by Eden Redd
Thalia and Lunatina stood silently, their eyes turning to the rulers. All four rulers turned their attention to the lamia and jester but it was Edric who spoke up.
“Thalia, please see Lunatina to a room. We will confer and come back with a decision.”
Thalia bowed.
Edric turned his attention to his fellow rulers. “We have a lot to talk about.”
***
“Lunatina is cute,” Rayna smiled as she leaned back in her council chair, lute in her lap.
Thalia slithered around the oak table, pouring ale into a cup before moving to the next one. Edric, Faye and Claudia sat in their seats, all facing each other. The mood shifted into mild annoyance as they tried to figure out how to find a killer that hasn’t been seen.
Edric rubbed his eyes, “I’m fine with Lunatina becoming a courtesan but I’m more concerned what to do about the troll killer.”
Claudia nodded. “When we used to lure troll patrols from the kingdoms, we often let it slip about hit and run gatherings in local taverns. The trolls would show up and we’d spring the trap. Sometimes they knew it was a trap but they couldn’t resist the chance that it may work in their favor. The success rate was sixty-forty, our favor, but we still took casualties. We could use the same principle, spreading false information to lure the killer out.”
Rayna eyed the lancer from across the table, “Why are you being so helpful toward them? They’re the enemy.”
The lancer returned the bard’s gaze, “I thought we had to buy time? If we don’t do something, the trolls will show up in force. How about you do more than play your lute and collect gold.”
Rayna leaned forward, the front legs of her chair slamming down on the stone floor, “I do a lot for Elora. Keeping the peace is a full-time job!”
Faye sighed. “What has gotten into the two of you?”
Edric pressed his elbows onto the table, an amused look on his face. “I think they’re happy your back. They haven’t bickered this much since you’ve been gone.”
“I’m happy your back,” Claudia chimed in.
“I’m happy the mother of Kung Fu is back,” Rayna grinned as she eased back in her chair.
Faye looked to each of them, a softness filling her smooth brow. “I’m happy to be back but we should focus on the murders. Claudia is right; we may have to lure the killer to us if we want to stop them.”
The room was silent once again. Minds worked to come up with a plan but it was Rayna who sat comfortably, her smile widening as she looked down to her lute.
“I have an idea,” the bard began, “but I will need all of you to do exactly as I say.”
All eyes turned to the bard playing a small tune as she detailed her plan.
Five
“Lord Temple, I must protest,” Ralis said with an edge.
Edric ignored the diplomat as he visually scanned the room. The large bed chamber glowed from torchlight and a roaring hearth. The high ceilings and lack of windows created the perfect safe room. Turning, Edric looked to the thick wooden door. Thalia stood off to the side, head bowed. Two large trolls searched the room, one looking under the bed while another checked the wooden closet. They each carried a wicked looking sword strapped to their backs.
Ralis’s dark eyes stayed on the summoner, “Myself and my people should be helping you search for the killer.”
Edric turned to the troll, “It’s safer if your people dig in at camp and you remain here in the center of the keep. We have guards patrolling the corridors. The rulers of Elora will not let anything happen to you as long as this killer is on the loose. Thalia will remain as added protection along with your two bodyguards.”
Ralis shook his head, “If you mean to use me as bait, I will not be part of such an obvious trap. My being here and separated, leaves my people exposed. I do not have to tell you what will happen if I return to a dead camp.”
Edric’s gaze met the trolls for a long second before taking a deep, cleansing breath. “Ralis, I understand the stress you must be feeling. We said we would protect you and your people and we will. But, if you want our help, you will have to listen to what we have to say. Do not leave this room under any circumstances.”
The troll’s hands balled into fists before fingers loosened. A heartfelt sigh fell from his lips as he closed his eyes, calming the storm in his belly. Edric watched as peace flowed over the diplomat and he opened his eyes.
“Lord Temple, please forgive me. I know you have our best interests at heart. You can understand why I’m concerned. This monster hunting my people has put all of us on edge.”
