by Jez Cajiao
“Bit its cock off…” I whispered, memories flaring to life.
“Whut?” Oren asked, looking at me askance.
“It’s something my brother Tommy used to say when we were children,” I explained, still lost in memories. “Whenever you have a dream of fighting or being attacked, you could choose to run, but if you started running, you never knew where you’d end up. It was always better to turn around and bite the cock off of whatever was chasing you.”
“A nightmare? That was your response to a nightmare as a child?” Cai asked in shock. “Well, I think I can see why you win when you fight, Jax…”
“Whut… happened… to… your… brother?” Oren gasped, before throwing his hands up in surrender and slowing to a walk. “I… give… in! Just… stop… a… wee while… okay?” he groaned, leaning against the wall, and doubling over, trying to catch his breath.
“Wimp!” Cai said, grinning, as he came to halt a few steps beyond Oren, his breathing labored, but nowhere near as badly as the dwarf’s.
“He’s here somewhere,” I said, slowing down and walking to a hole in the side of the Tower. I gazed through it, my hands gripping the weather-beaten stone, feeling the pits and cracks. I stared sightlessly into the past again, although to a time much more recent.
I saw the Baron, my prick of a father, as he casually informed me of Tommy’s capture and subsequent compulsory fighting in the tournament. He’d forced Tommy to kill other men and women, to ‘prove his value,’ before casting him out of our own world and into this realm.
I drew in a deep breath. I’d decided at some point the night before that I needed to come clean and tell these people everything if they were to help me, and I might as well start now.
I gestured to them to walk with me, and I told them about Tommy, about me, and about our world. I’d barely scratched the surface by the time we reached the ‘Command Center,’ as I’d started to refer to it, and it took over an hour longer as we ate the food Cai had arranged to be sent down. Answering their questions and asking some of my own, both gave me more details of their lives in return, until at last, Seneschal interrupted us.
We’d all talked about things when we’d been working together over the last few days but going over it again felt right now that we had a little time to relax.
The small wisp formed himself from the manapool attached to the Creation Table, straightening up as he coalesced. It was like watching a terminator being born from liquid metal as he grew. At first, there were no details; then arms and legs, a head and body grew distinct. Details refined as the seconds passed, until suddenly a small figure stood tall, poised atop the pool of liquid mana.
Seneschal was the second wisp I’d found, and like Oracle, he swore his allegiance to me when I awoke him. Unlike Oracle, though, his passion was the Tower and its occupants. While he deferred to me, his only real interest was the Tower.
“Hey, Seneschal, everything okay?” I asked as he appeared and raised a hand to interrupt our discussion.
“Yes, Jax, all is well. However, I noted your offer to the villager to join us earlier, and the request that they gather outside on the ground floor.”
“Ah, shit. Yeah, I meant to ask you to watch for them; sorry, man.” I muttered, scratching my head. “Where are they now?”
“Almost half of them are outside and ready. Another six are travelling through the stairwells and will arrive momentarily. There is, however, an issue…”
“Go on,” I said, sitting upright and taking a deep breath.
“The Reeve of Lorek has convinced two others to side with him, and they are headed to the main group now. I suspect they have been ‘his’ for some time, as they seem unconcerned with his orders regarding violence.”
“Violence?” I growled, getting to my feet. “What’s the prick done now?”
“Nothing yet, but he’s instructed his two men to ‘make an example’ of the young woman your advisor Cai seems enamored with. They are to ‘enjoy her’ before disposing of her body.”
“What!” Cai said, jumping to his feet, Oren following behind less than a second later, and both men grabbed at weapons reflexively.
“Where are they in relation to Isabella?” I asked quietly, holding my hand up to stop Cai and Oren before they could do anything else. I felt my irritation and annoyance with the man go from hot to an icy cold rage as soon as I realized fully what he was trying to do. He wasn’t a petty civil servant and a prick as I first assumed, trying to hold onto his power and to hell with the consequences. He’d just tried to arrange a murder and a rape, and as such he and his two friends had shown themselves to me.
