Born a Monster

Chapter 137: Servant of the Axe, 37 – Remember Who You Are

Servant of the Axe

Chapter 37

Remember Who You Are

“He says the maids believe you should leave the house immediately.”

“I must concur, given the damages our monkey has done last night.”

“He says that there was a smell of sulphur in your room last night.”

“He knows that I will not answer his questions with lies, but he has to ask them.”

.....

“He asks if there will be further smell of sulphur after your group leaves.”

“The source of last night’s sulphur leaves with us. For other sources, I strongly recommend that he renew the wards on his house.”

“He asks if you know of any particular threat to him or his household, before he should commit to such an expense.”

“None that I know of, nor suspect.”

“He thanks you for the life of his son. He has heard what you went through. He is uncertain whether you are a beast.”

“All men are beasts; not all beasts are men.”

“He wishes you luck upon your journey, and is sorry that you will not enjoy dinner.”

And so we left the governor’s mansion of Neo Esteban, not quite allied, but not clearly an enemy either.

“Gamilla, let us return to Vernice, for the winter. We need to review progress, or lack thereof, and make a plan for accomplishing our goals.”

“All of our goals?” Madonna asked.

“If you are ready to discuss your goals with the group.” I said.

“I’ll think on it.” She said.

“Kismet. I believe there is a natural spring here on the island, somewhere in the northern outskirts of the town?”

“Sure is, are we having a spa day?”

“Perhaps more of a bath day, if one is to be ...”

“Yay! Spa day!”

Gamilla had our ride in record time, and joined us. It was a surprisingly friendly set of springs, with sections for male-only, female-only, and mixed genders.

“Oh, I can feel the latent lechery of this place, husband. The activities it is put to after dusk!”

“We won’t be here that long, and I forbid you to pollute the waters.”

She sniffled, but let me guide her into the heated spring. “And here I thought you would be angry.”

“I am angry. Remain seated there.” I pulled out a flask of spring water, infused with the energy of nature. “I was hopeful that I would not find all of the ingredients present. You will remain happy to outside appearances, and muffle your screams with your hands or the water, as you prefer.”

“Ingredients? I don’t...”

“Spirits of nature and earth and metal, hear my plea, grant my request. I, Rhishisikk, water adept and shaman, do willingly combine these essences of salt and silver and spring, to produce the silvered water, known for its purity and holiness. Produce Sanctum Agrentum.”

The flask glowed with a pale yellow light, subsiding into a clear mixture.

“You don’t have the power to make that.” She said.

I poured some of the substance into the palm of my left hand, which immediately began smoking. I’m supposed to say something cool here, like that pain was an old friend, but the truth is that my hand shook and quivered and tried to dump the Sanctum Argentum into the spring.

“You need to understand that your punishments will no longer be as games. Even if it hurts me, I can reach beyond your physical form and hurt YOU.”

I pressed my quivering palm into her chest, and she suppressed her screams.

#

The advantage of a hot springs is that nobody questions red patches on the skin. On me, the Sanctum Argentum leeched color from the scales, save for the backs of my hands where the omega pattern remained solid black.

“Mister Dimmihammas, do you require a similar lesson?”

“I think not, if it’s all the same to you, sir.”

“Excellent. Just don’t let the staff catch you talking...”

“Miss Kismet has briefed me on proper monkey behavior, sir.”

“Good, you have my permission to be a monkey.”

“My lady?”

“I don’t need your pity. Go, but don’t go far. Where we go, you also go.”

“Chii, chii.”

She splashed water on her face to wipe away the tear tracks. “You must feel so dominant right now.”

“Actually, I do feel mildly guilty. Kismet told me that by letting you define your punishments, I was also giving you the illusion that you were the master in our relationship.”

“That child is very insightful.” She sniffed.

“If I have given you any indication of weakness, I apologize. My commitment to the cause is ...”

Not now, stupid Truthspeaker Oath! “I have a high degree of commitment to the cause of Rakkal, and thus to the Red Tide Empire, and thus to our establishing ongoing profits here in the Isles.”

