Adele slumped into her chair, her arms hanging limp at her side, her chin dropping to her chest.
“We’ll talk again soon, and I’m glad we had lunch together. Let’s do so again tomorrow if you don’t mind,” Claire said, opening the door and leaving Adele sitting there.
“Does anyone even care at all…? This is our cousin,” Adele mumbled to herself. “We’re supposed to support her. It’s why she trusted us. Why we’re here. We should make something happen.”
And why Veronica was going to execute you out of hand.
Ryker briefly considered running back here and talking to her about what he was doing.
Then immediately realized that’d be too much information. He’d have to explain the dungeon in far too much detail.
It simply wasn’t possible.
Unable to help himself, Ryker turned and floated through the wall, heading back to his body.
He resolved himself that if he could help Adele and Claire, he would. But he wouldn’t explain anything about the dungeon, the fairies, or himself in that regard.
Chapter 24- Judgement -
Ryker fiddled with a blueprint construct, moving various bits of equipment through his Minotaur’s construction plans.
Shifting around in his chair, he sighed aloud.
There was no one else in the alcove right now.
He cycled through what seemed like an endless array of weapons.
“Meino, I’m afraid it seems like nothing fits you,” Ryker said to the Minotaur woman in the corner. Meino was the pet name he’d finally decided on for her.
He talked to her often enough that it mattered.
“Other than that ugly battle axe you already have. That glaive thing earlier didn’t look too bad.”
She stood there as silent as ever. Holding her weapon. Watching over him.
Lifeless.
Can we do anything about that? I mean, she has a very impressive rack to stare at, but… if she could talk… it might be nice?
Ryker flitted into his dungeon sense and zoomed off to the storage location for all the filled spirit cores.
There were hundreds and hundreds of them.
Anyone who died in dungeon territory was stored in a spirit core. There was a booming industry around shipping spirit cores to Dungeon. As the Count, Ryker bought them all at market prices. A few people had dared to try and go higher than standard market price and found themselves with nowhere to sell and few people who were willing to give them sanctuary.
Ryker wasn’t viewed in a poor light, but he was viewed as a man who got his peerage by the queen, and was promptly married into the house of Chas who declared civil war. In every corner, one could only see Ryker as an important piece on the board that both sides wanted to control.
Which meant it was a bad idea to cross him.
Or so Ryker had been told by Wynne.
He rapidly went to the female fighter section of the spirit cores.
Normally he’d pull out specific memories and load them into the blueprints. Allowing them a certain range of human emotion. For some he even removed whole sections of personality and abilities.
Let’s try something different.
Ryker picked up ten of the cores that were untouched and unused. He bound them with ties to his spirit sense and fled back to the alcove.
Staring at Meino, he frowned.
Looking at the cores, he rapidly sorted them. Going through memories, abilities, and personalities. He found three of them that were similar. The others he disconnected and left in the pile where they were for next time.
Working quickly on the three cores, he stripped out everything that gave them a history. He removed names, places, families, people, everything and anything that would have made them a person.
Then he snipped all the traits he didn’t want clean out of the cores, letting them dissolve into nothing.
Finally, he made sure all the personalities meshed, trimming out anything that didn’t fit.
Taking the three cores, he pulled the contents out of two, and forcefully stuffed it all into the third. Then he crammed Meino’s blueprint into the core itself, instead of linking the core to the blueprint.
The core itself sputtered to life, light flaring all around it for several seconds as it joined to the existing blueprint.
Then ate it.
Meino vanished and reappeared in the exact same spot.
She looked the same as ever.
Except her eyes were moving, tracked to him for a full second, then began to explore the room.
“What…? Where am I?” Meino asked, shocking him.
“In the alcove where you are stationed,” Ryker said, unsure of what he’d just done.
“Yes… the alcove. You are Master,” Meino said, her large eyes turning towards him again.
“That I am.”
“I guard you, and this room.”
“That you do. When I’m at my most vulnerable, you are who watches over me.”
“I am… who am I?”
“Meino. Your name is Meino.”
“I am Meino. I am your guard. You are my Master. I… I am hungry,” the big minotaur said, her fingers flexing around the haft of her weapon. “And I am not as cute as a puppy. Not a dog.”
“Ah… yes. You’re right. You’re a beautiful Minotaur. I’m sorry.”
“You should stop touching my chest unless I tell you to as well.”
“Err, yes. I’ll do that, yes. As for food… well. What are you hungry for?”
“Grass. Oats,” she said after a long thought.
“Alright. Well. I think we can have that taken care of.”
“Good, thank you, Master.”
Wynne is probably going to fucking kill me.
He immediately cast his dungeon control spell and kicked his sense towards the Fairy Farm.
“Marybelle… are you busy?” Ryker asked as softly as he could, directing it into Marybelle’s home.
“Master? For you, never. What do you need of me? Or want me to do, perhaps?” came Marybelle’s immediate response.
“Come on over to the alcove. I could use your help. And uh… bring a big bag of oats,” Ryker said. He disconnected himself and immediately came back to his body.
“I have someone coming to feed you, Meino. Just uh… wait, I guess.”
