Henry gestured at the metal disc before them. “Look, you don’t know for certain that it’s dangerous. What are we going off of here, anyway? Myths and legends? You don’t even know what it does.”
“No, you don’t know what it does, Lord Henry. On the other hand—”
“Please don’t call me that.”
“Okay, Henry. I told you I know what legend says this array does. It’s a gate of sorts, but they haven’t worked for generations. We’ve known these ruins were here, but there is nothing of value here. The place is creepy, the monsters won’t even come here, and sometimes people go missing nearby too. We really should leave.”
“I want to go check out the pillar.”
“Did you hear what I just said?” Tanushree frowned and balled up her hands. Aodh thought she looked beautiful even when she was angry. Actually, maybe she was even prettier when she was angry. Aodh felt an itch between his shoulder blades and looked around, trying to act casual. Sure enough, Rekkla was standing off to the side with Trask, still being avoided by the Berber Terrans. She was glaring.
Aodh turned around, trying to act normal. He felt bad for the goblins. There were quite a few Berbans that would like nothing better than to kill the two green siblings. Aodh knew that the only thing stopping them was Tanushree’s orders, and their fear of Henry. The Delvers leader had made it very clear he didn’t like the gob-folk very much, but they were part of his crew for the time being. If anyone hurt them, he would destroy them, or die trying.
The Bobriks and their retainers knew he was serious about this, and news of what he’d done to the orks had spread. Aodh wished people would take him seriously one day like they did Henry. Aodh was treated very differently. When people saw him now, they turned around and walked the other way. They wouldn’t even talk to him. He probably wasn’t important enough.
“Okay, look,” said Henry. “I think I’m going to go check that thing out, and there really isn’t much you can do to stop me, so let’s stop arguing about it.”
Aodh shook his head and stepped forward, saying, “Henry, you should listen to Lady Tanushree. She is from here and we aren’t.”
Tanushree frowned deeper when Aodh spoke, her cheeks coloring. He wilted inside. They talked a lot, but he just seemed to make her angry. She was always frowning and acting stiff when he was around.
Henry looked at the two of them, blinking. “The two of you should really just bone,” he said.
Aodh’s entire world turned upside down. He flushed with embarrassment down to his toes, and would not, could not look at Tanushree. As he stared at the ground, he could almost feel her presence near him like a shock of static electricity. The situation got even worse when Rekkla materialized at his side, pulling on his hand, careful not to scratch him with her long nails. She had obviously been listening in.
The young goblin shaman pleaded, “Voice, if you wish to mate, mate with me! I will be a powerful and loyal shaman forever. We can send enemies to Memory and gain strength from their flesh.”
Then Trask was there, pulling on his sister. “Please, Rekkla. Please stand with me over there? I want to stop sitting at the little tables.”
“Get off of me! The Voice is being tempted by this giant Terran bvastik. She cannot even use magic. Young males like the Voice are weak to soft females like this. Shaman Hask told me. It is my duty as a Gobskulls shaman to—”
Aodh still felt Tanushree nearby, silent as the grave. He couldn’t look at her, and he didn’t want to deal with the goblins, so he glanced up instead...just in time to see that Henry had already walked over to the distant pillar without anyone noticing him do so.
“Hey, wait, Henry, we—” Aodh called out, but it was already too late. Henry laid his hand on the strange obelisk and... nothing happened. Since Aodh had yelled, everyone in the area had their eyes on Henry as he continued pressing his palm to the strange stone pillar. There was no sound and nothing moved, but Aodh felt his heart in his throat, waiting for disaster to fall. Nothing continued to happen.
Finally, Henry turned and the impulsive man nonchalantly walked back to Aodh and Tanushree, patting his thigh. His eyes were unfocused and he wore a thoughtful expression. When he reached talking distance, the powerful ‘Bonded said, “It had a help menu. Seriously. And it was actually helpful. Tanushree, do you have any other ‘Bonded in your group?”
