We Are Not Prey

by Taki Drake

  After extracting a promise from Jenna not to let her be late, Ruth retreated into the bathing room. The redecoration has extended even into here, resulting in cool marble, comfortable benches, and luxurious towels softening the room. The bathtub was just as seductive as the bed, and Ruth was unable to resist its siren call. Dropping her clothing onto the floor, Ruth turned on the taps and watched the bath fill. Checking the bath salts carefully, she found one that had the clear scent of flowers, reminding Ruth of the roses of Earth. She sank into the warm water gratefully, realizing that her last bath was before all of this started. Before her husband’s death, before her dogs’ sacrifice, before the terror and pain. The noise of the circulating water concealed her sobbing, and the salt of her tears disappeared into her pool of comfort.

  It had been a lovely bath. Ruth felt clean for the first time in a long time. Responding to a half-formulated intuition, Ruth had decided that she should dress in a copy of her inner keep guard uniform for the household tour. Yanking a comb through her hair, Ruth walked out into the sitting area of her suite. Jenna, Margot, and Gerian were waiting for her with serious faces. Sitting down in one of the chairs, Ruth asked them to report.

  “Lady Mage,” Margot began, “you were right on target with your discomfort. The housekeeper appears to be a pawn of the cook, and that twisted bastard seems to be running the entire inner keep.”

  Gerian continued the report, “He abuses the kitchen help sadistically and has been systematically preying sexually on the young women and men of the castle.”

  Jenna chimed in, “I found multiple women and men who had signs of torture, both recent and old, on their bodies.” She continued, “He has also been employing poison to kill or weaken people that he does not like or cannot control. Somehow he has managed to exert control over a middle-aged woman with gray hair who is a very accomplished maker of poison and potions, forcing her to create the toxins by threatening her daughter and son.”

  Gerian added, “I think that the woman would be a good ally if we could get her cooperation. That will not be possible without removing the danger to her children, in my opinion.”

  Ruth suggested that on her inspection tour that they attempt to accidentally run into the woman so that Ruth could evaluate whether she agreed with Gerian’s conclusion. If she thought that their judgment was correct, then they needed to somehow get the woman into a private room for Ruth to question more closely.

  Jenna straightened up suddenly and glanced wildly around the chamber. “I forgot to tell you another of my discoveries. Much of the castle is under audio surveillance, and that information goes to both the cook and to someplace outside the castle! We have to find a way of negating any devices in your rooms.”

  “Don’t worry, I removed all of those when I redecorated.”

  Jenna responded, “Perhaps you might think of how we can do that for the rest of the castle.”

  A multi-hour trek through the keep dragged Ruth, Jenna, and Gerian through every single room and closet in the multi-floor multi-wing building, concluding in the kitchen. They were introduced to the head cook, Marius, who was unctuous and reminded Ruth of a toad. Looking around the kitchen, Ruth noticed poorly cleaned counters and dusty pots. The odor of rotting food was everywhere. She turned to Marius and said, “Now that the inner keep will be staffing more people, and since we will be expanding our entertainment and other social engagements, I expect that higher standards of cleanliness and food quality be met.”

  Marius clutched the table in front of him so hard that his hands turned white and responded, “Only someone who has dealt with the complexity of ongoing meal preparation for a large group of people can adequately set standards for anything in the kitchen. I have the experience and the knowledge. I realize that you may not be comfortable in such an elevated position, but there is no reason to try to give directions to someone who knows their job. Perhaps you can focus your attention on something within your grasp, like flower decorating or something.”

  “I believe, Cook, that you may have forgotten who is in charge of the inner keep. Tomorrow morning, we will have a discussion on how things are to be run from now on.”

  “I have many things to prep for the meals, and I’m not sure I’m going to be available for meeting tomorrow.”

  “You have a choice. Be available, or be out. I expect to meet with you, the housekeeper, butler and head gardener at nine tomorrow morning. Attendance is not optional.”

