Jace opened his eyes to find himself in a large courtyard. It was as if no time had passed to the player, but it was evident much had taken place. For starters, his hands hung before him, secured in iron shackles. He stood before the king and queen about 30 feet away with armed guards on either side of him. At first, he thought the men were remarkably short, even for Madrians, but then he realized his illusion necklace had expired, meaning he was an orc and was looking down on them from his 7-foot height. That wouldn’t help his case.
Tall stone walls enclosed three sides of the 400-foot square grassy courtyard, while the massive castle bordered off the fourth. The royal couple sat on a slightly raised dais, only two feet off the ground, with guards lining the back and two sides, their backs to the castle entrance. Jace saw over a dozen more royal guards surrounding him and a few other prisoners. Kai stood alongside him, head hung low, also in shackles. Beside him, Snowy wore a tight collar with three chains anchored to strong men. The familiar no longer appeared as a large dog, and the guards not responsible for securing her kept a safe distance from the winter wolf. Esther and Psycho sood on Jace’s other side, both dangerously low on health. The rogue had taken two arrows, while the ranger’s dragon armor had barely saved him from the fireball.
Jace shifted his gaze further in that direction to see another collection of guards, Chi, not Madiran, with Gromphy and Draya restrained in the center. Neither of them appeared hurt at the moment, and the goblin’s disguise had also expired. The orc had needed to turn his head considerably to see the rest of his crew, and now that he had signaled his alertness, the scene came alive as if they had all been held in stasis while he was unconscious.
“What is the meaning of this?” the king said, his voice flushed with rage.
“They tried to kill you, Your Majesty,” Hegai replied, stepping forward from the ranks beside the dais.
Jace watched the look the two exchanged, and it explained a lot. If the player guessed correctly, the head of the king’s harem had been in charge of hiring the archers, and Jace doubted the king had consented to take an arrow from the legendary Shade Fletcher. That had likely been an improvisation by the official to throw suspicion onto foreigners. As the king continued talking, Jace noticed he kept glancing up at the high walls surrounding him, the crenulated borders offering dozens of locations for a determined sniper. A quick look over at Psycho showed the elf doing the same thing.
“Not Esther,” King Azourus argued, his eyes focusing on the alluring woman who smiled back at her potential husband. “She took two arrows herself and then protected us from the fireball.”
“A harmless firework, my lord,” Hegai said.
“Harmless?” the king cried. “It burned down the stage.”
“Indeed,” Hegai said. Jace knew none of the other guards within range of Draya’s spell would have taken any damage, even though flames must have washed over them. “But she is part of their group . . .”
“You think he hired the Shade Fletcher to shoot his own niece?” the king barked.
“You still think they’re related,” the queen mumbled under her breath, casting looks between the orc and the woman.
Azurous ignored her and kept his gaze on Hegai. Again, Jace could see a silent exchange between the men, further confirming to Jace that the king knew who had actually hired the deadly archer. “She is part of my group, Hegai. And if you want to remain there as well, you will release her at once!”
Hegai knew he stood on thin ice at this point and relented, nodding toward the guards flanking Esther. Before they could move to release her, the level 19 rogue shrugged her wrists, and the bonds fell to the grass. “Thank you, my lord,” she said, bowing deeply and going to sit at the king’s feet on the edge of the dais.
Jace smiled at the talented display, doubting any of his other party members could escape so easily. He tested his shackles’ resiliency and got a report from Gracie that they were just outside his ability. He reached for his Granite Strength spell. If he wanted to absorb power from stone around him (of which there was none at the moment), it would take a full round to cast. But if he drew on his stone mana core, it was only one action, and he could do it while restrained. Jace grew stronger, and as he tugged on his shackles, he felt them snap and crack just to the point of failure. He stopped before they broke, confident he could shrug them off at a moment’s notice if he needed to. His eyes went back to the royal couple.
Queen Vashti frowned at Esther’s presence but didn’t wish to argue about that now. Instead, she looked down at the king’s hand where the spent piercing protection ring still resided. “I don’t know why you are so concerned about an archer, my dear, given your new choice of jewelry.”
“And your new fire protection ring is just a coincidence?” Azurous retorted.
“A prudent precaution when attending a dragon festival,” she replied, chin held high.
“Enough, my graces,” Hegai said as respectfully as he could. “We should not waste our energies squabbling within when it is clear the attacks today have come from without. The Shade Fletcher would never work for a Madrian.” He turned his eyes briefly to the queen before settling on the large Chi contingent gathered beside the native soldiers.
