Empress Alicia paced back and forth in her room. The news was dire. Observers reported that a whole city block collapsed, ending the lives of three hundred Imperial Knights. The worst was that the hole was a signature spell of arch-magister Calvin Hedrakraut. Which meant that he either is allied to the organization that's attacking or he'd become a ghost.
She had no idea which was worse.
The nobles came running into the palace, seeking succor and sanctuary. Observers reported that several estates were raided, others surrendered without violence.
They're willing to negotiate. They don't want just to kill.
And the palace priests all withdrew to "meditate" on their deities' wisdom. There wasn't a single priest available. She looked at her two precious jewels. Fire and Water. Queens of the fae. Her heart clenched.
"What should I do?" She asked herself out loud.
To her surprise, the water fairy, which most of the time just sat and stayed quiet as a lake, started to pound on her glass case. Alicia opened it. The fairy, now that she got her attention, pointed at her mouth.
"She never spoke before," Alicia mused. "This is the most active she'd ever been. What could she want now?"
The empress gave the command word and issued an order. "You are allowed to speak for one minute, then silence."
"They're coming," The water fairy said. "And you can avoid what is to come if you negotiate our release. We mean you no harm but harm will come should you prove inflexible. It is all on you. Don't let blind pride and hubris cloud your judgment. Haughty and blind Kings and Emperors already fell before the force that's coming. The Death Princess approaches."
She shut up on her own before the time and sat back on her spot, which was with her back to the fire fairy. Alicia closed the box and engaged the latch. She went and sat on her bed to think. What does that bedtime story have to do with what was happening?
'The Death Princess and the Lightning Emperor'. That old story is well known. How the wrath of the Death Princess caused a whole city to perish under lightning. There are other tall tales about her, like 'The Death princess and the Dread Pirate Ninefingers', 'The Death Princess and the Vaults of the Damned', or 'The Death Princess and the Minotaur Prince'.
But these are regarded as cautionary tales about the values of virtue. The wicked, the bad, the cruel, all are punished by her in the end. Empress Alicia scoffed and pushed those thoughts away.
The Empire's will was absolute. The Gods did not rule in the Empire. Much less a boogieman story from centuries ago.
Then her enchanted necklace broke. No, it shattered. She looked at it in horror. That necklace was meant to protect against Soul attacks. Was. Did one of the ghosts invade her room? Impossible! The wards were all in their place.
"{Imperial Summons}, Master Assassin Bilgewaters," She used her Skill. On a whim, she chanted again. "{Imperial Summons}, Death Princess!"
She looked at the door, waiting for the Imperial Assassin to arrive at the waiting room. Then she heard a tiny sharp soprano voice.
"Did you call for me, Your Imperial Majesty?"
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I watched the Empress jump from her bed and spin around. She wouldn't find me. I was in the shape of an Etruscan shrew. Weighing two grams and six centimeters from snout to tail, I doubt someone could see me camouflaged inside the tassels of her four-poster bed.
Entering was as easy as hitching a ride in one of the maid's petticoats. The Empress had isolated herself in her room but she still required assistance from the maids.
When I witnessed Nenandil give her ultimatum, I knew she was talking to me. How she knew was beyond me but maybe her passive water sense detected my diminutive form's blood pumping.
"Who's there?" The Empress looked around, wary.
I had to give her credit. She was a steel-willed woman. I put a contract on her and her necklace shattered. Maybe it was a protection against [Assassins]. Or just Soul Magic in general. I learned that putting up a contract uses 1 SP and that the [Assassin] gives SP per level but that's kept hidden. If the target has resistances, like a high Soul score or an enchantment as it was the case with the Empress, the cost increased. Putting a contract on her with that amulet cost me a thousand SP.
"You just summoned me," I said. "And the fairy just warned you. Now, shall we negotiate or shall we fight?"
"If you hurt me, you won't make it out of here alive. {Imperial Command}! Say your name."
> Contested Willpower test. Failed. Ego test. Passed. You resisted a magical compulsion.
My Ego score is at least eighty. She can't mess with my mind. I glance upward. The ghosts are all here. I could murder the Empress if I wanted. But I'll wait.
"Sorry, that won't work. Now, can we talk like civilized people?"
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A knock on the door interrupted our little chat. A maid announced that a lady Bilgewaters, her Master Assassin, was in the waiting room. The [Empress] ordered her to come in. The middle-age assassin lady entered, followed by eight maids that were glaring at her. I had no doubt the [Master Assassin] would be assassinated herself should she try anything untoward with the Empress.
As she entered and knelt before the Queen, I shared the contract with her. She gasped and looked up.
"Your Imperial Majesty!"
"What is it now, lady Bilgewaters?"
"You have an {Assassin's Contract} on you!" She looked at her decolletage. "You are wounded! The Soul Amulet! It broke because of this contract."
"Well, remove it! I know it is well within your abilities!" The annoyed Empress hastily ordered.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Just a warning among professional colleagues," I snickered.
He brought his hands to his daggers. "Empress, you're not alone."
She swooned. "I know. There's an intruder here. An [Assassin], by the look of things. Sandra, stop gawking and get me a potion. I'm bleeding."
Bilgewaters scanned the room. "I can't find any threats," she confessed. "Who goes there?"
"Pleased to meet you, youngling. I'm the Death Princess. How about we talk like civilized people instead of murdering each other?" I said.
