Virtue finished putting on a formal yet practical outfit that Dale had brought for her. Helena was dressed in the same outfit and had the same dreaded hair as when Benny had first seen the female warrior.
“Um…don’t you ladies want to wear something a little more formal? We are going to see the emperor of all Upper Sultry.” Benny was busy trying to button a very fancy overcoat with what seemed to be hundreds of buttons.
“A guard told me that the victors were to wear whatever clothing we felt comfortable with,” Helena said. “The Emperor apparently has no dress code for these kinds of events.”
“Well in that case….”
Benny ripped off the monkey suit he had struggled to button. After throwing the rest of the outfit into the corner he selected a clean outfit similar to the one he wore for the tournament.
As they traversed the bustling streets of the Imperial City on their way to the palace, Benny took some time to take in his surroundings. The city was the largest and most beautiful he’d ever seen. He had been shocked at the size of Galver Dorn when he’d first visited it with Dale and Cycleze, but now that town seemed like a shanty. The buildings reached up into the sky and were of an exotic architecture he’d never seen before; gardens, manmade waterfalls, and sculptures filled the streets. Most of the citizens were extremely tall, like the border guard they had met outside the portal. These people all wore exotic clothing and seemed to shun Benny and his fellow travelers.
“These people are a bunch of snobs,” Benny said to Dale.
“They’re just cautious of foreigners, but I will admit it often impedes their judgments of others,” Dale replied.
As they walked past an alley way, Benny saw a young boy dressed in rags appear from the shadows. He was dirty and unkempt, but Benny could tell that he had green skin and yellowish hair. He mumbled something to Dale and held out his hands. The boy was a beggar. Dale, instead of driving off the boy as Benny thought he would, knelt down beside the kid and ruffled his hair. The kid smiled, revealing rotten teeth, and Dale handed him a gold coin. He jumped with glee and ran back into the shadows of the alley. The aristocrats gave cries of surprise and insult as he wound between their legs.
“He had green skin…” Helena said, “Is he of the same race as Purp?”
“You could say that…they are all human,” Dale said. “They just have different colored skin. It’s the side effect of the mass number of spells wizards used in the ancient civil wars between Upper and Lower Sultry. Some have red, purple or green skin, while others have striped, marbled or polka-dotted skin like Purp. They have a history of being abused and rejected because of their skin tones.”
“But just because they have different colored skin doesn’t make them any less important. If anything, I think it makes them all the more beautiful,” Virtue said. She was clearly upset by the poor health of the green boy.
“I agree, but unfortunately racism is a disease that infests even a great nation like Upper Sultry. This is the main reason for Purp's bad attitude. His father was arrested and thrown in jail for stealing food for his starving family and his mother died of some sickness soon afterwards. They lived in the slums of this very city, and most of Purp's siblings died off…all save his sister.” Dale stopped at the mention of his butler's relative.
“And where is his sister now?” Helena asked.
“She’s a prostitute in the Imperial slums.” Dale shed a tear when he said this. “Purp isn’t a bad person. I know he comes off as a sarcastic prick sometimes, but he’s had as hard a life as any could have….a lot harder than I ever had. I think I’m the first person to ever give Purp a place to call home. I respect him and he respects me.”
Benny now understood a little better as to why he, Virtue and Helena all had such a bad feeling about the man. Purp was ashamed and hurt by his past, and put on a very cold, harsh attitude so he wouldn’t be hurt again. He’d grown up without parents, watched his siblings starve, and his only surviving relative turned into a piece of meat for lusty nobles or worse. Benny looked at his female companions, whose facial features seemed to reciprocate his new-found understanding of the man they had misjudged.
“Why didn’t you give his sister a place at your estate?” Benny asked Dale.
“I tried, Benny. The Protector knows I tried. But she refused.” He wiped away another tear.
“But why would she refuse such an offer to have a clean home and even be with her brother? She’d rather live as a whore…as property for some horny aristocrat?” Helena clinched her fists, obviously annoyed by the mere thought.