  Leaving the man fuming in the kitchen, Ruth and her guards headed to the family dining room. On their way, Ruth suddenly said, “Oh, I wanted to have a look at something in here! I’ll be right back.” Jenna turned and used her body to block the door, preventing anyone from following Ruth and Margot into the room. Just inside the doorway, Gerian was waiting for Ruth, holding the arm of a middle-aged woman who looked frightened but uncowed.

  Pressing her lips with a finger, Ruth called tendrils of light into her hands and flung balls of the light at each of the walls of the room. A series of little pops seem to pepper a staccato accompaniment to the light show before the Mage tossed more light around the room that seemed to coat the walls, settling in without a trace. The woman’s eyes widened in astonishment. Ruth smiled and explained, “We know that you are being forced to produce poisons and I understand that you are doing this to protect your children.”

  The woman looked even more frightened and gasped, “Cook has taken my son and daughter away, and I have to do what he said, or they will be hurt.”

  Ruth promised the woman that she would rescue the children, telling her her that when the Mage had pushed the cook into a rage he had pictured in his mind where he was keeping the two. As Ruth began to describe the boy and the girl that she had seen in Marius’mind, the woman gasped and started to cry. “Those are my babies!”

  “Gerian, could you and Margot come up with a plan for rescuing the children while Pawlik and I are at lunch? I don’t want to give the slime toad of a cook too much time to work on an attack.”

  Gerian and Margot had a brief consultation and agreed that they could put together a rescue mission quickly. However, they both thought that the woman should come with them so that her children will know that they were safe. Ruth agreed and planned to send Margot off on a supposed errand. Gerian was instructed to conceal both the woman and himself in the shuttle so that neither of them was visible. The woman accompanied the scout with dawning hope and a wicked glint in her eye, as Margot and Ruth shared a commiserating smile.

  Ruth emerged from the room chattering about redecorating plans. She continued on her way to the family dining room, where Pawlik was already sitting. As Ruth sat down, she instructed Margot to travel by shuttle to pick her up some paint and fabric samples. Margot promised to be back by the time Ruth and Pawlik had completed their meal and departed.

  Pawlik had a quizzical look on his face but asked no questions. He and Ruth sat down to their meal chatting idly. As they talked, Ruth placed a carved gemstone in the middle of the table. Pawlik lifted an eyebrow in question, and Ruth carefully shook her head. The first course was brought in by the housekeeper and the butler, both of them looking extremely nervous. Ruth ignored the servants and asked Pawlik how his morning had been. He started to describe the types of things that had occurred while he was gone and some of his thoughts on how to move forward with the estate. The servants left the room, so only Ruth, Pawlik, and Jenna remained. Ruth examined the gemstones, but their appearance remained that of beautifully carved but non-magical stones. The newly bonded couple discussed a variety of things as they ate their salad course, happily without incident.

  The next course arrived, and plates were placed in front of Pawlik and Ruth. A small light was growing in the gem in front of Ruth. Pawlik straightened in alarm, and again Ruth responded with a small shake of the head. The two servants had left the room, and Ruth moved her plate closer to the gemstone which flared into a blinding light. She pulled her plate back into position. Pawlik pushed his plate towa
rd the gem in front of him, but no increase in light occurred. He replaced his plate into its original position, but a thundercloud of growing rage turned his face dark with anger.

  Ruth motioned for him to remain calm and rang the bell that was sitting next to her place setting. When the butler entered the room, he glanced at their untouched plates. A mingled look of shame and relief washed over his face.

  Ruth demanded that the cook come to the room, saying that she wished to speak to him about his method of preparing the meal. The butler bowed in obedience and exited the room immediately. Pawlik opened his mouth to say something and Ruth interrupted him in what he recognized as an artificial voice. She told him that she needed to speak to the cook immediately because this was just not acceptable and she wouldn’t have anything like this in the inner keep when she was responsible for it. Telling Pawlik that he had been too lax and that he should’ve fired the incompetent idiot before, Ruth was sure that she had said enough to ensure that if the cook had any ability to listen to the conversation in the room that he would appear in an enraged state.

