Spellheart 10: Chapter 16 (Patreon)

As the Demigod-level golem’s voice boomed through the air, Valanda was the first to react. She threw her hands in the air out of reflex and started falling to her knees before the people aboard the golems even gave the orders.

“Hands where we can see them. Kneel on the ground. If you try to cast a spell or circulate a technique, we will open fire!”

“She’s right there. We’ll get back to what we were doing, officers.” Tivana jerked a thumb at Valanda.

“You three, you’re not going anywhere! On the ground right alongside her!” the lead golem shouted.

“She’s not with us...” Tivana said as she reluctantly raised her hands. Her lips were being pulled down into a frown, and I’d never seen such a combination of displeasure, confusion, and injustice on my beautiful princess’s face.

Being a member of the royal family and one of the most powerful individuals in the entire Deanian Queendom, she was used to being on the other side of the law. She probably had never dealt with someone in uniform being anything less than utterly respectful.

I shot a glance at Elara instead. She seemed calm, which eased my nerves. Unlike us, she actually was from the Elven Star Dominion. She knew the customs and had proper identification. She was an esteemed and respected Demigod as well.

In Earth terms, while the rest of us might be vagrant non-citizens without civil rights, she was right at home and could vouch for us. As could our other friend traveling with the rest of our group of Demigods. The rapid beating of my heart slowed, and I became confident again. Whatever misunderstanding had occurred would surely be fixed in short order.

The three golems approached as we held our hands in the air, and a set of cuffs were placed on each of us. They were heavily laden with enchantments meant to restrict the flow of zeal. When Valanda was handcuffed, she winced as they disrupted the flow of zeal through her body. Those cuffs did a number on her, but they weren’t quite as effective on her body cultivation as they were on her spirit cultivation. I imagined this was exactly the sort of thing that had started her down the path of orcish body cultivation.

The cuffs were about as effective on Tivana, since she was a Spirit Cultivator, but at the Early Demigod realm. Her higher level of power made the flow of zeal more difficult to block. And I doubted these handcuffs could do anything to stop the use of concepts. If I used Identity to change them from enchanted bronze to wet clay, I could probably snap them off each of us with just a little twitch.

Not that I would need to. The World Titan Fiendbody laughed as the golems tried to restrict the flow of zeal through it. I actually had to exert my own will to pretend the cuffs did anything, and I feigned a wave of fatigue similar to what had happened to Valanda.

[Minvera, you there?] I sent a quick mental message.

[Always, Master. My powers are unaffected,] Minerva sent back in reply.

Good. My Elemental Spirit Cultivation was also different enough from what the elves practiced that the cuffs did nothing to Minerva either. While her power wasn’t quite at the Demigod level, summoning an army of Sorcerer-level undead warriors would prove a good distraction if I needed it.

After being handcuffed, we were rudely jerked to our feet. It took a lot longer than it should have, since the golems they were in didn't have hands meant to be nimble. They were hulking three fingered brutes made of sheets of enchanted bronze.

“Walk,” the leader of the three officers in golems demanded. The way the three of them loomed over us was a bit intimidating. From what I’d heard, they were probably only Sorcerers. But the golems they were piloting bolstered them enough to deal with Demigods. Against anyone else, they probably would have hopped out to put these troublesome cuffs on by hand, but they weren’t taking any chances with us.

It soon became clear that they were going to walk us all the way back to the local police station with our hands cuffed behind our backs. If I’d known anyone here, it would have been quite embarrassing, but as it was, it was probably a good thing.

I was counting on Sam, Dean, and our new companions to figure out what happened fast and help us get out of there.

Upon reaching the station, we were finally greeted by an officer, not inside a four-meter-tall battle golem. She wore spectacles much like Illiel, had dark hair, and looked like she had a firm, no-nonsense expression fixed permanently to her face.

It was the kind of expression that told me this was a department that dealt with a rough-and-tumble crowd. That was not the best of signs. Now that I thought about it, there hadn’t been a single mention of rights the entire walk here.

“Present your IDs.” She sighed as she pushed her glasses back into place.

“In the bag of holding sewn into my pants pocket,” Elara tilted her chin toward her pocket. With her hands cuffed behind her back, she couldn’t reach it.

The officer sighed again, stood up from her desk, and reached into Elara’s pocket until she found the ID.

She turned to us expectantly as soon as she was finished. “And the two of you?”

“Uh... about that...” I chuckled a bit nervously. “I don’t exactly have one of those.”

She sighed. “Figures. Alright, throw him in a cell.”

The remaining officers in the golems weren’t shy about grabbing me and giving me a shove. They weren’t shy about shoving Tivana in there too when she also failed to produce an ID.

Still handcuffed, Tivana climbed to her knees, face flushed red as she stared incredulously back the way she’d come. “I’m not undocumented. I’m a princess!” she huffed.

That got a laugh out of the officer in a golem. The enchanted metal bars of our prison cell slammed shut a moment later. Tivana rushed up to them, only to hiss as the bars burned a line into the side of her cheek.

A familiar voice came from the cell next door. “There’s iron in those bars. You don’t want to touch them for long.”