“Yes, one. A few of my guards have enchanted gear, but just one is ‘Bonded. I will be orb-Bonded when I take this tonight.” She produced a small box, presumably holding an orb. Even being ‘Bonded himself, Aodh gasped. So much wealth in that little box…
Henry walked the last few steps over to them, coming to a stop. On his shoulder, Honey looked curiously down at Aodh, then scanned the rest of them. The goblin siblings edged back when Honey trained her gaze on them. Henry was oblivious to all of it and said, “It’s a shame you aren’t bonded yet, Tanushree. You should have your ‘Bonded armswoman go touch the obelisk. Tony, you go do it too, and be quick. Like seriously, hurry up.”
“Why?” asked the blonde noblewoman.
“Because now I know what this thing is. It’s a teleporting transport device, like a...a waypoint from one of Jason’s games. If you touch them, you can travel to another one that you’ve touched almost instantly, and you can use them every two days.”
“Okay, but why do we need to hurry?”
“Because...see those cracks in the stone?” Henry asked, pointing to some straight furrows on a nearby building.
“Yes,” answered Aodh.
“Those aren’t cracks. They’re claw marks. Something really big lives here. From the pillar, you can see that all the buildings around here are scratched up. We got lucky,” the Asian man said, looking Aodh directly in the eyes, “but we need to get the fuck out of here before whatever it is comes back. Plus, I want to start traveling again so we can see my new house, or land, or hovel, or shack, or whatever the hell it is I supposedly own now. Let’s go. We have work to do.”
Henry didn’t need to tell Aodh twice. He’d been an adventurer long enough now to know when it was time to act, not ask more questions. And mysterious dagger or not, he didn’t want to meet anything that left claw marks twenty feet up on the side of a stone building.
Henry’s State
Henry nodded, impressed despite himself. “Okay, this is a cool little place.” He thought briefly about what he’d just said. Yes, he hadn’t actually called the place, “cold” and had used the correct slang. Jason would have been proud.
Of course, the area was not exactly little. The land had obviously been occupied for some time, the surrounding forest pushed back and the land covered in gently waving fields of grass dotted by the occasional fruit tree. He reached up to pet Honey on his shoulder before remembering she wasn’t there. The odd, purple creature had already randomly taken off earlier and run into the surrounding woods, probably to kill and eat something.
Henry was surveying the grounds, his grounds, after taking official ownership of the land. The ownership process itself had been anticlimactically simple. He’d just picked up a little token on a table in his new house, well, more of a mansion...and the place had belonged to him. That was it! The magic in the token had reacted to whatever Gonzo had done to him, and created a match, almost like a key. At least that was how it had been explained to him.
When he’d taken ownership, he’d felt something shift inside himself and the crystal surfaces on the wall of his parlor, above the front door, and the gate of his homestead had all begun to display his name.
After the place was his, he could look at these crystal surfaces, almost like round televisions, and get information about his land if he thought about it. The setup was super slick, and he discovered, by asking Tanushree and his majordomo, that the information came from both a few automatic, and a few manual sources. For instance, his budget was entered by the majordomo herself.
The land and the house had been held in stewardship by the majordomo and her family
for the last few years. She’d met Tanushree’s caravan at the gate, and had seemed legitimately excited to meet Henry. The Berber government had alerted her to the land’s new knight. That had been another shock. Henry knew he had been made a noble, but it turned out he was a noble-noble.
His majordomo, Ellen, had sat down and explained it for him, even while obviously intimidated by Tanushree. She had even used pictures...which had helped. After she’d givien him the rundown, filling in the holes in his education that had still existed after a crash course with Gonzo in the past, he’d understood why Ellen was nervous around Tanushree.
Berber’s aristocracy was weird, but kind of made sense, too. Berber had strategically placed fortifications ringing the entire country to protect against monsters, bandits, and other countries, if necessary. Each fort and the surrounding land was considered a barony. Usually, two or three baronies were ruled by a viscount from an adjoining city. Tanushree’s parents were viscounts. The largest cities in the country were overseen by a count or countess, and the whole country had four dukedoms. The dukes and duchesses lived in the capital, Mensk, near the palace.
