by Logan Jacobs
“I’ll be right here,” I said.
But before Ruby could even make it out of her bedroom, half a dozen whores barreled down the hallway toward us, led by Mistress Davies, the halfling woman who ran the brothel down the street. Mistress Davies and each of her whores were armed, some of them just with one of the tools of their trade, like a pair of handcuffs or more ropes, and some of them just with knives and broken bottles.
As soon as they saw me above the elf’s body, Mistress Davies relaxed and stopped running, so all the rest of the whores almost ran into her. Ashlin ran up right behind them, and the poor girl looked like she had barely stopped to catch her breath.
“Fuck!” the halfling woman groaned. “Ashlin had us worried half to death when she said there was an elf in here.”
“Well, there was,” I said and then glanced down at the soldier’s purple face, “but he’s a dead elf now, so no harm done.”
“Thanks for coming to the rescue,” Ruby said with a grin. “And thanks for getting help, Ashlin.”
“You bet,” Ashlin panted.
“The elves should know better than to mess with the whores of the Entertainment District,” Mistress Davies said as she placed her hands on her hips. “We don’t take shit from anybody.”
“Damn right!” Ruby said.
“I’m just glad we’re alright,” I said as I finally let the rope drop to the ground beside the dead elf. “But we should spread the word around the district to watch out for any stray elves who might try to hide inside our halls and brothels.”
“I’ll let the human guards know about this one, too,” Ruby said with a jerk of her head toward the elf’s corpse. “That’s one less prisoner for them to worry about.”
“And one less elf for us to worry about,” Mistress Davies muttered.
“I think I’ll leave you all now, if you’re okay,” I said. “I really want to check in with Cim since we haven’t heard from her yet. Can I leave all of you here?”
“These two can stay with me until the guards get here to collect the corpse,” Mistress Davies said, “if they don’t want to be alone, that is.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I said. “I’ll see you both when I get back, okay?”
“Be careful,” Ashlin said.
“Oh, Twila can handle herself,” Ruby said with a smile as she draped her arms around Ashlin’s shoulders. “Come on, sweet thing. Let’s go make sure that baby gets some rest!”
After Mistress Davies left with the rest of her girls, along with Ruby and Ashlin, I went back to my bedroom, grabbed my little bag, went out the back door, and finally started up toward the halfling district to find Cimarra.
I wasn’t worried that I would run into any stray elves out in the streets. After all, there were way too many people in the streets for any elves to hide, and that was exactly why that elven soldier had tried to hide in my dancehall.
I was just glad that Ruby and I had been able to take him down together.
I might not have been much of a fighter, at least not in the traditional sense, but I’d be damned if I let anyone try to hurt me or the people that I cared about. That was why I had killed Madame Rindell when she tried to murder Cimarra, and that was why I had killed this elven bastard now.
As I hurried through the streets up toward the halfling district, I saw that I wasn’t the only person who was prepared to kill to protect the people they loved. Human guards were posted at almost every street corner as I passed through the dwarven district, while humans, dwarves, and halflings worked together to round up the injured elven prisoners.
Other than the human guards, everyone else was armed with makeshift weapons, and more than a few of them looked stained with blue elven blood. When the attack had started, it hadn’t taken long for most to realize what was happening, so everyone had wanted to get in on the action and finally strike back against their oppressors.
I couldn’t blame them.
When I reached Osman’s bakery in the halfling district, I knocked just so I wouldn’t surprise them. Before I could even push the door open, the blue-skinned djinn pulled it open from inside, wrapped me up into a tight hug, and then ushered me to join them inside.
“I’m so glad to see you well!” Osman said. “It’s been one hell of a morning, that’s for sure.”
“You can say that again,” I sighed, “but we’re all okay. What about here? Is Cim--”
“I’m here,” the beautiful dancer replied as she strode toward us from the kitchen. “I was just getting a refill of tea from Marver.”
“He didn’t put too much cinnamon in it, did he?” Osman demanded. “I have tried to tell that halfling that cinnamon is meant to be--”
“No, I didn’t put too much goddamn cinnamon in it!” the old halfling chef swore from the kitchen. “I just put in a little extra allspice, because you don’t put in enough to get the full flavor.”
“Now that is simply not true,” Osman growled but then seemed to remember that Cimarra and I were there. “Excuse us a minute, would you?”
“Go right ahead,” I laughed, and then I moved over to join Cimarra at one of the bakery’s tables.
“Before you ask, everyone is fine here,” the raven-haired dancer said with a smile. “The garrison fell in a matter of minutes, and even though a lot of elves died, our losses were minimal in this district. And from what I heard, the same thing was true for the Entertainment District.”
“How did you already hear that?” I asked.
“I paid Wilimar Brindle and his little street-gang to bring me scraps of information from all over the city,” Cimarra said with a shrug. “Plus, I told them that the faster they found out things, the more they would get paid.”
“That was a good motivation,” I chuckled. “So you didn’t have any problems with magic casters?”
