Dungeon Master 2

by Eric Vall

  Rana raised an eyebrow. “Now that’s pretty disgusting, I didn’t even think that was possible.”

  “I know, but his lands comprise the only country left in Tintagal that isn’t under my father’s rule,” Annalíse replied. “Not only that, it’s the largest country within the continent, almost as big as the whole of Tamarisch, and their army is quite large and impressive. Naturally, my father wants it, and rather than wage war and risk the loss of countless soldiers on both sides, he decided that joining our kingdoms through marriage would be a better choice.”

  “Why would this other king agree to this and submit to your father?” I asked. “Wouldn’t he rather become the High King himself?” I know I would have, were I in his position.

  “It is true the position of High King is highly coveted, but my father would not be so easily overthrown,” Annalíse explained. “The other king, Baoth, would have to enter into battle with our entire kingdom, and while his army would put up a good fight, ultimately, they would be defeated.”

  The warrior shrugged. “My father so much as told him so. Baoth may be despicable, but he’s not stupid. Like my father he doesn’t want to lose so many soldiers. It was in his best interest to agree to this arrangement. Besides, along with my hand in marriage, my father offered him other things to sweeten the deal so to speak. It’s all been decided without a single word of mine.”

  “Well, that’s not fair,” Carmedy said with a small frown.

  “Did you not attempt to speak with your father on this matter and explain your misgivings?” Morrigan asked.

  “I tried, but it didn’t make any difference,” Annalíse said with a note of anger in her voice. “He only lectured me on what my duties are as a princess and that I should be honored to take part in something of such high importance to our nation. I’m nothing more than a political pawn to him.”

  “I don’t blame you for running away,” Rana said with a look of disgust.

  “Neither do I,” I said gently. “You felt trapped. We all know the feeling.”

  Morrigan, Rana, and Carmedy all nodded at my words.

  “Exactly, I felt like I had no other choice,” Annalíse said with frustration plain on her face. “So that’s why I’ve been sneaking around. I knew that my father had sent soldiers to each of the continents to look for me and bring me back. The negotiations between Baoth and him can’t proceed until I’m brought home. I can only imagine how angry he is now that I’ve thrown a wrench in his plans.”

  A small self-satisfied smile came to the princess’s lips as she spoke. The thought seemed to give her great pleasure.

  “I have to ask though, how is it that you came to be trained to handle a sword?” I asked Annalíse. “I know that times have changed, but I can’t imagine that is common practice for a princess.”

  “I was never one for fancy dresses and needlework and grand parties,” the freckled woman said with a twisted grin. “I have three older brothers, and when I was younger, I wanted to do everything that they did. I wrestled, I climbed trees, and I played in the mud, much to my mother’s dismay. But what I wanted most of all was to train to be a warrior as they did. Each of my brothers was taught to fight at a young age as is customary for royal sons in most any country. I, however, wasn’t permitted to join them. Instead, I was instructed on the finer points of art and music and social airs and graces.”

  Carmedy tilted her head to one side. “What’s wrong with those things? They sound nice to me.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with those things,” Annalíse said gently. “It’s just… it’s not what I wanted. My refusal to wear dresses and roughhousing was already problem enough to my parents, but to train with swords, they found it unacceptable. So, I used to sneak and watch the soldiers train. I’d study their movements and practice on my own in my room with one of my brother’s old toy wooden swords.”

  The princess chuckled at the recollection. “One night, I decided that I wanted to practice on the training field like the others and use a real sword. So, I snuck out of bed and went down there thinking that there was no one around. I borrowed one of the swords that I’d seen my brothers train with and took some whacks at one of the practice dummies. I was only ten at the time, and of course, I wasn’t used to the weight of a real sword so my first few attempts didn’t go too well.”

  “I can imagine,” I said with a smile.

  “Well, it turns out that I wasn’t the only one there,” Annalíse continued. “I was caught by Kalon, the man responsible for training my father’s warriors. I was terrified, and I thought he was going to tell my father what I had done, but he didn’t. Instead, he critiqued me on my fighting and explained the mistakes I’d made. You see, he’d noticed me watching the training sessions many times before.”

