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Chapter 42
🕑 Added 2024-08-16 13:57:14 +0000 UTCThe first thing Mitchell did when they crawled back into the tent was check on Allora. She remained unchanged, unbreathing, but not dead, her body still warm and soft to the touch. After confirming that, they settled in and were quiet for a time. Mitchell spoke first.
“The first thing I need to know is if fairies can lie.”
Lethelin wobbled her head.
“No, they always speak the truth. Or, at least they truth as they see it. And the truth they speak may not be the truth you hear. But they can’t knowingly speak anything that is false. That much I know for sure.”
Mitchell considered her words before continuing.
“So, we can trust Luvari when she says that Allora will die without her help?” Mitchell asked.
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way to help her! There could be other options.”
“How likely are we to find those options before Allora becomes a wraith and kills us both?”
Lethelin opened her mouth to speak, then closed it and stared down at her hands which were clutched tightly in her lap.
“I am a thief, Mitchell. I can’t use magic and I never paid much attention to things like that. I didn’t need to know! I pick pockets and I cut throats. But I don’t know how to handle this.”
“If I accept her offer, will you give her your blood?” Mitchell asked.
Lethelin crossed her arms, hugging herself tightly and looked away from him.
“Are you ordering me to?” she asked after a moment.
“No,” he told her quietly. “I won’t order you to do that. But I may ask you to.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then I find another way. Or I don’t and Allora dies and likely we will, too. One way or another.”
Lethelin looked back at Allora’s bone white face, all color gone from her skin. Even her lustrous black hair had become gray bordering on white.
“I think it was the fight with Dakath,” Lethelin said, shifting the topic. “I think he did something. Or it was his blade.”
“That was mentioned before,” Mitchell said. “Something about his black-steel blade. And the bodyguard that was with Revos’s cousin in Besari had two of them across his back. Are they special?”
Lethelin snorted.
“You can say that. They’re made only in Deaj Reaal, the capital of Kazig. The making of the steel is a closely guarded secret, although that’s not saying much when it comes to the cambions. Most of what they do they keep secret. Their society is sealed up tighter than a Iletishian princess’s honey pot! But the blades can hold enchantments better than any other known metal. The blades themselves are deadly enough as they can break most regular swords and rarely, if ever, need sharpening. But if you have the coin to pay for enchantments they can be incredibly powerful.”
“So you think Dakath had some enchantment on his blade that did this to Allora?”
“It would make sense. An assassin of his skill level and power would have had the means to pay for it. Getting a black-steel blade is hard enough. That he had one at all speaks volumes.”
“Tell me all that you can about fey creatures,” Mitchell said, bringing them back on topic.
Lethelin huffed.
“I’ve told you most of what I know already. The fey lands are a wild place that people usually speak about in hushed tones. Strange magic, stranger beasts, and beautiful and terrible creatures that don’t know from moment to moment if they will kill you or befriend you. The fey do things for their own reasons and rarely does it make sense to outsiders or mortals. Almost every story that is told about them talks of bargains, though.”
“How do the mortals usually do in the bargain?”
“Badly,” the thief said.
“But the fey honor their word?”
“Yes. Their word as they see it, though. They always have an agenda. Usually several.”
Lethelin looked at him hard.
“We’re toys to them. They are essentially immortal and use us in their games for amusement. I doubt that Luvari has any real interest in us at all, despite what she says. I think this is just an amusing way for her to pass an afternoon.”
Mitchell suspected she was probably right but that insight didn’t give him any new ideas about
how to get out of this Faustian deal. He looked at Allora and then his eyes roamed down to the small pouch which was still tied to her waist. Inside were the three gems they’d taken from Dakath. Would Allora forgive him if he used them to save her life? He remembered her telling him that the quest was bigger than her and that if she died he was to push on without her but Mitchell knew he could never do that. Oh, he would try. He wouldn’t just roll over and die. That wasn’t in his nature. But he knew that their odds of success if Allora perished on this mountain were next to nothing.
Lethelin’s voice broke through his thoughts.
“I’m sorry I can’t be of more help,” she said weakly. “Allora was right about me. I’m just Varset trash. If I had studied harder with the tutors my mother paid for, if I had paid more attention, maybe I could give better council. But I just don’t know enough!”
“Hey, hey!” Mitchell said to her, trying to soothe the woman. She was trembling and twisting her hands over and over. “Come here.”
Lethelin crawled over to him and he pulled her into his arms.
“I told you before, we’re going to get out of here. All of us. I don’t need you to be anything other than what you are. Understand?”
Lethelin didn’t answer, but he felt her nod against his chest.
