Chapter Eleven
I knew something was wrong the instant I heard the noise, and I considered resetting to my save point from the night before, but I wanted to identify the threat first. Knowledge was power, and the more information I gathered before I reset meant I would be more powerful the next time.
“What was that?” Akina’s warrior trained ears picked up on the same sounds I had heard.
“Bash?” Zenda frowned. “What’s happening?”
“Why are we stopping?” Caelia pulled her horse’s reins until the beast came to a halt.
“Just wait,” I said, and I held up one hand to stall their words.
The rustling continued, and I narrowed my eyes as I peered into the bushes. Then I heard a similar noise from the other side of the road, and my head swiveled back and forth as I waited for the source of the noise to emerge. I sat frozen on my horse’s back as the noises drew ever closer, until suddenly a man lunged from the shadows of the trees with a sword drawn.
He wore raggedy clothes beneath cheap leather armor that was ripped and torn like it had seen better days. The man’s hair was long and unkempt, and I could smell his body odor from across the distance between us.
“Halt!” The man lifted his sword threateningly. “Give us the goods, and you won’t get hurt.”
More noises from either side of me caught my attention, and then five more men in similar states of filth emerged from the shadows with weapons drawn.
Six men versus one god?
I liked my odds.
“What goods?” I called out in a calm voice. “We are but poor merchants with no stock.”
“We will be the judge of that,” a man said from behind me.
They had us surrounded, but I wasn’t intimidated by their threats. I was the motherfucking God of Time, and they’d just picked the wrong group of people to fuck with.
“Get off your horses,” the first man who’d spoken said in a demanding tone. “We don’t want to hurt you.”
“You’d have to try really hard,” I said as I remained motionless on my steed’s back.
“Aye, Yon, you got them in your sights?” the man from behind me called into the bushes.
An arrow zipped out of the shadows and narrowly missed my head.
Fuck.
They had a sniper in the shadows who would kill us if we let him.
I wasn’t about to let that happen, though, so I swung my leg over my horse’s neck and slid down from his back in one fluid movement. Then I held my hands up in the universal gesture for peace, and I calmly walked forward until there was only a couple of paces between me and the man blocking our path forward.
“I don’t want any trouble,” I said. “Let us pass, and no harm will come to you.”
The rest of the men gestured for the women to dismount, but they merely shot me a questioning glance.
“Do as they say,” I instructed. “For now.”
The three women reluctantly dismounted from their horses, and they joined me in the middle of the road as the bandits rushed forward to search our saddlebags. We were traveling light, so all they would find would be food and camping gear. I hadn’t even brought any of my gold, but I also hadn’t expected to be robbed so close to the walls of the capital.
Where were the city guards?
I had to be careful not to let them know who I was, though, so I was playing along with their ambush for the moment. I listened silently while they rifled through our belongings, until at last I raised a questioning eyebrow at the man in front of me.
“See?” I said. “We have nothing of value except our lives. Let this end here, and you will walk away with yours.”
“I ain’t scared of no man,” the bandit in front of me said in a gravelly voice. “We will see just how much you value your lives.”
“You’re making a mistake,” I warned, but I stood motionless. “Last chance. Walk away and live. Continue, and you will die. I can guarantee it.”
“Big talk for a little man,” the bandit countered with a growl, but then he gestured with his sword for us to come closer.
I obeyed for the moment, but I couldn’t help the smirk that twisted my lips. These assholes had no idea what was coming to them, and I would enjoy every minute of the lesson I was about to teach them.
The women were silent by my side, but I could feel the tension in their bodies. Akina’s hand hovered, and I knew she was itching to summon a flame sword into her grasp. Caelia faced the bandits with her chin raised confidently, but Zenda seemed a little more apprehensive. The Zaborian’s sapphire eyes flicked to me, and I gave her an imperceptible nod.
Then everything happened at once.
