by Logan Jacobs
I’d already lost a lot of time, so there was no telling where he would be. I darted out of the throne room, and I almost collided with two thick-chested red-eyed guards. The guard to my left tried to grab me by the neck, so I ducked low and came back up with an uppercut to his jaw.
The mind-controlled zombie guard flew backward, but that left the guard to my right to contend with. He pushed against me with his spear, and I was pressed into the wall beside the entrance to the throne room. I grabbed his spear with both hands, and I grimaced with effort as I tried to shove him off me, but he was bigger and slightly stronger, plus not in his right mind.
Finally, an idea struck me, and I murmured the power word for my ice spell under my breath. “Chs.”
The chill spread from my hands across the wooden handle of the guard’s spear, and I focused my will power on making the ice stronger and stronger. My head began to throb with the effort, but soon the ice started to cover the guard’s gauntlets and forearms. The ice grew steadily until it reached his face, and as his cheeks began to freeze, I pushed him backward with a loud grunt.
“Chill out, dude,” I said as the frozen guard fell over to hit the ground flat on his back, and then I laughed out loud at my own cheesiness. At least there was no one else around to hear me.
I continued on down the corridor until the next junction, and I was trying to decide what I wanted to do when a red-eyed servant came charging at me from the shadows. It was a young man, probably no older than eighteen, and he held a candle holder base in his fist.
I shook my head in disbelief at how low the necromancer would stoop, and then I punched the kid square in the nose. He collapsed instantly, and I checked his pulse. He was alive, but unconscious, which meant I didn’t have to kill him.
So far, I still hadn’t had to kill any of the zombie guards Dumas was sending to guard his tracks, but I didn’t think it would last forever. I still needed to find the court wizard, so his trail of zombies was actually very helpful.
I went to the hallway where the servant had come from, and I shot one last doubtful glance in the other possible direction before I followed the corridor away from the audience chamber. I was headed in the direction of the main entrance, so I had a reasonable suspicion that Dumas was trying to get out of Dodge.
With a better destination in mind, I could cover a lot of ground if I went faster, so I stomped my foot to activate the fleetness ability of my griffon feather boots, and then I zoomed down the corridors and hallways to the main entrance of the palace. I passed by several red-eyed servants and guards on my way, and I assumed the necromancer had so many victims because the royal household was beginning their morning rituals and routines.
I dashed between the red-eyed zombie servants and guards, and if they got too close to me, I would blast out the gusts of air I’d learned from the Zaborial Isle priests to knock them back.
Finally, I burst out the main entrance and past the group of guards protecting the portal, and I used the water spells I’d learned from the banquet to coat them in liquid before I doused them with ice. I swiveled once I knew they were taken care of, and across the courtyard in the distance, I saw Dumas heading toward the city streets.
I stomped my foot again, and I chased after him with several spells ready in my mind. As I crossed the distance between us, the necromancer caught wind of my approach, and he turned to face me.
“Stop, dumbass!” I shouted, and I started the hand motions for another ice spell. “You’re under arrest.”
“Why in all of Sorreyal would I stop for you?” Dumas snickered, and he flicked the wrist of the hand not holding the red crystal staff. “Nin!”
My ice shard dissipated before it’d even formed, and I cursed under my breath. Apparently, the necromancer could do more than just raise the dead and control people’s minds with his staff. He could also cast negate, which made me wonder what other spells he would throw at me.
I zoomed across the distance and grabbed the red crystal staff in his hand. The necromancer yanked back on it, but I didn’t release my grip. We struggled back and forth for a long moment, and then I remembered what I’d done to the spear, so I focused my will power and summoned my ice spell.
“Chs,” I hissed as I glared into Dumas’ pale-green eyes.
“Nin!” he shouted as soon as he saw my lips move, and then he flicked his wrist in an effort to dislodge my grip on his staff, but his eyes glowed with rage. “Perhaps a god under my command would come in handy.”