Edric gave the troll an understanding smile, “Ralis, we only want to help. Let us help you and we can put this all behind us.”
The troll nodded before turning his head slightly to the troll bodyguards, “Leave us for a moment.”
The trolls bowed before they moved to the iron door and stepped out. Thalia eyed Edric for a moment and when he nodded, she followed the bodyguards and closed the door behind her.
Ralis’s eyes looked away as if to gather his thoughts. When he looked to Edric, a touch of fear and knowing filled his dark eyes.
“Edric, I know you have no interest in saving me and my people. If I were in your boots, I would feel the same.”
The summoner’s eyes widened a hair, “Ralis, I…..”
“Please, let me continue,” the troll said with a flustered tone. “It’s no secret about the relations between Elora and the Kunarr Kingdoms. I see it in the eyes of your people and mine, the hate simmering below the surface. Many are not concerned with the deaths of a few trolls.”
The troll diplomat reached into his robe sleeve and pulled out a rolled-up scroll, “I know I have been out of sorts but I believe anyone would if they received a letter such as this.”
Ralis handed the scroll to Edric. The summoner took it and opened it.
The abyss calls for you….tonight.
Ralis smiled sadly, “It is a known practice among my people, if a troll diplomat dies on foreign soil, it will signal invasion. Sometimes, to increase the chance of war, the masters have been known to hire assassins to murder their own diplomats. It has proven an effective strategy. The scroll was left by my bedside and I discovered it when I woke before I knew several of my soldiers had lost their heads.”
Edric looked from the scroll to the troll, “Why? Why would they want to push war now?”
Ralis centered his gaze on Edric’s eyes, “Isn’t it obvious, Juna Reed resides in your city.”
Shadows lengthened under Edric’s eyes, “You told them. You told them she was here.”
Ralis nodded. “I did. I had too. And the moment I inked the letter and sent it off with a raven, I knew it was too late.”
Edric’s hand began to shake. In a blink of an eye, one hand grabbed the troll diplomat’s collar and another hand curled into a tight fist. The summoner growled as the raised fist trembled in the air.
Ralis lifted his chin, “I understand if you wish to strike me but it won’t do any good. My masters know.”
“Then why didn’t they kill you when they had the chance? Why leave a letter?” Edric growled.
Ralis kept his courage, “Not only am I versed in diplomatic relations, all Kunarr diplomats are well versed in the arts of war. The assassin is making a show of it, causing a loss of morale before the final stroke. Several of my people in camp have deserted. They felt powerless against an enemy who can slip in undetected and murder their fellow soldiers. I would have lost most of them if I had not promised to ensure their safety.”
Edric let go of the troll’s robe collar and took a step back, fist at his side. “Now, more than ever, we have to keep you alive.”
Ralis gave a slight nod. “Yes, but please understand I take no pleasure in any deception. I can see it in your heart and the heart of your fellow rulers, you all want peace and prosperity for your people. I only wish…”
Edric waited as the troll trailed off. Ralis’ black eyes took on hi
nts of fear. Courage struggled under his skin as he tried to find the words. Edric could see the need to survive overwrite all logic but a sliver of cunning seemed to fill the troll’s gaze.
“There is a necromancer cult hidden in Elora. If I survive tonight, I will give you everything we have discovered about them.”
Edric let a coolness slide into his heart as he pointed a finger at the troll. “We will have a lot to talk about tomorrow. For tonight, do not leave this room.”
The summoner turned and marched toward the door.
“Edric, I still consider us friends,” Ralis called out.
The player said nothing as he wretched the door open and stepped out. Thalia, the two troll bodyguards and Leeta looked to the summoner. The bodyguards and Thalia moved to the open door and made their way inside while the ogre closed the door behind them. Yellow eyes glanced with concern as Edric seethed. The ogre stepped closer and stood by his side.
“We are being played,” Edric growled softly.
