Satomi frowned and lifted a hand up, looking confused.
“Yet you caught and confronted an assassin. This is not debatable.”
“No, it’s not. Unless we question what it was I encountered. One could turn this on its head and ask, were they there as an intermediary between Basile and the cell? Did they kill themselves to avoid us discovering that?”
Satomi sighed, looking more annoyed.
“That is some extreme paranoia, though I cannot discredit the thought.”
Hannah closed her eyes and then started hitting her head with her palms.
“He can’t be that fucking stupid, could he? Be that damned thick? That stupid that the asshole can’t even keep his mouth shut? That he bungles shit so bad he gets his own people killed because he has them meet him in his own bedroom?”
Runner felt Amelia use her legs to press into him at that statement.
At this point he could only assume she was doing it to get the point across to him that his train of thought was correct, but she couldn’t actually say anything. That or she’d just gone into heat.
Runner cleared his throat, trying to not think about the woman hanging onto him.
“Why not use your fucking brain thingamajig on him and make him tell you? Turn him into a pile of goo.” Hannah made a vague motion with her fingers at her own temple.
“Because it would only provide me with basic answers, really. Answers with no context.
“Not to mention I’d be assaulting a king. A king who is currently my vassal. If this really is a horribly inconvenient coincidence, I’d be setting myself up for a laundry list of problems.
“Can you imagine Helen or Vasilios trusting me after hearing what I’d done to Basile?”
“Shit, no. Fuck. What the fuck. You’re always a god damned problem.”
Amelia snickered a little at that.
“Vixen, Hanners, I think we should play this one out. Vixen, you disguise yourself as the redhead. Hanners, that leaves you the brunette to play. I’ll invite Basile over, take a minute to handle ‘something,’ and you’ll get a moment alone with him. See if he takes the bait.”
Amelia’s hand dipped into a fold of Runner’s armor. It seemed her patience had been lost now that he was taking action.
Hannah slapped Amelia’s hand and then glared at the lewd goddess over Runner’s shoulder.
“Stop. Now,” Hannah growled.
Amelia pressed her offending hand to Runner’s middle and moved it no further. Runner felt her chin shift as if she were turning her face to Hannah.
“Hmmm?” Amelia purred. “If you’re so jealous, take him from me. He’d spurn me faster than a poisonous snake poised to bite him on the ass for you. Why should I stop if it’s only because you don’t act?” Amelia’s hand slid up slowly, as if to renew her earlier assault.
“Minxy, you’re taunting her deliberately. Be nice. You should be going anyways if we’re going to go through with this. I appreciate you helping out, truly. Besides, it sounds like we’ll be chatting tonight, according to Brighteyes.”
“Of course, my god-emperor. I’ll always do as you wish and command. Always. On an unrelated note, you owe me twenty-three hours for my work with the little gutter rat. I look forward to spending it with you.” And then Amelia winked out of existence.
“God-Emperor, bonded?” Satomi said. Her question was followed by a firm mental knock on the connection he shared with her.
Sighing, he opened his mind to her and pointed out the relevant memories.
Directing his response to Hannah, he held up his hands and sighed.
“Norwood has joined an empire with the Barbarians, Sunless, and Humans. They then elected me emperor,” he said simply.
Hannah nodded her head at that. Before holding up a finger.
“And the god part?”
“Yeah, it’s true. I’m a god. One of the divine.”
“Fuck you, no. Start at the beginning,” Hannah said, punching him in the shoulder.
So Runner did.
Satomi took it in stride. If anything she seemed proud. Hannah on the other hand was a little angry, and if Runner didn’t miss his guess, scared.
In his time with the half-breed, he’d found he earned more points with her letting her figure out what she wanted to say, rather than trying to dredge it out of her.
“Now, moving on to more important matters.” Runner shifted in the chair he’d taken during his explanation. “Since they weren’t supposed to make contact, what were they going to do to get out?”