“Your path, for better or worse, led you to us. You saved my life and Allora’s too. The girl from the Varset docks tracked a hit squad across two nations by herself and took them out one by one. She brought down one of the wealthiest families in Varset on accident and saved a young girl from a brutal rape in the process! Imagine what she could do if she really put her mind to something!”
Lethelin giggle-sobbed into his shirt as he stroked her hair.
“I need you, Lethelin. Allora does too, even if she’s too stubborn to admit it. What was the fish thing you called her?”
“A reef carp.”
“A reef carp,” he repeated. “Our reef carp needs you too. You’re not trash. I can’t do this without you anymore than I can’t do this without Allora.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he replied firmly.
Eventually Lethelin pulled herself away and she went over to her sleeping mat and laid down. It wasn’t long before she was snoring and Mitchell let her sleep. He wanted the time to think, anyway. He was having an idea and needed to sort it out before they went back. Mitchell already knew that he would accept the offer and suspected Lethelin would pay the price as well, but that didn’t mean there weren’t options available to him. He just had to sort them out.
***
The door to Luvari’s cabin, or whatever it was, opened at his knock and Mitchell and Lethelin entered as they had before. The interior had changed slightly and instead of a table and chairs there were now sofas and an honest-to-god recliner from Earth, which is where the fey goddess was now lounging with a book and her pet dragon in her lap. Mitchell did a double-take when he recognized the cover. Harry Potter!
“Is that a La-Z-Boy?” he asked her in English.
“It is!” the fey woman exclaimed happily as she looked up from her book. “I saw it in a shop window when I was getting your food. The young man who allowed me the use of his credit card was happy to purchase it for me as well. Along with something your people call lingerie that I am quite eager to try on. Would you like to see it?”
Mitchell coughed while Lethelin looked confused as she was unable to follow the conversation in his native tongue.
“No, that’s okay,” Mitchell said, switching back to Common. “Maybe another time.”
“You’re probably right,” Luvari sighed. “But remember, Mitchell, all work and no play…”
She gave him a sultry wink before hitting the button to bring the recliner back to its upright position. The little motor hummed as she came up into the sitting position and Mitchell gaped. She had electricity!
Luvari got up with a stretch that accentuated all the sensuous curves of her hips, ass, and breasts. It was hard for Mitchell to look away and even Lethelin was admiring the fey woman’s body.
“Even without magic your people have developed some amazing things,” Luvari said appreciatively. “I will have to travel there more often.”
Mitchell had a pang of guilt for whatever unfortunate Earth people she would choose to do her bidding. He hoped that the poor sap who had bought his burger and that recliner could afford it. Or that the lingerie purchase on his card didn’t end up getting him divorced if some spouse saw it.
With one last look at Lethelin, who nodded, he laid his cards on the table.
“Your price is too high,” Mitchell said without preamble. “I would like to negotiate the terms.”
A wicked glint came into the fey woman’s mercurial eyes.
“My price is my price, traveler. I expect it to be paid or we don’t have a deal.”
The cold thrill of fear and uncertainty blossomed in his gut and, for a moment, he second guessed himself. Lethelin’s subtle squeeze of her hand on his helped him find his resolve. Hoping his doubt wasn’t plain on his face, he pushed on. Fey loved to bargain.
“The loss of Allora would be a great blow to our mission, but she already had plans in place if that should happen. I don’t want to lose her, nor does Lethelin, but if we can’t reach more suitable terms, we are prepared to push on without her. Allora made me promise that very thing, in fact. I gave her my word that I would.”
Luvari narrowed her eyes and peered at him.
“Your chances of success were miniscule to start with,” she countered. “Allora is more than just a sword and a krisa at your side, she is a symbol the beleaguered people of Awenor would rally behind were they to learn that she still lived. You need her. I can save her.”
Mitchell didn’t appreciate the dismissive tone of her voice and he found a bit of the metal returning to his spine.
“That’s true, but I won’t be taken advantage of to save her life. I won’t be taken advantage of because I’m not in the best position at the moment. And I wouldn’t be a proper ruler of Awenor if I let the first pretty demigod in a form-hugging dress sucker me in a deal.”
Mitchell guided Lethelin over to the loveseat across from the recliner and sat down. He leaned back and tried to think of what Harvey Specter would do. He was the lead character on a legal drama called Suits that he’d been into during its run. He always presented himself as being in total control of any situation, even when he was bluffing his ass off. The opponent didn’t know that, though. Harvey had a reputation of winning and, even when he had nothing, people feared that he was telling the truth. Mitchell was in much the same situation. He had nothing beyond a hope that the Lady Luvari wanted what they had badly enough to negotiate for it.
