Chapter 15: Power and Balance

OK, full health. I guess it is now or never.

Looking at the Mana Leech still suckling at his wrist and refusing to let his mana replenish, Tobi closed his eyes and tried to focus. The Arcane Void was going to be his weapon of choice, he just had to figure out how to use it.

Based on the explanation, Lions Roar had been a mix of Arcane Blast with Elven Carpentry. Elven Carpentry had been the primary magic used so damage was only done to wood and nothing else. He didn’t forget about the blast wave or loud noise though and he wondered how different it would be for Arcane Void.

Guessing that Arcane Void would be identical when it came to the loud bang and shockwave, he was unsure how much power to actually use. Thinking on it further, the attack seemed very similar to Arcane Strike. The only differences really were the facts that he shot Arcane Void from his mouth instead of fists—and it didn’t strike twice.

Come on Tobi, what’re you waiting for? Do it you pussy. What’s the worst that can happen? You’re only risking your health points to kill a damned bug. Do it!

Psyching himself up, Tobi reached for the Chi Samson had once explained to him in the Martial Hall. Unlike the chi Samson had expected him to use, he actually used his Arcane magic instead. Hoping this would have the same effect and he would use magic from his Health, Tobi gathered 50 mana worth of Health and imagined a small magical dart being blown from his lips.

Direct Hit.

Critical Hit.

You have used Arcane Void at a life for mana ratio of 1:10

Equivalent of Mana used: 50

Damage Received: 500

Damage inflicted to Mana Leech: 60

Overkill damage: 10

You have killed a level 1 Mana Leech.

Experience Gained: 5

Sighing with relief as the Leech fell from his wrist to the floor, Tobi noted how there had been a surprising lack of sound from the spell hitting the leech. There hadn’t been much of a shockwave either and he’d caused no damage to himself. All in all, it was a good result. The only problem now was that his health was down to 150 and his mana was still zero.

Nothing to do but wait for it to regenerate, I guess.

Looking to the Leech curled up and withering away on the floor, Tobi almost chuckled as he spotted 2 copper coins appear next to the Leech. There wasn’t many times in Aevitas where he was reminded that it was a game, but seeing a monster drop of coins that couldn’t be explained was definitely one of those times.

Although he still didn’t have any means of escape, he was actually proud of himself for killing the leech. Not just because it had been the first thing he killed by himself but also because of how he did it. The delirious and depressing state the chains had caused him earlier were still nightmarishly real and stuck in his mind, but the positive attitude that came when the enchantment was broken was back in force. He felt like there was nothing that could upset him at that moment.

Next is the chains… Tobi told himself as he looked to his swollen and chafed wrists. There was no way of knowing how much effort would be required to break the chains but he really didn’t want to keep using his life-force to cast magic. Even with full health and mana, he’d only be able to hit them with a 50 mana blast every once in a while. He really needed to break the enchantment that locked away his mana.

The tall mage looking man had claimed that Tobi broke the other enchantments so that meant he’d be able to break the others too. He just needed to figure out how.

The three enchantments left were prevention of using magic, all physical stats reduced to one and the ability to lie. With no idea on how to break any of them, Tobi straightened his back, closed his eyes and did his best to relax. He had other problems besides using his magic and waiting for his health to regenerate. The biggest two problems being his low satiety and low energy.

Whatever happened in the next few hours, he needed to get it done before his mana and energy became too low.

---

Feeling as though he had slightly dozed off for a while, Tobi opened his eyes and checked his health and mana. The feeling was similar to how he felt after meditating to make his mana fill quicker—he’d done that task many times whilst using his Elven Carpentry so many times the sensation was almost as familiar as breathing.

He wasn’t surprised to see that his mana had already grown past the 1,000 mark; but seeing his health had only grown by 90 and his energy had grown to 55% did surprise him.

“Convert Mana: One-Thousand.”

You have converted 1,000 Mana into 100 Health.

Smiling at the sudden jump to his health, Tobi checked to confirm his experience for mana conversion had risen to 5%. The ability was also boosting his confidence and the thought of it reaching its max level excited him a little.

Returning to his relaxed state and steadying his breathing, Tobi hoped that he was right in thinking of it as a meditative state. If it was, he might actually manage to break out of his chains before anyone returned.

