As the torchlight lit his steward’s dark hair, Lydia’s wide, relieved smile was the most encouraging sight Drake had seen in a few days. While she wore dark feathersteel armor, she still had a pocket in which she carried a handkerchief. She dabbed it on one of his cheeks and then the other, then ruefully shook her head.
“I take it negotiations went poorly?”
“Went great, talk later,” Drake rasped. “Water?”
She handed him a metal canteen, and as he drank its cool water and assuaged his aching throat, he glanced around the dark cave for bodies. He spotted Olivia and Emily in feathersteel, sitting and looking exhausted on either side of the small cave. All were wearing their white maid gloves, so they must have been busy healing everyone.
Jeremy was lying on his back and breathing, which meant he wasn’t dead. Good for him. Anna was cuddled up in Sachi’s lap, looking absolutely wiped out. Sachi was even stroking her blond hair, though she stopped immediately when she noticed Drake watching.
He managed a brief grin, but Sachi simply twitched her ears and looked away. Perhaps she wouldn’t eat Anna just yet. Still had to fatten her up a bit more first.
As for Valentia, she was sitting with her back against the stone and her arms straight out. She looked to be doing deep breathing exercises. A canteen sat at her side.
Once Drake had drunk his fill, Lydia touched his chin with one gloved finger, drawing his gaze to hers. “So far as we can tell, all of you just inhaled a deadly poison. Is that how you describe great negotiations on Earth? Because without all the blood we just spent to save you, none of you would be alive right now.”
Drake took another swig of water, swished it around in a vain attempt to clear the taste of wet rubber, and nodded gratefully. “Thanks for that.” He set the canteen aside and tested his lungs for discomfort. None came. “But the poison? It wasn’t Lord Skybreak.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Someone else attacked you inside Skybreak Manor?”
“The guest house, actually. And I think it was the same people who framed Valentia for the murder of Steward Rodney. They must have learned I’d found a way to keep Sky from executing her, then decided to try and take us all out instead.”
Days ago, when Sachi had first sensed the approach of the Skybreak patrol, Drake had stopped at this small cave and given his orders. As much as it hurt him to watch her do it, Anna had cut herself and created the blood circle called a “recall spot”. That ensured that so long as she was with him, he would be able to teleport back to the cave if he needed to.
Meanwhile, Sachi had been the person with the best chance of reaching Gloomwood Manor quickly and returning with reinforcements... reinforcements who would then wait in this cave until Drake arrived on foot or used Anna’s rarity as an escape hatch.
So if Sachi hadn’t sensed that patrol, and if Anna hadn’t been willing to create this recall spot with her own blood, they would all be very dead right now. And, Drake supposed, he also had to credit his own impossibly clever strategy. He had been so very clever.
Yet as exhausted as he felt, and as close as he had come to dying from poison, they didn’t have time for him to relax. They needed to get on the move, and they were now even further from Gloomwood Manor than they’d been in Skybreak Manor. But first... he needed to make sure everyone understood what they were up against.
Drake caught his battle maids up on everything that had happened since Sachi left. He explained about the mysterious enemy who had hired the Redbow mercenaries to ambush Valentia and Nicole, who next used Anna to abduct Drake, and how someone working for their enemy had a rarity that could create illusions that made people believe anything.
He also quietly explained the tithe Gloomwood Manor was going to offer Skybreak Manor. Anna was fast asleep, Jeremy seemed to be as well, and his battle maids were all people he trusted implicitly. No one would betray his confidence.
One by one, his people nodded. Not everyone looked happy about having Valentia remain guilty, but no one questioned if it was necessary. Lydia even looked suitably impressed by all the chicanery and negotiations he’d managed since he got teleported off to the boonies.
As for Anna and his disappearance from Gloomwood Manor, he assumed Sachi had explained all that as Lydia led the other battle maids out here to escort him home. Even so, he made sure to remind everyone that Anna was now planning to join the manor. She was an ally.
