by M. K. Gibson
I turned a corner and stopped. I backed up and allowed myself another cautions peek. There were two guards standing beside one another in full armored livery with pole arms crossed. They were blocking a door that was easily ten feet tall.
Unless there was another half-giant here, I’d wager we found her room.
Lydia had her head down and she walked past me. Her mind was obviously on other things, like being pissed at me.
“Lydia, stop,” I hissed as I reached my hand out and snatched her back before she turned the corner.
“What?!” Lydia half barked.
“Pull your head out of your ass,” I whispered, holding my finger to my lips and then pointing towards the guards. “Act like a professional.”
“Go to the Never Realm,” Lydia said. “Who are you to tell me what to do?”
I shook my head. “Are you still angry about . . . us?”
“Do you want to have this conversation? Here? Now?”
“No, I’d rather not have it all,” I whispered harshly. “But clearly, we need to have this talk. I recall when you asked me by the fire what I wanted, I told you bluntly it was carnal, and you said, if I recall correctly, that the honesty was refreshing.”
“I know,” Lydia said, sulking.
“And,” I continued, “when you asked me by the river what happens with us the next day, I said that I didn’t know.”
“I know, damn it!” Lydia screamed.
“Then why are you so mad at me?!”
“Because!” she yelled.
“Because why?!” I yelled back.
“Halt!” yelled the pair of Anders’s guards as they rounded the corner on us. “Who are you?”
“Fuck off!” Lydia and I yelled at the guards in unison.
“I thought you were someone special,” she said, her voice deadly serious. “Someone like me. I thought you were more than just . . . a tryst.”
“And where in the hell did you get that notion?!” I yelled back at her. My sense of control and villainous conditioning had gone out the window dealing with this incredibly infuriating woman.
“I don’t know, perhaps when you were inside me? When you held me with passion and emotion? When you didn’t treat me like an object? At least, not until you were done with me.”
“Emotion? You had a knife to my throat the whole time!”
“Um . . . excuse us, but who are you?” one of the guards asked again. “Are you one of the new hires?”
“Shut up,” I said, holding my hand up to the guard. I then turned my attention back to Lydia. “Because I treated you with respect and dignity while we were having sex, that makes me a monster?” I asked, ignoring the guards who were now very curious who we were and why we were fighting. “Because if that’s the case, then the problem is with you and with the type of men you choose to take to your bed. Not me.”
“Oh, so this is all my fault?”
“How could it be mine? I’m not the one who inflated good sex into something more than it was,” I said.
“You arrogant bastard,” Lydia said, her face contorting with seething rage. “Was I the one who kept commenting about your body all the time? Was I the one who mentioned you during the trial, or defended you to the elves? No. That was you flirting with me. Was this all a game for you, Shadow Master? To make me feel special, seduce me, and then slip away?”
“No—I—” I stammered.
Damn it. She had a point. I had said nice things about her. I had defended her.
I had also punched her in the face. And between that option and dealing with a real emotional connection with someone, I preferred the punch.
“OK, enough of this,” the guard said. “Both of you, drop your weapons. You’re coming with us until this gets sorted out.”
“Sod . . . off!” Lydia said, swinging her arm wide and releasing a pair of throwing knives. The blades buried themselves into the guard’s chests, missing vital organs. Both of the guards dropped their weapons and fell to the ground, unconscious.
Poison on the blades? Nice touch.
“Sir?” Sophia’s voice said in my ear. “I know you said to contact you only in emergencies, but I think this counts. I’ve been listening to everything and, right about now, you should probably just kiss her.”
“You’ve been listening? The whole time? Is that why my power is drained so low?”
“Sir, I have to monitor. But please, do not change the subject. I will forgive your moments of lighthearted frivolity if you just kiss her.”
“Who are you talking to?” Lydia asked, confused and angry.
“My assistant,” I said, holding my finger up. “Frivolity? What are you talking about?”
“Your little camping trip? Carousing and playing by the river like a normal person? Like a . . . hero? For shame,” Sophia admonished me. “Sir, our arrangement is mutually beneficial. And I enjoy it. Normally, I would make every effort to undermine your power from this day until the end of the time for your weakening, caring for these heroes.”
“Then why don’t you?” I asked, challenging her.
“Because I’m a sucker for romance!” she exclaimed. “You’re the Shadow Master; she’s the leader of a thieves’ guild! It is the sweetest, most ruthless, and downright sexiest thing I’ve seen, or rather heard, in a long time. Big points for the sex, sir. You two work well together. But Jackson, please, trust me. Just kiss her. Sometimes, even the villain gets the girl.”
I looked back at Lydia, who had another pair of throwing knives ready. She looked at me and I could feel the anger coming off her.
To be honest, it kind of turned me on.
Oh, fuck it. This was not going to end well.
I crossed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around her and kissed her as hard as I could.
She, in turn, stabbed me in the kidney.
Sigh...Fuck romance.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Where I Get Healed, Get Robbed, Entertain an Offer, and Get Rescued
“Move back!” I heard Wren command. I felt his hammer hit me square in the chest, crushing my ribs and breaking my sternum. I felt bone piece my heart.