He didn’t know what he would do once he broke free, but that was a problem for later. There is no point in thinking how good water will taste whilst you’re still trapped in a desert.

Hearing small bangs from beyond his doorway, Tobi quickly reopened his eyes and glanced down at the Mana Leech by his feet. Quickly kicking the creature to the corner of the room and staring at the door, he wondered how quickly his captors would notice it was gone.

Impatiently waiting for the men to enter his room and feeling agitated, Tobi pulled uselessly at his chains and felt what little strength he had wane under the effort.

He had never noticed how weak he was when his strength had been 1, but now he was used to his strength being past 70, he couldn’t quite work out how he’d ever managed before. The lack of strength in his body was actually pretty scary. Feeling weak was akin to feeling useless and he didn’t like it.

Involuntarily taking a step back and flinching as the door to his cell swung open, it was with surprise to see the head and body of the Talin leaning into his room.

“Kaltxì, tsuman.”

“I am sorry, I don’t know what you are saying.” Tobi replied to the guttural growl the Talin spoken in.

Without another word, the Talin threw a small man into the room. Skidding across the floor and grazing his face, the man teared up a little and grabbed at Tobi’s feet.

“Who are you?” Tobi asked.

Gathering himself up, the man said nothing and looked back at the Talin fearfully. Quickly pulling a key from his pocket and unlocking Tobi’s shackles, the man dropped back to the floor and backed into the corner.

“This is a rescue?” Tobi asked the Talin in surprise.

“Ayoeng hum.”

Rubbing his wrists and followed the Talin out of the room, Tobi paused and looked back at the man in the corner, “Do you understand what my friend here is saying?”

The man shook his head and coward further into the corner.

“How did he escape?”

“Er...I…”

Sighing, Tobi shrugged and followed the Talin out into the passageway beyond. For the most part, it looked how a dungeon hallway might look in some crappy medieval story. Dirty floor full of rot and moss with stone walls and stone roof. Tobi doubted they were below the Castle though.

“Which way?”

“Nga eyk.”

“Do you even understand what I am saying?”

The Talin clearly didn’t as it held both palms upward to show that it didn’t understand.

Looking in both directions, there didn’t appear to be any difference in which way they went. At some distance down the corridor came a turning to the left. In the opposite direction came a turning both left and right.

As the Talin picked up a torch off the wall, Tobi realized that the tunnel must actually be pretty dark. To him the passage was as clear as day but the Talin didn’t have the same night vision he had, clearly.

“Guess I will lead…” Tobi sighed and walked toward the end of the hall. Glancing back at the Talin and confirming he follow, Tobi stopped at the corner and peered around. Both directions looked clear.

For no other reason than he was stood on the left side of the hall, Tobi turned left and waved for the Talin to follow.

Questioning his actions and wondering if he was once more ‘going with the flow’, Tobi’s mind wandered a little. The memories of his thoughts and feelings whilst chained up were still haunting him a little. He was more lost within the confines of his mind than he was within the halls he was wandering aimlessly.

I want to see Selene…

Distracted as he was, he approached the next corner without thought and peered around it without a care for what might be beyond.

Jumping back in surprise as his head clashed against another, Tobi spotted a young man around the same age as himself. The young man had been performing the exact same action. Just as he had been about to peek around the corner, the youth was doing the same. Startled by each other, both hesitated and momentarily froze.

Caught off guard as a warrior jumped between Tobi and the young man, Tobi hesitated. The hulking man in full armor dropped a shield like a wall between them and quickly drew his sword.

Seeing the armored man face off against Tobi, the Talin reacted instantly. Pushing Tobi aside and facing the warrior, it was easy to see the Talin had no fear. The warrior on the other hand looked just about ready to soil himself.

“Wait!” Tobi called as he jumped back up and stepped beside his green-skinned friend. “If you were supposed to be here, you wouldn’t have been creeping around corners. Who are you?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” the warrior growled back as he steeled his nerve and stared back at the Talin.

“Cole, look at his eyes. Do you think it’s him?” The younger man asked in Elven.

Noting how the Talin’s ears pricked when the boy spoke, Tobi wondered if he understood Elven. Neither of the men seemed to notice so Tobi remained silent as all attention turned to the warrior.