“Be careful of your accusations,” Shinto said. The eunuch stepped away from the crowd as their spokesman. “We have never heard of this archer you all live in fear of. Instead, we are concerned about the sorceress someone has brought into our city.” He motioned toward Draya, whose darker skin fit in well with the locals, but her firey red air did not. “She is from a distant land, and we know of only one foreigner coming in from abroad recently.”
“Your city?” Hegai argued. “You forget you are foreigners here too.”
“We would never hire someone else to sling fire,” Shinto said. “Especially one as ineffective as this?”
“Unless you did so to throw suspicion from yourselves,” Hegai replied.
“Silence!” the king shouted. The crowd had grown restless at the saber rattling, but now they calmed, all eyes focused on the king. Jace looked around to see Psycho still scanning the distant walls for the archer he knew patrolled them. The Shade Fletcher had been hired to kill the queen, and Vashti still lived. Jace knew Psycho wouldn’t have given up on a similar assignment. Currently, the queen sat, with a ring of men holding spears and tower shields surrounding her. The archer had no shot. Jace trusted his ranger to let him know when that changed.
“Silence,” Azurous repeated. “As you both say, we have been attacked by people on the outside. Let us not fight amongst ourselves when the answer is right before us.” He turned to look at Draya. “Step forward, mage.”
Draya obeyed, her hands shackled before her. Jace knew all her dragon fire spells required a full round to cast unless she used her staff, which was also unavailable with her wrists bound. She bowed toward the king.
“Tell us, mage, what is your purpose here? Why did you interrupt our celebration? And don’t lie.” He looked to the side of his dais where two priests stood. “We will know if you do.”
Draya looked hesitantly toward Jace, and the orc nodded confidently. The shy young woman wasn’t used to speaking before a group. “I was hired to throw a fireball at the royal couple. I did not wish to kill you, so I made sure it was harmless.”
Jace heard Psycho grunt at this comment. The dragon fire had almost killed him.
“But your employers wanted it to be real?” the king asked.
Jace stepped in. “We knew of the plot against your life. Draya took the place of the real assassin to save you.”
Azurous raised his hand toward the orc, and Jace stopped. “I will hear from the fire mage.” Still, he turned to the priests to assess the truthfulness of this claim, and they nodded. The king looked again at Draya. “Who hired you?”
As Draya hesitated, Gromphy stepped forward. Retrieving a bag of coins from one of the many quick slots in his vest proved no problem, even when shackled. He tossed the bag on the ground, halfway toward the seated couple. “We were paid with these,” he said as gold coins spilled out onto the grass. They each had a Chi crest on them.
The king stood suddenly, turning on his wife. “It was you. I should have known you’d try to kill me with fire.”
“And you hired the archer, I’m sure!” she fired back, standing as well.
“Jace!” Psycho shouted.
As the royals lit into each other, the orc shaman reacted, breaking through his chains and summoning a stone tower shield. “Esther!” he cried, hoping the woman would figure it out. He tossed the heavy guard toward the queen’s side of the dais, and the rogue understood. She raced from her position, caught the shield, and raised it to protect the suddenly vulnerable queen, her torso now above the tops of the guards around her.
Half a second later, a black arrow popped into existence as if it had ripped through a hole in reality and plunked off the stone shield. All present had been tense already, preparing to defend the honor of their chosen royal, and this attack lit the fuse. Everyone exploded into motion. Madrians drew axes from their belts or attacked with pole arms while the Chi pulled scimitars and katanas from within their robes. Jace stepped away from the sudden melee, not drawing his sword to paint him as an enemy, and turned instead toward his shackled companions.
The stone shaman’s strength spell persisted, and he wasted no time ripping the chains off Snowy, Psycho, and Kai. “Go protect the king,” the orc commanded once the paladin regained his balance. “Do your duty!”
Kai nodded and raced toward Azurous. The king was a high-level noble without a combat class. Meanwhile, Queen Vashti was a level 18 witch, and with Esther guarding her right side, she wasted no time casting a hex toward her husband. The paladin arrived just as the spell did, and the inquisitor used his Lay on Hands ability to heal the king instantly. She cast again, but the magic-resistant knight stood in the way, and the spell washed over him without effect. Kai still wore his headband, and the blue diamond pulsed as the spell washed over him without effect. Jace didn’t think the inquisitor needed the extra help, but it couldn’t hurt, and it made the likelihood of any of the witch’s spells getting through minimal. Vashti cursed.
