by R. A. Mejia
The servant in the silk gown bows to us and leads our group through several hallways until we get to a room with large double doors. She knocks once, and the doors open almost of their own accord, and we see a massive room. Its high ceilings are graced with grand hanging chandeliers, and the vast array of candles above us provide enough light that every part of the room is well lit. In the middle of the hall, there is a long dining room table that has seating for twenty people. It feels so odd for our group of five to sit at one end and for the governor to sit at the other, but that’s how the seating is arranged.
As soon as we sit, servants begin to bring out food. Delicate enameled plates are laid before us with small, artfully-arranged bits of food on them. Drinks in silver goblets are placed in our hands. The food is delightful. I know I have limited experience with high-end food, but the meals that are put before us wouldn’t be out of place in any five-star restaurant or palace on earth. At least, that’s what Mary says as she stuffs her face with a light-brown meat covered in a green sauce.
As we eat and drink, the governor makes small talk, asking us how we’ve enjoyed our stay in his city and encouraging us to tell him how we got involved in the gladiator games he loves so much. My eye catches sight of a clock on the back wall of the room, and I breathe a sigh of relief when I note that we still have time to kill.
The conversation goes on, and more food is put before us. No plate is ever the same, and the small dishes are surprisingly filling.
As the minutes pass, I note that the hands of the clock are getting closer to the hour mark, and I decide to shift the tone of the conversation.
I get up from my seat and walk towards the other side of the long table. A kobold guard suddenly appears out of nowhere between me and the governor, but he waves him away, and I ask the politician if I may take a seat at his right. He extends his hand welcomingly, gesturing to the seat, and I sit next to him.
Looking back at the now-revealed guard, I smile. “So, these are the fabled guards you purchased from the gladiator arena? The Sinister Seven, right?”
“Yes, they are the pride of my collection. I convinced their former owner that they’d be better off serving me as guards than risking their own lives in the Colosseum. I just couldn’t stand the thought of such rare specimens being killed. Besides, I knew they’d be useful for many purposes.” The governor turns his gaze to Vrax, who is just staring at the kobold guard and says, “It seems we both have a taste for rare slaves. Why, from his coloration, I’d even say he may be related to my kobolds.”
The governor snaps his fingers, and six more kobold guards appear around the table. Each is armed with a gladius, spear, and knives and is armored with black Imperare studded leather armor. One kobold near Vrax actually turns his head slightly, and I see a look of recognition in his eyes. Then a blood-red tattoo on the guard’s neck flares up, and his expression goes vacant. I turn to see the governor watching this as well, his hand held up with a red glow around it.
“Oh, yes. They are my pride. But they also need constant reinforcement so that they behave properly in public.” He looks at me and asks, “Do you find it hard to train your kobold, Armon?”
As if to answer for me, Vrax gets up from his seat and goes to each kobold, and, despite hissed warnings from the others at the table, tries to talk in Reptilian to the vacant guards. One of the kobold guards opens his mouth to speak, but his red tattoo flares up, and he returns to his position.
Vrax, seeing the magic the governor uses, hisses angrily, “You are evil man to take my kobold clansmen. Let them go from your bad magic.”
Instead of the outburst of indignation I’m expecting, the governor laughs evilly, and all pretense of friendliness disappears from his expression. Instead, a darker smile appears. “I suppose the time for charades is over.” He snaps his fingers once more, and more guards, these human, appear.
The rest of the group stops eating, even Keans, who had been chowing down till then and raving about the meal.
“Your kobold’s insolence is just too much, Armon. Please, keep a better handle on him. I wouldn’t want to ruin my offer to you by killing him.”
“Offer?”
“Yes, dear boy. I’ve been following your exploits since you first appeared in Restrian so many months ago. I sent some soldiers there to pick you up, but they foolishly attacked instead. I’m still not sure if it was deliberate sabotage or just stupidity. Still, I apologize for their behavior. My agent in Monstrum had too light a touch, though, and could not manage the gnoll mercenaries I sent to capture you. Again, mistakes were made, and for a time, I lost you. Then, low and behold, you came to me. I can only guess the kobolds I purchased are from the same tribe that my soldiers ‘pacified.’ I’d hoped the rumors I spread of their coloration and rarity would reach you, but I would have never thought in a million years that you’d try to get to them by becoming gladiators.” He laughs again, though the humor doesn’t reach his hard, sharp eyes. “I was rather curious why my master sought you out above all others, so I let you fight in the Colosseum. I even arranged for your skills to be tested by a familia I’d invested in, though the two fools I sent turned out not to be a match for you once you had time to plan . . . which, of course, is why you are here today and not some weeks in the future. I didn’t want to give you time to successfully arrange my death. From watching you in the Colosseum, I know your greatest strength is your ability to think and find some strategy for victory.”
A burning anger starts to grow in my chest. “That was all you? The soldiers in Restrian? The traitorous goblin in Trinitarian? Even those two idiots in the arena?”
The governor shrugs and smiles. “As I said, mistakes were made. But that will not deter me from extending to you my master’s offer.”
