by M. K. Gibson
I commanded the black metal bracelet to form Coldfyr in my hand. I wound up and swung for the fences. The mace connected with Anders’s head, breaking her skull. I followed the swing with another and another until the only thing that was left of her once-beautiful face was bloody brains and burned pulp.
With that done, I commanded the mace away and kicked her corpse back into the lava. I then picked Steve the Candleholder back up from the ground.
“What are you going to do?”
“What I have to.”
“I will serve you! Please don’t,” Steve pleaded.
I looked at Steve the Candleholder once more and considered him. Perhaps it would be nice, keeping him around? A sarcastic voice to talk to from time to time, if nothing more than comedy relief?
Nah.
There were enough ridiculous literary heroes and anti-heroes in the fantasy realms who abused the spirit-in-an-object motif. It was becoming the norm and boring.
I absently tossed Steve into the lava.
I heard him scream one last time. It made me smile.
Especially since that little candleholder was a gift from Valliar and would last for all time, impervious to lava.
A suitable prison for the ex-Marine who forgot to be forever faithful to his master.
Semper fi, motherfucker.
The Fifteenth Rule of Villainy
A villain will always assess everything and everyone for a net gain.
Chapter Forty
Where We Question Carina, I Dodge a Bullet, and We Move on to Chaud
“Can you make it work?” I asked Carina.
“It’s amazing that even that one portal stayed open,” Carina said as she inspected what was left of the magical table. “I might be able to make it work, but I don’t think a new portal will stay open for long.”
“I don’t need it to. We just need the one location.”
“Chaud’s?” Wren asked.
“Yes. Chaud’s,” I confirmed. Now that the action was over, I got a look at the ammalar. His armor was now completely blue, all the red washed away. He and his armor had been reforged as Vammar willed it. Neither the armor nor the man was marked by Anders’s touch.
Wren, conflicted, ever walked the path of warrior and defender. The former father and family man who turned to a life of violence had found his calling as a protector. No longer would he be an ammalar, an undecided disciple of the fickle god. Wren was now a Templar of Vammar. One of his chosen who defends the weak.
I was hoping he would return to being bloodthirsty. Besides red being a better color for him, I had no real use for a heroic champion. When this was done, so would be my need of him.
While I was on that train of thought . . .
“That was quite devious of you, Carina,” I said with actual respect.
The half-dwarf smiled while she worked on the table. “I thought you would like that.”
“For a moment, I thought you were actually betraying us,” I said. “You were very convincing.”
“I was living a lie while in the Twilight Guard. Acting as someone and something I was not is essentially lying. And I’ve had years of practice.”
That was a very good job of dodging the issue. Perhaps there was something to cultivate within her.
“Your plan went back as far as when we were captured by Anders’s forces and locked in that rolling prison cart?” Wren asked.
“That’s some foresight you have there,” Lydia said.
“We were all mocking Jackson after we learned that he was the Shadow Master. Hawker had expressed a darkness within himself and how he never wanted to be like that. I even said something to ridicule him. But when Hawker mentioned the elves, I was afraid. The Twilight Guard was, after all, a group led by elves and based on elvish principles. Since they had discovered me and abandoned me, I saw it all happening all over again.”
Carina stood and checked the desk again, trying to set pieces of wood back into place. “I’d found a loose nail in the cart, and was holding on to it as my only weapon. Guard training never really leaves you. But with the elves coming, I took the time to scratch a note in the wood. ‘Anders, we’ve been taken to the whispering woods. A half-breed ally.’”
“So you planned to betray us?” Lydia asked.
Carina nodded. “For a moment, yes. But during the trial, when I was exposed and none of you judged me for what or who I am, then no. I decided I’d never betray you. So when we got to the island, I used that time to leave another note behind detailing that we were here. I kept it a secret and used it as a last chance should we be captured. You couldn’t know in case we were captured and you had to act shocked.”
Inside, I was fucking applauding.
“I don’t have an issue with this, but I am a confessed villain. So do any of you trust her less?”
“I’m the leader of a thieves’ guild,” Lydia said. “Or I was.”
“I use what I need to finish my quest,” Hawker said.
“Trust less? Perhaps. Love less? No,” Wren rumbled.
Chaotic Neutral, True Neutral, and Chaotic Good. I felt the dice practically rattling in my head.
“OK, I think it will work now,” Carina said, finishing her work on the portal table.
“Excellent,” I said.
I looked over the table and moved my hand over the remaining water. The map moved. Slowly and with great distortion within the water, but it moved. The device was like a computer tablet back in the real world. I scrolled to the location that Zachariah gave. A small island off the east coast miles away from Grimskull’s capital. A desolate and small place.
The open portal behind me swirled as I moved the map. Place after place spun by as a magical hole in space-time tore through the scrolling map locations. I settled on the targeted island. The portal showed what looked like the inside of a tower, a circular stone room complete with rows upon rows of bookshelves. The cold stone floors were covered in exotic animal furs and expensive tapestries hung on the walls.
It looked like the place. But there was only one way to find out.
I looked up at my companions. “Are you all ready?”
