Semper Fidelis
Chapter 18
"Well I have to say that is something you do not see every day." Daniel said aloud in part to relieve his own nervousness at seeing his former master whom he had a moment ago towered over now transformed into the very spider-thing that had almost killed him. Got to give my brother credit he did not run away like most people would have. He merely put his bag down and opened it up quickly as if to retrieve a few items.
"Ummm about that Daniel." I said as I began to move away from him. "Actually for a wizard this pretty much is a good representation of what we see every day." I joked as well to calm my partners further and began circling to my left while Elaine moved to her right. Neither of us had forgotten about those magic deflecting mandibles our opponent sported so based on this morning's results with our magic if we wanted to be at all successful with spells we needed to stay as far apart as possible.
"So explain to me again then why being a wizard is such a great career choice?" He asked as I heard him clicking something familiar inside of the big gym bag while looking over his shoulder at the spider. I could not take the time to check out what Daniel was up to because I needed to keep my own focus on our opponent while I came up with a reasonable plan of attack. Our only chance as I reckoned it was for us to hit it hard and fast and not give it the chance to do the same to us. And for Elaine and I that meant we had to do so in ways it was not able to reflect back at us.
I watched the spider crouch knowing it was getting ready to attack so I used Daniel's question as a segue for my magic. "Well because it is so cool. Infriga!" I commanded Using my hand holding the Winter token up at the spider and making it turn in my direction first to counter the spell it sensed that I had cast.
Had my spell been a regular attack like a blast of fire or bolt of lightning, I had little doubt Stiltskin would have grabbed it and flung it right back at one of us. But because I had seen that trick already and knew it was a problem I had spent some time while waiting for Daniel and Elaine to arrive going over other spell options Harry had shown me to figure out ways to hurt or hamper this thing and avoid his reflection ability.
Therefore the one I cast did not fly from my hand straight to attack the beast, in fact my motions had been mostly for show to get the creature's attention on me and throw off its own plans. Instead my mind had actually pictured the spell effect for me which was roughly a twenty foot circle with the hairy beast at its center. The magic I cast infused this area and suddenly drew away all the heat, making the heavy moisture in the air suddenly condense and form a thin layer of icy frost on the already slick marble floors.
Using the Winter token as an additional focus had been magical inspiration at the last second that I had not thought about beforehand. I guess some part of me realized that if I was going to cast cold-based magic then holding the token would certainly not hurt my efforts. As it turned out it actually enhanced the spell's effect rather greatly through its own inherent magic and seemed to also better focus and control the resulting magic within the defined area my mind had selected.
This was the first time I'd ever used a well crafted focus designed to support a spell I had cast. I knew Harry had both his staff and blasting rod for such things and seen what he was capable with them. I now saw what an advantage of control and power these items provided. I had to get something like this for myself.
I had hoped at best to make a frosty floor to slow the spider down but with this focus its natural cold enhancing capabilities, the token changed that layer of thin frost to an inch or more thickness of instant sheer ice. In fact the spell created an area so cold and so fast that the spider's flesh at the end of its legs actually began to stick to the floor and he had to focus upon yanking each of them out quickly in a rather odd looking dance to prevent the ice from trapping him in place. Even with this he still left parts of himself, mostly hair clumps it appeared, in a few spots where he had not moved fast enough. I sensed his pain in this and having experienced hair waxing for myself I had no sympathy for him.
The lucky thing for the three of us was that while spiders tend to be incredibly balanced creatures even on ice because of their eight legs, the one we were facing still had two of its appendages on one side unable to support its weight due to my earlier sword strike and Hisha's bone crushing blow with his staff. A spider can still balance with two of its legs on one side out of commission but when it tried to raise the others momentarily to keep them from being frozen by my spell and then put them down on slippery ice the creature lost its center of balance and came crashing down legs spread eagle and its body upon two the crates of horseshoes.
Elaine off to the creature's opposite side chose this moment of advantage to release her spell of lightning through her flail directly at the monster since it was unable to scramble around to face her. She had been aiming for another of the remaining legs on the injured side as well but the creature's fall threw off her aim and the bolt instead slammed into its body just behind the head and exited out through the iron horseshoes it was not lying upon. Rupert screamed again in high pitched pain as he thrashed upon the floor.
