Chapter 6 Politics.
To achieve freedom, you have to break boundaries.
If the boundaries are chains, break them.
If the boundaries are laws, keep them.
For freedom is a balance.
Noxi, Guardian of Light.
The despair settles in.
I don't have enough gems! I’m going to get whipped to death! Or, I can kill Adir himself. He has a fortune. I’ll have plenty of money… After today he’ll come after me, or will he consider me strong enough to be left alone? Join his gang? No, he won’t… I’ve challenged his authority… I have to kill him… but how? Let’s give him a taste of his own medicine… let’s ambush his door…
Still filled with adrenaline, I pick up the chopped hands from the floor, and head toward Adir’s room. I throw up the mangled chopped hands on the left side of his doorstep, knock on his door, and hide on the right side of the door. I do my best to calm my racing breath and rapid heartbeat. I’m going to burn alive! I should… Stop it! Focus!
Come on! Come on! The door doesn’t open, after a little while of waiting, my wounded finger throbs with an immense pain. Come on!!! I slam my hand on the door with everything I have, violently and loudly this time. Then hide back on the right side of the doorway.
My heart misses a beat when the door opens. “You better have a good reason for waking me up or you’re… What in Kilako’s goldy…” He doesn’t finish that sentence. I step in, touch him, and channel my mana in the already familiar patterns. “Myrsha ritsa!”
*Thooomp!*
I aim for his head, but I only reach his jaw. His cheek and the side of his neck explodes in a shower of gore. He flails around and grasps at my robes setting them alight.
I scream as the flames flare up on my body. I push him from me and drop to the ground, rolling in an attempt to douse the fire in my clothes. I gasp in relief when the flames die out. Adir spasms on the ground, blood pooling up on the blue gem floor, a part of his face missing.
Panting heavily I observe him closely to make sure he is truly dead. With the missing left chunk of his neck and face, there is no mistaking his death. After a brief moment, his gurgles die out, and his body stops moving. The crimson blood pools silently on the azure gem floor.
I lean on the wall, gasping for air, then look at the burned patch on my robes. My skin only lightly hurts underneath, the fire didn’t even go through my robes. It wasn’t that big of a fire, just a scary one, and Adir couldn't focus and fuel it with his magic… I eye the dead body. Pick up the bronze axe, and chop off his head with two sickening bloody strikes. Just to be sure!
I heave a heavy sigh and lean back against the sapphire wall. I'm shaking uncontrollably that I can barely move. It's over now, it's finally over.
Maybe I should feel bad for killing a man, for killing three men. But I don't. I feel good. I bought my own life with their deaths. So much for dad telling me that killing feels bad... It doesn't. Or maybe dad just didn't get himself cornered the same way I did... Blood. Too much blood. My robe is scarlet red with patches of white, and my hands are covered in crimson.
“Neophyte number M-0820 will report to the temple of Amaret for disciplinary action at nine past midnight. Failure to show up will result in an increased punishment.”
The loud bodiless masculine voice comes out from the wall.
Yeah yeah! I know already, will you shut up? It’s the middle of the damn night. It'd suck if someone wakes up from that thing and I have to kill them. I'm tired of killing people.
Enough sitting here. I have to get going! I leave the headless body in the doorway and enter his room to loot it.
Your reign of terror is over Adir! I’m going to take your place… actually… no I won’t, it’ll be only a matter of time before I push someone hard enough… I don’t want to end the same way as you, this power shouldn’t go to my head… The problem is… someone will try to take his place… None of my business... whoever takes his place better leave me alone. I’m alive, and I'm going to live! I shouldn't get overconfident or relaxed, there’s going to be chaos now…
I turn one of Adir’s spare robes into a makeshift sack and fill it with his small pile of gems. I then run back to my room, put the sack of gems under my pillow, and run out to drag away the large corpses near my door. It’d be best if I remained anonymous.
After dragging one of them for a little bit, I realize that they're way too heavy for me. It's also pointless. There is no way I can clean up all the gore and blood near my door. I have to accept the fact that by tomorrow morning everyone will know I’m the one who killed Adir. On the bright side, that’s going to earn me some safety, people will be afraid to challenge me. On the downside, I’ll become a threat to the stronger neophytes…
The world darkens for a moment before I catch myself from falling. Right… water… food… now…
I pick a handful of gems in my purse, run to the temple of Tonisha, and purchase a meal from a slave who mans the temple at night. I have plenty of money and I am starving.
