The Soul Engine Ch. 17 (Original Fantasy) (Patreon)

A/N: Mikael returns to Avina and Thayla and updates them on recent events...

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As Mikael stumbles back into the safehouse basement through the hidden sewer entrance, he immediately hears a commotion overhead. The hatch is thrown open and two concerned faces peer down at him.

“Mikael! You’re back!”

“Sir Mikael! Are you alright?”

He flushes a little bit at the sight of them both so worried over him. He probably shouldn’t have spent hours wandering around in the sewers without making sure they both knew he was okay, but he’d needed some time alone. Unfortunately, his plan to get his head on straight and his thoughts together had turned out to be easier said than done.

Those guards weren’t going to come back just because he spent a few hours thinking about them. They were as dead as Tak and his thugs. Honestly, that wasn’t too hard to accept. Just like with Tak and his friends, it was kill or be killed. If he hadn’t done what he did, Bula would have gotten him. He acknowledges that fact.

The problem Mikael is having is more about the juxtaposition between how he feels and how he THINKS he should feel. He should be exhausted. He should be on the edge of death’s door. Bula had only nicked him with that battle axe of hers a few times and every wound had healed up by the point that he’d fled the burning warehouse thanks to the Soul Engine… but even still.

Mikael had the memories of a bunch of warriors, soldiers, and fighters in his head. So he knew what battle was like. It could be exhilarating, certainly, but it was also exhausting. It was tiring. It was hard and energy consuming. Right now, Mikael should be dead on his feet. But he’s not.

He hadn’t stumbled into the basement because he was tired, but rather the exact opposite. He FELT like he should be tired, but instead he’d never been more alive.

Waving a hand up at Avina and Thayla, Mikael offers the two women an apologetic smile.

“Sorry if I worried the two of you. I’m fine. Here, let me climb up so we can talk?”

From the looks on their faces, neither woman is inclined to leave it at ‘he’s fine’, but at the promise of them talking about it, they both move back from the opening, allowing him to climb into the safehouse proper. Mikael sighs as he moves over to the table and takes a seat, before looking to Thayla and Avina. The Knight of the Rose is biting her lower lip in honest, open worry. Meanwhile his Soul Mechanic has her arms crossed over her chest and is clearly trying to cover up her own concern with irritation.

“Where were you, Mikael? You left on your mission hours ago and now you come back and say you’re fine? What happened out there?”

Thayla, as sycophantic as ever, is quick to jump to his defense.

“N-Now now… I’m sure Sir Mikael has a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this! Let’s just give him a chance to explain!”

And then the white-haired knight throws him an imploring gaze, all but demanding a good explanation with her eyes.

Sighing, Mikael rolls a shoulder… and doesn’t feel an ounce of the soreness that his instincts are screaming he should have. He feels good. Too good, in fact. And that’s the biggest problem. It’s unsettling, how much power the Soul Engine grants him. And only now is he realizing how much he’s been limiting himself the past two weeks. Only… the opposite of limiting himself involves killing people. And Mikael is afraid of that slippery slope. ESPECIALLY with the memories he has in his head.

“… I ran into Bula.”

He’s half-expecting to have to explain who that is, but both Avina and Thayla go wide-eyed at the mere mention of Bula’s name. Thayla is the first to speak, blurting out the first words that come to her mind clearly.

“Lord Quinn’s half-orc bodyguard?! And you survived her? Sir Mikael, that is most impressive! How did you escape?!”

Mikael blinks and then shrugs.

“I dropped a burning building on her. It didn’t kill her, but it did give me enough time to get away. Before that, we fought for a while. And talked too.”

Thayla’s eyes remain wide as he speaks, until the end when she shakes her head.

“The orcs from the Savage Lands are said to each have the strength of ten men and the savagery of feral beasts. Half-orcs have all of the strength, but they’re not nearly as… tribal and impossible to reason with, so they’re usually allowed to roam the Zuverian Empire unmolested so long as they don’t make trouble. I assume the same is true for Ocreatha…”

Mikael just shrugs again, not really knowing one way or another. Avina on the other hand… well, while Thayla had been freaking out over Mikael facing down a half-orc and surviving the encounter, Avina’s brow had furrowed in thought. However, when she hears that last sentence from the female knight, she finally interjects.

“It’s true. Though I would hardly call the relationship between Zadicus and Bula ‘unmolested’.”