"Fire in the hole!" Daniel called out as he tossed two objects at the temporarily prone spider. My eyes flickered to the black and yellow cylindrical canisters that had duct tape holding something with a burning fuse along the sides of each. The pair landed and rolled within three feet of the spider's head as it scrambled shakily to get up from the combination of the electrical attack and the icy floor. Only at the last second did its eyes seem to realize this threat for what it was and attempted to bat the canisters away; a motion that spider legs were not meant to perform.
The two cans of pressurized raid bug spray had been a slick idea on Daniel's part. Taping an M-80 firecracker to each in order to make them a chemical grenade for use against the very creature that had wounded him this morning was an act of total genius. Since this had not required any skills in algebra I guess I should not be surprised he was capable of it, or at least I was not as surprised as the former Rupert was when the cans exploded on the left side of its face sending a toxic cloud of liquid particles over its head and body. I do not know what exactly was in those cans but the smell at a distance was horrible for me. From the reaction of the spider it was even worse lying in the middle of it.
The spider flexed and launched itself to the side and slightly forward, not in an attack but to get itself clear of the killing zone we had inadvertently created for it. In the process it conveniently dodged the next hurry up bolt Elaine had fired toward it that slammed into the wall instead. Probably partly blind from the chemicals it still misjudged the distance and therefore smashed itself against the wall and fell to the ground almost crushing me in the process had I not flung myself out of the way of its crash landing in time.
Well this now severely compromised our improvised but effective battle tactics. I had been readying another blast of ice to knock him down again but the spider was just too close for that now. Daniel and Elaine could not attack in the same means either without fear of hitting me. And worst of all while we had obviously hurt the thing with a series of our most effective blows it showed no signs of being ready to roll over and die anytime soon. Where the hell was the spell for a giant rolled up newspaper to whack it with?
I yanked my sword quickly free again and whipped it out in front of me just as Rupert made a half hearted and unbalanced lunge with his mandibles in my direction hoping for a lucky shot of his own. Up close I could see that the eyes on the left side of the creature's face were highly damaged and this threw its aim off enough so that the mandibles instead closed upon empty space right beside me. It would not take long for experience to correct its depth perception problems however.
As I backed up further with a yelp of surprise I defensively swung the blade in my hand toward its head aiming for the blinded side. It still sensed the attack, stupid spider-man spider sense, and swung its head around to block my stroke from cutting into its already cloudy eyes. So instead my blade crashed against its left mandible, its own natural sword blade, and sheered half its length off with only a little resistance. I was happily surprised by this result and used the resulting moment of fresh pain the spider felt to retreat as fast as I could backwards so not to get into my partners' line of fire..
"Elaine hit it hard!" I said looking to make sure either the spider or her attack was not going to catch me.
Thankfully the spider still sensed her build up of magic and found that to be the more important threat than chasing me so it turned and faced her just as she released her next charge of magical electricity toward the creature. Had it been a normal spider, even a normal ten foot tall spider like the ones we had faced in Undertown, then the spell would have slammed into it and hopefully severely wounded or maybe even killed it. Of course nothing in my life is all that simple.
Even missing a significant part of its left mandible the spider still caught the spell with only its right and sent it immediately flying right back at Elaine. She scrambled out of the way even rolling to the ground in order to avoid being tagged. It was obvious that our early successful momentum was shifting away from favoring us. I had seen what had happened this morning when Rupert had the time to focus upon any one of us and knew that was the recipe for disaster. We had to keep it off balance in order to keep hitting it but to do that first we would need a moment to regroup.
I pulled magic into me and threw my hand out at the spider. "Rave!" I said releasing a dozen balls of colored lights at its face and making it swing its remaining mandible and eyes in my direction to catch this next potential attack. But again this was not cast as an actual attack to harm nor did it even reach him. Instead it was merely used as a burst of fireworks as all twelve balls exploded in sparks and dazzling light before ever reaching the creature. This was not as effective as the ice had been at slowing him down but it did stun his sense enough to have him staggering off balance away from me and back slightly towards the patch of ice.