“It won’t work on me,” I assured him, but in reality I wasn’t so confident.
Still, I had to get the staff away from him before he tried it, because I wasn’t certain I was immune to the mind control effects.
“We shall see.” Dumas twisted the staff in his hand, and the motion bent my wrist backward, which caused me to break my hold on the handle.
I trotted backward to get some distance between us, and I shook out my left hand as I considered what spell to use next. With his negating spell being so well-timed, it was difficult to get anything cast, but I would figure out how to beat this wizard even if it took me a thousand lifetimes.
I twirled my sword in my right hand as I considered my next step. Dumas was whirling his staff around his head the way he did before he performed the mind control spell, so I knew I didn’t have a lot of time before we were going to find out if the staff would work on me.
I had to act fast.
I stomped my foot to activate the fleetness ability of my griffon feather boots and then charged forward as Dumas went to slam the staff’s handle down onto the ground, but I managed to tackle the necromancer around the waist before he could complete the motion. We both went down with a heavy thud, but I landed on top of him, and the staff fell from his grasp.
The wooden handle with the red crystal on top skidded across the paving stones as it bounced a yard or so away from us, and we both eyed it in our peripherals.
I’d managed to stop his spell, but now I needed to get my hands on that staff before he did, so I rolled off him and came up on my feet in my next breath. Dumas was hot on my tail, and we both lunged toward the staff in the same instant.
My fist wrapped around the wooden handle just before his did, and I yanked it away from his reach. Then I pulled myself up to my feet, and I brought the wooden shaft down against my knee, which snapped the staff in half.
“Nooo!” Dumas screamed, and a pained expression twisted his face. “My beautiful staff!”
I had a feeling the necromancer was a little attached to his mind control device, but no one, besides me anyway, deserved to have that much power.
“It’s done,” I said as I tossed the two pieces of staff to the side and marched toward the necromancer. “Give it up, Dumas.”
“You have ruined my entire life,” Dumas snarled as he pushed himself to his feet. He flicked his hands, and a large magical shield bloomed from his palm to cover his entire person. “I am not going down without a fight, so do your worst.”
“You want to go toe to toe with a god?” I shook my head in disbelief. “You’re a special kind of stupid, aren’t ya, dumbass?”
Dumas didn’t respond, but he narrowed his pale-green eyes at me with a look that could kill a weaker man than myself.
I didn’t mind pissing off the necromancer, since it was only fair to return the favor.
Then I shot handfuls of ice and fire at his shield, but each time one of my spells struck the magical barrier, they were eaten up by the magical forcefield.
“This is no ordinary shield,” Dumas informed me with an evil-sounding chuckle. “It absorbs the magic, which only makes my spell stronger.”
“Son of a bitch,” I grumbled. “That’s pretty cool. What’s the word of power for it?”
“I would not teach you a single thing even if it was the last thing I did in this world,” Dumas sneered.
“So dramatic.” I rolled my eyes, flicked my feather sword around in my grip, and then brought up my own magical shi
eld in my left hand. “Does your shield counter weapons?”
Dumas’ eyes widened as though he just now realized I carried a sword, and I saw his tongue flick out to moisten his lips.
I’d had just about enough of the mouthy necromancer, though, so I charged forward with a fierce battle cry.
“Die, dumbass!” I yelled as I swung my sword high over my head. I bashed into his shield with my own, and I pushed his arm away just as my blade swished downward toward his neck.
The necromancer twirled away from me with some nimble footwork, and in my next breath, he stood a yard away from me.
“You are the rudest Archduke I have ever known,” Dumas scoffed. “You are a disgrace to the position. Sorreyal would be much better off without you.”
“Hey, I’m not the one trying to fuck everything up,” I pointed out, and I charged forward again.
Dumas managed to evade my next several attacks, but I began to predict some of his movements as time went on. We inched further and further down the streets of Vallenwood, but it was so early in the morning that the pathways were clear of people. The city still slept as we battled on, but I needed to end this soon, since I was quickly getting tired of this cat and mouse game.
