Page 12 of Surfaces
Once we had privacy, I turned to the mage, whose name I thought might be Adrastos. “Please let these gentlemen know about the magical contract they signed when they entered this tournament.”
A groan went up from the bug-eyed siren standing to the left of Radford. “Magical contract?”
Adrastos snorted. “Of course. Do you really think we’d let a bunch of random commoners have access to the palace without fail-safes?”
My mage was quite the smooth-talker. I attempted to take over before this matter exploded into another round of insults and anger. I turned to Adrastos. “You mean that the castle mages knew that protective measures would be a necessary precaution, right? To ensure safety?”
“To ensure blubbering blubbers like these didn’t sard it up, yeah,” my mage replied, stepping right into a pile of verbal stink.
Note to self, Adrastos would make a great mage for prisoners of war. Not a great mage for court.
I took a deep breath and pasted on a smile that was hidden by my hood. “What, exactly, happens if a man tries to abandon the tournament without being eliminated?”
Adastros gave me a grin. “Oh, we don’t need to tell them, do we? That would ruin the fun. Just let them leave.”
I sighed. “Unfortunately, I’ve been advised not to let them do so without getting disqualified. Hurts the morale of the crowds watching. They’ll all have to compete until they’re eliminated naturally.”
Illia started to make a noise of defiance but Felipe’s spear near his face made him close his lips.
My castle mage gazed out at the defiant faces of the four men who no longer wanted to put up with this sham of a tournament. He tilted his head sideways and studied them thoughtfully. “Did they already declare their intention to withdraw to you?”
I hid my grin by clamping my teeth firmly together and responding with a solemn nod. “They did.”I made sure of it.
“Well then, the damage is already done.”
“What the sard? You can’t do something to us simply because we thought your sun-dried cunt wasn’t worth—”
Felipe’s spear tapped Illia’s throat and stopped the remainder of the siren’s sentence.
Behind him, Radford shook his head, his expression chastising, as though he was disappointed in me.
My lips thinned into a hard line.
“Adrastos, do you know how to put a geas on someone?”
“Spells for preventing speech? Of course.” The merman scoffed, giving a dismissive wave of his hand. “Child’s play.”
“I’d like a geas placed on these four, please. They are neither to speak a word about their desire to leave this tournament, nor a word about the magical contract. Let’s add to that—they also aren’t allowed to say a negative word about me. Yes?”
“That’s sarding wrong!” The bug-eyed siren burst out.
I turned to glare at him. “This is a precaution. You four cannot and will not say anything to contribute to the unrest already rankling Okeanos. I have a country to unite and rule.” I bit down on all the further insults I wanted to spew about their cowardly choices. It wouldn’t do to make things worse.
Radford sighed and just nodded his agreement.
The squi-shifter remained silent.
“Just do it.” I gestured for Adrastos to begin.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Absolutely. Would you like me to do it before or after I tell them that violating the contract turned their dicks into shrimp?”
4
After the disastrously hilariousmeeting with the cowards, who’d shrieked and glowered as they yanked open their pants, peered down, and gave terrified sobs of horror … it was quite difficult to get into the proper head space for my next confrontation. I kept giggling as I walked through the hallway.
“You knew,” Felipe said, not accusingly, but with a glint of grudging admiration.
“I knew something would happen if they officially broke the contract. But damn. Those castle mages deserve a raise for their ingenuity. What else could make a man stay so invested in the tournament?”
