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masterghandalfWarning: This chapter contains discussion of slavery, torture and rape.
Chapter Eighteen: Gault Aulbrek
The epigraph is from The Chivalric Illuminations of Raijael. A man is commanded to memorize his own bloodline, and identify the heritage and bloodline of his fellow man. The grand vicar and Quorum of the Five Archbishops of Amadon have confirmed upon themselves the mantle of Laijon’s righteousness. But they are worse than fatherless. For under what birthright do they rule? For it is only in Laijon’s son Raijael where the true mantle of divinity is found.
It’s night on the beach as Gault holds a captive steady while Spades brands him as a slave of Sør Sevier. He can’t help but notice that the young man also has a strange, cross-shaped scar on one hand. Spades then hands him over to Stabler to clean him up and get his name out of him. As he heads off, Gault reflects on the ragged state of their army, still waiting for their supplies to make the trip over from Wyn Darré. Conquering Wyn Darré took five years; Gault isn’t sure he has another five years of that in him. Unlike Spades, who seems to revel in violence and chaos for their own sake, and for the fearsome reputation it wins her. Her actions today have created an image of the Sør Sevier as monsters; if the rest of Gul Kana is as unprepared as Gallows Haven, that fearsome reputation might win the war for them. Gault himself once enjoyed fighting the way Spdes does, but the years have ground that feeling out of him; now he’s mostly just tired.
Jenko is next to be branded; he remains defiant, impressing Gault. Spades, who has shed her outer armor and is dressed in tight-fitting leathers, flirts with him when she’s done, musing that perhaps he’ll be a different sort of slave than the others. Jenko glares at her with a combination of rage and lust, and Gault thinks he’s not the first young man who’s fallen under her spell. But there’s only one man who Spades ever truly had feelings for – the man she now is obsessed with killing. Hawkwood. Spades gropes Jenko and flirts with him some more before sending him on his way. Ava Shay is next; Gault feels sorry for her, since she’s the same age as his stepdaughter Krista and reminds him of her. It’s been five years since Gault has seen Krista, who is now being raised at King Aevrett’s court in the Sør Sevier capital, Rokenwalder. Ava also resembles Avril, Gault’s wife and Krista’s mother, who died young. She was the only person Gault ever really loved. He met her when he was a young knight patrolling the northern highlands; she was fleeing something, an infant girl in her arms. She begged Gault not to take her to “him,” the “monster” she was fleeing, and moved by her plight, he took her under his protection. They married before King Aevrett not long after and named her daughter Krista.
Gault raised Krista as his own child, and on his own after Avril died; she doesn’t know he’s not her biological father. Eventually, war separated them, and for the last few years, Krista has lived in King Aevrett’s household. Gault misses her and her mother dearly. Because of her, seeing Ava stirs Gault to pity. He wonders if she fainted earlier from hunger, exhaustion, or simple fear of Aeros. Gault himself had carried her to a tent under Aeros’s orders. Now, also under Aeros’s orders, she is to be branded. Ava calls out for Jenko, who just broods, and then prays to Laijon for deliverance. Gault tries to comfort her, and Spades makes a crack about Gault wanting a personal slave. He denies it, but Spades isn’t convinced, and Gault has no choice but to hold out Ava’s arm for Spades to brand. He is painfully aware that Ava’s life has been utterly ruined, and that it’s at least partially his fault. When Spades is done, Stabler brings the next prisoner, a heavyset redhead girl, and Spades warns Gault that Aeros has his eye on Ava.
Gault looks away and sees Hammerfiss hauling Baron Jubal Bruk in a crate on a cart – the Baron has been reduced to nothing more than a head and a torso, his wounds cauterized with tar. He’s alive but can only moan incoherently. Hammerfiss said Spiderwood rubbed something under his nose to wake him but isn’t sure how long he’ll stay awake or how coherent he is. Spades pulls out her lucky coin and plays with it as she says that normally, a man as injured as Bruk is would die – it would take a miracle for him to make it to Amadon alive in his state, but Spiderwood has given him a drug to dull his pain, for a time. Bruk rallies and calls them out for the cruelty of what they’ve done to him, which Hammerfiss acknowledges. Stabler snarks he won’t be much good in a fight now, but the redheaded girl is amazed he’s alive at all.