Jace took a moment to look around. Already, men lay dying as the two nationalities felt determined to settle the war this troubled marriage was meant to forestall. The Madrians fought with vengeance and strength, using their heavier and longer weapons to assault their mostly shieldless adversaries. The Chi were more graceful, dodging and weaving through the battle, slashing at any weak points they found. The foreigners used magic to augment their fighting while the locals called on their priests to heal and protect them.
Unfortunately, it was a relatively even battle, meaning attrition was the only way through, and many would die today. Several already had, and Vashti cast a different spell toward a group of three dead Madrians. Their bodies stirred and rose at her command, marching toward the king, who now cowered at a distance behind Kai’s sword and shield.
“Esther!” Jace called. “Stop her!”
The rogue still stood beneath the raised tower shield and turned a confused face toward her leader. “Save her or stop her?”
“Now, stop her.”
Esther shrugged, dropped the shield, and Grappled the witch. The three zombies shuddered for a moment when their master was rendered Helpless, but they had been given their commands and continued to lumber toward their target. However, three more undead the queen had just raised dropped back to the ground.
Jace turned to Psycho, mentally telling Snowy to hold off attacking for now and to alert them of any imminent attacks. The ranger had his bow out with an arrow nocked, scanning the raised perimeter for any sign of movement. Guards stood at regular intervals, apparently too far away from the battle below to trigger their scripts. It was nearly noon, and Jace expected a shade-infused character to show up easily on the sunlit horizon, but he saw nothing.
“Where is he?” the orc asked.
Psycho shook his head, checking back on Esther every few seconds to confirm his angles. The rogue had easily wrestled the witch to her knees and hunched over her, giving the queen nearly complete cover. “He is where I don’t see him,” Psycho said, almost trancelike. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Jace wanted to ask questions but held his tongue. He followed his friend’s eyes back to Esther 40 feet away to see the woman had shifted her position, wary of the battle around her.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
“Stop moving Legs!” Psycho cried. “Keep her in one spot.”
“But the fighting?” she called back.
“They’re all bladed attacks less than level twenty,” Psycho said, referencing the protective ability of her armor. He turned his eyes back to the sky.
“Not the spears!” she responded.
“Not the spears,” Psycho repeated in a mocking tone only loud enough for Jace to hear. Jace held back a laugh at their antics but did see that Esther had stopped moving. The rogue crouched behind the queen, with her arm around Vashti’s neck, presenting the royal’s chest as the only viable target. Jace watched as Psycho turned in the appropriate angle and increased his scrutiny.
“Just another few seconds,” the elf said, tightening the string on his bow.
Jace still saw nothing.
“Legs!” The elf cried suddenly. “Sheild! Now!”
“What?” Esther cried.
“The shield!” Psycho and Jace cried together.
“Stupid men can’t make up their minds,” the rogue muttered as she released the queen, picked up the stone guard, and spun into a crouch in front of her. Another arrow plunked off the shield, but this time, it dispelled the magical creation. Esther stumbled forward with the sudden absence of the heavy guard.
Psycho didn’t notice as he released a shot at the same time the black arrow came firing in. It didn’t hit anyone but exploded into the stone walkway above and released a small blizzard, coating the surface with ice. Finally, Jace saw a tiny shadow slip and fall and watched as Psycho fired three more shots in quick succession. None of them hit the elusive archer, and Psycho swore.
“Red!” the elf cried. “Get over here.”
Jace turned his attention to Gromphy and Draya for the first time since the fighting broke out. The goblin had apparently pulled a vial of acid from his vest and dripped it on his shackles. The ends of the short chains still smoked, and a green bottle lay on the ground. Gromphy had then summoned Adam, and the golem pounded anyone who came near the pair. After two squashed Chi and one Madrian, everyone kept their distance.
Draya was trying to pick up the fallen acid bottle with her bound hands, but her relatively low Dexterity made it difficult, and she kept burning herself on the caustic liquid that had dripped down the sides. She stopped fidgeting with it when Psycho called. “I can’t!” she cried back, holding up her shackled hands above her head. “Gromphy is too selfish to notice that I . . .”