"Dammit my lighter won't work!" Daniel cried in frustration as I noted he had two glass Coke bottles, the really old glass kind, filled with what might have been gasoline and a rag in the top of each. They were duct taped really tightly to a third two liter Diet Coke bottle that appeared filled with what might have actually been Coke of all things. With all the magic we had flying around I'm hardly surprised that even the technology of a Bic lighter had failed.
"I got it!" I said and flung a little magic his way. "Flickum bicus." I called out and the ends of both rags burst into flames. This surprised Daniel but he had the sense of mind to continue what he needed to do and not stare dumbly at it as the rags burned.
He took the unscrewed cap off the two liter bottle and dropped a while tablet of some sort into the cap before twisting it back on fast and sliding the entire contraption away from him and under the spider. Whatever he put in the Diet Coke bottle reacted instantly and violently with the soda and it expanded and exploded before it even came to a rest doing the same to the two glass bottles of gasoline taped to it.
The underbody of the spider was suddenly doused in a mixture of Diet Coke, plastic and glass particles, and what I figured out a moment later was homemade napalm that had been in the glass bottles. This flaming tar like substance now clung to the spider's fur and burned with a wicked blue flame causing the creature even more pain.
"A gift from Coke and Mentos! The Freshmaker!" Daniel laughed explaining to me what the little white pill had been. Unfortunately though I guess he had emptied his bag of tricks. He was down to pulling out the three foot iron crowbar and cocking it back like a baseball bat ready to swing.
Now even with someone as buff as my brother holding an object as solid as a crowbar the basic laws of physics still apply. While Daniel might be able to apply a strong swing of force and perhaps even break another of the creature's legs, he would likely end up doing very little damage overall in comparison to the mass of the creature he was battling. A two year old hitting their parent with a stick might get in a lucky blow, which will land them inevitably on America's Funniest Home Videos, but for every one of those lucky swings the law of averages said there would be hundred if not thousands of much less successful attacks. Therefore before he converted his idea into action I changed him from his course.
"Daniel we are not here to kill this thing." I screamed drawing his full attention. "We only need to get past it and through the gate. Go around it and into the Fairy Castle and we will follow you. He will have to change back to his dwarf mode if he wants to keep up the fight."
What I had going for me to balance out Daniel's natural resistance to listening to his older sister or leaving her in the middle of a fight is that I obviously knew more about fighting these kinds of things than he did and what I said made sense on the face of it. It also did not hurt that I sent subtle emotions of trust in his direction to manipulate him a bit into doing just what I said. He only delayed for a moment before nodding and scampering off around Elaine to get into the fake castle's entrance. I meanwhile reversed my own course somewhat since now Elaine and I needed to be as far apart as the room allowed to keep it from herding us together and killing us.
Elaine had thankfully made it to her feet once more and was again spinning the flail around like it was an extension of her. For not originally wanting the weapon I was glad to see she had gotten use to it when we needed its power.
Rupert had shaken off my Rave attack, I decided right then and there that was what I was going to call it, and while the burning remains of napalm on his fur and skin was obviously still painful he turned his remaining beady eyes to regard the two of us trying to sense which one of us to take down first.
"Elaine load up everything you got for the next shot at my command." I said and saw her nod in confirmation as she spun the flail even faster make the runes on it glow brightly.
I also drew as much magic into myself as possible straining and even pushing past all the limits I had ever handled before for a single spell. Being a sensitive wizard I knew that even this was nowhere near the power that Harry could toss about without even trying hard and was at best half the strength of what Elaine had at her disposal right now as well. Spell envy is a common psychological problem among wizards.
The bad news is that Rupert was every bit as sensitive about this as me and turned to face Elaine fully on as she represented the greater threat to him. Her spell could certainly hurt him, probably not kill him, but still it could cause the spider some very serious damage therefore it could not ignore her. On the other hand I had proven I could merely sting it at best. Since it knew this as well it chose to ignore me which I must say absolutely pissed me off for being thought of as irrelevant. And I have found out I come up with my best, least expected, and some would say most insane and desperate plans when I'm pissed off like this.