The summoner and ogre began walking down the corridor. Leeta remained silent as Edric’s mind worked. The player felt something like this would happen but he hoped it would be much later. Allowing Juna to move about the city was a mistake, a mistake that could threaten the entire kingdom. Elora’s defenses were in standing order but they still had no standing army. Now that an assassin was trying to start a war by killing Ralis, everything they had worked for could come crashing down around them.
Corridors twisted and turned. Edric noticed when they reached a window opening that the sun had set. Darkness and torchlight filled the area outside of the keep and across the city. Street lanterns lit up, casting their glow on cobblestone streets. The light of the glowing moonrises touched the dark sky with peaceful serenity.
The summoner and ogre continued to walk along, Edric lost in a mental haze. A dark thought touched his mind, wondering why they should even put the effort into catching the troll killer. If the assassin was as skilled as it seemed, they would be foolish to stop them. Why not let them kill Ralis and fortify their defenses for the incoming invasion.
Edric’s shoulders sank as he walked. Despite the game played against the trolls, the look of fear in Ralis’s eyes was a little too real. The player hated his moral compass and he knew he would still do anything to protect him. The diplomat had, on many occasion, offered real advice to help the fledgling kingdom grow and prosper. Where Edric, Faye, Claudia and Rayna stumbled along at times, Ralis could see what was needed to ensure a prosperous future. The troll helped with trade negotiations between several kingdoms and ensured the wine being transported would get its fair share of gold.
Edric noticed the look of joy in his eyes as he helped them. At first, the summoner thought it was a show, a farce to dig deeper into their good graces but when vendors and a few citizens quietly complimented the troll on the financial windfalls, it was enough for Edric to have second thoughts. It gave the player mixed feelings about the diplomat and something he simply couldn’t shake. Ralis seemed to carry himself as if he was one of the awakened NPC’s but Edric simply wasn’t sure.
The storm of uncertainty in the player’s mind seemed to fade into the background as he turned a corner and looked up. A pulse quickened under his skin as he gazed out to an open balcony, his breath taken away.
Basked in dim moonlight, Juna leaned forward against the edge. Hand up, moths fluttered around her and some landed on extended fingertips. The half-troll’s face turned sideways, eyes on the moths and a smile on her lips. Long black hair flowed from her head and down past her shoulders, a pink stripe running from her temple and down the length of her hair. She wore her light white armor and two short swords in their sheaths, crisscrossed across her back.
Edric stopped in his tracks, eyes on the beautiful blue skinned woman as she marveled at the white moths clustered around her. Leeta looked to Juna and down to her master, a playful smile on her lips. The ogre stepped away as Edric’s frozen legs thawed and he stepped onto the balcony.
Juna turned her body slightly, eyes on the summoner and a smile blooming as he approached. The two gazed into each other’s eyes before Edric stepped to her side and rested his folded arms on the balcony edge. Juna did the same, moths floating in the moonlight around them.
“I thought you would be out on your nightly patrol,” Edric said as he gazed out over the Discord District.
“I was going to, but these moths wanted my company. I thought I could spare a few moments.”
“I’m glad you stayed. I was hoping to see you again,” Edric said with a hint of shyness.
“I’m glad I stayed too. Faye told me the plan. I’m ready to help,” Juna smiled.
Edric’s face tilted forward, shadows covering his face. “I knew she would but are you okay with it?”
“I understand what’s at stake. You have nothing to fear, I’ll be there when you need me.”
Edric nodded. “I…I don’t think we’ve had much time to talk, just me and you.”
Juna turned and leaned her side against the balcony, facing the summoner, “Then we should make time. I know I’ve been busy with patrolling the streets but I would look forward to sitting down and talking.”
The nervous vibration against Edric’s spine caused his hands to fidget slightly. The mystical troll seemed to set him on edge and her open kindness made it worse. Deep down, he knew he could speak his mind and she would be open with him but it still conflicted at his already full love life. Thoughts swirled with Faye, Claudia, Rayna and Leeta, but Juna had mixed in there somehow, snaring his heart just as well.
