye laughed again.

"Don't worry. Plenty of people need my help walking when they know what's coming." The kitsune took another step, and now she could feel the monstrous alien influence of the gryphon, pulling her towards him. His mind brushed over her motor functions, ripping them from her and puppeteering her to keep walking even as her breath quickened and she began to shake with unbearable adrenaline - a fight or flight response which could do neither.

"P-please..." she mumbled, her lithe form transfixed by the thousands of eyes now watching her slow walk. Some held lewd, cruel amusement. Most just held relief. Very, very few seemed to have the slightest bit of pity, and that was far outmatched by fear. Goldeneye stood two hundred feet away now, his eyes not leaving her face.

"I'm delighted, really," he crooned. "Now that I look at you like that... what a treat you'll be. Soft and slender... and two tails, oh, I should taste your species more often. Vulpine tails tickle my throat perfectly."

Leshana barely managed to whimper, so terrifying was it to hear. But she was still walking towards him. One hundred paces.

He licked his beak, tongue thick and pointed and glistening wet. Her mind was fleeing in circles, round and round.

Fifty paces. Ten. Five.

She placed a foot on the first step. Goldeneye extended a cruel claw towards her, as if to help her up. She had never been so close to the Emperor before. He was gigantic, a statuesque mountain of sleek silver and blue.

"But... I... I... I was pardoned..." she said, weakly. "I shouldn't be here. You, you told me! Why was I even on the list? W-w-why? I... I s-shouldn't be here..."

The god-gryphon cocked his head, looking down at her. "Oh, I know. Leshana... I am so sorry, my darling. I'm afraid I was planning on signing your release forms immediately after this little demonstration was over. I'm a busy deity, after all." He laughed, still almost too soft and tender to be cruel. "Honestly, little thing, it never even crossed my mind that you'd be here. To me you were already free. And then... well, even I have to give in to chance sometimes. Especially when it serves me so well." He inhaled, greedily, and Leshana realised he was breathing in her scent.

A pulse of thought, and Goldeneye reached up with her hand and took his claw, pulling her onto the dais. A sea of faces surrounded them, and Goldeneye gave his shaking, helpless prey a little twirl, showing her off.

"Alsar Prison, each and every one of you belongs to me. Remember how this could have been you... and could still be."

He pushed her to the centre of the dais, and Leshana staggered as his mind left her at last. Without the gryphon's talons in her brain she could barely stand, wave after wave of fear and dread crashing over her and driving her almost to her knees.

Goldeneye leant over her shaking, swaying form, breathing deep again. His beak and those eyes seemed to fill the whole world. Even though she felt the delight it caused, Leshana held on to the smooth bone. She stared at him, begging with every part of her.

"P... please... this... this isn't right..."

She began to cry, still looking at him. Goldeneye smiled, and as she looked into his eyes his tongue lapped at her neck. "I know." He whispered. "It's gorgeous, isn't it?"

Leshana had privately wondered, from what she had heard of him, if Seraphia's ruler was insane or simply cold-hearted and cruel. But he was neither. The strange gryphon's eyes possessed a sentience so utterly alien to her own that ideas of sanity and empathy were as relevant as colour was to music. His Divine Majesty Emperor Goldeneye the First and Eternal was simply... above her.

There was no justice, nothing which was right or wrong. A universe where this thing was god didn't care for either. She was going to die screaming through horrible coincidence and nothing else and the world would simply let it happen.

The kitsune gave a small, feeble squeak, trying to give some word which tried to convey her renewed, horrified understanding of the universe. Goldeneye nodded slowly, for he of course heard her.

"Welcome to my world." he purred. "Now suffer for me."

His beak opened, and Leshana tried to turn and run, but before she had taken a step her head and shoulders were engulfed in hot, wet darkness. Flesh gripped at her from all sides, drenched in thick, sticky liquids which in a second covered her just as completely. Leshana screamed a high, wordless cry of terror sourced down in her deepest genes: a cornered animal's scream, sentience an unnecessary obstacle when all that mattered was survival. She tried frantically to pull back and out of the gryphon's beak, but it simply squeezed, and suddenly the silkily smooth flesh was holding her with a grip of iron.