“There were a few,” the beautiful dancer replied, “but Osman was able to hold them off until the Elite killed them.”
“Osman?” I repeated.
“He’s too modest to ever brag about it,” Cimarra whispered, “but he has a few magic tricks of his own, you know.”
“I heard that,” Osman said as he came back into the dining room of the bakery. “But like I told you earlier, they’re really just parlor tricks.”
“You heated up the casters’ armor until the metal started to stick to their skin,” Marver said as he followed the djinn over to join us. “I wouldn’t call that nothing.”
“Well, it was enough to help, anyway,” Osman said with a shrug.
“That’s amazing,” I told the djinn. “But what about the orcs in the district? Did you all have any trouble with them?”
“No, it happened exactly how we thought it would,” Cimarra said. “As soon as we killed their elven overlords, they ran off since they didn’t have anyone to order them around anymore.”
“It looked a little dicey at first,” Osman said, “but once they saw the humans kill the elves, I think even the orcs had the good sense to run off.”
“That’s a relief,” I sighed. “Do you think the orcs will stay away?”
“If the orcs come back, then we’ll have bigger problems,” Cimarra replied, “because that will mean that the elves have ordered them to come back, and that means…”
“That the elves will have come back by then,” I finished for her. “Well, I guess they wouldn’t come back, so much as they would just show up from somewhere else.”
“Like from some other city?” Marver asked. “We got rid of all the elves in town, and we locked up the ones that we couldn’t kill, so where else would they come from?”
“Maybe from one of the wilderness forts,” I said.
“What are those?” Marver asked.
“Military outposts that the elves used when they conquered the rest of the races,” Osman replied, “and when they hunted down the rest of my people.”
“Are they still in use?” the old halfling chef asked.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Osman said. “I
haven’t heard about them in ages, but Twila may be right. There may be soldiers posted there that we don’t know about.”
“Even if there are elves stationed there, they would have a hard time taking back the cities,” Cimarra said. “This city belongs to us now, and it should be easier for us to defend it than it will be for the elves to take it back.”
“I sure as hell hope so,” I murmured, “but just in case, we should probably go ahead and reinforce our defenses, right?”
“Just in case elves from some other place come to attack us?” Marver asked.
“Or in case they send the orcs in to do their dirty work,” I said, “since they seem to be pretty fond of that, too.”
“We didn’t suffer any major losses,” Cimarra said, “so I should be able to send word to get some of the human guards to begin construction of defenses, if anyone can be spared.”
“I’m sure we could convince some of the other races to help us,” Osman said. “I saw how eagerly the halflings here ran into the fight against the elves, so I’m sure that they’ll be just as eager to make sure that the elves don’t come back.”
“Good idea,” Cimarra said as a little worry line appeared between her eyebrows. “We’ll need as many hands as we can get.”
“We’ll be alright,” I said, and then I reached across the table to lay my hand on her arm. “And Cim?”
“Yes?” the beautiful dancer asked as she looked up at me.
“Wade will be alright, too,” I said with a smile.
“How did you… well, of course, you knew that I was thinking about him,” Cimarra sighed. “I bet you were thinking about him just like I was.”
“Great minds think alike,” I said and gave a little shrug. “But he will be. Ava, Penny, Dar, and Clodia are all with him, and Leif just took all the soldiers of the Elite through the portal to help him.”
“Nothing will be able to stop him now,” Osman agreed.
“I just wish that we could hear from him, that’s all,” Cimarra said, but then she shook herself to snap out of her worry and raised her teacup up to her lips.
“We will,” I said, “but until we do, he’ll be just fine. I know it.”
But even as I reassured the other woman, I felt a knot of worry start to gnaw at my stomach. I believed that Wade would be fine with every fiber of my being, but that didn’t mean I could just automatically get rid of my fears. He was the king, and even though that made him incredibly powerful, it also made him that much more of a target.
Still, I knew that he was surrounded with people who would do whatever it took to protect him, so I just had to trust that he would be alright. He would be fine… no, he would be more than fine. He had been chosen by the Rainbow Keys, and he was the only human that I’d ever heard of who could wield magic.
So he would be more than alright, and he would be more than fine.
He would be goddamn triumphant.
Chapter 3
As I watched the soldiers of the Elite stream into the garrison to join us, the big gladiator Leif leaned his head back and shouted loudly enough for everyone in the whole damn City of Slaves to hear him.
“Who do you serve?” Leif shouted into the silence of the garrison courtyard.
“The king!” the Elite soldiers cried back with one voice.
“How do you serve him?” the gladiator bellowed.
“We follow his every order, and we are his most loyal soldiers!” the soldiers all dressed in black called back. “We lay waste to all enemies in his path, and we make sure that nothing touches him!”
The courtyard was as silent now as if it was midnight instead of mid-morning, and I could hear the quiet breathing of everyone around me as Leif shouted one final time.
“And how long will you serve him?” the big gladiator called.
“Until our last breath!” the Elite soldiers shouted in one voice.