I shot ice, fire, air, and water at the necromancer, but each spell only intensified the strength of his shield, and every time I got close enough to slash at him with my feather sword, he managed to avoid my attack. He was good, but I was better, or at least I could be with enough attempts.
I considered resetting to have the whole battle go faster, but I felt like I had Dumas on the ropes, so I decided to let time continue to move forward. The necromancer continued to taunt me in an effort to get under my skin or find a weakness, but I didn’t give in to him. I ignored his words, and I focused all my magical and physical ability on bringing him in.
Then the king’s words rang through my head so loudly it was like Frederick was standing right beside me.
Alive or dead…
I could kill Dumas if I wanted to, and after all the time I’d spent fighting with him, I was about ready to wring his scrawny neck with my bare hands.
I was better than that, though, so I twirled my blade around in my grip and withdrew one of my daggers with my left hand. I was done using magic now since Dumas and I were so well-matched in that area, but I had a good feeling he was less keen with actual weapons.
Then I stomped my foot to activate the fleetness ability of my griffon feather boots before I zoomed across the distance to Dumas, and I buried my two blades in his chest as I collided into him. We went down with a thud, and the necromancer’s face contorted in pain, but then his expression softened as blood dribbled past the barrier of his lips.
He was dead. Finally.
I’d won the battle, but not the war. There were still more enemies out there who wished me and my loved ones harm, but I would make sure they all met the same fate as Dumas, Arginold, and Racine. Nobody could stand in my way and live to tell the tale.
I was Sir Sebastian, the Archduke of Bastianville, Dragon Slayer, and the God of Time. And the God of Death. And Sex. And Winning.
Sorreyal was mine.
Chapter Twenty
I stood up and brushed off my clothes, but there were still red stains from Dumas’ wounds all across my shirt. It was trashed for now. I wiped my blades clean and returned them to their sheaths, but I hesitated as I peered down at the necromancer’s dead body.
Was I satisfied with the results?
I didn’t have any injuries, and I hadn’t killed anyone yet, that I knew of, but something could have gone wrong at the palace while I was fighting Dumas, so I decided not to make a new save point just yet. However, I could do without ever hearing the necromancer’s grating voice again, so if nothing was amiss back at the castle, I contemplated letting this be my final run through.
I could always redo it again if I didn’t make a new save point, but I was ready to get the dirty part over with, so I reached down and grabbed Dumas’ corpse. I slung him across my shoulders and grunted beneath his weight, but then I got him situated into a comfortable position and turned back toward the palace.
I didn’t want to waste another percentage of my griffon feather boot’s durability, so I took a normal pace back to the king. By this time, the streets were beginning to fill with store owners, merchants, and vendors, so I received more than one shocked expression as I carried the necromancer’s dead body back to the palace.
“He’s dead.”
“What happened?”
“Is the city in danger?”
After I’d traveled through several streets of murmurs, I’d had enough of it, and I turned to the gathering crowd with a sigh.
“The man on my back was trying to undermine the king’s rule,” I explained. “He was a traitor to the crown, and a threat to the entire realm.”
“Who killed him?” one of the citizens asked.
“I did.” I held my chin high, and I met the gaze of the people straight on.
“Aren’t you the Archduke?” a different person asked.
“Yep.” I nodded. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go see the king.”
The crowd parted to let me through, and the whispers grew less intense. It didn’t take me very long to return to the courtyard, and I nodded at the guards who stood at the main entrance. They nodded back, but they eyed me suspiciously as I passed by them.
I supposed it wasn’t every day the Archduke of Sorreyal carried a dead court wizard around, but I was just glad they didn’t try to stop me. I was also pleased to find all the servants and guards with normal-looking eyes, so I assumed the mind control spell had broken when the staff had.
