by Dante Doom
“So, you’ve known this whole time,” Savannah hissed. “You’ve known this whole time that it’s a lie, and yet you still keep it going. Why?”
“Power,” Leopold practically purred. “For Verre to survive, the hierarchy must exist. Peasants, Barons and Knights must all work to feed and protect the city.”
“And the Nobles?” Savannah asked, swallowing back bile to keep from being sick.
“Someone must rule,” Leopold replied with a shrug.
“What about all of that information?” Savannah asked. “Why haven’t you shared all of the incredible technology? There’s so much that could be shared to make everyone’s lives better!”
Leopold flipped his hand dismissively. “Frankly, I’m too busy consolidating power. The fatal flaw with the way our tradition works is that anyone can become the monarch. From the moment you get this job, someone else is eager to take it from you. There was one stretch of time where we had a new ruler every single day for a solid week! Then the rulers started getting smart. They learned that watching your back was necessary for survival. My father’s father was the best King we ever had; he knew how to rule from behind the scenes. He started a work that I intend to finish.”
“Gaining total control…” Savannah whispered.
“Yes! After I have full control of the Grind, I will then look at these archives and learn what is necessary, but for now, I am focusing on gaining complete control. It’s the only way to stabilize Verre for good. Every King who comes after me—my sons, naturally—will be endowed with supreme power, and they can focus on ruling the city.”
“That’s insane!” Timon shouted, his patience with the King lost. He shook his head furiously. “There’s no reason you should be wasting your time on consolidating power. The archives must have access to the farming equipment that would change the life of every peasant. People are starving while you desperately work to secure your own job?”
“The peasants need to starve a little,” Leopold replied. “If we build big farming machines to do all of the work, what will they do? Mill about and grow bored? They’ll become rowdy and violent, Timon. Hard work, long hours, and an empty stomach keeps them occupied.”
“You bastard,” Savannah growled. “You already have the information, don’t you? You’ve already been in the archives.”
Leopold grinned. “Oh yes, and I have everything necessary to keep my friends healthy and safe. The rest of it is useless. In the grand scheme of things, it will all be valuable, but not without stability. Why build airplanes when there is nowhere to go?”
Savannah clenched her fists. How dare this jackass hold back all of the information about the world they’d once had? She gritted her teeth, feeling rage well up within her. Maybe she should just attack him. She didn’t fear death anymore—why should she? If she were kicked out of the Grind, she’d take the war to the outside and preach the new gospel to the people. They would hear of Leopold’s lies and the peasants he talked down about so much would revolt.
“How can you do this to Verre?” Timon accused him, turning to face him instead of Savannah. “How can you tell me with a straight face that this is for the people’s own good? The nobility is meant to protect the weak! We are here to serve!”
“Awww, did your daddy tell you that while he was beating his servants for spilling his wine?” Leopold asked. “Face it, laRange—if it wasn’t for the fact that your House has done a lot of good for me, you would never be allowed into the ranks of nobility. You are such a high-minded fool. But enough of this. I grow tired of our exchange. I would like to make you an offer, Miss Savannah, and I want you to think long and hard about it.”
“An offer?” Savannah asked.
Leopold placed a hand gently on her shoulder. “There is little reason for you to side with Elanor and betray me. Perhaps you were confused. I would be willing to forgive you for that. I’ve been impressed with you so far, you know, so there’s no reason to prevent you from joining with me. I quite enjoy your company,” he added, and grinned at her as he gently squeezed her shoulder. “And I think that you would enjoy mine.”
Savannah realized what he was suggesting and felt sick. Was this why he had been so insistent on her joining his side?
“Enough!” Timon shouted, gripping her arm and pulling her from the King’s grip.
Leopold scowled at Timon. “You, young man, are an entirely different problem. Rest assured that I will be having a long conversation with your father. I wouldn’t be surprised if he suggested throwing you over the wall for supplanting his alliance with my house. If you don’t want to do anymore damage to yourself, I suggest you walk away and let me talk with my darling Savannah.”
Timon stood his ground, but Savannah pulled away from him. She looked at Leopold. “I can be a Noble?”
“Of course!” Leopold said.
“And I’ll have an estate?” she asked as she slowly approached the King.
“You could have anything you want,” Leopold said with a smile. “Anything at all.”
“You can’t be serious,” Timon said. “You can’t honestly be thinking about working with him?”
“Shut it!” Leopold hissed. He turned back to look at Savannah and whispered, “The world will be no different tomorrow if we bury this truth and focus on moving forward,” Leopold said softly. Looking down at Savannah, his voice deepened, tempting her. “However, your world will be very different. Very different, indeed.”
Savannah leaned in close and whispered, “Go to hell,” before slapping Leopold as hard as she could across the face. There was no way that she’d side with a man like this, not after everything he’d just told her.
Leopold held his cheek and began to chuckle. “Did you really just do that?”
“I’m not going to serve you!” Savannah replied.
“You are so simple, so common,” Leopold said as he spat at her feet. “You do realize that my guards are still at your home, right? And little Savannah is resting comatose in her pod, completely helpless. I hope this was worth it.”
