“Where are they in relation to Isabella?” I asked quietly, holding my hand up to stop Cai and Oren before they could do anything else. I felt my irritation and annoyance with the man go from hot to an icy cold rage as soon as I realized fully what he was trying to do. He wasn’t a petty civil servant and a prick as I first assumed, trying to hold onto his power and to hell with the consequences. He’d just tried to arrange a murder and a rape, and as such he and his two friends had shown themselves to me.
“They are one floor below you now and moving quickly. They will likely reach her before you reach them; however, Oracle and Bob are headed here now, so I took the liberty of sharing the information with them. They should reach the men before the men reach Isabella.”
“Well done, Seneschal,” I said, letting out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.
“Thank you, Jax. However, Oracle seems rather incensed by the knowledge I shared with her, so if you wish the men to survive…?”
“I get it; I’m on my way.” I said, turning and heading for the door, Cai and Oren close on my heels.
“Oracle, where are you?”
“I’m nearly there, Jax. Don’t worry; Bob and I will take care of this!”
I could feel the rage bleeding through from the typically happy wisp. Something about his had driven her into a rage, and I suspected I knew what it was.
“Well, don’t do anything permanent to them. We need to get the villagers onside first, then you can have them.”
“Define ‘permanent’.”
“Just capture them, that’s it. Bring them downstairs to face their people, and I’ll be there with Cai and Oren soon.”
Oracle disappeared from my mind, but the silence and residual anger I felt let me know how she felt about my instructions.
I shook the feelings off and hurried down the stairs, coming out into the sunlight on the ground floor just behind Bob, who dragged both of the Reeve’s unconscious and bloodied men behind himself. I could hear the Reeve screaming something at Oracle as I emerged, but I wasn’t in time to stop the bolt of lightning that blasted him from his feet.
I suppressed a growl as I saw the effect the magic had on the crowd of villagers gathered before the Tower. Before, they’d been hesitant to make eye contact, but some had viewed me with hope.
Now they all huddled together, eyes downcast as they waited to see what I was going to do to them.
“Dammit, Oracle…” I whispered under my breath, knowing she’d hear me. She hovered a dozen feet away. The villagers were hunkered off to the left, and the ‘Reeve of Dannick’ lay crumpled and moaning to my right, with her floating squarely between them.
“That…that thing attacked me!” he screamed at me as soon as he could get his breath. “That flying bitch used magic on me for no reason, while your pet assaulted my friends!” He tried to get to his feet, pointing an accusing finger at me as he drew in to continue his screeching, when Cai darted past me.
Before I could stop him, the humanoid panther had crossed the distance and grabbed the fat little man by the throat, only to send him staggering with a solid punch to the face. Oren stepped up next to me and shouted to his friend to leave him some, and I clipped him across the back of the head reflexively.
“That’s not helping, you little bastard!” I growled, before raising my voice to carry across to everyone. “Cai! Leave him be! I told you to stop him, not kill him.” I bent the truth a little there, but it had the desired effect, as everyone looked to me, then back at Cai and the sniveling Reeve.
Cai stood there for a second, hands held curled over strangely, shining claws visible, before straightening and backing up to stand next to me, leaving Lorek reeling.
“Yes, Lord Jax. My apologies,” he growled, never taking his eyes off the trembling Reeve.
“You…your…” The little man squeaked before I cut him off with a glare.
“Silence, you fat prick!” I snarled at him, turning to the people that stood subdued to my left. Isabella was clear among them, unharmed thankfully.
“Okay, people, this is going to take some explaining, but the simple truth is that in the Tower, you are in my domain. What I’d not made clear to you yet is what that means.” Bob stomped over, depositing the unconscious men alongside their ‘friend’ before returning to hulk behind me. Even now, faced solely with giving an explanation and without any real threat to me, my massive bone minion stood guard over me, and I gained a little reassurance from his presence.
“While you’ve been in the Tower over the last day, you might have heard mention of, or even seen, a wisp.” I said, noting a few nods. “There are three of them, each with their own interests, focuses, and responsibilities, Oracle here…” I said, gesturing to my companion as she flew across to hover by my side. “…is my bonded companion.
She is also in charge of knowledge and magic in the Tower. Seneschal is responsible for the Tower itself and its occupants, and finally, Hephaestus is in charge of the Golems and crafting."
"What I haven’t explained to any of you is that Seneschal IS the Tower, as much as a separate entity. I asked him to monitor your previous ‘master,’ Reeve Lorek.” Again, slightly bending the truth there. “And as such, he was listening to every word that this waste of space said to his two goons.” The little fat man went even paler, his right hand coming up to cover his mouth as he glanced first at the two unconscious men, then at Isabella.
“Yeah,” I said, looking him in the eye as he turned back to me. “So, I know exactly what you ordered done
