It was finally my turn to smile. “Excellent. First, I expect there is a retainer set aside for me?”
Eppet nodded. “Naturally. Five hundred Imperials, to be paid upon accepting the mission.”
Lia gasped loudly behind me, and I fought off a chuckle as I continued. “Second, I’ll need a similar full pardon for my traveling companion.”
“Consider it done.”
“Third, I would like to meet with the king’s armorer. I have gear in need of repair and commissions in need of making.” My mind buzzed as I thought through a long list of new equipment ideas.
“That can be arranged.” Gullen made a small motion to leave. “Is that all?”
“No. I expect assurance that this is a one-time contract. I am not joining the king’s army, and won’t be expected to perform any duties beyond this one mission.”
The councilor nodded. “Of course! Should you successfully complete this mission, you will be free to leave.” Everything about the way he spoke told me it was a lie, but I knew there was nothing to gain from a confrontation.
“Lastly, I will not be joining a pre-assigned squad for this mission. I choose my own travelling companions.”
Gullen recoiled at the statement as if it had physically impacted against his chest. “Th-that’s...non-negotiable, I’m afraid,” he stuttered. “We are all aware of your exceptional skills, but a task like this is not something that can be done alone.”
“I never said I would be alone,” I replied with a quick look to Lia. “But I need people I can trust to watch my back, not…” I motioned to the three guards who were still sprawled out between us. “They would just be in the way, you see.”
“As I said, this is non-negotiable.” Gullen looked annoyed as he responded, and a bead of sweat trickled down his nose. “There are many factors that have been carefully determined by King Yorrell, and he has only selected the very best—”
“How about one?” Virram’s voice surprised both Gullen and me. “I will select just one of my soldiers to accompany you, and you can choose any other traveling companions you like.”
That’s a better deal than I thought I’d get. I nodded. “I can accept that.”
Gullen retreated back to Virram’s side and whispered in his ear. “Just one, your Grace? Are you sure that’s wise?”
Virram nodded and leaned down to Eppet’s ear. “We’ll send my Shield.”
I heard a small gasp from the councilor. “Sire, you cannot send away your sworn shield.”
“I am the King, Gullen. I can do what I please,” Virram whispered sharply. “Besides, it’s the most logical choice. Of the Trinity Guard, my Shield is the strongest by far. Who better, should the need arise to deal with…” Virram flicked his head in my direction. “Him.”
There was doubt in Gullen’s voice when he responded. “Yes, my King. You are wise beyond your years, to be certain.” He bowed deeply, then scurried to the nearest guard and whispered, “Bring the King’s Shield to the throne room. Immediately.” The guard nodded and descended from the dais to exit through the barracks.
“I am glad we could come to an amicable agreement, Lux.” The king’s voice had regained its former tone of haughty superiority. “Should you succeed on this mission, you will be rewarded handsomely, far beyond your initial retainer. I trust you have grasped the severity of the situation and the level of discretion it demands?”
“I fully understand the situation,” I repeated again with a wry smile.
Virram’s eyebrow raised in annoyance, but before he could respond, the barracks door opened again. The guard Gullen had sent away returned to his post and was followed by a woman who was clearly the King’s Shield. She stood nearly equal to my height, with caramel skin and rich, flowing auburn hair that brushed down just past her shoulders. She was fully adorned in beautiful silver scale armor, which seemed to sparkle with multiple colors under the light of the stained-glass window.
While she cut an impressive figure in her dazzling armor, my focus was entirely drawn to the shield buckled to her right arm. It was a magnificent tower shield about five and a half feet from top to bottom, the face of which looked to be made entirely of stained glass. The edge of the shield was bound in a silvered steel similar to her armor, while its face depicted the same moon and sky scene as the enormous window behind her.
The woman moved to the side of the throne and rested the massive shield on the ground before her. “You called for me, my king?”