“They are one floor below you now and moving quickly. They will likely reach her before you reach them; however, Oracle and Bob are headed here now, so I took the liberty of sharing the information with them. They should reach the men before the men reach Isabella.”
“Well done, Seneschal,” I said, letting out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.
“Thank you, Jax. However, Oracle seems rather incensed by the knowledge I shared with her, so if you wish the men to survive…?”
“I get it; I’m on my way.” I said, turning and heading for the door, Cai and Oren close on my heels.
“Oracle, where are you?”
“I’m nearly there, Jax. Don’t worry; Bob and I will take care of this!”
I could feel the rage bleeding through from the typically happy wisp. Something about his had driven her into a rage, and I suspected I knew what it was.
“Well, don’t do anything permanent to them. We need to get the villagers onside first, then you can have them.”
“Define ‘permanent’.”
“Just capture them, that’s it. Bring them downstairs to face their people, and I’ll be there with Cai and Oren soon.”
Oracle disappeared from my mind, but the silence and residual anger I felt let me know how she felt about my instructions.
I shook the feelings off and hurried down the stairs, coming out into the sunlight on the ground floor just behind Bob, who dragged both of the Reeve’s unconscious and bloodied men behind himself. I could hear the Reeve screaming something at Oracle as I emerged, but I wasn’t in time to stop the bolt of lightning that blasted him from his feet.
I suppressed a growl as I saw the effect the magic had on the crowd of villagers gathered before the Tower. Before, they’d been hesitant to make eye contact, but some had viewed me with hope.
Now they all huddled together, eyes downcast as they waited to see what I was going to do to them.
“Dammit, Oracle…” I whispered under my breath, knowing she’d hear me. She hovered a dozen feet away. The villagers were hunkered off to the left, and the ‘Reeve of Dannick’ lay crumpled and moaning to my right, with her floating squarely between them.
“That…that thing attacked me!” he screamed at me as soon as he could get his breath. “That flying bitch used magic on me for no reason, while your pet assaulted my friends!” He tried to get to his feet, pointing an accusing finger at me as he drew in to continue his screeching, when Cai darted past me.
Before I could stop him, the humanoid panther had crossed the distance and grabbed the fat little man by the throat, only to send him staggering with a solid punch to the face. Oren stepped up next to me and shouted to his friend to leave him some, and I clipped him across the back of the head reflexively.
“That’s not helping, you little bastard!” I growled, before raising my voice to carry across to everyone. “Cai! Leave him be! I told you to stop him, not kill him.” I bent the truth a little there, but it had the desired effect, as everyone looked to me, then back at Cai and the sniveling Reeve.
Cai stood there for a second, hands held curled over strangely, shining claws visible, before straightening and backing up to stand next to me, leaving Lorek reeling.
“Yes, Lord Jax. My apologies,” he growled, never taking his eyes off the trembling Reeve.
“You…your…” The
little man squeaked before I cut him off with a glare.
“Silence, you fat prick!” I snarled at him, turning to the people that stood subdued to my left. Isabella was clear among them, unharmed thankfully.
“Okay, people, this is going to take some explaining, but the simple truth is that in the Tower, you are in my domain. What I’d not made clear to you yet is what that means.” Bob stomped over, depositing the unconscious men alongside their ‘friend’ before returning to hulk behind me. Even now, faced solely with giving an explanation and without any real threat to me, my massive bone minion stood guard over me, and I gained a little reassurance from his presence.
“While you’ve been in the Tower over the last day, you might have heard mention of, or even seen, a wisp.” I said, noting a few nods. “There are three of them, each with their own interests, focuses, and responsibilities, Oracle here…” I said, gesturing to my companion as she flew across to hover by my side. “…is my bonded companion.