“Ah, crap!” Savannah shouted, realizing what this meant. She had been so caught up in the moment, in the excitement of knowing the truth, that she had forgotten that the King’s guards were still in her home. As soon as Leopold gave the order, he would have her killed. There was no way she’d be able to escape from Leopold and make her way to an exit, either; he’d restrain her before that. She had to act quickly.
“Timon, you need to find me!” she blurted out as she spun around, shoved the rifle against his chin, and pulled the trigger. The gunshot blasted into him and the words Killing Blow hovered above his head. He faded, and all of his points came rushing to Savannah.
“Good luck fighting off my men,” Leopold said as he performed a slow clap.
Savannah felt her connection weaken then, and the next thing she knew, she was inside of her pod. She pulled the wires from her body and kicked the door open hard, slamming it against someone.
“Ooof!” a man yelled.
While she would normally have been exhausted by leaving the tube, the adrenaline pumping through her pushed all of the grogginess away. She rushed out to see that two men, armed with hammers, had been pounding on the glass of her pod. They apparently weren’t expecting her to wake up in the middle of their attempted murder. They wore the golden colors of the Royal Knights.
“Stand back, you bastards!” Savannah said as she raised her fists. “You’re not killing me!”
“Oh, please,” said one of the thugs as he swung his hammer at her. She deftly scrambled out of the way of his attack. She grabbed a wrench that had been tangled in cords on the ground next to her father’s pod and ripped it free from the tangled mess, pulling a few cords out in the process. She raised her wrench high.
“Stay back!” she threatened.
This elicited laughter from the two soldiers as they drew their swords at once. “Just go down with dignity,” one of them said as he began to approach.
“What the
hell is wrong with you?” came a familiar voice from behind Savannah. She turned slightly to see Timon standing at the top of the stairs. “Attacking an unarmed civilian like that!”
The guards all looked up at Timon. “Hey, she’s got a wrench,” one of them said. “That counts as a weapon.”
Timon drew his long, thin rapier and held it high. “And so does this!”
“Who’s this guy?” the guard closest to Savannah asked.
Savannah took advantage of the distraction and rushed the guard closest to her while his focus was on Timon. She swung her wrench hard, nailing him right in the head and knocking him down.
“Ah crap!” the guard shouted as he dropped his sword. The other one was distracted by this and Timon took the initiative by rushing down the stairwell and raising his blade high. Savannah was on the other side, flanking the guards.
Timon lunged forward and yelled, “Have at thee!” as he swung his blade forward. This caused the remaining guard to back up to parry the blow. Savannah took the opportunity to duck and trip him, knocking him over.
“Oh, thank God!” Timon gasped as he rushed over and shoved the blade against the throat of the guard she’d tripped, who held his hands up in surrender. “I’ve never used this thing before. My mother always told me to wear one because it looks regal.”
“I’ve used a wrench plenty of times… but I’ve never actually knocked someone unconscious with one,” Savannah gasped out as she found some rope in one of the barrels in the back of the basement. She quickly went about tying up the two guards. “There’s got to be more of them here, right?”
“I didn’t see anyone else,” Timon said. “I doubt Leopold would send too many people to get rid of a comatose woman in a pod.”
“Good point,” Savannah replied. “Well, that’s one crisis averted.”
Before Timon could speak any further, there was a hissing sound from Hem’s pod. It swung open as Hem groggily staggered out.
“Dad?” Savannah asked as she looked at her father. He was rubbing his forehead.
“Savannah? What are you doing out of the game?” he asked.
“What were you doing in there? I thought you and Mom were safe,” Savannah said.
“Well, we were, but I got tired of waiting around in Elanor’s estate. I don’t care for being inside the second wall for too long, so I thought I’d come back and see if the guards were gone. They were, so I climbed in to look for you.”
“Why did you leave the game, then?” Timon asked.
Hem glanced at Timon. “Some cables on my pod got damaged, and the game went into neutral mode and kicked me out.”
“Oh, whoops,” Savannah said as she looked at the frayed cords that were on the ground. “That was my mistake.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“We should move to my house,” Timon said as he paced the floor of the Drunken Knight. “It’s safer. I have Knights ready to protect me.”
“Oh, that’s a great idea, Silvarspoon,” Hem said as he shook his head. “Let’s move closer to the palace, making it easier for the King to send dozens of guards at his leisure. No. We’re going to have to hide somewhere out in the country.”
“Hide? Dad, did you hear what I told you?” Savannah asked. “Everything we know about the Grind is a lie.”
“Yeah, I understand that, but my number one priority is keeping my family safe,” Hem said. “And this guy, too, I guess, since he threw himself in to protecting us.”
“Oh right, I didn’t formally introduce myself. My name is Timon, of House laRange,” Timon said as he extended his hand to Hem. Her father shook it, squeezing it enough to make Timon wince as he retracted his hand.
“Pleasure to meet you. Thanks for saving my girl’s life.”