The large dining hall is empty, except for a young boy in his late teens who eats in one corner, and the large armored neophyte who occupies the other corner.
The large armored neophyte approaches me. I drink a whole gulp of water and aim my healthy left hand at him. “What do you want? Stay back!”
He stops with a metallic thud. “I’m sorry milady. You’re covered in blood and you seem distressed. I only wanted to check if you are well.” His echoing voice hidden behind the metallic helmet sounds like he’s actually worried for me.
Yeah right! “If you cared about me you could’ve lifted the siege on my room. You could’ve tried and kill Adir. Check if I’m alright… pffft don’t make me laugh, whatever you want from me, I’m not interested. Just go back to your damn food and leave me be!”
“You’re right, milady, apologies…” To my relief, he backs off and takes his seat in the corner. I can feel his eyes following me, even if they’re hidden by his metallic visor.
After eating to my heart’s content, I purchase a set of clean robes from the temple of Kilako, and head to the temple of Mayan to take a bath.
The pool has flowing water, no matter how much dirt – or gore in my case – gets into the water it’d be cleaned in less than ten minutes.
The large gem-made clock in a cavity of the temple’s wall tells me the hour is 4:37 after midnight. Like the dining hall, there are only four girls in the large pool, each keeps some distance from the others. They are all here at this hour to avoid bullying, and none of them want to risk it by interacting with one another.
I take off my gory robes and get into the water with my dirty clothes in hand. Only now when my tense muscles calm down do I actually feel exhausted, and my missing finger throbs with an immense pain.
I take off my makeshift bandage and gently wash my hand. I eye my bleeding disfigured finger stub. Everything from the lower joint and up is gone, my broken bone below is exposed. Yet despite the unbearable pain, I don’t feel any regret. I bought my life and freedom with a single finger! It was worth it! Let’s get some medical attention for this…
I finish my bath quickly and head to the Temple of Brigit Goddess of Life. A sleepy Tonar with a white unicorn on her green robes welcomes me in. “How can I help you?”
I show her my finger stub.
The middle-aged priestess frowns. “I can give you a simple healing potion to close the wound and relieve the pain for fifty gems. Or I could restore your finger to its original state for a thousand gems. What will it be?”
How can she restore my finger? It's gone... Do I even have a thousand gems? Maybe, I’ll have to count later… “Just a simple healing potion.” I hand her the gems.
She tucks her black hair behind her ear and accepts the sum with a bored expression on her plain face. She hands me a pewter bottle with a unicorn head curved on the metal.
Wincing in pain, I drink the potion. I expect this to taste bad, but the flavor is a weird combination of fish gravy, honey, and an herbal mix. A few moments later the wound on my finger close up. I stop bleeding, and the pain is simply gone.
I count the remaining gems I have on me, sixty-three. “Will this potion work on every wound?” A magical medicine that instantly heals?! This is something from a bard’s tale! The priests at every other Temple of Brigit would've just bandaged the place and put some alcohol…
She rolls her brown eyes. “Yes, it’ll close simple wounds. It can’t heal up broken bones or regrow limbs.”
“What about internal organs?”
“As long as they’re simply cut or bruised, this potion should help. It won’t help you with diseases, or toxins, and will only heal the early stages of inflammation. It’s best to consume it, but if you can’t, you can also smear it on the wound.” Her fingers twirl a strand of her black hair as she give the explanation in a bored voice.
"What about a throat wound? Or a knife in the heart?"
"If you can apply it in time, same thing, obviously. Though in case of a throat wound it's suggested to clean the windpipe of blood."
“Excellent! Give me another one of these then!”
She shakes her head with a knowing smirk and hands me another pewter bottle with a unicorn carving.
*
I am back in my room. In an attempt to ignore the fact that I’m missing a finger, I sit down and count my newly acquired wealth. I have a whopping amount of 1642 gems.
In a few hours, everyone will find out that I’ve killed Adir, and everyone will know I own a small mountain of gems. Such a fortune will make me a target. True, some of them may be afraid, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the strongest neophytes would band up and target me in order to split the money between them. I have to spend it, and fast! Everything I hadn’t spent until breakfast; I’ll have to throw away toward everyone at the dining hall, that way people will know I don’t have anything…
No, that won’t help me. They’ll think I only threw parts of it, they aren’t stupid. They’ll know I don’t want to be targeted… in fact, that’ll make me an even bigger target, they’ll think I can’t defend myself… They’ll think I have this money regardless of what I do with it. Whether I still hold onto this money or not is irrelevant. The only true way to survive is to learn how to protect myself, new spells, new powers, maybe some martial arts too…
Let’s see what I can learn before I have to fight for my life again…
After coming to a decision, I pocket a large sum and stride toward the Temple of Tukado, the library. It’s already six past midnight, people are waking up.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
I pass by a small group of baffled neophytes who look at the corpses near my door. These are not the first dead bodies I saw in this hallway, but these are the first people that died at my hand. These corpses would be cleaned up by the slaves every evening.