“I guess when you have to live a certain way for so long, you don’t know how else to act,” Dale said.
They passed by the coliseum where the tournament had been held and followed a wide path to ornate gates made of what looked like pure gold. They passed through these into one of the largest courtyards Benny had ever seen. They walked a red carpet to the stairs of the great palace, where the Sorai Dale had fought stood smiling with his hand outstretched. He had curly golden hair and darkly tanned skin. The brilliance of the white feathers of his wings almost seemed whiter than the sun. He wore simple, but neatly cut trousers.
“I didn’t get a chance to congratulate you for your victory in our bout yesterday.” He smiled and rubbed a swollen bruise under his eye.
“Thank you, sir. If I didn’t have the ability to enter berserk mode at will, I dare say you would have defeated me.” Dale shook his hand.
“You’re too modest, Dale.”
“You know my name, but I don’t know yours.”
“Forgive me. You can call me Quill. My only regret is that I won’t be able to meet the Emperor…I came a long way with the hopes of being in his presence, if even for a moment.” Quill’s face became wrinkled with a depressed frown.
Dale scratched his chin. “Come with us. Maybe there is a way you can get your wish after all.”
They climbed the seemingly endless steps to another gate which appeared to be carved from black onyx. Two tall guardsmen with feather plumed helmets checked them before entering.
“I am Dale Beranger, and these are two of the other victors from the tournament, Benny Clout and Helena the Amazon.” Dale pointed to his companions.
“Are these other two your desired guests?” one of the guards asked, pointing to Virtue and Quill.
“What do you mean?” Helena asked.
“Each victor is allowed to have one guest accompany them to the feast. Do you vouch for these two?” the guard asked.
“We must not have been paying attention...yes. Benny will vouch for his wife, Virtue the Vampire. I will vouch for my new friend, Quill the Sorai,” Dale said.
“Yes, I watched the bout between you two. The Emperor was most impressed. Enter and make yourself at home. You will be led to the dining hall when the time comes.” The guards moved aside and pushed open the doors to the main entrance.
Chapter 12
The lounge where the warriors waited was even more lavishly decorated than Dale’s palatial estate. The furniture was made from the finest woods and metals, and the tapestries were richly embroidered with coats of arms and scenes from the history of Upper Sultry. Aside from Benny, Dale and Helena, and their guests, the only other people waiting in the lounge were the other two tournament winners. One was a frost dwarf from the far north, beyond Upper Sultry. He had blood red eyes, snow white skin, hair and beard. He wore the fur of a snow leopard as his only piece of clothing, held at the waist by a belt. The battle hammer Benny had seen him with lay at his feet. He looked at Benny from his chair and nodded sternly. The other winner was a desert giant. He was almost 15 feet tall and had dark brown skin. He wore a turban on his head and had gold earrings. He wore a thick cloak that he kept wrapped tightly around him. Benny wondered if something was wrong with him, because through the cloak the giant's stomach seemed strangely distended. The doors on the far end of the hall opened and two more guards beckoned them to enter the dining hall.
“What are you going to choose for your reward?” Helena asked Benny.
“Well, I don’t know. I was thinking about using the gold to buy a cure for Virtue, but since she’s well now, I’ll have to see. What about you two?” Benny smiled as Dale blushed.
“It would appear we have a similar problem…” Helena grinned and punched him hard on the shoulder.
“Just to meet the Emperor is a gift in and of itself,” Quill said.
“I wonder what he’s like,” Virtue said.
They entered the dining hall, which was in the next room. There was a long table with what seemed like hundreds of chairs. They were designated to sit at the end closest to what they guessed was the Emperor’s chair, since it was made of pure gold and larger than the rest. Benny sat between Virtue and the frost dwarf on one side, while Dale, Helena, Quill and the giant sat on the other side. Nearly twenty guards surrounded the table. Before Benny could gather in his surroundings, a small white hand shot up in Benny’s face.
“Gulmang Du so crotak!” the dwarf mumbled.
“Huh?”