When he was done, Emily slugged Valentia in the soldier. “I hate you.”
“Why?” Valentia asked in a way that suggested she wasn’t interested.
“You got to spend five days alone with Lord Gloomwood, and you’re now the most feared and hated warrior in all of Skybreak. You have all the luck!”
Valentia looked away. “Please do not try to cheer me up.”
Lydia slid a hand beneath his shoulder. “Ready to go, lord?”
He grimaced and rubbed his shoulder. “Not going to enjoy it, but I think we have to.”
Once he was on his feet, he managed to not quite stumble out of the cave. Outside, he was relieved to see Brownie, still alive despite days left to graze. He’d never owned a horse or felt attached to them before now, but he knew Jeremy liked this horse. As did Anna. Brownie was all right.
Another huge figure waited for him as well. Drake was surprised to see the huge red lizardman staring at him with a flat expression. Cresh had joined them as well, and he had a massive battle axe hanging across his scaled back.
The big lizardman stared at him irritably. “What?”
He glanced at Lydia. “He didn’t slow you down?”
“He got here about an hour before you did, lord.” She pointed up. “As did they.”
In the cliffs rising above the cave, Drake spotted multiple hulking shadows against the dark night. When one of them waved both hands and extended clawed thumbs, he recognized Xutag. The tongueless yellow zarovian and his orange buddy Korrag might be here as well.
He looked at her in surprise. “You brought the whole manor?”
The look Lydia gave him then was deadly serious. “If Lord Skybreak would not release you, we needed to be prepared.”
In other words, Lydia had been ready to march their zarovian army into Skybreak Manor to rescue him if necessary. He was glad it hadn’t come to that. He was also really glad Lydia had been willing to do it. Once again, his steward absolutely had his back... of her own volition.
He was finally going to get home. After five days of walking, killing, and bullshit, he was finally going to make it back to Gloomwood Manor and rest in his own bed. He just couldn’t see any way that anyone could stop him with a force this large.
And while it took a day and a half of travel where every waking moment assured him he was going to regret his relentless optimism, he arrived back in Gloomwood Manor unharmed.
With a new horse, an adorable little blond waif, and a nice man who couldn’t talk.
***
The second morning after he proved Valentia’s innocence and almost died inhaling poison gas, a familiar knock roused him from sleep in his very nice bedroom. He was already able to identify it as Emily. She always knocked like she was in a hurry, but trying to be polite.
Sleep. He wanted just one day to sleep, but he couldn’t seem to justify it when he was the lord of a whole household and someone wanted to kill him and burn it to the ground. He’d spent all yesterday, his first day back, simply finding somewhere to put Jeremy (stables) somewhere to put Anna (with the scullery maids) and then catching up with all the small but important matters that had piled up while he was away.
He finally knew how to add people to his blood pact, and it really was shockingly simple. They cut their palm, he cut his, they touched palms and exchanged blood, and then the person agreed to join his blood pact. Drake had finally inducted his first blood thrall: Jeremy.
Fortunately, Lydia had easily been able to heal his palm after.
By the time that was all done, it had been time for dinner, and after that, it had been time to lounge in his absolutely phenomenal bath. After all that, sleep had beckoned, and so now he was again awake with yet another day of lordly duties ahead.
It still beat waking up in a one-bedroom apartment and greeting the roaches by name. He felt a great deal of pride at all he’d accomplished so far. He should be dead so many times over, but he wasn’t, and he now knew his powerful rarity. More proof he could handle this job.
With great reluctance, Drake got out of bed once more, padded across the room on bare feet in some comfy sleep clothes Lydia had found for him, and eased the door open.
Emily’s whole head would have come right in if Drake hadn’t been cautious enough to only crack the door open. “You have another visitor, lord!”
“Please tell me it’s not another little girl whose father only I can save.”