  A wistful smile played across the chestnut-haired woman's lips. “Kalon said I wasn’t too bad for someone who hadn’t had formal instruction, but that if I was willing to work hard, he could turn me into a true warrior. Every day after that, we’d train in secret after he’d finished with the soldiers and my brothers.”

  “Every day?” Morrigan raised a white eyebrow in surprise.

  “Yes.” Annalíse nodded. “I have wanted to become a warrior for as long as I could remember, and Kalon started me on that journey to becoming one. It would have been hard enough to find someone to train me. Most continents don’t allow women within their army’s ranks and being a princess only made it all the more difficult. I was grateful to Kalon and still am. And when this… business with my marriage to Baoth came up, I thought perhaps it was fate. I figured it was the perfect opportunity for me to go out into the world and become a great warrior.”

  “That’s the spirit, princess.” Rana clapped Annalíse on the back. “You belong with us, out here conquering dungeons, not sitting on a throne next to some dusty old king.”

  “That’s right,” Carmedy said with a giggle. “We’ll never let any of those soldiers take you away from us.”

  “No, we certainly won’t,” I said conclusively, not hiding the dark tone in my voice, a promise of a violent end to any who would take my minion from me, and Morrigan nodded in agreement.

  “I appreciate that,” Annalíse said and gave each of us a small smile. “And again, I’m truly sorry that I put you all in danger.”

  “Eh, don’t sweat it. We know you didn’t mean for all that to happen.” Rana waved her paw casually. “Plus, I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re used to frequent danger. It’s kind of our thing now.”

  “That is true.” Annalíse chuckled, and the rest of us laughed in agreement. As Rana continued to make her usual humorous remarks, the small woman with the apron came to clear away the dishes on our table.

  “So, what’s for dessert?” Carmedy asked the blonde woman as she patted her belly with satisfaction.

  “Carmedy, don’t be rude,” Annalíse hissed. “There are more polite ways to ask than that.”

  “It’s no worry,” the woman with the apron said with a lyrical laugh. “There’s some peach cobbler in the kitchen, will that suit you all?”

  “That’ll suit us just fine!” Carmedy rubbed her hands together excitedly. The server smiled and nodded her head and disappeared behind one of the doors.

  “Thanks for speaking for all of us,” Rana said with a smirk. “I’m actually not too crazy about peach cobbler, it’s too sweet for my taste.”

  “There’s no such thing as too sweet,” Carmedy gasped but then her expression shifted to a look of realization. “But, since you don’t like it, I’ll be happy to eat your piece for you.”

  Rana rolled her eyes. “Gee, how gallant of you.”

  “Just helping out a friend.” Carmedy giggled. The server returned within a few minutes and placed plates of thick cuts of pie before each of us. As the server walked away, Carmedy reached over and pulled Rana’s plate toward her.

  “Thank you very much!” The cat licked her lips and began to dig into her dessert.

  I lau
ghed, shook my head, and then turned to face Annalíse. “Annalíse, all this talk of your father taking over other territories and extending his kingdom got me thinking that I would wish to do the same. I too want to form an empire and gradually spread my reign across each of the continents, and I think I will start with Valasara.”

  “So now we’re not just conquering dungeons, we’re conquering the world one continent at a time?” Rana broke in with a wry grin. “I like the sound of that.”

  “I recall you saying that you were afraid of the evil we would unleash upon the world if we freed Master,” Morrigan said, and the corner of her mouth turned up a bit as if she was fighting a smile.

  “Oh?” Rana said as she bit her lip and glanced at me. “I don’t remember--”

  “Ohhh! Ohhh! Ohhh!” Carmedy waved her hands in the air as pie crumbs cascaded out of her mouth. “I remember. Rana was all ‘I’m super grumpy. I don’t want a master. Even if he is really handsome, and dashing, and super evil, and has lots of treasure.’ Then Annalíse said ‘we should do it because he could have killed us at any time, but he seems nice, and I like his muscles and his long polearm because I’m a tough warrior woman who likes strong men.’ But then Morrigan was like ‘Ohhh, I’m a super scary dark witch, and Master is a super scary dark god. I want to give him my soul and learn how to make spooky ghost noises,’ but then Rana was all worried and said ‘I’ll go along, but he’s going to end up conquering all the realms and enslaving everyone. When that happens you should all remember that I told you so.’”