The bandit in front of me lunged forward with a growl of rage, and he lifted his sword toward my torso. I ducked to avoid his swing, and then I had my panabas in hand as I returned to my full height. I twirled the twin blades in my hands, and I knocked back the next blow of the bandit’s sword. The rest of the bandits rushed toward the women, but I had to trust them to take care of themselves for the moment.
I could feel the heat of Akina’s sword behind me a moment later, and the sound of the flames whooshing through the air filled my ears. The warrior woman met a bandit head-on, and the other two women stayed behind her as she fought off their attackers.
I focused on the man who seemed to be in charge of the bandits, until I heard a feminine scream from behind me.
“Bash!” Zenda’s pained cry ripped through the air, and the sound tore a hole in my heart.
I turned around to see the three women with blades to their necks.
The assholes had captured my lovers.
Akina struggled against the man’s hold, but he kept her firmly within his grasp, and the tip of the dagger held to her throat broke the skin to send a single droplet of blood trickling down her neck.
The sight of my love’s blood sent me into a rage, and I twirled my blades in a figure eight as I ran toward the closest bandit.
“You dumb motherfucker,” I said as I buried the blade of my panabas in his torso. “You just signed your own death warrant.”
An arrow narrowly missed my head since I ducked as soon as I heard the twang of its release. It embedded itself in the man I’d just killed instead, and then I turned to find the archer responsible for the shot.
There was no telling how many more of the men waited in the shadows, but I didn’t care. I would kill every single last one of the assholes threatening the safety of my lovers.
Even if it took me a thousand lifetimes.
They would not succeed.
I let the man’s body fall from my blades, and then I turned to find another target. The rest of the men had my women in front of them, so I couldn’t do any ranged attacks, but I was handy with throwing daggers. I dropped my panabas to the ground while I exchanged them for the smaller blades, and I tossed the weapons in the air to grab them by the steel.
Then I aimed for the heads of my women’s attackers.
The daggers landed in the faces of two of the men holding back the struggling desert warrior, and she pulled out of their grasp as their dead bodies fell to the ground. I gave Akina a quick look over to make sure she was okay, and then we turned to the other men holding Caelia and Zenda hostage.
The man pressing a dagger against Zenda’s throat growled as he slashed his blade across her neck, and her dark blue blood gushed from the wound as she let out a strangled sound.
“Zenda!” I screamed in agony as the beautiful Zaborian historian bled out, and the sight of her widened sapphire eyes filled me with a red-hot rage.
Fuck. This.
Chime.
The flames of the campfire warmed my face and hands as I squatted in front of it once more, and I took a deep breath to dispel the image of Zenda dying before my very eyes.
I wouldn’t fail her again.
The assholes who thought they could beat us would learn a powerful lesson, and I would remove yet another group of bandits from the realm. There was nothing that would stand in the way of my victory, and I worked the muscles in my jaw as the images of my dying lover faded from my mind’s eye.
“Girls, wake up,” I called out in a shaky voice, but then I cleared my throat to regain my composure. “We need to talk.”
The three women emerged from the tent rubbing the sleep from their eyes, but they immediately picked up on my tense mood, and their eyes widened with worry.
“What’s going on, Bash?” Caelia asked. “What’s wrong?”
“You seem tense,” Zenda added with a frown creasing her brow.
“Are we under attack?” Akina’s hand twitched with the urge to summon her flame sword.
“Not yet,” I said with a shake of my head. “But we will be attacked tomorrow.”
“Did you have a vision or something?” Akina tilted her head to the side. “How do you know?”
“Chalk it up to being a god,” I said. “But we need to prepare ourselves for what is to come.”
“I’m ready for anything,” Akina said with a curt nod.
“It’s not you I’m worried about,” I said, and I blinked away my emotion as I turned to Zenda. “We need to work on your self-defense skills.”
“Self-defense skills?” Zenda cocked her head to the side as she peered at me in curiosity. “What’s wrong? Did you see something bad happen?”