She grinned through the slit in the door. “It’s a Skybreak ranger! He says he knows you. His name’s Karth.”
“I do know him.” This visit was not a surprise. “Where is he?”
“I’ve left him in the front lobby under guard of the zarovians.”
Drake yawned, idly rubbed one arm that was a bit sore, and nodded. “Figured someone from Skybreak would show up eventually, given how we left. You did good. I’ll go handle it.”
“Oli awaits you there, lord! I’ll be right outside when you’re all nice and dressed.”
Of course Emily wouldn’t trust him to go anywhere without at least two battle maids to watch over him. Given how many times in past days he’d almost been murdered, he appreciated his people looking out for him. Even right in the middle of his own manor.
Lord Skybreak had probably sent Karth off to Gloomwood Manor the morning someone checked her guest house and found it empty and full of poison. Which, given all the windows were barred and the door had been barred from the outside, would make Drake seem like Houdini. His disappearance must have been a head scratcher, but fortunately, he’d been free to leave the manor after they agreed to the tithe deal. No lies had occurred.
As Drake moved to close the door again, Emily stopped it with an outstretched hand. “Does your arm hurt, lord?”
He released his annoyed muscle. “It’s fine.”
“I can massage you, lord. If you ever need a massage! I have very strong fingers.”
“I don’t need a massage, Emily.” He was almost certain she was just being helpful, but it was always best to err on the side of caution with her.
“Ooh, fine. Be sore. But I do want to know about this ranger, lord. Is he your friend? Do you trust him?”
“I don’t trust anyone right now except you folks. But he seemed like an okay guy.”
“That’s good to hear. I’d hate to have to chop your guest!”
They stared at each other a moment, and he, in particular, stared at her palm, which was still propping his door open. “You can close the door now.”
“Of course, lord.” She stepped back. “But I’ll keep a close eye on you!”
Because she could literally see his soul through walls. He hoped that soul was just some floaty bit of light and not anything more... detailed. Finally, he got the door closed.
And then he locked it.
As the torchlight lit his steward’s dark hair, Lydia’s wide, relieved smile was the most encouraging sight Drake had seen in a few days. While she wore dark feathersteel armor, she still had a pocket in which she carried a handkerchief. She dabbed it on one of his cheeks and then the other, then ruefully shook her head.
“I take it negotiations went poorly?”
“Went great, talk later,” Drake rasped. “Water?”
She handed him a metal canteen, and as he drank its cool water and assuaged his aching throat, he glanced around the dark cave for bodies. He spotted Olivia and Emily in feathersteel, sitting and looking exhausted on either side of the small cave. All were wearing their white maid gloves, so they must have been busy healing everyone.
Jeremy was lying on his back and breathing, which meant he wasn’t dead. Good for him. Anna was cuddled up in Sachi’s lap, looking absolutely wiped out. Sachi was even stroking her blond hair, though she stopped immediately when she noticed Drake watching.
He managed a brief grin, but Sachi simply twitched her ears and looked away. Perhaps she wouldn’t eat Anna just yet. Still had to fatten her up a bit more first.
As for Valentia, she was sitting with her back against the stone and her arms straight out. She looked to be doing deep breathing exercises. A canteen sat at her side.
Once Drake had drunk his fill, Lydia touched his chin with one gloved finger, drawing his gaze to hers. “So far as we can tell, all of you just inhaled a deadly poison. Is that how you describe great negotiations on Earth? Because without all the blood we just spent to save you, none of you would be alive right now.”
Drake took another swig of water, swished it around in a vain attempt to clear the taste of wet rubber, and nodded gratefully. “Thanks for that.” He set the canteen aside and tested his lungs for discomfort. None came. “But the poison? It wasn’t Lord Skybreak.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Someone else attacked you inside Skybreak Manor?”
“The guest house, actually. And I think it was the same people who framed Valentia for the murder of Steward Rodney. They must have learned I’d found a way to keep Sky from executing her, then decided to try and take us all out instead.”
