by P. G. Thomas
Lauren stood, “Let all of those who conspire with the black-clad or Royal House come before me and kneel. Now!”
The previous Earth Bonds she had unleashed had been accidental, but this one had purpose, magnified by Core Wood. The Earth Mothers in the front row were surprised by its intensity. Riblo, Bince, four guards, and four common town’s people came forward, and you could tell that they tried to fight against the pull, but nonetheless, they approached, kneeling before her.
“Leave the west now and don’t turn back. Pray I never see your faces again. Seek your allies in the east and see how they welcome you: how they reward you. Your property and possessions are all forfeited. No one will give chase until the third sun rises so be fast. Should you be slow, your well-deserved fate will be in your own hands. All those who have provided the invaders with help, get out of the west. Now!” Lauren slammed her tri-wood staff down onto the table. The Earth Mothers felt the magical concussive force of the second Earth Bond blow past them. The ten that stood before her looked her in the eyes. “I suggest you plead with the elements for mercy since you’ll find none here.” The ten fled the building. “Traitors amongst you, who sold their souls for gold, paid for with your suffering. I hereby claim ownership of all possessions and properties of those ten in the name of the Earth Mothers. We will seek to undo the damages done with our new funds. I also hereby appoint two Earth Mothers to fill the vacant mayor seats.”
“You cannot do that! You have no authority!” shouted Hoyle.
Spies? A price on my head? Lauren was furious, “The suffering here grants me the authority. This meeting is over.” Slamming her staff into the table with such force, the table broke in two.
Alron massaged his sore neck when he looked up, Please, Mother, tell your sun to rise slower. She pushes the shadows back too fast, too hard.
Lauren went up to the Earth Mothers who were still sitting in the front row, “Meet me tomorrow morning at the town hall. I’ll let you choose who fills the vacancies amongst yourselves.”
There was a celebration happening at the inn, but Lauren remained absent from it, but before retiring, she instructed Alron to have Zack continue his spying on Hoyle, as she felt sure he would be making plans.
*******
[Situation analyzed. Strategy selected. Implement.] It was late in the night when Ryan prodded Eric awake, “We need to talk, bud. Things are happening fast. And Lauren is going to need somebody trustworthy that she can talk with, and that somebody isn’t you.”
“What do you want?”
“I tried being nice, explaining everything to you, but you just don’t get it. Let’s go outside and talk about it.”
“Why?”
“There’s going to be a fight. You don’t want to miss that, do you, big boy?”
“Fight?”
Ryan’s thoughts were confused and clear at the same time. While part of him knew what he was doing, part of him was unsure, but he had a feeling that things were about to get loud, “Yeah, violence. You like violence, Mr. Socially Awkward Barbarian. Right?”
“Fight? Where?”
“Just get dressed and follow me, and leave your sword here. It isn’t that kind of fight.”
Eric was in a bit of a daze, like part of Ryan had anticipated. They crept out of the inn and up the street. The Earth Guards saw them but never reacted since they posed no threat to the Earth Mother. Eric followed Ryan out to the main street and then over to another where Ryan stopped. “Things became interesting tonight, and what happened, you don’t understand but Eric would. Lauren’s going to need Eric to help her through this mess. That means you need to take a backseat. You’ve had your fun, so now you’re going to let Eric out.”
“Eric is weak.”
“Nope, Eric is the champ. You’re worthless, a pion, and frankly, you’re starting to piss me off.”
“Too bad. Nothing you can do.”
“I think you’re wrong. Do you know how to arm wrestle?”
“Arm wrestle?”
“Ask Eric! You are the damn scarecrow aren’t you?”
“Lion.”
“See, you can talk to Eric. Ask him about arm wrestling?”
Eric paused for a second, “It will prove nothing.”
“If you can’t beat me in an arm-wrestling match, then you let Eric out and learn from him, okay?”
“You cannot beat me.”
“First, oh thick one, I didn’t say I would beat you. I said, if you can’t beat me, then you let Eric out. I don’t think that your precious ego can handle a defeat, so I’ll spare you that humiliation.”