There had been hints during their conversation that perhaps that was the case. She’d only met three other moon children in her time on Tewadunn. She seemed fascinated by the futures involving Mitchell that she could apparently get a sense of. And she’d said how rare elemental gemstones were, especially now that Awen was the sole surviving elemental on the entire planet. The fey woman was hungry for these items. At least he hoped she was. Most importantly, though, is that she needed to believe that he would walk away if she wasn’t willing to negotiate.
“W-W-H-S-D,” Mitchell told himself. “What would Harvey Specter do?”
Harvey Specter would bluff his ass off.
Mitchell leaned back in the loveseat, Lethelin pressed pleasantly into his side. He placed his arm around her shoulders, crossed one leg over the other with a bit of extra manspreading for the effect, and let out a sigh of satisfaction.
“This is comfy,” he said in what he hoped was a casual way. “Now, as I was saying, we need to adjust the price. You have what we want, this is true, but we also have things that you want. We are willing to deal but only under more favorable terms. Otherwise, we will go on our merry way and you will have gone through all the trouble of dimension hopping and crafting your cure for nothing.”
The little dragon thing poked its head out from under Luvari’s dress and growled at them like an angry kitten. Perhaps it was picking up on some of its master’s sudden foul mood. The fey woman paid it no mind. She only had eyes for Mitchell and they were as hard and brittle as cold steel.
Mitchell suddenly felt a pressure on his mind and now that he knew what it was, her firmed his will against it and waggled his finger at Luvari as she glared down at him from her standing position.
“Ah ah ah, Laws of Hospitality,” he reminded her. “None of that. Deal with us fairly or not at all.”
Lady Luvari’s lip curled up in the beginnings of a snarl, but she quickly got control of herself and the pressure on his mind eased. Suddenly she smiled but there was a hint of frost in it that wasn’t there before.
“You are right, of course. My apologies.”
She returned to her recliner and leaned back, giving him a measured look. The silence stretched and the tension got thicker. It made the back of Mitchell’s neck itch. He knew the tactic for what it was, though. People got uncomfortable in silent situations. They tended to want to speak just to fill the void. He could feel himself wanting to give in, to apologize to her and take the deal she’d offered. The doubt began to reassert itself. Allora would die and everything they’d struggled for would be lost. Mitchell literally bit his tongue to keep from speaking and he pulled Lethelin in a little tighter to him for reassurance.
Lethelin, for her part, had remained silent the entire time. They had decided that Mitchell would take point on this, despite Lethelin being a far better negotiator than he was. Back home Mitchell could barely haggle for a car but he needed to stand firm on this.
Just as the sweat was beginning to drip down between his shoulder blades Luvari appeared to come to a decision.
“Very well. There might be room to negotiate. Let me hear your counter offer.”
It took all of Mitchell’s willpower not to sag in relief.
“WWHSD,” he repeated in his mind. “He sure as hell wouldn’t sag in relief. Sack up!”
“The lady is both kind and generous,” he said with a genuinely polite smile.
Now came the hard part.
“As a demonstration of our appreciation for you seeking us out in our time of need in the first place, Lethelin has agreed to give you the full amount of blood you requested and I will agree to a memory. I will not be giving you my full name, however. People in my culture often have three names: a first, a middle, and a last name. I will give you my first true name. And, once more, because the stones are not mine to give, I can only part with one of them. They are sacred relics to Allora and I would be stealing by giving you one at all. Someone as generous as you would surely understand and appreciate that. How would you feel if someone stole something of yours while you were incapacitated?”
“Relics they may be,” Lady Luvari said, thoughtfully. “But their true owners are dead and they no more belong to Allora than to you. They are loot from a corpse. The only one who can rightfully claim them is Awen and she’s not here to contest my claim. I want two.”
“And yet, you’ll only get one,” Mitchell said, matching the hard edge in her voice. “I’ve examined them, they are all undamaged and flawless. You may never get a chance like this again. Lethelin tells me that it has been generations since anyone has had a piece of one of the other elementals. Likely they don’t exist at all anymore.”
“Well, the ones in the throne in Iletish,” Lethelin interjected, just as they had planned.
“Oh, right,” Mitchell said, as if suddenly remembering. “But those are purely decorative at this point. Their ability to be used as anything more than pretty baubles is long gone. And Awen doesn’t part with pieces of herself easily. Like your chance with Lethelin, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. One stone is sufficient.”
Luvari stared at him so hard he thought should could have driven nails through his skin with just her glare alone. She tapped one long finger against her pale lips.
“I will consider this counter proposal of only your first name and a single stone if you offer up something else as well.”
“What did you have in mind?”
For the first time since their negotiations began, Luvari looked to Lethelin.
