Max woke to the sound of rattling keys. The heavy cell door opened, and light spilled into the dark cell. Max squinted. He looked up into the face of Anita. She stepped into the cell and helped Max to his feet.
“Am I glad to see you,” Max said.
Anita led Max out of the cell, and they passed a guard. “The queen says you should be taken to the bathhouse right away,” Anita said.
“Does she want to drown me?” Max said.
“No, she wants to make sure you are comfortable before meeting you. Elderon and Captain Fineblade explained everything to her. The new queen seems very nice and very sorry to have thrown you into a cell.”
Anita led Max into a bath chamber. The air was steamy and hot. The sound of water trickling over polished tiles. Max grabbed a thick fluffy towel and stepped up to the large, tiled bath in the center of the washroom.
Anita started to untie the threads on Max’s tunic.
“I can manage fine,” Max said.
Anita stepped back and let Max undress. She turned her back for him to undress fully and step into the warm soapy water.
Anita scooped up Max’s clothes. She stuck her finger through a slash across the padded leather. “I think you will need a new tunic before long. This one has seen better days.” Anita handed Max’s clothes over to a pair of young elves, who carried them away. “They are to be washed and dried. You will have them back soon.”
Anita closed the door after the young elves and was herself undressed in a moment. She stepped into the bath with Max. “Move up, Max,” she said lowering herself into the water.
Max was too tired and too relaxed to fret about Anita sitting there naked. The bubbles covered most of her body, and Max tried his best not to see the rest. She washed her hair and then poured scented liquid soap onto Max’s head and washed his hair before rinsing it clean.
“Did the new queen tell you to bathe too?”
“No, but I can’t pass up a good bath.” She slipped fully under the water and came up to her feet with a splash. The water ran down her body and formed a table of her stats.
>
>
> Name: Anita Charmroot
>
> Status: Amorous
>
>
Max averted his eyes. Anita lowered herself back to the bubbles. She winked at Max and then leaned back against the tiles, head back, face up, eyes closed. Max looked at her as she relaxed. It was nice to see her at ease. They had been through so much together.
The bath chamber door burst open. Elderon walked in with Jahrod just behind. His staff clicking on the stone floor of the bath chamber. “Up, up,” Elderon said. “The queen will see you now.”
Anita climbed out of the bath and slipped a long elven robe over her head. She held a hand out to help Max up.
“I can get up,” Max said.
“Are you injured?” Jahrod said.
Max shook his head. “I just don’t want to stand up fully naked in a roomful of fully dressed friends.”
Elderon looked confused and turned to Anita. “Does he think we don’t know what he keeps under his clothes?”
“Things are strange indeed in your lands,” Jahrod said. He grabbed Max by the arm with a huge hairy hand and dragged him from the bath. Anita poured a large jug of fresh water over his head to rinse him clean, and Elderon levitated a long elven robe over his head and then down over his body in a swift move. Rinsed and dressed in a few seconds, far too quick for Max to complain.
At first, Max felt a little strange walking around the palace in what amounted to a long dress, but all around, elves were wearing the same style, and by the time he reached the throne room, he felt quite at ease. The elven cloth was extremely comfortable. It made him realize how dirty and battered his own clothes were. Even so, he’d be happy to have them back as soon as possible. He had no intentions of heading out to the wilderness dressed like this.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
The queen stood up from her throne when Max and his party entered. She stepped down and came to greet Max with an elegant hand held out.
“Max, I am so sorry to have detained you. Elderon and Captain Fineblade assure me you are a true friend of Deepwood and of our departed king.” She glanced back at the throne and then back to Max, a smile on her full lips. She took Max by the hand. “I was so consumed by grief. The passing of my father was unhappy, but in truth, I know he was lost a long time ago, the dark witches and the cursed shards keeping him alive long after his time to join our elven ancestors in the great forests of eternity.” She looked Max up and down. “I can see now how handsome you are.” She fluttered her eyelashes over her wide almond eyes.
“And brave, Queen Harari,” Anita said, putting an arm over Max’s shoulder.