"Nnn!" she shrieked, thrashing claustrophobically in the utter darkness. "Nnnno! No, please!" But the gryphons tongue offered no words of mercy, only a wet, abrasive series of licks which seemed to probe every possible crevice on her muzzle, making her splutter and cough at the oppressive heat until she realised that the sharp edges were sliding slickly deeper over her arms and chest. Goldeneye's mouth moulded in a dripping, sweltering embrace around her curvaceous form, gently but firmly lifting her feet from the ground. The sense of vertigo was horrendous, Leshana's paws pedalling at nothing, tails lashing, entire body contorting with every choked scream.

Goldeneye smirked. In reality the kitsune's toes were less than six inches from the ground. He lifted her a little higher, still slurping her body deeper with the power of his maw alone, and continued his slow, leisured tasting. No-one was going anywhere.

The god-gryphon flicked an iridescent eyeball to his audience. No more muted fear. Whispers of shock and disgust ran through the crowd, fear arcing across their minds like paint strokes on a canvas. He smirked, and jerked his head in a deliberately exaggerated movement, locking his beak around the kitsune's slender belly. Leshana's head slammed into the back of his throat, right in front of the dark, endless gullet. She screamed, the sound producing a pleasant tickling in his maw and very little else.

Her hips were now being tickled by the beak. It was really, genuinely happening. Leshana lashed her tails in great panicky arcs, wailing in discomfort as her head was forced by the rest of her body into the tight, formfitting tunnel of Goldeneye's throat. "Please!" she screamed, and got a mouthful of saliva for her trouble. "Urgh... p-p-please! I'll g-give you a-anything! I-I'll... I'll... I'll do anyth-thing!"

Come now, little fox, came the gryphon's voice, pressing straight into her mind like a branding iron so that Leshana's eyes began watering and her squirms redoubled. We've established that I'm god, by right of power. Even with so much of your mind on fire with instinct and fear, you have enough logic to recognise that no-one needs to give anything to me. I take it. He lifted her higher, and higher, so that her body was about level in the terrible sweltering darkness, and gravity was inevitable, easing her body inch by inch into the wet suckling gullet. Goldeneye hadn't even swallowed yet.

"But... but..." she tried to protest, and could find no more words, kicking as Goldeneye's tongue lapped ticklishly against her navel. What more could possibly work?

Don't worry, sweet, it's never easy. Hope is a painful thing to lose. That's why I'm here with you.

And he swallowed. The entire universe around Leshana came to life and motion, a great wave of crushing muscle shifting over her from chest to head and pulling it ten inches into the darkness. She gasped for breath, winded by the monstrous power, and with no more begging to do, simply screamed.

Goldeneye sat on massive haunches, ruffling his wings contentedly, and stroked the kitsune's ankle with a talon. He preferred to do this part with eyes closed, every part of his considerable being focused on the sensations from inside, but every now and then he roamed his gaze over the silent crowds. Several had turned away, and with casual mental tugs he swivelled them straight back round. The whispering he didn't mind, however. Panic was more infectious when it could spread orally.

And speaking of that...

He swallowed again, slower this time, his prey sinking into a delightful rippling bulge in the hollow of his throat, and shook his head, both to even out the distension and to display it to his watchers. Such a sweet taste. The gryphon flicked his tongue up and to the places between Leshana's legs, pushing her deeper inside and purring softly at the taste, as well as the redoubled wriggling.

Such a treat. You'll last so long in there.

The kitsune whimpered, her throat hurting by now. Her head was buzzing with thoughts too vast to take in. "In... t-there..."

She felt the tongue finally leave her, and Goldeneye gave another agonising swallow, pressing the breath from her lungs and making her see stars in the darkness as her ribcage creaked. _I'd say it's not as bad as you'd imagine... but it is. It's worse. Keep squirming for now. Such a good little thing. Keep squirming. _He lapped at her ankles, raising his head and giving another slow, rolling swallow. Her paws and tails slipped inside the beak, and with a casual snap, carrying somehow through the layers of flesh and feathers, Leshana heard the gryphon's beak shut.

If anything, the utter darkness she was sliding into became more complete. Goldeneye raised his to the skies, his throat moving in slow, rhythmic half-swallows which eased his prey further and further to the back of his throat. In a semiconscious way, the kitsune sensed the line that would be crossed when she went from maw to gullet. She would no longer exist outside of the gryphon's immense, terrifying body. She would turn from living creature to twitching, sinking bulge.

