“He ordered that Isabella be murdered, gruesomely, and that those two were to ‘enjoy themselves’ with her before they did it. I don’t know what kind of laws you’re used to, but I know what that means. I’ll be very, very clear here. That kind of thing isn’t acceptable, regardless of the reason, or who it is doing it. Just because he was your ‘master’ doesn’t mean he gets to get away with shit like that.” The group started muttering to themselves, while Isabella held my gaze.
“Why would he do that, my lord?” She called out, the look in her eye letting me know that she knew exactly why.
“Because you had expressed a desire to join me, Isabella, and he couldn’t allow that.”
“Can you prove what you said?” the Reeve called out weakly, trying what he must have assumed was his trump card. “You claim you respect the lives of those who live here, but you attack refugees without proof of some kind?”
“Oh, don’t you worry yourself about that, pal. Wisps have numerous abilities, you know, one of which is to share memories.” I said, thinking fast and making shit up on the spot. “So, all Seneschal has to do is share his memory of your words to all here, and then I think we’ll deal with you the same way we dealt with the last murdering piece of shit we had here. We’ll take you all the way to the top of the Tower, and I’ll see just how far out I can throw each of you. I’m betting I can beat Toka’s record; what do you think, Cai?” I said, denying the Reeve a chance to speak.
“Oh, I think you could manage at least double that distance, my lord!” Cai said. “In fact, I’d be happy to have a try myself, if you don’t mind?”
“I…I…wait…”
“Or we go for option two,” I said, cutting the panicked man’s spluttering attempts off as I mentally communicated with Oracle.
“Heal the idiots, please, Oracle.”
“Heal them? But they…”
“Trust me, they won’t be getting away with this.”
Oracle cast a simple ranged healing spell on both men, and after a few seconds, they blinked their eyes and groaned, sitting up to look around.
“Welcome back to the land of the living, gentlemen. Just to catch you both up on events so far, you’ve been caught plotting to kill Isabella, as well as ‘enjoy her’ beforehand. Or after; fuck knows with the likes of you, really... I have proof, and I’m going to drag you to the top of the Tower to see if you can discover the secret of flight by giving you no other alternatives.”
“Huh?” one grunted, while the other just sat there open-mouthed. The only sign that he had understood was a rapidly spreading wet mark on the front of his breeches.
“That’s my first option. The second choice is that you admit your crimes against someone who’d already asked to join my settlement, you apologize, and I give you a pack of supplies and a weapon, banish you, and let you go home. Just the three of you, I mean, unless any of the people from your village wish to travel with you?”
“You’d set them free?”
“Oh yeah. Pay attention to my phrasing, though; I never promised to help them get there. How dangerous would you say the forest is between here and their village? With a single weapon and one pack of supplies between them?”
“I don’t know, but considering the SporeMother was here and hadn’t spread out? Could be lots of creatures in the area…at least I hope so!”
“Me too. Oh, and I’m going to send Oren to go and recruit whoever I can from the village by Airship, and if they’ll all come, he can strip it to the ground. Nice surprise for them if they somehow make it and only find a hole in the ground."
"Maybe I’ll even leave him a note or get someone to paint a picture of me giving the fucker the finger and leave that there.”
Oracle’s only response was a feeling of satisfaction as she left the mental connection.
“If one of you doesn’t own up to this, though, I’m going to assume you all would rather fly, so on the count of three, I’m going to have the Golems drag you up to the Top of the Tower…One, two…”
“Aye! He…said, the Reeve said we was to do ‘er, just like you said!” the one with the wet breeches clamored, and I decided to think of him as ‘Pissy-pants’ from now on.
“Silence, you fool! He can’t prove it!” the Reeve screamed, lashing out with his right hand, and slapping the terrified man across the face.
“And what’s your choice?” I asked the remaining man, who gulped, looking from one of his companions to the other before nodding and looking at the ground, barely speaking above a whisper.
“What he said,” was all the man managed to croak out, but by now, the entire remaining group of villagers were convinced of their guilt, as indicated by the angry mutters that started to rise. A few had managed to find small daggers, and they wore them on their hips, hands gripping them tight.
“Last chance then, Reeve Lorek. Want to join your friends and fuck off, or do you want to fly? Because believe me, if you make me walk all the way to the top of the Tower, I’ll be in an unbelievably bad mood when we get there!”
Silence reigned for a long minute, but just as I opened my mouth to speak again, he snarled out a response.
“Fine! I told them to kill the wench, and I was within my rights! They are MY villagers. I own them, I make the laws, and
