Duke read the note twice to make sure he understood it, not that it was difficult to understand. The words were plain as day, but the ramifications went far beyond that. His first instinct was to evacuate his people since he could no longer resurrect any of them. Then, he realized that he was most likely the target. This brought his arrogance to the forefront. Let them try and kill me. Here of all places, I have the resources to handle anything. Duke made it a point to head for the Ansky contingent and begin to mingle. He did not miss Greengold’s pointed glare of warning or Borondar’s look of concern. But Duke was not one to shy away from danger and had long ago made the decision to put himself in danger before any of his people. It was not entirely practical on the battlefield, but in a situation like this, he could do it, so he did.
The Ansky emissary was happy to greet Duke and strike up a conversation.
“Your Majesty, this is a wonderous reception hall. It is like nothing I have ever seen before.”
“Thank you, Lord Aaron. We have some rather talented magical crafters that make this all possible. I don’t know who you have spoken with regarding trade, but crafting is one of our true specialties.”
“A wise decision if I ever heard one, Your Majesty.” Duke’s XENOGLOSSIA once again worked with his Intuition to tell him that Aaron was speaking honestly. “I have seen that your crafters make enchanted items as well as high-quality mundane goods. The Ansky Empire is always interested in such things.”
“I would consider you fools were you not.” Duke joked.
Lord Aaron laughed along with Duke. “Indeed, we would be. That is very true.” He paused, thinking for a moment. “Your Majesty, have you ever visited the Ansky Empire? We do not have a record of a formal visit but that is not to say that perhaps you visited before you gained this formal position.”
“Too true, but no, I have not visited your homeland.”
“Then, I must formally invite you. You would be most welcome, and our Emperor would be overjoyed to host you.”
“Then we shall arrange it.” Aaron smiled genuinely at Duke’s response, hoping that Duke would actually follow through and visit the Empire. This new king could be quite the useful ally.
“Excuse me, Your Majesty, may I ask something of you?” Duke looked to the speaker and saw that it was Lord Sleisthak, the emissary from the Kingdom of Tannish.
“Of course. What is it you would ask of me?”
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to speak with your Minister of Trade, Your Majesty.” Lord Aaron bowed and stepped away.
Lord Sleisthak gave Lord Aaron a nod of thanks before starting with Duke. “Your Majesty, this is a wonderous place. I find myself most impressed and intrigued. The magic seems woven into every aspect of the room. How is this possible?”
“A good question, but one that will remain unanswered for now other than to say it’s magic. Are you enjoying your evening?”
“Rather quite, Your Majesty. I can say without reservation that this is the most amazing reception hall I have ever seen. My king would be highly jealous to see it.”
“I’d be happy to host him.” Duke abhorred small talk, but he knew that he needed to flex his diplomatic muscles in this situation. He continued the conversation. “Once we have a regular trade route, it will probably be even easier to come here to visit.”
“Agreed, Your Majesty. The samples that have been provided are intriguing. There are items enchanted in ways I have never seen before which, like this hall, speak to your kingdom’s fine crafters. I also bear an invitation directly from King Sashallah to join him on a deep hunt into the dark jungle.”
“An invitation that I am sure to accept. I do enjoy a good hunt into dangerous lands. And I am also overjoyed that you find interest in our crafts. It may not be widely known but I do have an Archmage as my court wizard. Our crafters benefit greatly. In fact-“
Duke stopped in mid-sentence as he felt a sharp pain in his kidney followed by a horrible burning sensation traveling throughout his body. He immediately knew that the assassin had struck, followed by a whisper in his ear that said, “Pahst sends her regards.”
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Duke felt the poison fighting with his REGENERATION. As far as poisons go, it was amazingly potent, causing nearly 100,000 damage a second which well eclipsed even his REGENERATION. He could feel the poison attacking his nerves, trying to paralyze his muscles, including his heart and lungs. He also felt an additional toxin attempting to cause his organs to hemorrhage. In all, the mixture of hemotoxin and neurotoxin was quite potent. If nothing was done, Duke would be out of Health in less than 30 seconds.
Before anyone else could react, Duke spun around, the motion ripping the dagger free from his body and grabbed the assassin’s arm. With a twist of his hips, he threw the woman across the room where she was swarmed by guards that had come boiling out of hidden passages. She was quickly bound, but her maniacal laughter carried across the room. “Die false king. There is no cure for this poison. Die!”
