“That is why I changed the contest format in Xona so we can observe him fight in various scenarios,” Salazar smirked.
“Never feeling bad about playing dirty, are you?” Katherine poked him.
“No.”
65
Collward
“What do you think, James?” Edward Collward asked James upon arriving in Xona.
“Half of it is militia, two-thirds of the rest is barely trained, but that still leaves a fuckton of soldiers,” James evaluated.
“Can you estimate their numbers?”
“I would guess that for every soldier we see, there are two we don’t see. By how they are spread, we are seeing roughly forty thousand men currently watching over the city. That’s hundred and twenty thousand in total. Out of them, there are sixty thousand militias, forty thousand untrained and twenty thousand regular soldiers. We have about fifteen thousand men, give or take. The Order of Palai army numbers about ten thousand. There will be no open fighting here in Xona,” James estimated.
We have fourteen thousand three hundred men and I never told it to James. That makes his guess accurate, scarily accurate.
“What shall you have me do?” James interrupted Collward’s thoughts.
“Two things. Keep your men on the lookout for any movement of the Palai Order. They will likely try something anyway. Secondly, make sure Mr. Leker does not get assassinated. We cannot afford to lose the third member of the Slaver Union council in a row,” Collward explained.
“Babysitting duty? Really?” James chuckled.
“Yes, really. I will pay it like a normal military mission and I will have no complaints,” Collward cut him off.
“None made,” James sighed, “will you need those?” James waved his hand to the two bottles of brandy at the cabinet.
“Yes, I will,” Edward Collward confirmed.
“Tough luck,” James raised from the chair, picked the bottles and left the room.
The people I work with…
“What have you found about my crystals?” Collward asked Gly’Yen’Thn in a measured voice.
“The Order doesn’t have them,” Yen breathed as she sat down and picked up a glass of brandy.
“Are you sure?” Collward pressed.
“Yes. There is no sign of them in depots, no sign of any convoy that could have transported them nor any sign of them in any reports. There are also no witnesses to anything of that size being moved out of the arena complex during the suspected time, nor there are any signs of it happening,” Yen revealed.
“Yet the crystals are gone,” Collward remarked.
“They indeed are. I also found no Palai plans requiring large magic focusing crystals. No blueprints of a device or sign of a place being built for such purpose. Even when going through raw and crafted materials the Order had ordered in past half a year; I didn’t find a single shipment that I could pair with a report or otherwise known activity. The Holy Order of Palai does not have your crystals,” Yen announced.
“Very well then,” Collward took a pause.
This matches the intelligence gathered by my investigation services. That means the crystals are a solo action by Lucas.
“I will consider this a successful mission. Keep your people in a lookout for any Palai armies here in Xona. I still feel like we are missing something. You can also start the next mission, for I need the journey through the tournament of team Xona to end in Redwall. I don’t care how. Make it happen,” Collward ordered.
“As you wish,” Yen smiled and bowed.
66
Luna
“Rrrrgggghhh,” Luna’s eyes were slowly getting out of the red haze. The blood was everywhere. Her head was spinning; her body felt weak and heavy.
“Uuuuurrrggghhhh,” Luna tried to speak, but the only incoherent sound was coming out. She tried to stand up but her legs were too weak to raise her up, so she just ended up flailing around.
Where am I?
Luna tried to focus her eyes but could see only blood. Blood and something white. She flipped over clumsily and tried to get to it.
Is that wool?
“Aaaaarrrrrrrrggggggggggg,” Luna tried to get up again but ended up crashing back down into the pond of blood. She decided to rest for a bit.
What is this place? The walls and ceiling are apparently wooden but painted white.
Come on, Luna, stop being a little bitch and get up!
Luna gritted her teeth and tried to get up once more.
Whoooaaaaa!
Her world spun as she did and made a few wobbly steps sideways before crashing into a wall. She held it tight and waited for the world to stop spinning.
What a bloody mess!
Luna stood in a large room that was covered by blood and pieces of sheep.
Sheep, not humans… good start!
Luna gave herself a few minutes before trying to move by the wall. She knew that walking upright would be foolish, so she dragged herself by the wall. The door was wooden, decorated with silver and had a symbol of Alnil on it. Luna dragged herself to them, then went on to examine the latch that held them. It wasn’t locked in any way, so Luna got herself under it and pushed up.
Thinking about locks… meh, I’m still locked up in Yen’s belt. I need to get rid of this fucking thing. Now I’m too messed up to be bothered by it, but still.
As she pushed it up the door started swinging outwards. Luna held herself on the right wing and swung with it. Her muscles gave out halfway through and she fell to the ground.
Ouch… this is embarrassing!
Am I in a garden?
Luna looked around from the ground and bushes and trees surrounded her. They looked like they used to be nicely arranged at some point in the past, but now just grew wildly. Luna dragged herself on the ground to a tree and sagged down by it. It was peaceful. The leaves were lush green color, birds were chirping in the trees and small animals were moving around the bushes. The air was abuzz with insects.
Am I dead? Because last time I checked it was winter and I was in Cinderwell, which is in bloody mountains.