“We’re not that lucky, this guy is Kleetz’s pet.” The warrior replied gesturing towards the Talin.

Ignoring how the Talin tensed up at the mention of Kleetz, Tobi stepped forward and put a hand on the Talin’s arm, “You don’t work for Kleetz?” he asked using Elven.

Surprised by Tobi speaking Elven, all eyes turned on him—even the Talin who was clearly giving away the fact that he also understood.

“We work for Darien,” the younger of the men answered, “My name is Lee and this is Cole. We were on our way to meet an informant of ours that works for Kleetz. He was supposed to be telling us where you were being held. You are Tobi of Brackley, right?”

Giving a single nod, Tobi answered that he was indeed Tobi of Brackley. He also asked why everybody seemed to be looking for him.

“You will have to ask Darien for answers.”

“Lee,” The warrior interrupted without dropping his stance.

“Don’t worry Cole, it is him I am sure.”

“Yes, but what about the informant. If we don’t meet him…”

“He will be alright. It was risky to meet him anyway. Tobi is right here, we should just take him back to Darien’s territory before somebody else comes.”

“That’s right,” Tobi replied, “Not the Dariens territory thing, I don’t care about that. We should definitely leave though. My friend and I just escaped holding cells, I doubt they will be far behind us. Hanging around here isn’t exactly a good idea.”

The young man named Lee nodded and turned to leave the way he’d come from. The warrior looked less likely to move but lifted his shield from the floor and took a step back.

“I will walk at the back, I don’t trust your…friend.”

“That’s OK,” Tobi replied, “I don’t trust either of you. You two can take the lead and we will follow. Lead us into a trap and we will at least kill you two before anything happens to us.”

After a small nod from Lee, the warrior relented and took his place beside the younger man. Tobi wasn’t sure which of them was actually the leader of the two but he did believe they weren’t working for Kleetz.

The passage they were lead along didn’t turn out to be that long. They turned only two more times before reaching a moss-covered sewer gate leading into the sewers just beyond.

“Darien’s territory starts on the other side of that gate,” Lee informed them still speaking in Elven, “Normally, we would have to blindfold you from here so you don’t learn the route. I am guessing you aren’t willing to be blindfolded?”

Tobi shook his head to show that blindfolds were a definite no.

“Figured,” Lee sighed, “Oh well, I will just face Darien’s wrath for it later. I am sure that getting you back to him takes priority.”

Without another word, Lee walked through the moss covered gate as if it weren’t even there.

“Illusion Enchantment.” Cole informed him as he tapped a brick with a purple pentagram engraved on it. “Kleetz’s Enchanter put it here—as if we didn’t know these routes already.”

Curious but avoiding questions, Tobi followed the pair through and waited for the Talin to also follow. With all four of them in Darien’s territory, the other two men looked positively relieved and picked up the pace. Tobi deliberately fell back and waited for them to get far enough ahead.

“You speak Elven?” Tobi asked the Talin in a whisper.

The Talin nodded but didn’t actually say anything.

“What is your name?”

“I no longer have one.” The Talin whispered back.

After Tobi asked what he meant, the Talin sighed and tried to explain, “Our names are given by our chief. When the chief dies and a new chief takes over, we are given new names. It shows our obedience and loyalty to the new chief. By accepting our names, we swear fealty to him. My last chief died and I no longer have one—therefore I no longer have a name.”

Remaining quiet as the two men up front waited for them and directed them down a new passage, Tobi waited until they were far enough ahead again before continuing.

“So you can’t get a new name until you have a new chief?”

“That is so. I will never have a new chief though, my tribe is dead; I am all that remains.”

“Doesn’t that mean you are the chief now and you can give yourself a name?”

The Talin somehow managed to look horrified as he shook his head vehemently, “Only the Turok can be chief. A lowly scout like myself can only serve or die. I do not even have the right to find a mate unless granted one by my chief.”

“Sounds rough. What is a Turok?”

Scratching his butt a little as he contemplated the answer, the Talin didn’t seem to know how to answer, “My people have 3 breeds. The smallest and weakest are scouts, like myself. We are green of skin and when our horns form during adolescence, they will become curved the same was as mine without fail.

