CHAPTER 109 Pink Magic

CHAPTER 109

Pink Magic

Rufus

I knew I couldn’t go back through the main entrance, but luckily, the elven knights were just inside the doorway rounding up the spies.

There were a few of my skills and perks designed for exactly this type of situation. My Protector title had a [Secure] skill tree, which on its own allowed me to secure and detain all manner of targets. I mostly used it to prevent anyone sent to the dungeon from escaping until we had had a good heart-to-heart, but I could use it skillfully to keep prisoners of battle as well.

The elf I’d caught outside had a low enough level that I didn’t need to use a skill. I simply knocked her out and tossed her at a knight who’d been walking toward me.

I was tossing a lot of spies tonight.

After that was dealt with and I looked to see that Bronwynn had gone over to Donna and was busy petting her. I leapt to a second-floor balcony and grabbed a ledge, swinging myself up and onto the landing. The balcony led into a ballroom with a long table set for dinner.

On the floor at the head of the table was a very messy puddle, and Sir Vainbark helping a very disoriented elf to stand on his still regrowing leg. A healer wearing all green stood nearby, visibly shaken and sweating.

Sir Vainbark looked up when I walked inside.

“I owe you a great thanks,” the knight said. And this time, he wasn’t speaking to me through a thin veneer of politeness.

“As do I, it would seem,” the recently healed elf said, turning around. It was Duke Briarthorn. He had the same rich brown hair as his daughter, though he was a much darker green. “The guard called the warning as I took the first sip. There was barely enough time to cut off a foot so they could [Revive] me. ”

“Please, Your Grace,” the healer said. “The potion is going to take a while to recuperate your health points. We must get you to safety.”

Duke Briarthorn looked grim. “No, I must protect the Hollow. Bring me to the Sanctuary.”

Sir Vainbark nodded, offering his arm to the duke but getting only a dignified shake of the head.

It took him a second to find his feet, but Duke Briarthorn stood straight and tall before taking that first unsteady step. He caught himself and slowly marched toward a door off to the right.

After a few steps he paused and turned to face me. “Commander General?”

“Yes?”

“My daughter …” The duke hesitated, trying to find the words.

“I’ll see that she’s safe,” I replied, walking toward a door I knew led to the grand stairs. “Lady Amy was hunting down Duke Lector the last I saw her.”

Duke Briarthorn clenched his fist. “My cousin has a lot to answer for. If he survives.”

That was the last he said before continuing his walk toward the private sanctuary of the palace. It was a good distance through the palace to get there, but that gave me time to inspect the place and catch Duke Lector myself. If Lithnilheim dealt with the duke, there wouldn’t be any remains left to [Revive].

Keith and I had been to this estate a few times in our youth, which hadn’t very much endeared us to the elves. As much as it was my job to keep Keith safe and out of trouble … the man had a knack for exploding things.

Needless to say, it wasn’t hard to find my way to the top of the grand stairs and then follow the trail of Lady Amy.

And there was a trail.

It was hard to miss the aftermath of a battle between a mage and a magical bow-and-arrow-wielding saintess who was too grief-stricken over the potential death of her father to aim away from the priceless heirlooms of a thousand generations.

I was particularly drawn to the floating vase suspended midair, surrounded by a Void Dimension bubble a mere inch off the ground. Whoever the blonde mage working for Duke Lector was, she was a fan of historical arts. A few more pieces were encased in the pink with black spotted bubbles as I went deeper and deeper into the palace.

At some point I had to backtrack to a tower entry, but I found a scorch mark on one wall. From one of the crescent-moon windows, I saw a contingent of elves gathering up fifteen or so Blackfog spies and hauling them out into the courtyard in front of the palace doors.

“You won’t stop me!” Duke Lector’s voice shouted ahead, echoing down the tower stairs .

Lady Amy yelled back, “Lithnilheim will never accept you! Servalt has called you traitor ; give up now or else—”

“Or else what?”

The voices were louder. I’d reached the top of the spire.

“Or else this,” Knolith answered quietly. I would barely have heard it if not for my [Keen Senses].

“Argh!”

I came into the room in time to see Duke Lector standing there, missing a few parts. They would grow back eventually, or quickly with a potion, but I realized that was Knolith’s plan all along.

“You cannot use portal scrolls now,” Knolith said. There was a brutality to his work. Then again, I wasn’t the type to lop off limbs.

I wasn’t a very bloodthirsty commander general. I was a mediator .

I ignored my notification tab letting me know that my predictive analysis for the duke had risen to forty-three percent. I still only had attack trajectory and perk activation warnings available.

Really, I was most interested in the woman standing on the far end of the room, on a balcony with waist-high railings. Her hood had fallen off, blonde hair blowing in the wind. The rain was still falling, but in a hazy drizzle light enough that it didn’t obscure anything.

The woman looked human of middling height, with shoulder-length blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her Charisma score must have been in the forties at least , but she couldn’t have been older than eighteen herself. She was glaring at Knolith with what would have been an adorable pout that would have made me want to please her somehow—to turn that frown into a smile—if not for the fact I was already in love with Brownie, and the feeling of her passive perk was shallow and easily ignored.

“Teleport us!” Duke Lector screamed at the woman. She flinched once, raising her arms to do as she was bid.

I, of course, wouldn’t allow it. “[Secure].”

[You have attempted to use the Skill: Secure . You have succeeded. Target under the observation of Examine . Target is restrained and cannot activate or be affected by movement abilities. Time remaining: Strength 28 x Level 54 = 00:25:20]

Knolith and Lady Amy acted in tandem, and it was too late for the duke.

The void mage, sadly, was either the same level as me or higher and not effected. She vanished in a burst of pink magic.