Now all three of her maids were laughing.
“Ahh. No. Well. Yes. Ohhh. I don’t know. Leo, you have flummoxed me.”
“I’m sorry, Chrysa. I’m from an isolated part of the world. I’m not used to your culture. Where did I make a mistake?”
“I intended for you to kiss my ring.” The beautiful woman gestured to the gold piece on her middle finger. “It is the house sign. It is what is done when someone vows to serve you or your family.”
“So what does it mean when I kiss the back of your hand?” I asked with a grimace.
“It means. Ahhh. It means that you intend to marry me. Or bed me. Or bed me in a way which means I shall marry you because I will carry your child. It is ahhh . . .”
“I’m so sorry. I’m really out of place. In Arnicoal, a woman I met demanded I kiss the back of her hand like that, and I guessed it was what you wanted.”
“Oh, my. A woman asked you to kiss her hand? I’ve never heard of such a thing. How scandalous. She must have wanted to . . . Ahhh. Oh, my.” I didn’t think Chrysa’s skin could get any brighter a shade of red, but it somehow did.
“Yeah. I think she might have intended that,” I said with a laugh. Lady Feeyaz had been quite a puzzle, and part of me still wondered what would have happened if I’d joined her in her large bed. “I’m sorry to have blundered. Please accept my apology.”
“It is fine,” the brown-eyed woman said, but her exposed skin was still bright red, and I wondered if I had set our relationship off on the wrong foot. I needed to focus on keeping her alive for now, and that meant investigating the crew of the ship. Starting with the people closest to her.
“Do any of your servants have Mind messaging abilities?” I asked.
“Yes, they all do,” Chrysa said.
I turned around in my chair to look at the other women. They were trying their best not to laugh. One of them had even retreated to the other side of the room by the bed. I saw her pretending to fluff a pillow by squeezing it to her chest and burying her face into it. I couldn’t imagine any of them feeding information that would end with their mistress’ death.
“Is there anyone else on this boat who knows your identity?” I asked Chrysa.
“No. I suspect the captain might, but he has not said anything. Most are guessing I will take one of the ships that my family is using to travel to Tylue. We made many announcements about it. Then I left almost immediately through a servant’s coach. I boarded a private charter to Arnicoal, then I stayed in an inn there for three days before boarding this boat. We were careful, and most are still reeling from my father’s death.”
“What about anyone from your family? Maybe someone who would have known your plans before you left?”
“I would never suspect anyone from my family. It is possible there are spies in my staff. They might have found out I left early and then extrapolated what my plan was. If they delivered a mind message to my enemies, they could have set up spies in Arnicoal harbor, or even at the shops of any Mind mage capable of teleporting. There is a lot at stake here. The lives of millions of people. I believe that they will stop at nothing to kill me.” The woman sighed heavily, but her shoulders didn’t slump.
“Alright. I’m going to interview each of your girls, then I’ll get my possessions and move into these rooms. Does that door connect?” I asked as I pointed to the door behind her.
“Yes, it was where my head guard stayed. If you took your lodging there, I would feel much safer. Sir Cornalic of the Mind can use an adjacent room as can Allurie.”
“I’ll see what they want to do. They are my friends, I don’t order them around.” I smiled at her.
“Oh, no. Of course not. I didn’t mean to imply that.” The beautiful woman waved her hands.
“Can I speak with each of your maids privately?” I asked as I gestured to the next room.
“Of course!”
“Great,” I said as I stood from my chair. I pointed at the girl clutching the pillow and then gestured to the door. “You first Miss Giggle Skirt.”
The room erupted into laughter, and the blushing maid followed me into the other room.
Chapter 4
Later that day, Cornalic, Allurie, and I moved our things over to the room beside Chrysa’s suite. We decided to sleep in the same room since it had two beds and a couch, and I’d be heading back home when I needed to rest.