“It means hello, friend! My name is Kolpak. I saw your fight with the Red Rat…I’m glad he didn’t succeed in killing you.” Kolpak turned back to his plate of butter and rolls.
“Are you okay?” Benny asked.
Kolpak was sweating profusely and breathing hard, “I’m just not used to this heat.”
Benny was perplexed, because he actually found the weather of Upper Sultry cold and soothing. But then again, if the dwarf was from the far northern mountains, then he would have spent almost his entire life in sub-zero temperatures. Benny then had an idea.
“My wife, here, is a vampire. She could give you a magic bite to help your body adjust to the warmer climate,” Benny suggested.
“It would be an honor to assist a handsome dwarf knight such as you,” Virtue chimed in.
The dwarf laughed and leaned back. “I appreciate the compliment but even I know I ain’t handsome. Do your stuff, girly.”
Virtue walked around to him, bent down, and lightly bit him on the neck. In an instant the dwarf stopped breathing hard and his countenance became more cheerful. “It’s almost as if I’m back home in my cave!”
“That is just one of the perks of knowing a vampire.” Benny winked at Kolpak.
Just then the sound of drumming filled Benny’s ears and two normal sized humans dressed in red cloaks entered through the door behind the Emperor’s seat. They blew a note and the doors behind them burst open. Light flooded into the room, causing the tournament winners to shield their eyes. At first Benny thought it was the sun blinding them, but then he realized the light emanated from a person.
“All rise for the Emperor of Upper Sultry! All hail the Son of the Sun!” a guard called.
The Emperor was over 10 feet tall and had long curly blond hair and beard. He was dressed in a bulky suit of golden battle armor with a sunburst mantle mounted to his armor, behind his head. Another sun was emblazoned across his breastplate, which had a face hammered into it. Light seemed to exude from his very skin. The only thing about his appearance that wasn’t golden was the blood-red cape that trailed behind him. He smiled to the standing victors and bid them to sit back down, joining them at his seat. The smile on his face faded as he saw Dale.
“Mr. Beranger, remove your mask. We hide nothing here,” he said.
Benny realized then that Dale had been wearing his prosthetic face since they had left Bluecorn Betty. Dale looked nervous at first, since Helena hadn’t seen his real face. But after a reassuring nod from the Emperor, Dale slowly peeled off the face. Helena looked shocked at first, but then smiled.
“Dale, do me a favor and never wear that thing again. You have more character without it.” Helena reached up and pulled the fake goatee off Dale’s mouth and kissed him.
“Ah, how good it is to see true love.” The Emperor smiled and looked around at the other guests. “It appears that Dale and Helena the Amazon are already well acquainted. Aside from them, our victors include Benny Clout from Gant, Kolpak from the northern mountains, and Toldnas the giant from the western deserts. We also have two visitors. Benny’s wife, the lovely Virtue, and Quill the Sorai, whom I must compliment on his dual with Dale. It reminded me of the sparring sessions in my youth.”
“Cut the crap! Where’s my reward?” the giant Toldnas snapped.
Everyone was shocked by his rudeness, except for the Emperor, who simply smiled and held up his hand in a sign of benediction. “Soon, Toldnas. But first, enjoy the feast!”
The feast was by far the best Benny had ever had. It was a five course meal including many foods Benny had never seen before. It was topped off by a dessert consisting of a strange red fruit that had a spiky red rind and a mushy yellow interior that tasted like chocolate cake. Benny looked around the room. All of the guests seemed to enjoy the meal as much as he had, except for the giant, who seemed eager to get the meal over with. The Emperor lightly conversed with the group, and after the last person had finished the dessert, he stood up from his seat and began the formalities of dispensing the rewards from the tournament.
He raised his hand towards the door he had entered. “You all fought admirably, and for your victories I will now reveal the assorted prizes.”
