“Oh, dear,” said Velvet with a mischievous smirk. “How embarrassing.”
Balthazar’s face scrunched up at the witch as the last bits of iron rusted off his chitin.
“But don’t worry, it’s perfectly normal,” she continued. “I have that kind of effect on n all the ti.”
“n like that commander outside your door, or Onion Jake?” the crab said with a frown.
He didn’t exactly have a plan before, but at least he had the confidence of a body covered in iron. Now that he had lost that, suddenly the rchant felt a lot more exposed and in need of a new plan. Keeping the adventurer talking was the beginning of one.
“Those two fools?” Velvet replied with laughter. “Please, they were practically begging to be manipulated.”
The crab and the witch started walking slowly in a circle around each other as if in a standoff. Balthazar carefully asured each step and kept his distance from her, while Velvet casually sauntered with unburdened grace.
“What for?” asked the crab. “Why go through all this trouble? What was your big plan?”
The woman in the black dress stopped on the spot where Balthazar had stood a mont before.
“Oh, you devious crab,” she said with a smile and a disapproving wag of her finger. “You’re trying to get to monologue about my scheming, aren’t you?”
Ah, damn it, she got …
“But,” the witch continued, “I don’t see why I shouldn’t indulge myself for a mont. A girl deserves her gloating from ti to ti.”
“Is that a type of candy?” Suze asked from the back of the room, where she and Olivia were still bound by the animated curtains.
Velvet ignored her and instead picked up the wig Balthazar had dropped on the floor monts before.
“You know…” she said, contemplating the strands of black hair draped down from the wig. “Your pet really did a number on my hair back when we last t. For a while I could barely stand looking in the mirror. But now? I think I’m growing used to it. Maybe I should even ditch this thing. What do you think?”
Using her other hand, the woman touched up the sides of her natural hair, which was now much shorter, cropped around the sides and back, the tips of its locks barely touching her neck.
Balthazar found it quite suited her, for so reason.
“I’m a crab, what do I know or care about hair?” the rchant claid, making an effort to sound extra crabby.
“Looks good!” Suze shouted from the back. “You’re rocking that pixie haircut, lady!”
“Suze!” Olivia grumbled. “You’re not supposed to complint the bad guys!”
“Oh, sorry,” the little girl said. “Your hair sucks, lady!”
“Hmph,” Velvet scoffed, rolling her eyes at the two girls while keeping a confident smirk. “The people of this city are just so… rude. That’s how it started, you know?”
“What do you an?” Balthazar inquired, still trying to think of a way to defeat the witch that wouldn’t involve getting too close to her and her nasty witchcraft.
“I entered Marquessa a while back, not too long after our fiery encounter,” the black-clad woman said. “I was still looking for a solution to my hair… problem. I went straight to the city hall building, but everywhere I turned I could see them, the locals, the dirty peasantry. Staring, snickering, whispering, pointing at my head—they all mocked my misfortune.”
“All of them?” the skeptical crab said with a cocked eyestalk. “Most people I passed on the streets barely slowed down to look at . And I’m a giant, talking crustacean. Are you sure you weren’t just being paranoid?”
“Quiet!” the dark witch yelled, her eyes widening as she raised her voice.
The flas of the candles flickered for a second at her outburst, and a wind chill ran through the stuffy bedroom despite all windows being closed.
“I am regaling you with the tale of my accomplishnts in this city,” she continued, her smile and calr deanor settling back onto her expression. “Do not be rude by interrupting it to call paranoid.”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Yeah, sure, monologue away, don’t mind ,” Balthazar sheepishly said, the bristles on the back of his shell still standing from the sudden chill that passed through him at the witch’s command.
“The worst of all was that… baroness,” the adventurer said, with bitter contempt dripping from her every word. “Atop those stairs, looking down at . I could see her eyeing my hair. The very face of mockery. Thinking herself superior, with her overly bright dress and excessive jewelry. So… gauche.”
“You wish you had half my aunt’s class!” Olivia exclaid from her restraints.
“I warned you to be quiet while the grown-ups talk, girl.”
With a flick of her wrist, Velvet commanded the curtain to wrap around the young woman’s mouth too.
“So, what, you decided to steal the city’s harvest because the mayor looked at you the wrong way?!” Balthazar quickly asked, trying to take the witch’s focus away from Olivia and back to himself.
“Sothing like that,” the woman responded.
“You’re very petty, you know that, right?” the crab said.
“Thank you, darling. It’s good to be appreciated from ti to ti.”