“Tarry was of great help, dearest Leo. He was able to obtain the ship’s manifest, and he told me he would keep an eye out for stowaways. He said he has heard rumors of a pretty elf girl on a ship that didn’t pay for her passage.” The half-orc winked at Allurie, and the girl opened her eyes wide.
“Oh, no. Will they find her? She might be lost and without a place to sleep. She can come stay with us!” she exclaimed with a clap of her hands.
“He was talking about you, Allurie,” I sighed as I rubbed my hand over my face. It had been a long ass day. Part of me wanted to log out and get some sleep. Well, after I checked to see if Zarra was back at the Arnacript campus. I still had questions for her.
“Oh, that is silly.” She smiled at us and fluttered her silver lashes.
“Here is the manifest,” Cornalic said as he produced a tightly wound scroll. “This is actually the second copy. I’ve set the boy on an errand of double checking that everyone is still on board. The dear lad set upon the task as a noble knight would embark upon a day of dragon slaying.”
“How about you?” I asked Allurie. “Did you get a list of passengers that could send Mind messages?”
“Yes!” she said with a nod.
Cornalic and I waited for her to pull a scroll out of somewhere, but she was still wearing her servant’s clothes from Cutno castle, and there was only a single empty pocket at the front of her apron.
I really needed to get her some more clothes. The outfit didn’t look dirty, but I noticed that the shoulders and elbows had some off color patches on them. My heart suddenly ached when I realized that she must have needed new garments for a long time and had repaired them the best she could so that she wouldn’t bother me.
“Uhh. Where is it?” I asked.
“Where is what?” She tilted her pretty head.
“The list?”
“Oh. I asked everyone. I know who can use mind magic.”
“But did you write it down?” I sighed and recalled that I hadn’t asked her to write the names on anything.
“Oh, no. I have a great memory!” The girl’s turquoise eyes glittered with joy as she listed off a bunch of names.
“Whoa, hold on a second. Cornalic, let’s mark them on the manifest.” The half-orc and I rolled out the scroll, and Allurie recited the names again. There were eighteen of them, and she’d even listed Chrysa’s servants, even though I hadn’t seen the elf girl anywhere near the queen’s quarters.
“You have a good memory,” I said to her after I studied the list for a few moments.
“Have I made you happy?” she asked. “I just love making you happy, Leo.”
“You did a great job. Thank you,” I said to her, and she did her usual hug motion over her chest as if she was squeezing the life out of an invisible stuffed animal.
“I spoke with these three already,” I said as I checked off the names of Chrysa’s maids. “And this was the one who was murdered by the pirates.” I drew a thin line through the fourth girl’s name.
“So sad. I thought pirates were supposed to be sexy, not mean,” Allurie sighed.
“Yeah, it is. So that leaves us with these people. Cornalic, can you talk to the ones up top while I--”
A knock sounded at the door that led to the hallway, and the three of us looked up from the scroll.
“Yoo hoo! Who is it?” Cornalic called out.
“Hello! It is Tarry! Captain wants to see both of you topside. We found something on the pirate ship.
“We’ll be right out!” I called through the door.
“Perhaps just you should go, dear Leo. I am n
ervous about leaving this fair queen alone. She might be attacked if we are absent, and not only would it make me feel terrible if she died, but I would imagine it would make getting your next relic rather difficult,” Cornalic said.
“Alright. Allurie, can you go next door and ask Queen Chrysa if she has any spare clothes for you?”
“Yes!”
“Do you still have the daggers?” I asked.
“Yes!” The naked blades appeared in her hands so suddenly, I almost didn’t see the girl pull them from behind her back. For a half a second, I felt my adrenaline surge, and I took a step away from her. Holy shit balls. The elf woman was incredibly fast. If she had any inkling to fight, I could probably train her to be a whirlwind of destruction.
“Allurie, the first rule about carrying weapons is that you don’t draw them unless you plan on using them. Understand?”
“Oh, I like rules!”
“Do you want to learn how to fight?” I asked, but there was another knock on the door.
