Skyler Grant Anthology

by Skyler Grant

  The throne room awaited.

  72

  The mists were thicker than they had ever been, swirling in ominous patterns and filling the air with a damp chill.

  We edged forward through the royal chambers and made our way to a small balcony overlooking the throne room.

  It was a magnificent place. Like the royal chambers the mists had preserved things here in the state they had been when the castle fell. There was a great deal of ornate stonework depicting majestic-looking lions and towering columns intended to make one feel small.

  Maria’s expression was steely. Ashley and Walt didn’t seem to be doing quite as well, a grimace on each of their faces.

  “It’s the sphere attempting to corrupt them,” I heard Yvera whisper into my ear. “I’m offering them some protection as members of your party, but be cautious.”

  We carefully made our way down a nearby stair to the main floor. The thrones came fully into view.

  King Leosi Sardonis

  Race: Human

  Stats Hidden

  The Lion of Genea. The third son of King Hami, Leosi was never expected to inherit the throne. Leosi however distinguished himself greatly in the orc wars and it is widely believed that the human lands held together only because of his rule. He has fallen on hard times, as has the Kingdom.

  Elsora Damos

  Queen Consort in Waiting

  Race: Curse

  Intelligent, wise, beautiful and thoroughly capable Elsora was intended to be the perfect corrupting influence to King Leosi and the perfect ruler at home while he took the field.

  They were a study in contrasts. The King was a massive figure in gleaming white plate mail, the breast plate worked into a roaring lion. The Queen Consort however was a far more diminutive woman in an elegant black gown. Their auras showed a similar disparity, his a brilliant and pure white, while hers was as red as my own.

  Unlike every other human apart from Maria we had met, the King didn’t appear to be undead. Nor did the Queen Consort, but although she gave every appearance of being human the prompt identified her demonic origin.

  “You are the cause of all the disruption?” Leosi said, sounding amused as he looked over our band, “I expected more of you.”

  “At least a half dozen,” Elsora said, with a light accent I couldn’t quite place.

  “Well, we do have an undead army too,” I said.

  “You, too?” Leosi motioned us forward. “Lot of good mine do me. Approach.”

  This wasn’t quite the instant grudge match I’d been expecting. Warily I stepped forward.

  “Is that armor off one of my Royal Guards, boy?” Leosi asked. “It’s falling apart.”

  Elsora wore a faint smile, studying us.

  I said, “Their halberds hacked through my chainmail and I needed a quick replacement. We really didn’t come here to talk about armor.”

  “Halberds,” Leosi grunted. “You need to deflect those so they glance. Tricky.”

  “You abandoned me,” Maria said, in her total deadpan voice. Of course, it concealed deep emotions roiling beneath. “And left mother for this hussy.”

  “You give him credit for more taste than he actually has,” Elsora said wryly.

  Leosi’s turned to Maria. “Young lady, perhaps you are not aware, but you appear to be naked and covered in spiders.”

  “More credit for brains, too,” Elsora said. “Leosi dearest, this is clearly your daughter.”

  “Father,” Maria said, her voice still not changing, but she quivered with rage. “I know what I am wearing. Tell me why.”

  Leosi’s eyes had shifted to the rest of us. He was completely ignoring Elsora, not even glancing at her.

  She told him, “Your daughter, Maria. Read her prompt, she’s the Queen of Spiders now.” Elsora flashed a thin smile at Maria that suggested the hussy comment hadn’t gone unnoticed. “Congratulations dear, I see you’ve mastered their skills at conversation.”

  Maria’s expression was as usual inscrutable, but Leosi’s was easier to read. A moment of confused disbelief, followed by doubtful hope. He wore that distant sort of look and I figured he was finally taking the opportunity to read the prompt.

  Leosi flung himself off his throne and all of our hands went to our weapons. When the massive, plate mail-clad figure wrapped his arms around Maria it was no attack—although surely it must have counted as one of the most uncomfortable hugs ever given.

  “That’s more than I’ve gotten out of him in a few centuries,” Elsora muttered.

  Maria was made of stern stuff and wasn’t crushed, and she didn’t return the embrace.

  “I don’t think your daughter is much of a hugger,” I said. She definitely wasn’t prone to public displays of affection with me.

  Leosi released her. “You are alive,” Leosi said with relief. “The spiders swore they would care for you, but I had my doubts.”

  “What?” Maria said.

  “Your father, he exiles all those he loves at the first sign of evil,” Elsora explained. “I used to find such unwavering determination attractive.”

  “The curse feeds upon your worst traits. Magnifies them. I’m prideful, stubborn, and a born fighter,” Leosi said, still ignoring Elsora. “Eventually the very direction the curse was pushing me led me to all the more resist its hold. Daughter, I had to see you away from its influence.”

  Maria was watching him warily. “So you just gave me away? You never checked up on me? You never asked questions? You never did anything?”

  “Ever since the fall of the castle I have been focused on the court. Watching as my friends and comrades fell to evil and became twisted versions of themselves. For centuries I have been working to keep our evil contained and the prophecy from coming true.”