The second breed is warrior. They are taller and stronger but not nearly as fast. Their horns take two forms in general but they extend forward and outward. Their skin has red tones instead of green and they win the favor of our women through battle. A warrior that has not killed at least a foe of equal strength will not gain any favor or a mate.

The Turok are the biggest. Like with warriors, they do not run as fast as Scouts but nor do they need to. A Turok will never flee. Their height will reach 9ft without fail and their horns will always grow to a large size. They all look similar and their horns will always grow directly out to the side in a straight line and curve up at the end. A Turok will attract many mates just because he is a Turok.

The chief is the one recognized as the strongest Turok in the tribe. If a Tribe is without a Turok, they are chased out of Talin and will usually end up killed by Orcs. The only other option is to flee south into Whispering wood where they will end up killed by the Dark Elves.”

“This is hardly a time for a casual chat.” Cole called backward as he waited for the pair to catch up. The Talin growled a little in response but Tobi wasn’t really bothered by it. In truth he actually agreed. He was just so surprised he could talk to the Talin that he got carried away.

Hearing Lee suddenly whistle like a small bird that often perched itself behind his shop in Brackley, Tobi’s attention returned to where he was. To think that he’d been imprisoned not long ago was already turning into a distant memory. Instead he found himself going with the flow like always.

Stubbornly resolving himself to face whatever came, Tobi’s mind snapped back into focus. What happened next however was not what he expected. The floor directly in front of Lee opened up and stairs leading down appeared.

“I won’t fit down there,” The Talin grumbled as he looked at the space on the path. Due to his size he was already walking where the sewage would flow instead of the path. The tunnel ahead would be a tight fit even for the warrior, let alone a 7.5ft Talin with muscles that could double as armour.

Realizing the problem, Lee looked to Cole questioningly.

“Don’t ask me, this is where Darien told us to take him. How was we supposed to know a Talin would tag along?”

“I have an idea,” Tobi offered, “How about one of you go into the city and get a robe large enough to cover my friend here. We can just disguise him and walk along the city streets. You must have somewhere we can go to meet this leader of yours.”

Lee looked at Cole doubtfully but said nothing. Cole had his doubts too—disguising such a tall creature didn’t seem to appeal to either of them.

“Kleetz’s men will definitely recognize the Talin no matter what we dress him as. There is no way such a big man would exist in the city without Kleetz being aware of it. If we’re seen walking with them, Kleetz will know that Darien was involved in their escape. It will mean war.”

Cole nodded in response to Lee and looked back to Tobi.

“You know the city better than me,” Tobi replied to the look he was given, “I gave you the recipe, its up to you to make the meal.”

“We could take them to one of the exits and smuggle the Talin into the back of a wagon…” Cole offered.

Lee agreed and decided to do exactly that. Giving another ear-splitting whistle, the stairs closed up again. Tobi definitely wanted to know how that worked but he decided it could wait for another time. His would be rescuers had become far too lax since entering Darien’s territory. Did they really think they were safe just because they walked past an illusionary gate in a sewer pipe?

Following the pair further through the sewers, Tobi remembered the Talin being blindfolded and still knowing that Tobi had been following. After quietly asking him about it, the Talin smiled and whispered back.

“Scouts have two advantages over Warriors and Turoks. The first is our speed. There is no land animal that can run as fast or far as a Talin Scout. The exception is the Valkurn but they have the advantage of four legs. The second advantage is our hearing—second only to Elves. I heard you following.”

“So if we were being followed now, would you hear them?”

“We are being followed, but not by Kleetz or his men. Several men have been following us since we passed through the magic gate.”

Looking back out of concern, Tobi asked why he’d not mentioned them earlier.

“The two up ahead knew already so I figured they are all together. Like you said, if they lay a trap, we can at least kill those two. Besides, seven lowly humans is nothing to me...not without those magic bracelets binding my strength.”

Tobi nodded but said nothing else, he had a million things to discuss with the Talin but Cole had been right; now wasn’t the time.

They reached the exit Cole had mentioned not fifteen minutes after leaving the underground staircase. Just like the place Tobi had passed when he first saw the Talin; the so-called exit was a moving wall in the side of the sewer.