She is also in charge of knowledge and magic in the Tower. Seneschal is responsible for the Tower itself and its occupants, and finally, Hephaestus is in charge of the Golems and crafting."
"What I haven’t explained to any of you is that Seneschal IS the Tower, as much as a separate entity. I asked him to monitor your previous ‘master,’ Reeve Lorek.” Again, slightly bending the truth there. “And as such, he was listening to every word that this waste of space said to his two goons.” The little fat man went even paler, his right hand coming up to cover his mouth as he glanced first at the two unconscious men, then at Isabella.
“Yeah,” I said, looking him in the eye as he turned back to me. “So, I know exactly what you ordered done to her, and how you wanted an ‘example made’ for the former villagers of Dannick.” I shifted my focus back to the group and held onto the front of my armor, in the way I’d seen the police and soldiers do when they were trying not to appear threatening.
“He ordered that Isabella be murdered, gruesomely, and that those two were to ‘enjoy themselves’ with her before they did it. I don’t know what kind of laws you’re used to, but I know what that means. I’ll be very, very clear here. That kind of thing isn’t acceptable, regardless of the reason, or who it is doing it. Just because he was your ‘master’ doesn’t mean he gets to get away with shit like that.” The group started muttering to themselves, while Isabella held my gaze.
“Why would he do that, my lord?” She called out, the look in her eye letting me know that she knew exactly why.
“Because you had expressed a desire to join me, Isabella, and he couldn’t allow that.”
“Can you prove what you said?” the Reeve called out weakly, trying what he must have assumed was his trump card. “You claim you respect the lives of those who live here, but you attack refugees without proof of some kind?”
“Oh, don’t you worry yourself about that, pal. Wisps have numerous abilities, you know, one of which is to share memories.” I said, thinking fast and making shit up on the spot. “So, all Seneschal has to do is share his memory of your words to all here, and then I think we’ll deal with you the same way we dealt with the last murdering piece of shit we had here. We’ll take you all the way to the top of the Tower, and I’ll see just how far out I can throw each of you. I’m betting I can beat Toka’s record; what do you think, Cai?” I said, denying the Reeve a chance to speak.
“Oh, I think you could manage at least double that distance, my lord!” Cai said. “In fact, I’d be happy to have a try myself, if you don’t mind?”
“I…I…wait…”
“Or we go for option two,” I said, cutting the panicked man’s spluttering attempts off as I mentally communicated with Oracle.
“Heal the idiots, please, Oracle.”
“Heal them? But they…”
“Trust me, they won’t be getting away with this.”
Oracle cast a simple ranged healing spell on both men, and after a few seconds, they blinked their eyes and groaned, sitting up to look around.
“Welcome back to the land of the living, gentlemen. Just to catch you both up on events so far, you’ve been caught plotting to kill Isabella, as well as ‘enjoy her’ beforehand. Or after; fuck knows with the likes of you, really... I have proof, and I’m going to drag you to the top of the Tower to see if you can discover the secret of flight by giving you no other alternatives.”
“Huh?” one grunted, while the other just sat there open-mouthed. The only sign that he had understood was a rapidly spreading wet mark on the front of his breeches.
“That’s my first option. The second choice is that you admit your crimes against someone who’d already asked to join my settlement, you apologize, and I give you a pack of supplies and a weapon, banish you, and let you go home. Just the three of you, I mean, unless any of the people from your village wish to travel with you?”
“You’d set them free?”
“Oh yeah. Pay attention to my phrasing, though; I never promised to help them get there. How dangerous would you say the forest is between here and their village? With a single weapon and one pack of supplies between them?”
“I don’t know, but considering the SporeMother was here and hadn’t spread out? Could be lots of creatures in the area…at least I hope so!”
“Me too. Oh, and I’m going to send Oren to go and recruit whoever I can from the village by Airship, and if they’ll all come, he can strip it to the ground. Nice surprise for them if they somehow make it and only find a hole in the ground."
