"James,, I think I'm going to take Queen for a run. Check with that captain and see if any work as arose." Victor walks out of the room.
He's tired of hanging out in the room. They have been here for a week. Although the captain said two days, they mange to catch a group of men trying to steal gold.
They could have pocket the gold and left themselves. They rather not be chased across the AiRisa.
As Victor walks out of the gate, his large spider meets him there. He jumps on Queens back. They head east towards the river.
"This place us so full of peace. Even when there is trouble, they make quick work of it." Victor's sense spike. He jumps from the spiders back. He kicks off Queen hard, making the spider fall to the ground.
As they split apart, a brown disc slices through the air.
"Dam-it, 26, you missed." Victor can hear two men argue. He pushes himself through the bushes to find three mages standing there.
"Good, you saved us the trouble to hunt you down." The same man calls to Victor. The man in the middle, the smallest of the three. His clean shaved head, his faet is sunken in and with purple lines around his eyes.
"May I request who you are and why you attacked me?" Victor puts his hands together. He glances back at Queen, who's still laying on the ground.
"You ruined our chance for some easy gold. You caught our men before they could escape." He rubs his hands together. "26, 25, get him."
The two men stand next to him finally move. Neither one is carrying a staff. The first one to walk forward carries a sword. Flames burst around the sword.
"Which one is which?" Victor asking looking at the two men.
"I'm 25." The man with the sword spoke up. Flames ignite around the blade.
He thrust it forward. Victor ducks under, he call earth around his fist. The rock fist meets 25's stomach. He kneels, gripping his stomach.
Victor now turns to fast who believes is 26. The larger man hold his fist up. Eight large silver rings each with a brown crystal cut to fit within them.
"Now this should be fun." Victor draws more earth to his fist. The stone works look just like his fist just twice the size.
26 hurries to copy him. The earth moves slower around 26 as he makes his fist. 26 rushes forward swing his fist wide. Victor meets him fist to fist. The stones around their fist shatter.
Victor uses the loose stone to grab 26's hand, locking them together. He twist just right throwing an upper cut under the locked arms. The stone fist smashes into 26's face. His eyes roll only showing the whites as he slumps to the ground.
Victor turns to look at the small man who was talking.
"Ah! Crap, I got all caught up in fighting and let him escape." Victor kicks 25 in the back knocking down to the ground.
"Queen, come tie these guys up with your web."
The large black spider comes crashing through the bushes. He has a white cocoon dragging behind him. The small man, knocked out cold and tied up.
"What a nice surprise. I'll make sure to find you some yummy food." He pats Queen on the head. "Tie those two. I will go find something to eat. Don't let them escape."
After twenty minutes Victor return with two deer. He laid them at Queens feet, patting the spider. All three were leaning against a tree.
"You don't know what you are doing. We have a very strong backer. They are part of the Lutz Empire."
"Really? Wow, this will make this so much easier. Queen, go get James." The spider looks at the two deer that it was about to sink its mandibles into. "Hurry and eat then go."
"What is your number?" Victor walks closer to smallest man.
"I'm 20."
"Hmm, seeing that you each have numbers, I'd say you work for the fifth prince?" 20 doesn't know what to do. Victor can see the fear in the man's eyes.
"You see, gentlemen. I am the third prince of the Lutz Empire, Victor Lutz." All three men sink into father into the tree. Each of them close their mouth. Finally, the small man open his mouth.
"We are part of the fifth princes agents. There are a total of thirty of us, that I know of. I report to number 15."
Victor stands back, his eyes never leaving the three. He glances at where Queen was. The spider finished both deer rather quick and left.
"For a random encounter he's pretty amazing." He looks back at the men.
"Tell me 20, what should I do with three? If I kill you, my bother will never know I am here. If I keep you alive, what are the chances of you reporting this?"
"No… not a chance. We are loyal to the Empire, not just your brother." Sweat starts to build on his brow.
"Oh." A large smile erupts on his face. He waves his hand. A pillar of earth raise up. Victor takes a sit, leaning on his knees. "I know full well, you are contracts of my younger brother. He's not a fool."
One of the three gulps really hard. All three shift, trying to free themselves. The area around them slowly fades darker.
"Most mages that can use deaths powers prefer to work at night." Victor touches his finger tip to his thumb, as they pull apart light arcs between. "They hate the fact that it voids all color but yourself. I think it adds to the fear."
He stands up, walking towards them. The 25 and 26 roll to their sides. They grunt as they try to continue to roll.
"My Majesty, please. I will serve you."
"I know."
Victor kneels down, letting his hand wave over 20s body. He stops half way up his body, letting the white arc jumps into his body pulling out a white sphere. He pinches the white ball popping it. 20s head slumps down.
Ten minutes later, he had repeated the process. All three lay on the ground, the webs that bound them cut.
"Seems you have been busy Young Master."
"Ah, James. Just in time. I need food and a nap. Once they wake up, have them sign these." He tosses James three contract scrolls. "Good job Queen."
He lays on the ground and shift his body and he wiggles the earth around him turns into sand.
James looks at Queen. The spider looks back at James blankly.
"Seems, you are smarter and stronger than I first thought. Guess it means this one will be around longer this time." Queen shivers at the words.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"MARTIN!" A large man sitting on sofa. His fat hanging over the side. His black hair cut to fit around his large head.
"Yes, my Lord." A rather chubby man steps forward.
"20, 25 and 26 all just died. Tell 13 to look into this matter. 20 has a rare gift and I need to know who killed him. They just loss me a lot of money." He picks up a ear, looking it over.
"Yes, my Lord." He turns and sprints out the door.
"Now where was I. Ah," He picks up the next set of ears. "Dam-it. The marks aren't here. 2 are you sure this was every ice-elf?"
"Yes, my Lord. I was told that they collected the ears from every body they could find."
"What?" The hiss at the end making 2 take a step back. His eyes lock with 2's, "Find all of the ice-elves on AiRisa. Bring me their ears."
"Right away, my Lord." 2 turns rushing out of the building.