Henry was a knight, which was a step or two up from the lowest rung of the aristocracy. The actual amount of land he owned was small, but his title wasn’t bad, not bad at all. The Berber government must have needed to give him a ritzy enough title to actually infiltrate the social circles in Mensk. Henry had to admit he’d probably need some rank to figure out what was going on in the capital. Now that Tanushree knew what Henry’s rank actually was, she’d started calling him ‘Sir Henry’.
Both the fact she knew she outranked him, and that she had become orb-Bonded herself that morning seemed to have given her a lot more confidence around both him and Tony. Henry needed to talk to her later. She was keeping things from him. He was no Jason, but he had also figured out how they might help each other.
Thinking about his official elevation made him consider his majordomo again, and he turned to regard Ellen where she walked beside him. She was a redhead, and about average height for Ludus, so maybe a little shorter than women back in the US.
She wasn’t fat, but she was thick, like she was used to hard work. Henry thought of her as kind of pretty in a stout, could-kick-your-ass sort of way. So far, he had been impressed by how effortlessly Ellen had handled his elevation and with meeting everyone in their party. She’d remembered everyone’s names, even all twelve of Tanushree’s guardswomen. Ellen’s mind was obviously like a steel trap.
Henry knew she lived on the estate in her own little home near the mansion, and she had a husband and a sister wife, but not much else. Everything had happened so fast, he figured it was time to pump her for more information. “Ellen, what does your sister wife and your husband do?”
“Do? They do many things, Sir Henry.”
“I mean, what are their jobs?”
“Oh, I understand now! Gavra leads the guards for your demesne. He is making rounds today on zebraback and I am sure he will fill you in when he gets back. He doesn’t know you’ve arrived yet because of the timing. Meesha manages our home and makes sure the children are cared for most of the time, but she used to be an engineer. If we ever need anything measured or calculated for repairs, she helps out.”
“Oh really? How many children do you have?”
“Meesha has two, and I have one,” Ellen said proudly. “A boy, Vern. Meesha’s are Nan and Celize.”
“Those are pretty names,” said Henry, and he meant it. He still hadn’t exactly figured out the wide array of names in Ludus, but he had a hunch it had something to do with people being randomly transplanted from other planets.
“Thank you, Sir. Gavra has a knack for naming and has chosen the names of all three children.”
“How many guards does Gavra lead?”
“Seven. Two families of three, and Charleen, Gavra’s second in command. Charleen is sister wife of the two maids in your manor, and wife to your gardener, Ross.”
“Two maids?”
“Yes, Sir, but Marjeet, the youngest, spends most of her time teaching all the children of the estate. Meesha, my sister wife, has more education so she helps out with lessons sometimes for the older children.”
Henry was doing his best to remember everything, but he knew he was going to forget all the names. His main goal was to understand the gist, and he thought he did. Something was still bothering him, though. “Wasn’t this place basically just existing without an owner for the last few years? Who pays for all this stuff?”
Ellen’s expression changed, looking nervous and not hiding it very well. “We get a modest stipend from the capital, but it wasn’t enough to keep everyone cared for. In the past, the owner of the estate would invest funds to keep it running smoothly. Without a Lord or Lady of the estate, I would have had to stop paying people, and we already run with a small staff. I...did what I had to do.
“What did you do?”
“My husband, Gavra, told me when the two active dungeons on the estate were populated by monsters again, and I informed local adventurers. They were allowed to come on the land to deal with the dungeons for a percentage of the profit they made. Both dungeons are not likely to ever spill out into the wild and pose a direct threat to the manor, but this way I prevented that too.”
“Sounds smart to me. I would look at all the finances and that sort of thing but I kind of don’t care. Did you make smart decisions with the money?”
“Yes, Sir.” Ellen looked surprised, like she’d been expecting to get hit before and didn’t know how to deal with the fact she wasn’t. “I had hired another family of guards. Every guard has at least one enchanted weapon or enchanted piece of gear and they specialize in their use. There are also three air rifles, one kept in the estate house, one is carried by Gavra, and one is locked up in the basement of my home with the air pump. The pump runs on magic stones. I had to save for two years to purchase it.”
