Lilly trotted next to Grace as she weaved through the burnt buildings to the first of her new hiding spots. They were further away from her old one, but she didn’t want to risk keeping everything in location and losing it all in one blow like last time.

Pulling the brick she had found in a hearth that had been loose, Grace put the gold coin she had inside. There wasn’t anything but an extra dagger she had taken from a guard, and for a moment, she considered taking it but left it there for now.

I’ll grab one from the other spot… I should have probably taken more from those twenty-four guards…

After putting the stone back in place, Grace did her best to smear some soot to make it look how it should, wiping the rest on her pants and going outside to where Lilly was.

“Are you ever going to tell me what happened to you?” Grace asked as Lilly watched her with those black eyes that read her every movement.

Lilly cocked her head at the question, still sitting on her haunches.

“Sometimes I miss your playful attitude, but I know I couldn’t have done what we did if you were still like that… I guess we both had to change…”

Trailing off, Grace considered the choices she still had to make for the stat increase. The decision wasn’t hard. She knew her mental stat needed to get to ten. If what Max had said was right and there were abilities for getting to a ten in each stat, she knew she needed to hit the next one soon.

Spirit would be interesting with the idea of magic… good god magic…

Shaking her head, Grace pushed that idea aside. The way her brain worked as her mental stat increased had been enough to know that while strength was good, being able to think clearer was vital.

Mental.

She missed a step as she walked, daggers of ice and heat piercing her head. Her mind felt like it was being assaulted in every direction, but in a moment, the pain was gone, replaced by a calm sensation.

***

Mental - 8

***

Grace’s eyes and mind began to take things in she hadn’t even noticed a few seconds ago.

Burn marks on a building told her that the side she was walking past had been where the fire stopped. Another building had a few scuff marks, and she could tell a cat had been there recently by the soft impression and the paw print still on the stone.

Everywhere, she looked for little clues about the world, and she began to sift them through her brain. She smiled, glad to know the choice had been a good one.

“Let’s get cleaned up,” Grace said, moving in the direction of the well.

“Are you ok?”

Grace nodded and waved away the few people from different gangs who were checking on her. Older women and men had been the first to notice her covered in blood, and they felt the need to make sure she wasn’t hurt.

“I’m fine… someone from the other side of the city tried to hurt me and… I had to defend myself.”

She didn’t try to appear weak like she had with the guards; instead, she knew the people all expected her to be a defender now.

“Well, I’m glad you are okay, child,” an older woman she suddenly remembered was called Brundeheld said with a smile. “I can see why one might choose to make a poor decision like that.”

Grace glanced down at herself and immediately knew what Brundeheld was talking about.

Two of the older women were washing off her leather armor tunic and all she had on now was a simple shirt that went under it. She had never really paid attention to her curves before, but with her increased mental stat it didn’t take a genius to see what the older woman meant.

“That’s why I keep that vest on,” Grace replied as she washed her arm off, watching the red-stained water run into the stone drain leading from the courtyard. It's not something I need to worry about right now.”

“We understand,” Brundeheld said as she used her wrinkled fingers to brush off some dirt from Grace’s shoulder. “One day, perhaps all this will return to normal, and then…” The older woman glanced at the handful of kids playing a little bit away. “Then laughter might return in time for me to hear it once more.”

“That is my prayer,” Grace said, slightly bowing her head at the woman.

Brundeheld returned it with a hand gesture meant for worship.

Someday… if I can make that dream come true…

“I’ve seen eyes like those,” Max said as Grace sat next to him on a chair outside the house. “I take it you accomplished what you needed to.”

Nodding, Grace couldn’t help but smile slightly. “The quest is done, and the man who has caused so much pain is dead.”

“That smoke?”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“It won’t do a lot, but it will hide some of the carnage… two knights and–”

“Two knights!” Max hissed, sitting forward on his chair and glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention. “You killed two knights?!”

“I did. It was… satisfying. I’m grateful for my abilities, as I’m almost defenseless now. It took everything I had and a few tricks to win.”

Max ran his hand over his face, muttering something under his breath before returning his full attention to her.

“I need details, and we need to talk in private.”

Max whistled two times and then a long third one.

Three members came out of the house within a minute, having been summoned but not in a way that would bring them running.

“You all sit out here. Someone stay inside, out of sight. If anyone not from our side of town comes around, let me know. Grace and I need to go upstairs and discuss a few things.”

“Sure thing, boss,” Stretch said as he motioned to one of the men to go inside.

Max turned his cup in his hand a few times, considering the details of the fight Grace had just described.

“It seems like you got lucky, but it was still a good job your first time. What did you learn?”

“That I’m way stronger than anyone expects I should be.”

Chuckling, Max nodded, lifted his cup to his lips, and drank the water, which he wished was alcohol, in a single gulp.

