CHAPTER 17 So Why Don’t You Just Not?

CHAPTER 17

So Why Don’t You Just Not?

Rufus

Thistlecrick was a village etched into the mountain leading down from the plateau. It wound through connecting hills, and while they weren’t as tall as the mountains to the west, the valleys and peaks were still impressive. The naga and other residents of Thistlecrick all lived sprawled over the slopes or inside the many caves, but the marketplace and businesses were front and center by the town gates. Bronwynn and I had passed through here the previous day when we’d ridden up the winding path to the city from the Great Road.

The restaurant was called Knobbinson, and had been owned by the Knobbin family for some three hundred years. They were a family of preela—brown-haired, floppy-eared, thin-winged, faelike people on the taller side. The preela were originally from the Empire of Sands, but a few had traveled across Valaria and set up businesses here and about.

The owner, Mrs. Ellie Knobbin, greeted us at the door. “Rufus, my boy! Just look at you! Still commander general, I see?”

“That is correct.” And she could see. It was an effect of the title that made everyone in Nilheim recognize their commander general on sight.

“Excellent.” She nodded approvingly. “Come this way.”

The woman was an old friend of Her Eminence Feliwyn, as anyone could tell by her no-nonsense attitude. She had us escorted in and sitting at a table in good time. She’d found us a spot overlooking the mountains with a clear view of three waterfalls.

“It’s good to see you again, Mrs. Ellie. May I introduce you to Minstrel Bronwynn Lyriel?” I said as soon as we were settled.

“A pleasure.” The preela eyed Bronwynn appraisingly. “And is this pleasure, business, or company? ”

“Company,” we both answered at the same time.

“I’ll bring you water to start.” Then she was off.

Brownie chuckled. “I do like how straightforward everyone is.”

“It took a lot of work,” I said, proud. “But it was worth the effort.”

“What does that mean?” she asked, then smiled at her own straightforward question.

I tried not to let my passion run away with me, and tentatively explained, “Culture is one of the first things that can change when a new ruler takes the throne, and when Keith stepped up, he wanted to promote a happy, logically minded, efficient Dark Enchanted Forest.”

“Hence the four-day workweek? And the free unlife care?” Brownie asked.

I nodded. “A well-rested and confident Dark Horde will be more self-sufficient … And why spend so much time and resources on people we don’t take care of physically? It’s a waste. That’s why we have free healers, health potions, and a necromancer whose job it is to [Raise], [Resurrect], or [Revive] the masses.”

“And the straightforwardness?”

“I’ve spent the last eight years offering mandatory counseling for most of the Dark Enchanted Forest.”

“You can’t have privately met with everyone in the Dark Enchanted Forest, though.” Bronwynn started to laugh, then cut herself off. “Can you?”

“I didn’t need to see everyone . Just the leaders, and some of the army troops.” I picked up the menu and looked it over, deciding on the orange-glazed and crispy-breaded floofpoof bird served on a bed of wild greens with a side of long-grain rice.

“Suspend my disbelief; how was that possible?” The minstrel took my cue and also perused the menu.

“There are only about forty thousand people in the Dark Enchanted Forest, and most of them work in the army, in business, or in caregiving. I visited each military point and screened the eight thousand minions in the Dark Lord’s army over four years,” I explained.

“On a four-day workweek?” Brownie raised an eyebrow. “That’s … forty people a day?”

“A lot of the problems were solved with training management, so even less. And I didn’t really take days off back then,” I admitted, reminiscing. It had actually been one of my favorite parts of my new job. “My skills make it easy to read people. I would wander through the Dark Army units and each town and get a feel for things pretty quickly. A few interviews and a day or so issuing quests, and things were mostly settled.”

