by Hans Bezdek
The Imprisoned God
The Delinquents Series (Book 1)
by Hans Bezdek
Copyright © 2019 Herrin Enterprises LLC
All Rights Reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The Arcane Staff Series:
The Elf Thief (Book 1)
Released April 2018
Lost Citadel (Book 2)
Released May 2018
Final Barrier (Book 3)
Released June 2018
The Half Dragon of Yaerna Series:
Tumbler Short
The Ilkas Diamond Job (Book 0)
Released February 2018
The Gathering Arc
The Shattered Sword (Book 1)
Released December 2017
The Time Shield (Book 2)
Released January 2018
Grimkell's Mace (Book 3)
Released January 2018
The Heralding Arc
Durnskeep (Book 4)
Released March 2018
Ravendale (Book 5)
Released July 2018
Aelric (Book 6)
Released July 2018
Second Dragon War Arc
Darkness of Old (Book 7)
Released August 2018
The Ancient Crown (Book 8)
Released November 2018
The Winged One (Book 9)
Released December 2018
The Delinquents Series
The Imprisoned God (Book 1)
Released August 2019
The Mage's Tower (Book 2)
Released August 2019
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CHAPTER ONE
You can do this.
You're the best. All of these people will see how fantastic your reasoning is and will quit any talks of rioting. If anything, they will thank you for your time and maybe even buy you a drink!
Farr Pontes repeated these thoughts a few times with his eyes closed. He usually found that having an extra shot of confidence made things go more smoothly. Granted, he was rarely in short supply. Farr let out a breath, puffed his chest out, and straightened his posture. He opened his light blue eyes and smiled at the others.
"I don't think this is going to work," said Yri bluntly.
Several of the city's guards that had formed a wall around them glanced nervously their way. Farr wasn't sure if their protectors knew who he and his companions were, but they had been told to guard them and lend them any support they requested. Farr hoped they wouldn't be needing any. The raised platform they were about to walk up was a couple of stories tall, so surely the angry peasants on the other side wouldn't be able to get to them.
Surely.
"What?" asked Farr, deflating slightly.
"Agreed," nodded Khuwa, the orc's arms crossed. "I'd say you have a good chance of getting pelted with rotting vegetables."
"Oh, can I eat some if they do?" asked Cupcake. The demon was in his usual form of a miniature pink pig with wings and flew in a circle around Yri excitedly. She batted at the pig, who easily avoided her hands. While Yri was just a few years younger than Farr, she had a tendency to act like a five year old whenever she fought with Cupcake. "I haven't tried vegetables yet!"
"I don't care what you do," sighed the pale warlock, giving up on trying to get the imp to stop.
The armed guards around them parted as a gnome with a robe made of green and orange leaves pushed through their legs. "There you four are! Have you decided what to do?"
"Well, Grex, I'm about to talk sense into the crowd," Farr explained to the short druid. "Yri and Khuwa don't think it will work-"
"Neither do I," added Cupcake.
"- and they think I'll get food thrown at me."
"Ah," nodded Grex.
"You agree with me, right?" Farr asked the gnome.
"Oh, gods no!" laughed Grex. "I'm with the others on this one. You're going to have a rough time."
Whatever confidence Farr had gotten from his positive self-talk was all gone now.
"Did you finish with the animals?" Khuwa asked the gnome.
"I did," nodded Grex. "Met a few birds that found my request quite reasonable in exchange for some bread."
"What else are we to do?" asked Farr, steering the conversation back to the matter at hand. "We were explicitly told not to kill anyone, but to keep the crowd from going into a full revolt."
"We could try knocking sense into them," offered Yri. Farr gave her a blank stare. "Non-lethal knocking, of course."
"I'd rather not unless we absolutely have to," said Khuwa, shifting on her feet.
Farr looked at Grex for any input.
"You're the boss," shrugged the gnome. "We'll go with whatever you decide."
"I can do this," said Farr with a wink, turning his attention to the steps. "Just watch and learn."
The others shared doubtful looks behind him, then followed him up onto the platform.
Farr and his team were several feet above the gathered crowd of a few hundred peasants. The mass had quieted down as they saw the group step onto the platform, and Farr suddenly felt the weight of everyone's eyes on him. He straightened his brown, simple tunic and ran a hand through his auburn hair, hoping he didn't just make it worse.
He cleared his throat a few times, then began.
"Good citizens of Hunera! Know that your city has heard your demands for better pay, less corrupt guards, and a day off of work at the end of every week," said Farr, keeping a smile pasted on his face. "They are looking into these matters now, and I'm sure you'll hear about what they decide very soon. You should all give yourselves a round of applause for the great work you've accomplished!"
No one clapped.
"Fair enough," said Farr, clasping his hands together. "The point is, your faithful government is taking a serious look into these matters, so you're all free to go home now. Or back to work, I suppose, since you don't have any days off..."
