Chapter Eighteen: ‘O, crashing pyre...!’
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She didn’t recognize his face. He was a redhead, young and stocky, and the butler’s suit barely fit him. She could see blood on his sleeves, as well as a guardsman on the floor in the hallway.
“Finally,” the man said, not even bothering to close the door behind him. “We’ve been waiting all day for a chance to talk to you alone.”
‘Less alone than we expected,’ said his reaper, eyeing Garovel. ‘And just who are you? You didn’t identify yourself as Vanguard, either.’
Garovel chose not to reply.
“Perhaps we are being rude.” The man pressed a hand to his chest. “My name is Desmond,” he said. “This is my friend, Ezmortig.”
‘Frankly,’ said Ezmortig, ‘we are relieved to hear that you are not with the Vanguard. And yet, after coming all the way here to Atreya, it would be a waste to leave now.’
“What do you want?” said Helen.
Ezmortig looked to Mehlsanz. ‘Your cooperation, of course. Having Queen Helen on our side would smoothen the transition.’
“Transition to what?”
‘War,’ said Mehlsanz.
Helen’s brow lowered. “I think not.”
“Now, now, Your Majesty. Hear us out.”
‘We’re listening,’ said Garovel.
Desmond stepped forward. “See, your brother, Prince Gabriel, he thinks he hired us. He doesn’t realize that we found him. And while he seems like a cunning man, I think everyone here can agree that he’s in a bit over his head, now.”
‘We don’t care who’s on the throne,’ said Ezmortig, ‘just so long as they’re ours.’
“The Prince wanted us to waltz right in, kill you, and be done with it,” said Desmond. “Which, admittedly, I’m still more than happy to do, but my friend here says that killing the Queen would cause a bit of a stir--both politically and publicly. And I’m inclined to agree, because if it comes to a fight, I might accidentally destroy half this castle. So we thought we should at least give you a chance to make things easier for everyone. And hey, the best part is, you all get to live.”
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
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ReplyDeleteHe doesn't realize that that we found him. Too many thats lol
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Delete"I could accidentally destroy half this castle"
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly are some other powers of servants? If hector is iron are there others for diamond, or nitroglycerin or a caustic substance? And is it constrained to elements or are compounds available too?
You shall soon see.
Delete"a chance to talk you alone"
ReplyDeleteI think you wanted "a chance to talk with you alone"
Alternatively, "a chance to speak with you alone" seems just a bit smoother
-Andrul
Ah, thank you. Fixed.
DeleteYou're only thinking materialization. I don't think the abilities are limited to that. Garovel seemed to see it as only one possibility. Remember what Vincent did? That smelled of classic elemental control to me, specifically air.
ReplyDeleteFixed, thanks.
ReplyDeleteShit shit shit shit!!!
ReplyDeleteHow the hell are they getting outta this one?! We have a trained servant from Abolish against 1 completely new servant, a somewhat decent servant OUTSIDE, and a human on the way! The only way I see outta this one is if Roman comes (or Geoffrey, or both!) and we have ourselves a Battle Royale, literally!
“we’ve been waiting all day for a chance to talk to you alone.”
ReplyDelete'We' needs to be capitalized.
remember this is the part where the villain drones on and Hector shows up
ReplyDeleteat least that's whAt it seems like