She stopped as Adam used his massive mitten-shaped hands to reach over and grip the short chain between her wrists. In a second, he had ground it to iron shavings, and Draya threw a sarcastic “thanks” over her shoulder as she ran over to Psycho.
Jace did a quick check on Kai to see the paladin had felled two of the zombies and the king still hid behind him. Esther and Vashti wrestled on the ground, with the queen surprisingly in a superior position. The rogue had been off balance initially when the shield had vanished, but she should have recovered by now. “How?” Jace asked no one in particular.
Gracie answered. {Vashti thanked Esther for saving her life twice by hexing her Grappling ability. Our rogue is mortal for a few moments.}
Jace nodded and focused his listening attention on Psycho and Draya arguing behind him as he watched the two women wrestle.
“Okay, Red, when the archer fires again, I need you to drench the ledge with fire.”
“But there are guards up there.”
“Who cares about the guards?”
“I do, Psycho. You can’t just kill innocent . . .”
Jace heard the sound of three quick bow shots.
“Okay, you happy now? The guards are gone.”
“Of course, I’m not happy; you just killed them.”
“I didn’t kill them. I only clipped them with an arrow.”
“But they fell off the back of the wall. It’s almost 40 feet.”
“They fell into the moat, Red, they’ll be fine. Now, when he fires again . . .”
“You don’t know there is a moat, Psycho.”
“There is always a moat . . .”
While they argued, Jace watched Esther's superior strength and experience give her the upper hand eventually, but one of the Chi hit her in the back with a spear, causing her to cry out in pain and roll off the queen. Esther rose from the ground with both her rapiers in hand and made short work of the fighter but turned to see her true prey already halfway to Kai. The knight had just dropped the last zombie and gripped his sword tightly as the enraged witch streaked toward him, a wicked knife in her hand.
Kai hesitated at first, understanding that it looked too easy to strike down the defenseless woman. As the knight attacked, his blade passed through a misty illusion. He stumbled forward, off balance, and cursed as he turned to see the real woman already at the side of her fallen husband. She plunged the knife into his chest with a release of dark magic, and Jace watched the king’s health plummet below zero.
“No!” Kai cried, recovering and stepping back into position. He hoisted his sword up to strike the murderous woman. Again, he hesitated, this time because Vashti now knelt on the ground empty-handed, her back to the knight. Would he kill an unarmed woman from behind? He didn’t have to. A black arrow flashed before him, cleaving the queen’s head in two. She dropped lifeless next to her husband.
“Okay, Red, now drench that section of the wall,” Psycho said.
“No, more guards have shown up,” Draya argued.
“But you have to,” Psycho said. “He’s going to get away.”
“He hath already vanished.”
Psycho, Draya, and Jace turned to see Gromphy approaching, riding on Adam’s back. Behind them, carnage lay spread out over the courtyard, with only two Madrian royal guards left standing.
“Thine archer is a hired killer,” the goblin said. “He labors for gold, not for pride, and he hath already earned it.” He pointed to the dead queen. “His benefactor is no more.” He motioned to the far side of the dais were Hegai lay dead, covered in slashing wounds. “He shall not tarry further.”
“You know the Shade Fletcher,” Psycho asked, his eyes moving from the location of the last shot to the goblin and back again. “I have to kill him.”
“I know of him,” the crafter said. “He suffers not from thy pride. He values not the rivalry you seek.”
“It’s not a rivalry,” Psycho growled, turning his full attention to Gromphy. “A killer like that can’t be allowed to . . .” His voice stopped as a black shaft thunked into his chest. Psycho fell to the ground, knocked into unconsciousness for the second time that morning.
“Hmm,” Gromphy said, leaning down to look over Adam’s shoulder. “I could be wrong.”
Now, Draya did respond, opening her mouth and breathing a jet of fire over 150 feet to the nearest wall. The guards on top had enough time to jump off the back, lending credence to Psycho's assertion of a moat on the other side. The dragon mage lent her personal mana to the spell, draining her pool to the last drop as she turned her head back and forth, up and down, turning a 100-foot section to slag. As the spell ended, she stumbled, nearly joining Psycho on the ground, but Jace caught her before she fell. “Did I get him?” she asked weakly.
{I’m not registering any kills,} Gracie said.
“If he was up there,” Jace said carefully, “I doubt he survived.”
“Oh, look,” Esther said as she walked up to the group, sheathing her weapons and glancing down at the fallen elf. “Psycho has a secret admirer. The Shade Archer attached a heart to the arrow.”