Through gritted teeth I ask, “What master? What offer?”
“My master wishes to recruit you.”
“Your master? You’re the governor of this entire city, but you’re not the one in charge?”
“Oh, no. Not that long ago, I was a merchant and spymaster for my lord. Then his plans shifted, and he needed me to become governor here, so I did. His influence and power extend into many nations. But for you, dear Armon, he would burn this whole nation to the ground if necessary. He is fixated on you. He has not revealed why, but he wants to you to join him.”
To say I’m surprised would be an understatement. Of all the things I’d expected him to say or do a moment ago, genuinely trying to recruit me was not one of them. I’d killed the men he sent. I’d almost killed his agent in Trinitarian and definitely exposed him. I killed his nation’s soldiers and guards, and instead of anger or recriminations, he offers to sign me up?
“Now, I can see by your stunned expression that you didn’t expect this, but I assure you, it’s a legitimate offer. My master offers you anything you can wish for if you’ll only join and serve him. Want these kobolds back? They’re yours. Want your little town of Restrian free of Imperare soldiers? Yours. Magical knowledge, the rarest abilities, training in crafting and the facilities to make the greatest items of power? All yours--if you serve my lord.”
“But why?”
“It is not for me to know. I only live to serve my great master.”
The proposal is tempting. I won’t deny that. We get the kobolds we came for, and I get anything I want. It’s like I found a genie. Except, in those old stories, genies were really tricksters that perverted any wish you made into one that harmed you. Do I believe this guy? More importantly, do I want to serve the kind of master that would enslave other thinking beings?
I note the time on the clock, five fifty-nine. Well, no real time left. I stand up from my seat and offer the governor my hand. He takes it, thinking that I’ve agreed to join him. However, once he grasps my hand, I pull him in close to whisper in his ear. “You make a good offer, and I would have taken it, except you made one mistake. You killed my friends and the people who adopted me into their family.” The chiming of the clock makes me
smile, and I quickly add, “Also, I just think you’re a pretentious prick.”
The governor’s wide-eyed surprise is the last thing I see before the mana bomb I swallowed goes off.
——————
My head is ringing and my wings hurt. Who the heck is pounding on my skull? I groggily get to my feet and see a confusing scene before me. Men and women in uniforms are thrown everywhere. People are fighting. I see kobolds fighting guards, but it’s all kind of a blur. There’s a ringing in my ears, and everyone is moving so slowly. It makes me feel like I’m watching one of those war movies from Earth. You know, one of the films with a big explosion that disorients everyone.
Wait. Explosion? A memory only a few minutes old comes back to me. Armon, being offered a deal from the devil. I want to tell him to turn away from the dark side, that there’s still good in him, but I see him shaking hands with that weaselly-looking Grand Moff Tarkin look-alike. Then . . . then . . . Oh no. I feel like I’m moving through molasses as I turn and look at where Armon was and see the body of the governor burnt and mangled. Vrax is strangling the man, robbing him of the last bits of his life and sending his health bar to nothing, but there is no sign of Armon.
I hear myself scream, “Nooooo!” I’m still too stunned to fly, and I crawl ever so slowly over the table, hoping that I just can’t see him. But no. There is nothing more than a blackened stain on the white marble floor where he was standing before. My best friend is gone. The man I gave up everything for. Gone. Just like that.
I feel hot tears running down my cheeks, and I fall to my knees, shocked by the absurdity of it all. Why would he do this? Why wouldn’t he have told any of us about this if it was his plan? That stupid nerf herder! How could he leave me?
I hear a faint sound that pokes through my thoughts. Then another one, louder this time. “Mary!”
I look up and see Keans leaning over me, staring. The scene around me has changed. The guards the governor brought in are all dead, the kobolds he’d enslaved are standing over the other guards, searching the bodies. Sonya stands across the room, bloodied and holding her side. Keans snaps his finger to get my attention. “Mary. I need you to pay attention. I know you’re in pain right now, but we have to get out of here. The kobolds are free now that the governor is dead, and they helped us kill the other guards, but more are going to be coming to investigate that explosion. Do you know where the hidden tunnel is?”
I takes me a moment to process what Keans is asking. Armon told me about the information he’d gotten from the shady smuggler in town. He said he learned about a secret tunnel used to infiltrate the governor’s mansion that had been used by a group of thieves. I was so mad he’d spent more gold without at least talking to me first. “Yes. Yes, he told me it was in the kitchen basement behind a storage shelf. They tunneled underground to get there.”
Before I can say anything, Keans grabs me and puts me in his shirt pocket. I’m still too stunned by recent events to really protest. I only vaguely pay attention to the hallways we run through and the few guards we encounter.
Tears pour from my eyes, I rock back and forth as I sob into my hands. My mind focuses on my friend, Armon. We were friends, right? I stayed here on Terra with him instead of going to my next assignment as a fairy guide. I was a good friend when he found Sonya and helped him woo her, despite my own feelings that she wasn’t really good enough for him. I even traveled through dangerous and distant lands to help him fulfill his stupid dangerous quest to free the kobolds that adopted him. Why would he blow himself up like that? Why would he leave me? Why would he make my heart break like this? The question repeats itself in an endless loop in my mind. Why? Why? Why?
