Chapter 9: Riding Crops are for?

The light was patterned like marble but clearly stone, as I could see the faint glow radiating from it. I studied the walls and had to blink several times as my eyes adjusted from the dimness of my previous tower.

Walking farther up the stairs, I found a long, wild, winding staircase that spiraled around the edges of the tower. It was a long climb. Nearly 20 minutes later, I made it to the floor I somehow knew I needed to be on. Each circle was nearly 100 yards of walking, and each circle only brought us up one floor.

Despite the long climb, I didn't really mind; the view was amazing. I watched as the pillars swirled around the tower as I walked up the stairs. There was the shadow pillar that I had come from, and then there was a fire pillar, a water earth... And so on.

I couldn't name all of the elements, but clearly, they each represented something, and the fact that light was in the center was interesting to me. It was weird that light and shadow didn't balance each other. I felt they should, but I didn't even know where to begin with my questions.

Eventually, I walked down a corridor and pushed open to the room I felt the calling from. I found myself in a massive study with an old man sitting behind a desk with lion paws as feet. He lounged in a chair, stroking his long white beard.

Across the desk, there were two chairs. One was occupied by a man wearing a suit similar to mine, but instead of the muted grays, it was a deep royal blue. The two of them looked my way as I entered. The old man gestured for me to have a seat, and I pulled out the extra chair and sat. No one spoke as we all examined each other.

"I'm glad you could make it Coulomb." The old man said in a deep voice that seemed to resonate throughout the room. I nodded, not knowing what to say. I was still certain that this was a dream, but these men were not acting like people from my dream. I kept playing along for now. The other man in the blue suit next to me didn't say anything either, just giving me a simple nod, which I returned. We both shifted our attention to the old man.

"Is there anything new to report?" He asked as if it was a formality that he had gone through thousands of times. I glanced over at my counterpart in blue and studied him. He was a tall man, a couple of inches taller than myself, but with blond hair and striking blue eyes that matched his suit. He shook his head, never once thinking to say anything, so I just shook my head as well, hoping to be able to play along and figure out what was going on as I went.

"Good. Good. Now, Coulomb, I have heard that your Court accepted a contract on King Gerald." I nodded, remembering the letter on my desk. Luckily, this was one of the few things One and I had actually gotten to about in the mountain of work that I had to decipher and learn about. What One had told me about King Gerald confirmed that I really didn't want to kill him, but I wasn't going to have much of a choice.

"Yes, well, events have conspired that he needs to die faster than anticipated. I know the contract said you had a month to get it carried out, but I need you to do it in four days. And I need you to do it personally. We can't have anything being messed up by one of your Blades." The old man continued.

I winced. Four days. I was glad he didn’t ask me any more questions about it. But still, it was three days of travel to his country's capital. We were lucky that it was one of the ones bordering ours. But something else, something interesting. The old man said, 'my Court'. As if I was the one who actually ran the Court. As far as I could tell, I was just the branch head.

Perhaps I was the real power behind the figurehead? It was something that One either didn't know or just hadn't gotten to yet. And unfortunately, I wouldn't see her tomorrow. I supposed I could call for her if I really wanted to, but otherwise, it wouldn't be until the day after tomorrow.

The other thing was the way he said 'you' informed me that he was not part of the Court. When I first got here and saw the Shadow Tower, I assumed that this was the head branch contacting me, but apparently not. This was something even bigger.

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But before I was able to say anything besides my simple nod of acknowledgment, the old man turned to my counterpart and said. "James. Is that acceptable for you?"

The man in blue inclined his head slightly. "I have full faith that Coulomb will be able to come through."

I did not have faith. But I was pretty sure I could figure it out. Maybe.

"Good. We all know how important this is." The old man nodded and moved on to other topics. Addressing me. "Now. I'm grateful for you being so accommodating and calm. James now owes you a Favor."

The way he said favor, he told me that it was capitalized. It sounded more than just something as simple as a ride to the airport. But I couldn't exactly tell what the limits were. James grimaced slightly, biting his cheek. "I will put it in the record books for you."

"I won't waste it," I said. And James looked even more grim.

The old man nodded and said, "See that you don't. Now, while I have you here, how about a brief update? Things have been going to plan rather well. But it has been confirmed that the Endless Empire has set its sights here. But our informants say they don't plan on moving for several years. We have time to prepare. But I doubt we'll be able to cut off their gates anytime before they actually manage to arrive. So we need to get all of us ready. I want recruitment at the Court doubled. And I will have books of the Parisian tongue sent to your world. In preparation, you'll need to learn how to speak it. Read it and fit it into their culture, as we're going to have many tasks for you."

I blinked, completely baffled by the instructions. Another tongue? Gates? This was too much. I just committed it all to memory verbatim and nodded. "Okay, well, with that, I'm going to let you both have the rest of your sleep. Good night."

He snapped his fingers, and the shadows came back around to me. And this time, I really fell asleep.

***

When I woke up, I groped with my hands, seeking the warmth that was pressed to my front when I'd fallen asleep. But there was nothing but a pillow pushed into its spot beside me.

I felt warmth penetrating my back, and I felt the softness of flesh and a rigid spine pressed up against me. This was a very different awakening than I had gotten with Nine. I wonder why.

"Morning, Master." A high-pitched, girly voice said from behind me. I felt the warmth shift as the woman yawned.

"Good morning, Five," I said. It was slightly out of character, but it felt best to start easing everyone into my new personality. I felt her flinch a little bit at my words but then relaxed, and she rolled over.

I saw a woman with fiery red hair cropped short, no more than 3 or 4 inches long, as it tossed around her face. The faint freckles sprinkled across her nose, and her pale lips curled up into a smile as she saw me. Oh, there is someone who is happy to see me, unlike how I remembered Nine or One's first reactions.

However, there was a slight cruelty to that smile, and I started to have an idea of why this Numbered might have been a little bit more okay with the situation. And why Nine One had warned me to never let Five know about my memory. The others had been aware of the dynamic and gone a long with it, but she fully embraced it.

I stared at her for a few seconds, and then she eventually looked away, uncomfortable holding my gaze.

"What is it? Is there something on my face?" She said, blushing.

"No," I said, "you look fine."

I reached up and patted her head, and she smiled before throwing off the covers and jumping at me with a hug. I flinched, surprised. These relationships were just bizarre.

She quickly backed off and sat, kneeling on the bed, completely bare and exposed to me. Her very amply-sized breasts hung just inches from my face.

"I brought the riding crop master." She said, with a cheerful endurance that had no place this early in the morning.

I groaned. "What?"

"Just like you instructed me to. It's under your pillow." I reached around and felt under my head, and indeed, there was the handle of a riding crop. She turned around, presenting me with her generous backside, and I looked at it. And then at her. I was beginning to understand why One said she would kill me, and also why she would have noticed right away if she had been the one who woke me up yesterday instead of Nine.

Playing my part. I smacked the crop into my hand, making a loud, cracking noise and sending her jolting, and I could see a bright red flush creep around the back of her neck. This was going to be very different than last night with One. Not having any idea what I was doing I leaned forward a bit and stroked the leather end down her spine. Well, I was about to learn very quickly.