Zeal of the Mind and Flesh: A Cultivating Gamelit Harem Adventure (Spellheart Book 1)

by Marvin Whiteknight

  “I don’t know what the Illuminati are, but you could say that. Many of our members are influential members of kingdoms and governance. My mother controls a county in this queendom. She’s quite important and would pay a hefty ransom for me.” Sava clucked her tongue and glanced at me, a hopeful smile on her face. I waved her off.

  Alright, so the mind heart wielders formed some sort of secret society, keeping mind magic quiet and mostly unknown. It made sense. From what I’d seen thus far, mind magic was most effective if your target was completely unprepared. Sava had been able to get better at resisting Yorik’s mind magic just by being ready for it and getting familiar with what it felt like. If people were actually able to train themselves to resist mind magic and prepare countermeasures for it, it wouldn’t be anywhere near as powerful a tool. And it surely was a powerful tool. Yorik had been wasting it by trying to rob a building, but I could see how a powerful countess could use mind magic to manipulate her peers into yielding to her on important decisions. Or how a subordinate could use it to slowly accumulate more power from her superiors. Used carefully over the long term, a skilled mind heart wielder could worm their way to the highest heights of power.

  Then my brain remembered what she’d said just a few moments ago. She’d mentioned a mentor.

  “Crap,” I slapped my palm to my face. How did I not realize that there might be more than one of them?

  “What? What is it?” Sava asked me.

  I turned back to Illiel. “Your mentor. Tell me more about her.”

  “Madame Gurthari is an experienced Secret Keeper for the Cult of the Unblinking Eye. She’s completed many missions successfully, which is why my mother made me apprentice to her. Only… she hates me. I think she’s envious of how I was given my position in the cult by my mother. She’s always lecturing me about how if I don’t learn to work hard I’ll never amount to anything.”

  “So, she’s annoying. Okay, but do you know where she is now?”

  For the first time, Illiel hesitated a little. Even tied up surrounded by enemies, fear of this Gurthari lingered in her eyes.

  Sava and Yorik glanced at each other. They very rarely saw eye to eye, but this was one of those times. Sava punched one fist into her palm, glaring down threateningly at the young elf before her. Clearly, they intended to use violence to get the information out of our captive.

  “Whoa! Guys hold up. Let me try first,” I made sure to wait just long enough before intervening to be sure that Illiel would get the message. Conflicting thoughts ran through her head. She was afraid of us, but she was also afraid of this Madame Gurthari. From how she’d spoken, I’d realized that her loyalty to her organization, the Cult of the Unblinking Eye, wasn’t too strong. There was a little resentment there and I’d wager much of it had to do with this Madame Gurthari. After a bit of consideration, I realized that this girl would react better to the carrot than the stick.

  “So, Illiel. My name is Theo,” I said with a small smile. “Let’s table this talk for a moment. Instead, let’s talk about what I can do for you.”

  Illiel glanced up at me, and then down at her hands, which were still bound together with course rope.

  I nodded and pulled out a small knife I’d taken to keeping at my side. With a slice, I cut the bonds free. Illiel stretched her fingers gratefully and rubbed her wrists. I wasn’t too worried about her running away. She didn’t have her spellheart, and her legs were still bound. Still, getting her a bit more comfortable might have been the difference between her agreeing to my plan and not.

  “Sava, run to the storeroom. Nela has some of that fancy tea. Bring it here and let’s share a cup with our guest.”

  “I don’t think we... oh, that tea!”

  I nodded slowly. Hopefully Sava understood what I meant. Nela didn’t actually have any tea on her, but she’d brought some powerful medical supplies with her from the Songstone Clan. One of them was a bundle of exotic leaves that would soothe the mind and body. Normally it was used to deal with wounded to keep them from panicking at the loss of a limb or from the pain. Sava had begged me for them as soon as she found out about them, and I had secretly given her the go-ahead to raid them so she could brew some potions for healing purposes. She was a better herbalist than anybody left in the Songstone Clan, so there were few protests after she showed off what she’d made. This particular brew wouldn’t make Illiel do anything she wouldn’t normally do, but it would calm her down and ease her nerves.