Juna eyed the nervous summoner and gave him a relaxed smile. “I know you want to say more and you can.”
Edric looked to her, heart fluttering. “I know I can. I just don’t know if I should. It still feels strange that I am standing next to a legendary hero.”
The half-troll let out a small giggle as her eyes stayed on Edric. “I wouldn’t say that. I was barely alive for a few minutes before I was slain. I learned more being a ghost in the last year than all the time I was actually alive. It was a sobering experience.”
“True but the people of Elora see you as a hero. You have patrolled and slain the undead on its streets. Many are looking up to you.”
Edric lifted his hand and ran the back of his fingers along the pink stripe in her hair. “They have even begun putting a pink braid in their hair to show their admiration.”
Juna looked away, shyly. “I know many are afraid. I just wanted to help.”
Edric let his hand drop as he gazed on the beautiful troll. “They are not the only ones who look up to you.”
“You flatter me good sir,” Juna smiled. “They look up to all of you, too. I have heard many a kind word said about a certain handsome summoner.”
The two let their gaze linger on one another before they both chuckled. The lightness of it settled Edric’s inner storm. He couldn’t deny what was there between them and he didn’t want to. The gravity of attraction ensnared them both but each heart swayed from any definitive action. It danced before them and yet the two stayed to opposite walls, hearts wanting.
Juna looked down as her smile faded slightly. “I don’t know how long I can stay in Elora.”
Edric’s eyes widened as a weight pressed on his heart.
The half-troll continued, “I don’t know how versed you are in what happened on the Cursed Coast?”
Edric’s expression took a serious edge, “Faye and Claudia informed me of some of the details. Your mother stayed on the western coast to be the voice of the Sormir. Your father, Jayson Reed, went back so he could help guard her.”
Juna’s expression saddened. “I can feel things, strange and wondrous things. I can still sense my mother on the Cursed Coast. Her heart is filled with so much love but her mind is chaos.”
“What about your father?”
Juna’s expression remained unchanged. “I don’t know. I can’t sense him like my mother. It has been on my mind lately that I s
hould go to them and show that I survived.”
Juna’s fingers curled around the railing edge, “I have been working up the courage to tell you. Even now, I can feel your concern.”
Edric gave a small smile, “I know you’re strong enough to survive the western lands.”
The half-troll smiled, “That’s not the concern you have.”
Edric felt his soul freeze. The other otherworldly creature standing next to him could sense what he felt. It unnerved him in a peculiar way he didn’t completely understand. She was one of the first children between a player and an NPC but the way she spoke and moved, Edric could never think of her as just a program. There was no uncanny valley between them. She seemed like a living, breathing person and that only caused the player to want to know her more. The magic spark grew hotter with every interaction and yet he hesitated. Edric wondered if it was that he didn’t want his heart broken again or something more.
“I want to…know you,” Edric mustered. “You spent your time as a ghost, watching us as we built Elora. I hope it doesn’t sound selfish but I know I want to know more about you. I want to talk and know your dreams and desires.”
Juna gave a shy smile, “I want that too…but I can see your pain. I don’t wish to hurt you by leaving.”
Edric gave a reassuring smile. “Juna, if our meeting is simply two ships passing in the night, then that is what fate has left us. I will never stand in the way of you going to your parents. If anything, I would want to help you achieve it.”
“What about your friends and your kingdom?”
Edric’s eyes glowed lovingly in the moonlight, “They would understand and knowing them, they would want to help too.”
Juna lifted her hand and laid it on the summoner’s hand. Edric looked down, enjoying the energy and warmth as their spirits mingled from a loving touch. The player looked up to Juna’s perfect beauty and his heart glowed. A dark thought pulsed in his mind, telling him to not get attached but his heart whispered a desperate wanting.