The moment I get out of sight, I run toward the library and pick up every book I think I'll need in the upcoming days. All the cantrips Beydor had recommended to me, and a book about forming my gravity mana pool. Yes, I can control my gravity mana, but I've already lost a finger. If there is the slightest chance that reading the book will let me increase my control over my mana and help me cast this cantrip safely, then I have to take it! It’s worth the 30 gems.
I also pick instruction manuals for forming the other ten mana pools, at the cost of 30 gems each. Then I pick anything that seems like it might be useful to me sooner or later.
Gritting my teeth due to these books’ weight, I carry my pile of chained books to the desk and pay the sleepy Loremaster the price of 765 gems.
The shocked priest wakes up from his nap and starts looking high and low for the right keys for each of the books I've purchased.
In the meantime, a few neophytes enter the library. They look at me from afar and whisper to one another, but none of them dare to close the distance or talk to me.
One of Adir's goons enters. The tall man has a bronze arming sword at his hip. He approaches me at a fast pace, causing the murmurs around to intensify. He has the fist tag on his shoulder, combined with his tall and lanky figure I know he isn’t capable of magic.
But he isn’t here to hurt me. Fighting in the library is forbidden. The death penalty awaits those who caused the slightest damage to any book they didn’t pay for. That means I have the advantage, and I can risk fighting in the library, I have the money to pay for these damaged books.
“You're Marisha, right? Did you kill boss Adir?” The intense look in his blue eyes almost causes me to take a step back, I stop myself at the last moment. I can’t show any weaknesses here.
I pause and ponder whether I should confirm or deny. There's no point denying it, it won't get me anywhere… ”…Yes”
“Can you take me under your protection, boss? I'll pay you. How much do you want?”
Wait, what?! Of course… Adir was the ruler of the neophytes, with him gone there'll be chaos, and gangs of neophytes will fight each other to establish their power, he thinks I plan to form such a gang… I have no interest in running a gang like that… yet, a small group of brutes to protect me isn't a bad deal…
“What's your name?” I ask him so I can get my thoughts in order.
“Me? I'm Purson! Can I have your protection or not?”
“You can. Since you're the first to approach me with such a request you don't have to pay me, I'll count on you for protection as well.” I answer with a smile, getting lost for a moment. He has short dark hair, a pair of blue mesmerizing eyes, with a perfect body and face. If he'll become one of my men, I doubt he'd refuse my advances…
I could use some muscle protecting me… especially if he’s looking so good… Muscles... Yeah... And this time, I am in control! Not the other way around!
He turns and gestures toward the small group of neophytes that gathered in the distance. A beautiful girl with wavy dark hair move closer to us. “Now that I know you're not a killing spree maniac—this is Janara, my girlfriend. She's a dormant evoker. If you ensure her safety, I'm your man!” he declares.
“Nice to meet you,” the beautiful girl smiles at me as she offers her hand for a shake. Her beauty incites my jealousy. She has a pair of green gemlike eyes, and a smooth alabaster skin. More importantly, she’s not as malnourished as I am and has a perfect body figure.
A girlfriend… great… I'll tell him he has to leave her if… no! Don't be stupid, I can’t force anyone to love me… and I don’t want sex anyway… just someone to truly care about me…
I shake her hand, trying to stop my disappointment and bite of jealousy from showing up on my face. “Once I'll be able to control my magic I'll be more useful…” she adds with a self-deprecating smile.
I shouldn’t lose potential allies over something like that. ”Very well, Purson, we have a deal.” I shake his hand after Janara's, and he almost pulls my arm out of its socket in the process.
They’re both in their mid-twenties and look way older than me, I doubt they have a way to tell my real age. It feels weird that they came to me for protection. Yet looking back I've killed three guys who looked older and stronger than me in less than ten minutes, and one of them had terrorized every living soul here for a whole month.
I should show more confidence… even if I don't have it… it's just like ruling over the peasants and managing father's fief again…
The priest is done unlocking all of my books. I thank him and am about to lift the pile when Purson stops me. “I should be the one doing that, boss.”