The king was still in the audience chamber when I arrived, and his face fell when he noticed the body slung across my back. The guards who’d attacked me while under Dumas’ control looked terrified when I entered the room, and one had burn marks across his face from my flame spell. I knew right away I was going to reset to my save point, but first I wanted to hear the king’s reaction to Dumas’ death just in case I needed to make some more tweaks to how I handled things next time.
“I feared the worst when you did not immediately return,” the king confessed. “I was about to initiate emergency protocols.”
“What would that do?” I was curious. It could be useful in the future, after all.
“It would seal the palace, and no one would be able to enter or leave until I lifted the protocols,” the king explained.
“So, if I didn’t beat Dumas,” I surmised, “then you would have left all the citizens of the city vulnerable to his mind control magic.”
“If a mage was on the loose who could best a god…” The king shook his head. “My responsibility lies first and foremost on protecting myself and the nobility.”
“All of Sorreyal is your responsibility,” I pointed out.
“Relax, Your Grace,” the king admonished. “It did not come to that, thanks to your efforts.”
“At some point,” I said with a wry smirk, “you’re going to have to stop relying on me to clean up all your messes. Or at the very least, believe me when I say there are those who would see you dethroned.”
“I believe you, Sir Sebastian.” The king nodded solemnly. “But we are now left with certain tasks that must be accomplished.”
“Yeah, like arresting Edinburg, Mistvale, and Zorya,” I said in a hard voice. “I will sleep better at night knowing all three of them are behind bars. Or dead.”
“While I am convinced of their scheming, there is no evidence of their treachery.” The king’s shoulders slumped. “We must simply be vigilant and not let them make another move to betray me.”
“Or you could be proactive and kill them in their sleep.” I shrugged. “Or have me do it for you, if you’re too squeamish.”
“I will not have you murdering two of the most powerful nobles besides yourself,” the king argued. “For the sake of the people of Sorreyal, and for the sake of order
in my kingdom, there must be a trial.”
I wasn’t going to get what I really wanted on this attempt, which was one-hundred percent completion, so I reset back to my save point with a wave of my will.
Chime.
I was back in bed with my lovers, and I quietly slid out from the covers to set my plans in motion. I would find a way to take Dumas out without hurting any innocent people, and the king would believe everything I said.
I captured the assassin and took him before the king, and I insisted two guards were enough to arrest the necromancer. I warned him of the staff’s magical properties, so when Dumas arrived and denied his involvement in the assassination attempt, the king’s first command was to strip the court wizard of his staff.
They struggled, and the necromancer pushed them back with the handle of the staff before he waved it in a broad circle above his head. An instant later, he brought the end down upon the ground with a soft thud in the lush carpet, and the red-eyed guards turned toward the throne dais.
I stepped in front of the king before I held up both palms and summoned my ice spell. “Chs!”
The ice coated the arms of the mind-controlled guards, and their weapons fell from their frozen fingertips. They were harmless, for now.
“Tie them up with the sash of your robe when they start to thaw,” I instructed the king, and then I turned to dash out of the audience chamber.
Dumas had still managed to evade capture, but I chased after him with the enhanced speed of my griffon feather boots, and I tackled him as he entered the palace courtyard. After another sour exchange, we battled with magic, but this time I was a lot more careful with the timing of my casting, and I managed to get past his negate spell a few times to hit him with my elemental magic.
Once the necromancer was wounded and weakened, I attempted to take him alive, but Dumas refused to go peacefully. One of his arms was frozen in place, and he held his magical shield up with the other palm, but sweat dappled his forehead, so I knew he couldn’t last much longer.
In the end, I decided to kill him with my daggers again, and I made sure to break the staff in half to undo the mind control spell placed on the servants and guards. When that was done, I slung Dumas’ corpse over my shoulders, and then I returned his body to the audience chamber. I managed to avoid the gawking eyes of the townspeople by killing him in the courtyard, and only the confused blinks of the servants and guards greeted me as I passed through the corridors.