“Unknown. What we got out of them is they were all making their own plans. Their go-between was no longer a part of the cell.”
“Which means you already caught them. Or it was what I walked in on. The go-between with their handler.” Runner sighed and put his chin in his hand.
“Fuck. That, yeah. Okay. So we do this. What are we doing?”
“We go in, have a good time, celebrate me becoming emperor. You’ll be my date, Hanners. Vixen, you act interested enough in Basile that he doesn’t leave but… err… don’t let him touch you.” Runner felt a mild sense of distaste at the very idea of Basile getting close to his familiar.
“No. This is stupid. An idiot plan, fuck this, fuck you.”
Runner leaned forward and held his hands out to Hannah.
“Hanners, please? I promise to behave. You’ll need to flirt. Probably act it up like you want to spend the night with me. Maybe even leave with me to pull Basile into the scheme.”
Hannah’s nose wrinkled up and she broke eye contact with him, looking to the side.
“Fine,” she muttered.
“Thank you. Now, let’s get a message over to Basile with the location. I figure my personal study would be best. Basile wouldn’t be able to get anyone or anything in there. I’m going to head out for a bit, but I’ll be back by seven or so. Need to run some tests and talk to the Triumvirate about something I did.”
3:33 pm Sovereign Earth time
5/16/44
Runner looked around at the fields surrounding him. According to his map this was only a small piece of the area he had set aside for his people to begin working into farmlands.
The work that had been done looked as if it were predominantly clearing the fields of trees, rocks, and other field impediments.
Which left it looking a lot like the plane of Eden. Open grasslands that the wind swept gently over with its caress.
With a casual flip of his fingers he burned away a large rectangle of grass in a five-foot-by-ten-foot area.
All that remained was bare scorched earth.
Taking a deep breath, Runner opened up his inventory and brought out a stack of bricks.
“Brighteyes, you said you wanted to talk about Milly. This seems like an opportune time. Unless you’re occupied, of course.” Runner picked up two bricks and set them down on the grass. Kneeling down, he started to press the bricks into the dirt, creating imprints.
“Brunhild is unfortunately occupied with Amelia. They are dealing with the champions,” Ernsta said, standing beside him.
“Ah, my beautiful Dark Angel. I’ll never say no to spending time with you.” Runner grinned up at the athletic incarnation of death. She wasn’t pretty like Brunhild, or cute and spunky like Amelia, but she definitely had her own charms. At least to Runner.
Ernsta gave him a thin smile and crouched down beside him. She watched for a moment as he continued to press his bricks into the dirt. The shape he was making looked unquestionably like a wall.
“What am I doing?” Runner asked aloud for Ernsta’s benefit. “I’m saving a little time and plotting out the arrangement. I decided to test out an idea I had a while back.”
“I see.” Ernsta folded her arms around her knees and watched for a minute. “My sisters wished to discuss your recent elevation of a Paladin.”
“So I gathered. What can I do to help?” Looking over his work he felt like it was a big enough platform. Runner set about filling in the indentations with bricks
.
“We would have you grant us the power you used to empower your Paladin, or to do it yourself on our part. Normally gaining the first Paladin is the hardest. You broke that barrier for all of us. Easily.”
Runner frowned while shifting bricks into the spacing he wanted.
“I don’t have a problem with that. I can easily create a staff or weapon that could do the same I suppose. What would you all prefer?” Standing, Runner took out the mortar he had brought with him. Dropping a chunk of it out onto the bricks, he used his Earth element to spread it out evenly and quickly.
“I believe we would enjoy the option of having both available. A sword for me, staff for Brunhild, a dagger for Amelia.” Ernsta reached out and brushed her fingers against the already dry mortar.
“Consider it done. I’ll have it for you before we head out on campaign. Anything else?” Runner began setting down bricks in a two-by-two column on top of the platform he’d made.
“Do you have any restrictions on us for Paladins? Or instructions?” Ernsta asked him.
