Juno reclined on a cushioned bench in the garden, fanning herself and trying to ignore the smell of the greens.

The awful spiders had taken to following her everywhere. She'd even found them in her wardrobe! And the horrible little green minions seemed enamored of the hideous things, went skittering and giggling and stinking after them wherever they scuttled. She was going to have to convince the Master to build her a villa of her own, she thought, annoyed. One with plenty of nasty traps for the loathsome little things.

He'd stormed past her earlier in some kind of fury, hadn't even bothered to give her a second glance...and she'd been arranged so artfully, too. He'd been much too distracted lately with his brand-new toy...she'd have to do something about that soon.

It was nice to be back in the Empire, though. The wine was good, and the food was properly delicate. She'd had enough half-cooked seal and cave bear and whatever else it was barbarians ate to last her a lifetime. And she was finally back in a place where people recognized her, and gave her the sort of attention she deserved.

"Juno."

She preened, turning. She didn't recognize the voice- no doubt it was some serving girl, come to beg makeup tips or romantic advice.

"I'm a bit busy, sweetheart," she crooned. "Come back later."

"Juno!"

She shaded her eyes, looking up. The Master's irritating, bony mother was standing above her, a scowl on her face and her hands on her hips. To make matters worse, the peasant girl and the fairy were with her, both glaring at her as if she'd slept with their husbands.

"Get up," the woman snapped.

Who on earth did the wrinkly old bint think she was?

Juno glared up at the three of them, annoyed.

"You are blocking my light."

"Ruboria is invading," Rose snapped.

"Oh, so that's what that sound was." Juno yawned and waved a hand. "I just thought that was the slaves setting off fireworks or whatnot again. Really, did the Master have to free them all? I could use someone to fan me. Minions just aren't the same."

"My idiot son has decided that the best course of action is to charge right in and fight their forces on his own. We're off to stop him doing something truly stupid. You'll come with us."

"What? Why?"

Fay gave her a look.

"You really want to be here when the Ruborians storm the palace?"

"I'll be fine." Juno yawned again. "I'm pretty."

"Oh, so you speak Ruborian?" Rose asked her archly.

"Er...no, why?"

"How will you beg for mercy when they sacrifice you to one of their awful desert gods?"

"I...what?" Juno stared at her, aghast. "They don't do that, do they?"

"Only the most beautiful maidens are sacrificed, of course, but-"

"Maybe I should go back to the Netherworld."

"Or maybe you could stay and help us talk some sense into him," Fay snapped.

Kelda shrugged.

"Oh, let her go. She's completely useless, anyhow. Nothing but a pretty face, after all."

"Hey! I'm so much more than that!"

"Fine." Kelda smirked. "Prove it."

Juno hesitated, trapped. If she went back underground, she'd be safer...but if the Master survived and found her alone there, after the other two had gone after him...well, she'd been around enough politicians to know how the other Mistresses would spin that. And so far, he'd proven himself to be very, very good at surviving. Perhaps it was best to hedge her bets. She probably wouldn't be in any real danger, anyways...she was beautiful, after all. People loved her.

"Fine," she sighed. "Do I get a little sword thingy?"

-x-

There was a fury in his blood.

The portal took him beyond the palace, to the marble-columned streets beyond. He called up his minions, pulse roaring in his ears. From somewhere far and dim behind him, he could hear Kelda calling something after him. He ignored her, anger coursing icy through his veins.

This was his city, he thought again. This was his Empire. He'd conquered it through blood and fire, and his arrogant, self-serving mother had dared to give him orders, in his palace, as if she'd done anything to help him beyond show up and murmur cryptic warnings.

"Master?" He could hear Gnarl through the helmet, sounding worried. "Er, sire...maybe you should head back to the Netherworld."

"Shut up, Gnarl."

"Master, listen to me! You're going to get yourself-"

A green tugged at his pantleg, pointing behind him.

"Master?" It said uncertainly. "Big man. Big, scary man."

"Oh," he heard Gnarl say, sounding uncharacteristically dismayed. "Oh, hells."

He turned. An enormous, dusky-skinned man leaned on a great broadsword, eyeing him curiously. The man raised his hand in a casual salute.

"You must be the Overlord. I guess mother didn't do a very good job locking you up, did she?" He bent down, curious. "You're a lot smaller than I expected."

"Oh." He tilted his head back, regarding the man. He wasn't used to having to look up. "You're...you're rather big, aren't you?"

The giant grinned back, raising the blade.

"Let's have some fun, little fellow."

"'Little'," the Overlord said dryly. "That's a new one."

The giant strode towards him, and his eyes narrowed. The man moved, he thought, like a snow cat, without the heavy, lumbering gait of the gargantuans or trolls. For an instant, he felt his resolve weaken, wondered if he should have paid more attention to Rose.

