Chapter Thirty-Four: Ya basic.
Q W# U D***T:
&R#B E&F M D*E S
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“Oh gods.”
My brain jolted back into consciousness, like waking up from a nightmare. My body, on the other hand, wanted to hit the snooze button on the world. Before I even opened my eyes, I instinctively reached for my stomach, the center point of pain in my body. The wound was gone, replaced with a scar about an inch and a half long. I was naked, chained, and on a hard stone floor.
It was a stone floor I knew all too well. Opening my eyes confirmed it. I was in the same tower the Magistrate had held me several days ago. It may have been the same cell, but it is hard to tell. I wasn’t really an expert. The sense of Deja Vu was pretty much there, except my body hurt and not my head.
Images of what happened started to come together in my head. We made our way to the back door of the temple. The back door! Then the stab, the pain searing through my body as I watched twelve inches of steel punch its way through my stomach and the shredded armor I was wearing. The sound was worse. I did a fair amount of stabbing in my time here, but hearing it, seeing it, and feeling it in my own body was a new thing that I didn’t want to experience again.
She was right about Titus. He did that to me. And they took her. He was with the Red Hooks and The Magistrate. And all of them were balls deep in The Church of Domination. I had to get out of this place and quickly. I had nothing on me and was wearing the same shackles and collar that I wore the first time.
“Hey!” I stood and barked out the window. “McGruff!” I know the guy’s name wasn’t McGruff; I made it up in my head, but it was all I had to work with.
“Steadman!” he barked at me from down the block. As I suspected, the scruffy guard was nearby. And apparently, named Steadman. Good for him. I still liked McGruff more.
“The Cleric!” I cried out as he came up. “Where is she?”
He tossed a prison poncho into my cell. “No priestess, he said, “Unless that’s the goat girl.” He nodded at the bundle on the floor next to me. He averted his gaze as I yanked the thing over my head. “They brought her in with a ginger guy, a bald guy, and an orc.”
“That’s not the Cleric of Amania,” I grabbed the bars and rattled on them. “They grabbed her. When they caught me.”
“Who?”
“Red Hooks. Led by Titus Sybo.”
“He’s the big guy, right? Turned you over to the Imp guard.
Said there was a warrant out on you and your friends.”
“That’s horseshit.”
“I imagine it’s some kind of shit,” Steadman said. “Imperial shit.” He folded his arms and gave me a grim look. He had no love for the Empire or at least the Magistrate. I took a step back from the door. He slipped his key in and turned, unlocking it deliberately and slowly.
“Go get Chainbeard.” I pleaded. “Or at least talk to him.”
“Chainbeard knows you’re here.”
“Then go get him.”
He opened the cell door and stepped back. “He ain’t coming.”
I backed to the cell’s rear, almost tripping over something on the floor. He tilted his head and looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
“You know what I have to do. So don’t go and make it difficult for me.”
“Don’t take me to her.” I pleaded. “I need to find Heather.”
“You know if I don’t, someone else will.” He stood, easing his posture. “Just make sure you make your way back here.”
“Why?”
He sighed. “Just make sure you do.” He turned to the side, giving me space to walk past.
It was a Dead Elf Walkin’ kind of stroll down the cell block and then the stairs. Steadman moved sluggishly. It was like he didn’t want me to go, either. I took the opportunity to memorize the turns as we made our way down and out of the tower. The guard was dead silent as we moved. Also, the checkpoints were all absent from guards. They must have been operating on a reduced crew because of the festival.
“The Empress is arriving today.” Steadman saw me looking at the empty chairs and unlocked gates. “The staff is out watching the God’s damned parade for the next couple of hours.” He sounded disgusted. Whatever attitude he had the first time we met was gone. I don’t know if Chainbeard was on him about being nice or if he was warming up to me.
“Not much love for the Empire?” I asked.
“It’s all right,” he grumbled, pulling me along after a moment. “Don’t like the people they send here to the city, though. They get their taxes, but for some reason, they don’t trust us enough to run our own damn city. Every magistrate that’s been here has to prove how wonderful they are. Which is stupid because the bastards are just supposed to file paperwork, but every single one that’s been here has done nothing by shove their fingers up our asses so we can only shit when they let us.”
“Lovely imagery,” I muttered as we went on.
The tower was eerily quiet. I didn’t see any of my friends as we passed through the blocks. “Where are my friends?”