“You cannot win.”
“Buddy, I don’t want to win. If you cannot defeat me, you let Eric out. Can you wrap your head around that simple challenge? If you ever face an army of black-clad, then by all means, take over. Let Eric be in charge of the socially challenging situations. You can have the rest.”
“Why do you care?”
An anger was boiling in Ryan, “Lauren is going to need Eric’s help, and he’ll understand what’s happening. You wouldn’t understand last week’s news if it hit you in the head.”
“No, leave me alone.”
[Accelerate verbal attack.] “Are you afraid? The great Tranquil Fury walks away from a challenge?”
Eric stopped, “Why do you care?”
A rage burned in Ryan’s eyes, “Because you don’t! It’s that lack of caring that’ll get Lauren hurt. Yeah, you’re pretty good at recognizing threats when they’re the size of a forest, but you miss the little things. This is all new to you, so admit that you don’t know what you are doing.”
“You waste my time.”
[Engage humiliation.] “Coward! You’re not worthy of having Eric to be your champion. That’s why you suppress him. You know that he would be ashamed of you. He would’ve thrown that sword away a long time ago if he had the chance.”
“Do not test me!”
“That’s exactly what I want to do, you stupid piece of metal.”
“What do I win?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why fight?”
“Big man with little brain starts to think. We’re making progress. How about pride? I challenged you, and you don’t care? Tomorrow, I’ll just tell everybody that you walked away from a fight.”
“None will believe you.”
“So tomorrow I’ll challenge you again. Then what will you do? Walk away when there are witnesses? I’m trying to save you from humiliating yourself.”
Eric was becoming more confused, “Why do you care?”
Ryan walked up to him, wanting to scream, but he maintained control of his voice, “Because you don’t, and I won’t sit back, letting your goddamned ego get my friends hurt.”
“You test me, little man.”
“That’s the whole idea, big man.”
“I cannot fight you. I will hurt you. You do not deserve.”
“I’ll hound you until you accept my challenge. You don’t have a choice in this matter.”
“No! This is over.”
[Increase humiliation.] “Your Father would be ashamed of you. One simple challenge and the great Tranquil Fury walks away. You shame him.”
“You’ve gone too far. Challenge accepted. You will be sorry.”
“Took you long enough.” Ryan led Eric over to a large rock in the center island of the road. Placing his elbow on top, he waited for Eric to engage his grip. [Strategy successful. Implement stage two.]
Eric walked up to the far side of the rock, bent down, and grasped Ryan’s hand, “Crush you I will.”
“How long will you need? How long to defeat me, over confident one?”
“Seconds. Arm and hand, both will be broke.”
“I’ll give you ten minutes. If you can’t make my hand touch the rock in that time, you let Eric out. Do we have a deal?”
“Pain you will receive.”
“Do we have a deal?”
“Yes,” Eric said angrily.
; [Engage.] As they adjusted their grips, Ryan was ready to accept the force of Tranquil Fury, and when Eric leaned into his grip, Ryan remained unmoved. [Lower stabilization secured. Core optimized. Increase leverage.] Ryan pushed against Eric’s hand, which began to move closer to the rock, “Nine minutes to go.”
Surprised at the situation, Eric called to his inner demon, and then with the might of ten, forced Ryan’s arm upright.
[50% increase. Increase mass. Reinforce structure.] Ryan began to change, his skin and clothes turning into granite. He grew in size equal to that of Eric, pushing his opponent’s hand upright and then closer to the top of the rock.
“Father, help me. I was lied to.”
“Daddy’s not here to help you. You don’t know everything. You can be defeated. Do you want me to prove it to you?”
Eric’s strength increased, pushing Ryan’s arm upright and then back. Eric looked up with a smile, “Father does answer.”
[Release reserves.] Ryan pushed his arm upright, holding it in a vertical position, “Five minutes to go, little man.” He was now a foot taller than Eric was and made of solid granite.
Eric strained against the granite statue, yet he was unable to move the arm that had the strength of a mountain.