Days ago, when Sachi had first sensed the approach of the Skybreak patrol, Drake had stopped at this small cave and given his orders. As much as it hurt him to watch her do it, Anna had cut herself and created the blood circle called a “recall spot”. That ensured that so long as she was with him, he would be able to teleport back to the cave if he needed to.
Meanwhile, Sachi had been the person with the best chance of reaching Gloomwood Manor quickly and returning with reinforcements... reinforcements who would then wait in this cave until Drake arrived on foot or used Anna’s rarity as an escape hatch.
So if Sachi hadn’t sensed that patrol, and if Anna hadn’t been willing to create this recall spot with her own blood, they would all be very dead right now. And, Drake supposed, he also had to credit his own impossibly clever strategy. He had been so very clever.
Yet as exhausted as he felt, and as close as he had come to dying from poison, they didn’t have time for him to relax. They needed to get on the move, and they were now even further from Gloomwood Manor than they’d been in Skybreak Manor. But first... he needed to make sure everyone understood what they were up against.
Drake caught his battle maids up on everything that had happened since Sachi left. He explained about the mysterious enemy who had hired the Redbow mercenaries to ambush Valentia and Nicole, who next used Anna to abduct Drake, and how someone working for their enemy had a rarity that could create illusions that made people believe anything.
He also quietly explained the tithe Gloomwood Manor was going to offer Skybreak Manor. Anna was fast asleep, Jeremy seemed to be as well, and his battle maids were all people he trusted implicitly. No one would betray his confidence.
One by one, his people nodded. Not everyone looked happy about having Valentia remain guilty, but no one questioned if it was necessary. Lydia even looked suitably impressed by all the chicanery and negotiations he’d managed since he got teleported off to the boonies.
As for Anna and his disappearance from Gloomwood Manor, he assumed Sachi had explained all that as Lydia led the other battle maids out here to escort him home. Even so, he made sure to remind everyone that Anna was now planning to join the manor. She was an ally.
When he was done, Emily slugged Valentia in the soldier. “I hate you.”
“Why?” Valentia asked in a way that suggested she wasn’t interested.
“You got to spend five days alone with Lord Gloomwood, and you’re now the most feared and hated warrior in all of Skybreak. You have all the luck!”
Valentia looked away. “Please do not try to cheer me up.”
Lydia slid a hand beneath his shoulder. “Ready to go, lord?”
He grimaced and rubbed his shoulder. “Not going to enjoy it, but I think we have to.”
Once he was on his feet, he managed to not quite stumble out of the cave. Outside, he was relieved to see Brownie, still alive despite days left to graze. He’d never owned a horse or felt attached to them before now, but he knew Jeremy liked this horse. As did Anna. Brownie was all right.
Another huge figure waited for him as well. Drake was surprised to see the huge red lizardman staring at him with a flat expression. Cresh had joined them as well, and he had a massive battle axe hanging across his scaled back.
The big lizardman stared at him irritably. “What?”
He glanced at Lydia. “He didn’t slow you down?”
“He got here about an hour before you did, lord.” She pointed up. “As did they.”
In the cliffs rising above the cave, Drake spotted multiple hulking shadows against the dark night. When one of them waved both hands and extended clawed thumbs, he recognized Xutag. The tongueless yellow zarovian and his orange buddy Korrag might be here as well.
He looked at her in surprise. “You brought the whole manor?”
The look Lydia gave him then was deadly serious. “If Lord Skybreak would not release you, we needed to be prepared.”
In other words, Lydia had been ready to march their zarovian army into Skybreak Manor to rescue him if necessary. He was glad it hadn’t come to that. He was also really glad Lydia had been willing to do it. Once again, his steward absolutely had his back... of her own volition.
He was finally going to get home. After five days of walking, killing, and bullshit, he was finally going to make it back to Gloomwood Manor and rest in his own bed. He just couldn’t see any way that anyone could stop him with a force this large.