Then a wave of energy hit me, and just like that, I felt better.
“Praise Vammar,” Wren sighed.
“Sir? Sir?! Are you OK?” Sophia’s voice said in my ear.
“You’re . . . fired,” I groaned.
“You couldn’t fire me if you wanted to, sir,” Sophia said. “Sorry for the bad advice. I really thought she’d go for it. You humans seem to eat that stuff up. I will have to reconsider all those romantic comedies I’ve watched. Damn that Channing Tatum, but Magic Mike is so pretty.”
I propped myself up on my elbow and wiped my face. Wren and Lydia were kneeling beside me. “This adventure has gone to hell. I quit.”
“What was that?” Lydia asked. “Why did you kiss me?”
Not much of an apology.
“A bad attempt at romance?” I said as I tried to stand. Wren’s god’s magic had stitched me back together, but everything inside me felt like it was still finding the right place to be in.
“Did you honestly think a pathetic attempt like that was going to . . . do what? Win me over? Make forgive the way you treated me?”
“And I’m supposed to assume the knife in my side was a completely rational reaction?”
“Will you two please shut up?” Wren rumbled. “We checked the barracks and Anders wasn’t there. I assume from this little scene that you didn’t make it inside her bedchambers?”
“We were distracted,” I said, getting to my feet. Once I was up, my knees buckled. Wren reached out to steady me.
Damn.
“What’s wrong with him?” Wren asked. Lydia simply crossed her arms and looked away.
“I’m poisoned,” I said.
“Is it lethal?”
“Ask her,” I said.
“He’ll live,” Lydia confirmed.
Carina appeared a moment later. “Guards are stashed
,” she said.
“Bedroom?” Wren asked.
“Clear.”
“Hmm,” Wren grunted. “Then she has to be in the main hall. Think you can walk?”
“In a moment,” I said. “Go on ahead. I’ll catch up.”
“You sure?” Carina asked, looking at me and Lydia. “It’s not wise to split us up again.”
“Go,” I said. “Hawker may need you.”
“He’ll be fine,” Wren said. “Vammar’s power will clear him out soon. Let’s go. Jackson is right. Hawker may need us.”
Wren released me, and I leaned against the hallway wall. He and Carina nodded to one another and took off down the hall.
“You want me to stay?” Lydia asked with a bored sigh.
“No.”
“Oh. Well . . . fine.”
Lydia stared at me a moment, considering my curt reply. She walked over to me and placed one hand gently on my cheek.
Then she hauled backed and smacked me so hard my teeth rattled.
I snapped my head back and stared daggers at her. But she simply left without another word, leaving me behind. I watched her leave, and when she was no longer within earshot, I collapsed.
The poison was affecting me a lot more than I wanted them to see. Getting belted in the face by a scorned lover didn’t help.
I’d rather let the poison run its course than use any more power. So I had to just rest. Deep inside, I felt a lingering trace of the ammalar’s god working to counteract the poison.
So. There I was, the Shadow Master, collapsed in a heap of idiocy, poison, and bad romantic decisions. Speaking of using too much power, I needed to admonish my assistant.
“Nice going with the kiss,” I said to Sophia. “If I paid you, I’d cut it in half.”
No response.
“Sophia? Sophia?” I said as I placed my hand to the earpiece.
It was gone.
I looked on the floor and saw nothing. Where did it go? I just had it a moment ago when Sophia was waxing on about her romantic comedies.
“The slap,” I said out loud. I replayed the altercation in my head and it had to have been then. When Lydia went all Ike Turner upside my face, she must have palmed my earpiece. She’d seen me touch it when I’d talked to Sophia earlier.
Which means she could be speaking to Sophia now. How in the world could that be a bad thing? My ancient, powerful, villainous assistant having a tea-time chit-chat with my scorned lover.
I felt my genitalia shrivel at the prospect.
“You’ve looked better,” Khasil said from behind me.
I rolled over to get a better look at the goddess as she stood with her hands on her hips, looking down at me.
Khasil appeared in an almost human form, dressed in her black robes and battle armor. Her greenish skin, hair, horns, and creepy bug eyes were the same. But she was now sporting a scorpion tail and a second set of pincer-like arms.
“Khasil, to what do I owe the honor of this visit? Last time we spoke, you seemed like you wanted to murder me.”
“I still do,” Khasil said. Her tail bobbed above her head, accenting the point. “But, I am here to make you an offer.”
And offer from the Queen of Chaos? This should be petrifying.
“Go on,” I said.
I tried to sound brave, but it wasn’t like I was going anywhere. My body was still sluggish from Lydia’s poison and I was flat on my ass. Even if gods cannot attack other gods directly, nothing stopped her from summoning monstrous creatures from the underworld to feed on my defenseless form.
Or she could just sound an alarm. So I just lay there and waited to hear whatever horrid plan came out of her mouth.
“Give me the girl,” Khasil said.
That piqued my interest. “What girl?”
“The Barrowbride. Give her to me.”
“Why?”
“My reasons are my own. But, if you give her to me, I will help you raze Grimskull’s empire to the ground. His allies will perish. His associates will perish. All who knew of his once vast lands will know his end came at your hands.”