I swallowed down the lump that rose in my throat as the memory of her death flashed before my eyes, but I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I would protect her even if it took me a thousand lifetimes.
“Never mind what I saw,” I said once I’d regained my composure. “Let’s just stay focused on what we have to do to get through the challenge ahead of us.”
“What is it?” Caelia asked. “You can tell us, Bash.”
“Bandits are going to ambush us once the walls of Vallenwood are in sight,” I explained. “But we aren’t going to let them get the upper hand. We are going to spend tonight preparing, and then we will face them head-on.”
“What do you need us to do?” Akina asked.
“Let’s teach Caelia and Zenda how to better protect themselves,” I suggested. “That way you and I can focus on killing the assholes who are going to threaten their lives.”
“Alright,” Caelia said, and she reached for Zenda’s hand. “Teach us how to fight.”
Akina and I spent the next few hours teaching the two women some tricks to hand-to-hand fighting, and we were all dripping sweat from our brows by the time the sun rose the next morning. I wasn’t fully satisfied with the results, but I took what I’d gleaned from that run through and reset to my save point with a wave of my willpower.
Chime.
“Girls, come out here,” I called into the tent.
I quickly explained the situation again, and then we jumped into the fighting lessons once more. I harnessed everything I’d picked up from my time spent in this medieval fantasy world to teach the two women how to fight. They picked up on the moves quickly, so I just hoped it would be enough to save their lives.
We spent the rest of the night practicing and sparring, and by the time the sun rose the next morning, I deemed them ready to face the bandits head-on.
Caelia had an upper hand due to her time with me fighting pirates on the Eastern Ocean, but Zenda had never been in a fight before. She was the one I was most worried about, but I wouldn’t know how things would pan out until I let time move forward again.
We made it to the spot where the bandits would attack, and I gazed at the walls of Vallenwood wistfully as I listened to the telltale rustling in the bushes. We stopped and dismounted the horses, and I signaled for Akina to go into the woods to the south while I headed toward the north side of the road.
I wanted to eliminate their archers before they attacked, but they would need bait to lure them out of hiding, so I left Caelia and Zenda on the road.
I went wide around the spot where the first bandit had emerged from before, and I kept to the shadows beneath the trees as I darted from trunk to trunk. I glanced up and down, and I finally spotted the archer posted up on a tree branch above my head.
“Die, motherfucker,” I muttered as I prepared a dagger to throw. “Eat my steel.”
Then I flung the blade across the distance between us, and the weapon turned end over end as it flew through the air. It was perfectly balanced since it had been made by Jaxtom as a wedding present after I’d taken Elissa as my wife, and it found its target quickly. The archer cried out in pain as the weapon buried itself in his throat, and he fell from the branch with a loud thud.
One down.
I only hoped Akina was having just as much success on her side of the road, but I didn’t know how many archers they had in the trees.
Then I heard more rustling coming from all around me, and I hurried back to the road to guard the two women standing and holding our horses’ reins. Caelia and Zenda stood back to back, and their eyes flicked from one side of the road to the other as they waited for the attack, but I was by their side a moment later.
“I got one archer,” I reported. “Let’s hope they don’t have any more.”
Akina trotted out of the shadows a moment later, and her gaze flicked over her shoulder as she emerged from the tree line.
“I got one, but there’s more men coming from the woods,” she said in a rushed voice. “Want me to take them out?”
“We’ve got this,” I said, and a confident smile stretched across my face.
Then the brush rustled, and the first bandit emerged again. His stench met my nostrils like an attack on my senses, so I had to breathe through my mouth to avoid the bad smell.
“Halt!” The man lifted his sword threateningly. “Give us the goods, and you won’t get hurt.”
“Your archers are already dead,” I informed him in a calm voice. “You cannot hurt us.”
“Aye, Yon, you got them in your sights?” the bandit sneered as he called into the trees, but no arrow answered his words this time. “Yon?”
