Tási sat across from me patiently waiting for me to finish my ‘Deathless business,’ and the unexpected rush of emotion that I flung at her took her completely by surprise. She only caught a brief glimpse of the tiny glowing ball before it struck her hand and sent a wave of mischief, amusement, and delight flowing into her. Perhaps I could have chosen better, or if I’d been truly wicked, I could have filled it with passion and desire, but I went with what I was actually feeling, rather than opting for any of the more awkward options. Regardless, she turned to me in shock when she realized what I had done.
“None of us are safe anymore, are we?”
“No, so I would encourage you to be on your best behavior,” I smirked as I replied to her.
“In that case, I think I’ll just go see the First Marshal about assigning you some guards then,” Tási said as she shot out of her chair.
“I’ll see you later!” I sung out to her as she fled the room.
I let her get a few minutes ahead of me before I followed on her heels—if I knew Evans, he had already picked out most of my guards, so Tási wouldn’t have much trouble putting things together. That was fortunate, because I intended to return to what was my former home and inspect the assassin’s corpse to see if it held any clues that might identify his ‘employer,’ and I was certain that I wouldn’t be allowed to do that without a suitable escort.
As I expected, when I caught up to Tási, she and Evans were surrounded by a group of soldiers. To my surprise, the group was almost entirely female, an oddity that Evans addressed as soon as he saw me.
“Dreya Sintári,” the First Marshal greeted me. “These are the first recruits for your personal guard. Since they need to be by your side at all times, I have chosen mostly women for this honor, to avoid any awkward situations.”
He made a good point—anyone serving on my personal guard might have to be in my private chambers at times. It made sense to have women available for those moments, and I appreciated his foresight and consideration.
“Thank you, First Marshal,” I replied. “Tási, I’m sure you still have much to do and probably haven’t chosen your seconds, but I need to return to our old home to see if the assassin’s body might reveal any indications of who hired him.”
She took my meaning instantly and assigned a detail of six to accompany me. Tási reluctantly remained behind, recognizing her duty to interview the rest of the candidates.
“I’ll be fine,” I whispered in her ear before I left.
I recognized most of the women that accompanied me as we walked through the canyon together; even if I hadn’t, the names of the ones I had previously met floated in the air above their heads as a helpful reminder. As soon as the one I hadn’t met before introduced herself, her name popped up in the air just beneath her full health bar for me to see. Addressing each of them by name seemed to impress my guardswomen, and while they remained very attentive to our surroundings, we still managed to engage in some friendly conversation along the way. When we finally arrived at my old home, Bane was waiting for me on the front porch.
I remained here to ensure that no one touched the body.
‘That was very wise of you, Bane,’ I sent back to him.
Who are these women with you? He sent with some reservation.
‘After last night’s events, I have been assigned a personal guard. These are a few of them.’
Bane spared them only a quick glance before resuming his position. I took that as his acceptance of the situation and strode inside to see what the corpse might reveal to me. Unfortunately, it turned out that there was very little to be garnered from what was left of him.
Once I was able to peel the battered cloak from the assassin’s body, the full extent of the devastation my dark orb had wrought on him became apparent—his entire upper body was a ruin of scorched skin and shattered bones. I knew that the ball of energy I had hurled into the assassin had withered his arm, but the damage went far beyond merely crippling the extremity. Beyond the charred remains of his limb, the assassin’s entire torso was simply… destroyed. There wasn’t even enough left of his features to determine what race he had been. The only thing that was certain was that he was either an elf or a human male.
His weapons, and there were many, were high-quality. The daggers and sharp blades that were strapped to his remains were sharp and deadly, just as one would expect of a paid assassin. What truly startled me though was the sheer volume of coins that were in his purse. I found nearly 100 Talons worth of gold and silver when I opened the pouch, a King’s ransom, or perhaps, more accurately, the value of a Queen’s life in this world.
With nothing more to be gained from the search, I dragged the shattered body outside and tried to come up with a suitable method of disposal. Bane asked what I was up to as I stared blankly at the corpse, and when I told him, he came up with the perfect solution.
Let me carry it out beyond our walls. I’ll drop it in the wilds, so the animals may feast on one of their own.
‘You are my most favorite person right now,’ I smiled at him as I hugged his ever-increasing body.
You know that I’m not really a person, right? He replied with amusement.
‘You are to me, Bane.’
He nuzzled his face against my body, since it was long past the time when we could actually rub only our faces together, and I felt his affection flowing into me through our bond. We had grown close enough that I could sense him that way without even trying, although the strength of those feelings was far less than the powerful threads that were at my command.
“Are you sure he’s not really a dragon?” Karina, one of my guardswomen asked as Bane flew away with the body.
“Yes, Bane is a Rhastoren, not a dragon,” I answered her. “Although, if he keeps growing, I’m not sure that will make much difference.”