“I want to study her talents. I want two weeks of time to observe her. Unobstructed and undisturbed. Only her and I.”
“What?” Lethelin exclaimed. “Absolutely not!”
“You will not be harmed, moon child,” Luvari said as if she were speaking to a toddler throwing a tantrum. “I will take you to one of my homes where your every need will be seen to while you are in my care. I give my word.”
Mitchell looked at Lethelin then and she glared back at him. He gave her a look and she gave him one back.
“It doesn’t sound so bad,” he told her. “She’ll probably have more of that fish you like.”
“Mitchell!” she pleaded.
“I won’t order you to,” he told her quietly, even though he was sure Luvari could hear every word. “But I am asking you.”
“Fine!” she said in a huff but she pulled away from him and crossed her arms.
“She accepts,” Mitchell said though it was unnecessary. “But I have conditions. It must be a home on Tewadunn. As I understand it, time moves differently in different realms. I want two weeks Tewadunn time for both her and I.”
Luvari made a face of displeasure and tsk’d at him. Maybe she hadn’t expected him to know about that. For all he knew Luvari would take Lethelin to some world where it was two weeks here but ten years for her. He didn’t know if that was possible but he wouldn’t put it past her.
“Agreed,” she said. “Now, will there be anything else?”
“You have to wait until I’ve reclaimed the throne before she goes with you. I need her with me for now.”
“I am not a fan of waiting, traveler.”
“I understand, but she is too important to me and the mission for her to leave my side right now.”
Luvari expelled a breath from her nose and crossed her arms which served to shove her ample breasts up until they nearly exploded out of her bodice.
“Very well,” she relented. “Now, will that be all?”
Mitchell looked once more to Lethelin who stared daggers at him and rolled her eyes. He suppressed a chuckle.
“Lethelin will not be harmed or manipulated in any way, either physically or mentally?”
“Correct,” Luvari said. “I only wish to study her talents under controlled conditions.”
“One last thing, then,” Mitchell said. “After this is done, we would like to rest and recover in your home until both Lethelin and Allora are ready to travel again. You said Lethelin would be weak for a day or two after, and I’m assuming Allora will need more time than that.”
Luvari pursed her lips thoughtfully.
“I will give you the use of this space for three days. Food and wash facilities will be made available. When the fire goes out, the home will disappear and if you are not out by that time, you will be forcefully ejected back into the cave.”
“That is more than generous, Lady Luvari,” Mitchell told her. “Thank you,”
Luvari sniffed in a self-satisfied way.
“We have a deal,” she said with finality. Then a wide smile spread over her face. “Well done, traveler. Well done, indeed.”
Comments
DevonHexx
If the book takes off and the money comes rolling in, I'd diversify anyway I could. Audiobook would be the next step but Throne is twice as long as a typical entry into the haremlit genre and I don't even want to think about what that would run out of pocket. Somewhere between 5-10k USD.
Codewrds
Idk about getting a mangaka for free, but I might be able to get a voice actor. My sister is getting an animation/recording studio set up and I might be able to borrow it
DevonHexx
If you know someone who will do it for free, sure.
Codewrds
Or at least a manga
Codewrds
Can we get an anime? Want. Gimme. *makes grabby hands*
Codewrds
that insight didn’t give him any new ideas about how to get out Into: that insight didn’t give him any new ideas about how to get out
DevonHexx
She is proud he haggled her down. Fey love a good deal. Negotiating is half the fun. Suits has a very different vibe than White Collar. Definitely work checking out.
hawkshe .
I'm trying to figure out if Luvari is congratulating him because he got a decent deal and is proud he managed to do or if it's just a bit of mocking and he could have pushed harder if he wanted to. Also, I've never watched Suits, but from his description he reminds me a bit of Neal Caffrey from White Collar, so that's who I was imagining instead of Harvey Specter. Granted, Neal Caffrey was a thief and not a lawyer, so it's not 100% the same, but a white collar thief does a surprising amount of bluffing and needs to be charismatic it turns out. (At least in the show he did.)
DevonHexx
Hard to know what she sees or suspects. But there are hints coming. I think in the next to chapters next week. Or maybe in three chapters.
Trevayne
I was mildly surprised that Luvari accepted the deal. She agreed to wait until after Mitchell claimed the throne because he needs Lethelin until then. Either she knows they will be successful and Lethelin will live through the process or she is willing to ensure they will. After all, if Lethelin dies in the process Luvari can't examine her.
DevonHexx
She's here for a couple more chapters and then will be gone for awhile. But yes, you are correct. She does return at a later time.
Rhys
Hmm, I don't think we've seen the last of this fairy, have we?