Virram stood and moved to the front of the dais, motioning for the woman to follow. “Lux. This is Valandra Sesaude, the leader of my Trinity Guard. She will be your royal companion for the duration of your mission.”
***
4. ONE DAY CLOSER
“How can a mission briefing possibly take THIS long?” I grumbled as I paced across the small bedchamber. “They certainly didn’t give ME the time of day.” There was an itch at the back of my neck, and I scratched angrily at the source. “And these clothes are terrible! How can someone be expected to exist, let alone relax, in such awful fabric!”
“Lux, if you keep pacing like that, you’re going to wear a path in the carpet,” Lia called out playfully. I stopped deliberately and turned to meet her gaze, then rolled my eyes dramatically. She chuckled. “Sorry, it’s something Father always used to say to me when I was a kid.”
I flopped down face first onto the bed beside her and sighed loudly. After our meeting with the king in the throne room, time had flown by in a flurry of new faces and seemingly endless hallways. Once the king had left, Savitz showed us to a side chamber where I was presented with a satchel containing a small wooden box. Five identical silk pouches filled the majority of the box, each containing one hundred golden Imperials.
The only other item inside the box was a small scroll of paper stamped with a massive insignia of the king. Savitz had explained that it was a royal writ; were I to encounter any difficulties with guards or citizens within the borders of Kaldan on my mission, the writ would indicate that I had the necessary royal authority. Before I had a chance to question him further, Savitz pawned us off onto another guard who led us to the royal armory.
Our time in the armory had been far too brief for my liking. Lia and I found our confiscated weapons already present on the smith’s workbench, and two maids were waiting with a change of clothes for each of us to replace our armor, which we were to leave for repairs. I only had time to explain my first set of commission projects to the head blacksmith before we were ferried away again by yet another new guard.
The stops that followed were less notable and had already begun to blend together in my mind: a quick examination by the king’s personal physician, a rushed meal in the corner of a tertiary dining hall, and an incredibly long trip through the keep to the servant’s quarters, where we were eventually led to our current location and informed that we would be free to leave once our new companion had finished her mission briefing with the king.
“Honestly,” I complained into the sheets, “I shouldn’t have settled for an assigned guard. If I had refused the retainer, I definitely could’ve gotten out of having a babysitter.” With a wordless groan of frustration, I rolled over onto my back and rubbed my face. “He was right where I wanted him, too. What a waste.”
Lia tapped me lightly on the forehead. “I had a question about that.” She laid back next to me and swung her feet lazily off the edge of the bed. “How did you know what was going to happen? You were a prisoner being judged by the King, and somehow you ended up setting your own terms in the negotiation. Did you use magic on him?”
I smiled, thankful for the momentary distraction from my foul mood. “I didn’t know what was going to happen. Between my past experience with royalty and what I was able to glean from watching him with his councilors before our meeting, I was able to make an educated guess on how to manipulate him.” I rolled my head to the side to look at Lia. “It was certainly a gamble, but I knew the odds were in my favor. I wouldn’t hav
e gone through with it if I thought it would put you in danger.”
Her cheeks flushed as she continued to stare up at the ceiling. “I wasn’t thinking about any of that. I was just...scared. When he asked me who I was, the only instinct I had was to answer immediately. That, and pray for mercy.”
The idea brought back some of the bitterness I felt from the encounter with the king. “It’s always the same no matter where you go. The systems are always set up to make you believe that the rulers are all-powerful and all-knowing, like they somehow deserve all the power they wield.” I scowled at the memory of Virram’s sneering face. “Why should you have to pray for mercy from him? What right does he have to judge you?”
I sat up and balled my fists against my legs. “The only difference between you and him is that he was born with a title, and you weren’t. Virram Yorrell is a weak-willed brat who never learned the word ‘no.’ Take away his title, and he becomes nothing but another commoner like us.” Memories of my encounters with the ruling classes in my past lives flooded back to me, unbidden and unwanted. My jaw clenched reflexively and cut off any further rambling.