Spades makes a crack about the girl’s weight, and asks her name – it’s Liz Hen, Zane’s sister. Spades offers Liz Hen a dagger and asks if she can think of anything they can do to restore Bruk’s fighting ability; when Liz Hen doesn’t respond, Spades loses her temper, declaring that Liz Hen may be stupid, but Spades knows what to do. She doesn’t want Liz Hen to kill the Baron but jab the hilt of the dagger into one of his arm stumps while the tar is still soft and sticky. Liz Hen does, leaving Bruk with a short dagger sticking out where his arm once was. Spades jeers that he’s now a great warrior again, even though he’s too cowardly to use his new “weapon,” and repeats the procedure on his other stump; Bruk passes out midway through. For her help, Spades decides not to brand Liz Hen.
Aeros rides over, accompanied by Spiderwood; the three knights bend their knees. Aeros isn’t pleased; Spades had assured him that Bruk wouldn’t be harmed. Spiderwood says he was awake when he last saw him and is clearly displeased by the sight of Spades’ handiwork. Spades rages at Spiderwood for always trying to ruin her fun, then blames Liz Hen for the knives; Aeros is nonplussed. He thinks coming here was a mistake. Despite Spiderwood’s assurances, Rosewood wasn’t here to meet them and there’s no sign of Ser Roderic and his ward. Spiderwood assures him Bloodwoods don’t make mistakes and Rosewood will be here soon. Aeros is unimpressed and orders Spiderwood to wake the Baron. When Bruk comes to, Aeros starts grilling him all about Ser Roderic Raybourne, aka Shawcroft, who both Aeros and his father are searching for. When Bruk remains silent, Aeros accuses Spades of leaving him a mess; she grabs one of Bruk’s severed arms from the cart and starts beating him with it, demanding to know where Shawcroft is. She’ll force-feed him his own arm if he can’t answer.
Bruk, terrified, insists he knows nothing. Shawcroft and his ward are both probably dead. Once again, Aeros blames Spades. Bruk thinks they’re both monsters. Aeros muses that Shawcroft probably wouldn’t talk even if they found him – it’s more important to find the boy. Spades, however, has her own questions. Bruk was last in Amadon eight months ago, and she wants to know all he knows about Hawkwood. Bruk just knows he’s a Sør Sevier defector, a good fighter, and sometimes helps train the Dayknights. Rumor also is that Princess Jondralyn is fond of him. At Jondralyn’s name, Spades throws Bruk’s arm at him; Bruk is left painfully aware of his helplessness.
Aeros waves three younger knights over. They’ll be taking Bruk to Amadon; Bruk is to use his influence as a former Dayknight to make sure they return to Aeros unharmed. Bruk is to deliver a message to Jovan. The Sør Sevier are on Gul Kana, and Aeros is about to begin ferrying his whole army over. When they’re here, he’ll march on the fortress at Lord’s Point. There, he’ll accept Jovan’s surrender, along with that of the Grand Vicar and the Quorum of archbishops. For he, Aeros Raijael, is the Lord of this world and of all possible worlds, past and future. The Angel Prince, in whom the prophecies of Laijon’s return are fulfilled. In Gul Kana, they call him the White Prince. He is the true heir of Laijon, Mia and Raijael, and the time is coming soon when everyone in the Five Isles will acknowledge him as King and God. All who do not bend the knee will die. And if Jovan will not come, then all Gul Kana will pay the price. Aeros draws his sword to punctuate the point, and Gault imagines he can see the thousands of lives it has taken reflected in the blade, and in Bruk’s eyes.
MG’s Thoughts
I’m torn on this one. On the one hand, Gault is probably the most engaging of our POV characters at this point, a bad man who nonetheless isn’t devoid of redeeming qualities and who is beginning to question the cause he has dedicated his life to, if not quite consciously yet. Not a particularly original character, of course, but he still feels more clearly drawn and lifelike to me right now than anyone else and is tied to the part of the story that’s actually moving the main plot along, so he’s got that going for him.