“Huh? Why would I? We’re all equals in this, silly Angel. You ask something like that and I’ll give you an order and we’ll see what happens. Maybe have Minxy tie you up and deposit you in my bedroom.” Runner slopped down some mortar onto the quickly rising column of bricks.
“Hush,” Ernsta said quietly. “What are you building?”
“Experimenting. I had a thought earlier when I opened that rip in space from plane to plane. Seeing what I can do now with it. Speaking of kidnapping you and having my way with you...,” Runner said. Turning his head, he addressed Ernsta directly.
“If I wanted to neutralize a god, either through death or otherwise, how might I do that? It seems complicated since you can be in multiple places at the same time.”
Ernsta looked thoughtful as she considered his question.
“I’m not sure. I suppose with enough divine power you could force them from avatar to reality. To be honest with you, I am here and here alone at this moment.”
Runner quirked a brow at her before returning to his work.
“So if I absconded with you right now, you’d be at my mercy.”
“Completely.”
“If I took you to another plane, you’d be unable to leave?”
“Yes. I’d be your prisoner.”
“Huh. Why are you here in person by the way?” Runner slopped more mortar down and then used his elemental abilities to harden everything up. He moved to the other side of the platform and began to build another pillar.
“All three of us do it. It’s preferable.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, why? You don’t have to answer.” He laid the bricks down quickly.
Ernsta let out a soft breath, her hand coming out to touch the new pillar.
“You made a comment once. ‘I wouldn’t want to share them with their followers.’”
Runner stood up and firmed the pillar with mortar and then thought on her comment.
“Suppose I did at that. Well, thank you for being conscientious. You’re treating me better than I deserve. Consider me flattered and moved. I already owe you a hug, you’re welcome to claim something else as well for being honest with me. I can always count on you to never sugarcoat it, Angel. Love you for that. Truly do.” Runner started to build a simple arch from larger bricks above the two pillars.
Runner finished up and took two steps backwards.
“It’s a doorframe?” Ernsta asked.
“Kinda. I need to make another one.” Runner grunted and set into building another.
Having done it once, this one took little to no time at all. Once they were both built he started to think on how he wanted to do this. Up to this point it had all been hypothetical.
“You actually care for me.”
Runner scoffed and looked to Ernsta.
“Obviously. For someone as intelligent as you are, you’re lacking in common sense at times. Maybe I should kidnap you after all. I could take us to a plane with a time dilation effect. We could spend a day there and it would only cost us maybe six hours.”
Ernsta wrinkled her nose and then her shoulders drooped.
“I’m sorry. This is new to me. Amelia and I have spoken of this before. She hides her nervousness in her actions—I’m afraid I cannot be as bold.”
Runner sighed and then pulled Ernsta into a tight hug.
“You’re an idiot. This one’s on the house. Be yourself, don’t change, there’s nothing you need to do. We’re feeling this out, remember?” Runner ran his hands lightly up and down her back.
“Mmm.” Ernsta was stiff in his arms. Patting her on the back twice, he released her.
“When you claim that hug, I expect you to hug me. Not act like a tree. Now, let’s get to testing.”
Runner selected the frame with his mind and then pushed his will, mana, and divine power into it to create the same portal he had previously.
It took only a little effort before the portal burst to life in the frame he’d selected. A second portal ripped into existence in the other frame.
“Ah, seems like it worked? Let’s try.” Without another word Runner walked through the portal on his right.
And popped out of the one on the left.
Ernsta’s eyes bore down on him after having watched the demonstration.
“You’ve already changed war forever here. With this, you would turn tactics on its head.”
“Yeah. I know. What can I say? I want my empire to be victorious. I will make Bastion a citadel to those who would seek shelter, and a death knell for those who would oppose me.” Runner put his hands on his hips as he stared at his creation.
“You could put these in our temples. That would make them religious property, which can be protected by champions, Paladins, and even us. We could move anywhere at any time. Even cloak it as a religious power if we put it in a dark room and force a sworn oath on their soul.”