“And if I refuse?”
“I will kill you.”
“You can try,” I said, smiling.
Hopefully she didn’t opt to follow through with her threat. One principle of villainy is to always appear to be more powerful and deadly than you are. While my reach and skill were formidable, I was just a man who happened to lease a dimension and was only technically a god. To the real gods, though, I was an anomaly—a mortal who achieved god status. Therefore, I was something they were very wary of. And because my success continued, I was deemed dangerous.
Khasil considered me. “Fine. I will kill her and your new allies,” the goddess threatened. “Not just kill them—I will torture their souls for millennia. Their anguish will resonate so loudly, you will hear their suffering in your own tiny dimension.”
Something about this was wrong. She was offering too much and threatening too violently. The gods of the realms weren’t true universe-creating deities. They were higher beings, but beings nonetheless, complete with hubris and fallibility. This whole deal was off.
Khasil saw my face and read my expression. She altered her stance and knelt down beside me in a very human way.
“Jackson, do you love her? Is that why you are hesitating? I watched your lovemaking. There was something special there. A passion. A connection.”
What is with these gods? Why is it they seems to have a sick perversion of watching me and my penis every chance they get?
“What if I do?” I said. “My feelings are . . . conflicted in this matter. Who I am and what I do is not conducive to maintaining relationships. So what exists between the Barrowbride and myself is private.”
“She stabbed you.”
“Hell of a woman,” I smiled.
“If her safety is what concerns you, I promise, she will not be harmed.”
I’d heard enough.
“No. You cannot have her.”
“You have doomed them all, mortal,” Khasil sneered.
“No, you are wrong. They are heroes. And we know how that works out for people like us.” I smiled at the goddess. I felt my legs gaining strength and the poison all but gone. If I had to move, I should be able to at least run, if not fight.
“Damn the High Accords!” Khasil screamed. “Die!”
Her scorpion tail drew back, the stinger quivering with anticipation. I scrambled to get my feet under me, but Khasil swept her leg out, knocking me back to the ground while her clawed hand clamped onto my wrist, holding me in position.
“Hey, bitch!” Lydia called out. “Get away from my man!”
Khasil looked up just in time as a pair of Lydia’s poison-coated throwing knives pierced the goddess’s eyes. The blades slid into her primary and secondary left eyes.
Khasil roared and the fortress shook.
I was free from Khasil’s grip and I ran, narrowly dodging her scorpion tail blindly stabbing the ground where I had been only seconds before.
I ran to Lydia, who held her hand out. I took it and the two of us ran down the hall. A quick look over my shoulder and I saw Khasil rage again, lashing out. Then the violence stopped and the goddess blinked out of existence.
“You love me.” Lydia smirked as we ran down the hall.
Damn.
I was never going to live this down.
Maybe it wasn’t too late to sell her to Khasil after all?
Chapter Thirty-Five
Where I Spy From Above, Give Sage Villain Advice, and Am Betrayed
From my perch high in the vaulted rafters, I could see the great hall below. General Anders towered over an expansive circular wooden table. The structure was intricately designed to hold a massive cauldron in the center. The water within the cauldron rested flush with the table. Anders swept a hand over the water and a map of the entire Eastern Empire was displayed. As Anders gestured, the water shifted, showing her forces throughout the empire.
The table was magical—a gift from Chaud, no doubt—allowing her the ability to view wherever she wished and deploy her forces through the portals in the training field. She gripped the railing and studied the map. So what was she doing now?
Well, that was simple: She was searching. No doubt for me. I looked at my phone and it read 34%. Keeping me cloaked from outward scrying was slowly draining my power. And, it appeared, the closer I was to the magical source looking for me, the more quickly it drained.
The rest of the hall was empty besides two of her captains and several attendants. One of the captains was a female in black lightweight scout armor designed to make little to no sound. She was most likely Gale Korva, the leader of the Night Fires, Anders’s assassins. She was dark-skinned with a shaved head. Her eyes scanned everywhere.
The other person was Steve. The former chamberlain-turned-captain was dressed in shiny new armor complete with single off-shoulder cape denoting his rank.
Across from me, in the rafters on the other side of the hall, Wren and Carina were perched. They nodded at me. Lydia was on my right, and all of us were looking for the same thing.
Where was Hawker?
“What made you come back?” I whispered.
Instead of answering, Lydia just gave me a dopey smile then passed me back my earpiece. I glared at her, already seeing the story play out in my head. I placed it in my ear and immediately Sophia began a torrent of romantic babble.
“Oh sir, she is perfect. Once I explained who you were, what we do and how we approach our work, she completely understood. Do you know how devious she is? Did you know she planned on poisoning you and not giving you the antidote until you apologized and bowed before her?”
“Sophia, the point. Get there.”
“Sorry, sir. I am such a hopeless romantic.”
“I once watched you destroy an entire city.”
“Well, did you see the color schemes they were using? But that’s beside the point. Sir, she is good for you and good for us. I think you know why.”
I looked at Lydia, who was still smiling like a goon. A self-satisfied, smug goon. “Yes. My assumption as well.”