"Fire your spell Elaine right now!" I said noting the spider set itself for the attack as I extending my arm as I called up my own spell right on the heels of my words. "Shoot right at me!"
Elaine for her part did not even delay but fired off what was the scariest bolt of lightning I had seen her throw yet. You know how sometimes time seems to slow down like in a car accident and you seem to pick up little details? Yeah well lightning moves even faster than that and all my highly alert combat senses picked up was a blinding flash and then the sudden feeling that I was flying backwards through the air. I did have a moment to doubt if this was my best plan ever.
But for those who were not a perky wizard performing an insane attempt at beating what was proving to be an unbeatable spider creature they would have seen Elaine's bolt of lightning flying straight at me outside the mandible grasp of Rupert so he could not catch and fling it back. And then less than a foot from my body the electrical charge was diverted by the magical shield created by my bracelet, a trick experienced this morning, which I had shaped in such as way as to bank Elaine's spell like a cue ball almost directly back under the spider before it exploded.
Rupert had been right to fear her spell more than mine because the mere fraction of force that I had not been able to divert was enough to send my body flying. The vast remainder of that spell was enough to do the same for the spider, lifting it off the ground and even flipping it over to land on its back. Yet even this mighty blow would not have killed it had Rupert not had the misfortune of landing directly upon his racks of two hundred and fifty bang sticks, all of which I was happy to note had already been loaded for efficiency.
When I had put this mad idea together I was hoping merely for these objects to serve as a sort of cactus spines, the cold iron likely causing the spider a tremendous amount of grief in the process not to mention destroying these weapons as well. I guess you can consider it along the lines of combat acupuncture.
The fact that they were already loaded took this idea one step further and set the room echoing with what was collectively the equivalent of a burst of cannon fire. The carrying cases of wood designed to prevent these weapons from accidentally going off if they were dropped while being transported had obviously not taken into account the effect of a half ton spider carapace landing upon them. I'd say I'm sorry for this result but really I'm not.
I crashed against the wall and slid to the ground only an instant before the muffled explosion suddenly sent parts of spider guts flying in all directions to paint the ceiling, walls, and floor, as well as Elaine and I. The funny thing is that believe it or not this was not the most disgusting thing I have ever been covered in during my time as an apprentice. Harry and I had an even worse encounter with a slime golem once. What can I say I lead a rather exciting, if not at times totally disgusting, life.
Elaine was also covered in what I will kindly refer to from now on as goop and was not smiling at me for our victory. Some people are just so hard to please. As far as I figured it this probably completely cured her of her spider phobia but then again may have in the process made her now an obsessive compulsive neatness freak by the way she was glaring at me as she tried wiping the 'goop' out of her hair and off her clothing.
I smiled weakly as I found my feet and sword and headed over to the remains of the former master Rupert Highpelt. "Hey it could have been worse." I tried to smile. "Has Harry ever told you about the time we did battle with a slime golem?" Yeah Elaine is one of those glass half-empty people it seems because she did not respond to my comment; unless you consider counting to twenty in your head a means of responding.
Now some of you may find what I did next to be a bit odd and even a little bit disgusting; which considering what I was currently covered in I have to admit is almost SplatterCon award worthy then. I went over to the remains of Rupert's spider body and with a precise flick of my wrist sheared off half of the spider's right mandible as well before gathering it and the left one up and putting it into my pack.
Using the Winter token to cast a cold spell had shown me how much power and control a focus provides to a wizard. Harry had both his blasting rod and staff, each made from a lightning struck, fire burned, ancient oak tree at Wizard McCoy's home. Since Harry was a traditional wizard who was big on blasts and destruction this source was absolutely perfect for his kind of spells. But nymphs aside, trees are just not sensitive and therefore not all that much help as a focus for my brand of magic.
Now on the other hand I had just personally observed the late Rupert here use these mandibles to catch, hold, and fling magic. I also observed that he could sense when either Elaine or I drew power so that meant he was more closely attuned to my types of magical abilities. Finally, I knew some wizards had made wands from animal bones or ivory tusks before so I figured it was worth a shot to see if I could do the same with its mandibles. I figured if it did not work then I still had a pair of really cool trophies.