“Yon is dead,” I said with a stubborn lift of my chin. “And the rest of you will follow in his footsteps if you don’t stand down.”
The rest of the bandits came out while I was talking, and they moved to surround us once more. I wasn’t worried about their chances of success this time, though, so I held my ground firmly.
I wasn’t going to let Zenda get captured again.
“Attack!” the first bandit screeched when he realized his archers were as dead as doorknobs.
All the bandits rushed forward as one, and it was all I could do to block the blows of their swords with my panabas, but this time, Zenda and Caelia joined in the fight with just as much gusto as Akina and I had.
I watched as Zenda kneed one man in the groin, and when he keeled forward, she shoved her knee into his nose. Blood erupted from his nostrils as he was flung backward, and he stumbled as he tried to regain his balance.
Caelia elbowed the man coming up from behind her, and she grabbed his wrist just like I had taught her. Then she yanked hard and shoved her body weight against him, and he was thrown over her shoulder like a bag of flour she was heaving onto a store shelf.
I was very proud of how far the two peaceful women had come in one night, but when a god warned you of danger, you listened.
I just hoped it would be enough.
The bandits continued to fight against the four of us, but we were evenly matched now, and I knew they didn’t stand a chance. I was avoiding using killing blows until I saw another man emerge from the forest and head toward Zenda.
My panabas sliced across my enemy’s torso until blood gushed from the wound, and I swiveled on my feet into a dead run as I crossed the distance to the blue-skinned Zaborian.
“Zenda!” I called out as I pointed behind her with my panabas.
I wasn’t fast enough, though, and a bandit grabbed her from behind.
“Watch out!” I yelled, but I didn’t need to worry.
Zenda spun around in a circle, and she kicked out at her attacker with all the force of the movement. Her shin collided with the back of his knee, and the bandit went down on one leg. Then she sucker-punched him right in the nose, and he flew backward to the ground.
I quickly crossed the rest of the distance between us, and I drove my panabas deep into his throat until blood poured from the opening in his neck.
“That’s for my lover,” I said in a deadly voice. “Think twice before you attack a god.”
“Bash!” Zenda flung herself into my arms, and I dropped my weapons in order to grasp her and squeeze her against me. “Did you see me? I punched him right in the face! That was so much fun! How have I gone so long without learning how to fight? Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“You’re alright?” I chuckled as she prattled into my ear. “No harm done?”
“I’m fine!” Zenda pulled back to flash me a broad smile, and her sapphire eyes twinkled with delight. “We won!”
“Did you have any doubts that we would?” I arched an eyebrow teasingly.
“I doubted myself,” the historian admitted. “I’ve never won a fight before.”
“You’ve never lost one, either,” I pointed out with a smirk, and then I pushed the memory of her death out of my mind permanently. “Now, let’s get these assholes taken care of so we can finish the trek to Vallenwood.”
“What should we do with the bodies?” Akina asked as she hovered near a dead bandit with her flame sword held casually in her hand. “Are we going to bury them?”
“That would be a kindness they do not deserve,” I said. “Let’s strip off their clothes and leave them for the animals to pick at.”
“Gruesome,” Caelia said with a surprised lift of her eyebrows.
“You don’t approve?” I frowned.
“Oh, no, nothing like that.” Caelia laughed self-consciously. “I’ve just never done anything like that myself.”
“The God of Time leaves no survivors when his women are threatened,” I said. “These men do not deserve any kind deeds.”
“Their armor was all in bad shape even before the fight,” Akina pointed out. “They probably stole it off their previous victims.”
“Well, they won’t have any more victims to rob now,” I said.
“Thanks to you,” Caelia said.
I grinned, and then we got to work on stripping off their raggedy, torn armor. There were burn marks on all of Akina’s opponents, and blood pooled all over the road. The horses’ sniffed the air with wide eyes at the stench of death, but we managed to calm them down after a few minutes, and then we continued on to Vallenwood.