“And HOW do you intend to do that? Let the dragon eat your heart, the kraken-spawn tear your limbs off?”

“Nothing so drastic as any of that. But yes, as you point out, there are perils. There are pirates and violent sea-creatures, and even wildlife. Those ruins not yet plundered are not plundered for a reason. Which reminds me, how did you know the knife would be there, at Angra-nur?”

“I didn’t. But most people don’t know the trick of getting the altar shelf to open, let alone know there’s a shelf there.”

“But you did?”

“I have contacts. They might not be as ... mortal... as yours are, but I have them.”

“Very well, keep some of your secrets, as long as they don’t threaten us.”

“I will. They are MY secrets to keep.”

“DO any of your secrets threaten us?”

“Not unduly, and I shall unveil them soon. Just not today, nor tonight. A majority of the dangerous ones, I think, will need to be spoken of over winter.”

So, she DID have dangerous secrets. Of course.

“I believe we all have secrets to air out over winter.”

“Hrm. Husband?”

“Yes?”

She rolled over. “Oil my back?”

#

“So, you burned her good?” Kismet asked.

“And saved half the vial, as we agreed.” I handed it over. “Madonna had a point.”

“Oh, she’s growing horns? She must be so proud.”

“No, that we all have secrets we need to discuss this winter while making plans.”

“Nope. I’ve aired all my objections openly.”

“Oh, okay. Because it felt like for a week or so, you were scared after that pirate attack.”

She looked off to the side. “Okay, I really think we should wipe out a pirate clan or two, just so the others know to give us wide berth.”

“That’s a bold plan. I expect hear more details from our heroics officer over winter.”

She gave me the thumb sign. “Can do!”

“Yeah, I think Gamilla and I need to come clean with some details.” Narces said.

“Oh, like orders to kill me if I betrayed the empire?”

“Nah, nothing like that, boss.”

“That’s me.” Gamilla said. “I was to be your executioner if you betrayed us, and take over the ambassador position in your stead.”

“What ELSE is there for you to take control of? You’re already in charge of finances and all of our legal paperwork.”

.....

“I know!” she said. “It was so easy, and you’re still on the chopping block as the official ambassador.”

“Plus, you don’t need any kind of espionage to get copies of all our progress to Hortiluk.”

She shrugged. “It’s not optimal, but I make do with all the puzzles you don’t seem to want to deal with.”

“Wait,” Kismet said, “You’re a spy?”

“Technically, I’m an Executioner with a head for numbers. And no shame to be loyal to Hortiluk, he’s one of us, and has a good head on his shoulders.”

“One of us.” Narces said.

She spread her hands as a gesture of helplessness. “We hobgoblins are what we’re born to be. And every bit as proud of it as you Uruk are about your type of soldiering.”

“Before this becomes an argument, we can all agree we each have skills the others don’t?”

“What skills does fur-femme bring to the table?” Madonna asked.

I almost burst out laughing. “For one, charisma, a statistic most of us lack. Second, she has a wealth of social skills. And third, she brings unbridled enthusiasm.”

“Thank you, Rhishi.”

“Welcome.”

But we enjoyed a hearty dinner, good night’s sleep, and hearty breakfast. Because we needed to go east and then later west to avoid the dragonwyr, it was a miserable week.

“So guess what I have?” Gamilla asked, as we settled into our quarters.

“News for a bargain trade?” I guessed.

“Confirmation on the bounty for Black Apes?” guessed Kismet.

“Silver coated spear head?” Narces guessed. “What, I’ve been debating getting one.”

She pulled out a packet of seal-skin, tightly bound in twine. “Our first package of mail from home.”

So, while waiting for fish and chips, we opened the packet.

Sitting on top was a crisp white letter with a giant axe imprint in the wax. In Rakkal’s writing, the letter was clearly addressed, “TO RHISHISIKK, REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE.”

#