“Go to your own place and issue orders there!” Elizabeth meanwhile continued. “This is my house! My rules! Don’t forget that you are a guest here!”
“You forget yourself, daughter of mine!” Iven growled‒ not even through his teeth – through his nostrils. Even though that was physically impossible.
“You are the one who forgets himself, father!” The old lady was not lacking for certitude. Apparently relations between father and children were not ideal here, since there was a scandal underway rather than hearty family embraces. I was rooting for Elizabeth; it would be more appropriate to say that I was against Iven regardless of who his opponents were. The old lady commanded respect. One could feel a core of steel within her, that she wielded arguing with her father.
As the result of a long argument a strange equilibrium was reached when neither of the sides was able to achieve the desired result: Iven was unable to force his daughter to submit to him, and the rebel daughter was unable to throw out the overbearing dad, nor to inflict any revenge on him. I decided it was a great time to throw some oil on the fire.
“Lady Elizabeth,” I said with reverence in my voice. All those in the room turned towards me as if they had not expected that anyone would stick his nose into their family affairs. The catorian even stopped chewing and his ear twitched towards me in surprise.
“I believe this belongs to you,” I said, having made sure that I had become the center of attention of everyone within the room. This was my moment of triumph. The ring, that I providently extracted from the Lecleur estate, was sparkling in my open palm.
“You thieving scum!” Iven had once again demonstrated that he was not named the chief of Paladin fighters for nothing. Despite the distance between us, the bed and Elizabeth standing on top of it, he once again reached lightning speed trying to get to me, but instead froze like a wax figure in mid-jump. Most of all he resembled a fly in a force web. The web was made of blue force rays maintained by Elizabeth and the statues that were there, in fact, not only for decorative purposes, in each of the corners around the room. Archibald whistled, impressed by the old woman’s reaction speed. If only men were so quick perhaps fewer bastards would be born in the world.
“Look who’s talking, father!” Elizabeth shook her head in disapproval and turned towards me. “My young friend, you bring me infinite joy. I doubt we’ll find anyone here willing to argue with me with respect to the ownership of this treasure! But they may try if they want to.”
The last phrase Elizabeth addressed to Archibald, indicating for the first time that she was taking into consideration his presence and involvement in this affair. The catorian simply spread his paws as if to indicate that he was there only because of his love of theatre. Satisfied by the catorian, Elizabeth impatiently beckoned me with her hand.
“Don’t you dare!” Iven croaked his order with the last of his strength. His eyes turned red and opened as wide as it was physically possible altogether; large beads of sweat appeared on his forehead from the effort exerted by the Paladin to fight the energy rays. But all was in vain. Elizabeth had the power of the estate on her side.
“Finally!” Elizabeth exhaled with relief, allowing me to be gallant and put the ring on her finger. While light enveloped the old lady, as in the classic games when you gained a new level. Involuntarily I took a couple of steps back, turning away from the bright light; when I regained my normal vision, I was truly astounded by the transformation of our cute “old lady”. Just like that, in quotation marks. Because in front of me there was a perfection of female beauty with the appearance of a twenty-five-year-old girl. The ideal age, as far as I was concerned, since I believed it to be the peak of both beauty and intelligence.
It was enough to cast a single glance at Elizabeth to understand that she belonged to the category of those beautiful women looking at whom made you fully aware of the abyss between them and yourself. Next to them all your inferiority complexes become exaggerated, and no matter how much you try to lose weight, become smart and amass wealth, you will never be good enough for such as them. An encounter with such members of the fair sex is a good thing, since it provides a motivating kick, which is sometimes what you need in life. Then you start trying to develop all your abilities to the max, even the ones that always were rudimentary; but all of a sudden you are elated by the hope of “what if it makes sense” variety. The most important thing is not to turn this desire to “sleep with a queen” into an obsession, and not to drown in the abyss of regression after you realize how useless all your strivings have been.
“It is such a pleasure to become myself once again. I owe you, Paladin Yaropolk.” The new Elizabeth smiled radiantly, adjusting her hair. The girl cast a glance at herself and said, embarrassed: “Please forgive me. I will leave you for a moment to freshen up.”
The girl extended her arm demandingly, indicating that she needed help getting down. But while I lingered, Archibald was quicker; he helped Elizabeth, and lowered his furry head, bowing to her. Barely touching his paw, Elizabeth gracefully glided from the bed and nodded to Sophie, pointing at the armoire. The latest transformation of her old mother completely disoriented poor Sophie. It was clear that she had long abandoned all attempts to understand anything in the elaborate shenanigans of her relatives. Used to obeying her strong-willed mother and husband, Sophie submissively returned to her habitual role and approached the armoire, making a curtain out of a sheet. These simple actions not requiring any mental effort improved Sophie’s condition at once. But it was so weird to observe that dysfunctional relations among the several generations within the Lecleur family were the rule rather than the exception. I considered that I believed that creatures who were unable to experience parental feelings should be forcibly deprived of the ability to have children; so that the share of the happy masses would increase significantly.