Lydia had replenished her knives from the bodies of the dead guards and was now carrying a small sword across her back along with a crossbow. As she strapped on several quivers full of crossbow bolts, she gave me a nod.
Carina smiled as she twirled her battle staves, while the newly christened Templar Wren stood ready with his hammer and shield.
“All right,” I said, addressing them all. “It wasn’t that long ago we were strangers. And since we’ve allied ourselves together, we have been through a lifetime of adventure. We’ve fought together. Been captured and escaped multiple times. Relationships have been formed and secrets have been revealed. For that and so much more, I thank you. We accomplished an incredible feat today, bringing down the military arm of Baron Grimskull. The majority of his troops are either trapped on this island or wandering aimlessly around the empire without centralized leadership. We have defeated his brawn. Now, we move on to the brains. Chaud is a powerful mage. When we get in there, we must be quick and show no quarter. Do not give him a chance to cast his magic. From there, we move on to Grimskull himself. Are you all ready?”
“Aye,” my companions said in unison.
“Then let’s go. Gods above and below be with us, or else get the fuck out of the way.”
We moved quietly through the portal and walked into Chaud’s tower.
And right into a trap.
The moment we entered, lightning crashed all around us. The floor literally glowed with burning arcane symbols, and gale force winds and rain ripped through tower. All of us were gripped by unseen waves of magic and slammed hard against the walls.
Books and loose parchment flew around in the miniature indoor hurricane. The whole scene was a cross between The Exorcist and The Wizard of Oz. Which was fitting. As Chaud entered the room, he looked like the wicked witch in his black robes and demon-possessed
by the look in his eyes. The really disturbing part was that none of the wind or the storm seemed to affect him at all. His robes hung loosely as he casually walked.
The thin, bald man came to stand before us. His disinterested eyes looked us over, and with a slight smile on his thin lips, he addressed me first.
“Shadow Master, if I could have a moment of your time, please. We need to talk.”
Chapter Forty-One
Where I Have Polite Villain-to-Villain Discourse and Enjoy a Glass of Wine
Chaud, Archmage of Baron Martin Viktor Grimskull, sat calmly as a small table he conjured from thin air and enjoyed a tumbler of port.
“This was your juvenile plan? Break into my tower and do what? Kill me?”
When you say it out loud, it does lose some of its luster. “Yes!” I yelled.
“What?” Chaud asked, turning his ear towards me.
“Turn off the storm so we can talk?! Just a suggestion!” I yelled over the howling winds while random wet bits of paper kept smacking me in the face.
“Oh, yes. My apologies.”
The winds and rain stopped. The burning arcane symbols winked out. But my companions, and more importantly I, remained pinned against the curved stone wall of the tower.
“There, that is better. Now, where were we? Oh yes, your premeditated murder of me. So, now that you are here, and conditions being what they are, what is your plan?”
“We both know I can free myself. And that I can destroy you,” I said.
“I do. But I also know it would greatly deplete your ever-dwindling supply of power.”
Damn it.
“Don’t look surprised,” Chaud said. “I’ve learned so much about you ever since your sister moved into Grimskull’s castle.”
“Paige . . . has moved in?”
“Yes. Your sister has been taken as Viktor’s latest . . . consort.”
I imagined the worse. Her sense of design alone was criminal. Let alone her incessant chatter in her shrill voice. I could just see her now, asking everyone why they had never heard of the Kardashians.
“Is it as bad as I imagine?”
“Worse,” Chaud said as he sipped his port. “But between her braying and mewling, I learned quite a bit about you, your power, and the world you come from. I see now why you are here and why you do what you do.”
“Jackson, are we seriously having a polite discussion about this?” Hawker asked.
I rolled my eyes. “Apparently so. Please be quiet now. Apologies, Chaud. My young comrade is ill versed in the ways of civilized discourse.”
“Understood. Considering his parentage, I am surprised he has remained silent for this long.”
“You knew Grimskull was his sire?” Wren asked from his position along the wall.
“Disciple of Vammar, there is next to nothing I do not know about what transpires in the Eastern Empire. The only reason the empire remains whole and functional, such as it is, is due to my considerable efforts.”
“What is it you want from us then?” Lydia asked. “Since we are still alive, it only stands to reason that you need something that you think we can deliver.”
Chaud looked at Lydia, then at me. “Your training?”
“I’d like to take credit, but Madam Barrowbride has an incredible mind. She is adept in the ways of thinking as we do. And she has a point.”
“Indeed,” Chaud agreed. “While I am not pleased with the death of General Anders, her battlefield blood lust and bullish blustering will not be missed. With her no longer in the way, I will have a better control over the empire’s forces. Which is why you are still alive. I want to know, right here and right now, what your plan for Grimskull is. And, if you lie, I will know.”
“Jackson?” Carina said with hesitance in her voice.
“Be at ease, Carina,” I said.
This was moment where, once again, honesty was required. If Chaud was angling the way I think he was, then telling the truth very well might set us free.
Or have us incinerated. Life is its most thrilling when death is a gambling variant.