“You two wait here, Lee will go for a wagon whilst I make sure the area is safe for you two to come out.”

Tobi said nothing as he took a seat on a crate by the stairs. The room reminded him of Ranalls cellar at the Plucked Duck back in Brackley. Both Cole and Lee had been gone for less than a minute before he started investigating the wall for a hidden room.

A little disappointed that this place didn’t have the same hidden room that Ranall had in his own Cellar, Tobi glanced up the stairs and turned to the Talin.

“When we get in the wagon, I plan on stealing it. Will you come with me?”

“You will not go to see the leader of your people’s warriors?”

“Huh? They aren’t my people and only one of them looks like a warrior. The smaller, younger one looks to be a rogue or something. Anyway, I have a girlfriend in the city and my backpack is there too; I need to go get them. I have been trying to think of a way to get to her since we got out of our cells. Now seems like a good time, don’t you think?”

“What is a girlfriend?”

Rolling his eyes, Tobi explained that a girlfriend was a ‘potential mate’ and he had to find her.

“So we find your mate and then you take me to the Elves?”

“The Elves?”

“In the tunnel when you tried to rescue me. You used Elf magic.”

He means Arcane Magic?

Thanks to Cole coming back into the basement, Tobi didn’t have the chance to talk further and put the questions aside for later.

“We have a bit of a problem.”

Looking up to Cole, Tobi asked what the problem was using Elven as a way of reminding Cole that the Talin didn’t speak human.

“Half the city is looking for you. Some men dressed as guards raided the Puddy Muddle last night claiming they wanted you for questioning. When they found you weren’t there, they took the white Priestess instead.”

---

Pacing up and down the room he’d been left in with the Talin, Tobi waited for the arrival of the mysterious Darien character. The ride in the wagon had been mostly silent but Lee did make several attempts to calm him down.

There was little in the world Tobi hated more than feeling useless; and that’s exactly how he felt. Just like when he was caught in those chains in the cell, he’d had to face his own powerlessness. Since he heard Kleetz mentioned there were people after him from the moment he got off the ship, he’d constantly pushed the thought out of his mind. How could that have been happening without him noticing?

“You should try to sit down and relax.” The Talin advised.

Tobi glanced over but the only seat in the room was the sofa the Talin filled. He didn’t really want to sit down either...he wanted to go and find Selene. Cole had told him that Darien would tell him everything, but every second that past felt torturous and his worries grew.

Hearing a knock at the door, Tobi walked over and opened it. They were in the storage room of some building but besides the sofa there wasn’t actually anything in there.

“Follow me please.” The girl instructed the moment Tobi opened the door.

Tobi informed the Talin what she said in Elven and the pair followed her down a corridor and up some stairs.

“In here…”

Entering the room as instructed, Tobi’s mind blanked at what he was seeing. He didn’t know what he was walking into but he didn’t expect what he saw: A room furnished with enough expensive items for Tobi to his shop in Brackley seven times over was only the start of it.

The bigger surprise was the blond gentleman that could pass for nobility. Based on how the men were stood around him, he was clearly a man of power and the one they named Darien. Cole and Lee were both in the room too but more than anything, the biggest surprise was Darien himself.

In all of Chadú, the only white people Tobi saw were poor, beggars, slaves, lower class workers or foreign traders. Yet here was Darien, the exception to the rule—everything about him screamed power and wealth.

“Take a seat, Tobi of Brackley. I have been waiting for you.”

Noting how Darien had opted to speak in Elven, Tobi glanced back at his companion who gave a small nod and stood behind one of the chairs. Sitting on the chair guarded by his Talin friend, Tobi tried to face Darien as an equal. He’d never bowed down to anyone or let anyone act as his superior...in front of Darien and his guards though, he definitely felt inferior.

“It is rare for people to speak Elven around here. When Lee informed me that you both speak the language, I admit that I was surprised.”

“We were surprised too.” Tobi replied, “I gave it some thought whilst I was down stairs. Your men use it as code to speak to each other don’t they?”

Darien smirked on one side of his mouth but remained silent for a long time. As the silence stretched on, Tobi became confused and impatient. Lee and Cole had said that Darien would explain everything but he was doing nothing but sit and stare.