He was the Overlord, though, he thought, shaking the thought away with a smirk. He'd conquered an Empire. He'd brought down a god. He was going to enjoy cutting the giant down to size.

He reached out a hand, calling his minions, sent the greens sprinting out of the shadows, leaping onto the giant's back.

To his surprise, the man ignored them, striding forward and bringing his broadsword down faster than he would have thought possible. He barely managed to dodge aside. He staggered back, eyeing the man with a wary new respect. The giant flicked his wrist and skewered a green from his shoulder, gave it a critical look.

"Odd little things," the giant rumbled. "We've got mosquitoes with more bite back home."

He was going to have to be smarter about this. He backed away, deeper into the city. The giant sauntered after him, amused.

"Why in such a hurry, little fellow? Stay and play with me!"

He drew back into the half-ruined city, heading for the slums. The minions skittered ahead, scurrying over shattered stone and still-smoking beams, clearing a path for him. Behind him, the giant cursed and swore as he shouldered his way through the debris.

He could sense a group of reds ahead, clustered around a fire in the slums. The shanties in the slums had blazed up like paper in the chaos of the invasion, and the reds had spent the last few days cheerfully running riot through the ruins. He felt their attention switch from the dancing flames to focus on him, bright and eager.

He called them, drawing them closer, held them crouched on the rooftops. There were greens below the streets, lurking in the sewers. He called them up, and they swarmed up over the broken masonry into the shadows, hissing. The giant forced his way after him, tearing through broken beams and piles of rubble. He turned to face the giant, and the man spat, annoyed.

"Stop running! Stand still and fight like a man!"

Now, he thought, and let the minions slip from his control.

The reds hit the giant first, a barrage of fireballs that set his hair ablaze. The giant screamed and floundered, unprepared for the attack. The greens burst from cover and fell upon him, jagged blades flashing, still wet with filth from the sewers. He howled, furious, his sword flashing out to cut down the minions- but for every one he swept aside, two more boiled up from the sewers to take its place. The giant stumbled as a green slashed his thigh, fell with a crash of armor.

"Hah!"

The giant was down, bleeding from a thousand tiny cuts, struggling to rise beneath the weight of the greens. The Overlord strode forward, wild magic lashing out to leash the great man to his will. Arcing, brilliant power settled around the man's temples, and for an instant, he saw fear in the giant's eyes...but then the man heaved himself to his feet with a snarl, and then, to his astonishment, he broke free from the binding with a roar. The Ruborian surged forward, bringing his broadsword to bear.

The giant was fast, faster than he'd ever expected. The shock of the broadsword skewering his shoulder was like winter water, a chill numbness spreading through his chest. He gaped up at the giant in mute surprise. The man spat and staggered back, clutching his head.

"I'm as stubborn as a rock troll, kid, and twice as strong!" He wiped a smear of red from his nose and bared his teeth, struggling to stay upright. "That shit won't work on me."

The Overlord reached up and grabbed the pommel of the broadsword, pulled it free with a growl. He pushed the pain, the fear, the noise aside, until there was nothing left but a cold, hard core of fury. He flicked his own black blood from the blade, gold eyes burning. The giant took a step back, startled, dodged a sweep of his own sword with a curse. He flipped the axe around and caught the giant full in the chest. The man staggered back, grasping the hilt of the weapon, gasping. He pulled the axe free with a wet, hideous sound, and the giant fell, at last, to his knees.

Go, he thought, cold and cruel and inescapable as a glacier. Kill him.

The minions surged forward, covering the giant like ants as the man flailed and snarled. For every leathery body he swatted aside, another took its place. He howled, raging, his swings growing wilder, struggling to rise, covered in rangy limbs and flashing claws. The Overlord leaned on his axe, black blood leaking down to stain the stones of his conquered city.

"Please," the giant gasped, said something in a rapid, liquid language he didn't know. "Please, Lord, don't-"

"Don't?..." he asked him, mocking.

"Sire!" Gnarl snapped.

He ignored the old minion, focused on the fallen giant, cruel.

"Don't...don't kill me! Please!"

"Please, what?"

"Sire, just kill him already! I've taught you better than this, don't play with your food!"

"Please, Lord! I can...I can help you, join you! I can tell you about our plans, our armies-"

"You want to help me?"

The giant's gaze flicked past him, and he grinned, and spat blood.

"Nah." He said, smirking. "I was just stalling you until the rest of my backup could get here."

"You think that'll help you?" the Overlord asked him, turning. "When I was a child, I killed a whole legion of the Empire's best, and I took you down in a-"

His voice died in his throat. There were a trio of other giants behind him, each as big as the man he'd fought. The minions backed away to flank him, uncertain.

"Oh."

A massive man grinned at the two of them, tapping his mace on a broad shoulder.

"You look like you could use some help, Mal," he said.