  The cook stormed into the room ranting and raving about her inexperience and lack of understanding. “I have given decades of loyal service to the family! No one can create meals to match my level.”

  Ruth responded, saying, “If your food is so great, then, by all means, you should be eating it!” Handing him a fork, she pushed her plate toward him. Staring at the plate, Marius panicked and tried to run from the room. Jenna tackled the fleeing man, neatly dropping him with a single blow to the back of the head. Ruth spun a magical rope of light and hoisted the unconscious cook up into the air. A wave of her hand dispensed light tendrils that caused the explosion of the listening devices all over the castle.

  Jenna and the Mage began to bring Pawlik up to speed on what they had found. He was incensed. Almost incoherent with rage, he seemed about ready to run around the castle handing out retribution. Ruth bent her efforts to calming him down. At that point, the cook regained consciousness and found himself hanging 20 feet up in the air. The frightened man lost control of his bladder and urinated down his leg. Pawlik asked that Ruth lower the cook closer to the ground, which she did. Pawlik’s angry face became the one thing that Marius could see clearly. His overwhelming fear coupled with Ruth’s judicious tweaking of the light rope’s grip ensured that the frightened man answered all of Pawlik’s questions. It was a sad tale of betrayal and abuse. The cook had been working against the family for decades. His collusion with Pawlik’s distant cousin and the Council was designed to weaken Pawlik and his position. The terrified man verified that Pawlik’s cousin was the one that had betrayed Pawlik and his crew to the Insectoids. However, the credentials that allowed Stefar to contact the Insectoids were provided by Councilor Fergali. Pawlik continued to question Marius with Jenna’s help, but Ruth turned her attention to some of the other priorities.

  Ruth comm’d the rest of her inner keep guard, alerting them to the danger and telling them to gather all of the castle staff in one of the large rooms that she saw during her tour. She told them to bring the housekeeper and the butler into the family dining room immediately, though. When the two senior servants entered the room, they were frightened to see the cook tied up with the rope of light. Marius tried alternately with yells and screaming threats, all while frothing at the mouth, in a vain effort to shut them up, to no avail.

  Under gentler questioning than was used with Marius, both the housekeeper and the butler confessed to being blackmailed and manipulated by potions into an addiction that has left them at the cook’s mercy. Unable to meet Pawlik’s eyes, they simply hung their heads in shame.

  Ruth looked at Jenna and said, “Kill him,” pointing at the cook.

  Unemotionally, Jenna decapitated the whining, screaming man. The housekeeper collapsed into a weeping ball, the butler was a broken man. They were given into the custody of a pair of the new inner keep guards. Leaving instructions that the two shivering servants should remain in the room until their fate has been decided, Ruth and Pawlik left the room.

  Chapter 19 – Mage and Consort

  Ruth stalked into the smaller ballroom of the castle where the staff had been told to assemble. She was in absolutely no state to accept any difficulty or any excuses. The room was filled. Even though there were far more people than she had expected, she walked confidently to the front of the room, climbed the four steps to the small musician’s platform, and turned to face the crowd. Eight members of her inner keep guard were scattered around the room, each of them with a drawn weapon. The sight of the guns visibly shook the assembled castle staff, but Ruth didn’t care.

  She was done accommodating stupidity and cupidity. It was time that the Borachland staff learned just who they had been crossing. They might know now that she and Pawlik were bonded, after this meeting they would understand far more.

  Raising her hands directly over her head, Ruth spread her fingers and allowed light to shoot from her hands onto the ceiling and drip down the walls. The frightened inhalation of breath throughout the room told her that she certainly had their attention. Opening her eyes, she cupped her hands in front of her chest and blew a breath into them. A fountain of red flames erupted from her hands stretching for 20 feet of eye-searing brightness. A tonal, wordless noise emerged from the depths of Ruth’s throat scattering the light against the ceiling and walls. As the flames touched the surface of the walls, realistic vines and flowers appeared in columns running from floor to ceiling. Those flames that reached the ceiling produced a different result. The roof of the room became an intricate weaving of sky with the brightness of morning and the starry darkness of night. It was breathtaking.