The streets of the capital were crowded and noisy, but no one paid us any mind as we entered the city. We joined a line of people heading toward the palace, while no one even looked sideways at us. We all kept our hoods pulled over our faces just in case, but it seemed like everyone was too wrapped up in their own lives to even notice our presence among them.
Vallenwood was a trade center for all of Sorreyal, so people of all ethnicities gathered in the streets to trade their wares, and we looked the part of traveling merchants.
We made our way through the streets of the wagon wheel-designed city until we reached the heart of the town: the golden palace. It had been a while since I’d last visited King Fred, but things looked a lot worse than I remembered. Muck and excrement covered the streets, and rubbish bins were piled high by every single door. The expressions on the residents’ faces were grim and angry, but they moved out of our path without a word. Vallenwood had changed a lot, and it was no longer the shining city of gold that I remembered it being.
I would fix it, though.
The God of Time had arrived.
We joined the throng of people seeking an audience with the king, and I knew I could tell a guard who I was and be escorted directly to King Fred, but I wanted to remain incognito. It was important that no one knew I was in town, so I continued to pretend to be a peasant seeking out the king’s favor.
Caelia, Zenda, and Akina all wore their dusty traveling clothes still, and I hoped they wouldn’t be self-conscious about their appearances when we met with the king. Surely King Fred would understand our lack of pomp and circumstance.
The crowd of supplicants was guided to the throne room, and I pretended to not know which way to go as I followed along. The guards glanced at us as we crossed the threshold into the palace, but they didn’t move to stop us or interrogate us.
It seemed the disguises were working just fine.
We entered the throne room with the crowd, and I pulled my female companions to a spot in the shadows at the back of the room. I wanted to hear what the people of Vallenwood had to say to their king before I spoke to him myself.
“Three of my chickens have died in the last moon cycle!” one woman wailed. “Not killed by wolves or coyotes, but killed by human blades.”
“What do you expect of your king?” King Frederick’s voice echoed over the bustle of the crowded room. “I am not responsible for your chickens.”
“The crown should replace the fowl I lost,” the woman insisted. “And hunt down those responsible for this crime!”
“I will take your words into consideration,” the king said, but then he raised his voice to a shout. “Next!”
The rest of the supplicants also painted a scene of a crime-filled city, and my heart dropped as I listened to their tales. Stolen goods were a common complaint, and apparently muggings were an everyday occurrence now. It was vastly different from the city I’d first visited while hunting down the fire-breathing dragon, Smiguel, and I wondered briefly how it had come to this.
Then it was our turn to go in front of the king.
I pulled the hood of my cloak down over my face some more as I approached the throne with my women behind me, but once I was in front of the dais, I looked up into the king’s face.
His blue eyes widened the instant he recognized me, and I saw him swallow a lump in his throat as his gaze flicked to the rest of the people crowding the throne room.
“That is enough for today,” the king announced. “I will open court at the same time tomorrow.”
The guards took that as their cue to herd the people out of the room, and they approached me with a gruff expression on their faces.
“Not them,” the king said in a commanding tone. “They may stay.”
The guards nodded to their king before they continued to herd the rest of the people through the throne room doors until we were left alone with King Fred.
“Sir Sebastian,” the king sighed. “Gods, is it good to see you.”
Once the room was cleared of supplicants, only the guards remained in the room with us, but the king motioned for them to leave as well. Then it was only the five of us remaining, and his shoulders slouched as he leaned heavily against the back of his throne.
“It’s about time,” the king complained. “I expected you days ago.”
“It takes time to travel across the land in disguise,” I said. “We couldn’t stop in any towns, so we had to take the long way around them, and that ate up the daylight.”
“I was surprised my messenger managed to find you at all,” the king admitted with a sigh. “Last reports placed you in the southern territory still.”
“Well, thankfully your reports were wrong.” I chuckled. “I move fast when I’m motivated to do so.”