And while it took a day and a half of travel where every waking moment assured him he was going to regret his relentless optimism, he arrived back in Gloomwood Manor unharmed.
With a new horse, an adorable little blond waif, and a nice man who couldn’t talk.
***
The second morning after he proved Valentia’s innocence and almost died inhaling poison gas, a familiar knock roused him from sleep in his very nice bedroom. He was already able to identify it as Emily. She always knocked like she was in a hurry, but trying to be polite.
Sleep. He wanted just one day to sleep, but he couldn’t seem to justify it when he was the lord of a whole household and someone wanted to kill him and burn it to the ground. He’d spent all yesterday, his first day back, simply finding somewhere to put Jeremy (stables) somewhere to put Anna (with the scullery maids) and then catching up with all the small but important matters that had piled up while he was away.
He finally knew how to add people to his blood pact, and it really was shockingly simple. They cut their palm, he cut his, they touched palms and exchanged blood, and then the person agreed to join his blood pact. Drake had finally inducted his first blood thrall: Jeremy.
Fortunately, Lydia had easily been able to heal his palm after.
By the time that was all done, it had been time for dinner, and after that, it had been time to lounge in his absolutely phenomenal bath. After all that, sleep had beckoned, and so now he was again awake with yet another day of lordly duties ahead.
It still beat waking up in a one-bedroom apartment and greeting the roaches by name. He felt a great deal of pride at all he’d accomplished so far. He should be dead so many times over, but he wasn’t, and he now knew his powerful rarity. More proof he could handle this job.
With great reluctance, Drake got out of bed once more, padded across the room on bare feet in some comfy sleep clothes Lydia had found for him, and eased the door open.
Emily’s whole head would have come right in if Drake hadn’t been cautious enough to only crack the door open. “You have another visitor, lord!”
“Please tell me it’s not another little girl whose father only I can save.”
She grinned through the slit in the door. “It’s a Skybreak ranger! He says he knows you. His name’s Karth.”
“I do know him.” This visit was not a surprise. “Where is he?”
“I’ve left him in the front lobby under guard of the zarovians.”
Drake yawned, idly rubbed one arm that was a bit sore, and nodded. “Figured someone from Skybreak would show up eventually, given how we left. You did good. I’ll go handle it.”
“Oli awaits you there, lord! I’ll be right outside when you’re all nice and dressed.”
Of course Emily wouldn’t trust him to go anywhere without at least two battle maids to watch over him. Given how many times in past days he’d almost been murdered, he appreciated his people looking out for him. Even right in the middle of his own manor.
Lord Skybreak had probably sent Karth off to Gloomwood Manor the morning someone checked her guest house and found it empty and full of poison. Which, given all the windows were barred and the door had been barred from the outside, would make Drake seem like Houdini. His disappearance must have been a head scratcher, but fortunately, he’d been free to leave the manor after they agreed to the tithe deal. No lies had occurred.
As Drake moved to close the door again, Emily stopped it with an outstretched hand. “Does your arm hurt, lord?”
He released his annoyed muscle. “It’s fine.”
“I can massage you, lord. If you ever need a massage! I have very strong fingers.”
“I don’t need a massage, Emily.” He was almost certain she was just being helpful, but it was always best to err on the side of caution with her.
“Ooh, fine. Be sore. But I do want to know about this ranger, lord. Is he your friend? Do you trust him?”
“I don’t trust anyone right now except you folks. But he seemed like an okay guy.”
“That’s good to hear. I’d hate to have to chop your guest!”
They stared at each other a moment, and he, in particular, stared at her palm, which was still propping his door open. “You can close the door now.”
“Of course, lord.” She stepped back. “But I’ll keep a close eye on you!”
Because she could literally see his soul through walls. He hoped that soul was just some floaty bit of light and not anything more... detailed. Finally, he got the door closed.
And then he locked it.