  I chatted with Illiel for a little while so that Sava could get some water boiling. In the meantime, I asked a few casual questions about Illiel’s life. As she said, she was the daughter of one of this kingdom’s countesses. The Cult of the Unblinking Eye was itself bigger than this one kingdom, but within the local branch Illiel’s mother was quite influential due to her political power, much of which was gained through liberal use of mind magic.

  It was harder for a wielder of mind magic in this world to succeed, given the strange gender ratios. In the middle ages back home, it would be easy enough for a competent mind heart wielder to seduce a king and marry him to rule the throne by proxy. In this world however, virtually all the elvish leaders were women, just because the vast majority of elves were women. This meant sex and mind magic didn’t go hand in hand, like they did in old stories back home. In fact, the Cult of the Unblinking Eye appeared to have never even considered such uses for their magic.

  A talented elf like Illiel’s mother was still able to claw her way up from manor floor sweeper to the position of countess, which probably involved countless years of toil, slowly gaining the trust of her superiors until she was a lady of the land. Doubtlessly, she was still using her spellheart to get closer and closer to the innermost workings of the queendom. With the wealth and power she’d accumulated, she was eventually able to produce an heir. In this world, that meant she was able to sell a bit of land in exchange for one of the more powerful elvish males associated with a high-ranking clan to father Illiel. Much to my surprise, Illiel’s father had belonged to the Songstone Clan.

  “Really? The Songstone Clan?”

  Illiel nodded. “That’s them! It’s a shame what happened to them though. They crossed a line they shouldn’t have and got wiped out. I’d really hoped I’d be able to meet my father someday, but I suppose that will never happen now.”

  I decided to play dumb for the moment. I was living out in the middle of nowhere after all. It would have been strange for me to be well informed about recent political happenings.

  “You probably haven’t heard. The Songstone Clan was destroyed, root and stem. They were wiped out in their entirety. Their wisps were hunted down and captured. A pity, they didn’t even let the un-manifested children survive,” Illiel continued.

  “What could have caused something like that?”

  By this point, Illiel had already taken a few sips of the tea Sava had provided. Luckily, Illiel gave the impression of a trusting girl by nature. She drank the tea, even when I hadn’t been served any myself. I had been prepared to have Sava pour me a decoy glass of normal tea, but Illiel started drinking as soon as she was served. Truly, she was a terrible assassin.

  “This is really good stuff.” Illiel commented while taking another small sip. “Fruity and sweet. Are these body soothing leaves? I do love the taste.” I raised an eyebrow, for the leaves Sava had brewed the tea with were indeed labeled body soothing leaves. “Anyway,” my prisoner continued, “the official reason the Songstone Clan was wiped out was because they had too many enemies. When their mines ran out they didn’t have the funding to keep running, and so when old foes came knocking they fell apart. But that’s not really the truth.”

  “Oh? And what’s the truth?”

  “In actuality, and even the low-ranking cult members know this, they were wiped out because they stepped out of line. It’s a crucial time for the Cult of the Unblinking Eye in this kingdom. We’ve almost seized control of the whole kingdom. Almost everyone in the imperial court is und
er our control. The princess has a small cadre of her own followers, but it’s only a matter of time until she either gives in or one of the Secret Keepers gets to her.”

  “Ah, so the Songstone Clan opposed the actions of the Cult of the Unblinking Eye and got destroyed for it.” I was getting a better feel for the relative strength of this cult, and I wasn’t liking what I was hearing.

  “It’s true. Nothing mother could do about it either. She tried, since she had friends there, and she always wanted to give me a little sister with my same sire. It didn’t work out though. Apparently, the orders came from beyond the branch operating in this land.”

  “That’s a shame.” I looked over Illiel, from head to toe. She was a little out of it by now, but not so far out of it that she couldn’t think straight. That was good. Just where I wanted her. Then I brought the new idea I’d just had.