I blink and realize that we’re in a long, dark basement, and Sonya is leading us through it with her magical pendant lighting the way ahead. That stupid woman couldn’t keep my Armon safe, and she can’t even properly light up a room. What good is she? I mutter the incantations for my [Light] spell, and a magical white globe appears in my hands. I fly out of Keans’ pocket and up to the ceiling to hang the globe of light. The extra illumination reveals most of the room, and the group starts to search for the hidden tunnel entrance. It’s only a matter of minutes before Keans, our rogue, finds the right place. Everyone moves the shelves out of the way, and Keans does something to the wall. It swings open with a click. However, there in the tunnel entrance is a cloaked figure sitting cross-legged and resting his hands on his lap like he’s meditating in a yoga class.
I don’t know who this guy is. Maybe he’s from the Smuggler’s Guild, or maybe he’s just some rando that wandered into the tunnel, but it doesn’t matter. How dare he just sit there, calm, when my entire world just shattered? I’ll show him.
Without real thought, I summon Mr. Snuggle Butt and order him to attack the stranger. My wolf appears and instantly obeys my will. It rushes past the other useless members of this group and tackles the sitting man, pushing him on his back. Mr. Snuggle Butt goes for the guy’s throat, but the stranger manages to get his arm up in time to stop the killing move.
The robed man screams, and I feel a perverted sense of satisfaction that someone is feeling a fraction of the pain I’m going through. The figure calls out in a voice I’d never thought I’d hear again. “Mary! What the hell? Get Mr. Snuggle Butt off of me!”
Chapter 41
This has got to be the stupidest plan I’ve ever thought of. I mean, here I am in this dark tunnel under the mansion, waiting until all hell breaks loose and hoping my friends remember where this place is so that we can all escape. When I think back on how I ended up here, it’s amazing this plan hasn’t fallen apart yet.
_________________
I’d just walked into the gladiator locker room, going crazy trying to figure out how we’d still be able to rescue the kobolds the governor enslaved, when I heard the lead guard mention that we’d have to give up all our weapons. I remember thinking that it was just another kink in the plans I’d have to work out. After all, my original plan had been to have Mary sneak in, plant the mana bomb I made from the ruby I bought under that scumbag’s dining room chair, and have it go off remotely when we were asked to dinner. Thus giving us time to kill the governor and escape with the kobolds. Sure, all the details hadn’t been worked out yet, but at least I knew how we’d get in and out. I’d already purchased the information about a secretly-constructed tunnel under the mansion some thieves had used to rob the place, but they were killed before they got away, and their secret tunnel had never been discovered. At least, that was my hope.
However, that whole plan went out the window once those guards showed up. Instead, I had stalled for time to come up with something new. I wracked my brain for options. We were already going to the governor’s mansion, so gaining entrance was set, but planting the bomb was out. I was going to be searched, and everything even remotely dangerous-looking was going to be taken. And nothing says dangerous like an item labeled ‘bomb.’ I didn’t mind giving up all my other weapons. The whole plan hinged on instantly killing the governor and freeing the kobold guards. The bomb was the only thing I needed to sneak into the dinner. I wondered if I could smuggle it in somehow. Then it clicked. I didn’t have to be the one to smuggle it in.
I sat down and quickly activated [Shadow Clone]. I felt a pull on my mana as fifty points left me. There was no magical cloud of smoke like in Naruto, but rather, there was a small popping sound as my clone suddenly came into existence. He was standing about three feet in front of me, completely naked, and he was an exact duplicate as far as I could see. He even had a birthmark on his upper thigh. While I was rather surprised that my clone was naked, I was not particularly embarrassed. I mean, I was looking at myself, after all. Still, it was kind of cold that evening, and the shrinkage didn’t do anything for my ego.
The clone’s brows furrowed and he said, “Would you mind not staring there?”
“Oh, you can talk?”
“Yeah, man. I’m you. You can talk. So, I can talk.�
�
“So, you’re me? Like you know and can do everything I can?”
The other me shrugged. “Hell if I know. I literally know as much about this as you do. I just know that you’re the original, and I’m a clone. If you’re asking if I have all your memories, yeah.” A mischievous grin appears on his face. “I even remember who you used to spank it to in high school. Her name was . . .”
“Woah! Okay, okay. I believe you. No need to name names. I . . . err, we have a girlfriend now. Gosh, this is confusing.”
My clone gave me a thumbs up. “Yeah, we really lucked out there. She’s definitely hotter than we deserve.”
I nodded in agreement and asked, “So, back to what you can do. Do you have a stat page?”
Instead of answering me, he tried to pull one up and succeeded. I could actually see the blue screen and moved so that I could get a better look. Maybe I could see this because he’s my clone or something, but it was basically the same as mine, just with lower numbers.