She nodded her big head once. “Someone is waiting outside your office door. I can smell them,” she said.
“Ah? Oh… well, let’s go see them then,” Ryker said and stood up. He brushed his hands against his pants and then opened the alcove’s secret door.
Entering into his office quickly, he closed the door after a quick inspection to make sure no one was in the room.
Meino stepped past him and went to the door, one large hand closing on the door handle. She swung her head towards him, waiting for instruction.
Did… she just leave her blueprint bind point? Alright… Wynne is going to kill me after eating my guts.
“Go ahead and open it,” Ryker said, sitting down in his chair at his work desk.
Meino pulled the door open. On the other side was Adele, her arms pressed close to her midsection. Her head whipped up and she stared at Meino, then Ryker. Her lips curled into a frown and her eyes looked nervous.
“Ryker?” she asked. “How did you know I was here. I hadn’t even decided to knock yet.”
“Don’t worry about that. Come inside. Have a seat. What’s up? You don’t look so good,” Ryker said, gesturing at a seat next to his
“I…”
Meino reached out and wrapped a big hand around Adele’s shoulder. With a single yank the big Minotaur pulled Adele into the room.
“Master said enter, you enter,” said the big Minotaur.
No sooner had she’d cleared the doorway than Meino shut it and moved in front of it ominously.
“Ryker, what… what are you doing? What is this,” Adele said, her voice going up in pitch as she looked from Meino to him and back. Her hand went to
her missing scabbard as if she wanted to draw her weapon.
“What am I doing? Nothing. Meino here is simply overzealous in her duties. Now, what’s up? This isn’t like you. You’re not the type to fall apart,” Ryker said.
“I… that is—”
“How about this. Take a seat at the table. Maybe relax for a moment and take a breath. I’m your friend, first and foremost,” Ryker said.
Getting up he moved over to the table and sat down at it, waiting for Adele to join him.
Adele nodded her head after he did, then flopped into a chair at the table.
“Maybe bring some regular lunch items as well,” Ryker said to Marybelle.
“I… I can trust you. Right?” Adele said, her eyes hard, her brows down, staring hard into his face.
“You can,” Ryker said, leaning back in his chair.
“I overhead Diane and Claire a few minutes ago. Veronica has managed to persuade the church of light to intervene and kill Lauren,” Adele said, leaning towards him. “The Duchess somehow convinced the church that Lauren was an agent of the dark.”
Ryker closed his eyes and placed his hands on his temples.
Damn.
There was a clatter outside the door, causing Ryker to look that way. He watched as Meino moved away from the door, and opened it smoothly. Marybelle practically tripped through the door, one hand raised to knock, the other carrying a platter.
The pretty Hob woman looked from Meino, to Adele, to Ryker.
“Ryker?” she asked, looking unsure of herself.
“Come in, Marybelle. Put the tray down over here and seat yourself. Meino, announce visitors in the future? Give them a chance to knock?”
“You knew she was coming,” Meino said, standing in front of the door again. “No need to announce her.”
Marybelle watched him for another second before putting the platter down at the table, and taking the seat directly on Ryker’s right hand side.
She turned to face Adele head on, folding her hands into each other in her lap.
“In other words, you need to get a message to Lauren that she’s going to be attacked,” Ryker said.
Adele looked at Marybelle and back to him.
“Marybelle is… on loan to me from the dungeon. I trust her with my life,” Ryker said. He reached into Marybelle’s lap, took one of her hands in his own and patted it lightly.
“On loan from the dungeon? I don’t—” Adele’s voice faltered and fell off. She looked to Ryker’s hands, then to Marybelle.
Realizing he was still holding the Hob’s hand, he set it back down in her lap and looked to Adele.
She hesitated a second more, then shook her head. “Yes, a message, and quickly. The would-be killer is right here. In Dungeon. It’s a paladin by the name of Robyn. She has a group of acolytes with her. Supposedly they’re going to leave tomorrow and head towards the army.”
Robyn? Wait, what?
“She’s apparently very strong. I… I don’t think Lauren would expect it. She might let them in close. Too close. To the point that she couldn’t protect herself if Robyn attacked,” Adele said, her fingers clenched in her blouse.
“I don’t think Claire will act, and Diane is Veronica’s daughter. I didn’t know who else to turn to,” Adele said. “I considered killing the paladin myself. But that would only solve today’s issue. That’s what Lauren would tell me.”
Ryker shook his head. This type of a problem wasn’t for him.
But he knew who it was perfect for.
Lifting his head, Ryker pulled on his bond to Wynne.
“I’ll take care of the message to Lauren, it’s something simple we can arrange without it being an issue,” Wynne said to him. “I’m not sure how you want to handle Robyn though.”
Letting his chin drop, Ryker stared at the platter of food. Picking up a cube of fancy foot cheese he held it between his thumb and forefinger.
“What are the odds Robyn could break though and kill Lauren? Even warned,” Ryker sent back to Wynne.
“Very likely. She’s the strongest paladin in the church of light as far as we know,” Wynne responded. “Add to that a group of acolytes who will lay their lives down for her and… realistically, so long as Lauren never let them get close, she’d be fine. But I get the impression there’s going to be a significant magical investment from the church to get Robyn close to her.”
