บท 72: Kill the King
"Are the rest of you here?" Innai asked her.
"Yes. They are waiting for you to...to give an order to your swamp," Serenica said.
"I'll see about that. Terribly rude of you to come around and start killing my reptiles."
Serenica felt awful. The lizard had probably been much like a beloved pet, a beloved pet that would have gobbled her like a date cake. She needed to compensate for the perceivedly senseless killing.
"I can do whatever you want me to do," she said.
"Can you stay here? I bet you can't," the old man said bitterly.
Suddenly Serenica realized how lonely he was on his little island. The swamp was the only thing keeping him company. It had to be extremely hard on him.
There were plenty of newer pirates aboard the Princess that she could use as a bargaining chip, though.
"No, I can't stay," she said, trying to make her voice sound gentle. "I can, however, trade a few good men to a piece of your supplies. Bread, goats, whatever you can part with, and some wood for the Princess. It's an insanely good deal for you."
"I don't want your bloody men," Innai replied. "I want my daughter back. Can you do that for me? You can't."
He limped towards the kitchen. "Do you want coffee? Hot chocolate? I know you are not bad. I don't want to purposefully make you think nasty thoughts about me, I really don't."
"A cup of hot chocolate would be nice," Serenica said. "You are not bad, either."
Innai called the swamp off and prepared a cup of the comforting warm beverage.
"You see, I want this world to be a better place for everyone who comes after me," the old man said. "You pirates are doing something right. On the mainland, though? Things are not well."
"I agree, and thank you," Serenica said after receiving a warm cup. "The mainland is a complete mess."
"Tell me about it." Innai snorted. "I have been told some precious and quite dangerous information about our beloved king, Guyl the Slack, has been spilling around. It has even reached the ears of the Kings of Lean in the east. I am very much bitter about not having that tidbit myself."
"What would you do with it?" Serenica asked.
Innai couldn't reply before Spade came from the unlocked door, shaking off dead leaves from his coat.
"That was a record. I didn't even nearly die," he said. "Can I come in?"
"You just came in," the old man said.
"I will not waste your time with frivolities," the captain said. "I guess Serenica has not been able to negotiate with you?"
"I was doing so before you came." Serenica tasted her drink. It was one of the best things she had ever had on her tongue.
"I doubt your magnaminous offers have any real value to me," Innai said. "I am so close to a natural death that your gold does not interest me at all."
"Then what would be of some interest for you?" Spade asked, sitting down without asking for permission. "I know you have wants and needs. I know I have them, too."
"Can you kill the king?" the old man snapped at him.
The captain looked at him blankly.
"You can't do that, can you?" Innai shook his head. "For all your boisterous words and gemstones, you are still at the mercy of monarchs and governments. You are nothing but an outlaw, a dog, and you will not make any real progress. If someone powerful enough decides to hang you, hang you will."
"Innai, try to see this from my point of view," Spade begged.
Serenica had never seen him give so much credit to anyone besides Myorka or the Admiral. She was a bit scared.
"I will not," the old man said. "I have done that too many times already. You do nothing except benefit from a temporary state of chaos. Can you create? Regenerate? No, you talk with the dead and think you're a boss of something."
Innai got up and fetched some water from a big bowl, pouring it into a cup and giving it to the captain.
Serenica froze.
There was no greater insult than giving a guest a cup of water, especially unprompted. It was the element of the dead, the place where burials took place, and in all cultures that had had a remotely Sennite or Raelian influence it was considered a threat to bring someone any water to drink.
Innai was essentially saying that he wished Spade to be dead soon.
The captain stared at the old man.
Innai stared back at him, the cup still in his hands.
Serenica did not dare to even breathe.
Spade accepted the cup.
The old man seemed to be surprised by this.
The captain threw the water in Innai's face.
Serenica had just enough time to think that perhaps giving water in a cup was not, in fact, the greatest insult known to man.
Then the spell hit Spade.
It was as if an invisible cat had scratched a red line into his right cheek. Meanwhile, blood was also dripping from Innai's right middle finger.
"No, stop, you fools!" Serenica roared.
Spade raised his right hand.
Along with it, a set of keys on the table next to them began to levitate.
Serenica followed them closely with her eyes.
The captain controlled the movements of the keys until they were an inch away from Innai's face.
"You want to be blinded? Just let me know. You, you are even more insignificant than me," Spade hissed.
Innai didn't move. Perhaps he wasn't able to do so.
The keys got closer and closer to his eyeballs.
"You sit on your behind while they torture your own daughter," the captain said, venom dripping from every syllable. "A real man would rather die."
"If I had a chance, I'd -"
Spade interrupted the old man with a mean burst of laughter. "You had a chance. What kind of a father are you?"
Innai jerked his arms and the keys were sent flying towards the captain.
Spade managed to duck.
"Stop! Stop!" Serenica yelled. "All right! I will get the king killed! Just tell me how and give me five years!"
The men froze.
The keys fell down, lifeless, as they should have been the entire time.
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IkuSaari
IkuSaari A super big thank you to every reader and thanks for the gifts! All my readers have a special place in my heart and I will do my very best to keep you all satisfied with regular updates and quality writing. Your interaction matters to me!
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