The doors opened and more guards poured out, escorting a handsome, well-dressed man about the Emperor’s size, and a beautiful woman who stood about seven feet tall. These were the first two prizes, the chance to marry the son or daughter of the Emperor. Following them was a man holding a large scroll, which Benny assumed was the deed to a stately mansion in Upper Sultry. Then a group of large men carrying a huge chest entered the room, setting down the chest and opening it to reveal a heaping pile of gold and jewels. Several other prizes followed, including enchanted jewelry, fancy apparel and a suit of armor made of pure gold. The last thing to come in was an old man holding what looked like a common walking stick. However, when Benny stared at it he could tell that the piece of wood carried a very strong enchantment. This was something Benny could use. He had no need for a mansion. The Fox Den was the only home he ever needed or wanted. Fancy clothes and armor would only get one so far, and Benny doubted the quality of the items was of any real use to him. The stick, however, was a practical tool and could prove useful in the long run.
“So now that you see your options, you may chose, beginning with Toldnas who was so eager to get the ball rolling.” The Emperor chuckled and winked at Benny.
The giant walked up to the man holding the scroll and snatched it out of the guard's hands with two of his giant fingers.
“I choose the homestead!” Toldnas roared.
He returned to his seat, and Kolpak walked up to the chest of gold. “No disrespect to your highness, but I already have a mate and I’ve no desire for a second.” Kolpak graciously kissed the princess’ hand and walked over to place his hand on the chest of gold.
Dale and Helena stood together, the former addressing the Emperor, “Both Helena Amazon and I had originally come to the tournament in order to win the hands of your heirs. In the process, however, we have found a great passion for one another. This is a reward enough for both of us.”
“So be it. These gifts are yours to accept or deny, there will be no ill will harbored towards you,” the Emperor said.
“May you both live long, peaceful lives together,” the prince said, bowing towards Dale and Helena.
Then the Emperor’s gaze fell on Benny. “It looks like you are the last to choose a prize. You may accept my daughter’s hand in marriage if you chose, however I doubt your wife, there, would approve.”
Benny walked towards the old man holding the walking stick. “Your liege, I am not rich by any stretch of the imagination, nor do I feel that I deserve to stand in the same room as these great fighters behind me. My victories were of mere luck, especially in the case of Flack. I choose this stick, because of its practicality as a useful aid for my travels. Every adventurer needs a good staff to le
an on sometimes, especially as I grow older. It will serve me well enough.”
“It most certainly will.” The Emperor sat back down and bid Benny to return to his seat. “Now we must discuss the other reasons why you are here.”
The Emperor’s attendants and children then left the room, leaving only the Emperor, his elite guard, and the warriors in the room.
“What other reasons? I am a busy man. I have things to do!” Toldnas crossed his arms on top of his distended gut and leaned back.
“I assure you that I wouldn’t keep you from leaving if I didn’t have something very important to share with you. I must now admit that there was a very specific reason why I chose to hold this tournament, which was the first of its kind for quite some time. My aim in holding the tournament, and breaking the fighters up into five different divisions was done so in order to gather unto myself the greatest fighters from across all of Pakk…”
“What is Pakk?” Benny asked before realizing he had spoken up.
Benny half expected the Emperor to jump all over him for his rudeness, but the great man remained cool and collected. “Pakk is the name of the world we live in. It includes everything from the Northern Mountains to the jungles of the far south, from beyond the western deserts to the islands of the east across the ocean, and much more. Since ages past, there has always been some type of trouble upon our lands. Despite the many wars, plagues, famines and injustices that are still present in our world, our kingdoms have always found a way to overcome our failings and learn from them. However, there is an evil brooding which may threaten to overthrow and enslave most, if not all of Pakk.”
“What’s this hogwash you’re spilling on us?” The giant laughed sarcastically.
“Hold your tongue, giant, or I’ll do it for you!” Kolpak snapped.
“That won’t be necessary, stalwart dwarf. We are all friends here…at least for the moment. The time to take up arms will arise soon enough without us fighting with each other. Now, as I was saying, there is a great force arising which will try to take over all of Pakk. It would seem that some of you have already experienced this on your prior journeys.” The Emperor nodded towards Dale, Benny and Virtue.
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