With my task complete, my guards led me back to the Palace. It irked me more than a little bit to be escorted around like that, but the need for the added protection had been made all too clear the night before, so I didn’t give voice to my inner objections. Instead, I tried to make the most of the situation, and learned as much as I could about my new constant companions. They were an interesting bunch, and had come from many different places, with just as many different backgrounds, and even with their constant vigilance, I still managed to pry a lot of information out of them before we returned to the Palace grounds.
“Dreya Sintári,” one of the guardswomen greeted us as we returned. “Commander Tási has asked me to escort you to your temporary residence.”
Commander Tási? I wondered where that rank had come from, and even more, I wondered just what sort of quarters she had picked out for me. With my curiosity piqued, I followed the woman as she led me and my escort into the Palace.
The chambers Tási had chosen were located on one of the upper levels. The height lent it some additional security, and its single entrance would make it easy to protect. Although the Palace did have dedicated quarters for the leader in residence, Ridge had not yet constructed those sections of the building.
“You chose my chambers well, Commander Tási,” I complimented her while pointing out the title she had somehow acquired.
“Yeah, um, sorry… we didn’t have a chance to get your approval first,” Tási replied awkwardly. “The First Marshal said it was the appropriate rank for the duties you assigned me.”
“Far be it from me to contradict the First Marshal on such matters,” I sarcastically demurred.
“Now you’re just being a–,” Tási stopped herself when she remembered that we were not alone.
“Careful, I may feel the need to retaliate if you offend me,” I taunted as I wriggled my fingers and mimicked tossing an orb at her.
“That’s not fair,” she plead as she took a step back. “You can’t keep doing that just to get your way.”
“I can’t?”
“Well, I guess you can, but it’s still not fair,” Tási amended her statement.
/> I let her go at that and took a quick tour of the rest of the rooms Tási had secured for me. In addition to the large room where we first entered, there was an adjacent chamber that would be suitable for a bedroom, and another room that I determined I would use as a private study. The suite had been designated as the offices for some bureaucrat in the Palace plans, but it was more than adequate for my needs.
“There’s no furniture,” I suddenly realized. “I should have at least brought our bed when I left our house.”
“Yeah, well, as usual, I’m way ahead of you.” Tási smirked. “I sent a detail to retrieve everyone’s furnishings. We’ll need to commission new stuff at some point, but it will serve for now.”
I was so appreciative of her insight and thoughtfulness, especially considering the whirlwind of events that had transpired over the last hours, that I let her snarky comment slide.
“What ever would I do without you,” I replied with a quick kiss.
“A great deal, I imagine,” Tási smiled back at me. “Just without a bed to sleep in at night.”
“Now that you’ve seen your quarters, I should introduce you to the rest of your personal guard,” Tási quickly added. “There’s some additional chambers down the hall that I’ve commandeered for them. We can go there now if you’d like.”
We left to go meet my new babysitters… sorry, personal guards, and found them just down the hall from my own chambers. The rooms Tási had taken over for their use were similar to my own quarters, so the guardswomen would be very comfortable once we got the place furnished for them.
Tási made the introductions, and I was surprised by how few of them she needed to prompt for their names, especially considering the very short time she’d had to familiarize herself with her new soldiers. In all, there were twenty of them. Each had been raised to the rank of sergeant, and Tási informed me that was the minimum rank any of my personal guard would hold. Lastly, she introduced the two she had chosen to be her lieutenants: Karina, the human woman who had accompanied me when I went to inspect the assassin’s body, and Aiva, an elf that I had met before.
“And of course, you already know Captain Ella, my new second in command,” Tási completely stunned me as she made her final introduction.
“Congratulations on your promotion,” I managed to utter in my confusion.
“I was as surprised as you seem to be,” Ella whispered.
“Why don’t we step inside my office for a moment?” Tási offered as she motioned for us to follow her outside.
Ella and I trailed after her as she led us down the hall to the room she had taken for her private office, and I was amazed at how quickly she had taken care of so many aspects of her new position; she even had a desk and chairs in place for us when we entered the room. Tási didn’t bother to sit behind her desk, however, she just leaned against it as she began to speak.
“Ella, your… relationship with Dreya is not the reason why I made you my second,” Tási dove right in without hesitation. “Although, I will admit, I did consider it. The two of you will need a plausible reason to spend some time alone. Your position as second in command of her personal guard should provide you with sufficient cover for your… interactions to not raise suspicions.”
“But ultimately, Ella, I gave you the job because you are the most qualified—you needn’t doubt that. I consider it a bonus that you also care so deeply about Dreya’s safety.”
“But I want to be clear about one thing: don’t mistake my acceptance of the situation for approval. You will continue to keep this discreet. I don’t ever want knowledge of just how close you two are to become public—I will not allow myself to be humiliated in that way. I can tolerate what is happening because I know that you truly needed Dreya’s help, and I know from personal experience just how strong a bond her influence can create, but I will not be made to look like a fool. Do you understand?”
“Dreya has made that clear to me already,” Ella responded as soon as Tási finished speaking. “And I will honor both her wishes and the trust you have placed in me. No one will find out about us. Ever.”
“Thank you, Ella,” Tási replied. “We will be spending a great deal of time working together. I hope that in time, we can become friends. I think that will make things much easier for me.”