Luna lay down by the tree for a long time, enjoying the scenery. The air wasn’t warm, but it wasn’t freezing either.
What’s with this annoying sound?
Luna realized that the perfection of the scenery was disrupted by a strange dull sound that echoed through the area ever so often. Luna clawed up to her feet and tried to go to the sound. Her feet were wobbly and she couldn’t walk straight, but she could go from tree to tree, crashing into them. The garden was surprisingly large. She reached a long meadow. On it in the middle was a path of sand made over the grass. In a whirlwind of sand, Raven was suddenly breaking close to her.
“Hey, Luna,” he greeted her. He was in full armor with weights on belt and arms, shield in hand and sword sheathed. He was covered by sweat and breathing heavily. His face was that of impossible beauty, exactly like at the end of the year event.
“Raven… where the hell are we?” Luna asked.
“Well, that’s quite a story,” Raven smiled and sagged down by a tree while drinking from a water skin.
“I’ve got time,” Luna sat down next to him, leaning on the tree.
“Well, what do you remember?” Raven asked.
“Destroying everything I could get my hands on in Cinderwell and stuffing myself with drugs. From them, I got hallucinations for what felt like an eternity. I thought I was dead. I woke up in here… wherever here is,” Luna breathed.
“Mine’s a bit longer. I took you here but needed a place to let you eat. I searched for something abandoned but found nothing, so I asked how to buy something. They sent me to a bank; there they found out I have an account on my name with quite some money on it. They helped me find a place to buy for that money and it was just enough for this one. So, I dropped you off here, got sheep to feed you and have been practicing and waiting for you to wake up since,” Raven revealed.
The money is from Jean, rest of the royalties I
guess. That means this place cost a lot of money and Raven likely got seriously ripped off.
“What is this place? Where are we? What day is it? How did you make such an elaborate plan without having any idea of what’s happening?” Luna shot out all her questions at once.
"Iowen made the plan, I just followed. This is an Alnil temple,” Raven continued.
“Wait, how did you buy a temple?” Luna interrupted him.
“The priests owed the bank a lot of money, they let me buy them out when I agreed I would let them keep using it in exchange for them taking care of the place,” Raven explained.
“You seriously bought a temple? Where are we again?” Luna kept asking.
“I liked the garden. There wasn’t anything else with a large garden close to the arena plus the priests seemed to be really nice.”
“We are not in Cinderwell, are we?” Luna asked suspiciously.
“We are in Xona,” Raven confirmed her suspicion.
“WHAT? When is the match?” Luna barked.
“Tomorrow.”
“SHIT! I need a new dress and shoes, fast!” Luna shouted.
“I got you those already,” Raven smiled.
“How’d you know I need one?”
“Iowen told me.”
I never told Ice cream that I need one. I guess I will need to have a chat with her… I don’t like being spied upon.
“I would like to see it,” Luna whispered softly.
“Also… come to think of it, how come you are moving around Xona without any issues? Weren’t the shackles supposed to fry you if you leave the arena without permission?” she pried.
“They need about an hour to adjust to a new arena. I left before that happened,” Raven revealed.
“Why doesn’t Stallington fry you himself then? He has no other way to find you, does he?” Luna pressed on.
“He can’t do it unless he is close. Up to fifty feet is my rough estimate,” Raven explained.
“So… you can just have those removed at a blacksmith and leave? Like… go wherever you want and be free?”
“Yea… I guess I could when I think about it,” Raven nodded.
“And are you not going to?”
“No.”
“Why? You have spent your whole life dreaming of freedom and now you just don’t feel like having it?” Luna challenged.
“I don’t want to just run. I want to win the tournament beforehand; I promised it to Jonathan anyway. Plus… I don’t know what would I do. Just this city is larger than I could have ever imagined,” Raven conceded.
“You are weird,” Luna shook her head, “one more thing… how did we get to Xona again?”
“With the convoy, as usual.”
“That’s close to three weeks of journey, there is no way the drugs would be effective for so long,” Luna contested.
“Iowen told me to keep you drugged the whole way,” Raven revealed.
“Oh… how did I defecate?”
“Ehhh…” Raven started awkwardly.
“Nevermind. Don’t answer. I don’t want to know,” Luna cut him off.
Raven picked Luna up and helped her get to the bower. There lied all their stuff and large ornamented chest.
“Don’t tell me it’s in the chest,” Luna remarked, knowing the answer.
“It is. It was included in the price,” Raven smiled happily.
No, it wasn’t… but I don’t have the heart to tell you how ripped off you got.
Luna went on to open the chest. The dress was amazing. Long elegant dress inlaid with rubies. Lots of rubies, large rubies, real rubies.
“Let me guess, it was on a mannequin by the window,” Luna smiled.
“How did you figure that out?”
That’s where they put the most expensive things they have.
“Thank you,” Luna whispered and kissed him quickly on a cheek.
Raven was confused, but let it be.