Without gracing her daughter with a word or gesture of thanks, Elizabeth went behind the curtain, leaving a rather wide gap. Totally unconcerned about that, she quickly discarded the shirt, dropping it right at her feet, and slowly, as if enjoying but still not quite able to believe it, stroked the beautiful curves of her body. The beauty was quite aware of how many pairs of eyes were on her at the moment, and it served to her as confirmation that she was still as beautiful as many game years ago. While we were unabashedly enjoying the sight of her body worthy of the most talented artists of all the worlds and races.
Donning an outfit presented to her by Sophie, Elizabeth grimaced in displeasure, cast a glance at the rest of the wardrobe, and sighed sadly. Dresses intended for a bony old lady’s body certainly were not going to work for a shining beauty.
“It will have to do for now,” she said, as if apologizing for her strange outfit: she obviously decided that if you can’t resolve the problem it doesn’t make sense wasting time on it. We all felt rather grateful for that attitude. “I have waited for fifteen hundred years, I can wait another hour.”
“Iven kept you looking like that for fifteen hundred years?” I asked in surprise. “But what for?”
“I could ask that question of him.” Elizabeth circled Iven, who was still striving to get out of the force protection grip, and stopped in front of him, looking her father in the eye. “But I am not going to do it directly. I am not strong enough yet. If I were to remove the binds, my father would end up in possession of the ring and the pendant again, and I would turn into an old shriveled prune once more. So for now, dear father, you will have to extend your visit. Don’t worry, I hate this as much as you do!”
“So, then, forget him.” Archibald proffered to Elizabeth a goblet of wine, which she gratefully accepted. “There are lots of methods to protect oneself against parental controls. For example, employ the services of a certain catorian who has something to match the Head of the Battle Wing of the Paladins. I promise, it will cost you a modest amount. In this case I will work for the sake of the idea.”
“I would happily accept your proposal. Elizabeth cast such
a carnal look at the catorian that I felt uncomfortable. Years of celibacy had taken their toll, and the young body demanded satisfaction. Even if it would be with the catorian.
“Don’t worry though,” Elizabeth added, having come to some conclusion in her mind. She impulsively placed her palm on the cat’s paw, as if reassuring him, but Steve clearly identified the familiar gesture. Elizabeth was openly indicating her agreement to closely “cooperate” with Archibald. “I will not need permanent protection. At this time I will spare no effort to complete the work this sweet young man has started. And then I will also have something to match the Head of the Battle Wing of the Paladins. Right, daddy?”
“I hear you, and my offer of help remains standing." The catorian covered her hand with his other paw, accepting the lady’s good favor. I shook my head. Apparently, I was not an advanced enough player to sleep with members of other races. “Do you need to find something?”
“Earrings,” Elizabeth confirmed. “My strength is in them. My consciousness is tied to the pendant; my youth and beauty are in the ring. It is such a pity that the earrings disappeared again. I never had a chance to wear them together the pendant. And my father took the ring away fifteen hundred years ago. ‘Youth and beauty are just extraneous for you, Lizzie. They are frequently accompanied by carelessness, and that would not be to your advantage! Mother would have approved.’ He said that my excessive hot-headedness makes him ashamed both as a father and as a Paladin.”
“Slut.” Frozen Iven croaked.
“Youth and beauty are there to enjoy. Only a stupid man would leave a cake to rot on the table and live on bread and water!” His opponent jerked up her chin.
There was definitely some truth to Iven’s words. Looking at Elizabeth made one admire Iven – one had to have superb skill to create a masterpiece like that, and sympathize with the poor sod: given her lineage the girl played her trumps to the max.
The catorian turned his face towards me, and quizzically moved the part that the cats have for eyebrows. Answering the teacher’s silent question I could not help pretending I was thinking, and was immediately whapped on the leg with his tail. I stopped playing silly and nodded to Archibald, supporting his claim to be the clairvoyant of the day.
“My student has another present for you.” Archibald steered Elizabeth towards me. “My offer of help is not just hot air.”
Bastard! He found a way to share my triumph. I did not bother arguing; but my mental list of grievances against the catorian became even longer.
“Please allow me.” I took out the earrings, and was enthralled by her happy shining eyes.. It was the feeling when you present a beauty with jewels, hoping they would be favorably received, and see the bits of very expensive metal and stone make her into the happiest of beings. Under other circumstances I would already have been receiving material expressions of her gratitude. Oh well!
“Are you going to fumble forever? Archibald spurred me into action. The catorian was impatient to see the result of the activation of the entire set, since one could only guess what its new properties were.
“Sure: just a moment.” The only thing I was accustomed to closing and opening was female underwear; so it took me a long time fighting with the locks of the earrings and then finding the holes in the girl’s ears, all the while pelted by the catorian’s sarcastic comments. Finally I was done, and took a step back, looking at the result with a smile. Even when you have no hope for getting anything out of it, it’s still nice to make a woman happy. Makes you feel magnanimous, that.
A harsh blow against a wall knocked all the self-congratulatory thoughts out of my head and knocked the air out of me. The blow was so forceful that even the inertia neutralizer could not fully absorb it. My mouth filled with saliva and blood, a disgusting trickle ran down my chin, finding its way below the collar of my armor. Did the set detonate so forcefully from being reunited? If so, that was a rather questionable joy from this “Joy” set. In hindsight I was now in agreement with Iven. It was a pity, though, that this good thought found its way into my head only when we were ass-deep in trouble.