Daniel came back into the room holding the crowbar still and smiling as only boys seem to know how and the sheer destruction our battle had caused. Okay most of it was me but still. I wondered how the cleaning crew would explain the combination of guts, napalm, shattered bang sticks, and bug poison residue. I figured terrorists most likely, they were a convenient catch all these days. But I'd have to ask Murphy for a copy of the report so I could see how they explained the horseshoes.
"Look who I found." Daniel said with obvious pride making both Elaine and I look away from cleaning goop off of our bodies and at the nine foot tall being who stepped out of the shadowed doorway behind my brother. Castling! I should have known!
"Daniel move away!" I ordered raising my hand but the troll's own arms reached down and grabbed my brother around the back of the neck with one giant paw, and pinned his arms holding the crowbar with the other. Lord Kline then seemingly without effort lifted Daniel and placed him as a kicking and grunting human shield between his own body and both Elaine and I. Any spell we cast would now have to go through Daniel as well.
"Castling huh?" I said squaring off and looking at Lord Kline with undisguised animosity.
"Indeed." He said with a nod toward the remains of the spider. "It is a move in chess where the player swaps the rook and king in order to sacrifice the lesser piece to protect the more valuable."
"Well it looks like you lost your rook." I said trying to provoke his anger and get him to make a mistake.
"He was sacrificed for a good cause." Lord Kline replied not rising to the bait. "Besides he was also found to be totally unreliable. He was making moves that I did not authorize and thereby jeopardizing the game I was playing. Had he not killed those working for him or left those bodies in the tunnels that we found then I doubt you would have figured out he had been behind the murders in the first place. Hiring your brother though was totally reckless and proved fatal for him. He got sloppy and had to be killed. So I thank you for accomplishing this action for me."
"You know I'd be happy to make it a two-for-one." I said. "You know like in the movies where the hero, that would be me, defies the odds and takes down the mastermind behind the scenes?"
"Yes but I'm afraid this is one of those situations of where life does not imitate art." Lord Kline replied. "I seriously doubt that after nearly killing yourself to save your brother's life this morning you would be so willing to sacrifice him now. So why don't we act civilized toward one another. Put down your weapons and swear upon your wizard oaths that you shall invoke no magic against me for twenty four hours and I will likewise agree at the end of that time to set all three of you free without any further conditions or harm." He offered with seeming sincerity.
The fact that he wanted wizard oaths sworn upon our magic was a perfect means to ensure we could not attack him for a full day at least. If we did, at a minimum we would lose our ability to cast spells for potentially the rest of our lives. Harry had said some wizards who violated an oath of this nature had even been struck dead for doing so. But still the idea of providing Lord Kline with safe passage after all he had done did not sit well with me.
"Come now you really have no choice in the matter." Lord Kline said shaking my brother slightly for emphasis. I knew he could do so just a lttle harder and break my brother's neck. "I will even throw in that old fool Hisha for good measure to sweeten the pot for you. You must admit that these two lives are a reasonable deal for a mere twenty four hours of my own life."
I looked at Elaine and could tell she was ready to fight if required but that the battle with the spider had taken a lot out of her and she would be far from her best. Not that I was in any better shape mind you. Being slammed into a wall tends to hurt after the adrenaline runs out and the pain reminds you of this abuse. She looked at me with a stare that communicated "It's up to you Molly" without saying anything.
I flexed my hand on the grip of my sword looking at its blade with still a trace of spider blood on it and then back to the troll. The hardest part of having faith was to know when you were doing the right thing and when you had gone off the reservation. In this case I saw no way out of this situation without losing my brother. While I knew that one life against many did not seem to make much of a contest, this was my brother Daniel, someone my magic had inadvertently hurt before. I could not consciously do that to him again when I had the ability to prevent it.
I tossed the sword down to the ground in front of me. "You have a deal and my word that I will not cast magic upon you or seek to do physical harm to you through its use for the next twenty four hours." I said in resignation and shook off and tossed the scabbard over next to the sword as well. My backpack came off my shoulder, placed down at my feet, and gently nudged in that direction as well.
