Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

The guard at the castle didn't even look inside the carriage as we approached. He just opened the gate for us and waved us through. Two armored horsemen were there and they took up positions on either side of us as an escort, as if they knew I had the princess with me. It made me wonder if they would have done the same if Rose had been dead and I was only bringing her body back.

We arrived at the castle doors and I stepped out first and handed Rose out, then Gella, then offered my elbow to Rose's maid. I wasn't sure why she blushed when I did so. Farra stayed with the gold again and I would give her a bag of it when we left to go back to the ship. The guard stepped out and followed us all inside the castle. There was a little flurry of activity as we walked through the hallways back to the throne room.

As soon as the doors were opened and before the man there announced our arrival, the queen mother's voice rang out and cut him off.

“ROSIE!” Samantha Rivers yelled and she ran, quite undignified for a lady, across the throne room. I backed off to give her room and she engulfed her daughter in a bear hug that nearly smothered her.

“I'm... fine!” Rose's muffled voice said from somewhere within the queen mother's embrace.

“You are. You are. You are.” Samantha said, repeatedly.

“Mother.” Ellen's voice snapped.

“Shut up for once!” Samantha spat at her older daughter and eased her hold on her younger daughter. “I've had enough of your attitude!”

“My attitude is keeping this kingdom from imploding!” Ellen said and stood up.

“No, the nobles were just too afraid to wait for the king's son to be born before making a decision on who should rule.” Samantha said. “The vote wasn't unanimous, in case you were wondering.”

Ellen glared at her for a few moments, then she sighed. “Fine. Go ahead and have your little reunion.”

Melanie stood up and started to waddle towards us, so I ran over to her and offered my arm. “Thank you, Lord Drake.”

I led her over to the queen mother and Rose, then stepped back as they hugged together and the tears started flowing. Their emotional gathering was a bit premature, considering how many mages were still out and around.

I walked over to the throne and nodded at Ellen. “I need you to do something for me and the kingdom.”

Ellen gave me a stern look at my wording, until I told her about my declaration with the noble hostages that I had rescued. “I can honestly say that I never expected that.”

“It saves me from having to hunt them all down if you have them arrested and brought here to the capital for me and my people to interrogate.” I said and her eyes widened. “Yes, I was going to.”

“Perhaps we can compromise.” Ellen said and smiled wickedly. “What if we issue an order, on behalf of Grand Mage Henrietta, to return to the guild and regroup and decide what to do with the country as well as the arrest order?”

I thought about that for a minute. “If they are rogues by the crown and are openly rebelling, they would come back on their own to go to the guild. The ones that are more innocent, might turn themselves in to the army. The not so innocent ones might run.”

“In any of those cases, we almost completely remove the mage threat from gathering their forces in another area and trying to assault or take over any of my towns or cities.” Ellen said.

I nodded agreement. “Melanie is almost done having Rose rub her belly.”

Ellen raised her eyebrows at me and I didn't tell her that I could hear them taking.

The queen mother, Melanie, and Rose walked back to the throne and Melanie sat in her place, the queen mother sat in hers, and Rose didn't protest as her mother pulled her onto her lap.

“Melanie, we have a couple of things for you to prepare for us.” Ellen said and filled her in. As she talked, Melanie's face became feral, as did the queen mother's. Rose just seemed to accept that it was going to happen. Soon, the documents were prepared and no one asked how Melanie could fake a document that supposedly came from the guild. It had the proper seals and everything.

As if she knew what we were thinking, Melanie smiled at us. “Who do you think taught them how to properly prepare their correspondence?”

Ellen barked a laugh, the queen mother giggled, and Rose sighed.

“Send them off, one discreetly and the other officially.” Ellen said.

Melanie nodded and did so. She gave me a copy of them as well.

Ellen gave me a look I've seen before, one I didn't like. “David, we need to talk about...”

“I have to visit the Mage Academy first to handle some business, then I have to go get Greta and Jill from the gutted Henrietta Longshore mansion.” I said and interrupted her.

“I think that can wait until...” Ellen started to say.

“You're being stupid again.” I interrupted her again and she glared at me. “I am in no condition right now to do anything to help you with my life here destroyed, that no one tried to stop, after I was kidnapped.”

“You're handling it all very well.” Ellen said with squinted eyes.

“I'm trying very hard to not kill you all for bringing me here in the first place!” I spat at her and my magic flared. “Your stupid society rules and your stupid mage rules and your really stupid behavior annoys me so much that I just want to burn it all down and never have to think about any of this ever again!”

The entire throne room, the common people's seats, the curtains, and the walls, all burst into flames. Melanie, Samantha, and Rose all screamed in fright and Ellen stared at me, probably because I hadn't spoken a chant to make all of that fire appear.

Gella was at my side instantly and put a calming hand on my face. “My lord. Not yet.”

I looked into her calm eyes and took a deep breath. The fire stopped flaring and then it all went out at once.

“I should have you thrown in prison for assaulting the royal family!” Ellen spat at me.

“I'd kill you all right after you gave that order, then no one will be around to fill your illegal orders and you won't be here to enjoy abusing your power again.” I said and took Gella's hand before I walked away.

“You are to come right back here when...” Ellen started to order me.