“How did you leave things in the Kotar Desert?” the king asked in a curious tone. “I received your letter about Duke Jorgen. Can we truly claim the wild south as an ally?”
“With my man in charge, you can count on it.” I nodded. “But the desert is just fine. I killed the sorcerer responsible for summoning legendary monsters, and I united the tribes with a peace treaty. There will be no more wars in the south. Not while I’m around, anyway.”
“Do you plan on going anywhere?” The king raised an eyebrow.
“Nope.” I grinned. “Not unless an adventure calls me further away, but I can always blip back around to where I’m needed.”
“Blip?” The king’s frown was full of confusion.
“Never mind.” I laughed. “That’s not why I’m here. You asked for my help, and you’ll have it, but now is the time for those details you promised.”
“I’m sure you’ve seen for yourselves what state the capital city is in,” the king said with another weary sigh. “Things are dire, Sir Sebastian, and I fear for the future of the realm if things continue to escalate.”
“What’s caused all this to start happening?” I asked. “Did you make some ridiculous decree or something?”
“I have made no changes in the laws of the city,” King Fred said with a shake of his head. “I think an enemy is trying to weaken us by stirring dissent among my people.”
“It’s possible,” I said. “But who would wish to stand against the King of Sorreyal?”
“I do not know,” the king said, and he steepled his fingers in front of his lips. “I just know that there is information leaving my household before I give out any royal decrees. They are all met with rebellion and violence toward my guards, and now the guards are refusing to enter the city alone.”
“I thought you hadn’t passed any new decrees,” I said with a questioning lift of my eyebrows.
“I’ve had to make some announcements in response to the rise in crime,” the king said, and I noticed the heavy bags beneath his eyes. He looked like he was on his last leg, and it seemed as though he was ready to give up.
“Well, I’m here now,” I said with a decisive nod. “We will fix it all, I promise.”
“Big words, but you are a powerful man.” The king’s eyes twinkled with some of his old light. “Where do we start?”
“Let’s start with who you suspect as spies,” I suggested. “What kind of things makes you think there’s a spy in your household?”
“The way all my decisions are already known throughout the city before I even make an announcement,” the king explained. “The only people who know before the residents are the ones who work for me. Constables, guards, staff…”
I could hear the paranoia in his voice, and I wondered briefly how well-placed his suspicions were. It would be tough to ferret out who was working against him if it was all in his head, but there had to be some explanation for the change in the city.
I’d have to go undercover to figure this out.
“Just call me Sebastian, Sir Sebastian,” I said in my best impression of James Bond. “I’m on the job.”
“What do you have in mind?” the king asked.
“First off, I need to go undercover as one of your new servants,” I said. “All of us will work with the staff to figure out who the spy is, if there is one.”
“You do not believe me?” The king frowned.
“Oh, I believe you suspect a spy,” I assured the king, “but it could be a trick to undermine your self-confidence. Still, there is no harm in being sure.”
“Then you shall join the staff that’s starting their employment tomorrow morning,” the king decided. “Report back to me if you learn anything of value.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” I bowed my head respectfully, but then I glanced around the empty room. “But we need a code word or something to signal imminent danger to the throne.”
“What do you suggest?” the king asked.
I thought it over for a minute. The code had to be something Earth people said so that no one else in Sorreyal would pick up on its meaning.
“If I say ‘sup, dude,’ then you should know things are going very badly, and you can’t trust anyone.” I grinned as I imagined the medieval king saying the common Earth phrase.
“Alright,” King Fred allowed. “‘Sup, dude’ it is, then.”
“Is that a reference to dinnertime?” Zenda asked in a curious tone.
“It means hello,” I laughed.
“You should make your way to the servants’ quarters as quickly as possible,” the king instructed with a curt nod. “The more time you spend in here, the more favored you appear to be. You must have the look of a normal employee no matter what.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” I said, and I jerked my chin toward the exit to signal to the women to follow me.