Max slipped his hands free of the queen’s. “But our task is not yet complete, Majesty,” Max said. “I fear there is a great dark force heading this way. An army comes from over the Kraken Sea, heading to the Kingdom of Eastwind. If we are not to lose all we have gained by eliminating the dark shards, we must face this army and stop it before it can spread more darkness over the continent of Awen.”
The queen looked from Max to Elderon. The old Mage nodded his head. “I have come to trust this young Mage’s visions, Majesty.”
The queen sighed and stepped back up to her throne. “And here I was hoping all was well and that you could be my guests for some time.” She sat and smiled at Max. “I’d like to get to know the young Mage who saved us all a little better. Are you sure you cannot stay even one night?”
Max had already slept, albeit in a dungeon wracked by nightmares, but he was fully fit, his Health restored to its fullest, and as long as he had his spells activated, he was ready to continue his journey.
He checked his Mage Book quickly.
>
>
> Active spells
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Strength
>
> • Summon Fog
>
> • Fireball
>
> • Disguise
>
>
He was fully loaded with a full complement of active spells. He let out a sigh and stepped up to the throne and then dropped to one knee.
“It will be my pleasure to return here and visit Your Majesty as soon as we have time. But for now, we must be away.”
The queen sighed. “Deepwood will aid you, Max Lightfoot.” She turned to Captain Fineblade. “Captain, will you take your company and go with Max to the Kingdom of Eastwind to counter this threat from across the Kraken Sea, to carry Deepwood’s banner and let all know we support Max?”
Captain Fineblade nodded and then stepped up to Max. “If Max will let me travel with him. If he can trust me.” Fineblade sighed. “The darkness was stronger than anyone could have known. I am in your debt. Will you let me join your party?”
Max took Fineblade’s hand and smiled.
“It would be my pleasure.”
>
>
> Captain Darius Fineblade joins the party
>
>
“And now we should go,” Elderon said.
Max dressed in his old clothes that had been washed and repaired by expert elven hands. He looked at the scars on the Padded Leather Tunic. He could hardly spot them at all. His tunic was as good as new. As he marched out of the palace, a company of elves marching with his party, he looked up to the towers of the palace behind him. The young queen looked down, smiling at him, waving and blowing a kiss.
“She is wishing us well,” Jahrod said as he stomped along next to Max.
Max was sure Jahrod was not as stinky as last he’d seen him. “Did the elves make you bathe too?”
Jahrod nodded and grinned, his wide mouth opened, showing his heavy crushing teeth. “A good coarse sand rub.” A quiver of delight rushed over the mighty dwarf. “The elves are not all that bad after all. They sure know how to treat a guest.”
At nightfall, the party made camp on the border of Deepwood and Eastwind on the edge of the Deepwood forests and on the side of the road to the port town of Eastcrossing. Anita joined Max on his Blanket of Comfort by the side of a mighty broadleaf tree.
“I could have bathed with you longer, Max,” she whispered in his ear. “The queen would have liked to have bathed with you herself, I think.”
Max turned and lay face-to-face with Anita. He looked into her green eyes. He could see her elven features in the flickering campfire light. She had big eyes and narrow cheeks. Her ears were larger than most but not oddly large. They did not rise to a point like Fineblade’s or Queen Harari’s. Anita was strange yet beautiful.
“You are very attractive,” Max said. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “In my world, I would never get to meet anyone as beautiful as you.”
Anita smiled, accepting the compliment with grace. “Then perhaps you are glad to be here in Eveirea?” Anita came closer.
Max smiled. But the smile was quickly wiped from his face as a shout of alarm went up from the sentries posted around the camp. Max and Anita sat up, fully alert to danger. Max heard a distant rustling and scratching sound. It grew louder, closer. The sounds of branches snapping, feet tearing up the soft ground. Then Max could hear jabbering and howling. Many voices. Too many. The sounds of an attacking horde.
“Everyone up and to arms.” Elderon threw upward a shaft of light that brightly illuminated the camp. “We are under attack.”