“My intent, in all honesty, is to remove Baron Viktor Grimskull from the throne of the Eastern Empire, by any means necessary, for no other reason than he dared to double cross me. After which I will turn my sights on my misguided family and remove their presence from the realms, and quite possibly, from this mortal coil. When those actions are complete, I will place Zachariah, the elder brother, on the throne. He will serve until Kyle Hawker, the heir apparent, is ready to assume his birthright. I imagine both leaders require a magical adviser who served the empire and seeks to further its glory in expansion, rather than hold together the plaything of a tyrannical child.”
“Excellent,” Chaud said.
Instantly, all of us were released from his magical grip and we fell to the tower’s floor. I stood and dusted myself off, looking over my companions who likewise checked themselves over. I saw no apparent injuries. Only wounded pride, my own included.
I walked towards Chaud, who remained seated. He looked up at me and held up a second glass.
“Port?”
I almost laughed. “Please.”
As Chaud poured the dark wine, a second chair manifested itself and I took a seat.
“What of my companions?” I asked. “Surely they deserve refreshments.”
“Are you sure you’re the Shadow Master I’ve heard so much about? That particular person isn’t overly concerned with such niceties.”
“That person is a myth. The real Shadow Master considers all who work for, and with, him as valuable. That includes future associates, Archmage Chaud.”
Chaud nodded and his thin lips curled back in a smile. A table manifested for Wren, Carina, and Lydia, complete with food and wine.
“Thank you,” I said.
Chaud held out his glass, and I raised mine. Together we clinked the tumblers.
“To your success,” Chaud said and then drank.
“This is . . . it?” Wren asked. “A polite meal and wine?”
“You expected more?” Chaud asked.
“Well, yes?” Carina said. “Considering everything we went through with Anders, this is rather . . . ”
“Anti-climatic?” Chaud offered.
“Exactly!”
“You complain too much,” Lydia said. “Never turn away free food or wine.”
“Do you ever think beyond your base desires?” Carina asked.
“Clearly, you have never been poor,” Lydia said as she tore into Chaud’s provided bounty.
“If you prefer, we could resume where we left off,” Chaud offered. “With you pinned on the wall like insects while I unleashed the power of a miniature storm upon you.”
“No, that is OK,” Carina said.
“I thought so. You have to understand, I have served the empire for a long, long time. Before the Grimskull familial line was in power, I was here, guiding the land to greatness. I saw both great and weak rulers come and go. The only thing that endured is Chaud.”
That last line gave me pause. Chaud was clearly more than an average human with magic. Mages could expand their lives a great deal, but the way Chaud spoke, it was reminiscent of something older—and far more sinister.
I believed he was, at least partly, from the Never Realm. But as much as I wanted to talk shop, we had to finish what we started.
“Archmage, I request that you house us for the remainder of the evening. Come tomorrow, we will infiltrate Grimskull’s castle and put an end to his reign, once and for all.”
“Agreed. You may use my tower as you see fit. Please, do not rush. Devise your stratagem well. Take a few days. But be warned.” Chaud paused. “He may seem like a buffoon, but Viktor is not an idiot. His martial prowess and his power gained from the Never Realm make him formidable. He has recruited from the shadow races to reinforce his guards at the behest of the one you call Courtney. Goblins, Orcs, Dark Elves, and all manner of filth now patrol his home and the streets of Al’
Garrad.”
“Can’t you just create a portal inside his castle?” Hawker asked. “Surely that is how you travel from here to there.”
“It is,” Chaud said.
“You will not help us?” Lydia asked.
“No, Madam Barrowbride, I will not. In fact, I will most likely be forced to hinder you when the time comes. Please understand, it is business. Should you fail, I do not wish to have committed occupational suicide. A device very similar to the one used by Anders is on the level above this one in my study. That should allow you access to the city. From there, you are on you own.”
Chaud stood and finished his wine. Setting down the tumbler, he spoke to us all. “Now, would you be so kind as to threaten me with horrific physical violence and perhaps a display of power?”
“Why?” Hawker asked.
“Because in order to explain, truthfully, to Grimskull, Chaud must say that we infiltrated his tower, fought him, and from the power displayed by us, he felt he needed to retreat to Grimskull’s castle. At least, phrased in a way it would pass a lie detection incantation,” I said.
“I do not know what you mean,” Chaud said with a smile.
It was so nice to work with a professional villain again. It seriously warmed my heart to know that civilized discourse was still a viable option. Of course, what Chaud was hinting at indirectly was that once he left here, he would flee to his “master” and tell him that he was attacked. Chaud would then detail us and our abilities and naturally inflate them a touch. Grimskull would not believe he was overpowered otherwise. So Grimskull would then increase his defenses. After that, anything he did would be unpredictable.
For now, formalities must be seen to. “Chaud, I will destroy you. I will use my great and terrible power to rip you apart and send a portion of your soul back to the Never Realm from whence it came. Flee now, and you may survive another day,” I said in pro forma.
I used a fraction of my power to make golden energy dance between my fingers. Chaud saw it and nodded. He cleared his throat and recited the required words. “No. Please. Do not destroy me. Oh, I must flee. Oh, thou art the great and terrible Shadow Master.”