Elaine watched me but realized now the best she could hope to do is flee. In fact I half expected her to do just that based upon the conflicting emotions running through her at this time. But with another glance at me she did likewise, tossing the flail to the ground and making her own oath not to use magic against the troll for the next full day. I could see this action galled her but I actually had respect that for the first time in her life Elaine had not merely run away when the going got tough.
"How incredibly civilized that is of the both of you." Lord Kline said placing Daniel on his feet once more but stripping him of the crowbar in the process and tossing it with the small pile of our gear. "You know this really is for the best and better than I hoped for when I created these plans. Had this been your master, the great wizard Harry Dresden, then I'm afraid a needless battle would have most likely ensued when there really is no point in that since it could not change other events taking place anyway."
Lord Kline gathered our gear together and placed it all in my brother's gym bag while we watched and did nothing. I could see Daniel considering his odds of wrestling with the much bigger troll but common sense won out. There was just no way he could take him.
Once he had it all collected and slung it over his shoulder Lord Kline pointed toward the door of Fairy Castle. "If you would be so kind I believe we should go join your friend Hisha before he tries something brash or heroically stupid. Besides I do not think it will be wise for any of us to be here when the morning staff gets to work. I would be written off as a figment of a stressed out imagination but I believe you three would likely be facing a series of murder charges or at least some very uncomfortable questioning periods."
We walked ahead of him and while he was not preventing us from running off, in truth we really had no place to go. There was probably one defining major difference between Elaine and I which was at the heart of why I did not like her much. When faced with overwhelming odds, up until now, Elaine folded under the pressure. She was like a dog that when facing another put its tail between its legs. She would run if she could and if that was not possible she became as beta female as they come. Had he demanded it I'm sure she would have rolled over and showed Lord Kline her belly for him to scratch in submission.
As for me on the other hand I have too much self pride for this type of response and that natural tendency tends to just get me into a lot of trouble. I understood that there were times when running was the better option and I certainly did not spit in the eye of everything stronger than me just because I could. But the difference between Elaine and I is that I thought about spitting in the eye as my act of defiance even if I did not do it. This idea never even crossed Elaine's mind. And for that I could not help but feel both rage and pity at her as I came to understand her.
At the moment though, I had a far better target for the anger that I was feeling about my current impotence. "If Harry were in my place you know he would have killed you." I said turning to look back at Lord Kline. "You do know that right?" I asked trying to shake his confidence. I had promised not to use magic against the smug bastard but I'd be damned if I was going to be all charm for his extended day of tea time.
"That is certainly a strong probability especially based upon his reputation." Lord Kline said. "But had it been him and not you who had been selected as the Winter Emissary these events would not have unfolded as they did. In fact the whole purpose of my planning was to keep your good master too busy to focus upon what was happening between the Faerie Courts. Had he been the one to see the body of the ice skater instead of you he would have spent an equal time on trying to solve that mystery thereby not focusing upon the real issues at play until it was too late for him to do anything about them. Plus the fact he is close to the Summer Lady and Knight would have taken away his perspective and made him emotional and easier to manipulate than you were my dear."
We arrived at the crossover point between our world and the lands of Summer. He paused and looked expectantly at Elaine. "My dear I can open the pathway myself with my Wyldfae token if I must but surely you will not force this type of petty inconvenience for me when you possess the Summer's Emissary token by which to do this at no expense to yourself?" He asked kindly in his fatherly type voice and Elaine merely nodded and pressed her token up against the wall now that we knew was a portal to the lands of Summer.
The gateway opened and we stepped though to find four single cages lying in a line, one of which, the furthest away from where we were standing, was already occupied by a familiar orange robed monk who sat upon a simple cot and seemed deep in his meditations until we arrived. His eyes opened up at that moment and looked at each of us until he came to me and offered me a little wink and a smile before returning to his relaxed pose once more.
Across from each cage was a small table upon each of which sat a chessboard with all the pieces standing ready to begin a game. There were no chairs by these tables because obviously the cages were meant for the three of us and Lord Kline did not require four chairs.