On the other hand, this chapter continues to have the same problem last time’s did, that being the edge. I’m increasingly wondering why Aeros even keeps Enna Spades around at this point, much less why she seems to be his de facto second-in-command (or at least, she splits the spot with Spiderwood). Because she’s basically coming across as a maniac he can only barely control, and who is actively making his job harder for him. Not helping that it’s made clear this chapter that the Sør Sevier were so busy pillaging Gallows Haven that they forgot to look for the people they were there to find (or, even worse, that they can’t even recognize Nail and Shawcroft when they’re right under their noses, despite them being the whole reason they’re here at all). Great job, guys. Still not sure why this even took a whole army – I think just sending Spiderwood and a small raiding force to grab Shawcroft and Nail would’ve been a lot more effective. Baron Bruk’s fate also strikes me as so over-the-top it’s hard to take seriously – I remember just being like “huh?” when I first read the part with the knives, and Spades smacking him with his own severed arm (why did you even keep that?) took the scene from horrifying straight into narm as far as I’m concerned (and, uh, am I the only one picturing Bruk as the Black Knight from Holy Grail now? Not exactly a serious mental image!). Finally, I can’t help but wonder why the Knights Archaic, Aeros’s lieutenants and praetorian guard, are the ones personally branding and processing every new slave. Don’t you have people for that?
Finally… Spades and Jenko. It’s explicit here in the way the scene is framed that we’re supposed to see this as a seduction, with Gault’s commentary confirming it. But once again, I’m pretty confident a male version of Spades who acted the same way would be depicted as undeniably a rapist (and, again, Aeros’s very similar interest in Ava is going to be explicitly portrayed as rapey). And of course the one woman in the group of knights Aeros is sending with Bruk is also described as unusually pretty – can’t have any ugly or plain women in one’s evil army, apparently. /s
Chapter Eighteen: Gault Aulbrek
The epigraph is from The Chivalric Illuminations of Raijael. A man is commanded to memorize his own bloodline, and identify the heritage and bloodline of his fellow man. The grand vicar and Quorum of the Five Archbishops of Amadon have confirmed upon themselves the mantle of Laijon’s righteousness. But they are worse than fatherless. For under what birthright do they rule? For it is only in Laijon’s son Raijael where the true mantle of divinity is found.
It’s night on the beach as Gault holds a captive steady while Spades brands him as a slave of Sør Sevier. He can’t help but notice that the young man also has a strange, cross-shaped scar on one hand. Spades then hands him over to Stabler to clean him up and get his name out of him. As he heads off, Gault reflects on the ragged state of their army, still waiting for their supplies to make the trip over from Wyn Darré. Conquering Wyn Darré took five years; Gault isn’t sure he has another five years of that in him. Unlike Spades, who seems to revel in violence and chaos for their own sake, and for the fearsome reputation it wins her. Her actions today have created an image of the Sør Sevier as monsters; if the rest of Gul Kana is as unprepared as Gallows Haven, that fearsome reputation might win the war for them. Gault himself once enjoyed fighting the way Spdes does, but the years have ground that feeling out of him; now he’s mostly just tired.
Jenko is next to be branded; he remains defiant, impressing Gault. Spades, who has shed her outer armor and is dressed in tight-fitting leathers, flirts with him when she’s done, musing that perhaps he’ll be a different sort of slave than the others. Jenko glares at her with a combination of rage and lust, and Gault thinks he’s not the first young man who’s fallen under her spell. But there’s only one man who Spades ever truly had feelings for – the man she now is obsessed with killing. Hawkwood. Spades gropes Jenko and flirts with him some more before sending him on his way. Ava Shay is next; Gault feels sorry for her, since she’s the same age as his stepdaughter Krista and reminds him of her. It’s been five years since Gault has seen Krista, who is now being raised at King Aevrett’s court in the Sør Sevier capital, Rokenwalder. Ava also resembles Avril, Gault’s wife and Krista’s mother, who died young. She was the only person Gault ever really loved. He met her when he was a young knight patrolling the northern highlands; she was fleeing something, an infant girl in her arms. She begged Gault not to take her to “him,” the “monster” she was fleeing, and moved by her plight, he took her under his protection. They married before King Aevrett not long after and named her daughter Krista.
Gault raised Krista as his own child, and on his own after Avril died; she doesn’t know he’s not her biological father. Eventually, war separated them, and for the last few years, Krista has lived in King Aevrett’s household. Gault misses her and her mother dearly. Because of her, seeing Ava stirs Gault to pity. He wonders if she fainted earlier from hunger, exhaustion, or simple fear of Aeros. Gault himself had carried her to a tent under Aeros’s orders. Now, also under Aeros’s orders, she is to be branded. Ava calls out for Jenko, who just broods, and then prays to Laijon for deliverance. Gault tries to comfort her, and Spades makes a crack about Gault wanting a personal slave. He denies it, but Spades isn’t convinced, and Gault has no choice but to hold out Ava’s arm for Spades to brand. He is painfully aware that Ava’s life has been utterly ruined, and that it’s at least partially his fault. When Spades is done, Stabler brings the next prisoner, a heavyset redhead girl, and Spades warns Gault that Aeros has his eye on Ava.