"We ain't goin nowhere!" shouted a woman in the crowd. This was met with a unified cheer.
Farr glanced back at his companions for support, but none was coming.
"Why not?" asked Farr, turning back to the crowd. "I told you, your government has heard you. There's nothing left for you to do."
"We ain't stoppin until we get change!" shouted a man in the crowd. There were more cheers at this one, along with people raising homemade weapons.
"Sure you don't want to go with my plan?" Yri asked.
"Not yet," Farr replied quietly, then raised his voice to the crowd again. "Now, now! There's no reason to get out of control. Your demands sound reasonable enough. I'm sure the people that run this city will ultimately meet you at least half way."
A green ball was chucked up from the middle of the crowd, hitting perfectly in the middle of Farr's chest. The rotting head of lettuce dropped to his feet, where Cupcake excitedly took a few bites.
"Seems they aren't in agreement," said Grex.
"I'm starting to get that feeling, too," sighed Farr, wiping a hand over his shirt.
"What part of the government are ya with?" called out another peasant.
"Well, uh, actually, we aren't part of the government. We were hired by them," said Farr with an uneasy smile.
This caused the crowd to break out in chatter among itself. Once they quieted down some, the same peasant asked wha
t they were all thinking.
"Which guild are ya with?"
"The Delinquents," said Farr proudly.
The crowd was silent for a moment.
Farr turned back and winked at the others. The crowd must have been so impressed that The Delinquents were called in. They must have known this wasn't a fight worth getting into.
"Ya hear that?!" shouted the first peasant, turning back to address the crowd. "The city is so scared of us that they had to go out and hire some mercenaries no one has ever heard of to deal with us!"
The crowd lifted their weapons again and threw a few more pieces of unwanted food at Farr, whose patience had finally run out. It was one thing to ignore or argue with him. It was another thing to dishonor The Delinquents.
His right hand shaking, he raised it high and willed his magic into his palm. Fire erupted from his hand and stretched out a few feet, holding its shape as he swiped the flaming sword in front of him and lowered it to his side.
That got the crowd to quiet down.
"He's a sorcerer!" shouted a few people.
That wasn't exactly true since Farr was actually a blademagus, but he wasn't in the mood to get into a squabble over words. Regardless, he appeared to be getting the crowd's respect for the first time.
"The Delinquents were hired to keep Hunera from destroying itself with a revolt!" shouted Farr. "It doesn't matter to me what you think about that, but know that we will not allow you to bring harm to anyone!"
"Um, Farr?" said Khuwa, sounding a little concerned.
He ignored the orc, feeling like he was on a roll. "You've tried to make your point through order, but if you want to go about it with violence, Hunera will come to fear the name of The Delinquents!"
"F-Farr..." tried Grex.
"If this town wants a fight, it will have one!" finished Farr, the man's blue eyes bright with rage.
The crowd was filled with wide eyes and gaping mouths. There were panicked cries and the mass began to flee.
"They're willing to burn this place to the ground!" cried one peasant.
"They're maniacs!" shouted out another. "The mayor hired maniacs to put us down! We don't stand a chance!"
Farr couldn't help but smile as he turned to the others. "See? I told you we didn't need to actually fight them."
They each backed down the steps, eyes focused to his right side.
"What's the matter?" asked Farr, raising an eyebrow.
"I think the citizens weren't moved so much by your speech but rather your flaming sword," said Grex.
"I'll admit it helped," shrugged Farr.
"You might want to get off the platform while there's still one left," offered Yri.
Farr glanced down to his right, confused. The confusion quickly left him as he saw that some of his flames had licked the wooden platform and were now rapidly devouring what remained of the wood.
"Not again!" groaned Farr, dispelling his sword and jumping off. Seconds later, the platform collapsed and the guards scattered.
"Maybe you should learn some water magic," offered Yri as Farr uncomfortably got back to his feet.
She probably had a point.
CHAPTER TWO
"You really need to watch where you point your weapons," said Grex, their group entering Hunera's town hall. The building was not particularly impressive but was easily the tallest structure in Hunera. A clock was mounted at the top of the building, which had been broken for who knew how long.
"I know," sighed Farr. "Can you all do me a favor and not mention it when we get back home?"
"No promises," said Cupcake.
"I command you not to speak a word of it!" said Yri sharply. The demon pig glared at her but didn't say anything. No one was fully aware of what Yri could and couldn't demand of the demon, besides the two of them. Farr was surprised this fell in the could category. "If Farr gets moved to a different position within the guild, we'll have a new leader assigned to us. You haven't seen how useless they can be."
"Thanks, Yri," grinned Farr.
"They make even Farr look like a genius!"
Farr felt less sure of the compliment.