We pushed our way down the main floor at that point. Again, there is nobody in sight. Steadman didn’t answer until we passed through the gate into the courtyard. “Floor above yours.” He mumbled, barely audible.
It was quiet. Ugly Naked Guy fountain was there, and I was tempted to ask who he was. All the statues didn’t seem to have any placards to tell a newcomer who they were. I wondered about that for a moment as we passed.
The sun was well over the roof of the administrative building, and we trudged towards it. It was late morning already. I was unconscious for hours. Anxiety rose inside me; a million terrible things could have happened while I was out.
He nudged me up the stairs and to the hallway. No guards were posted outside this time. I froze in the doorway leading in. I didn’t want to have to go in there.
“Keep moving,” Steadman grunted. He mostly grunted when he was talking.
“I don’t suppose you can just tell them I escaped,” I said with my best pouty face. “And then let me escape.”
“Can’t just let you escape.” He pushed me up to the door. “I’ll be out here.”
He pounded hard on the door. It was a heavy wooden thing with carvings that I hadn’t noticed before. Images of war, legions of imperial soldiers fighting little lizard-kin on one panel, Imperial soldiers fighting elves on the next, and so on. Lots of Imperial soldiers fighting and killing lots of non-Imperial people. Great stuff if that’s the kind of thing you’re into.
The door opened smoothly with no creaking or squeaking.
Titus stood there with his hand on the knob.
His predatory smile was on full display. “Bring her in.”
“Don’t work for you.” Steadman barked at him. “Don’t tell me what to fucking do.”
Magistrate Eumenia’s voice floated lazily out of the room somewhere. “He works for me.” Her voice darkened. “Do as he says, or I will have you flayed.”
Steadman led me into the office. The place elicited some odd sensations. I could smell dirt and dust, practically taste it, and the pattern in the black and red carpet seemed to burn my eyes as I looked down at it. A pain seared on the back of my leg for a brief moment. My knees hurt standing there, my head throbbed, and every inch of my body felt like it was recoiling from the space. I wanted to run out of there. Consequences be fucking damned.
“Good enough?” Steadman asked. His voice dripping with venom as he sneered at Titus. “Can I go now?”
“You can go,” Titus said with a broad smile that didn’t touch his eyes.
Steadman backed out, watching him the whole way. Titus slammed the door in a dramatic flourish and turned to me.
“I like you like this.” He reached down and grabbed my ass in a hard pinch. “Chains suit you.”
“Where’s Heather?” I asked, ignoring the pain he left with his assault.
“Which one is Heather again?” Eumenia asked. She sat at her desk, the same green dress she had the first time we met. She adjusted the pin on her lapel. Her beautiful blond and grey hair was held up with a mix of clips and pins on top of her head. “That the animal girl or the pretty one?”
“The priestess,” Titus said. He stepped back and leaned against the right chair that faced the desk. He kept looking at me. I felt dirty with his eyes on me.
“Oh yeah.” Eumenia stood, straightening her dress, and walked around her desk. “She is a stunning girl.”
“Where is she?”
“I’m not going to tell you,” Eumenia said. She walked up to me, her hips swaying seductively. She was a beautiful woman, but I hated her with every fiber of my being.
“I am going to fucking kill you if you hurt her.”
“We’ve already hurt her.” Titus chuckled. “I mean, this is a rough business.”
I lunged at him, my shackled hands up to, I don’t know, strangle the middle of his chest or something. It was stupid and useless, especially since all he had to do was give me a gentle shove. I rolled awkwardly onto the floor, banging my knees on the stone beside the chair.
“Fuck.” I grunted. I had a trick up my sleeve still, but I didn’t want to use it yet, since it would do me zero good until I had a way to get the shackles off, but I still wanted to put up some fight with these assholes.
Titus dug his massive fingers into my shoulders and lifted me into the chair he had been leaning against. I plopped in, the upholstery burning the back of my naked thighs as I was forced into the seat. Eumenia smiled at me. She was cool as shit in this situation. She had me, she knew it. I knew she had hostages, and I had absolutely nothing, just the Ruby Necklace that she desperately needed.
A realization hit me, sitting there in that seat, looking at the beautiful, nasty face of Magistrate Eumenia. No one said anything about Faedan or Leoleth. Not a word. Did they make their way to the Temple? I’m sure they would have mentioned them to me if they had them. Maybe, but for all I know, they did and haven’t gotten around to it yet. But the idea that I had some allies out there, running around, was comforting.