Lia sat up beside me and put an arm around my shoulders. Her other hand cupped my fist comfortingly as she rested her chin on my shoulder. We sat together quietly as I tried to bring my ragged breath under control. “I’m sorry, Lux,” she breathed softly into my ear, breaking the silence. “I know how much you’ve suffered because of royalty.” My tightly balled fingers melted under her touch, and she wove her hand into mine. As my anger subsided, I registered the sadness in her voice, and a knot formed in my stomach.
Don't infect her with your torments. I let out a shaky breath and relaxed the muscles I had unconsciously tensed. “I shouldn’t be so negative all the time. My past doesn’t need to be your future.” I gave her hand a light squeeze. “Besides, it isn’t all bad. It was Virram’s arrogance that gave me the upper hand in our meeting. If he had been reasonable, I wouldn’t have had any idea what to do.” The small smile that spread on Lia’s face brought one to mine as well, and the cloud over my mind dispersed.
“It might not seem as important as fighting or magic, but being able to analyze a person and control a room through speech is a powerful tool.” I leaned back on my elbow and pulled Lia in close. “I was watching Virram with detection magic before the meeting started. A young man in the role of king, surrounded by three advisors who seemed nervous to counsel him. What would you guess about him, given that information?”
Lia nestled into my shoulder and pondered for a moment. “The advisors don’t trust him to rule alone.”
I nodded. “That’s what I thought, too. Now, there could be a lot of reasons for that, but based on his body language and facial expressions, I guessed that he was the arrogant type who believed what he said was law. He proved me right immediately, of course, so I started to act in a way to exploit that.” I looked down to Lia. “So, you have an arrogant young man who ignores his counsel and puts too much faith in his position as king. How do you take advantage of that?”
“I…” Lia trailed off, her brow furrowed. “I’m not sure. I guess you just do whatever it is you did, right?”
“Very clever,” I laughed. “To be a bit more specific than that, the best thing you can do in that situation is to forget you’re talking to the king. Virram is used to people fearing him by default, so treating him like any other—”
A loud click from the door latch interrupted my lecture. Lia and I looked up in unison as Valandra entered the room and closed the door behind her. She was still dressed in her full set of scale mail, and the ornate glass shield was strapped to her back. From my vantage point, the armor made her look like a glittering turtle that had figured out how to walk upright, with a multicolored shell she could shrink behind at a moment’s notice.
“I apologize for the delay,” Valandra stated curtly. “My duties here in the city cannot be left unattended while I am away, which necessitated the creation of an interim protection force for the king.” She snapped into a tight military stance, with her hands clasped behind her back underneath her shield. “Although King Virram has already introduced me to you, I wanted to greet you personally. My name is Valandra Sesaude. I am the King’s Shield, and the commander of the Trinity Guard. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
Lia hopped up from the bed and crossed to meet her in the center of the room. “My name’s Lia. It’s nice to meet you!” She offered out a hand, which Valandra shook firmly. “I’m looking forward to getting to know you while we travel together!” After a brief pause, she looked back at me. “You should introduce yourself too, you know.”
“There’s no need. The King’s Shield already knows who I am,” I called out with a dismissive wave of my hand.
“That is correct, Lux,” Valandra replied. Her voice was deep and even, with a steely timbre that evoked a strength to match her imposing frame. “In addition to the mission briefing, I was informed of your past encounters with the city guard and given a summary of your abilities.”
I let out a derisive snort. “Oh? What, pray tell, are my abilities exactly? I’m interested to hear just how far off base the king’s informants are.” I stood from the bed and stretched my arms over my head. “By the way, you may not want to believe everything you hear about me from the city guard. They don’t seem to be an organization known for their investigative work or for following due process.”