In summary, I survived three weeks of being locked up in this stupid belt without even realizing it. I haven’t killed anyone during that time either. Now I am in Xona, in time for tonight’s date with Yen and have a dress that would make a princess look poor. That’s pretty much an absolute success. It did cost all of Raven’s money, but for some reason him buying out a temple feels right. I owe really big thanks to him and ice cream.
“What are you practicing?” Luna asked him softly as she was examining the dress closely.
“Throw into a quick charge,” Raven answered.
“Why in the sand? It looks like you had it brought here,” Luna continued.
“Redwall is in the desert as far as I have heard. I expect the arena to be sandy,” Raven revealed.
“How about you give me the full story? I feel like I don’t know the correct questions to ask,” Luna exclaimed in exasperation.
“I met count Salazar in Cinderwell. He is strong, stronger than me, stronger than both of us. After both our teams win here in Xona, we face him in Redwall. We will lose if he isn’t taken out fast,” Raven explained.
“What’s the plan? Rush him from the start?” Luna probed.
“Can’t think of anything better. Ideally, he will be overconfident and not be on full guard. I throw a javelin at him to distract him and rush him into the arena to run the sword through him,” Raven stated with a grim look.
“Sounds awfully cheesy. Is there any way I can help?” Luna asked.
“Yea. They have a water magician, Yvonne; she needs to be taken out without endangering her life. I will tell it to the Reavers as well, but I have a feeling it can only be done by you,” Raven breathed.
“Don’t worry, I will knock her out cleanly,” Luna smiled confidently.
I am really, really bad at not killing my opponents. But I will try. For Raven, I will try.
“What magic does Salazar use that you are so scared of him?” Luna asked.
“He manipulates plants.”
“That doesn’t sound very dangerous,” Luna challenged.
“Every magician I have met so far directs his magic from him, making more or less a straight line. Salazar doesn’t, he affects a plant and makes it grow in any direction more or less by his will. That’s really hard to dodge,” Raven explained.
“He catches you in a plant; it tears you apart like the maze in round one. That is seriously dangerous,” Luna nodded.
“Plus, his magical capacity is absurd, if he can channel at least half of it through his body during a fight, he can likely destroy smaller cities,” Raven added.
“Oh… wait, how do you know so much about magic?” Luna inquired.
Raven made an awkward gesture.
“You are using it. All the time, aren’t you? That’s why your strength and speed are so unstable; you make yourself stronger or faster with magic when you need to… what you are practicing isn’t how to dash, it’s how to speed up your dash with magic, isn’t it?” Luna pried.
“Pretty much,” Raven smiled.
“Aha… so it’s not that magic doesn’t affect you much, but rather that you consciously counter it with your own. That’s how you survived the fall; you strengthened your body to not collapse upon itself. Down there at the chest, you could have killed all of them, couldn’t you?” Luna probed.
Raven smirked.
“This impossibly pretty face you have now, it’s made by your magic isn’t it?”
Raven’s face turned to normal. He winked at Luna before it turned back into being impossibly handsome.
“You really are unbelievable. You are fooling everyone around you for your whole life. How do you even sleep at night?” Luna breathed.
“With a pillow under my head.”
“You know what would really help me recover? A massage,” Luna smiled playfully, “my muscles are all stiff from not moving, but if they get massaged blood will flow into them and I will recover much faster.”
“I have no idea how to do that.” Raven protested.
“You will figure it out a
s you go.” Luna got down on the bench and started undressing. Soon after, Raven had his gloves off and started doing what he was commanded.
I don’t actually need it at all, but today has just been too good and I am not going to stop for as long as it keeps giving. Best. Day. Ever. Still, it could have been better if I didn’t have this shitty belt, because, right now, I would totally shag Raven.
67
Luna
The Lair in Xona was larger than in Cinderwell. Much larger. She went through the mansion; this one was advancing downward. As she walked on the spiraling stairs, she realized they are lightly shaking and as she goes down, the shaking increases. She got down to the massive metal door. Two men quickly opened them.
Wow…
Beyond was a ginormous hall. The air was shaking from the magic amplified music; the hall was full of people. Young people who were mostly dancing or drinking. Luna didn’t hesitate for a second and threw in a couple of calming drugs, so she doesn’t go berserk. This was like an overflowing table of all the most delicious food. Delicious food she couldn’t touch.
The Lair… The Lair of a Monster… monster who loves young girls… that’s what this feels like. This place is like a dream come true for that. Not my dream, James’ dream.
Never mind, I don’t have time to think about James now. I need to find Yen and get this belt off me. My crotch has been raging ever since I recovered and it won’t calm down by itself, especially not here.
Luna head into the crowd in search for a bar. Suddenly warm lips caught her by the neck as a soft body wrapped around her from behind. Luna released a loud moan. She knew the lips. She knew the sweet, exciting smell. She knew the gentle caressing touch.
“See? It’s not so hard to come on time,” Yen whispered in her ear as she wrapped herself into Luna. All Luna’s senses went wild. She wanted to knock Yen down and fuck her right here on the floor, “I’ve missed you,” Yen added and slid around Luna to kiss her. The kiss made Luna explode with emotions.
Legacy of Dreams: Freedom Page 36
