Ep. 21 The Message! (Patreon)

What Happened in the Throne Room Marvok's P.O.V.

The king sits on his throne watching as Tarrik prepares his men, they are waiting for the court mage to finish setting the magic rope to allow them to descend easily. I stand beside the king as usual, also watching the preparations.

King Raden says "Where is Zamart? He should be here, he would have had the rope ready in moments."

"Last I heard he had returned to his rooms to rest, shall I have someone fetch him?"

King Raden says "Yes, I want him here when Tarrik brings me the head of the beastman."

"As you command."

With a wave of my hand I send a guard to fetch Zamart. After the guard leaves the court mage finally gets the rope set and moves off to join the other mages. Tarrik starts sending his men down the rope.

'Tarrik, don't you know a good commander leads his men. You are just a fat coward and I hope the beastman kills you before he dies.'

The king sits bored and impatient. Tarrik has been down the well for over ten minutes now.

King Raden says "What is taking them so long?"

"They are probably having trouble finding him, Your Majesty. If he found a way out of the pit it could take quite a while to find him."

Royal Guard says "Your Majesty, someone is coming up."

King Raden says "Well, it's about time!"

Suddenly the throne room dims, as all the enchanted candles go out, at the same time the king and I hear pained sounds from the court mages and a faint scream from the well. Looking towards the well I can no longer see the rope.

King Raden says "What just happened?"

Court Mage says "Sire, all our magic has been AAHHHHHH!!!!"

The king turns at this awful scream to see all his court mages burst into flames.

King Raden yells "It's an attack! We are under attack!"

The royal guards all rush to surround and protect the king.

"Escort His Majesty out of here and to a safe place at once!"

The royal guards take the king out through the secret door behind the throne. I stay to take control of the situation.

"Someone find me a court mage to explain what's going on!"

That is if any of them are still alive. The guard sent earlier to find Head Court Mage Zamart comes through the doors and rushes up to report to me.

Guard says "Chancellor, Head Court Mage Zamart is nowhere to be found, his quarters are empty, his things are gone."

"He fled? Or is he the one behind this?"

Guard says "I don't know My Lord."

Several other guards return and report all the court mages are dead. I look around and then remember the well.

"You go find enough normal rope to drop a line down to get our people out of there. You go to the blacksmiths and see if the seal for the well is ready. You tell the servants to check the storage for normal candles and get them in place. You alert the city guard and the army stationed in the capital to be on full alert."

Each guard as he is pointed to salutes and rushes off to carry out my orders. I start pacing before the throne trying to piece together what is happening.

Did Zamart betray us and do all this? Or is the beastman somehow behind this? I need to know what happened or the king is going to want my head.

"You, you and you, go out into the city and find me a mage, even an adventurer will work."

The three guards salute and run out of the room. Shortly servants come in carrying candles and start placing and lighting them. Then several guards come in carrying a massive spool of rope and place it next to the well.

"Good get that rope down there fast, I want to know just what happened down there!"

'Tarrik you better have that beast's head or the king will have yours!'

Meanwhile in the Pit Ash's P.O.V.

Knight Commander Tarrik says "No more splitting up, he is picking us off a few at a time. Now did any of you see which passageway he went down?"

The seven remaining guards all look at each other before shaking their heads. Tarrik takes a last look up the well but seeing nothing he turns to studying the five passageways.

Knight Commander Tarrik says "We will hold position here until we get help, he won't try to attack all of us at once!"

I chuckle and throw the two daggers I took off of dead soldiers.

MP: 120/205

*THUD* *THUD*

As the two soldiers drop with daggers in their throats the rest spin around trying to see where they came from. I slowly circle the group in the shadows looking for an opening.

Terrified soldier says "This is n-no beastman! He's a d-de-devil!" then takes off running into the darkness dropping his torch behind him.

"Hmm only four of you left, this is getting boring. Guess it's time to end it."

I step into the light holding a soldier's sword in each hand. The four soldiers grip their weapons tightly but don't move.

Knight Commander Tarrik says "What are you waiting for? Kill him in the name of the king!"

The four soldiers slowly move towards me, spreading out to surround me, as I stand there calmly waiting for them. I really should have practiced with two swords before this.

But it always looked so cool in the anime so I just have to try it. I suddenly step forward bringing both swords up and across then spin as I straighten my arms.

*SLASH* *SLASH* *SLASH* *SLASH*

*DING*

Congratulations! You have acquired the combat skill Sword Dancer!