“I will cut to the chase, Master Tobi. The King is dying.”

“Eh?” Tobi stammered, “What does that have to do with me?”

“Everything. Do you know anything about Lybernia’s history or politics?”

Tobi shook his head, he didn’t even know much about the history and politics of Anderon...let alone Lybernia.

“Depending how far back you look at the history, Lybernia had originally been a lawless land and the people were tribes of warriors, hunters and crafters. Over time, the tribes were either absorbed into other tribes or wiped out. This continued until there were 12. During that time, Lybernia was considered one country.

Eventually, 12 tribes remained and they numbered in the thousands. They each claimed their own territory in Lybernia and governed it themselves. In this way, they were the same as how Anderon started. The biggest difference was that all twelve Tribes honored the same god, whereas Anderon had each tribe honor a different God.

The tribes were united in a common belief and made treaties with each other instead of warring each other. This pleased their God and he gave them favors.

That is where this all begins. You see, in Lybernia, only a son can inherit the land of their father. When one of the Tribal leaders had only daughters with no son to inherit, they didn’t know what to do. Can you guess?”

Not sure how to react to the sudden history lesson, Tobi guessed that the leader married off one of his daughters and the husband inherited.

“Correct. That is exactly what happened and that is why everything went wrong. The other tribes felt that any common man was unworthy of his daughters and insisted that one of their own sons be the one to marry his daughter. Up until that point, their sons and daughters were free to marry whoever they chose.

The Tribal leader however agreed with the other tribes and decided that she would marry someone worthy. How to pick the worthy candidate however was something he worried over. Picking one above the others would insult many and possibly cause a war.

To solve the problem, he hosted a tournament of 10 games. Each of the chosen sons arrived with 10 champions; one for each of the games. The son with the most champions surviving at the end would claim the daughter.”

“The sons didn’t take part in the games themselves?” Tobi asked in surprise.

Chuckling, Darien explained that they didn’t. Some of the games were swordfights and due to the barbaric nature of the tribes back then, a duel only ended in death. The sons were considered too valuable so they came up with excuses. A leader must know how to command his men, assign the right men the right jobs and so forth. They could do that by picking 10 men and commanding them in the games.

“I guess that sort of makes sense…” Tobi mused as he imagined a Prince picking 10 champions. If he assigned his best sword fighter to the sword games, his best archer to the archery and so on...his choices would prove well-founded and show off his skills as a leader.

“Well, whatever the case, it didn’t work out too well. The one that won the daughter inherited the land and everything returned to normal. At least until his brother died. At that point, he became the sole heir of his fathers territory and the balance of power became unsettled. One Leader was governing two territories.

Over time, there were three more instances where leaders had no sons and the same 10 games were held. There were also other events and finally, there was just four leaders remaining. The country of Lybernia had been split into four territories. There were others unhappy with this turn of events though. They were the families with blood relations to the original owners of the territories.

The husbands of daughters and so forth to be specific. They are around to this day and they are the ones we call Lords and Nobles. Descendants of the original 12 tribal leaders. Parts of their land are still passed down but ultimately they all belong to the King.

Anyway, that comes later. Whilst their were four tribal leaders, the Dark Elves appeared from the forests to the North and there were battles and wars. Then Light Elves from the East arrived and fought against the Dark Elves. Men with light skin arrived from the West and were soon followed by Dwarves. The land was going through many changes.

We don’t know the exact history, but after the great war five-centuries ago, only one Tribal leader remained. He named himself King and united Lybernia under a single banner. A single territory. It has been that way ever since and his family still rules to this day. And now the King is dying.”

Mentally reviewing the history lesson and picking out key points, Tobi noted how the story had started and ended with the fact the King was dying.

“The King is going to host the games?” Tobi finally asked as things started to make sense.

Darien smiled and gave a single nod.

“I still don’t see what that has to do with me.”

“Do you really not see where you come into this? There are more than 40 families in total around Lybernia that have titles of nobility. Of them all, there were 13 with eligible sons for the tournament. Out of them, only four refused to enter the games. That left nine. Of the nine, three have been killed and two have dropped out. Four remain and the games haven’t even started yet.

What games do you think will be part of this tournament?”