Gault looks away and sees Hammerfiss hauling Baron Jubal Bruk in a crate on a cart – the Baron has been reduced to nothing more than a head and a torso, his wounds cauterized with tar. He’s alive but can only moan incoherently. Hammerfiss said Spiderwood rubbed something under his nose to wake him but isn’t sure how long he’ll stay awake or how coherent he is. Spades pulls out her lucky coin and plays with it as she says that normally, a man as injured as Bruk is would die – it would take a miracle for him to make it to Amadon alive in his state, but Spiderwood has given him a drug to dull his pain, for a time. Bruk rallies and calls them out for the cruelty of what they’ve done to him, which Hammerfiss acknowledges. Stabler snarks he won’t be much good in a fight now, but the redheaded girl is amazed he’s alive at all.
Spades makes a crack about the girl’s weight, and asks her name – it’s Liz Hen, Zane’s sister. Spades offers Liz Hen a dagger and asks if she can think of anything they can do to restore Bruk’s fighting ability; when Liz Hen doesn’t respond, Spades loses her temper, declaring that Liz Hen may be stupid, but Spades knows what to do. She doesn’t want Liz Hen to kill the Baron but jab the hilt of the dagger into one of his arm stumps while the tar is still soft and sticky. Liz Hen does, leaving Bruk with a short dagger sticking out where his arm once was. Spades jeers that he’s now a great warrior again, even though he’s too cowardly to use his new “weapon,” and repeats the procedure on his other stump; Bruk passes out midway through. For her help, Spades decides not to brand Liz Hen.
Aeros rides over, accompanied by Spiderwood; the three knights bend their knees. Aeros isn’t pleased; Spades had assured him that Bruk wouldn’t be harmed. Spiderwood says he was awake when he last saw him and is clearly displeased by the sight of Spades’ handiwork. Spades rages at Spiderwood for always trying to ruin her fun, then blames Liz Hen for the knives; Aeros is nonplussed. He thinks coming here was a mistake. Despite Spiderwood’s assurances, Rosewood wasn’t here to meet them and there’s no sign of Ser Roderic and his ward. Spiderwood assures him Bloodwoods don’t make mistakes and Rosewood will be here soon. Aeros is unimpressed and orders Spiderwood to wake the Baron. When Bruk comes to, Aeros starts grilling him all about Ser Roderic Raybourne, aka Shawcroft, who both Aeros and his father are searching for. When Bruk remains silent, Aeros accuses Spades of leaving him a mess; she grabs one of Bruk’s severed arms from the cart and starts beating him with it, demanding to know where Shawcroft is. She’ll force-feed him his own arm if he can’t answer.
Bruk, terrified, insists he knows nothing. Shawcroft and his ward are both probably dead. Once again, Aeros blames Spades. Bruk thinks they’re both monsters. Aeros muses that Shawcroft probably wouldn’t talk even if they found him – it’s more important to find the boy. Spades, however, has her own questions. Bruk was last in Amadon eight months ago, and she wants to know all he knows about Hawkwood. Bruk just knows he’s a Sør Sevier defector, a good fighter, and sometimes helps train the Dayknights. Rumor also is that Princess Jondralyn is fond of him. At Jondralyn’s name, Spades throws Bruk’s arm at him; Bruk is left painfully aware of his helplessness.
Aeros waves three younger knights over. They’ll be taking Bruk to Amadon; Bruk is to use his influence as a former Dayknight to make sure they return to Aeros unharmed. Bruk is to deliver a message to Jovan. The Sør Sevier are on Gul Kana, and Aeros is about to begin ferrying his whole army over. When they’re here, he’ll march on the fortress at Lord’s Point. There, he’ll accept Jovan’s surrender, along with that of the Grand Vicar and the Quorum of archbishops. For he, Aeros Raijael, is the Lord of this world and of all possible worlds, past and future. The Angel Prince, in whom the prophecies of Laijon’s return are fulfilled. In Gul Kana, they call him the White Prince. He is the true heir of Laijon, Mia and Raijael, and the time is coming soon when everyone in the Five Isles will acknowledge him as King and God. All who do not bend the knee will die. And if Jovan will not come, then all Gul Kana will pay the price. Aeros draws his sword to punctuate the point, and Gault imagines he can see the thousands of lives it has taken reflected in the blade, and in Bruk’s eyes.