That was back when I’d ignored my own labor laws and worked every day. Even just six people a day, three hundred and sixty days out of the year—give or take days for travel—meant I’d easily assessed two thousand people a year. And four years later, I’d seen most of the army and villages. I didn’t need to personally visit everyone in the forest—just the people in charge and the people who were struggling. And by that point I’d trained The King’s Dogs, twenty other mediators who could aid in my work across the Dark Enchanted Forest.

“It helps that there are so many different types of people living in the forest,” I mused. The actual culture of each region changed drastically, but one thing remained. “Once it became normal to ask and answer questions, everyone started doing it.”

The residents were all cutthroat and used to telling it straight, which meant there wasn’t a lot of push back.

“So you drilled all of the soldiers, and then wandered the forest like a wiseman offering wisdom to anyone your stats told you needed guidance?” Bronwynn joked. “How old were you when you started?”

“Eighteen?” I set the menu aside to show Mrs. Ellie I was ready to order. Brownie did the same. “I should mention I’d already had ample time to practice on everyone in the Black Fortress long before then. I was given to Keith shortly after I turned seven, and leveled up enough to be useful by the age of ten.”

The bard tilted her head, eyeing me. Her curly hair fell over her shoulder, distracting me for a moment. She was beautiful, and her dark eyes shone with red flecks in the candlelight. “You keep saying that.”

“What?”

“Are we ready to order?” Mrs. Ellie appeared at Bronwynn’s shoulder, interrupting my chance to question her statement. The preela placed a glass of water in front of each of us. “I should also let you know our soup of the day is a vegetarian slow-simmered caramelized squash soup with homemade dumplings.”

“Ooh, may I have that with a side of the house bread selection?” Bronwynn chose a platter of different local breads, with whipped honey butter, apple butter, and chive butter for dipping. “And a glowing nettle citrus fitzer.”

I placed my own order, with the addition of a cold golden ale, and the preela left us. I asked Bronwynn, “What did you mean? About what you said before?”

“It’s just that you keep saying you were given to Keith. Like a pet.”

“Because I was .” The words were out before I realized how they’d sound. Her Eminence Feliwyn was tyrannical in her rule. When she’d told the Dark Enchanted Forest that her ward required playmates, playmates were sent. I was chosen, and so I went.

Sure, I could go back to Gren’s Keep now; I had a sister who remained there still. But my family had chosen to send me away.

It was a great honor to live in the Black Fortress … and if I wanted to stay in the Black Fortress, in my rooms, then I had to be the commander general.

Bronwynn still looked confused, so I took a sip of water, deciding on what to say. “I was sent to play with and protect our king in his childhood, like a pet. Many were sent as an option, but dogs make great companions.”

The indignity that followed me from that day had fueled the actions that had brought me to where I was as an adult. And the woman sitting across from me, sipping her water with neither pity nor pride in her eyes, was one of my few sources of relief.

It was unhealthy. It was toxic. But a small part of me had come to rely on her music to grant me any sort of distraction from my life.

Bronwynn quirked an eyebrow. “So why did you stay? Why don’t you just not ?”

I stiffened. “Not be the commander general?”

“You don’t sound like you enjoy it,” she stated simply. “I mean, the being a commander general part. Advising people is great, but there are a lot of different ways you can do that … So if you don’t feel empowered by your work, you could do something else?”

“I enjoy—” I cut myself off.

Did I, though? What was it I’d told Queen Henrietta that first day we’d met? Look at what you want instead of what’s expected of you.

The minstrel was as good at this as I was.

“I don’t think King Keith sees you as a pet,” she remarked. “I think he admires you. And what about Chloe? Is she also a pet?”

Chloe was … an enigma. Someone Feliwyn had brought home one day who was smarter than she ought to be and overpowered from the start. The fact that she had no ambition at all had let her join in the political mess of the Dark Enchanted Forest with minimal trouble.

“Chloe is more like … a sister?” Closer than his own blood sister.

“Then why can’t you be a sworn brother?” Bronwynn crossed her arms. “Do you think that if Knolith beats you and takes your job, you won’t be welcome back?”