  “It was a pretty little plan,” Elsora said wistfully. “I would tempt him into cheating on his wife and from that seed would grow such changes. Together we would have reshaped everything. Centuries, centuries and he does not budge. He doesn’t even love her.”

  “Sardonis do not betray,” Leosi said, the first time he acknowledged her presence at all.

  “How are you even still alive?” Walt asked.

  “My fault,” Elsora said. “Powerful magic, never satisfied. It’s been a delightful few centuries with a man who hates me, while all rots around us.”

  Leosi looked at Elsora and I caught the emotion in his eyes. Love and pain. I suddenly understood far more than I wanted. She thought she had failed, but she hadn’t—not truly. This man loved her, he had loved her for a very long time, but to yield to it would imperil the world. So he’d resisted. Even now he wouldn’t look at her. Not out of contempt, but out of fear his heart would break.

  “Perhaps the curse was never about me,” Leosi said quietly. “Have you come to kill me, daughter? And take my throne?”

  “I have no interest in your throne,” Maria said. “Though my lover planned to murder you and seize it.”

  Thanks Maria. That was real helpful.

  “Him? Really? You couldn’t do better?” Leosi asked.

  “I like him,” Elsora said. “Shoulders aren’t as broad as yours, but they’d do.”

  “He seemed an improvement over the spiders,” Maria said.

  I really just wanted the subject to change now. Quickly.

  “You planned to murder me, boy?”

  Well, I didn’t want it to change to that.

  “We rather thought you might be a brooding monster and long-corrupted,” I explained.

  Leosi said grandly, “Take my daughter, go below out of the influence of the curse. Live your lives, have babies, raise the shield again if you can. For if you stay here I shall have to kill you. I cannot allow the prophecy to pass.”

  That was way more than I had in mind to do with his daughter. Maria looked rather pissed at the suggestion, too.

  “I do not wish to have babies. I do not wish to live my life. I wish to have a mother who did not abandon me and a father who did not drive me
away.”

  Leosi said with resignation, “You have heard my command. Go, all of you. This is not a fight you could win.”

  “They can’t, but I can,” Elsora said. “It is only my magic keeping you alive, my love. My curse got stuck seeking fulfillment of the prophecy.”

  Leosi closed his eyes for a moment and said wearily, “Very well. If you would force this. I and the curse are bound, I cannot overcome her on my own, but with your assistance perhaps.”

  “Get terms,” Yvera whispered in my ear. “A choice is being forced.”

  “You love each other,” I told them both. “Are you truly this intent on destroying each other?”

  “No,” Elsora said softly.

  “Yes,” Leosi said.

  They couldn’t make things easy. I looked at Maria.

  “You are an ally of the spiders,” Maria said, her voice strained. “We will stand with whatever choice you make.”

  I knew that Maria might say that. But she couldn’t want us to kill her father—and she didn’t seem to like Elsora at all.

  “Let’s hear your pitch,” I said.

  “I was crafted to be a superb ruler for this castle,” Elsora said. “Meant to rule while Leosi did what he did best, take the field. You take the throne, we consummate matters, and you declare me your consort. With you, I become all I was meant to be and so do you.”

  Maria’s eyes turned especially icy.

  “And from you?” I asked Leosi.

  “Doing the right thing isn’t a negotiation, boy,” Leosi fumed. “Choose my side and you can begin the path of redemption. Killing her might kill me as well, but if not, I will keep my throne and continue to hold off the prophecy. I shall train you as a knight and perhaps one day you might become worthy of both my throne and my daughter.”

  Yvera, I thought to myself, Any guidance here?

  “A questionable ally,” Yvera replied in my mind. “Or noble and true enemy. Which would you prefer?”

  I knew the answer to that, but I really wished the answer was otherwise. I just kept saying yes to the wrong types of women.

  “You will be my consort,” I said to Elsora.

  Elsora smiled and she tilted her head in the tiniest of acknowledgments.

  Quest Granted

  Regicide

  You have struck a bargain with the curse inflicting Sardonis castle to kill the King and take his place.

  The mists seemed to swirl especially heavily for a moment and then with an audible crackling they pulled free of Leosi.

  The King in an instant seemed older, ragged. The plate-mail, which moments before he wore with ease, now seemed to suddenly cause him to slump under its weight. There was still a steel in him, however, as he drew a massive two-handed sword from his back.

  “I am sorry, daughter, I cannot let him have the throne,” Leosi said.

  Maria moved forward to be beside me. “Sardonis do not betray. The spiders stand with Liam.”

  “Maria, you don’t have to do this,” I said. What was she thinking? This was her father.

  “Of course she does, boy,” Leosi said. “If you should win, remember that. Actions have consequences and honor is never easy.”

  Blinding Fog

  Elsora gestured and dark mists fogged around Leosi’s head. Just like that he was charging forward with the broadsword swinging.

  The Lion’s Charge

  You have been hit by King Leosi with The Lion’s Charge for 55 damage.

  It was a painful blow even through my now greatly buffed health pool. It hit Maria as well and sent her sailing backwards with a gaping wound in her abdomen. Spiders madly scurried up the King’s sword and began to bite and poison.