It was Valanda again, arrested just like we were. I turned to her. “They arrested you as well?”

“Yeah,” Valanda replied with a lengthy sigh. “No good deed goes unpunished, I guess...”

I grimaced. “You were trying to warn us, weren’t you?”

“Yeah. I saw someone following you, thought I didn't know it was the cops. Guess whoever was watching you brought them on board.  I don’t know what kind of sticky shit you’re in, but it’s deeper and nastier than anything I’ve ever been into. I’ve never seen the local department pull out all of their battle golems at once like that. Normally, they’re content to show up and just whack me in the head a few times with a baton.”

“I take it this place isn’t exactly known for being soft on crime?” I asked.

“No.” The way she spoke the words made me suspect it was quite the opposite.

“Do you know if we get a phone call or something?”

“A what?”

“A chance to use a transmission stone or something. You know, to call a friend who can help us get out of this mess?”

Valanda shook her head. “If you’re important, they’ll contact your clan and get it all sorted out on their end. If you’re not, eventually they’ll place a hefty fine on you, and you’ve got to pay it off.” She let out a lengthy sigh as she clutched her head between her temples. “I was having a hard enough time paying off the last one. With this one, it looks like my dreams of getting off the streets are over.” She let out a lengthy sigh.

I had been wondering why a particularly powerful Sorcerer like Valanda had been homeless. Earning enough money to put a roof over her head should have been easy for a Sorcerer. Before, I’d thought it was an addiction, but now I knew it was debt. Debt she had a lot more of thanks to me.

“I appreciate what you tried to do. If I can help you get out of here, I will.” I promised Valanda. She might not have succeeded in warning us, but she had tried. And would have managed it if we hadn’t tried so hard to avoid her.

“And what are the odds of that? You got any connections that can bail us out?” Valanda asked hopefully. “As a human, you must know somebody, right? Heck, these officers probably answer to a human somewhere high enough up the chain.”

“Well...” I shrugged. “I have some friends on the outside. They’ve got good heads on their shoulders. I’m sure that they’ll be here to plead our case any moment now.”

***

Moments later, a familiar trio was thrown into the cell across from us.

“I am a Queen! If you were my guards, I’d have your hides!” Queen Lyanva huffed.

“I’m going, I’m going, stop shoving!” Dean grumbled.

Sam took a seat on the far side of the cell.

The guards slammed the door shut and departed swiftly. The three of them groaned and looked at one another. I cleared my throat to get their attention. “Well, fancy meeting you all here.”

Sam looked up at me. “Well, shit. We were counting on you guys to get us out of here.”

“Same.”

“I guess it’s up to Yeminel, Arien, Lyssandra, and Melaris.” I shrugged. “Hopefully, the four of them can get us out of here.”

I didn’t like placing our hopes in the hands of the four women we’d just met. We might all share a common goal, but we didn’t have the kind of comradery I had with my friends. Or even with Elara sitting in the cell next to me. They were more like coworkers to me than family.

“It’s either that or put our faith in the Elven Star Dominion’s criminal justice system.” Sam leaned back against the far side of his cell. “Does anybody even know what we’re being charged with?”

I shrugged. We were strangers in a strange land. There were any number of things we could have been arrested for. I turned to Elara. If any would know, it would be her.

“The locals likely received a tip-off that we were up to something nefarious.” Elara shrugged.

“That’s it? A few words, and we all get thrown in cells?” I asked, incredulous. The guards in the Hearthwood required enough probable cause to present to a judge before they could get a warrant to arrest someone. Deania played fast and loose with the law, where whatever the city lord or magistrate said was what happened. But I figured a civilization as advanced as the Elven Star Dominion had been would be a little more developed on this front. Apparently, I’d assumed wrong. It was even worse here.

“So anybody can write a report and get anyone else arrested?” I asked. “Seems like that system could get abused pretty quick.”

Elara shook her head. “Only in proportion to cultivation level. As a Demigod, a tip-off from you would be enough to arrest any Sorcerer or lower. A tip-off from a Sorcerer would allow the guard to arrest any Wizard or lower.”

“Crap, so that means for us to get arrested, the tip had to come from an Immortal Ascendant.” My brows drew tight. Maybe there wouldn’t be a peaceful resolution to this after all.

Minutes stretched on, with no sign from the warden or the guards. I got the impression they were being extra wary of us. My fingers started to itch, and my instincts gnawed at me. It might not be wise to stay here forever, and if the guards weren’t even going to give us a chance at getting out of here, we were going to have to take things into our own hands.

We also heard no visits from Yeminel, Arien, Lyssandra, and Melaris. Had the four of them not realized what happened to us? Or had they been stopped from investigating somehow?

“Psst. Theo. These cells aren’t designed to hold Demigods. Especially not human Demigods,” Dean whispered a little too loudly.

“They can probably hear us, you know,” I replied in a normal tone.

Dean started making an elaborate series of hand motions. It started with cupping his hands in a circle and ended with twirling his finger around his head a few times.

“What’s he saying?” Tivana asked.

I climbed to my feet.

“I always figured I’d be breaking out of prison with you guys at some point. I guess today’s the day.”