Goldeneye lapped hungrily at her ankles, taking all the pleasure he could before she was gone. Any more words? _he purred. _There are none which will do anything.

And he was right. Leshana mouthed helpless pleas in the sweltering black, a hundred phrases running through her head which each would do nothing. With her brain paralysed, her mouth came out with the protest which had run through her entire being for two months of misery and nearly half an hour now of utter horror."This... this isn't... r-right..."

And like that, you have nothing more to say. Just scream now, food. Goldeneye winked to the shifting, fearful subjects around him, and swallowed her whole.

He wasn't toying any more. This was a true swallow, powerful and devastating and cruel. Leshana's squirms were barely felt as the muscle around her twisted and rippled and pulled her all the way. The visceral machinery of the gryphon's body engulfed her in an instant, dragging her slowly and inexorably down, down into the suffocating pitch-black hell. She choked on her screams, barely able to move beneath the sheer compression, feeling her bones grinding against each other. There was a little snap somewhere in her chest and suddenly her mouth tasted of blood as well as the beast's saliva. The kitsune gave tiny, gurgling sobs, and still she sank, passing Goldeneye's slow-thundering heart.

The gryphon shuddered pleasurably, his entire body wrapped around the twitching, fluttering mass in his throat. For a moment, he allowed himself to close his mind's eyes, ignoring the shuddering horror all around him, and focused totally inwards. Leshana's suffering, Leshana's pain and torment, and then his own pleasure. The perfect unequal exchange.

He felt her settle deep within his ribcage, such a sweet, gluttonous weight, held her there, and then continued the rolling motion of his throat to send her to her final destination. As the kitsune twitched and shook in her despair, Goldeneye opened his eyes again, slowly licking his beak. The crowd was restless now, many members shaking and shrinking back. Hushed voices trembled with awe and fear. He smirked. Little lives finally coming to understand their position on the food chain. It was a good day.

It was hell. Leshana felt her ears, so firmly compressed and squeezed, break through into open air. She gasped in relief in the utter darkness, and then in discomfort. The air was thick, humid, and almost painfully hot, and the alchemical, acidic scent was so strong she could taste it. Her shoulders and arms were pushed free of Goldeneye's gullet and she instinctively clawed out in front, trying to stop herself from falling straight on her face.They just managed to touched a soft, slimy wall of flesh.

It would just about be large enough for her to curl up in. She squealed in panic as she began to fall again and frantically waved her hands below. Instantly they were submerged to the elbows in a pool of thick, churning liquid. This was... no...

She screamed as Goldeneye slowly ejected her, submerging her headfirst into the brimming, growing lake of digestive fluids. The taste was hideous, and the hot acids felt hideous against her flesh. And they hadn't even begun to burn.

Digest... no... no... no...

She sprawled in a packed, tangled mass in the gryphon's guts, covered head to toe in acids and gods only knew what else.

Naughty. Blasphemy in the very embrace of your deity?

Leshana managed to surface, gasping for breath. She was horribly cramped, and the pocket of fresh, vile air was so small that she had to press her muzzle against the dripping ceiling to get at it. Already the heat was sapping her strength, and with it her sanity. There had to be a way out. There had to be something she could do. There had to be. Please...

No. Just suffering. The gryphon shifted his position subtly, standing more majestically, more proudly, and displaying his smooth, soft stomach to everyone. He closed his eyes, a smile of perfect bliss suffusing his features, and with a silent, muffled squelch, that belly sagged. Beneath the massive brawn of the gryphon's body, it looked insignificant. And the fact that the fox looked so little hanging beneath her emperor's body made it worse, so that the plump bulge was gruesomely distended, all at once.bulging and shifting as the kitsune slipped into her new home.

There was an audible murmur of horror, running around all five thousand. Goldeneye opened his eyes, spine undulating with sinuous pleasure. And Leshana finally began to scream. A faint handprint appeared on his stomach, grasping frantically, and then the weak imprint of Leshana's face, rendered skull like with the intensity she pressed it against the hellish walls of his gut. The blind eye sockets shook. She was screaming.