“So you basically used all the money to make the estate better, safer?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good job. I know you were going to take me to the estate garden and the water well next, but I don’t really need to see them yet. Do me a favor and show me the closest, open, flat ground near the house.”
Ellen looked puzzled but answered, “Yes, Sir.” As she led the way back towards Henry’s new house, the majordomo asked,” Forgive me if I overstep myself, Sir, but are there any ladies of your house? And are you by chance orb-Bonded?” She didn’t cringe like she had before, but Ellen still tensed.
Her reaction irritated Henry. He might have a title, but he was not a dick, and the nobles he met so far hadn’t been, either. Tanushree might be wound as tight as a spring and probably desperately needed to get laid, probably for the first time, probably with Tony, but Volleyball had a good heart. It bothered Henry that Ellen had obviously been mistreated by her masters in the past. “Yeah, I’m orb-Bonded. And yes, I have a wife. She won’t be coming by any time soon, though. Well, I guess that actually might depend on that old city we passed on the way here.”
“What, you mean Veritasholm?”
“Is that the name of the creepy place with sharp buildings set in a circle around a metal disc with a pillar coming out of it?”
“Yes, Sir. You should not go there! It is not safe! I saw it once when I was a girl with more tales than sense, and we still didn’t get close enough to see anything other than the buildings in the distance.”
“I’ve already been there,” muttered Henry. “Nobody was home, but I doubt it’ll be that way next time. What I really need is…” he trailed off, thinking about his plans. Ellen left him in silence.
A few minutes later, they’d passed Henry’s new home and Ellen came to a stop, gesturing around at a small field of grass and wildflowers. “This used to be a herb garden, Sir. It went into disrepair not long after I first came to work here as a maid, and now it’s not used for anything.”
Henry looked around and smiled, taking mental me
asurements. “This is perfect!” he exclaimed. “Do you know if there are many metal deposits nearby?”
Ellen shrugged. “A few years ago an earth mage was passing through, the same that dug the well we use today, actually. She did a survey of the land and said the entire area was rich with metal, but far too deep for most to reach other than with a huge mining operation. We don’t have money or manpower for that.”
“I see,” mused Henry. “How long did it take her to dig that well? I’m assuming she used magic.” Henry figured it would take him about a minute to dig a well like that these days.
“It took her about a week.”
Henry stopped and turned. “A week? How powerful of an earth mage was she?”
“I am not sure, Sir. Maybe average?”
Now that is interesting. Henry paced the flat area again and patted his thigh in thought. “Where is Tanushree at?”
“Lady Tanushree is not far from here, practicing her magic.” Ellen’s voice practically glowed with awe.
Henry snorted. “Lead me there. I’ve heard about her new power but I’ve never seen it.”
“As you wish.” The red-headed woman bowed her head and began walking away, her grey, divided skirts swishing.
Henry shook his head. “Actually, let’s stop by the house first. You said there was a library earlier, right?”
“Yes, Sir.”
The pieces were starting to fall together in Henry’s mind. What had started as a nebulous idea, almost just a thought when he’d seen the abandoned city, was beginning to turn into a fully-fledged plan. He was tired of reacting things, tired of people on Ludus yanking him around by the short hairs. Fuck that. If he was ever going to get home, he needed a shit ton of power. And if he decided to stay on Ludus, he needed a shit ton of power too, but for different reasons.
He refused to ever be anyone’s bitch again; anyone, including Dolos.
Ellen led him back to the house and he quickly passed the table he’d taken ownership of the estate at. She led him to the back of the building and respectfully moved aside as Henry stepped into the library. The room was lined in dark wooden shelves holding tomes of all sizes. The air smelled of leather with just a slight, underlying odor of dust. A small table with a couple comfortable chairs took up the center of the room, and bronze candle holders hugged the walls at regular intervals.
Delvers LLC: Adventure Capital Page 19