"I don't think the officers would care too much either way," reasoned Khuwa. "We accomplished our task, which is all that matters. Right?"
"It's not like our guild isn't known for this kind of thing," agreed Grex. "Although that doesn't mean we should continue destroying our employer's property.
Farr and his group passed through the building without being stopped by anyone. In the short time they had been in Hunera, they had made themselves known to pretty much everyone. They took a few turns and ended up in front of the mayor's wide doors.
"Come in!" came a voice from inside after Farr knocked.
The mayor's office was painted white, with all of the furniture inside of it made out of light brown wood. There were bookshelves on either side of the room, each with a long, empty panel in the middle of them. A desk was in the center of the room, a few golden quills and loose papers on top of it. The mayor of Hunera sat behind it and assessed them as they came in.
Mayor Turze was a stout man who looked like he had been born to be a politician. He was finely dressed, had a mustache that was a bit too long, and a smile that was whiter than a pearl.
"Ah, the Delinquents have returned!" he said, waving at them to approach. "I've heard news of your success."
"We're glad you're happy with it," nodded Farr as the four of them lined up across from the table from the mayor, Cupcake on Yri's shoulder.
"Your people shouldn't be giving you any more trouble for quite some time," added Grex, standing on the tip of his toes so that he could see Turze over the table. "Plus, you'll know if they start planning another revolt in the next few years."
"I will?" asked the mayor, tilting his head to the side. "How is that?"
"Grex spoke with your birds," explained Khuwa.
Mayor Turze blinked and his smile faltered. "I... I beg your pardon?"
"I spoke with some of the pigeons in this town," said Grex. "If they hear of another uprising forming, they'll come tap on your windows."
"I see..." said Turze, sounding like he didn't but that he wasn't interested in continuing the conversation.
Farr smirked at the misunderstanding. The others seemed to forget that most people weren't like them. He couldn't blame them. Whenever they were back home with the rest of The Delinquents, they were surrounded by others that had different, sometimes useless, abilities. While there were certainly other druids in the world, Grex was the only one in the Epworth Empire that Farr had ever heard of. Turze probably thought they were crazy, but there was no need to change his perception now that their job was done.
"Are we done?" asked Yri, stifling a yawn. "I'd like to get back to Runeford before it gets too late."
"More or less," said the mayor. "I just wanted to make sure you understood that your pay will be less than we initially agreed upon."
Farr narrowed his eyes at the man. "Oh?"
"You're breaking your part of the contract?" asked Khuwa, the orc's voice a mixture of confusion and anger.
"Now, now," said Turze, raising a hand for everyone to remain calm. "You've got to see this from my point of view."
"The point of view of a liar?" asked Yri.
"I'm happy that you stopped the revolt before it got started," continued the mayor, ignoring the warlock. "However, you destroyed a very valuable landmark in our town."
"That old, decaying platform?" scoffed Yri, looking away. "You should be able to replace it with something better for less than a gold piece!"
"I'd be happy to put a new one together for you, free of charge," offered Grex. "I'd only need to go out to a nearby forest and request the help of-"
"That won't be necessary," said Turze, shaking his head. "By only paying you half of the original deal, we'll be able to take care of this ourselves."
"Half?!" exclaimed the group.
"There's simply no way around it," sighed the may
or as if he had exhausted all possibilities.
"Is that so?" Fire erupted out of Farr's right hand again and he took a step closer to the mayor. As a representative of The Delinquents, he couldn't let an employer get away with trying to pay less than what was promised. It made his guild look weak, and if word got out, others would begin to shortchange them.
Turze calmly hit a button on his desk. The side panels in the bookcases raised up on both sides of them, causing Farr to take a half step back. A dozen of the town's guards came in, their weapons at the ready.
"What, do you keep them standing in that room all day or something?" asked Farr, his fire sword extinguishing.
"More likely that he knew he might need them for this meeting," said Grex, the gnome anxiously glancing up at all of the guards.
Farr didn't like where this was going. Not that he was worried about his life, of course, since they could easily kill everyone in this room. That wouldn't exactly help them get paid, though, and the families of all these guards probably wouldn't appreciate it. The Delinquents had enough enemies as it were.
Yri and Farr locked eyes. Farr gave a slight nod, which Yri returned.
"How dare you think you can do this to us!" began Yri, the warlock walking over to block Turze's view of the others. "You think we will just take this lying down?!"
Farr retreated to Khuwa and lowered his voice as Yri continued to berate the mayor. "You know we can't let this happen, right? The Accountant will be furious with us."
"But what can we do?" asked the orc, nervously glancing about.
"Pull your weapons out and threaten them," he whispered.
The orc's gray eyes widened. "B-But I don't want to fight them!"
Farr patted the much larger Khuwa's arms to calm her down. "I know that, you know that, but they don't know that. You're like, three times as big as anyone in this room."