“I merely waved a sword around. She took two men down, herself.”
“That’s how I raised her,” Hem said as he dug around behind the bar. He pulled out a map and unrolled it on the countertop. “We’ve got to get out of here; there should be a good spot due west of here…”
“Why are you talking about running?” Savannah interjected. We have the truth about the Grind! We should be telling everyone about it!”
“Look, darling,” Hem said as he looked up at her. “I know you want to enact social revolution, which is great, but you don’t get it. The King sent some goons to kill you because he thought it was going to be easy. He won’t send a few people next time. We’re going to have the Sixth Royal Army march right up to our doorstep and burn this entire place to the ground. I’ll be dead and they’ll probably throw your mother over the wall when they find her.”
“Good God!” Timon gasped.
“Welcome to the farmlands, boy,” Hem said as he went back to reading over his map. “It’s not all fun and games out here. We’re completely at the mercy of people like Leopold. The only thing we can do is keep our heads low and try not to step on any toes.”
“We’ve got to tell other people the truth; they would rise up and fight back!” Savannah said.
“They aren’t going to believe you,” Hem said without looking up from his map. “Do you really think you’re the first to discover the truth?”
Savannah frowned. “You knew about this?”
“Leopold filled me in about his grand plan, and I was the one who had to kill that Aspect who knew the truth. I’m guessing it didn’t stay dead, huh?”
“No, it was alive and told us everything,” Timon said. “But if you know the truth, why haven’t you done anything about it?”
“I tried! Elanor and I started talking about a plan, but then Leopold enslaved me to keep me on his side,” Hem replied. He rolled the map up and started digging behind the bar again. “Grab whatever food and water you can—we’re heading to the other side of the wall. I know some people there; we can hide out.”
“We shouldn’t be hiding,” Savannah protested.
“As far as I’m concerned,” Hem said as he slung a backpack over his shoulder. “We’re done playing politics. You and I both made some stupid choices, Savannah, and now we’re going to have to deal with the consequences.”
“Sir,” Timon said as he walked up to Hem. “I can call for my father’s men. They will protect us here. The King wouldn’t dare turn his army against my father, for his friendships are numerous.”
“Like I’m going to rely on some fancy boy’s word,” Hem grunted as he hoisted a bag out from a floorboard that he had pried up.
“We can trust Timon,” Savannah said. “He was willing to fight to save me!”
“Look, we don’t have a lot of –” his words were interrupted by a knocking and a voice.
“This is Captain Reginald of the Sixth Royal Army. You will open this door immediately.”
“Damn it!” Hem swore as he looked out the window. “We’re surrounded. How the hell did he send his men so quickly?” The knocking came again.
“Do not make me break this fine door,” Reginald warned loudly. “There is no reason for you to be afraid. We merely wish to talk.”
“Get behind me,” Timon said as he walked up to the door. “I can handle this.”
“You’re old enough to choose whether you want to surrender or die fighting,” Hem said as he pulled out a machete from behind the bar. “But I want you to know that I’m not gonna let these dogs drag me to the courts to be executed.”
“I’m going to stand and fight!” Savannah replied as she dug out a knife from the bar drawer.
“Be quiet, the both of you, and hide those weapons!” Timon warned them. He pressed his hand on the doorknob. “Listen up, Reggie! This is Timon laRange of House laRange. You and your men have no legal right to be here!”
“Timon?” came a confused reply from behind the door. “What the hell are you doing in a peasant’s bar?”
“I’m on official business for my father,” Timon replied. “He wouldn’t be too happy to know that you have displeased him.”
“We only wish to talk,” Reginald replied. “We have ver
y specific orders. We merely wish to arrest Savannah and bring her before the King. No one is to be harmed.”
“And what are the charges?” Timon asked.
“N-no charges yet,” Reginald replied. There’d been a nervous hesitation in his voice that suggested he knew more than he was willing to say, however.
“Unless you have a royal writ that decrees an arrest warrant for either of these two, then your entry into this building is a violation of our sacred laws, as written by King Yunia the Second,” Timon said. He looked back at the family behind him and nodded with a grin.
“We have a writ…” Reginald said hesitantly.
“Slide it under the door,” Timon replied.
There was no reply.
“I thought so!” Timon shouted. “Unless the King signs a writ of arrest with his own hand, you cannot enter this premise. Should you consider using force, know that you are going to have to explain why you killed three innocent people, including a nobleman’s son, to the High Courts.”
“We aren’t here to kill you!” Reginald said. “We only want the girl!”
“Unfortunately, we are prepared to resist unto death,” Timon replied. “So if that door should be broken down, get ready to be hanged like a filthy commoner. You know of my father’s reputation.”
There was a long stretch of silence. “We shall return with a writ,” Reginald finally said. Timon moved away from the door and then glanced out the window to see that the men of the royal army were starting to move back towards the castle. A few guards were posted to watch the bar, but the main force wouldn’t be a problem.
“Okay, that bought us some time,” Timon said as he turned around. Both Hem and Savannah were looking at him with utter confusion. “What?”