  “I do not remember the part about me--” Morrigan began, but Annalíse cut her off.

  “Yeah… that’s not a hundred percent correct, Carmedy.”

  “I never said he was handsome!” Rana groaned. “You got it all wrong, kitty cat.”

  “It’s right enough,” Annalíse laughed, and then she turned her eyes to me. “Let’s say you were going to take Valasara. What is your plan?”

  “By ridding this kingdom of Alistair,” I said darkly.

  The others blinked at me in surprise, but quick-witted Rana was the first to find her voice.

  “I’m game,” she finally said. “That guy is a menace.”

  “I am as well.” Annalíse nodded. “In the process, we’ll be helping Makar and the other people of Valasara as I already wished to do.”

  “Me too!” Carmedy said gleefully through a mouthful of cobbler.

  “As am I,” Morrigan said unenthusiastically, but her dark eyes flashed with a certain fierceness.

  I nodded slowly, pleased to see my minions in agreement. “Good. Now, the first thing we need to do is find the location of the king’s palace.”

  “Perhaps I can help with that,” Annalíse spoke up.

  “How so?” I asked the princess as the rest of us turned to give her our attention.

  “I’m sure you remember me telling Makar that I’ve been here before,” Annalíse began.

  “Yes, I recall,” I urged her to continue.

  “It was a few years ago. I traveled here with my family to visit the lord and lady of this city. Lady Tamsin quite liked me actually, and she said whenever I came to Ficcha next that I absolutely had to stay with them. I’m sure she’d be willing to help us.”

  “Alright then, so we just need to go to this Lady Tamsin’s place so you can talk to her,” Rana said casually as she took a sip from her ale mug.

  “I can’t be the one to go.” Annalíse shook her head. “Talking to her personally isn’t the best idea given my present circumstances. I don’t know if she, her husband, or their children are aware that I’ve run away and that my father’s soldiers are searching for me. If they are, someone may disclose my whereabouts. Even if they aren’t, I can’t risk it. Most likely my father would catch wind of my visiting, and we’ve already drawn enough attention today as it is.”

  “So, what are we going to do then?” Carmedy cocked her head to one side.

  “I’ll send just one of you to where Lady Tamsin lives, sending all of you together might look suspicious. Whoever goes will just need to say that they’re a friend of mine, and it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “That’s a good idea,” I said to the swordswoman. “So, who are you going to send then?” Annalíse bit her lip, and her eyes studied each of us.

  “Sending a man might raise too many questions, so I can’t send you,” the princess said slowly as she looked at me. “Lady Tamsin is very kind, but she’s a bit nosy. She’d probably assume that we’re… more than friends and she’d ask about a lot of questions about who you are and how we met, and we don’t have time for all of that.” She coughed awkwardly and blushed a bit. “We’d have to make up some sort of backstory for you, which is still risky.”

  “Understood.” I nodded. I found the unexpected bashfulness charming, particularly because Annalíse wasn’t easily embarrassed.

  “I can’t send Carmedy…” The chestnut-haired woman’s voice trailed off as she watched the petite feline devour her dessert. Carmedy’s lips and cheeks were dotted with globs of peach syrup and somehow, she had even managed to get some of it in her short black hair.

  “Aww, why can’t I go?” the green-eyed cat asked as she licked the crumbs from her fingers.

  “Because you don’t exactly look like the type to hang out in Annalíse’s posh crowd.” Rana chuckled as she took in Carmedy’s less than pristine appearance.

  “I’m afraid not,” Annalíse said with an apologetic smile.

  “I’m not exactly a good fit for this mission either,” the fox continued. “I don’t talk like one of you bluebloods. You know me, I’d probably say something incorrectly, or I’d make some wisecrack and end up offending someone.” Rana laughed.