Immediately Aurelia was at his side, her golden dress flowing behind her as she rushed to him. In her wake was Eihlen the top healer of the Legion. She set to work on fighting the poison, but Duke could easily read that she was worried that the poison outclassed her Abilities.
Really should have followed up on getting her up a few tiers. Guess it’s biting me in the ass now. Well, kidney, but whatever. This stuff hurts like hell!
When Duke vomited blood, the uproar increased as guards and Legionnaires poured into the room, escorting guests out. They were being led to holding areas where they would be under absolute guard. The emissaries were separated from their staff and placed in well-appointed apartments but they knew that despite the luxurious furnishings, they were prisoners nonetheless.
Duke tangentially noticed the guests leaving as he was fully occupied with the fact that the poison was winning, and his time was ticking down. He tried OVERCHANNELING his REGENERATION, but it did not respond to the Ability – apparently there were some things he couldn’t OVERCHANNEL. What a time to discover that tidbit. Eihlen gave him a potion to drink which he forced down past the blood seeping out of the tissues of his throat. The potion was cool against his burning throat, and he was barely able to get it down as his nerves started to fire less effectively.
Convulsing from the pain and mis-firing nerves, Duke scrambled to come up with options for how to deal with this toxic cocktail. He could see his Health steadily ticking down. It was only six seconds in, and he was down to 77% Health. His mind still sharp, calculated that he had 20 seconds at most to figure it out. He also realized that the potion did nothing.
“That’s the elixir that cured Grat. But it’s doing nothing for Duke!” Eihlen’s desperation was clear as she poured every ounce of healing magic she had into Duke. It was a marginal help, slowing the poison some, giving Duke perhaps a full thirty seconds more if she could keep it up. He was not going to rely on her to save him.
I can feel the poison in my body, feel my Ability fighting against it, trying to isolate and expel it but every second that passes, it gets stronger.
Fifteen seconds in and Duke was near 40% of his Health remaining. Baslin cast Spell after Spell, but none were designed for this and one after another they did little more than slow the growth of the poison’s effect.
If this is it, I hope I leave some sort of positive legacy. I was barely getting started. So much left to do. DO NOT GIVE UP, ASSHOLE! Duke shouted in his own mind, turning back to his Abilities looking for some way to fight the poison.
Could that work? Might be my last chance. Down to almost 20% left.
Duke focused his DUNGEON SIGHT completely inwards, seeing his body and through his body in ways he had never before. He focused intensely, ignoring the flashing system messages telling him that he was close to death. With all the focus of his DUNGEON SIGHT, he was able to see the poison as separate from his body even as it attacked every aspect of his life. With a final scream that ripped his bleeding throat apart, he TELEPORTED the poison out of him. His DUNGEON SIGHT confirmed that he had separated the poison from himself, and it was currently dripping down the wall. Finally, he relaxed until he saw his Health flashing red at 3%. Then it was at 5% and continued to rise.
When he was back over 20%, he slowly sat back up, only now realizing that his head was cradled in Aurelia’s lap. “Well, that sucked. Somebody grab a sample of that poison. We’re going to need to find an antidote for it.”
“The poison is gone, Your Majesty. It seeped into the stone of the wall and floor.”
Duke acknowledged the guard as he climbed back to his feet. It was at this moment that he realized that everyone around him was covered in varying degrees of bloody vomit. He activated CLEANSE and RESTORE by reflex.
“Sorry about the mess everyone.”
He was wrapped up in a bone-crushing hug by Aurelia before he could say anything else. “Don’t ever scare me like that again!”
“Wasn’t my choice, love.” He hugged her back just as fiercely. “Would have been a good test to see if I can actually die.”
“Not funny.”
“I thought it was a little bit funny.” Baslin chimed in. He backed off when Aurelia glared at him. He went back to very carefully studying the knife that had delivered the poison. This is quite the little assassin’s tool. I think there might be another dose of the poison in here for me to study too. Another project! Yeah!
Duke finally separated himself from Aurelia. But she started before he could speak. “I want everyone separated and interrogated. I want to know how an assassin got into here and who she has ties to. And I want to know it now!” Various Legionnaires and city guards scrambled to do as she demanded.
Duke added, “Release the emissaries and have them brought to the throne room. I want Lord Greengold brought to me as well. I have questions for him.”