Short Takes

[Ranai]

Nothing like a pompous bloody massacre to let the underlings know what they are dealing with! We will follow this promising despot's career with interest. (Now where the heck did that pluralis majestatis come from?)

There is not a whole lot of... er... individual human interest in the text yet; the victims are dealt with wholesale. As the narrative employs the voice of a detached historiographer, it is up to the reader to supply perceptive details to enrich the facts. The flash of a knife and tearing of fabric as clothes are cut off a helpless body – how else to strip chained-up soldiers. The white face of a seasoned warrior as his jewels touch the blood-slick block. Rough hands, calloused from exercise and battle, clenching and unclenching trapped in unyielding irons. Ahem... Now look what you've done! —> :Tasty:

In a prologue it is good; in the corpus of a story readers may wish to have the panorama view supplemented with close-ups to revel in. Thanks for a royal entertainment, Mad.
*Kiss*