Valandra scanned me for a moment, then nodded. “It seemed to be a very one-sided report by my estimation. Your described predilection for violence stood out as particularly odd, given that you arrived with a young woman who, by all accounts, was given multiple chances to leave. Based on their word alone, I did not expect her to be as healthy and whole as I find her to be now.”
Her candor blindsided me. Between the pleasant surprise of being given the benefit of the doubt, the stinging rebuke of being labeled a vicious sadist, and the absolutely neutral delivery of the information, it was all I could do to stand and keep my jaw from falling slack. I looked to Lia to gauge her reaction, but she was locked in an intense staring contest with the rug. Her cheeks burned bright red, which contrasted against the white of her knuckles clasped tightly behind her back.
“Now that I have had a chance to take my own measure of you,” Valandra continued, “I do not believe you are capable of that type of violence. A man like that would not look embarrassed as you do now; he would show pride in being recognized or anger in being dismissed.”
Embarrassed? The warmth in my face registered in my brain, and I realized I was also blushing red alongside Lia. The realization only caused me to blush further, which made my clench my jaw uncomfortably hard. I’m being played as easily as Virram.
“I’m glad I’ve passed your test of character,” I shot back, forcing an unsteady waver out of my voice. “I was worried that my chaperone might not approve of who I am as a person, but you’ve put those fears to rest. Now, do you have any other tests for me, or can we finally get out of here?”
Valandra cocked her head to one side. “I am not here to be a chaperone for you, Lux. I have been instructed to represent the interests of the Golden Throne in the coming mission to Attetsia. We will be working together to solve any issues encountered there. I am not your keeper.”
“We both know that isn’t true,” I countered, my confidence returned to me. “You’ve been ordered to make sure I don’t run off and abandon your king’s mission. You’ll follow me wherever I go so you can...how did Virram put it? ‘Deal with me, should the need arise’, I believe it was?” I crossed the room and stood face to face with her, my arms crossed in front of me. “We are not all comrades-in-arms fighting for the glory of the Golden Throne. I am cleaning up your country’s mess under threat of imprisonment or death, and you are my royal handler. End of story.”
The room fell into an uncomfortable silence as we stared at each other. Valandra’s olive eyes were impossible to read, though whether it was from ye
ars of training or a complete lack of emotions, I couldn’t tell. A small sniffle finally pulled my gaze away from Valandra and down to Lia. Her face was wet with tears as her shoulders shook softly from quiet, repressed sobs. I ran a comforting hand across her shoulders as I cursed myself silently. I can’t keep doing this to her.
“Our equipment will be ready in three days,” I said absentmindedly, not taking my eyes off of Lia. “Until then, we have other matters to attend to that don’t require a babysitter.” Circling around her, I placed an arm over Lia’s shoulders and moved to head for the door. “Though, you’ll follow us regardless, I’m sure.”
Lia coughed and wiped her face quickly with the back of her hand. “Where are we going now?”
“Well, I’m feeling a bit peckish. I’ve been craving asperfruit jam for weeks now, and I happen to know a little place in Tolamar that serves the best toast with homemade jam I’ve ever had.” I looked down to her out of the corner of my eye as I opened the door. “I suppose it’s the only place I’ve ever had it, but my point still stands.”
Lia’s face lit up with a brilliant smile. She clamped her arms around my torso in an awkward sideways hug and buried her face in the side of my arm. After a tight squeeze, she pulled away to look up at me. “Thank you,” she said, her voice cracking.
“Of course. It’s not like we were really going to stay here,” I chuckled, pointing a thumb back over my shoulder at Valandra and the small bedchamber. “A bit too crowded if you ask me.”
Tears rolled down Lia’s face as she nodded in reply, which I hoped were happier ones than moments before. I’ve got to be better. For her. I grabbed my satchel from the side table by the door, and together, we exited the room and began our winding trip out of the keep. A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed that Valandra was indeed following us, though she made no effort to keep pace or ask where we were going.
Restart Again: Volume 2 Page 6