"You said nothing about locking us up in cages." I said noting the look of panic from Elaine.
"That is true but an unfortunate precaution I shall require to ensure you do not try to go sneak off." Lord Kline replied. "I have already given you my oath not to harm you. I am merely afraid you might get it into your heads to all run in separate directions and make me have to chase you. Surely you can understand my need for caution." He asked but Elaine seemed about on the verge of outright panic.
"Let me remind you that with your oaths in place I can force you into these cages and there is really very little you can do to me to prevent it." Lord Kline explained without a hint of malice in his voice. He then turned to look at Daniel. "And while you appear intimidating and fierce for one of your kind you should know that were we to get into fisticuffs between us my body naturally heals all wounds relatively quickly so all you would accomplish is injury to yourself and to your honor." He said politely.
Daniel and Elaine looked to me for a hint of what to do but I still had no plan. I also noted that Hisha's eyes were once again open judging me as well. I even saw him mouth a single word. "Faith." That is what Uriel had told me would be required so who was I to fight it. I stepped into the closest cage without a fight and Lord Kline closed the door and bent a cross bar of metal around it to lock the door behind me.
Daniel followed my lead into the next cage and then Elaine in the third, each of us taking a seat on our cots as we were locked in. To his credit Daniel went over to the bars after Lord Kline had walked back around to the front and tried to bend them back but he was unable to budge these.
"That is a wonderfully strong metal I believe you call titanium." Lord Kline said watching Daniel's efforts with a smile.
"It can't be." Daniel replied. "Titanium is this strong but also incredibly rare. There is no way you could have gotten your hands on enough of it from this morning in order to make these cages by this time."
"That is true my young metal working apprentice." Lord Kline said. "Rumplestiltskin said you were an incredibly naturally gifted metal worker and I see that he did not exaggerate. You are right that we could not have acquired this much titanium in time. Thankfully all I really required was braiding some strands of hay and an old fashion spinning wheel." The troll said obviously incredibly proud of his ingenuity in this."
"Ah yes Rumplestiltskin." I said catching on. "Instead of spinning straw into gold you had him spin hay into titanium."
"Exactly right." Lord Kline said looking over at Hisha. "She is indeed incredibly quick witted for one so young." He turned back to me. "I wonder my dear do you play chess?"
"Do you honestly believe that I would play a game to entertain you?" I asked.
"Why not?" He replied with his smile. "We have almost a full day to kill and the four of you are not going anywhere. Why don't we play and converse like civilized people?"
"Let me guess, this is the part where the villain explains his dastardly plan to the hero because there is no means for us to stop it." I said trying to sound casual but in truth I hoped he would.
"I admit that is actually very cliché but when one does invent a scheme of genius there is a certain desire for letting someone know the true brilliance that went into the planning." Lord Kline said. "Can you really deny that part of you would love for me to put the remaining pieces of the story together for you? I promise you there are facts running around out there of which you could not possibly be aware. These would be enlightening for you and your master, wherever he is."
"And you will willingly share these with us?" I asked not believing a word of this. "Aren't you sworn to silence?"
"Egad no." Lord Kline replied. "To use the vernacular of your times these events are a resume builder for me. Once they come to fruition I intend for them to be circulated far and wide because those who might take offense will no longer be in a position to do so. My intellect will ensure my name forever written among the immortals of our world."
Lord Kline certainly was not lacking for confidence and from where I was sitting, which presently was a titanium locked cage, he had every right to be. But like I said I did not have to like it. And maybe just maybe I could use his confidence to my own advantage thinking of my only remaining bargaining chip. Hell as far as I could see it could not possibly hurt.
"Tell you what let me offer a cliché for a cliché." I said. "Are you interested in talking a deal?"
"You have my undivided attention my dear." He smiled at me. "We seem to have nothing but time."
"You are obviously the better chess player." I said with frank honesty to which he merely bowed his head in acknowledgement. "You have been beating Hisha for hundreds of years straight. You beat Elaine this morning in less than ten moves…"
"Six actually." He interrupted.