“Let them go,” I said.
“Let who go?” she smiled smugly.
“My friends.”
“Why?”
“Why not?” I smiled. “You’re getting the necklace.”
“You don’t have it.” She glared at me. “We cracked your storage ring, you have nothing.”
“Oh,” I said with a smile. “That’s why I’m here. You didn’t find it, and Faedan’s gone again.”
“She’s gone all right,” Titus said smugly. Eumenia gave him an admonishing look.
“If you were just anybody,” Eumenia said, opening her desk drawer. “We would hold your friends hostage until you turned it over.” She dropped my token on the desk.
“You think I need that?”
“I’m done with the play-acting.” She picked up the token and tossed it onto the floor before me. “On your knees.”
“Fuck you.”
She stood up and stepped out from behind her desk. With a wicked smile, she touched her Magistrate badge. “On your knees, bitch.”
“Yes, Mistress.” The words came out; where they came from, I didn’t know. But I slid out of the chair awkwardly and slunk onto my knees in front of her. My mind screamed, but all I could do was follow her words.
“What the fuck?” I whispered. Flashes of memory started lighting up in my brain like little sparks. Memories of pain, humiliation, arousal, all kinds of small bits of events began bouncing around in there.
“You belong to me.” She said, walking over to me. “He brought you to me, and I gave him a piece of your soul as payment.”
“Yes, Mistress.” I pushed against the words. Hard enough that my eyes started to water. Amania saw this. The damage to my soul. What did they say? That my soul was claimed? Oh gods, the pain on the back of my thigh was the brand. I couldn’t see it.
“Don’t feel bad,” Titus said. “You get to serve a mistress of power. And those of us that Mistress Eumenia has taken will have an exalted rank in his domain when this is over.”
“You sick piece of shit.” I turned and glared at Titus. .
“Mistress Eumenia knows I love tiny little things. So, she let me play with you for a while. She knew you were too stupid to find the necklace on your own, so I got to help you with that.”
“Tiny little things? Compensating much?”
“Look at me.” Mistress Eumenia said.
“Yes, Mistress,” I said. Fuck! I turned back in my chair, looking at her. Titus touched my right shoulder, his fingers gently caressing the skin. My body shivered.
“You will not lie to me.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“Where is The Ruby Necklace?”
“I have it.”
“I said don’t lie.”
“I’m not lying,” My stomach lurched as I spoke. “It’s in my storage.”
“We took your ring,” Titus said. “We cracked it, and there’s nothing in there.”
“Fuck you, asshole,” I said over my shoulder.
“I’ll be the one fucking you.” He said with a snarl. “I’m going split you in half and break every bone in your body while I do it.”
“I’m going to kill you!” I growled through gritted teeth at him. I was furious but couldn’t even move out of my seat.
“Enough!” Mistress Eumenia shouted. She backhanded me across the face, almost knocking me out of the chair.
“Where is the necklace?”
Tears welled in my eyes as my cheek stung. “In my personal storage space, Mistress.”
“You have a personal storage space?” She looked me in the eye, her body frozen like a statue.
“I do, Mistress.”
“Titus.” She said, looking up at him. She looked back at me. “We will remove your shackles; you will pull The Ruby Necklace out of your storage space. Only the Necklace. You will cast no spells.”
“Yes, Mistress.” It was easy to say that to her. My body was compelled to follow her instructions, but my mind was in full rebellion. But I knew that I couldn’t pull anything else out or cast spells no matter what. I wanted to blast her in the face with a thousand shards of obsidian, but I couldn’t.
Titus gripped me by the left wrist, inserting the key to unlock the manacle. It opened with a click and fell into my lap. He roughly pushed me aside and did the same with the right. Nothing happened. He pulled me by the hair, tilting my head back, and shoved the key into the lock on the metal collar.
A flood of notifications flooded my vision:
YOU HAVE DEFEATED ROT RAT. +25xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED ROT RAT. +25xp
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
YOU HAVE DEFEATED ROT RAT. +25xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED ROT RAT. +25xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED ROT RAT. +25xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED ROT RAT. +25xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED ROT RAT. +25xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED ROT RAT. +25xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED ROT RAT. +25xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED ROT RAT. +25xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED ROT RAT. +25xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED GANG MEMBER. +500xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED GANG MEMBER. +500xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED GANG MEMBER. +500xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED GANG MEMBER. +500xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED GANG MEMBER. +500xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED GANG MEMBER. +500xp
YOU HAVE DEFEATED GANG MEMBER. +500xp
CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU HAVE ADVANCED TO LEVEL 11.