Thayla blinks at that and then gets a thunderous look on her face that has Avina quickly correcting herself.

“I don’t mean like THAT, Thayla! I mean, I’m pretty sure anyways. Still, Bula IS Zadicus’ slave by magically enforced contract.”

Of course, while the first bit calms Thayla back down, the last bit gets her up in arms again immediately.

“Excuse me?!”

Nodding along, Mikael clears his throat and draws attention back to him.

“Yeah, we talked about that. Apparently Zadicus tricked Bula into a contract. She willingly signed on to fight a number of battles for him, assuming that he intended to use her as a gladiator in his arenas. A heavy hitter to draw in crowds, you know? But that was never his plan. He wanted a half-orc bodyguard and he got one. Bula is essentially forced to obey his orders until he sets up the number of fights that are outlined in the contract. Only, Zadicus gets to decide when the fights take place. So she’s his bitch until he says otherwise.”

Thayla’s face runs the gamut of negative emotions as Avina explains. The Knight of the Rose clearly doesn’t like hearing a word of it. Snarling, her hands clenched into fists at her sides, Thayla shakes her head vehemently.

“That’s as good as slavery and still wrong! The Lord of the City’s crimes continue to mount by the damn day!”

With a huff, Thayla moves over to the table and takes a seat as well, clearly wanting nothing more than to go and try to free Bula right then and there. But she also knows that can’t happen right now. Still, it’s clear that the prospect of her being enslaved offends Thayla to her very core.

Avina just sighs and moves over to the table as well, taking her own seat.

“Well, it sounds like Bula didn’t exactly hold back or pull her punches as far as Mikael was concerned. So while she might be forced to follow Zadicus’ orders, I doubt she would have shed a single tear if she’d managed to kill Mikael tonight. She IS still a half-orc after all. They live for the battle and the bloodshed… just not quite as much as their full blooded kin.”

Mikael nods at that.

“Yeah, she thanked me for costing Zadicus one of the contract’s fights… and then she tried very, very hard to kill me. I think I distracted her with all the talk of her contract and Zadicus’ eventual plans for her, but it didn’t help. In the end…”

Avina’s eyes light up as she catches on as he trails off and looks down at himself.

“You used the Soul Engine!”

Sighing, Mikael nods. He pulls off his leather jerkin and reveals how powerful the teal glow of the device embedded in his chest is at the moment. Avina is immediately next to him, leaning in and pulling open his shirt to look at it more closely as he explains.

“It wasn’t just Bula at the warehouse. At a certain point, it became Bula and ten guards. And I was barely surviving Bula so… I did what I had to do. I can’t honestly say whether Zadicus will know about our connection after this. All of the husks I left behind would have burned with the rest of the warehouse’s contents. But Bula might tell him. Or she might not. Either way, the only way I was able to keep up with her was by fueling the Engine.”

Something in his voice must have caught Avina’s attention, because after studying her creation for a moment, the Soul Mechanic looks up at him and her features soften.

“You did what you had to do, Mikael. Never doubt that.”

Of course Avina would say that. She wanted him to use the Soul Engine. Though he liked to believe she was being at least partially genuine…

“She’s right, Sir Mikael. Those men had to know they were courting death by stepping into the middle of a fight between a half-orc and her enemy. You can’t blame yourself.”

Having Thayla back Avina up is a little nicer. Makes him feel a little better, even if he half-suspects it’s because Thayla values his life higher than the guards due to his status as a Summoned Hero. Avina’s look of surprise at hearing the Knight of the Rose agree with her is certainly funny though. Perhaps noticing the slight grin on his face, Avina flushes and pulls away.

“Ahem. Changing the subject… use of magical contracts like the one Zadicus has Bula under IS actually illegal in the Kingdom of Ocreatha, so feel free to add that to the list of his crimes, Dame Dawnguard. Since I know you’re keeping track.”

Thayla jolts at the reminder of Bula’s current situation, and she scowls mightily.

“And he just gets away with it?! He parades the half-orc around like she’s his pet! She was even there during my meetings with the bastard. If knowledge of his treatment of Bula is common knowledge, how has he not been held accountable for his crimes yet?!”

Avina shrugs.

“Because Ocreatha is broken.”

That simple response brings Thayla up short, which was clearly Avina’s intention because once she knows she has their full attention, the freckled young woman starts to explain.