He picks up the books and carries them toward the neophytes’ living quarters. Following him, I tense up in alarm. What if these two have ulterior motives? They could be out to rob me for all I know.
Purson walks in the front with the books and Janara behind me. I slow down matching my pace with hers, positioning myself to use her as a hostage if it comes down to that. “Why did you two come to me?” I ask her in a low voice.
She smiles at me. A genuine warm smile. I haven’t seen someone smile like that for a very long time. I linger on the warmth and almost miss her words. “Because you're one of Phoebe's, and we think you can do some good around here as the boss. I don't think you can be as bad as that monster you’ve killed.”
I narrow my eyes at her. Altruism? Is it fake? I can't let my guard down… ”How well did you know Phoebe?”
“Phoebe was my friend even before our village was raided, we got taken away as slaves together. Adir killed her, and you killed that monster. You definitely have our full support! Not that I'm very useful at the moment, but I'm working on it,” she adds with a nervous chuckle.
Damnit… she's nice! Now I can't kick her and take her place either… or she's a manipulative sociopath who's good at hiding it… ”I see…” I take out my large makeshift purse, count out fifty of my remaining gems, and give them to her. “Go get yourself the books you need to master your basic magic, we'll need all the help we can get.”
If they're indeed decent, this will buy me their loyalty. But if they have some ill intentions, and only get close to me for personal gain, they'll consider how much they can use me before harming me. They'll at least try to get as much out of me without any risk first, and it'll give me time to figure out their true intent…
“Thanks, but I can't accept this! I'll get my own gems, we aren't looking for charity.”
I observe the smile on her face. It doesn’t seem fake but I could be wrong. Better be careful.
I open my room and Purson puts the pile of books on my damaged desk. “Anything else you need, boss?”
“No. Thank you for the help, I'm going to get something to eat.”
They exchange a look that has me worried. “We'll come with you,” Janara says with a charming smile.
Whether they're planning something or mean what they say, I'll find out soon enough.
Nevertheless, I have to get used to having underling and commanding people around if I'm going to rely on them for protection… it's been a while since I commanded people around... or should I just keep to myself? No, no matter how powerful I am, people can always gang up on me, having my own small group will be better. I don't have to rule with fear, but I will eliminate threats should they endanger me…
We leave for the temple together. This is 7:34 after midnight. Might as well get the free meal.
The dining hall is crowded. It turns silent the moment we enter. The queue for food clears up and let me and my pair of followers take our meals first. A buzzing chatter erupts when we sit down with our meals. At first, no one comes anywhere near the table we picked. Then, four of Adir's former men come near us. They eye me warily, and once I nod they take their seat at my table, silently showing their support.
Is this like wolves? Whoever kills the pack leader gets to lead the pack? No, they're scared and want some semblance of order… can I give them that?
Once the fifth brute joins the table, Purson stands up and the murmuring hall turns silent. “Adir is dead! We no longer have to prey upon the weak. From now on, we put down the monsters!” His loud speech receives a loud round of applause and cheers from the crowded hall.
So this is what he and his girlfriend were after! They want to use me as a figurehead to rule this place... As a brute, no one will follow him, but if they have me as a front… Not only that, his girlfriend is a dormant evoker, once she awakens her powers will they still need me? They'll expect me to fall in line and let her rule…
Do I even want to be the ruler? No. But I have to keep some of the power to myself, otherwise one day they can just kill me quietly…
“If any of you keep preying upon the weak like Adir did, beware! We will hunt you down like the beast you are!” Purson continues his rousing speech, dragging another wave of applauding cheers from the people around us.
This just made us a target to whoever wants or likes to prey on the weak. Most of the brutes and the evokers will turn against us, they have nothing to gain from it. While the weaker people, the dormant evokers, and the cowards are the ones who gain the most. Ideals are all well and good, Purson, but you have to back them up with good personal gains, people care about themselves first, and the brutes or the awaken evokers won't be happy with this arrangement.
I stand up and raise my hand. Purson falls silent. His intense blue gaze focuses on me. He can’t silence me right now, but I also cannot contradict his agenda, people are too happy with it. “Whoever joins us will join a peacekeeping force. We will protect those who can't protect themselves,” I declare. “However!” I swiftly cut the cheers before they erupt again. “If you think I'm expecting you to work for free, you'd be wrong!”
Now I have their attention. The remnant of Adir's gang, a gloomy group of brutes and awakened evokers who whispers among themselves at the edge of the hall—shifts their focus toward me.