"Maybe I’ll even leave him a note or get someone to paint a picture of me giving the fucker the finger and leave that there.”
Oracle’s only response was a feeling of satisfaction as she left the mental connection.
“If one of you doesn’t own up to this, though, I’m going to assume you all would rather fly, so on the count of three, I’m going to have the Golems drag you up to the Top of the Tower…One, two…”
“Aye! He…said, the Reeve said we was to do ‘er, just like you said!” the one with the wet breeches clamored, and I decided to think of him as ‘Pissy-pants’ from now on.
“Silence, you fool! He can’t prove it!” the Reeve screamed, lashing out with his right hand, and slapping the terrified man across the face.
“And what’s your choice?” I asked the remaining man, who gulped, looking from one of his companions to the other before nodding and looking at the ground, barely speaking above a whisper.
“What he said,” was all the man managed to croak out, but by now, the entire remaining group of villagers were convinced of their guilt, as indicated by the angry mutters that started to rise. A few had managed to find small daggers, and they wore them on their hips, hands gripping them tight.
“Last chance then, Reeve Lorek. Want to join your friends and fuck off, or do you want to fly? Because believe me, if you make me walk all the way to the top of the Tower, I’ll be in an unbelievably bad mood when we get there!”
Silence reigned for a long minute, but just as I opened my mouth to speak again, he snarled out a response.
“Fine! I told them to kill the wench, and I was within my rights! They are MY villagers. I own them, I make the laws, and I decide who lives in MY lands!” he spat, glaring at me.
“Except you’re not in your lands anymore, you little prick, you’re in MINE!” I roared at him, making everyone take a step back at my sudden blaze of fury. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, rubbing my face with my hands as I reflected on how easily this man had driven me into a rage, before calling out to Seneschal.
“Seneschal, old buddy, you there?”
“Of course, Jax.”
“Coolio. Okay I need you to get someone to grab the shittiest weapon you can find in the tower and bring it down here, along with a pack of supplies.”
“I have the perfect equipment in mind. It should take only a few minutes to have it prepared, and it’ll be with you within the hour. There’s a Servitor close by, and it can deliver th
em.”
“Thanks, mate.”
“Okay, Bob, take those three asshats off to the side. I want them out of the way before I do something I’ll really enjoy…”
I said, gesturing at a section of the courtyard that was the furthest from where the rest of the group stood.
Bob stomped forward quickly, grabbing the three in his multiple hands and dragging them unceremoniously as far as possible from the remaining villagers, who were glaring furiously at them.
I addressed the villagers, grimacing as I reflected on what should have been a joyous occasion.
“Okay, people,” I said, taking a deep breath and smiling at them, although it was obviously a little forced. “That wasn’t the start I’d hoped for with this, but Isabella told me that some of you would like to join us here in the Great Tower permanently as citizens?”
“Yes, my lord!” replied Isabella, offering an awkward curtsey that was quickly copied by the rest of the group, including the men, who seemed as confused as I was by the show.
“Stop.” I shook my head. “Please, there’s no need to bow or curtsey, not here, and not with me. Yes… I am Lord Jax, and I’m lord of the Great Tower and of Dravith, but we’re a small community, and we’re all going to be working hard to get things up and running together.
“First of all, is there anyone here who doesn’t want to swear allegiance and join the community?” I asked, noting the looks a few of them had given the three men that had been dragged off by Bob.
“Ignore those idiots, please,” I said firmly. “Isabella asked to join my community and was already under my protection when they decided to harm her. As it stands, they can consider themselves fortunate that I’m just making them leave. If they’d managed to actually carry out their threat, they’d be dead.”
I took a deep breath and looked around, spotting a moss-covered bench off to one side that faced an open space that was dappled with sunlight. I led them over and gestured for them to sit on the ground while I sat on the bench. “Can you all see hear me okay?” I asked, receiving cautious nods in response.