“Uh huh. Lots of uses. No shower rooms to peek in on though.”
Runner sighed dramatically at his own terrible humor.
“You could watch me, without the portal,” Ernsta said humorlessly.
“Dark Angel! You lovely woman. You always surprise me. Consider me interested. Only need a time and place. I bet you look great in the water.”
Then Runner exploded his portals with a burst of divine power. The bricks detonated and the magic winked out as pieces of the gate sprayed out.
He had a date with Basile to prepare for.
Chapter 15 - Divine Orders -
8:07 pm Sovereign Earth time
5/16/44
Basile took a seat near Satomi, though not directly next to her.
Hannah was seated beside Runner, poised as if to lean into him at any moment.
Hannah and Satomi were both well dressed as normal, though to Basile’s eyes he was sure they were dressed in a provocative manner.
Hannah had gone off on her own after Satomi had set up her disguise. Whether it was to get her head in the right spot or torture her prisoners he didn’t know.
At least she’s here, and acting accordingly.
“Glad you could make it, Basile. You’ll forgive me for having gotten ahead of you.” Runner gave the man a smile.
Several half-finished bottles sat on a small table between them. An empty bottle would vanish. Several half-finished ones would hopefully convey exuberant overindulgence to Basile.
“Not a problem, Emperor. Or Runner?”
“Runner. We’re in good company here,” Runner said, shifting his weight to one side and sliding his arm around Hannah’s shoulders.
To her credit, Hannah immediately smiled and leaned into his side. Her right hand fell on his knee as her left lay in her lap.
I hope she doesn’t kill me later.
“Runner. I’m afraid I won’t be able to stay too long, but I’ll be glad to remain for a bit.” Basile poured himself a glass from one of the bottles. Runner checked in with Satomi mentally.
“You know, I swear this whole problem is because of one thing,” Runner grumbled. Mentally he tried his hand at blocking out the room to the eyes and ears of the divine. “Because Rike is a dirty rotten cunt. I bet if she got laid she’d ease up.”
Basile couldn’t hide the momentary shock on his face at Runner’s casual blasphemy.
“What do you think, Basile?” Runner asked. As if he wasn’t particularly interested in the answer, he leaned into Hannah’s ear and whispered for her ear alone.
“You did say Rike was the most likely culprit, right? Giggle and smile, nod or shake your head. Sorry.”
Hannah froze up, then let out a sultry giggle and nodded.
“Oh, the same as anyone,” Basile said noncommittally.
Runner laughed and turned from Hannah to look to Basile.
“I think she’s a nasty old bat who needs to ride a pole. Come on, you think she needs to get laid? Or is she so dry down there it’d turn someone to ground beef?”
Satomi laughed and leaned forward toward Basile.
“Yes, Lord Basile. Tell us. We’re all friends here, and she’s the enemy. I’m sure you hold a special hatred for her since she’s invaded your lands.”
“I, uh. Yes. She’s a true nightmare. A terror. Blessed be the day she leaves our lands alone.” Once again his comments were something anyone could say.
“Fuck Rike! May she sleep with pigs and bear their young! I serve the Triumvirate!” Runner shouted, holding up his glass. He was tired of the dancing around.
Blunt as a battering ram.
Hannah and Satomi both held up their own glasses, laughing, and said in unison, “Fuck Rike! May she sleep with pigs and bear their young! I serve the Triumvirate!”
All three turned to Basile, waiting.
For his own part, he gave them a smooth smile and held up his glass.
“Fuck Rike. May she sleep with pigs and bear their young. I serve the Triumvirate.”
Lie. Satomi’s mind gave him the impression as Basile spoke. He didn’t serve the Triumvirate.
“Ahaha. Lovely, lovely. Ah, that reminds me. I need to step out for a quick minute,” Runner apologized. Leaning in, he pressed in close to Hannah’s ear again.
Otherlife Awakening: The Selfless Hero Trilogy Page 26