“And the only other game in town that could counter that is the church of the dark. Which… wouldn’t be able to respond in time. Is that about it?”
“That it is. What do you want to do?” Wynne asked.
He knew she didn’t actually care. To her, this really all was a distraction from the main purpose of the dungeon.
The only thing she cared about was him and the dungeon.
“If you’re looking for my opinion. It’d be leave everything be, but I do not think that’s the answer you want. If you choose to save Lauren, that’d require removing Robyn, who you owe a debt to. And let me be clear, from what I can tell, everything Adele said is true. Robyn has been dispatched,” Wynne said.
“Ryker?” Adele asked quietly. “What do we do?”
Opening his eyes, he found himself staring into Adele’s bloodshot eyes. Eyes so similar to Lauren’s that he had to blink.
He knew he was being irrational. There wasn’t a reason to have much of an attachment to Lauren. He barely knew her.
Had only talked to her a handful of times, even.
Yet he still couldn’t bring himself around to the idea of not helping her in this situation.
“It’s because she treated you as an equal from the start. As a person, and met you directly. She never looked down on you, or saw you as a piece to be played, or an exit strategy,” Wynne said.
“Stop that. Get out of my head,” Ryker grumbled. “Fine. Can we take Robyn alive?”
“Not in any way that would prevent her god from finding out what happened. She will have to die if you wish this to succeed.”
“Do it. Tris, Charlotte, and Sierra. Marybelle will stay here and comfort Adele. Wipe ‘em out, and make sure it doesn’t come back to us,” Ryker sent.
Smiling at Adele, he wondered how to tell her what was happening.
“Let’s… wait and see what happens for now. I know Robyn. I’ll speak with her. Perhaps I can convince her not to do this. Worst case scenario, we at least make sure Lauren is notified,” Ryker said to Adele. Pausing, he wasn’t sure how to proceed.
Fuck it. Do it as we always do. Direct.
“Are you alright? This… isn’t like you,” Ryker said.
Adele stared at him, her eyes appearing almost blank.
“I… don’t know anymore. I mean, I’m, that, ah—” Adele stopped talking and took a deep breath. “I’m a sex slave in enemy territory, living a life surrounded by bodyguards who would kill me if they thought I was going against their master. I haven’t had a single drink for… gods only know how long anymore. I haven’t been sober like this for as long as I can remember. I don’t know what to do and the world is a lot harder to deal with right now. The one person I thought I could count on seems intent to live as well as she can off the Chas family.”
Adele took a deep breath, her cheeks flushing.
“Claire is such a dirty cunt. As if Lauren didn’t give her everything she wanted outside of a husband and a position to threaten her with. Boosted her family and mine up into being close to the main family instead of just branch families.
“And the stupidest part of this fucking mess is that the man I’ve been given to as a fuckdoll is the only means for me to get anything god damned done!”
By the end of her speech, her voice had gained heat and volume. Practically shouting at him from across the table as her hands balled up into fists.
She sat there panting, teeth clenched, eyes blazing, and cheeks flushed.
It was the Adele he remembered. Angry at everyone who she didn’t agree with and determined to force her way through.
<
br /> “For what it’s worth, you’re a terrible fuckdoll. You work pretty hard to make it fun for both of us. I mean, you ever seen a fuckdoll give head?” Ryker asked.
Adele’s face locked up. He could see the gears in her head resetting at his remark. That he was sharing bedroom details with others present.
Then she blew out a breath and snorted, her mouth turning up in a grin. “Ass. I did that because you asked me to.”
Grinning at her he reached across the table and patted her hand, then held it gently.
“Trust in me. We’ll get through this, and we’ll do what we can for Lauren. Now, you stay here and have lunch with Marybelle. She’s actually a great listener. I confide in her a great deal. I need to go run a few errands,” Ryker said, standing up.
Adele nodded her head, her fingers clutching his hand for a second more, then releasing it.
“Come back soon, idiot. I think I’m going to start holing up here during the day. Claire and I had a weird talk the other day and I don’t think it went well,” Adele said.
“Not sure when I’ll be back, but you’re welcome to stay here, or go to my farm. I’ll be sleeping there tonight after I finish my day. Diane already told me she was planning on having you or Claire see me anyways so…” Ryker explained.
Then he turned and went to the door, which Meino held open for him, and left.
***
Ryker didn’t want to be there when Robyn died, but knew that he needed to. Her spirit needed to be preserved.
And he planned on doing it with one of his self-made dungeon cores. He’d gotten a hold of a number of high grade cores the other day and had been turning them into dungeon cores.
He had seven of them now ready to go.
No idea what it’ll do to her memories. But maybe it’ll preserve more of her than it would otherwise.
He couldn’t deny he was having a hard time with the fact that he was about to kill someone he respected.
Liked even. Someone who had treated him well. For the sake of someone else who did the same.
Ryker wasn’t even sure how you weighed one against the other. Or how he could do it himself.
Dungeon Deposed Page 26