The giant spat a curse in his fluid language and rose painfully to his feet.

"You took your time, didn't you?"

"We didn't want to spoil your fun."

"Watch out for this one. He's tougher than he looks."

The giants moved before he could react. The mace caught him full in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. He hit the wall hard, fighting for breath, only just managed to slide out of the way of a scimitar that was half as tall as he was.

The minions were maddened, hurling themselves at the giants, shrieking. The reds called down a salvo of fire that should have roasted the Ruborians to a crisp- but to his shock, one of the men threw up an arcing, sparking shield of magic that answered their fire with lightning. The remaining reds scattered, howling.

His forces were exhausted- they'd shattered themselves bringing the first giant down. He should have killed the big man when he'd had the chance, he thought, furious with himself. He should have known not to stop and taunt a fallen enemy- that was basically Overlording 101.

"I need more minions!" he gasped.

"Working on it, Sire!" Gnarl cried. "You're too far away from a portal to summon them from the Netherworld, but they're on the way. Get out of there while you can, Sire!"

"I'm not fleeing from my own godsdamned city!"

He blocked a sweep from a sword with his axe, dodged the scimitar as the mace whistled past his guard and caught him a blow to the head that made his helmet ring. He staggered, stunned, and Malachite hit him full in the face with the pommel of his sword. He fell, tasting blood.

"Mom's going to be happy to have you back again," the giant growled. "This time we'll break your legs so you can't run off again."

They were going to drag him back to the desert. They were going to chain him up again. He struggled to stand, choking on blood. When the Imperials had put him in their Arena, he'd gone a bit mad, and he'd only come out of his black, frantic fury when Gnarl and the Mistresses had found him again. When the Ruborians had taken him down and locked him in irons, the only thing that had kept him from spiraling into violent panic had been Kelda. He couldn't let them capture him again, he thought, fighting to rise.

The giant man put a foot on his back, forcing him down.

"I'm going to enjoy this," he snarled.

One of the other giants cried out, stumbled forward. Malachite whirled.

"What in the desert?"

The man was clutching a bolt in his shoulder, dark skin paling as he watched black tendrils spreading from the wound. He looked up, his eyes wide, tried to say something as he collapsed and went still.

"Hey, arseholes!"

Kelda stood in the avenue, holding a loaded crossbow, the bolt dripping a sickly, sticky green, flanked by the other Mistresses. Juno was obviously trying not to break and run, holding a sword as if she was afraid it might twist around and bite her. Fay was wreathed in magic, power crackling around her like a lightning storm. Rose was there, too, to his surprise, surrounded by her Sentinels.

"You just had to say something, didn't you?" Juno snapped. "We could have just snuck up on them, but nooo, Kelda had to say something macho."

"I don't see you doing anything to help!"

"Stop arguing, ladies, and make yourselves useful!" Fay hit a giant with a bolt of power, staggering him. "For once!"

One of the giants made an answering gesture, magic flickering over his fingers. Rose sent her Sentinels out after him. They surrounded him, staffs humming, and he screamed, magic warping and twisting within him. He fell, skin smoking. The Sentinels drifted back to Rose, sated.

"Desert," a giant snapped.

He lurched forward, his broadsword striking sparks from the stones. The other giant followed more warily, scimitar held ready.

"You've made a huge mistake, girls."

"Nobody's called me that in decades," Rose said, amused.

Kelda's bolt hit him in the chest. He snarled and kept coming, raising his sword.

"Crap!" She held out a shaking hand. "Rose, hurry!"

Rose dipped the tip of a bolt in a virulent little vial and passed it to her. Kelda cranked the crossbow, struggling to control her trembling- the giants were huge, she thought, and she'd never fought anything quite like them. The bolt went wide, and she cursed.

"Spread out!" Rose snapped.

They scattered, surrounding the giants, wary.

Juno crept along the wall, keeping out of the way of the fighting. She crouched beside the Ovelord, biting her lip, careful not to get any blood on her skirt. There was an awful lot of it, she thought. She wasn't sure if he was still breathing. She poked his shoulder gingerly.

"Hey. Er...Master? Are you dead?"

She hoped he wasn't- otherwise she'd have to find a new patron, and that was so much effort. To be honest, she'd grown somewhat fond of him, too.

Gold eyes opened as he gasped, and she squeaked, took a startled step back.

"Oh, good!" she said, recovering, surprised at how relieved she felt. "I'd hate to have to move all my stuff out of the Netherworld...I've got an awful lot of it."

"Juno?" he rasped.

He seized her hand. She made a face- his hands were covered in sticky black blood, and she just knew it was going to get everywhere.