On their last word, the black-clad soldiers all dropped to one knee in front of me, pounded their right fists against their chests, and then jumped back up to their feet to stand at the ready.
It was an even more impressive sight than I had anticipated, and based on the stunned and terrified expressions of the elven prisoners all around me, I saw that the presence of the Elite had the desired effect on my enemies. All that we needed to do now was take this show on the road through the portal room, and then we would lay waste to the rest of our opponents.
“My Elite!” I called out to the crowd of soldiers. “Is the Capital ours?”
“Yes, my king!” Leif shouted with his chin pointed up high in the air.
“Then I may tell you that the City of Slaves is ours, too,” I said, “and that before the day is over, the Blood City will also be ours!”
“Yes, my king!” Leif said as he pounded his fist over his chest again. “We hear you, and we follow!”
I nodded at the crowd of soldiers, so they all relaxed just a little bit, and then I gestured for Leif to come over and join me so we could finish up our business here at the garrison before we left to conquer our next target. Once Leif, Dar, Penny, Ava, and Clodia were all with me, I turned toward the captain of the elven guard and let my shield rest on the ground between us.
“I meant what I told my soldiers,” I said. “You and your men will be spared, and I will not send you to labor camps, but you must do as I say, and do not try to resist.”
“Our lives are in your hands,” the elven captain said, “and I see that you are a man of honor, so I will submit myself to you.”
“Then you will understand why I need to lock up you and your men for now,” I said. “You will have food and drink and warm clothes, but you will be imprisoned until the revolution is over. This is for your own safety as much as it is for ours.”
“I understand,” the elven captain murmured, “and even though I do not like the idea that I must be locked up in my own prisons, I will not fight. I will not help you, but I also will not fight you.”
“Good,” I replied. “Your men will remember and thank you one day, since you had the good sense to surrender when you recognized the reality of the situation.”
“You will be able to grow old with your children, thanks to your decision today,” Penny said, “and that is nothing to be ashamed of.”
The elven captain nodded, and he suddenly seemed to see Clodia for the first time. His eyes went wide as he realized that she was on our side and was not one of our prisoners, but the guild master just smiled.
“Even I recognize when something is past its expiration date,” Clodia said as she flicked her black braid over her shoulder, “and my dear captain, the elven empire is so expired that it smells positively rotten.”
The captain nodded again, so I signaled to one of my guard commanders to take the defeated elf away. After I gave orders to another commander to begin locking up all our elven prisoners, I turned my attention back to my friends.
I noticed that Ava and Clodia especially kept an eye on all the elves as they were led away to the prisons, but no one gave us any trouble, so the courtyard was soon clear of everyone except for me and my people. Even though I had just launched an empire-wide revolution, it still seemed strange to think of all these soldiers as mine.
But I had just heard them all declare their loyalty to me, so I knew that it wasn’t a dream. This wasn’t even one of the visions that the Rainbow Keys sometimes showed me. This was all very real, and so was the new world that we were about to create, one where humans and elves could live side by side in peace.
But we still had a lot of work to do before we got there.
“Tell me about the situation back home,” I said to Leif.
“If things had gone south, we wouldn’t be here,” the massive gladiator said with a grin, “so that’s the short version.”
“And the long version?” Dar asked.
“The Capital is ours,” Leif replied. “We lost a few men, and some of the Elite were too injured to make the trip here through the portal, but otherwi
se, I left the regular human guard units in place all throughout the city, and I left Dryson well and in charge.”
“And Cimarra?” I asked. “And Twila? And Ashlin?”
“Not to worry, I made sure they were all well before I left town,” Leif said.
“Thank you,” I sighed as I felt a line of tension leave my shoulders.
“Did the Elite say anything about the portal?” Penny asked. “Other than that it’s completely insane to be able to travel from one city in the empire to another one in a matter of seconds?”
“Oh, they had plenty to say,” the big gladiator laughed. “I’ve never heard such a storm of curses, not even in all my years in the ring, but they came through, and now we’re all here and ready to fight.”
“It is a little strange the first time you go through one of the portals,” Ava agreed.
“It was good for them,” Leif said with a shrug. “They were already convinced that since we made it this far, the king must be blessed by the Ancients, so when they saw the magic of the portal…”
“They knew that the king was magic, too?” Ava asked.
“You could say that,” Leif replied, “but I heard more than one of them say that the king… well, that he must be one of the Ancients himself.”
“I don’t know if I would go that far,” I laughed, even as I felt Ava look at me with pride. “But before the Elite lose all their adrenaline, I want us to join forces with the guards from this city, and I want us to charge straight into the Blood City.”
“Do you think they know what’s happening here?” Dar asked.
“That depends on how many of the elves in the Blood City drank the poisoned wine,” I said. “We may come out of the portal and find that the elves did all our work for us. They might all be dead already from the nightshade.”
“I doubt we’d be that lucky,” Penny grumbled.
“I doubt it, too,” I said, “but if there are still elves up there who are still alive--”