Ryan counted down the minutes while deflecting Eric’s curses. “Ten minutes are up. Will you honor your word?”
Neither side let go.
Anger burnt it Eric’s eyes, “You tricked me.”
Ryan wanted to reach into the open mouth of Eric, pulling Tranquil Fury out, beating him to a pulp. “Surrender. If you don’t, I’ll crush your hand, and you’ll never pick up that cursed sword again.”
“I have a left hand.”
Ryan’s words were thick with anger, “I’ll crush it as well.”
“This is not over.”
“When you care, having a passion for more than killing, come on back. Until then, shut up and learn from Eric.” Forcing Eric’s hand down, it was approaching the top of the rock, and then he suddenly went limp, falling to the ground. [Mission accomplished. Disengage implementations.] Shaking his head back and forth, Ryan tried to force out the disoriented feelings. While he recalled parts of the last half hour, the memories were fading quickly. Picking up Eric, he carried him back to the inn, being uncertain of what he had done, and wondering if Lauren would be upset.
Chapter 17
While Pintar had seen Eric at the meal table numerous times, he had never seen him eat so much. When Lauren with Alron walked down the stairs, she was surprised to see Eric waving to them. She tentatively sat down across from him, “How’re you this morning?”
“I feel great, starved, but great. Where are we?”
“Newtown.”
“How long have we been here?”
“About three weeks. Eric, are you feeling okay?” asked Lauren.
“Not sure what I’m feeling, all I know is I’m feeling.”
“Eric, where is Tranquil Fury?”
“I think he is upset, Alron. He’s still here, but something changed. Damn, I’m hungry.”
Lauren had been adjusting to the presence of the silent giant, as she liked knowing that the destroyer of armies was on her side, “What changed?”
“We seem to have some sort of truce. I get to deal with the social side of life.”
“Tranquil Fury, what does he deal with?” asked Alron.
“He gets the anti-social side—when words aren’t enough.”
“Do you remember anything?”
“I remember the capture and the torture. It was when I healed that Tranquil Fury took control. Before that, he was just…there. We hadn’t bonded you could say. I know about the south bank army. There are parts of the fort that are still foggy. Most of the mundane stuff, I can barely recall.”
Lauren was glad to see her large friend back, “Well, we found some traitors in town, and I encouraged them to leave last night. Two of them were the mayors, so I appointed Earth Mothers as temporary mayors, and we were going to go down to the town hall today. Would you like to join us?”
“Sure. Is there anything else I need to know? Or do? Or bring?”
Lauren smiled, “No, Eric, just be you.” Then Alron leaned down, whispered into her ear, which prompted a wry smile from her. “You could all do us one favor. Tranquil Fury never understood personal hygiene. I think the whole town would appreciate it if you would have a bath.” Eric took a deep breath through his nose, closed his eyes as he turned his head to one side, and nodded.
The shops were beginning to open when Lauren, Eric, and their troop of Earth Guards and dwarves headed to the town hall, finding a carriage with Brook and Lindo waiting inside of it. When the courtyard was secure, Lauren and Eric escorted the new mayors up to the entrance of the town hall, which was blocked by two town watch guards.
Before Lauren could say anything, Eric stepped forward, “You see, Earth Mother. Everything is fine. They even placed two of the town’s finest to open the doors for you.”
One of the guards stepped forward, “We were told…”
Eric looked down at the smaller man, “That’s right, you were told to open the doors. I could do it for you, but I think it would be better if you both just held the doors open.”
“We were told…”
“Look, you’re both here to hold the peace. Right? You can either hold the doors open, so we can enter, in peace, or I can fill the hall with pieces of the door for you to hold. Which do you want?” The guards opened the doors.
As Lauren passed through, she looked at the town watch, “Tell the captain of the watch I wish to speak with him.” She then led a smaller group inside to a counter where a scared clerk stood, “Where are the offices of Bince and Riblo?”
“Third floor, Earth Mother.”
As they started up the stairs, Lauren looked to Eric, “Is your leg sore?”
