CHAPTER 92 One of the Grimalcat’s Lives

CHAPTER 92

One of the Grimalcat’s Lives

Brownie

Brownie dropped her question and turned her full attention to her cousin. Part of being in a big family was showing up and supporting each other. It was one of the few things that could have dragged her outside today, when she would otherwise have just climbed back into bed with a cup of tea and a pastry.

“Go, Luke, gooooo!” she hollered with the rest.

She still felt bad that she’d rejected her family name, but promises were promises, and she’d traded her life of knife for music.

If anything, having Rufus as the secret leader of her fan club eased some of her worries. Having the commander general of the Dark Lord’s army coming out to every show was a real morale booster … especially today, when she needed it.

While she was pretending to be fine, Donna’s betrayal had hurt her deeply … even if she understood the ridiculous need her mare had for unfettered freedom. Her unhinged and chaotic stance had left Brownie in trouble on too many occasions to recount.

And this time worst of all.

Brownie knew Donna wouldn’t think twice about doing whatever she wanted … but this was different. It was different because Donna shouldn’t have done it, and she knew she shouldn’t have done it. The mare could argue the importance of confidentiality until she was blue in the face; it wasn’t going to change the fact that Brownie could not do anything to even remotely connect her to her family business.

She also knew about Momo and Brownie, and her promise to the grimalcat. It was just not the right thing to do, especially when you were running around with one of the grimalcat’s lives .

Donna might think that acting on her own wasn’t breaking that promise … but Brownie didn’t feel that way.

The battle began, and the fighters were almost evenly matched.

Sure, Cousin Luke was pretending indifference as he whipped out into the space where the guild master had been, while Warren dodged the whip and attempted to go in for closer quarters.

“I thought you said this was going to be a knife fight?” Rufus asked.

Brownie flicked her eyes to her date then back to the arena. “Warren usually uses knives. Maybe he’s saving his mana for the penalty bouts? I could also just be wrong.”

“You?”

“It’s alright to be wrong sometimes!” She turned her attention back to the fight. “It happens!”

The guild master finally managed to wrap a hand around a part of the whip long enough to yank it. Luke was thrown, but a bolt of silver electric power he’d inherited from their grandmother’s side blazed up the whip and paralyzed Warren’s right arm.

Warren took a step back, rubbing his arm and grimacing. It wasn’t for long, though, as his face burst with an intrigued smile.

There was plenty of time for him to pop a potion while Luke landed and retook his stance, but no such potion was produced. Her cousin quirked an eyebrow at the choice then flicked his whip gently, sending out sparks.

“I have a spare antidote,” Luke told the guild master, “if you need one.”

It was meant to be an insult, but Warren visibly perked up. “Really? Thanks. I’ll take it after the battle, though. For now …”

Brownie flinched as the guild master suddenly crouched and flexed. His eyes started leaking a bright purple aura, and gravity started to warp as his hair rose into the air and his clothing billowed. One arm hung limp, but the other was tense and bulging with ever-growing muscles. He was suddenly huge . Not like a giant huge but like a bodybuilding-musclehead-that-spent-all-his-time-in-the-training-yard huge. The crowd went wild.

“[Spirit Blast],” Warren said, activating a spell.

Finally, her cousin’s face broke its serene facade. With a panicked look, Luke dropped to the ground. In the split second before the blast of energy hit him, Luke touched the floor of the ring and activated, “[Static Force].” He was hit by a wave of purple energy that sent him flying as the entire floor erupted in silver arching sparks.

Warren, standing on that floor, had a spark explode at his feet which discharged him into the force field that encircled the arena. Both Luke and Warren hit the boundary of the ring hard enough to send waves rippling through the dome .

Luke hit the ground first.

“And the battle goes to Guild Master Warren Jones!”

The announcer was yelling, and everyone was yelling, and Brownie suddenly remembered yesterday’s excitement with Rufus, so she turned to the beastman and reached out a hand to his.

He held her hand like a lifeline, but otherwise seemed to be taking the ruckus in stride.

“I didn’t know Guild Master Warren was a demon.” He nodded back at the fight.

She explained. “Ah, yes. He’s been the guild master for a hundred years at this point. Their Royal Highness Rowen’s grandfather won a bet with the demon, and so he’s been forced to lead the Adventurer’s Guild for a full hundred years. I think he’s stepping down later this summer, actually.”

“Really?” Rufus eyed the demon who had walked over to shake hands with Brownie’s cousin. He happily accepted the antidote from the amused but also annoyed fox. When he regained control of his arm, he reached up and scratched the back of his head before turning to wave at the audience.

It was a good thing that Luke had given the demon the antidote, since he was about to fight all the contestants who had lost going into the preliminary rounds.

“Rufus?” Brownie squeezed his hand. “Can we go somewhere else?”

Her beastman stood up, nodding. “Of course. Where would you like to go?”

He didn’t hesitate, simply tossing a few gold coins onto the table. Brownie reached for her instrument and realized she’d been so out of sorts that morning she’d actually left Danielle back in her room.

For some reason, that was enough to send her over the edge. All of a sudden, tears sprang to her eyes, and Rufus visibly panicked. She let him pull her to her feet and then she leaned down and hugged him.

Rufus stiffened.

Brownie rubbed her eyes. “Let’s go back to my room. I wanna talk.”