  “Yes, I’m afraid that would draw unnecessary suspicion which means that you’re the best choice Morrigan,” Annalíse said as she turned to the elf.

  “You choose me by because everyone else is an ill fit?” Morrigan said e as she raised a white eyebrow.

  “No, well, yes, I’m not choosing you because you’re the only one left,” Annalíse said hurriedly. “Out of everyone else, Lady Tamsin would be most likely to believe that you’re a friend of mine because of the way that you speak and carry yourself.”

  “You mean superior and condescending?” Rana elbowed Morrigan’s ribs playfully, and the elf gave her a look of displeasure.

  “No.” Annalíse narrowed her eyes at the red-haired fox. “Composed and refined.”

  “Oh, I-I see,” Morrigan stammered. She seemed a bit surprised by Annalíse’s compliment but nodded with approval. “I suppose I am indeed the most logical choice. I am after all of high elvish decent which is, of course, a higher standing than mortal royalty.”

  “I was just teasing, elfy.” Rana waved her paw. “You don’t act superior or condescending… at least not as much as you used to,” the fox murmured the last bit under her breath.

  “Thank you,” Morrigan said, “but I must insist that you refrain calling me this name.”

  “C’mon, you know you love it,” Rana said in a sing-song voice which caused Morrigan to grimace.

  “I think it’s a cute nickname,” Carmedy spoke as she chewed on another piece of her cobbler which sent crumbs flying across the table.

  “Annalíse, why don’t you tell Morrigan where Lady Tamsin lives so that we can get that out of the way?” I interjected. “The sooner we find out, the sooner we can leave for Alistair’s palace.”

  “Right.” Annalíse nodded. “If I recall the Lord and Lady’s castle is on the edge of the city.” The princess turned swordswoman began to explain to Morrigan how to get there. Rana pulled out a piece of paper and pencil from her pack, and together, she and Annalíse created a map for Morrigan to follow. Then she pulled out a thick golden ring and handed it to the elf-maiden.

  “This is my signet ring,” Annalíse said. “She might not ask for it, but if she does, you can show her.”

  “Very well,” Morrigan said. “I shall return within th
e hour. I shall leave Fea with you, should anything unexpected transpire so that I may communicate with you.” As the white-haired elf spoke, Fea leapt from her shoulder and fluttered down to rest on Annalíse’s. With that, Morrigan left the Golden Lamb and sought out Lady Tamsin.

  “So, once we find out where that creep lives, what’s the plan?” Rana asked as she leaned back in her chair andsignaled for the server to bring us another round of drinks.

  “The next step is to gather intelligence on how to infiltrate the palace,” I replied. “Naturally, it’s going to be heavily guarded, so we’ll need to figure out the best way to go about getting in.”

  Rana wiggled her eyebrows. “Now that sounds like a job for me.”

  “But how will you find out that kind of information?” Annalíse asked. “The people here aren’t going to give up that sort of information willingly for fear of retribution. Besides, something like that isn’t going to be known to your common everyday citizen.”

  Our group grew quiet when the small woman with the apron came over to bring us fresh mugs of ale. Once she had left the room once more, we resumed our conversation.

  “I know that,” Rana said with a glance to the door the server had disappeared behind. “That’s why I’m going to discover this city’s seedy underbelly. I’m sure there are some low lives around here that will tell me what I need to know, for the right price of course.”

  The fox-tailed woman’s lips twisted into a grin. “Just about any tidbit of information can be bought if you’ve got the money. We’ve got plenty of money to bargain with, so it shouldn’t be a problem. While I’m at it, I can see if there’s anything I can scrape up regarding the sacred objects.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” I nodded to the fox.

  “How long do you think this will take?” Annalíse leaned forward on her elbows.

  “Hard to say.” Rana shrugged. “Most likely it’s not just going to take a few hours though. I have to do some digging, find out who’s the go-to for stuff like this, talk to a guy who knows a guy, you know what I mean?”

  “We can’t just stay here while you’re doing all of this though.” Annalíse furrowed her brow. “Don’t forget we still have another dungeon to travel to.”