“No. There was no need for violence or a show of strength. I was surprised they didn’t have more trying to stop you. There was no need to hurt those two. They were good looking doors.”
On the third floor, Lauren went over to the former office of Riblo, which was twenty feet square, and decorated extravagantly. She then went over to the office of Bince. It was lavish, resembling a room fit for the head of a state. Lauren approached a secretary seated at a desk in the center of the outer office, “Is there a town clerk? Somebody who keeps track of the taxes paid and the houses sold?” The secretary nodded, “Please get him, and tell him to bring the town books, the real town books.” The secretary ran down the stairs, bumping into the captain of the watch.
“You called for me, Earth Mother?”
“Your name please?”
“Ramy, I am the captain of the watch.”
“Well, Ramy, you probably heard that several people left town in a hurry last night, forfeiting their possessions and property—that’s what happens to traitors. Could you please send guards to those properties and gather what they forfeited? Eric, could you help Ramy and his crew with this matter? I would hate to hear that somehow the heavy load became less, somebody taking advantage of the misfortunes of others, as that type of behavior stops today. I’ll provide instructions later where it should be stored.” Ramy nodded his head, knowing that the Earth Mother was above the law, and it was in his best interest to do like she asked. As Eric followed him out of the office, Hoyle appeared at the top of the stairs, and seeing the group, he walked past without saying a word towards his office.
The chessboard that Lauren was playing on was expanding too fast. Even though new pieces had been introduced, more remained hidden. She needed time to think about what to do next, but she knew that hesitation was the wrong move, being afraid that some might consider her lack of commitment a weakness. “Logan, can you stay here with Brook, Lindo, and their Earth Guards? Make sure that nobody bothers them. Get somebody to move both desks into one office, and use the other as storage for all of this expensive crap. We’ll sell it later. Earth Mothers, please review the
operations with the town clerk to the best of your abilities. See if there’s a way to fix this place, doing what you can today, and we’ll make better plans tonight. Logan will make sure that everybody listens to you. Right now, I’m curious to see how Riblo and Bince lived, especially when it brought so much grief to others.”
Lauren led her party down to the rich section of the town where fifteen large houses stood; twelve were two stories high, about 120 by 80 feet, and the three remaining were the same size but with an additional story. There were two streets in this section, divided by a row of buildings in the middle, which consisted of two houses and two carriage barns. They proceeded to walk to the far end where Hoyle owned the center three-story house, and the ones on either side used to belong to Bince and Riblo.
With the door ajar to Riblo’s house, Lauren, followed by Alron, entered the lavishly furnished building. Fine cloth decorated the chairs and benches, which were obviously brought from the Bright Coast. Huge paintings hung on the walls, and around the room was decorative artwork. As they exited the front room, John, Aaro, and Bor, entered the house, followed by the Earth Guards, who went to secure the upper levels. Continuing into the kitchen and dining room, they discovered more expensive items. The last room on the ground floor was an office, which contained a huge finely crafted hardwood desk, but the wall behind it looked out of place. After John briefly examined it, he announced there was a door hidden in the wall, but he was unable to find the release. Stepping forward, Aaro swung his ax into the seam that John had pointed out. Driving it deep into the false wooden wall, when he pulled, the cheap metal lock yielded to the dwarven steel and force, and the door burst open. Inside the room were bags of gold from floor to ceiling and other assorted riches. Everybody heard Alron whistle, but it was not to warn of threats.
Lauren shook her head, “I never imagined he would have so much wealth, but we should be able to put that to good use now,” then she turned and headed back out to the front street.
Even though they had a hard time believing the wealth in Riblo’s house, what they found in Bince’s made Riblo’s look like he was a pauper; pictures hanging in gold frames, miniature gold and silver statues, fine crystal goblets, and more. They also found his office, which contained a similar room to Riblo’s, and Aaro quickly unlocked its secrets. The dwarven force was so great that bags from the top shelf fell, exploding as they crashed into the hard floor, their golden contents spilling out and dancing across the room.