The smirking adventurer tossed the wig onto the bed and started circling around again, making the crab do the sa to keep his distance.
“I simply took it upon myself to knock that pretentious woman down a few notches,” Velvet said with a tone of haughty disdain. “And what better way to take down a mayor than to undermine her control over the city? It was all so simple, so easy. Practically child’s play. Fun, too. I should have started doing this kind of stuff a lot sooner!”
Balthazar had circled all the way back to where he started, between the window and the fireplace.
“So, who ca first, the bandit chief or the commander?” he asked, still trying to buy more ti.
“Neither,” Velvet responded. “It was a city hall office worker. So pathetically easy. A single drink one night at the tavern and a few sweet words and he spilled all the information I needed about this city. Who was who, the ins and outs. Even told all about this wonderful abandoned manor for to take over.”
The crab listened to the woman’s gloating while his mind raced for a way out of that predicant. If he tried to free the girls, the witch would surely react faster than he could cut. If he charged at her that would an getting close, and he did not want to risk falling to her charms again. The hex kind of charms. Not her natural charms. Not that Balthazar thought she had any, of course. She was a despicable witch. And her new haircut definitely did not look good on her.
Damn it. Focus, Balthazar!
“From there it was just a matter of finding so muscle to do the dirty work for ,” Velvet carried on. “That disgusting bandit chief was hard to stomach, but a girl does what she must to reach her goals. The only good part about his stench was it made it easy to mask my own perfu.”
That explains it! That’s what blocked my attempt at convincing him. And if it wasn’t for his strong onion sll I would have probably noticed that damn perfu on him when we first t and figured this out a lot sooner!
“But those bandits were just so incompetent!” the witch bemoaned. “I had to step in to clear the way for them. So finding a guardsman commander was my next move. Poor, lonely man. Practically threw himself at my feet as soon as I approached him. I honestly think I could have just done it without a hex. He got enough guards to fall in line to clear the road for my new bandit playthings, and I got an extra set of n at my beck and call. So wonderful.”
And I probably didn’t notice the sll of her perfu when I t him because that prison stank of sewage!
The crab frowned. “And to top it all off, you got yourself a whole shipnt of mangoes to yourself.”
“Those disgusting fruits?” Velvet said. “Bah! I hate their taste. And the things these people make with them? Repulsive. Just the sll of those mango pies that Margo woman makes nearly turned my stomach when I first passed her bakery.”
Balthazar gasped. She’s a monster!
“I’ve just been leaving them to rot in the cellar,” the woman continued. “I only cared that the people of Marquessa wouldn’t have them, to expose their mayor as the incompetent leader she is. Just in ti for the next part of my plan.”
“Which is?” the rchant asked. He knew he couldn’t keep her talking forever, and no idea had yet sprung to mind. Reaching into his backpack would take way too long. Even if he found sothing else to use his Imbuing skill on, his asly mana pool hadn’t recovered enough yet to activate it again.
“I will swoop in and save the day, of course!” Velvet triumphantly declared. “The people will cheer for the hero who found their stupid fruits, the guards will back up, and the bandits will conveniently retreat. I’ve always wanted a city to rule over. It’s going to be simply wonderful!”
“Pfft,” Suze scoffed, next to Olivia’s muffled protests. “Your girlfriend isn’t very clever, Balthazar. She just told us her whole plan. We can just expose it now.”
“Hey!” the suddenly flustered crab exclaid. “She’s not my…”
His words trailed off as his eyes caught a glimpse of sothing over the witch’s shoulder.
“And who says, child,” Velvet whispered, “that you will leave this place?”
Balthazar’s eyes squinted, focusing on sothing outside the bedroom window behind her. Sothing hovering in the dark. Like two glowing lights. Two golden eyes.
Blue!
The rchant couldn’t help but crack a smile at the sight of his drake.
“But now,” said the adventurer, taking a step toward the crab, “I think it’s about ti we finish our more intimate chat from last ti. I haven’t forgotten about the leg you owe …”
The witch’s figure lood over the crab, the shadow cast on her face making her wicked smile all the more sinister.
But as her eyes t his, her gaze flickered. She had caught a glimpse of the smile on his face.
Glass shattered with thunderous clatter as a blue-scaled beast flew into the room through the window, screeching and charging talons-first at the witch.
“Not this ti!” Velvet ferociously yelled.
With a swift twirl, the wicked woman dodged out of Blue’s way, a purple glow erupting from her fingers as she weaved magic around her hands and aid them at the drake.
Reviews
All reviews (0)