“Twenty years ago, the Royal Family of Ocreatha were murdered in their beds. No one knows who did it, since no one ever took credit. But right afterwards, rumors began spreading that the Royal Family deserved it. That they were all practicing illegal and dark magics behind closed doors.”

Mikael finds himself engrossed by the impromptu history lesson, while Thayla nods along, having clearly heard some of this already.

“With the Royal Family dead, control of the Kingdom fell to the Council of Lords. Unfortunately, the Council of Lords is hopelessly corrupt. They immediately appointed Foss Sangrey, the Royal Advisor, as Regent-Lord of Ocreatha… but he’s nothing but a puppet.”

Tilting his head to the side, Mikael can’t help but question that.

“A puppet? Really?”

Avina nods.

“The position of Regent-Lord is not an all powerful one. In fact, it’s mostly a ceremonial one, to avoid anyone abusing it to their own ends. Foss Sangrey is no King and he certainly doesn’t have the authority of one either. In fact, the only authority he DOES have over Ocreatha and the Council of Lords is to find and crown a new King or Queen. Unfortunately, with the entire Royal Family gone, there is no one to crown. And with the rumors about the Royal Family’s activities, nobody wants to even admit that they might be associated with the Royal Bloodline anymore, lest they be named a monster and executed as well.”

Letting out a disgusted huff, Avina crosses her arms over her chest.

“Which is just how the Council of Lords wants it. They keep the Regent-Lord defanged and toothless and they keep the throne of Ocreatha empty, allowing them to have all the power and all of the control. Basically, Zadicus Quinn isn’t Lord of Alether because he’s good for the city, or because he’s a stalwart exemplar of justice and the rule of law. No, he’s Lord of Alether because he’s good for the Council of Lords’ bottom lines, full stop.”

Smiling bitterly, Avina shrugs again.

“They like how much money he brings them, so as long as he keeps bringing in money, they’ll look the other way when it comes to certain indiscretions. I honestly don’t know how they would react if they found out about his Hero Summoning Operation and all of the memory alterations he’s doing. But they might know about it already and have chosen to sweep it under the rug. And in comparison to the magnitude of THOSE crimes, Zadicus tricking some half-orc bitch from the Savage Lands into being his indentured servant is small potatoes, isn’t it?”

Silence falls as both Mikael and Thayla process everything Avina has just said. There’s a lot wrong with everything she just said… and not much they can do about it save for what they’re already doing. Zadicus Quinn needs to be stopped and forced to account for his actions. But they’re already working on that anyways. All they can keep doing is keep working on it.

Of course, Thayla still doesn’t look happy about it. Meanwhile, Mikael is wondering if Bula might still be an ally one day. If she could be turned… but no, so long as that damn contract was being enforced, she quite literally couldn’t betray Zadicus. Frustrating to say the least.

And Mikael recognized that he couldn’t let himself be distracted either. In the end, their target was Zadicus Quinn. Bula’s situation, while shitty, wasn’t the focus of their plans. Bula herself was just an obstacle in their way unless something drastic happened to change that. But until that time, Mikael had to keep his eye on the prize… and so did Thayla.

“Thayla. Let’s spar.”

Blinking, the Knight of the Rose looks at him surprised, even as Mikael rises from his chair.

“Sir Mikael?”

Grinning, he taps the Soul Engine’s outer casing pointedly.

“I’ve got energy to burn… and I want to see you at your best. So let’s go downstairs and spar, alright? I want you to come at me with everything you’ve got.”

Flushing, Thayla looks uncertain, even as she rises and moves to follow him down the ladder.

“… I am not comparable to a half-orc, Sir Mikael. You are likely so far beyond me it isn’t even funny.”

Mikael just grunts at that, because in the end this isn’t really about them being on even footing. Thayla is right, he IS beyond her. But that doesn’t mean they don’t both need those. To keep their skills sharp… and to take their minds off of all the bullshit they were swimming in. He’d run Thayla ragged if it meant distracting her from her thoughts. Felt like the least he could do, really. And frankly… he could use the distraction as well.

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A/N: Thayla: "Ah, Sir Mikael is using the same tactic I used to get me alone and have his way with me."

Mikael: "Nope, actual sparring, sorry not sorry you thirsty knight wench."

Thayla: "=["

Heh, well now, we learned some new information about the state of the Kingdom of Ocreatha, didn't we? Very interesting, all this stuff about the Council of Lords and Ocreatha's Royal Family. Hopefully it was interesting anyways...

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