+1 DEXTERITY
+1 STRENGTH
+1 INTELLIGENCE
YOU MAY NOW ASSIGN 3 POINTS TO YOUR ATTRIBUTES AT ANY TIME.
QUEST UPDATE: RUBY MADNESS
PARAMETERS OF QUEST HAVE CHANGED: VERRONA FAEDAN HAS BEEN KILLED BY A MINION OF MAGISTRATE CALVISIA EUMENIA. QUEST PARAMETER NO LONGER REQUIRED.
To complete the quest, you must:
1. Deliver The Ruby Necklace to the office of Calvisia Eumenia.
Rewards:
1. If you don’t think you need your head, then nothing.
2. The return of your Residence Token
3. XP, lots of XP
4. You will receive 27GP.
My mind was racing. I had the notifications, along with the realization that Faedan was dead. Killed by a minion of Mistress Eumenia. I sifted through them. I had three points to distribute. I felt like the universe was out to kill me, so I threw all three into Luck without a thought. Stupid? Maybe. But smart wasn’t an option right now.
While shifted through my storage space, my attributes showed up in my head:
Base Attributes:
Strength: 21
Dexterity: 27
Spirit: 20
Charisma: 23
Intelligence: 24
Endurance: 22
Luck: 25
“Focus!” Another slap from Mistress Eumenia brought the world back into my mind. I waved the notifications away, focused on what I had to do.
The Necklace dropped to the stone floor with a clink after sifting through my inventory. I wanted to pull out a dagger, but I couldn’t do it. The bitch told me to only pull out that stupid thing.
QUEST UPDATE:
RUBY MADNESS, SIDE QUEST
YOU HAVE FAILED THIS QUEST
QUEST COMPLETED:
RUBY MADNESS
Rewards:
1. If you don’t think you need your head, then nothing.
2. The return of your Residence Token
3. XP, lots of XP
4. You will receive 27GP. ITEMS ADDED:
5. IMPERIAL RESIDENCE TOKEN
6. 15,231 XP
7. 27 GP
CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU HAVE ADVANCED TO LEVEL 12.
+1 DEXTERITY
+1 STRENGTH
+1 INTELLIGENCE
YOU MAY NOW ASSIGN 3 POINTS TO YOUR ATTRIBUTES AT ANY TIME.
Well, Shit. I thought, looking at the notification. I had my token back and advanced to another level. I tossed the points into Strength immediately.
Base Attributes:
Strength: 24
Dexterity: 27
Spirit: 20
Charisma: 23
Intelligence: 24
Endurance: 22
Luck: 25
There was a click. Before I could dive deeper into my levels, Titus had locked the right shackle back on my wrist.
“Shit!” I yelled, pulling away from him. His strength was way over my more than respectable twenty-four. He slammed me back into the chair, grabbed my left arm, and clicked on the other.
“I swear to the fucking gods…” I started, but he yanked me hard on the hair, breaking the stream of thought.
“Swear all you want, little whore.” He growled. “The gods don’t give a fuck about you.”
Mistress Eumenia, on the other hand, was silent. During my altercation with Titus, she held the necklace reverently, looking down at it. She stroked the massive gem sensuously.
“You delivered.” She whispered. “You brought The Ruby
Necklace back to us.” “Yes, Mistress,” I said.
“Tonight,” she said. “We will bring Sylriad into this realm, and he will bless us with power, and we will capture the soul of an Empress.” She looked at me. “I will have power like no one has ever seen.”
“As you rightly deserve,” Titus said. “…the frail, unable to defy, shall be bound to serve.”
“I’m not the frail mother fucker.”
“You are the frail, my little pet.” Mistress Eumenia said. She had a matronly look as she gazed down at me. “And you will serve me and my faithful.”
Titus started to get a little handsy with me. I squirmed and twisted away as he began to reach below the neck on me.
“What will you have my little pet do?” Mistress Eumenia asked him.
“The little cunt can suck my cock.” He said with a smile. Like she did the first time we were together.”
