After establishing a heavy perimeter and seeing the sun go down, our army celebrated its newly minted victory over the black knights. It had never been done before. They were the shock troopers for the Devil King and everywhere they went was laid to waste. It would certainly be an embarrassment for Beast Master once he got word. I didn’t expect a retaliation tonight. But by morning it would be on!
The command staff got together at the center of the camp and personally congratulated the Plasma Squad and their supporting Vale Knights. During our celebration, a messenger dwarf arrived with a tally of our losses. 7 barbarians, 3 mercenaries, 2 dwarves, and 0 knights. Logistically, that was an unbelievable record. Of course, no losses were good losses, but we could not help being ecstatic at the thought that we had annihilated more than thirty Black Knights in the first flashpoint of our campaign!
As the celebration carried on, I decided to sit by myself for a while. It was a clear night with a painted sky full of stars above the trees. It would be quiet if it weren’t for the army of nearly fifteen hundred retainers under my employ scattered throughout the woods.
Still, I sat by myself and thought. If we could really pull this off, I would have fulfilled my family's duty to keep evil at bay. There would be no more threat of Devils for at least a half a generation. When I first got back from my fight with Washington in Bristol, even though I hadn’t killed him, that was General Adams doing, I had a sense of invigoration. This wild idea came over me that I could knock down the current batch of Devils in a matter of months and not decades as my ancestors had done. Well, I was wrong, and it cost me. It cost me Higgins, it cost the lives of the girls and Wraith, even if only temporarily, and it cost me dignity. But when I finally set my mind to it, I got good at this sort of thing. I learned some skills, I learned some magic. I got the right allies and I learned to be more strategic. Maybe I couldn’t take out the Devils in two or three months like I had originally thought. But here I was, on the cusp of defeating the last one in just under eighteen months! That surely was remarkable.
I wish my father could see this. I wish my mother could see this. She was in the dark about everything until the day of her death. I wish Higgins was here. I missed Emily. Even though it had only been a day. Something special was going on there. When this was all over, I was gonna truly relax and just enjoy my life at the mansion with the girls. I needed to survive this first. My life was definitely gonna be on the line over the next few days. And with it, the fate of the multiverse.
As I sat there, Arduwan approached me. I realized that besides our training, her and I
hadn’t spoken much lately. Not since the wedding at least.
“What’s up, Princess?” I asked.
“I just wanted to talk a little, Eric,” she said, somberly.
“Of course. You feeling okay?”
“Yes, I was just thinking,” she sighed, “if we are victorious and I am no longer bound by the life debt to you, will you and the others be okay without me in your world?”
“Well, sure. Why wouldn’t we be?”
“It’s just…I wish to stay here in Callist with Lord Wraith, but also, I will miss you and the
girls.”
I cracked a smile and replied, “You really do like Wraith don’t you?”
Arduwan started blushing, a rare sight for her. She averted her eyes from mine and when she looked back up she said, “Yes, I’m quite fond of him. He seems quite fond of me as well. Does he not?”
Seriously, she didn’t catch the hint? He groped her, he swooned her, he put his life on the line for a date with her. The things he wanted to do with her and to her were written all over his face when he was near her. Of course he was fond of her!
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure he likes you. But don’t worry about that right now. We just gotta make it through this conflict, then you can go and do whatever you like. Well, not whatever you like, since he’s getting my life debt transferred. But I suppose that’s what you want anyway.”
She paused for a moment and then said, “You and Emily…you’re fond of each other
too?”
I took a deep breath and then let out a sigh before answering, “That’s probably putting it lightly. But yes. Why do you ask?”
“Because I like you both. Anabel and Stephanie have each other so I’d be sad if you and Emily didn’t court after I left.”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Ha! We’ve kinda been ‘courting’ for some time. But what about Delilah? You think because she’s a goddess there’s no true love for her?”
“No, I do. But she’s just young and stupid right now.”
Wow. Young and stupid. She’s millenia old and her intelligence stats in comparison to Arduwan’s were as far apart as the day is long.
“Like I said, there’s no need for you to worry about such things right now. Besides, you can come visit whenever you want. And I’m sure I will too at some point. Let’s just try and survive this battle, okay?”
Arduwan hugged me. Not with her usual death grapple. But she genuinely hugged me. We only stopped when the sound of approaching footsteps could be heard. I turned and saw that it was Tolly.
“Good evening to the two of ya,” he said, “There’s something I forgot that I wanted to give ya. You might be needin it come tomorrow.” He reached into his coat and produced two potion bottles.
“Those don’t look like healing potions. What are they?” I inquired.