“I'm moving my people into the mage guild building that I've claimed by right of conquest.” I said and kept walking. “If you need me for anything, keep it to yourself for the next month. I'm busy.”

Ellen shot to her feet. “LORD DRAKE!”

“FUCK OFF!” I yelled back and turned to face her, to see shocked looks on everyone's faces. “I think I said that curse right. Sailors are hard to understand when they're drunk.”

“Yes, my lord. You said that perfectly.” Gella said with a huge smile on her face. “Let's go and finish up your tasks.”

I nodded and we left the smouldering throne room and four stunned women behind. None of the guards followed us as we left the castle and climbed into the carriage again. Farra laughed pretty hard when Gella filled her in on what happened inside the castle on the ride to the academy. Even the driver that was listening in had laughed, too.

We arrived at the mage academy and the guard there refused to admit us, even though I was a student. I stepped out of the carriage and walked over to him. I pulled my sword and pressed it to his neck before I asked him several questions. He spoke truthfully and admitted he didn't commit any crimes and wasn't involved with any, not even the one that almost happened to me and Mage King.

“Good man.” I said and reached into the carriage and grabbed a handful of gold crowns to give to him. “Sorry for the interrogation. It's by royal decree.”

Gella unrolled the parchment to show him and the guard's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

“J-just give me a moment to get the gate for you, s-sir.” The guard said and ran inside, then opened the gate to let us through. I hopped into the carriage and we drove across the campus to the main administration building.

As soon as we stepped inside, I cast that area locking spell those criminals did to capture Greta. All the doors locked with my magic and we walked over to the main desk. As luck would have it, the woman I was mainly looking for was there.

“Hello again.” I said and reached across the desk to grab her by the neck. She let out choking sounds and tried to pry my fingers from her neck. “By royal decree, I am allowed to arrest and interrogate every mage in the kingdom.”

Her eyes widened as Gella showed off the official document.

“If you haven't committed any crimes, you'll be released and left alone.” I said and half of the people in the room relaxed. “The ones that have, will be executed.”

The guilty ones let out cries and jumped to their feet and ran for it. Gella easily caught them with the doors locked and cut them down. No one else moved and they looked terrified.

“That was surprisingly efficient.” I said and looked at the woman struggling in my grip. “Do I need to question you to make you admit what you've done?”

The woman closed her eyes and shook her head.

“I didn't think so.” I said and removed her head. No one reacted. “Now, with that unpleasantness out of the way...”

“What's going on out here?” The Director of the Academy, Mage Pavinca Chasma asked as she came out of the hallway that led to her office.

Gella showed her the document and the woman sighed.

“I knew this was coming as soon as I heard you were back.” Pavinca said and looked at me. “You can do the job I've been too bogged down in paperwork to do.”

Her words surprised everyone still alive in the room.

“You'll have more paperwork to replace the people you're going to lose.” I warned her.

“No, once they're dead, I chuck everything concerning them.” Pavinca said and looked at the bodies on the floor. “Door locking spell?”

“Areus Securus.” I said and she looked surprised. “I can cast actual magic, now that I have the proper books to learn from.”

“Then I'll leave you to it.” Pavinca said. “I'll be waiting for your interview in my office.” She said and went back down the hallway.

Gella laughed softly and we went through everyone else there. Luckily, they had been correct in not running, since they all passed. We went to the director's office and the secretary there passed as well. We knocked and entered Pavinca's office and her interview went exactly as I suspected. She thanked me for being thorough and then gave me passes to be in the halls and to interrupt classes.

Gella laughed again and accepted them gratefully. We thanked the director and left to go do her job.

_______________

Montage mode engaged. Skipping miscellaneous details. Speeding up time. Done.

_______________

We only had to kill six of the eighteen normal teachers, three members of the cleaning staff and one from the cooking staff, and two of the overflow teachers that included Greta's replacement for her basic potions class. I had saved that class for last, because of a certain someone that should be there. Selene had not been in her class. I also avoided the library.

When I entered the alternate potions classroom, a very distinct whispered voice let out a muffled scream. I turned to see Vanessa passed out in her seat, so I left her there and proceed to interrogate and then execute the teacher. That shocked the girls in the class, even after Gella had shown them the official document. I went to Vanessa's desk and packed her things, handed them to Gella, and picked Vanessa up.

“You can't kidnap her!” Lorna exclaimed as she stood.

“Why can't I kidnap my own concubine? She gave herself to me and she's mine, isn't she?” I asked and Lorna closed her mouth. “Do you want to take her to the next class like this?”

Lorna shook her head and I carried Vanessa out of the main school building. We went to the first year dorm and the lady that monitored the students was there. She looked at me for only a moment, took a sharp breath in, and fainted as well.

“You would think they hadn't known you've come back from the dead before.” Gella said and tied the woman up, just in case she woke up before we returned.

We took Vanessa and her things up the stairs to her dorm room and I broke the dorm rules and entered her room without her permission and without official supervision, assuming Gella didn't count. She wouldn't, since she was completely biased for me doing whatever I wanted.

I laid Vanessa on her bed before Gella and I sat down to wait for her to wake up. We had a few things to talk about before I left to go get my crew and the freed slaves.