Chapter 32: Stress and Spheres and Soldiers Submit

Olice was slightly nervous, she resisted the urge to mute her emotions by grasping her heartflame.

She had been before crowds before, she was after all a princess. Her father may not have been a noble from birth, but her mother most certainly was and she made sure to instruct Olice from a young age. Usually she wasn’t making a speech, especially not one to charm a massive host of spirits.

She took a deep breath, she had her familiars. Ka, Susasov and even Gander. This was going to work, if she was about to stumble, they would give her words to speak. She would speak though. She was not afraid. She was going home and she needed the soldiers of fortune for that to happen. It wasn’t even going to be a speech, just a few words would be enough hopefully.

“Everything will go fine” Ka assured Olice.

-You can do this mistress, remember I’ll handle the more complicated part of the spell-

“If you muck it up, I guess I’ll ssssee how many I can eat” Gander said.

Olice idly thought that Gander was quite occupied with eating things of late.

She stepped out into the light.

The soldiers, which moments before were worriedly chattering, went silent.

Olice took a deep breath and pulled on her heartflame. She shouted, and as she did so, flame licked out of her mouth.

“Soldiers! THE GRAND EYE HAS SPOKEN TO ME, YOUR BARD WAS A FALSE PROPHET, ONE WHICH BY THE EYE’S DIRECTION HAS BEEN REPLACED! I AM YOUR NEW SOVEREIGN!”

There was a vast hum as the core-heads of the soldiers spun, then a crack was the results came up.

“Hail Silverbane!” One nervously called out.

“Hail Silverbane!” Now it was a crowd.

“HAIL SILVERBANE!” It was a roar.

Olice had extremely mixed feelings about how the soldiers of fortune referred to her.

“Well, they don’t have much loyalty” Gander remarked.

-Or perhaps they have too much towards this Grand Eye of theirs-

“Could just be stupid” Ka said.

-Actually, at this point I’m not sure if the spell was even needed-

“Yeah, that ssseemsss likely” Gander agreed.

Olice waited for the roar to die down, there was one more thing she needed to say.

“MY SUBJECTS! WE MUST LEAVE THIS PLACE, WE MUST GO TOWARDS THE LAND OF THE CRIMSON EYE ARTEFACT!”

The soldiers were extremely silent, Olice could feel the doubt coming from them.

“IT IS THE WILL OF THE GRAND EYE!” She commanded.

The soldiers’ core-heads rolled once more, but when they stopped, Olice felt a mysterious thing happen. The fortress Roumotte came under her control. It wasn’t quite like having a familiar more like… a limb that had to be told what to do.

-T-this, Mistress, this is beyond what we hoped for!-

“Huh, I guesssss Missstresss can do ssssomething right now and then” Gander said.

“There is more” Ka said.

-Haha this is perfect, Mistress!-

There was a mass of little minds open to her, they weren’t like the minds of her familiars. These minds were as boxes, boxes filled with coins. Some coins shone out to her, and she reached for them involuntarily. Then she knew, she knew where the land of the Crimson Eye was.

Roumotte rumbled and the spheres began to spin.

If one was on the outside, it would have been possible to see the whole fortress move, rolling away, out of the curtain that had been made blue. Out of the Everfall Curtains, onwards to the land of the Crimson Eye artefact.

Olice, was quite pleased, as were her familiars, however, there was a moment, just before the fortress recognised her, she felt as if there was something… else watching her from afar. It was likely just from having all the soldiers of fortune staring at her though.

“Thank you, Susasov” Olice said.

-You need not thank me, no amount of service I give can cover what you have given to me already- the once-god replied.

“Well, good to sssee ssssomeone here isss good for all the grunt work” Gander said.

“Kind of Gander to offer” Ka said, turning the shadesnake’s jeer back on him.

Olice giggled at the thought of Gander actually volunteering for anything.

Gander, sulked.

Olice then remembered that she was standing in an arena. She didn’t like that, and she didn’t want to think of her encounter with the other, now she was able to change that. The spheres spun and came apart.

In short order, Olice had remade the fortress into rooms. She now felt, that she could really relax. It’d probably be a while before they got to the eye. Olice yawned. She had been tired to start with, but using magic had made her more tired. She couldn’t even hear the sound of Ka and Gander bickering.

She casually raised up a kind of dish-like cradle from the floor and then deposited herself into it.

She tried not to get her hopes up to high, apart from anything, the excitement was messing with trying to get some sleep.

Home!

Finally.

She was going to leave the Red Crystal Realm.

As Ka curled around her, and Gander laid his coils behind her head, she smiled.

Her troubles were over, her eyes closed.

Gander looked down at the gently sleeping Olice.

“Thisss issssn’t going to be sssssimple. It issss never ssssimple with oraclessss” he hissed.

-No, it isn’t, but… for now, she can rest can’t she? Why do you want to push her so much?- Susasov questioned.

“I want to know too” Ka said.

A disdainful sneer came across Gander’s face.

“Issss it better to be happy for a day face no troublessss and then die, or issss it better to live a full life of sssstrugglessss?” He asked.

It was not that Susasov didn’t want to answer that question, it was that he didn’t want to. Susasov, was tired. Not in the sense that Olice was, but a far more… wounded sense, Ka however, was quite willing to answer.

“Struggles, but it isn’t always struggles. Sometimes rivertear brew” Ka said, as sagely as she could manage.

“Isn’t she just a child?” Susasov weakly said.

“Issss ssshe?” Gander snapped “How many children are born from a man’sss blood and a behemoth, how many are apprenticed to an exemplar mage?”

“Gander. Sometimes, Rivertear brew. Susasov, Struggle or death.” Ka insisted.

This time, they listened to Ka. Gander looked at her. Ka had been living on the line of life and death her whole life. Gander sighed, he knew Ka was right, it was something he too had lived.

“I’m uneasy. My beloved ex-master bound me to her, to thissss task! I don’t really know what I’m doing, protecting her? That issssn’t jusssst eating whatever comes near her! I can’t eat her own weakness! I cannot disappoint him! It tortures me!” Gander said, his facade broken a bit.

“Gander doesn’t do too bad” Ka said, after getting over her shock at Gander’s outburst.

-Perhaps you two should rest, you’ve both lost a lot of substance, I know returning the curse drained me. I’ll keep watch. – Susasov

Ka and Gander assented, and joined Olice in rest.