The crowd snapped. Outright screaming broke the imposed silence, the mass of prisoners surging en masse away from the monstrous, gluttonous beast. It was a stampede. Those at the very back saw the Immortals level their spears, merciless and perfect, and tried to pull back, but the vast crowd behind them was thundering on in blind panic, and the screams of horror became pained as they fell and were mercilessly trampled. And then, just as the spears were about to sink into horribly yielding flesh:

_ STOP. _

Even Leshana, gasping and whimpering deep inside his guts, froze in her wriggling. Even the Immortals, so stalwart and unyielding, staggered. Goldeneye's mental power fell over the prisoners like a hundred tonnes of bricks, overriding their emotions, their movements, their consciousnesses themselves. In an instant the entire square was frozen.

The gryphon smirked, eyes narrowed and faintly glowing deep, deep violet as he directed the devastating power. Slowly, five thousand people turned round and filed back into place, shaking and in many cases crying.

Goldeneye sat down, rolling onto his flank and allowing his shifting, heavy stomach to spill out from between his legs. He began, birdlike, to lick his talons, idly preening himself as the squirming became tangibly more urgent.

"Don't you remember? Until the squirms have ceased, not a single creature leaves this square. Did you think that was a command, little ones? It was a statement of fact. Keep watching. All of you."

He paused to stroke a talon over the rippling bulge, letting loose an audible, cascading gurgle from deep within. Once more the kitsune's handprint appeared from inside. The gryphon sighed pleasantly, and lay back, enjoying the sunshine, probing Leshana's mind. The fun part was about to start...

***

It began as a prickling on her skin. Leshana, already oversensitized on the heat and the wetness and the dreadful air, barely noticed, continuing to try to force her way back into the gryphon's firmly closed gullet. The muscles were nigh unshiftable. She felt a shifting, as if the monstrous predator had sat down, and in the moment of distraction realised that the sweltering climate hadn't been hot enough to sting until a moment ago.

It had begun. Leshana gave a tiny, tiny whimper of fear, followed by a louder whimper of pain as the prickling increased, and kept going. She paused in her squirms to kneel, bent almost double, and rub at her tails. They had always been sensitive.

The sensation of flesh on flesh was so painful that she cried aloud, jerking her hand away. Worse, with it came a full handful of her fur. The kitsune screamed in horror, kicking out at the churning walls all around her and inadvertently chafing the rest of herself. It was like an instant, full body laceration. Leshana went under the gurgling sea of acids in her thrashing and came up spluttering and yelling. The pain only deepened as the minutes ticked by, and her muscles began to burn with tiredness as well as the exposed patches of raw, bloody - oh gods, her tongue and her eyes were on fire now, but she could still taste her own blood - flesh. But the agony peaked again, and again, and she couldn't stop. She screamed, and screamed. Her muscles were red-raw.

One hour. Goldeneye's words hummed inside the kitsune's shattered head. Not going well so far, is it?

"P-please!" she yelled, cowering away from the cruel, cruel voice. One hour? That was all? When she had been in here for an eternity of pain and terror? Surely not... surely...

"P-please, y-you can't... you can't..."

She knew she was wrong. He could. That was all. And yet she also knew that her squirming was useless, but still she wriggled and writhed and kicked against the tight, crushing walls as the gryphon left her soul to watch her agony as a spectator once more.

Goldeneye cast an eye over his audience, still telepathically mesmerised by his squirming stomach. He shifted around to present it to another side of the helpless crowd, extended a wing, and began to preen the feathers. The air hummed with misery and sadistic glee.

Time passed. Years? Maybe. Leshana was not able to sweat any more. When her legs rubbed against each other it was like a fiery brand, and she felt no fur, but slick, fibrous muscle and globs of melted flesh. Her fur had liquefied, her body a bloody mass of meat. Already her circulation was tainted with acid, beginning to boil her from the inside out. It was quite remarkable really - to have every single nerve in body her screaming, all at once. Not that she could comprehend that. The pain had ceased to have words a long, long, long time ago.

The sun's setting, little fox. Do you think you'll last the night?

Leshana's tongue was a slimy lump of pain in her mouth. Even her teeth were starting to slowly soften. She could not speak beyond screaming, and she would have been blinded had the gryphon's gut not devoured all light anyway. She cringed away from Goldeneye's touch... and then, in desperation, pushed towards it instead. The kitsune poured all her pain and suffering into the Emperor's soul, all her despair, all her innocence. Maybe he hadn't understood how wrong this was, how much she burned. Maybe there was still hope.