“You’re not wrong. Those men never anticipated you being an emissary. I’m not certain what they thought you were perhaps a spy, but… Wait, how many abilities do you think Michael had?”

“At least two. He had the Juggernaut ability and something that allowed him to track the coin purse he had given me. The other knight only used what I assumed was empowered. Not sure if he had anything else to use.”

“Two skills… that means the Lord Knight in town has at least four or five,” Max muttered as he scratched his head. “If he’s in charge of those two and here, then –”

“How long ago did you become an emissary?” Grace asked, cutting Max off mid-thought.

“Oh, I.. wait, what? I mean…”

Max saw the smirk Grace had on her face, and he frowned, glaring at her.

“You sure you want to ask that question?” he asked, his eyes turning dark for a moment.

“I’m not afraid of you, Max. You’re obviously no longer one or choosing to ignore the quests that you have. Since my mental stat increased to an eight, I realized there was only one way you would know everything you do about this. The only conclusion is that you are one or were one.”

Grace sat in her chair, doing her best to look relaxed even though every fiber of her body was prepared for how Max might move or react. She had calculated the risk of being wrong and right, but for those two words, while Max was distracted, he failed to hide what he had for so long.

“Blast you,” he groaned and then stood up from his chair. He was frowning, and Grace saw his hands clench momentarily before unclenching. “You can relax. I can see you’re prepared for whatever might happen, but I’m not going to do anything like that. We need a drink, and I’m going to get something. This is going to be a long talk.”

Grace slowly exhaled the breath she had been holding in when Max stood. She watched as he casually turned and moved to a cabinet. He pulled out a shelf and then a board at the back of it, revealing a small hidden area. A bottle came from within the hole in the back, and then Max put everything back the way it had been.

Returning to his seat, Max picked up his cup and shook it to empty the water. “Drink yours or dump it out; it’s time we had a talk I knew would one day come.”

Grace held the cup to her lips, waiting for Max to drink his.

He chuckled and downed his in one gulp as he often did when drinking, and then Grace finally took a sip and almost spit it out.

“What is this? It tastes like ass?!”

Max laughed and nodded. “That’s why I don’t taste it. Just pour it down your throat and let it burn everything away. Enough of them might chase away some of the nightmares you’re having.”

Grimacing, Grace mimicked what the large man she trusted had done and still almost choked as the horrid taste burned the entire length of her throat.

Coughing, she pounded her chest a few times.

“Does that ever get better?”

Shaking his head, Max grinned and filled his cup, offering her more. She waved him off and watched as he leaned back in his chair.

“Where to start… I guess I’ll skip the non-important details. It’s been twenty years since I was roped into this battle behind the scenes. It’s larger than you realize, and I haven’t even begun to be honest with how many of you there are. Each one is different, and at least nine gods have a hand in our lives.”

“Nine?! How is that possible?” Grace asked, “I only know of three gods.”

“That’s because you haven’t been around the lands and seas like I have. There are gods for all sorts of things, but from what I’ve learned the hard way, not all are real.”

Max pulled a few coins from his pocket and set them out in a row nine across. “Let’s for a moment believe I’m right; there are only nine gods. Each of these then represents one.”

Grace nodded, still struggling to believe there were nine.

“Now I’ll add five copper to this one, four to this one, and three to this one. What do you think that means?”

Her mind easily understood the two options.

“My first guess is that those have more power than the others or that they have more emissaries.”

“Correct on both,” Max said with a slight smirk. “Your improved stat is paying off. I would say that Grimdom is probably the first or second strongest god in our world. The last ten years had a lot of moves being made by his people. If a god can wipe out the other gods' emissaries, they can gain power from that. A few have only one or two left while a few have a handful.”

Grace watched as Max pulled out a coin purse and opened it up. Dumping it out on the table, a pile of copper coins clinked off each other onto the rough wood.

“Some have a lot more, and some are stronger than the rest.”

He started stacking silver coins that Grace had no idea where Max had pulled them from.

“These are usually leaders, kings, higher church positions, or other areas where they can get people to protect them. It doesn’t seem smart to rise to power if you can’t protect yourself. As you might have realized after your fight today, with your skills on cooldown, you’re not as strong as you might like to believe. Had there been one more knight at that fight today… I doubt you would have survived.”

Grace grimaced, knowing Max was right. Fear began to grip her as she considered the truth of what he was saying. Then, her mind started to put the pieces of the puzzle that she was wondering about together.

“You never mentioned who you’re an emissary for. Can I ask who?”

Max shook his head and downed his drink again, smacking his lips and tongue after finishing it.

“I can’t answer that. Speaking their name would bring about problems we don’t want to deal with and aren’t ready to deal with.”

Grace frowned and looked at Max, noticing how he was acting. She knew something was off and not making sense. Her eyes drifted to the coins on the table, and then it all made sense.

“You’re the last emissary for one of these nine!” Grace exclaimed as she stood.