“Once we stop a monster from robbing or blackmailing someone, there's only one sentence for them, death! I'll be taking twenty percent of their money in order to pay all of your weekly wages, while the rest of it will go to the peacekeeper who killed them!”
That should make them think twice, a bigger stick, but also a bigger carrot… and now they have something to gain by joining me. Wages. A steady income source, and a chance to rob someone of their money under the guise of the “law”. It won't last for long, we need some sort of tax too, but now is not the right moment for that…
“This will include money formerly robbed by those monsters.” I don’t want the weaker people going around accusing others of robbery in order to steal their gems… they won’t do it if they won’t gain much from it unless there’s a personal vendetta… but we’ll investigate it case by case.
This gets varied reactions from the crowd. More murmurs and fewer cheers, true, but seven more brutes and two awakened evokers join us immediately. Now we have about half of Adir's former men on our side, and each of these evokers has their own small gang of two to three brutes.
I glance at Purson, I can see the anger in his narrowed eyes. He didn't expect that someone who looks like a young malnourished girl in her late teens to grasp the situation so accurately, nor to convince so many this fast.
I grin at him. Ha! Don't underestimate me, I managed my father's lands for more than two years, I'm no stranger to politics. I've seen plenty of your type who thought I'd be nothing but a young naïve girl who would make a good figurehead… Actually, let's throw him a bone. With a little nudge, he can be a good right hand man…
“Purson will manage the day-to-day operation. Anyone who wants to join the peacekeepers will report to him, and he'll report to me each day. I hope we can all live safely from today onward. That is all.”
The anger in Purson's blue eyes disappears, replaced by calculations. I can almost see the thoughts moving in his head.
I let him have the power, he still gets to make the decisions and command the others around like he wanted. He wants to use me as a figurehead, would it hurt if I was convinced that I was the one in charge? When Janara awakens to her powers, she can beat me and take my place, or they can threaten me to abdicate my spot.
He nods silently toward me and begins talking with the joiners. They were his friends under Adir after all, and they would always be more loyal to him than me. That means I can use him to control them for the time being, at least until Janara awakens her powers. It’s a race against time for me. I have to get stronger with my magic, so powerful that none of them can challenge me.
After I finish my breakfast I visit the Temple of Amaret and pay the three hundred gems in the punishment hall.
It leaves me an amount of 577 gems, enough to pay my “peacekeepers” during the upcoming days, and the rest could be earned by robbing “robbers”.
Now, I can finally study magic by myself. Plenty of books, enough funds, and relative safety. It’s time to learn how to master the forces of the universe!
With that, I turn my attention to my books, soon enough I’m immersed in a world of mana patterns, meditations, and odd words in a different language.
*~*~*
Interlude 6.1
Kolag.
Kolag sits quietly at the edge of the dining hall, still uncomfortable in his heavy armor. It’s not like he never wore full plate armor before. But this time he cannot take it off.
The image of the young girl he killed in the Hall of Death still haunts him, her face will haunt him for the rest of his life. He shouldn’t have done it. He should’ve fought for her life, he should’ve killed this blond monster for the little girl’s life! He should’ve stepped up and killed this blond monster now while he was terrorizing hundreds.
Yet he did not. Kolag has to face it, he’s simply afraid. Afraid to lose his helmet while fighting that monster. Afraid to cause other innocents’ deaths in their battle. Afraid to lose and die while killing innocents and achieving nothing. Afraid of this whole gem tower and the monstrosities in human skin called mages… afraid.
And now there’s a new face he cannot forget. A girl, just as young as the one he killed, who did what he could not. She banished this evil and established a tiny force of good in this fortress of pure magical evil. Yet, Kolag is still afraid. This girl wields evil arcane magic, just like all the other monstrosities in human skin, she cannot be trusted.
Kolag will wait, he’ll observe, he’ll wait for her to show signs of evil or good. If she shows signs of evil, it’s best to avoid her. Kolag is clearly out of his depths in this arcane evil tower.
But if she shows more signs of goodness, Kolag will do his best to help. Someone has to turn this den of evil and corruption into something good. Light will always prevail!
*~*~*
Power level: 1st stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Gravity: formed.
Cantrip known:
Gravity: Lumina’s kinetic burst.
Focus capability: 4 patterns.
Injuries and scars: Missing two thirds of the right middle finger.
Social status: A neophyte evoker.
Wealth: 577 magical gems.
Items: A healing potion.
Companions:
Purson
Janara