“The captain did say that it was urgent!” Tarry yelled through the door.
“I dunno, Leo. I don’t really want to hurt anyone. I like to make people happy!” Allurie said.
“We’ll talk about it later. I’ll be back,” I said to my two friends.
“Sorry,” I apologized to Tarry when I walked into the hallway.
“Hurry!” he yelled as he started running.
I followed the boy through the twisting hallways of the ship and then came out on top after half a minute. Then we met the captain at the bridgeway that connected the two ships.
“What is going on?” I asked.
“They have a prisoner down below. The person has asked for you,” the captain said with a raised eyebrow.
“Asked for me? How? By name?”
“I’ll show you.”
The captain was flanked by two of the crew, and we all descended into the stomach of the pirate ship. I didn’t know much about wooden boats, but this ship was much sleeker than the passenger ship, and even though it only had two sails, I didn’t doubt that it could travel much faster.
The inside of the vessel was cleaner than I expected for a pirate ship. The walls were polished, the floors were clean, and it smelled just about as good as the inside of the First Sunset. The captain noticed me appraise the walls, and he moved to my side so that the other two crewmen couldn’t hear him whisper.
“The condition here confirms my belief that this was no regular group of pirates.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“There are a group of jail cells in the hold. I’ll let your imagination tell you what their purpose is really for. We found him down there. As soon as we saw him he started--”
“Bring him to me! I need to challenge his might against my own! The gods demand it!” the words cut through the wood of the hallways. The voice was a scream so intense, it sounded as if the man was shouting them at the expense of his vocal cords.
We continued down a set of stairs and then reached the holding area of the ship. It was a larger space than I would have guessed. Half of the side was filled with six sets of metal cages; the other half was filled with wooden boxes that I guessed were dry goods. The voluminous space was lit with only a pair of emberbrands, and it was hard to see the man that paced back and forth in the cell.
“You have brought him. Yessssssss! I need to feed my soul with his screams. I need to break him against my muscles. I need to taste his blood on my mouth. It is our way. Our way. Our way!” He jumped an impossible ten feet in the air, grabbed onto the caged roof of the cell, and started shaking the metal with his body.
The man was shirtless, and his body was made of lean muscle, taut sinew, and covered with swirling tattoos. His head was covered by a mop of long dark hair, and the pants he wore looked as if he hadn’t been out of this cell for a good year. Or maybe two.
His insane behavior might have been intimidating if he was a human or a half-orc, but I had to fight against my laughter. The man was obviously strong, but that didn’t change the fact that he was a gnome.
And probably wasn’t even four and a half feet tall.
“You!” he stopped mid hang and pointed at me with his left hand. His right still clutched the top of the cage, and he started to do a bunch of half pull ups with the single arm. “You are required to battle me for dominance. It is our way. Our way! Our way!”
“Uhhh. What is his problem?” I asked the captain.
“I have no idea. I’ve never seen a gnome act this way. He’s also rather large for one.”
“Leooooooooooooo,” the man seethed before he dropped to the ground. He did a quick front roll and then sprang up to clutch at the cage closest to us like some sort of Rastafarian monkey man. “We must fight. We must battle. I need it. The gods need it.”
“How does he know my name?” I asked as a shiver descended my spine. We were standing a good ten feet from the side of the cage, and the man’s arm was straining through the bars to grab at me.
“That may have been my fault, sir,” one of the men said. “He was going on about two great warriors ‘in our possession’. I was a bit of an idiot, and I asked if he meant you and Cornalic. So he got the names.”
“Cornalicccccccccccc,” the gnome hissed. “I must battle for dominance. The gods demand it.”
“Gods? The man is quite insane.” The captain sighed and pulled his cutlass out of its sheath.
“Why is a belief in the gods insane?” I asked.
“They passed into death at the time of Helio--”
“No! They didn’t! You lie! They live. I am one of them!” the gnome gasped. “I can tell you of them. But first. Leo and I must battle.”