  “Say, Illiel, these Worshipers of the Unblinking Eye sound pretty interesting. And powerful as well. It would be nice to be a member of such an established organization. Do you think you could get me an invitation to join this Cult of the Unblinking Eye?” I played my first card to see how she’d respond.

  Illiel blinked. She hadn’t been expecting me to say that. In truth, I hadn’t been expecting me to say that until I came up with the plan just a few moments ago. Maybe I could get my hands on one of those mind spellhearts after all. I had no intention of being the lapdog for some shady organization, and I had no illusions about being able to take over an organization as large as this cult looked. At least not without a great deal of effort and luck.

  “Well... I’m not really high enough to be inviting people in. Now that we’re fully established in this kingdom, we’re not really actively recruiting. We have several clans under our control, some of them are even great clans. Still, as a chaka, you should still jump straight to the top of the list in terms of recruits. I can’t imagine the higher-ups refusing you if you wanted to join.”

  “Great! How do we go about contacting them?”

  “Normally, all this kind of stuff would be done through my master, Madame Gurthari. We’d need to contact her.”

  Like magic, the pieces fell into my hands. I’d deal with this Madame Gurthari, this would-be assassin, and handle the Cult of the Unblinking Eye all in one swoop.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  THE FIRST PART of my plan demanded that Illiel be released. Sava and Yorik weren’t happy about that, but it had to be done. If we didn’t, her master would definitely have her guard up, and we didn’t want that. Illiel had confirmed my suspicions that she was already late for a check in. I gave Illiel a run-down of some loose instructions. I didn’t have any delusions about flipping her to my side this early, so she knew nothing. This plan would hinge on me being able to predict her actions. That being said, she could still do something unexpected and flip my plan on its head, so I kept my guard up and my plans flexible.

  “Okay, so what do you want me to say to Madame Gurthari?”

  “Tell her the truth. You were foiled in your assassination attempt, but you managed to convince your captors to let you escape.” We hashed out a story that vaguely clung to the truth, embellished in just the right ways to make both of us look good. Illiel certainly wouldn’t want to report how easily she was captured.

  “Then tell her that there’s a chaka in the Songstone Clan,” I placed a hand on my own chest, “who is interested in joining the Cult of the Unblinking Eye.”

  “That’s it?” Illiel asked curiously.

  “That’s it.” I confirmed. “And it’s the truth, right?”

  “Oh... okay. I can do that. For some reason I expected you to be pulling some sort of master plot.” She laughed to herself.

  “No, just me and my honest desire.” I gave her a thin-lipped smile. Inwardly I even felt a twinge of guilt in using such an innocent girl as a piece on my playing board. The moment passed quickly enough and I promised to make it up to her by arranging for work she was more suited to when I was able.

  “Did you really have to release her, just like that?” Sava wondered aloud.

  I responded with a peck on the cheek. Don’t you worry my dear. Everything will go according to my plan.

  That night, things stopped going according to plan.

  Illiel was nowhere to be seen at first, which I thought would be a good sign. I was standing in line with a rack of bowls off to my right and a pot full of soup in front of me, as I’d taken to doing each night.

  I’d figured that people are less likely to bite the hand that feeds them. I was taking that phrase literally. One by one the elves of the Hearthwood Clan came up to me, and I distributed a bowl of simple soup to each of them.

  That was when I got the first inkling of something strange.

  I’d done my best to start learning the names of as many of the elves as I could. I had gotten a few of them down, and while I still didn’t know all of them by heart, I recognized all the faces. Except now I suddenly didn’t. The face of the elf standing before me was new.

  I blinked and hesitated for a second. Her clothes were rugged, but of good make and they didn’t quite match the mismatched clothes of the Songstone Clan survivors. Her clothes were something more like attire tailored for travel. I was sure I would have noticed such garb before.

  “My bowl.” The elf said in a tone that demanded more than asked. I was certain I would have noted someone with such an aggressive demeanor before.