MG’s Thoughts
I’m torn on this one. On the one hand, Gault is probably the most engaging of our POV characters at this point, a bad man who nonetheless isn’t devoid of redeeming qualities and who is beginning to question the cause he has dedicated his life to, if not quite consciously yet. Not a particularly original character, of course, but he still feels more clearly drawn and lifelike to me right now than anyone else and is tied to the part of the story that’s actually moving the main plot along, so he’s got that going for him.
On the other hand, this chapter continues to have the same problem last time’s did, that being the edge. I’m increasingly wondering why Aeros even keeps Enna Spades around at this point, much less why she seems to be his de facto second-in-command (or at least, she splits the spot with Spiderwood). Because she’s basically coming across as a maniac he can only barely control, and who is actively making his job harder for him. Not helping that it’s made clear this chapter that the Sør Sevier were so busy pillaging Gallows Haven that they forgot to look for the people they were there to find (or, even worse, that they can’t even recognize Nail and Shawcroft when they’re right under their noses, despite them being the whole reason they’re here at all). Great job, guys. Still not sure why this even took a whole army – I think just sending Spiderwood and a small raiding force to grab Shawcroft and Nail would’ve been a lot more effective. Baron Bruk’s fate also strikes me as so over-the-top it’s hard to take seriously – I remember just being like “huh?” when I first read the part with the knives, and Spades smacking him with his own severed arm (why did you even keep that?) took the scene from horrifying straight into narm as far as I’m concerned (and, uh, am I the only one picturing Bruk as the Black Knight from Holy Grail now? Not exactly a serious mental image!). Finally, I can’t help but wonder why the Knights Archaic, Aeros’s lieutenants and praetorian guard, are the ones personally branding and processing every new slave. Don’t you have people for that?
Finally… Spades and Jenko. It’s explicit here in the way the scene is framed that we’re supposed to see this as a seduction, with Gault’s commentary confirming it. But once again, I’m pretty confident a male version of Spades who acted the same way would be depicted as undeniably a rapist (and, again, Aeros’s very similar interest in Ava is going to be explicitly portrayed as rapey). And of course the one woman in the group of knights Aeros is sending with Bruk is also described as unusually pretty – can’t have any ugly or plain women in one’s evil army, apparently. /s
no subject
Date: 2026-07-24 12:02 am (UTC)And forgetting literally everything about the context of Harley Quinn.
no subject
Date: 2026-07-27 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-07-26 06:32 pm (UTC)...What incentive would he have to do that, exactly?
Agreed. Why would any proper evil overlord have any tolerance for a subordinate who puts her own whims before accomplishing what he told her to accomplish? And why should we, the readers, think of her as a dangerous, cunning villain when she can't even do something as simple as not brutally mutilating the valuable prisoner who her boss wanted unharmed?
What was even their plan to find him? Again, they didn't even say "Keep an eye for a kid who looks like [best physical description they have of Nail]," or, "Bring all the boys within [age range] to the Bloodwoods." They even say there's "no sign of Ser Roderic and his ward," when his ward was right there a second ago! Did it not occur to them to just look for him in the group of slaves they took!? Where else would they even expect him to be? They didn't fail, they succeeded, they're just so lazy they don't even know it!
Also, considering two of our viewpoint characters are being tortured in this chapter, it probably would've made more sense for it to be from one of their perspectives, so we can actually appreciate the severity of it.
no subject
Date: 2026-07-27 01:23 am (UTC)Agreed on all counts.
What was even their plan to find him? Again, they didn't even say "Keep an eye for a kid who looks like [best physical description they have of Nail]," or, "Bring all the boys within [age range] to the Bloodwoods." They even say there's "no sign of Ser Roderic and his ward," when his ward was right there a second ago! Did it not occur to them to just look for him in the group of slaves they took!? Where else would they even expect him to be? They didn't fail, they succeeded, they're just so lazy they don't even know it!
It's just shockingly shoddy. Especially since it's been hinted at several points already that Nail is distinctive looking in ways that Aeros and his followers ought to recognize. But nope!
Also, considering two of our viewpoint characters are being tortured in this chapter, it probably would've made more sense for it to be from one of their perspectives, so we can actually appreciate the severity of it.
A very good point; we could have also split the "everyone gets enslaved" part and the "Gault broods and attends Aeros" part into separate chapters, with either Nail or Ava as the pov for the first one.