Sword Dancer

Level 1

Movement Speed +5% Damage +5% when wielding two swords.

You dance the dance of death when wielding two swords.

'What an awesome skill! That worked better than I had hoped!'

Knight Commander Tarrik blinks and rubs his eyes, he can't believe he just saw four of his soldiers taken down in an instant by a mere beastman. He just stares stupidly at me as I walk up to him.

"You are their commander right?"

Knight Commander Tarrik says "Um, err, yes?"

"Then why were you always hiding behind them? I say you are just a coward!"

Knight Commander Tarrik says "I am the knight commander of His Majesty's forces! Dealing with a piece of trash like you is......."

*THUD*

"Oh sorry to interrupt, were you saying something?"

The head lying on the floor of course doesn't answer. I quickly track down the soldier who ran away, I find him in the mushroom area trying to crawl through one of the arches that lets the stream through. I grab him by the back of the neck and pick him up, I quickly strip him of weapons and armor, and his coin pouch and set him down against the wall.

"If you answer my questions I will let you live."

Terrified soldier says "O-Okay."

"What kingdom is this?"

Terrified soldier says " The Kingdom of Revalia."

"What is the king's name?"

Terrified soldier says "King Raden Feldster I."

"What city is above us?"

Terrified soldier says "The King's City, although it used to be called Emberly after the founding queen."

"I found some live women down here captured by the goblins, how did they get here?"

Terrified soldier says "Some of the nobles use the pit to dispose of playthings they are done with, those who want them to suffer give them a slow fall charm first."

"Do you know the names of those nobles?" My voice comes out as a low threatening growl.

Terrified soldier says "N-No I'm just a commoner, I don't know any of the nobles!"

I will definitely find out the names of those nobles and when I do they are going to die. Preferably slowly!

"Very well, I will keep my word you may live."

Terrified soldier says "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"But, you must deliver a message to the king. Tell him the beastman says that this trash will be the last thing he ever sees."

Terrified soldier says "Yes, yes, whatever you say!"

"Fine, get out of here."

Terrified soldier says "Um, I don't know the way!"

I sigh and pick the soldier up and carry him to the well, a rope is now hanging there. I shove the soldier towards the rope.

"Wait."

I pick up Tarrik's head and tie it to the soldier's belt.

"Take that to the king, now go!"

The terrified soldier jumps up and grabs the rope and starts climbing like all the demons of hell are right behind him. I take hold of the bottom of the rope and stand under the well watching until the soldier disappears. As I expected a few minutes later the rope starts rising up, I wait until it goes taught then yank on the rope with all my strength.

I then step aside and wait, a few seconds later two bodies hit the floor shortly followed by the spindle for the rope. I gather all the rope and start gathering all the corpses, after stripping the corpses I pile them all up directly under the well. At least if any more people get thrown down they might have a softer landing.

Meanwhile in the Throne Room Marvok's P.O.V.

Once sure no attack is occurring the king returns to the throne room to get my report. I tell the king everything that has happened and all the orders I issued.

King Raden says "Why would you summon an adventurer mage to the castle?"

"Because with all the court mages dead and Zamart missing we have no one who can cast spells to determine what actually happened, Your Majesty."

The king is about to reply when one of the royal guards yells that someone is coming up the rope. We all turn to watch the well expectantly to see if Tarrik was successful. When the soldier is helped out of the well and we see his terrified face and the head tied to his belt everyone is shocked.

King Raden says "Soldier report! Where are your comrades? What happened to Tarrik?"

Terrified soldier says "All dead, Your Majesty! That monster killed everyone!"

King Raden says "What? Impossible!"

"Then how did you survive, soldier?"

Terrified soldier says "He let me live to deliver the head and a message to His Majesty."

King Raden says "What message?"

Terrified soldier says "He said to tell you 'This trash will be the last thing you ever see'."

King Raden says "WHAT?!? You dare! Guards kill this coward!"

One of the royal guards immediately steps up and draws his sword, to everyone's surprise the soldier doesn't try to run, in fact he even looks peaceful as he is decapitated.

"No one else is coming, pull the rope up and prepare to seal the well."

Two royal guards start pulling up the rope, but seconds later both scream as they are pulled into the well and the spool holding the rope follows them. Everyone freezes in shock, then the king starts screaming and yelling.

King Raden yells "I will send a thousand soldiers after him! There will be no safe place anywhere for that trash to hide from me!"

I watch the king rant and rave, and wonder if Zamart foresaw this and that is why he disappeared.