“I’d like that, Commander,” Ella smiled.
“Call me Tási, please. At least when we’re in private,” she replied to Ella before addressing me.
“Now, Dreya Sintári, if you’ll excuse us, I have a great deal to discuss with my second.”
“Of course, Commander,” I responded with her title as I left the two to their work.
My guards were waiting for me when I entered the hallway and followed along as I returned to my chambers, but since I had already delegated nearly all of the responsibilities of my Realm, I wasn’t sure what to do with the rest of my day, so I stood and pondered my next move for a while. When I finally came up with something to at least occupy my time, I called out to the pair of guards that had stationed themselves just inside the entry to my suite. I knew that the guardswomen took their new assignment seriously, and I didn’t want to make their jobs any more difficult than they needed to be, so I gave them some warning of my intentions.
“Lieutenant Karina, make whatever preparations you need; I’m going to visit the Garrison forge now.”
The lieutenant was the officer in charge of my detail at the time, and she quickly made the arrangements. Karina left several of her charges behind to keep watch over my quarters and led my escort herself as we departed for the forge. I found the woman’s professionalism and efficiency impressive, especially in light of how new she was to her position.
“Have you done this before, Karina?” I asked curiously. “You seem quite familiar with the requirements of the job.”
“Ha!” Karina chuckled. “No, Dreya Sintári, I haven’t held a position quite like this before, but I was head chambermaid for a minor noble once. Although the duties are quite different, the need for planning, organization, and attention to detail are very similar. I’m just applying those lessons to my new responsibilities.”
Her explanation made sense—as different as the two jobs might seem at first, ultimately, they relied on the same core principles. Even so, I was impressed at how easily she’d made the transition. Tási had clearly chosen her officers well.
When we reached the forge, Hilgreth and Georl were both hard at work, as usual. Over the last few months, Hilgreth had been training Clorid and Madren as her apprentices, and I saw the two of them in the back of the forge, busily transforming raw iron into the Dwarven Steel ingots that the smiths used for so many of their creations.
“Welcome, Dreya Sintári,” Hilgreth greeted me as both smiths set aside their work. “We have been waiting for you to pay us another visit.”
“Have you come up with something special for my troops?” I asked curiously.
“Well, the First Marshal informed us of your new guards,” Georl picked up the conversation, “and we’d like to make them some special armor, if you can arrange for each of them to pay us a visit.”
“I will see to it,” Karina responded immediately.
Georl nodded to her in appreciation, and the two of them stepped aside to consult on the matter for a while as Hilgreth resumed talking to me.
“Yes, well, as much as we’re looking forward to working with your new guards, there’s another reason why we needed to see you,” she said as she ventured over to one of the weapon racks.
“I’ve seen your weapons, Dreya Sintári,” Hilgreth continued as she pulled a scabbard from the rack. “While most of them are far beyond my skill, your short sword is in desperate need of an upgrade.”
Hilgreth held out the weapon in her hands and offered it to me. The scabbard alone was incredibly worked and showed indications of Georl’s familiar craftsmanship in its fine detail. The hilt that extended from it was wrapped in finely-tooled leather that would offer a secure grip
, and its pommel was shaped in the form of a large claw gripping a deep green stone.
I took the sword from her and pulled it from the scabbard. The blade that followed the hilt was simply exquisite, and I realized that the entire thing had been forged from pure Khelduin.
“Hilgreth,” I remarked as I tested the blade’s balance in my hand, “this is truly a masterpiece. You’ve outdone yourself.”
“Thank you, Dreya Sintári, but I cannot take sole credit,” she replied. “All of us, Renn included, took part in its forging. In honor of what you are trying to establish here, I wanted to make sure that our gift was the product of as many different people as possible.”
“Thank you, Hilgreth,” I offered her sincerely. “Not just for the blade, but for embracing the values I’m trying to instill here. I know it wasn’t easy for you to do, and I want you to know how proud and honored I am to see that you have.”
“It has been my honor and privilege,” Hilgreth returned. “Without you to show me the way, I would have never met Renn, and I would have missed out on the love that he has brought into my life. It may have taken me a while, but I finally learned the lesson you were trying to teach me, and I am far better off for it. I owe you more than I can ever repay, Dreya Sintári.”
We shook hands and shared a meaningful look before I withdrew my old sword from one of the many pockets in my Cloak and tucked the new blade away in its place. I only wore one of Georl’s daggers openly, the Essence Blade and Dagger of Laceration were hidden in the sheaths behind my back, and Retribution was tucked away against my forearm. With them at my disposal, I felt no need to carry my short sword over my shoulder, at least while there were no obvious threats to deal with. But when it came time to handle one of those threats, the blade that the three smiths had forged for me would be strapped to my back for certain.
I handed over my old blade to Hilgreth, and she promised to see that it was placed in the armory. The steel was well-made, and it was far from useless. I was certain it could be put to good use.
Second Skin: Unified: A litRPG Adventure (Second Skin Book 3) Page 45