"We were just so worried about you," she crooned, trying to discretely work her hand free. "So I gathered all the other Mistresses and came after you, because I care so much-"

His eyes narrowed, and he lunged up, knocking her face-down onto the cobblestones. She squealed, horrified, as blood and muck and other unidentifiable filth splashed her dress. For a horrible instant, she wondered if he'd somehow managed to read her mind, knew she was lying- who knew what sort of spooky powers he'd picked up from Solarius? But then she heard the crash of steel on steel, looked up to see him straining against a giant's scimitar, snarling.

The giant forced him down, hardly sparing her a glance. She pulled herself to her feet and picked up her sword, struggling to remember how she'd seen the soldiers hold their weapons.

"Hey!" She swung the sword clumsily, glancing off the giant's armor. "You tried to cut me! How could you? I'm gorgeous!"

The giant looked down at her, bemused, and she went pale, the sword dropping out of her nerveless hands. Whatever had possessed her to do that? She wasn't a warrior!

"Please don't kill me!" She said, knew at that moment with a curious certainty that she was going to die.

A bolt bloomed from his neck. He looked at it, confused, then swayed and fell, his eyes meeting hers as he twitched and died. Juno sank to her knees, shaking. She'd never been so afraid, she thought, not in her entire life. She wasn't built for this sort of thing.

The Overlord stood with a groan, pulled the wrappings around his face down and spat blood.

"Witch boy!" Kelda hurried to him. "You're hurt!"

"You think?" he asked her sarcastically.

"We need to get out of here. We saw even more giants on our way over here- a bunch of them."

"We should go while there's still time," Rose said coolly.

"I'm not leaving my city!" he snarled.

He turned on his heel, staggered, recovering. Kelda grabbed his arm, and he shook her off. She grabbed his arm again and turned him to face her, scowling, jabbed a finger into his chest.

"Don't you bloody dare."

"Kelda..." he growled, dangerous.

"You don't scare me," she snarled back. "I've known you since you were small. We're going below, even if I have to club you over the head and drag you back home by your hair!"

"But I-"

"But nothing!" she snapped. "I'm your Mistress, and your partner, and your friend, you bloody bastard, and I'm telling you, you're being a stupid son of a bitch, and if you keep this up, you're going to get the pair of us- no- the three of us killed!" She jerked her head at Rose and the other Mistresses. "And them, too!"

She was standing up on her tiptoes, bristling like a cat. He tried to step past her, but she pushed him back, her eyes flashing, and he staggered again, suddenly realizing how badly he'd been hurt.

"I'll do it," she growled. "Don't think I won't!"

She was right- and Rose was right. It hurt his pride to admit it, but he realized that, for once, he'd let his rage get the better of him. He hated his mother, still, but she'd been right.

"Let's go."

Kelda blinked up at him, thrown.

"What?"

"Come on." He put an arm around her shoulders, hoping it didn't make him look too weak in front of his mother. "You're right."

"Ooh, I like hearing that." She gave him a strained smile as Fay took his other arm. "You should say that again."

"Don't push it."

They staggered back to the Nethworld, bruised and bloodied. Gnarl took one look at the Overlord and blanched.

"Oh, hells!" he gestured to a pair of minions. "You lot, bring me the sarcophagus- and be quick about it!"

"Is he going to be alright?" Kelda asked him worriedly.

"He's taken quite a beating, but that's what he's built for." Gnarl patted her arm absently. "He'll be fine. We just need him in top shape, and the sarcophagus will speed things up."

A gaggle of browns dragged a long stone coffin into the throne room, looking up at them expectantly. Kelda shivered as she helped the Overlord into the thing- it felt uncomfortably like she was preparing him for burial. He gave her a weak smile and squeezed her hand.

"It'll be fine," he rasped. "I've been through this before."

"Ah, yes, that tangle with the rock troll," Gnarl sighed. "Oh, and the time with the sphinx-"

"How many times did you almost let my son get himself killed?" Rose demanded.

"You try to stop a teenage Overlord from running off after the giant cat woman with the naked breasts next time, then, why don't you?"

"Why didn't you just pop me in here?" Kelda asked him curiously. "Back when I got shot?"

"The sarcophagus...changes...humans, Mistress. Sometimes, they don't survive it."

"Oh. But what about him?"

"I'm not human," he said calmly.

"Ah. Right."

Sometimes, Kelda found herself forgetting that fact, despite his strange looks and wild magic. When he held her, the way his brilliant eyes watched her...she shivered and leaned over to kiss him.

"I'm still mad at you," she told him.

"I know."

"I'm going to yell at you, once you're out of this thing."

"Yes, I know."

"We have a lot to discuss, once you're through with this," Rose said stiffly, with a quick glance at the peasant girl. "How we're going to deal with the Ruborian gyrocopters, for one-"

"Oh, that won't be a problem," the Overlord said calmly.

Rose raised a brow.

"Oh, really? Whyever not?"

"We have dragons."

He laughed aloud at the shock on her face, and then the lid of the sarcophagus swung closed.