Only three games came to Tobi’s mind instantly: Jousting, Melee and Magic. They weren’t holding games to find a champion though so he guessed he was thinking about it all wrong. They were picking someone to rule a country, so what would the person need?

“You look like you are struggling a little so let me give you some hints. The King cannot handle every case of injustice or broken law, he must assign judges. The games incorporate that. The noblemen must assign a judge to handle real cases and they are judged based on how each case is handled.

The King must also assign men to collect taxes and handle financing, so they must face off in challenges in those areas too.

Diplomacy is another big one...but what happens when Diplomacy fails?”

War… Tobi answered in his head instantly. At the same time, he realized what that actually meant.

“I am wanted to become one of their chess champions?” Tobi asked in disbelief.

“Of course you are. Of the four remaining Nobles, only one of them is playing fair. He has gathered 10 champions he will actually assign to those positions if he becomes King. The other three are a little less honest. They have hired the unfavorable sort to find champions for them and win them the position of King in return for favors.”

Acknowledging the fact that there were few as corrupt as Politicians, Tobi wasn’t really surprised.

“If the honest one is assigning people he will actually use, where do I come into this. Where do you come into this?”

Darien laughed, “I am glad to see you can be quick to catch on when you have enough information on the table. As you have guessed, I am one of the unfavourable sort. I am not so bad as the other two though—depending on your point of view, of course.

My story is a long one but I see no reason to share it with you. The end result is this: Chadú has four Kings and I am one of them. The real King is the one that is dying and holding the games. He rules all of Lybernia and so obviously he is the most powerful of us. Inside this city however, he has the least power out of the four of us.

Currently, I hold sway over the most power but Scrim and Kleetz are not far behind. We have been having a three-way war for the past five years. We are also careful not to attract the attention of the real King. He may have the least power inside the city right now, but if he brought in his armies and tried to rout us out...who knows.

My point is, power is precarious and it balances on the tip of a needle. If the honest Nobleman gets into power, Scrim, Kleetz and myself will have nothing but trouble on our hands. For this reason, each of us backed one of the other remaining nobles.

I won’t lie about it either, we are doing it for entirely selfish gains. Scrim will get a noble title and Kleetz and myself will be given large bounties. They will do everything in their combined power to dig us out and kill us.

Kleetz has a similar deal but a little less ambitious. For him, his crimes will be overlooked and Scrim will be killed. I won’t be killed, I will be given to Kleetz. I am not sure why but I am pretty sure he wanted your Talin friend to rip me apart in an arena he is secretly building at the edge of the city.

Finally is me. What deal I am getting I will keep to myself. That is why we have all been seeking you out since you got here. Scrim has tried to get you by force three times already. At the harbor he was prevented by Kleetz. The harbor is Kleetz territory so he had the advantage. I am guessing Kleetz went there to collect you himself but Scrim foiled his plans. I don’t know the details.

The second attempt was at the restaurant you went to with your White Priestess. That is inside my territory and I was planning to introduce myself peacefully. Again Scrim arrived and made sure that didn’t happen. On that occasion, Kleetz shown up too and so did some city guards. I really had my hands full.

Finally, Scrim went to the Puddy Muddle with some of his men dressed as guards. When he failed to get you, he took the White Priestess to use as blackmail against you. The Puddy Muddle is Neutral ground, I am surprised Scrim had the courage to go there.”

“What do you mean? Is there something special about the woman who lives there?”

Darien glanced at Lee before answering, “That is hard to answer. I don’t think I should even try. I don’t think it matters either. Scrim has done something that even I wouldn’t have dared to do. This gives us a chance. She owes me a favor and she now has a score to settle with Scrim. With her help, I will be able to rescue your White Priestess. In return, I want you to be my Chess Champion for the games next month. What do you say?”

***

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***

Authors notes:

Spoiler :

I don't remember who I have thanked and who I haven't for giving me support so far...Mythu and Alixonzen for example with the reviews on the Main Page.

I guess my shout-outs this time go to ShaRose, Ahael and David.

During the course of writing this story I have had ups and downs, but you three have given me what was needed in order to continue. Thank you. :)

As always, thoughts and opinions are welcome by all.

~Aspirer