She was mad. Some part of her knew that she was mad and wrong. She broke down, weeping bloody tears as one of her tails worked its way to the bone.

And Goldeneye did not even treat the madness kindly. His stomach, so tight and massaging, jerked suddenly. Leshana shrieked incoherently, swallowing another mouthful of molten acid. Only when the spasm did she realise. He was laughing, out loud. The sound echoed in her ears before the drums started to liquefy.

Goldeneye looked up at the confusion all around him. "Oh, don't worry." he purred, licking his beak again. "Her hope finally died completely. There'll be no more pleas. Honestly, it was more satisfying than funny, really. Maybe you had to be there."

He curled up more comfortably as the sun set, ignoring the groans as people's feet began to ache. They would watch all the way through the cold desert night: Goldeneye and his special kitsune were quite comfortably warm. She was burning so nicely, in fact.

He closed his eyes - not to sleep but to watch her better in his mind's eyes - and licked his beak contentedly. So much pain...

The night passed. Leshana was no longer sane. Her mind dug into itself, like a never-ending scream which bit deeper with every fresh spike of agony.

She heard the snap as one, then the other of her vertebrae snapped, and her tails fell off. The loss hit her harder than the endless hellish agony. Her tails... so precious, so much a part of her. They had been her comfort blankets, her excitable pets, her fluffy sidekicks. Gone. Snatched away. She found the bony, sticky tendrils which were all that was left in the mire of acid and melted flesh and clutched them to her, spluttering digestive fluids, still kicking and squirming - no longer to get out, but simply out of reflex.

Time passed in eternity, and she could count her rib bones one by one. She was blind and deaf and still writhing and screaming, and yet she still felt pain. How was this possible?

The remains-of-a fox knelt, hunched and broken, in her predator's belly, and retched, kicking out against the walls once more, and fell back. Her muscles were liquefying. Every movement made her dizzy with exhaustion. But the agony was still there, and so she could not stop wriggling against the crushing, massaging flesh.

Her mind broke further, and she realised she couldn't remember who she was anymore. She was misery personified. No, that was still an identity. She was part of Goldeneye. _His _name she remembered. She was nothing but a layer on his stomach, waiting to be made perfect like the rest of him.

Hours passed, still. If Goldeneye had talked to her she could not remember. Her squirming was weak now, and she had to gasp for spluttery, leaking breaths with every wriggle. Still she went on, sobbing silently at the pain. And finally a coldness started to spread through her, overcoming even the agony of her monstrous master's guts.

Despite everything, despite her madness, the fox formerly called Leshana's mind fled from death. NO _it wailed, writhing frantically as she grew still. _PLEASE, NO! THIS ISN'T... THIS ISN'T.

There was a word meaning "what should happen". But she couldn't remember it. She couldn't remember anything. Her soul was like her body: nothing.

Leshana's last words were a tiny, spluttering whimper. Goldeneye didn't even notice them until her felt her fluttering, abused heart finally grow still. Her spirit faded into absolute oblivion.

The gryphon prodded his bulging, still belly, and gave a slow, satisfied moan. It was mid-morning, two days later. Several hundred prisoners were close to collapse, kept on the feet by only the gryphon's cruel telepathy. All were shattered and broken. No more resistance, no more fear. Only utter submission. If he had commanded then to form a line before his gullet they would do it without hesitation.

Goldeneye rose, letting his churning stomach sway beneath him, and smiled. "Let that be a warning, citizens," he said, voice soft with weary pleasure. "You're mine. That's the only real law in this empire. I'll see you next time some poor, poor fool tries to break it, eh?"

He blew a kiss, carrying with it the scent of Leshana's last breath, and took off into the sky, releasing his mental control. To his delight, nearly two thirds of the crowd collapsed instantly, from tireness, hunger, and terror. No more rebellions at this prison. Perhaps he should do it more often?

For now, he had escapees to hunt, an official either corrupt enough to be bribed or stupid enough to be deceived to... deal with, and an empire the size of a continent to run. The Emperor's work was never done.

But of course, his play was unending. He tasted Leshana again, giving a soft belch and coughing up her prison collar and spectacles. The glasses were cracked by the potent power of his digestive tract, and he dropped them lazily, but the collar... oh, delicious. The leather was stained and frayed, but unbroken, and the clasp was still locked shut. Mortals were _such _fun!