"Nonsense. You cannot be her. She's been dead for centuries..."
I put a contract on the maids and shared them, one by one. Then on the assassin lady. Then I removed these contracts. I kept adding and removing them while I spoke, "Try again neophyte. If you want your ward to live, advise her."
I shut my mouth because she already noticed I was somewhere on the bed. A flick of his hand on his weapons and I'd make the ghosts shower combat magic on them. The Empress was drinking a potion and the metal shards from her amulet popped off of her, leaving unblemished skin. She still had bloodstains in her dress.
"Your Majesty, this room is compromised," Bilgewaters said. "We should leave the room and seal it. I can make sure whatever entity is inside won't follow you. Maids, protect the Empress."
The maids said in unison. "Yes, milady!"
They boxed and moved the Empress just like the Secret Service did with the POTUS. Bilgewaters moved slowly backward, his eyes trained on the bed. The door closed and I heard the humming of the wards.
The haughty ghost scoffed. "Yes. I designed and cast those wards myself. You are truly trapped inside this room. They will move the Empress to her secondary bedchambers and bring an extermination force here."
"Yeah, fine. Meaning I have the time to do what I came here to do. Cast and ready your best attack spell that can affect an area and won't rebound on the boxed fairies. I need twenty minutes at most."
I shifted into a hummingbird and flew to Nenandil's cage. Shifting to my normal form, I removed the latch and entered the box. Nenandil hugged me and I bit her collar, devouring the magic within. Weakened as I was after a night of raiding and fighting, the collar was devoured in mere minutes.
"Silverstreak!" Nenandil bawled in my arms.
I rubbed her back between the wings and cooed, "I'm here."
She parted from me as her eyes went wide. "Level sixty-one? Already?"
"I didn't spend a lifetime collecting Exp boosting Perks for nothing, girl," I smirked.
"I'm joining you. I've been too long apart," She cried. "I need to feel the warmth of your soul's hearth."
Nenandil entered me and all was right again.
> Your Water Fairy Familiar perk is restored.
I laughed and heard pounding on the glass. The fairy Queen wanted in the fun too. I gave it a lot of thought. And my decision was to get her out just like the other fairies. It would be unfair, and she was doing what she - misguidedly - thought was best for the fairies. Apricot would hold an eternal grudge for risking Nenandil's life, but I'm not her anymore.
I entered the other box. "I'm going to release you. You'll obey me until we return to the forest. Understood?"
The fairy Queen knelt. She took my hand and kissed me. I pulled her in a hug and bit her collar. It took longer than with Nenandil, the separation anxiety did a number on my magical hunger. But the collar vanished all the same.
There were still some fairies outside the city but I sent Adrian's werewolves after them. Now I just needed to wrap things up around here. And get the Fairy Queen a new dress. Oops. Someone tried to remove the Empress's contract. Sucker.
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Empress Alicia stared at the unconscious [Assassin]. How useless could he be... No. That's wrong. He's not useless. A person in his craft doesn't reach this level of expertise is useless. Was something clouding her judgment? Was the Death Princess really inside her bedchambers? The real one? Her [Imperial Assassin], a level eighty-five person had just passed out in front of her, attempting to remove an {Assassin's Contract}.
She felt weak in the legs and sat on a chaise lounge. A maid offered refreshment but she waved her off. "Get lady Bilgewaters some soul-strengthening medicine," She ordered.
'The Death Princess stories are cautionary tales against the iniquity of men', she mused. The Gods decreed that enslaving fairies was forbidden.
Empress Alicia jumped on her feet. She left... she fell on whoever was there are tricks. Her precious jewels! Her possessiveness and envy flared. She was going to steal her jewels!
She rushed to her feet and threw the door open as her son, Prince Wolkiasson, entered her chambers.
"Mother, what are you do..." The Prince asked.
"Gone. Everything is gone!" She mumbled as she stared at her damp empty room.
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I sang as we walked,
> Fifteen fairies on a dead man's chest,
>
> Yo-ho-ho. And a bottle of rum!
>
> Drink and the devil raided the Empress's bedroom.
>
> Yo-ho-ho. And a bottle of rum!
I mean, I dumped every object not nailed to the ground - there was none - in my storage. I can use magic now, I can't believe I forgot about that. All that was left was a barren room drenched with water.
I knew there was a secret passage somewhere. I mean, what Empress wouldn't have one? I had Nenandil flex her level sixty-one water fairy powers and force water down every crack and nook in the walls, roof, and ceiling. There was no way they would make a waterproof seal for the secret passage. Once found, I had the arch-magister's ghost open it and we went on our merry way.
Between me and the arch-magister, the only thing blocking us from getting through any kind of barrier is a time constraint.
Two hours navigating a maze of tunnels and we left the secret passage in a guardhouse. It was a hidden fort on a hill outside the metropolis. We dispatched the guards and got outside. There, I shifted into a bald eagle and had the Queen ride me back to the were-kin hideout.
The room they set apart for me was crowded with fairies. Most of them were still collared, being comforted by the other fairies. The Queen does her job for once and flutters to sit and help the emotionally wounded fairies.
"Guys, guys! Hold on for another day. Is everyone well-fed?"
The were-kin worked double-time to cook food for the ravenous fairies. A lot of pies - no grophan sap - were served.
"But our battle is still not finished. I'm going to release all of you, just wait a bit longer. I'm going to negotiate with the Empire now."
I had to strike while the iron was hot.