Then I made my way through the halls of the palace toward the servants’ quarters until I was met with a crowd of new hires in the common room. A militant-looking woman paced back and forth in front of the crowd, but her gaze quickly landed on my face once we arrived.
“Late arrivals?” She arched a questioning eyebrow.
“Yes, ma’am.” I dipped my head respectfully. “The king sent us to see you.”
“Very well, then.” The woman pointed to empty seats toward the back of the room, and the four of us made our way over to them.
We remained silent as I scanned over the faces of the other new hires while she resumed her pacing. Any one of them could be working against the crown to the detriment of all of Sorreyal. I had to keep my guard up.
The woman at the front of the room ceased her pacing to stare us down, and I avoided eye contact when her gaze turned in my direction. I wanted to appear weak and timid, which was a difficult exercise for a god.
I would play the role of the submissive servant.
For now.
“This is where you will eat, sleep, and shit,” the woman said as she showed us to several rooms with empty beds, which apparently were segregated by gender. “Consider these quarters your new home, although I don’t expect you to see much of your beds. We work hard in this palace, and I expect you to perform at your best every single day.”
We returned to the common room area, and she continued to rant about the rules and restrictions placed on the servants of the king, but I zoned most of it out as I analyzed the people around me. They were mostly men, and none of them looked very clean. Hopefully, they would be made to bathe soon, because the stench of their body odor filled the small, crowded space.
“Work starts before dawn each day,” the woman continued. “And continues well past sunset. Anybody who complains will be fired. Any who fail to perform their duties in a timely manner will be fired. Anyone who disrespects me or a member of the royal household will be fired.”
“Lots of ways to get fired,” I muttered in an amused tone to Zenda, who sat by my side, but the woman’s eyes immediately snapped to my face.
“You have something to share?” She arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.
“No, ma’am.” I bowed my head to hide my eyes. “Apologies, ma’am.”
“That’s much more like what I expect of my staff members,” the woman said with a nod of approval. “We are here to serve His Majesty, not be served ourselves. Anyone who can’t stomach the workload can find the door now.”
A couple of people actually got up and left, but I remained firmly in my place. It would take a lot more than some verbal intimidation to deter me from my goals, and I would face this quest just like I had all the others that came before. I would achieve one hundred percent completion, even if it took me countless lifetimes to master my new pretend role.
We were finally dismissed for the night, and we were all shown to our new beds. Each one looked sadder than the last, and the ripped blankets looked threadbare and dirty. The living conditions were a far cry from what I was accustomed to after moving into my new castle, but I could stomach it for the time being. I just felt bad for my women since they also had to endure the less than desirable living conditions.
Then the lead woman left the new hires to their beds, and everyone visibly sighed with relief once she was gone. Even though she’d never told us her name, I had a feeling she knew more of the inner workings of the palace than many others.
“Time for bed?” Caelia asked as she stood outside the door for the women’s sleeping quarters.
“Seems so,” I said. “I’m sorry you have to put up with this, though.”
“Through better or worse, right?” Caelia smirked. “Not my dream honeymoon, but I’m no stranger to a rough blanket.”
“This is much better than some have it,” Akina said, and she walked into the room and plopped eagerly onto one of the empty beds nearby. “I don’t mind it.”
Zenda lowered herself carefully, and I could tell from the expression on her face that she was trying not to complain, but she didn’t say a word.
We went to sleep in our own beds, but I tossed and turned on the lumpy mattress throughout the night. I couldn’t seem to get comfortable no matter how many times I repositioned myself, and I was close to giving up when the bossy woman returned to loudly proclaim it was time to start our duties for the day.
I yawned and stretched my achy shoulders as I waited for her commands, and I nudged the girls awake. Then I glanced at the clock, and I saw that it was only four in the morning.
Early rising indeed.
Time for the God of Time to get to work.