“Suck Titus’s cock.” Mistress Eumenia said to me. “And remember that it is his right as my servant. Make sure you please him and thank him for the privilege.”
“Yes…”
I looked at her. There was no way I could fight this. I had to do as she told me. Suck his cock, be a whore for him and her, and anyone that she wanted. Fuck you! I thought. My body shifted in the chair. I was ready to unleash whatever Hell and fury I could on them both, but I had no real power.
“…Mistress.”
There was a problem with what she was doing. She could control my actions but not my mind. My body was hers, but fuck, my mind was all on fire at this point. She could fire off all the commands she wanted, but she couldn’t compel me to want to do them.
She must have spent an hour programming me to do the quest, and I almost squirmed out of it as it was. “Crawl to him.”
I got out of the chair on all fours. I smiled, looking up at her.
“May I ask you a question, Mistress?”
“What do you want to know, slave?”
“Why do I have to wear these shackles?”
“Because you are a traitorous bitch.” She said. “Even while you licked my pussy the other day.” She said with a smile. “You wanted to bite me.”
My stomach lurched when she said that. Those fragmented memories started to clump together. She forced me to…Oh gods! A new rage erupted in me.
“Some girls need to get bitten, Mistress.” I gritted my teeth, looking at her. “I would gladly do it if you would let me.”
“We have a lifetime and the rest of eternity to work on you.” She hissed at me and returned to her desk, sliding the necklace into a drawer. “Now, go crawl over to Titus and suck his cock as you were instructed.”
It wasn’t easy crawling with my hands chained up to a collar around my neck, but I did as I was told. It wasn’t like I had a choice. The bitch had complete control over me, and Titus was not a guy that was concerned with consent.
I looked up at him after working my way around the chair. “You’re a sad little man.” I shook my head. “Ya basic.”
He unbuckled his massive codpiece, letting it drop to the floor, and his stiff and over-eager dick bounced in front of me. I looked up at him and opened my mouth wide to go and chug down on his thang. Just as I touched the tip of my lower lip, I cast Fear of Death.
Titus froze, falling backward against one of the shelves that lined the wall of the Magistrate’s office, knocking books off and all around him. He looked like he wanted to say something but could not form any words. I maintained eye contact as instructed, and his look was absolute terror. His arousal was gone, to say the least. It was a brief spell, about ten seconds or so, but he wasn’t going to be sticking his prick in my body for a bit, at least.
Eumenia, herself, managed to shlep the spell off. Probably a part of the control she had over me. She looked confused for the first time since I had known her. She stood up just as speechless as dumbass Titus Sybo.
The spell seemed to cancel the orders she had given me, however. I took advantage. While I doubted I could make the door…I might could try something else?
I leaped onto the desk and then grabbed her hair. I managed to get a good yank, pulling her down while bringing my knee up into her face with a satisfying crunch. She grunted, blood gushing from her nose and all over the stupid green dress.
I flopped down onto my butt and planted two feet into her chest with a solid kick. The twenty-something force knocked her backward and over her chair and slammed her against the wall.
I stood, striking a pose, pushing my hair up with both hands. The madness of my actions wasn’t lost on me, but I wanted them to keep guessing what I was up to. I then spun around and made a futile dash for the door. The shackles didn't make it easy and I almost fell over.
“STOP!” She bellowed, her voice slurred with a bit of spit, snot, and blood. I stopped, of course, being as how I was a slave and all, but I did feel good for the first time since I walked into this damned office.
“Turn around and look at me, you little bitch.” She growled, her voice still sounding wet and slurry.
“Yes, Mistress.” I turned and looked at her. A trail of blood was running down her face, and her nose smashed to the side from my attack. Her hair was all over the place where I grabbed her. I couldn’t help but smile.
“You are going to pay for that.”
“Yes, Mistress.” I just let the words out, no fighting this shit. I was halfway to the door, and the spell ended. Titus managed to compose himself, pulling the codpiece over his flaccid penis. “Not in the mood anymore?” I asked him.
He stared daggers at me. Followed by the drawing of real ones. He took a step in my direction. The rage on his face made me shiver; I had seen that look before. Those were his killing eyes.
“I wouldn’t,” I whispered. I was too rattled to speak out loud, but the words were coming to me. “Not yours to kill.”