Pinned against the wall like a bug, I was waiting for the new hit to throw me to the floor, expecting natural gravity to kick in; however, inertia’s steadfast buddy was in no hurry. Instead I was now in the same boat as Iven had been recently, and strained against the wall, unable to move. The scariest part was the absolute darkness in the room, alleviated only slightly by my virtual interface and stunned Steve, who was replaying the video in order to find the source of this suddenly emerging force. The replay confirmed that Elizabeth was the epicenter of the shock wave.
“Let there be Darkness!” a gravely whisper added tension to the atmosphere. It seemed like it sounded straight in my head, making some of my body parts successfully oppose gravity. My body responded by trembling unpleasantly, resonating to the voice of the unknown and therefore horrifying creature. One simple phrase made me want to run away from here as fast as my feet could carry me, as far as possible, hide in some inconspicuous hole and even breathe carefully, just in case.
“May the undying Light dispel the Darkness!” Archibald shouted loudly to the left of me, and finally a small yellow ball of light hanging over the catorian brightened the room somewhat. The strength of the Paladin’s protection prevented visible harm; he was just thrown a couple of yards away from his original place, like myself. We were both incredibly glad of that. In the place of Elizabeth now stood a seven-foot monster remotely resembling a human figure. The creature was staring at its grey hands, clasping its long fingers, together and separately, as if it had never seen them or was trying to stretch the crooked unkempt fingers. It was cloaked in a black necromancer’s robe; a deep hood partially concealed his face, but that did not prevent him from spreading around primal horror. Dense black fog crept from under the robe like octopus tentacles. It was gradually filling the room. Only when it started approaching the catorian, the fog swirled indignantly, circled around him, then resumed covering more territory. The necromancer made a sound that could be interpreted as a snicker, finished stretching its limbs and turned its hood towards the catorian. I could swear the shadow of the hood was concealing a huge grinning maw full of sharp teeth.
“Aa-achiba-a-a-ald!” it drawled with the same heavy and vibrating voice. Dark lightnings sprang from the tips of his fingers, leaving gashes on the wall where Archibald had been just an instant before. This round went to my quick-footed teacher, who had anticipated the attack.
“Lumpen, old friend! What wind brings you here?” The voice of the catorian, now at the opposite wall, did not sport any friendliness but plenty of tension. Another squall of black lightnings followed, and again the Paladin vanished to say something testy from another place.
“A flea-a-a. Still the sa-a-me nimble flea-a-a. Go-o-o on living for now, I need fo-o-od and slaves.” The necromancer screeched with a heavy sigh and switched to Iven. Lumpen even turned his back on the catorian, demonstrating that he did not consider the former a serious adversary. In fact the long-tailed Paladin stopped jumping and froze, watching the necromancer, who was breathing heavily, as if gathering his strength circle around the immobilized Iven. Some dark threads sprang from the monster’s fingers and enveloped the gold-clad Paladin in a cocoon of complete darkness. Hissing, the Darkness absorbed into him, and the shining of gold faded, replaced by matte black. At the same time the force threads that were holding the Paladin disappeared. Iven was released.
Iven banged himself on the chest, straightened, and stood to attention in front of the necromancer. The pupils and whites of his eyes turned black and unmoving, covered with a solid film of black. The former Paladin now regarded the world with dead unblinking eyes through the prism of the orders of his new lord.
“Not ba-a-ad.” The necromancer praised himself, assessing the freshly produced slave. “Go sta-a-and in the corner.”
Iven, walking like an automaton, went to the nearest corner and stopped there, standing still with
his back to us. The necromancer proceeded to the next victim. I felt pity for Sophie and her dashed dream, but I pitied myself more. As I was next in line after the lady to be disposed of.
“Mi-i-inion. Fo-o-o-od.
I swallowed as Sophie was pulled away from the wall, guided by the light movements of the necromancer’s hand and started burning as she was floating in the air. The monster had cleared the lady’s mind from the stupor in which she was ever since the moment Archibald and I appeared in the room – so that the poor victim would be aware of what was going on. The room filled with screams of pain and suffering. The clothes on Sophie’s body burned off almost immediately, showing her flesh, blackened and blistered, but the flames were not even close to going out. Her skin cracked, blood leaked out, but immediately the fire flared, encrusting it with horrible scabs. When what just recently had been Sophie Lecleur started disintegrating in the air, I was able to overcome my immobility and close my eyes. I did not know if I would ever be able to eat roasted meat again without shuddering; but at that moment I was definitely ready to join the vegans’ camp. If I managed to survive of course.
Archibald, it seemed, was not in the least bothered by Sophie’s painful death; he did not make the slightest attempt to relieve her suffering. I had a hope, however weak, that my teacher would show more concern about my fate. All I could do was wait to check my expectations against reality. There were just two thoughts torturing me: whose fate of the two would I share, and whether I could count on Archibald?
The Quest (Dark Paladin Book #2) LitRPG Series Page 34