  I ladled out a bowl of soup and handed it over, meeting the woman’s eyes cautiously. “Here you are.”

  She looked at me the way a hawk looks at a rabbit before striking. Her demeanor gave me an uneasy feeling. My blood boiled, sensing a fight.

  The elf took the bowl of soup and walked off, away from the others. I kept an eye on her while I ladled out more bowls of soup, waiting for something to happen.

  Sure enough, the elf glanced derisively at the soup. She took a small spoonful and scrunched her nose, then quickly dumped it on the ground. Her eyes weren’t that of someone who had lived the life of a dedicated servant to the Songstone Clan. Those were the eyes of an ambitious person. Someone who was accustomed to getting their way and taking what she wanted. Someone who was accustomed to bending others to serve their will, rather than serving at the behest of others.

  As I finished serving food to the clan members I served myself a bowl and looked around for a place to sit. Normally, I sat by either Sava or Nela. Yorik took her food alone. Since she was an orc, there was still a bit of tension between her and the elves, despite my best efforts.

  We were all gathered outside, by an open fire. Some tables had been set up, though most eating areas were made of waist high bits of wood and stone, the tops of which had been cut smooth using spellhearts.

  The others were gathered around such structures, but not the elf I had noticed earlier. She sat alone, watching over the small settlement with keen eyes. I could tell she was studying the area, memorizing its strategic layout. On the one hand, I felt complemented that someone would take the time to analyze my design. I put a lot of work in planning it after all. On the other hand, it annoyed me that an outsider was openly gathering intelligence on my defenses. I knew from experience how valuable knowing your enemy was, and I sure didn’t want such power to be wielded against me.

  I made my decision then and there to interrupt her. We were still in sight of the camp, so I felt reasonably comfortable in confronting her alone.

  “Admiring my handiwork?” I asked aloud. The elf blinked, startled.

  “Your handiwork? Did your hand hew the stone and cut the trees?”

  “Not all of them. Most of my contribution was in organization and planning, though I did put in my share of sweat.”

  The elf snorted. “They actually had you doing manual labor? These survivors are as pitiful as I expected.”

  “It was more of a voluntary effort. It’s better for morale if the subordinates see their leader laboring alongside them.”

  “Leader y
ou say... curious.”

  “Leader indeed. You’d know that if you’d stay awhile, Madame Gurthari.” The person standing before me could only be Illiel’s master.

  “Illiel, is this the chaka you spoke of?” Illiel emerged from the bushes behind Madame Gurthari and I realized her clothes matched the travel attire that Gurthari wore, though Illiel had a small cloak tossed over her shoulders.

  Illiel stood up from the ground and pushed her messy amber hair away, the same color as her mind spellheart, out of her eyes and face. Dirt and leaves fell away as she brushed herself off and blinked as she adjusted the small brass spectacles on her face. As soon as she had risen to her knees, Gurthari struck her across the face with an open palm. I winced at the sound of the blow. Illiel had mentioned that her master was not easy to get along with, but this was downright abusive.

  “What did I teach you about revealing information? Never give away information, whether to ally or enemy, if it can at all be prevented. Especially if that information concerns your own reinforcements. Every card you lay on the table is one you no longer hold in your hands.”

  “I’m sorry Mistress Gurthari... Ah!” Gurthari slapped her other cheek. She looked at her own palm and noticed it was dirty.

  “And why do you crawl around in the dirt to hide? I taught you a spell to avoid attention. Use it.”

  “But, the male, Theo. It doesn’t work on him!”

  Gurthari slapped Illiel a third time. “You obviously did not perform it well enough. When we return, you will practice the spell until your veins are numb and your bones are heavy. Honestly, are you certain you’re the daughter of a countess? You seem fond of crawling in the mud.”

  I’d seen enough. I’d spoken with Illiel long enough that I could empathize with her. She was an honest girl, and a bit too paranoid. Now I knew why. I wasn’t about to watch her be beaten right in front of me. When Gurthari raised her hand again, I grabbed it and held her back.