Jace had been more concerned about Draya’s reaction than the arrow that took down Psycho, knowing his archer had an innate protection that would save him from at least one shot. Now he looked down, expecting to find some medieval version of a cardboard valentine affixed to the arrow. Instead, he saw an actual human heart pierced through the center, halfway up the arrow. Apparently, at least one of the guards hadn’t survived.
“Eww, gross,” Draya said. “Why would he do that?”
“Maybe the archer isn’t a ‘He,’” Esther suggested, drawing a mixed reaction from the mage.
Draya felt strong enough to support herself now, and Jace let Gropmhy and the two women attend to the fallen elf, confident that the Shade Archer had effectively sent their message and was now truly gone. Instead, he turned toward Kai. The paladin knelt over the fallen king, and Jace saw Azurous’s health in the negative, a recognizable sign that the man was beyond saving but still had to pass on relevant information.
“I should have never doubted you,” the king moaned. “If I had fought against your banishment . . .” he gurgled up blood.
“It’s okay,” Kai said. “I over-stepped my authority. I should have been more careful. Paid more attention to the serious threats and let the minor things go. Then I would have been here and could have prevented . . .”
The king reached up to stop him. “This . . .” he paused dramatically. “Was inevitable. I tried to kill the queen. I deserve this. Serve my son well.”
“Your majesty, it isn’t over yet . . .” And then the king died.
Kai hung his head in sorrow, and Jace gave him space. Noise from the far end of the courtyard stole his attention, and the orc looked up to see a crowd of people leaving the castle and approaching over the grass. Jace quickly activated his illusion necklace and shrunk to the size of a human. Kai eventually sensed them approaching too, and looked up from Azurous.
The royal children led the group, with a few soldiers, priests, and women behind. Prince Daniel walked tall, looking far older than his late teens. His sister, a few years younger, also held herself with regal grace that belied her youth.
Kai rose from his kneeling position and removed the crown from the lifeless man at his feet. He walked toward the approaching crowd. When they were 20 feet apart, Kai stopped, and the prince did likewise. “The king is dead,” Kai said solemnly, holding the crown aloft, his voice loud and clear in the still courtyard. He walked forward and knelt before the young man, offering him the golden headpiece. “Long live the king!” Despite the pale of death hanging in the courtyard, the small crowd cheered the transfer of power. The old king was beloved to a point, but his murderous plot led to his downfall, and in normal circumstances, the people would come to realize the benefit of this change. The game presupposed this knowledge and skipped the tedious period of morning and reconciliation.
The previous marriage had not united the Chi and Madrian people the way the kingdoms had hopped. But Daniel was a child of his parents, half Chi and half Madrian. The unity his parents could not achieve was more likely in the new king. Jace noticed commotion amongst the women that trailed the gathering, likely the harem Esther had briefly joined. A young woman broke free and rushed to the new king. They embraced and kissed. Eventually, Daniel took the crown, placed it on his head, and received further cheers from the gathered crowd. Soon, more people rushed into the courtyard and filled the walls. The city was already in the middle of a festival, and now they had one more reason to celebrate.
Jace turned to his group, understanding their work was done here. Gromphy had nursed Psycho back to consciousness. The archer had removed the arrow from his chest and studied it closely. With an obsidian tip and leathery batwings for fletching, it was unlike any arrow Jace had ever seen. Gromphy spent a few moments examining it as well, shrugged his shoulders, and handed it back to the elf, who stowed it in his cloak. Jace wondered what had happened to the heart, but he saw Snowy licking her lips and decided not to ask.
Draya’s strength had returned. She held her staff, and her fast mana generation worked to refill her personal pool. The young woman walked up to her leader. “Is that all we need to do?” She looked around at the dozens of dead filling the courtyard, very few of whom their crew had killed. “That wasn’t very hard. Some huge monster isn’t going to come bursting from the ground, is it?”
“Some quests have more diplomatic solutions,” Jace said. “But we aren’t quite finished yet.” He lifted his chin a little to peer over his mage’s shoulder. “Esther, come here.”
The rouge was chiding the ranger about another potential rival and how Ellanay, the elven paladin Psycho had an interest in, now had competition. Esther broke off that conversation and walked over to her leader. “What is it?”
“I have someone to introduce you to.” Jace turned back toward the impromptu coronation.