“Not yet,” Eumenia said. “Not sure I want to keep you.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“Tell me the truth.” She opened a desk drawer, pulled out a red towel, and started wiping her face tenderly. The blood disappeared like it wasn’t even there. The nose was still broken, and her eyes were beginning to darken from the bruising.
“Did you think you were going to get away with something?”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“Did you think you were going to escape?”
“No, Mistress.”
“You will not use a spell on me or Titus. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“Let me fucking kill her.” Titus gasped, his hands gripping his weapons so tightly that his knuckles were white. His breathing was getting faster and faster, like a bull about to charge.
“No.” She said sternly, looking at him and adjusting her badge.
“Like I said,” I smiled at him. “Not yours, big guy.”
The daggers clanked on the floor, and he swung a ham-sized fist at me. I had enough time to put my hands to the side of my head as he made contact. It was a massive blow, and stars were dancing in my vision as I started to drop to the floor. I fell to my knees and tipped onto my side, keeping my hands up. I pulled everything in, anticipating the kick that was sure to come.
It came. His boot slammed into my side. Notices started scrolling through my vision: debuffs. Lots of them. He followed up with more kicks that crushed my ribs. And then he brought his foot down on my head. That was the last real thing I remembered in that office.
I remember shouts. Everything sounded distant, like they were in another room. Steadman was yelling, Titus was laughing, and Eumenia was barking at both of them. I couldn’t make out words, only intonations and a vague concept of volume.
Rough hands gently picked me up. My body felt like it was on fire, but I couldn’t scream. I could barely breathe. Steadman’s grunts were constant. He was talking to someone, not from the strain of carrying me. I tried to hold on.
The world came and went. Mostly went. And then it went for real…Call it sleep, or call it brain damage. Either way, I was officially a fan.
Then, I was back in the cell. Though I didn’t have a handle on things, I was sure time had passed. The light from the window was gone.
My whole body hurt this time. Head, chest, legs, arms, and anything that could feel pain stepped up to the challenge. I kept my eyes closed and just listened to the world around me. There was someone by the door, breathing hard and angry. Not difficult to guess who that was. I tried moving, but a burning pain on my side told me to hold still. Broken ribs, maybe even all of them, hard to tell.
I opened my eye. Umm yeah. Just one was working. The other was too busy being swollen to do anything.
“I stuck up for you.” I moaned as I tried to shift around on the floor to face him. “They all said ‘once a slaver...’”
I swung enough of my body around to get Titus and his massive form into my vision. “And you went and made a liar out of me.”
“Stupid elf.” He glared down at me. “You don’t know your place.”
“Yeah, I’m all kinds of stupid that way.” I laughed, but it hurt, and then I started to cough, which hurt, too. The blood in the mouth was just icing on the cake. Spasms of pain shot through me as my body convulsed. This one was bad.
“I don’t know why you’re so high and mighty. You’re a bitch, just like me. I’m sure you have one of her brands on you, too.”
“That’s what you think?” He knelt by the door, getting close. “We have a relationship. Something you would never understand.”
“Oh, I hope not. You’re just a simp. She doesn’t give a shit about you.”
“She let me play with you for as long as I wanted.”
“Lucky you.”
“So,” he said, standing up. “I’m just going to leave you here. Broken and bleeding. If you survive until tomorrow, we may just come and collect you.”
“That’s it?” I turned painfully onto my side, getting a better look at him. “No explanation as to how I ended up where I am?”
He chuckled, kicking at something on the floor. “You know, you are lucky.”
“I would beg to differ.”
“The ritual requires a pricy soul. I kept little Lucy all safe and innocent at my place.” He smiled. “But when Aymen came to me with a rifter? Well, I just had to get my hands on you.”
“Eumenia’s hands shithead.” I croaked.
He kicked the cell door with a loud clang. “Shut up!” The sound echoed in the empty cell block. “A rifter’s soul is a powerful thing. The Mistress even branded you to send a taste to Granvul.”
“So, how does that make me lucky?”
“Well, I think I’m the lucky one here.” He knelt with a mean smile on his face. “You went and handed me something way more valuable than your scrawny little ass.”
My breath caught. No.
“A cleric from The Church of Purity is way more valuable than you. And a virgin on top of that.”
“Fuck you,” I growled, trying to get up; the pain exploded in all the places. I could feel waves of nausea as my body and mind went into shock.
“We will rip the soul out of her body.” He whispered. “And feed it to Sylriad. Her empty shell will be his vessel for fifteen minutes.”