“You are a god?” the captain asked with another sigh.
“Yesssssss. The God of War. It is why I must battle Leoooooo.” The man hissed the last part of my name and made another reach for me through the bars.
“Why must you battle me?” I took a step closer to the insane gnome, but he still couldn’t reach me.
“The voices. The gods. The God of War tells me I must battle you.”
“But I thought you were the God of War?” I asked with a smirk. Maybe it was mean to talk to the guy, but I didn’t really want the captain to kill him. Yeah, he seemed insane, but maybe he just needed some sort of healing or something that I could get him when we got to Sanduport.
“I am. Yessssss. Also, he talks to me. Yessssssss.” He strained against the bars again.
“How can you both be the God of War and then have him talk to you?” I asked with a shrug.
“The gods work in mysterious ways, Leo. Who am I to question their intent? Especially when they want us to battleeeeeeeeee.”
“But you are a god?”
“I feel the war raging inside of my soul. It is my power. I will give you a taste. Let us battle for our lives!”
“You are a four and a half, maybe five-foot tall gnome stuck in a cage without a weapon. I don’t think it will be a fair fight. Sorry.”
“This was the only body I could occupy. Leooooo. Do not question the power of my avatar. It shall crush you between its massive fists like the insignificant egg of a quail.”
“I wouldn’t call them ‘massive’,” I said with a shrug. “Look, it is obvious that you are ill. Have you ever seen a healer? They might be able to cure your men--”
“Those that have seen the future are named insane by those that don’t dream. Those that have seen the gods have been changed so that their words cannot be understood by the fools who have not opened their eyes to the wonders of the universe. I am enlightened by the power of the magic that flows through me. Leo Lennox, you shall face my anger. You will be crushed beneath my power, beg for mercy, and then be reborn as my disciple. I have seen the future, and your power becomes mine.”
“I can understand why the pirates left him in this cell,” the captain sighed. “I think we should end his misery and be done with it.”
“Sir Leo,” the crewman sai
d. “I, ahhh. I didn’t tell the man your family name.”
“Hahaha. Fools,” the gnome said. “I told you. Your fate is sealed. I will battle Leo. None shall stand in our way.”
“Okay, that’s nice and all, but--” the words caught in my throat when the man flipped back his nasty mane of dreadlocks. His face looked like a gnome's would, but his eyes were large, and he stared at me with an intensity of someone that looked as if he was trying to see my soul.
Then he began to twist the bars open in his hands.
His shoulders seemed to expand. His biceps tensed, and the veins on his chest popped up from his muscles as if they were a city roadmap. The metal actually pulled apart, and the gnome let out a horrific scream.
“I will battle. It is my destiny!”
I couldn’t believe what was happening. The bars were a good two inches thick, and he was pulling them apart much easier than I expected. The gnome must have had some sort of crazy Body attribute, or an ability that raised the stat for a period of time.
“Get behind me,” I told the three men, and I realized that Tarry was still here. Shit. I didn’t want the boy to get hurt.
I pulled my magic short sword out of its sheath, and the other men took the advice to stand behind me. The gnome had stretched the bars wide enough to get out, and he stepped between them with a wiggle of his tattooed torso. I should have been intimidated, but the man was just so tiny. His head didn’t even come up past my chest.
“Your swords will not work against me, fool, but you will learn that shortly.”
“I don’t want to hurt you. You are obviously sick, just please get back to your cell.” I said. Ugh. My mom had attacked me once when she didn’t know who I was. This guy was obviously not in the right state of mind. I really didn’t want to kill him.
“Your strength must put me back there. Mortal. Have you ever fought a god?”
“No, but I don’t want to hurt you, so can you--”
I stopped talking when the man charged. He came in quick and low. I took a step back as my mind spun with a dozen methods of taking him out without hurting the poor little guy. I probably shouldn’t have pulled out my sword, but it was too late to put it away.
Lion's Quest: Trinity: A LitRPG Saga Page 5
