Page 21 of I Ran Away to Evil
Panlith and I smiled at each other.
Honestly, it was already amazing to hear about a four-day work week … I couldn’t imagine an entire month off. My own kingdom let people rest only on Wednesdays and holidays. Granted, we had a lot of holidays.
I took off my apron and hung it on the wall. “I guess this is goodbye, then.” I felt very empty saying it, but that was that. “It was nice of you to share your kitchen, Panlith. You’ve got all the recipes I’ve used so far?”
The head chef squinted at me unhappily. “Why does it sound like you ain’t coming back, Princesss?”
“King Keith has sentenced me to imprisonment with Rufus.”
The lizardkin looked at each other knowingly. Finally, Tulith spoke. “If that’s how it is, then there is no need to worry, Your Highnesss. Rufus only does one-hour sessions per person.”
“Really?” That didn’t sound so bad.
“Unless the sssituation isverydire,” Panlith commented. “But it hasss to be an extreme case.”
CHAPTER 12
Raise, Resurrect, or Revive
Keith
“She’s been down there for two hours already, hasn’t she?” Keith massaged his temple. It had taken most of the afternoon to organize immigration for his kingdom’s four new healers—and to dispose of the fifth. He had six major bases throughout the forest, so all five would have been preferable, but Keith only needed three; they could split their craft between two locations each.
After he moved their families and all their worldly possessions here, of course.
The fifth healer had been appalled and told the others that they were sacrificing their families to the Dark Lord for gold in return. Their social security was bought on the lives of their loved ones.
But Keith didn’t need their lives. Chloe might, though she preferred bodies already decomposed into bones over working with the recently deceased. At that point, it was a simple [Revive] and have a good day.
He still made her [Raise] his fallen minions after it was too late to properly [Revive] them. Sure, a zombie couldn’t have children or grow old, but they could do pretty much everything else. At least they could after Chloe bound the wayward soul back to its body. Chloe had told him she thought it was a waste of mana, but tonotdo so would be a waste ofresources.
Besides, if they died for him, then it was his responsibility to take care of their families and their last will and their replacement … and it was just a headache. Better to bring them back.
Raise. Resurrect. Revive, like he always said.
“Yesss, Master. I’ve just come from checking.” Tulith curtsied. No one, including Tulith, was allowed in this area of the castle without a direct summon. But since he wasn’t building attention-demanding constructs that required all his concentration to notexplode, andhe had a houseguest to keep track of, Tulithhad been granted special permission to come here and report on Henrietta in the afternoon.
So far, his multitude of examinations on the princess had left a glaring but so far unsolvable problem for Keith. Henrietta, for all her assurance that she wasonlyan eighteen-year-old Sword Master andsurelyno match for him … could punch him into oblivion if she had the mindset to do so.
And there was the problem.
Shedidn’thave the mindset. So, while she was perfectly capable, she didn’t think it was possible, and had thus walked right through his guards.
Usually, Keith didn’t need to bother doing anything himself. His constructs protected his minions, and his minions relayed him news. He would get a report, and the body of any assassin sent into the Dark Enchanted Forest would simply be found lying at the crossroad into the kingdom of Drendil. Or whichever kingdom their character sheet said they were from.
There might be a few more killers disposed of and deposited in Drendil than originated from there, but if they had kingdom of origin, then Drendil could deal with them. He enjoyed reading their complaints more than he would admit.
This time, not so.
His highly trained, bloodthirsty crew of gore-crazy lizardkin guards had trusted the golems and let this assassin barge into his lands, into his castle, and even into hisinner sanctum.
And there was no way he could devise a construct to [Sense Motive] a traumatized princess looking to get murdered.
Although maybe …
“Tulith, go tell Rufus it’s time to wrap up for today.” Keith rummaged through his shelves and found a mostly empty container of hens-teeth jelly. Next, he unearthed three sticks of cinnamon and a bottle of dragon’s blood. “I know he’s been working a lot, but tell him I have one last order of business to discuss before he’s done for the day—Wait, actually, I’ll be busy. I’ll send him a note instead.”
She waited while Keith scribbled out the plan for Rufus and his new [Construct Creation]. If it worked, Rufus would be getting more visitors.