"…okay six." I agreed. "You probably have already made judgments of the strategic skills my brother and I as well and realize we rate hardly a challenge to your experience. Am I correct?"
"There is an off chance one or the other of you is an undiscovered chess protégé but no from what I have learned I do not expect either of you to be a serious challenge of my skills." Lord Kline agreed and motioning for me to proceed.
"Then let's play the cliché out all the way." I offered with a smile of my own. "You play all four of us…at the same time...and tell us your brilliant plan as you obviously desire to." I said peaking the troll's obvious interest. "However, if any one of the four of us wins, then you must allow all four of us to go free immediately rather than twenty four hours from now."
"Ah for a moment there I thought you actually were on to something. I very much was intrigued by the four concurrent games as a test of my intellect." Lord Kline said. "And it's not that I really fear losing to you that makes me hesitant. Rather it is sloppy work for the master villain as you call me to take such a needless risk while I just sit back and pet my white cat and you destroy everything I have worked for. I'm afraid if word leaked out that I entertained such an offer without cause it would taint my grand plan." He shook his head. "I'm sorry but that is not really an acceptable deal."
"I thought you might think that." I responded with my own smile. "Well we could just skip ahead to the part where we trash you and stop your whole mad scheme without this challenge." I laugh back at him.
"You have already made your oath Molly." Lord Kline said. "It is impossible for you to 'trash me' as you so quaintly put it."
"That is true; of me only though." I replied as I showed him my Winter token. "But see Lady Maeve is really pissed about who killed her play toy. In fact she charged me to find out and exact justice for her. And if I was unable to do so, I was to use this to token to call upon her and she would do so herself at once."
"You are bluffing. You have had no further dealings with the Lady of Winter." Lord Kline said though not nearly as confidently as he had sounded a moment ago.
"No really she is not." Daniel spoke up. "Maeve is pretty hot even with that whole blue green hair thing going. And I have to say she was pretty pissed when we told her someone had killed her ice skater merely to get his icicle thing." God there are moments I absolutely love my brother.
"Still it would start a war between the Faerie Courts if she came here." Lord Kline said looking for other excuses.
"Yeah but isn't that what you are trying to do anyway?" I asked. "And have you met Maeve? I mean I am pretty sure she was the inspiration for the phrase 'revenge is a dish best served cold.'"
Lord Kline thought about this. "I suppose the honest fact that Rumplestiltskin actually was the one to kill the ice skater is not all that important to you." He said.
"Maybe." I answered. "I mean from where I'm sitting he did it at your behest. Maybe she would be satisfied that we killed him." I reasoned calmly. "The question really though is the chance she would not want blood of her own something you would be willing to bet your life on?" I smiled back at him and making the troll double take. Score one intimidation point for the perky wizard apprentice!
He went over his options in silence for five minutes or so before speaking to me again. "So there are no vagueness in our negotiations what you are offering is four against one in chess. If I win you sit quietly and not inform the Lady of Winter of my role in these events during that time. If one of you four wins then I must let you go free?" He asked.
"Yeah that is pretty much it." I replied. "You can face Maeve now and not live to see if your schemes succeed or you can rely upon your skills at chess to keep all your plans on track and the Lady of Winter on the sidelines for the moment." I said.
In truth I was actually bluffing. Sure I could call Maeve and she would inflict cold, holy vengeance on the troll's body. But in the process the forces of Summer who were at high alert would undoubtedly feel her presence and the magic she expended in their lands. They would not take time to question what was going on. They would think the war had begun and respond. Queen Tatania would kill Lily and Fix and Lord Kline's ultimate plan for the two courts to go to war would happen anyway. I was still hoping to prevent this all from taking place.
The troll thought about it some more. "You truly are a wildcard in these events my dear." He said with a respectful nod of his head. "And I do not see where you have left me any choice but to accept your terms. I must ask that as a show of good faith though you swear another oath not to use that token to contact Lady Maeve in the event, the likely event…" He stressed these words. "…that all four of you lose."
"I am willing to accept that condition." I replied.
"Well then the games are already set up." Lord Kline said with a predatory smile once more on his face since he was now hunting in his most familiar and comfortable grounds. "Let us begin."