  In the stunned silence that followed, Ruth’s voice was crystal clear and reached to all corners of the room. “The inner keep is mine.” Ruth seemed to look at each person in the chamber, meeting their eyes and either frightening them or consoling them with her sense of power. “My Lord Pawlik and I are bonded, and I am a Mage.” Several of the people in the room had dropped to their knees, heads bowed in supplication. Ruth ignored them.

  “There has been betrayal and sabotage perpetrated against my Lord and this estate. IT WILL CEASE! I will not tolerate a repeat of anything less than loyal and wholehearted behavior. Each member of the staff will be going through an evaluation of their loyalty. If you fail that test, you will either be punished or fired, depending on what you have done.”

  Several of the staff members had begun to weep, but Ruth was too angry to feel any sympathy. She continued, “those of you that have been victimized will not be punished for being the victim but now is the time to change the situation and the behavior.”

  One of the guards drew her attention and indicated three women that had come to huddle by his feet. He looked confused and at a loss for what to do. Ruth saw Jenna start to move over next to him. Confident that Jenna had the situation under control, Ruth continued.

  “I will reward those that do their job well, those that are loyal and those that contribute to the well-being of this estate. Anyone that feels that they can do a good job at a position different from the one they hold today should plan on speaking with either the captain of my guard, Jenna or me, within the next two days.”

  “The former inner keep guard have all been placed under arrest and confinement. They will stand trial for their deeds later today. That trial will be held in the open courtyard at the rear of the castle. Any of you that do not have duties at that time may observe. Make no mistake, this will be a formal Mage Court, not the ridiculous court set up that you had before. Are there any questions?”

  The people in the room stirred uneasily, but no one asked questions. Ruth thought perhaps that they were too wounded, too frightened, to feel free enough to ask for information. She reminded herself to mention to Jenna, Margot, and Gerian that the guards should expect to be questioned in Ruth’s stead. Looking around the room one more time, Ruth nodded her head and marched determinedly out of the chamber. He
r path miraculously cleared ahead of her, with people falling back to make way for the dangerous, angry Mage.

  Parts of Ruth’s thoughts were sad. She did not want to be feared and isolated, but there didn’t seem to be a better way to get the situation under control. Sighing deeply, she resolved to walk her mild depression into submission. The thought of actually being able to get something done, something actually completed, cheered her up. So she started to make a rapid retracing of the detailed facility tour that she had taken the day before with the former housekeeper.

  Happily, Ruth charged off to work off her sad, or mad, and her doldrums. Blowing things up was exactly the therapy that she needed today. Sabotage, danger, traps, and concealed evil. Destroying the potentially injurious ‘presents’ and any left over eavesdropping devices would definitely put her in a better mood.

  Ruth had traveled every square foot of the inner keep checking for sabotage and danger. She lost track of the traps and general nastiness that they had found and destroyed. Her guards were working in shifts. For some reason, she kept wearing them out. Jokingly, she said to Margot at her side, “You really need to look at physical conditioning for the inner keep guards. They keep needing to be shifted out after only an hour and a half or two hours! Is it that I am frightening them off, or that they just don’t make guards is durable as they used to.”

  Margot laughed, and replied, “I think it is the whole Mage thing, my lady. They can only take so many spells being flashed in front of them before they get a bit wild-eyed.”

  “Hopefully, they’re going to get over that pretty soon, since I have a funny feeling that there will be more flashing of spells in their future.”

  Margot just laughed again. Her amusement was cut short when the communicator built into her armor sounded in insistent alarm. Slapping a hand onto her wrist, Margot snapped out, “Report!” A rapid answer from her built-in communicator informed her that the former guards had succeeded in breaking out of their confinement and were attempting to escape. Thinking that the only resistance would come from the new guards that had arrived with Ruth, the planned escape route was through the kitchen gardens and out the rear of the castle. Apparently, the escape was not going well, and the Marine reporting was moving to reinforce the group battling to stop the escapees.