He stood again. “And after tonight, when I am filled with new power, I’ll go home.”
“Good for you, asshole.”
“And then I’ll take all that rage and anger I have for you and turn it on my worthless little house girl. She’ll be good and broken by the time I throw her into the brothel with the rest of my whores.”
“You’re a catch,” I grumbled. “Can’t believe I thought you were cool.” I wanted to kill that bastard, but right now, I barely had anything in me. Heather, Lucy, Gem, they were all on the other side of the door, and I couldn’t do a thing.
“Better get moving, got things to do.”
“I will.” He turned and strode away.
“Wasn’t talking to you.” I sing-songed at him in my best mean girl way. He stopped and gave me a look. I winked at him. But then I realized that it just looked like a blink with only one eye working.
I waited until the sounds of his footsteps were gone. A slamming metal door assured me he wasn’t coming back soon.
Deep cleansing breaths. Okay, bad idea. I was pretty sure one of my lungs collapsed. One agonizing coughing fit later, and I was positive about that. A new round of hacking kept me occupied for a few minutes.
I finally got control of my body. I tested the depth at which I could pull air in without everything feeling like it was on fire. But there wasn’t much of that sweet O2 that I loved so much.
I could waste the whole day trying to breathe and stuff, but I had real work to do. I ran my fingers through my hair. Yes! They were still there.
Three hair clips and a pin fell onto the stone floor with some very satisfying metallic plink sounds. I’m sure the Mistress Magistrate wouldn’t miss them since several clumps of her hair were piled on her desk. I didn’t lie; I wasn’t trying to escape, at that moment. Another round of coughing reminded me that I was up against the clock on this. Not to mention, darkness was starting to push in from the periphery of my vision.
I grabbed the first clip and bent it straight, pulling down the end to make a little hook. Suitable for the first one. I took another, did the same, and pressed the end as flat as possible. These were two picks as good as anything I could hope for, and I had already done this trick before.
Push with one, pull down with the other. Alternate back and forth as needed and…Click.
“Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy,” I whispered as I worked on the next one…Click. And then the collar…Click. The heavy metal fell on the stone floor.
I lay back, reading all the notices in the cell as the sun rose outside. They mostly had to do with injuries and debuffs. We had some internal bleeding, some internal injuries, comprised this, reduced that, fucked up the other. My inventory gloriously availed itself to me, and I down a high-potency health potion, almost choking on it as I swallowed.
Now, some me time. I closed my eyes, or eye rather, and watched as red and green flashes blinked and bounced around inside the lids. Painfully, my body knitted itself back together.
Regan: Hey boss.
Unnamed: Ah! Yes, yes—hello there, my little champion. Mmm, hello! You, uh... You seem a bit... Oh, how shall I say... distressed?
Regan: Um, I guess my soul is kind of broken.
Unnamed: Ooooh, yes, yes—I noticed that. A teensy-weensy fracture in the old spiritual department, if you will.
Regan: Why didn’t you tell me?
Unnamed: Oh, I didn’t want to worry you, you know. I’m—I’m sort of a laissez-faire deity. Let you mortals figure these things out, keep things interesting.
Regan: It would’ve been good to know.
Unnamed: Mmm, yes, yes, absolutely. My apologies. I tend to—oh, how shall I put it—leave the eternity puzzle for you to piece together. More fun, yes?
Regan: I don’t get it; I’m your champion.
Unnamed: Oh, indeed you are! Quite a champion, yes. But unlike some other, shall we say, overbearing gods, I don’t exactly have a handy little afterlife realm waiting for you. I let you—um—chart your own cosmic path.
Regan: So, is this thing with Granvul a problem?
Unnamed: You know, I’m not entirely sure. Not my area of expertise, mm-hmm, yes. Granvul, big, fiery, dramatic—quite the show. But, uh, I’m no connoisseur.
Regan: Okay, thanks. Nice chat.
Unnamed: Always a pleasure, dear champion. Always. Keep up the good—uh—work, yes! Oh, one more tiny request.
Regan: What?
Unnamed: The ritual tonight—could you, oh, how do I say—stop it? It would be... Oh, quite bad if it went ahead. Terrible, in fact.
Regan: No problem.
Unnamed: See, I knew you’d say that! Perfect. You’re wonderful—yes, wonderful. Catch you later, my little champion!