Kai had done his part and stood back as the people celebrated their new king. Eventually, the knight remembered who had facilitated this amicable result and turned to find Jace. He walked toward them but stopped when he saw the serious look on the player’s face, Esther standing patiently beside him.
“Jace Thorne,” he started. “I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done here. I made so many mistakes, and I can’t think of how I could have . . .”
Jace waved his hand to dismiss the praise. He saw that the inquisitor had been elevated to level 16, and as he was still a member of Jace’s party, the player looked forward to going over his character sheet. Esther had told Jace that he couldn’t keep any of her sisters as party members, but she hadn’t said anything about her fellow fallen angels. Could Kai be his final companion? Jace shook his head. He could worry about that later. He had something else to do first.
“Kai Morte,” Jace said solemnly, “Fallen Angel of Dignatio, I’d like to introduce you to Esther Xerxes, Fallen Angel of Decus Gemma.”
As each name pierced the fog in Kai’s mind, his eyes widened, and his mouth hung slack. Jace could practically see all the memories flooding back into the knight’s head, and after six seconds, he raced forward and embraced Esther. She responded in kind, and the two silently reconnected for almost a minute.
“I knew I recognized you for reasons beyond your time at the Swan,” Kai finally said when they separated. He turned to Jace. “You did all this only to help me remember. You could have been killed.”
Jace shook his head. “I don’t feel we were really in any danger. We’ve faced more difficult enemies.”
“But your elf friend,” Kai said, motioning to Psycho, who was still lying on the ground with an arrow through his chest.
Esther laughed. “Oh, he’ll be fine. He could do with a little humility. He thinks he’s more important than he is.”
Kai seemed entranced by Esther’s laugh and smile. “You knew this whole time,” he said. “You knew who I was. What we used to be.”
“I’m sorry,” Esther replied. “Jace said I could say anything. We needed to solve your . . .” she paused, motioning toward the new king, “. . . your quest.”
Kai turned to Jace. “And thank you for that. I couldn’t have . . .”
Jace waved him off again. “You’re welcome. I am truly pleased to see your kingdom is in a good place now, but I am here more for you than for your people. I can see you remember Esther and your time before this place. But do you remember anything else? Do you remember any of the other angels?”
Kai recounted to them what Jace already knew about Esther being captured by the vampire Atrax, how Kai was tortured, and eventually watched as Esther was turned. Then they escaped, met up with the other angels, and chose to wipe their minds and separate.
“Do you know who Atrax is working for? Do you know anyone named Haman?” Jace asked, mentioning the name of the villain in the Bible who sought the Jew's destruction.
Kai shook his head. “No, I don’t. I’m sorry.” He strained as he searched through his recovered memories. “I only know that there were others of our kind, but I can’t think of who they were or how many. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Esther said. “Now you are with us. Jace will figure it out. He always does, and then we can all be together again.”
Kai smiled. “I appreciate the offer, and I look forward to adventuring with you in the future, but there is something I need to do first.”
“Something more important than finding our people?” Esther asked, hurt in her voice.
“I’m afraid so,” he said and turned to walk away.
[Kai Morte has left your party.]
Jace recoiled physically at the alert in his mind. {Woa,} Gracie said. {That was unexpected. You had a perfect relationship score with him.}
Psycho had observed the interaction from a distance and now approached. Kai was already halfway to the courtyard exit. Jace wanted to chase after him but felt his feet rooted to the ground. “What was that about?” the elf said.
“Heavy-handed scripting,” Jace replied. “Gandhi usually uses more subtlety.”
“Maybe it’s not Gandhi,” Psycho suggested.
Jace could only shrug.
“So, what do we do now?” Draya asked.
{I hate to remind you,} Gracie said, {but you do have that mandatory quest your god gave you. If you check your settings, you can see the timing is blinking red. If you wait any longer, your stats will start to suffer.}
“And Dex Machi won’t be helping me achieve anything else,” Jace added. Those around him understood he was talking to his operator. “I have a feeling I’m going to need his help to unravel Esther’s mystery.”
“Well,” Esther said, turning to look at her leader now that Kai had left the courtyard, “whatever we do, can we eat first? I’m starving.”
Draya laughed. “Did the king tell you about his favorite pancake restaurant in the city?”
Esther shook her head. “Even better. He introduced me to tacos. You guys have got to try them.”
Jace laughed and let his rogue lead the troupe out of the courtyard and in search of food.