“For the lass, a strength enhancer. And for you, an agility booster. I gave one of those to Sir Wraith as well. Mixed em up myself as I was camping out on the prairie last week. They won’t last more than ten minutes or so once you use them, so keep that in mind.”
“Well thank you, Tolly. I’m certain they’ll come in handy.”
“Aye.”
“Speaking of Wraith, where is he?”
“He’s off by himself. Same as you two. Seemed to be a might bit troubled. Perhaps he’s nervous about the battle tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I better go talk to him. Thanks again.”
* * *
About twenty minutes later, I found Wraith pacing by himself off in the forest, away from the campfires. He was rattling off nervously so I approached him and asked what the problem was.
“Hey, man. You doing okay?”
He exhaled deeply and replied, “I’m a basket case. A basket case you hear me!!!” as he grabbed me by the collar of my tunic.
“Whoa whoa! Settle down, bro. Are you that perturbed by the battle tomorrow?”
He looked visibly shaken when he said to me, “Screw the battle! Send all the black knights at once! What I’m worried about is after the battle.”
“After the battle?” I questioned.
“Yeah, you see, when this thing is over, Arduwan’s life debt to you is gonna get transferred to me. I’m used to her going back to the mansion with you after these little escapades. But you see, I’m staying here, in Callist. So she’s gonna stay here with me. The two of us are going to be alone together!”
“And the problem is?”
“I don’t know how to deal with that!”
“Oh for crying out loud! You’ve been hitting on her since the day you met. Hell, you stayed in the same hotel room together back in Brasshaven. Not to mention lecturing me about me not being able to handle a woman like her right before you threatened me with your sword!”
“I know…I know I know I know! But it’s all real now! Not just a fantasy in my head. You know my history with women.”
“You mean before you became the Moonlight Knight and got your own functional harem?
Yeah, I remember that guy. Why is it suddenly different with Arduwan?”
“That’s just the thing!” he said, as he spread his arms out wide, “That’s the Moonlight Knight’s harem! It’s a roleplay! I got good with those chicks because I wasn’t Ernest Weathers.
Arduwan knows the real me.”
“Jesus. I’m not seeing the problem here. You’ve been white knighting and milady-ing her from the get go. How is it suddenly different now? Just keep roleplaying. Which, by the way, this is a really weird confession. You mean everything you’ve done successfully here is because you’ve been roleplaying a better version of yourself?”
He didn’t respond to that. He just kept pacing and yammering on. After a moment he stopped and said, “That’s it! I’m disbanding the harem. I have to. Arduwan is royalty. She can’t be kept on their level. I know! I’ll give them to Apollo.”
I rolled my eyes. How did this happen to this guy? Just over a year ago he was pretending he didn’t have any change to get better tips for the pizza’s he was delivering. Now he was Lord Humungus of the desert, dividing up the value of the women who flocked to him.
“Just calm down, man. Arduwan was actually just talking to me about you too. You’ve got nothing to worry about. Get rid of that life debt and you could be her simp. Keep it and she’s still yours!”
“This is bigger than that, Eric. It’s not just a sexual thing…mostly. You see…”
He hesitated a moment and I braced myself for whatever the hell could possibly come out of his mouth next.
“...I…might actually be falling in love with her.”
“Oh, come on now. You’ve gone too far,” I joked, “Wraith isn’t capable of something like that. Remember when you fell in love with Aubrey Plaza? I still need to clear my browser history from those weird searches you did.”
“I’m not kidding, Eric.” His tone got really serious. I’d mentioned before that on occasion,
Wraith could get real. He pulled through when you needed him the most. But it was even more rare that he was serious about something concerning himself. He continued, “Arduwan might be a little bit of an airhead. But she’s everything I’d ever want. She’s beautiful, strong, loyal, fun, and most of all…she doesn’t look at me like I’m a joke.”
Wow. This was heavy. I don’t think I’ve ever once heard Wraith acknowledge how other people saw him. He’s always been so self absorbed. Haha! I’m gonna let him finish!
“When I’m around her, I can completely let loose and be the person I want to be. She doesn’t call me a creep or a weirdo. She looks me right in the eye and she listens to all my bullshit. When you and Emily got shot down in Brasshaven and we made that plan to rescue the two of you. Do you know what she said to me?”
“What?”
“She said, ‘Sir Wraith. You’re the only one who can carry on if something has happened to Eric. We have to try and save them, but if they’re dead, I will fight them by your side till my last breath.’ No woman, or even a man for that matter, has ever offered themselves to me that way before. That’s companionship, Eric. And I love her for it.”
I thought deep and hard about what he said and I couldn’t find any argument with it. I simply told him, “Help me kill Shagrath and you have my blessing. With or without the life debt.
For now, we need to get some rest.”