  No Target Is Too Large

  That was Ashley coming into the fray. I don’t even know how she had gotten up onto the balcony, but she came hurling down from above with both daggers, plunging them through the thinner plate protecting Leosi’s neck.

  The Lion’s Roar

  Leosi let out a loud roar that flung Ashley back through the air and smashed her against a wall.

  Wavelength Finder

  Dimensional Tremor

  And there was Walt coming into things with a series of spells making Leosi’s white armor vibrate violently.

  I drew Intemperance and flames sprang to life. I charged forward to strike a blow, but found it impossible. Every strike I made was parried with incredible skill.

  Heartbreaker

  That was Elsora again. On the face of the roaring lion adorning Leosi’s breastplate there was a pulsing spot of darkness.

  Eater of Time

  That was Maria. Leosi froze in midair. It was all I needed.

  I thrust Intemperance into the black spot on the armor. For an instant it met resistance until it broke through and plunged into his heart.

  Flames roared and the King trembled, that massive sword falling from his hands to the floor with a massive clang.

  “Good job, boy,” Leosi croaked, still on his feet. “Fights are all about… seizing your moment. Daughter?”

  “I’m here,” Maria said, reaching to hold one of his hands. I awkwardly pulled my sword from her father’s chest. I doubted in the real world he would still be talking, but it seemed somehow appropriate here.

  “I love you. Always did. You are the last Sardonis now. You have to find your mother. You have to kill her,” Leosi said, voice trembling.

  “Okay,” Maria said, as if it were the most reasonable request in the world.

  Elsora slipped from her throne to the King’s side, taking his other hand.

  Leosi looked at her, the light fading from his eyes. “I love you too, but it could not be.”

  “It would have been glorious,” Elsora said. “Goodbye, my love.”

  And with that the King fell to the floor, the last of his life gone.

  Quest Completed

  Regicide

  You have killed a King. The world takes notes, and the rewards will be of your own making.

  Things shouldn’t be so clean and so messy at the same time. I hurt in ways well outside my health bar and I wasn’t sure things with Maria would ever be the same. I started to speak with her when I suddenly felt daggers far too close to my flesh for comfort—the point of one right outside my left eye and the blade of another along my throat.

  Ashley.

  73

  “Care to tell me what you’re doing?” I managed carefully.

  In a swirl of flames nearby Yvera appeared, looking perfectly composed and at ease. I was glad one of us was.

  “She’s negotiating, Liam,” Yvera said confidently. “With me, am I right?”

  “Score one for the crazy bitch,” Ashley said. “Your opposition is gone and the way for whatever you have planned is clear. You don’t need me and Walt anymore, but you do need Liam. Liam, drop your sword.”

  I let Intemperance clatter to the ground and the flames wreathing the blade went out.

  “I’ll be in the royal bedchamber,” Elsora said, moving away from the corpse. “Come find me when you’re done playing with your friends.”

  Maria knelt next to her father and took his hand again. She seemed broken—she always seemed broken, but this was a new sort of broken.

  Walt moved between Maria and Ashley. They planned this together then.

  “You realize I can resurrect him?” Yvera said lightly.

  “Maybe. And you’ll probably have to take that risk out there in the world at large, but this is Player versus Player. I don’t think you’re sure what would happen, if you tried,” Ashley said. The blade across my throat tightened just enough that I felt a prick of pain.

  “So let’s talk about what you want,” Yvera said.

  “What do you think I want?” Ashley asked incredulously. “I want you to stop fucking holding us prisoner and let us go.”

  “You don’t want that,” Yvera all but purred as she sauntered up to the abandoned throne and sat down.

  “Are you trying to seduce me? Rea
lly? Lady, crazy is so not my type.”

  “Of course I’m trying to seduce you and I am so your type. I’m everyone’s type.”

  Walt cleared his throat.

  “Yes, even you. Oh, the things I could show you. Don’t think I save all my best tricks for the bedroom.” Yvera smiled confidently before shifting her attention back on Ashley. “Your act of defiance had a reason.”

  “And what reason would that be?” Ashley growled. The blade at my neck tightened again.

  “Ashley Winters,” Yvera said, making herself comfortable on the throne. “You were looking promising for the games until you left your little town. Your burns, your hatred of us. I’m guessing, Veros?”

  Ashley’s breathing quickened and I could feel the tension radiating off her.

  I said, “Could you try not traumatizing the woman with a knife to my throat?”

  “Shut up, Liam,” Yvera snapped. “I’m closing a deal. This is what I do. You came here to prove something, didn’t you Ashley?”

  “I’m every bit as good as I ever was,” Ashley said. “I’m better than Liam, I’m even better than Tommy. He didn’t take that from me.”

  “The scars slow you down back there. No world tours, a face that won’t be facing any magazine covers. I’m sure Veros is delighted with his work.”

  “Seriously,” Walt spoke up. “Agreeing with Liam here. You are the absolute worst at seduction.”

  “Walt, you’re next. Shut up.” Yvera was getting irritated at all the interruptions.

  Ashley said, “I’m going to agree, crazy. But if you think telling me I’m not pretty and that fucker won is going to make me put down the knives, you are so on the wrong track.”