The Axe Falls 2 -ch 23-

“—just swallowed it all,” Jessie finished answering the question. Then she blinked, looked at everyone around her, and seemed to remember the company she was in. Most especially Sara, who was watching her with a smile and raised eyebrows. “Or something… I guess… uh… yeah. Haha… shit.”

“I mean… as a woman with no experience, that’s very good to know,” Erica stated with a thoughtful look on her face and a small nod of her head. For all intents and purposes, it genuinely seemed like she was attempting to learn from the rather vulgar tirade from Jessie. “Claudia? Similar response?”

“Yes, actually. I agree,” said the other young woman, both of them now looking at Jessie. “Did it get stuck in your teeth at all? Given the way you described it, it would seem so.”

Uh… this is the weirdest conversation I’ve ever listened to.

Doubly so that those two young women are part of the nobility.

“That’s not so bad when you consider they’re discussing it with their future queen, my boy,” Lucian said with a hissing snicker.

“Mm! Or does it stick… to the back?” Erica inquired, genuinely looking curious.

Alright.

I didn’t have ‘Claudia and Erica looking to Jessie for sex tips’ in my expectations today.

Not at all.

“Sometimes. Both, really. You just have to— ”

Jessie’s words died in a second and she turned to look toward the entrance.

Everyone turned to look that way now.

A moment later and Count Distis as well as another man re-entered the tent.

The second man shared all the broad strokes of what Nick had seen from the Duke of Fash. There was an excitement in his eyes that couldn’t be denied, rather than a cynical and cruel light that Nick had seen from the other.

“Ah!” said the man who Nick supposed was Duke Fash, having locked eyes with Nick immediately. “Your highness.”

Dropping down to one knee, the man put his knuckles to the ground and bowed his head.

“The Duke of Fash presents himself to the Dragon King,” said the man in a solemn voice. As if realizing what this was, the Count himself had dropped down into a similar stance. In fact, everyone immediately did. All of them dropping down to the exact same pose. “Once I took control of my family and learned of you from your chamberlain, I swore myself to your service and immediately took the appropriate actions.

“I would also present my daughter as a marriage candidate, as it would be beneficial to my house, your own house, as well as your cause.”

“If I may say, my lord Dragon King, I would eagerly accept a marriage proposal and promise to do all I can to further your cause,” Erica said in a very similar tone to her father’s.

Dragon King?

“A title earned through familial abilities, Sire,” Lucian answered. “Are family carries the blood of a Dragon. Regardless of how thin it became, it doesn’t change the fact that it is there. So long as it is a trueblood of my line, it would hold those abilities.

“As the Dragon King, you can summon… me, to assist in a fight. By the time that we lost the throne, I could only be summoned once a year at most given the weakness of the blood.

“However, given that you have been… strengthened… to the point that you’re more akin to being a child of a Dragon and a human, I would likely be able to be summoned weekly.

“Well, once you became a King-in-hiding, that is. All those familial abilities are locked behind that title. As well as for good reason as it would make it impossible for us to hide.

“There’s a few other abilities that go with it but that’s for another time. I can confirm we received his Ducal pledge.”

“Please,” Nick said softly. “All of you rise. I accept your suggestion to take the lady Erica as my wife, though only as a suggestion. I’m afraid at this time that my throne is perilously set atop constant danger.

“My time and concern’s are almost entirely spent around trying to work to save it for the time being. It’s for the same reason that I accepted the lady Claudia in a similar suggestion.

“Is that suitable, at least for the time being, my Duke Fash?”

“Yes, my lord. It’s more than suitable and I thank you for the magnamity of listening to me putting forth such a thing so quickly,” said the Duke, rising to his feet as everyone else did as well. “I’ve brought s—”

“Someone’s coming,” Erica warned and then snapped her fingers, the magical spell that she’d made folding in on itself in a flash.

Once more, everyone turned to look to the entrance.

Except even as they did that, Nick scurried off to the side and did his best to blend in with the wall. To make himself look like a knight or a footman waiting for orders.

Given where the Duke and the Count were, it now looked more like the two of them were just entering or about to leave the tent.

“My grace, a messenger has arrived,” called the voice of a guard from outside the tent. “The Dukes are assembling and have invited the Duke Fash as well as all his vassals to attend. This is a grand gathering and everyone shall be attending.

“The messenger didn’t wait and ran off. I get the impression he needed to go invite other Dukes as well as other individuals.”

“That’s… strange,” murmured Duke Fash with a small frown on his face. “We only met this morning a few hours ago. There was nothing that would need to be discussed again.”

“Yes,” the count agreed. “Nothing was out of the ordinary at all, in fact. To the point that this is clearly a change that most certainly comes from outside of our faction.”

“Your first two true vassals seem intelligent and insightful,” Lucian pointed out. “At this juncture, it would be better to take Erica and Claudia both to wed if only to bind both houses closer to you.”

Quest updated!

Plunge it in: Impregnate Erica Fash and Claudia Distis, and/or Jessie Tiller!

Nick mentally groaned and threw a curse at Lucian.

The land itself agreed with Lucian and had changed the or statement to just an and statement. It now expected him to take Erica and Claudia both.

“Sorry, Sire. I… yes, well, it’s done. You can argue with it later and perhaps get it changed,” apologized Lucian sounding somewhat troubled. “At least it isn’t telling you to include Julie or Sara, since they both have nobility as well.

Quest updated!

Plunge it in: Impregnate Erica Fash and Claudia Distis, and/or Jessie Tiller, and/or Sara Mysin, and/or Julienne Margrave!

Grand… father… please!

The thought was sent with as much force as he could muster.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. They’re just and or statements, they’re not inclusive. It’ll be well, Sire,” promised Lucian quickly, sounding quite flustered now. “Harlowe isn’t there and—”

Quest updated!

Plunge it in: Impregnate Erica Fash, Claudia Distis, and Jessie Tiller, and/or Sara Mysin, and/or Julienne Margrave, and/or Harlowe Randolph!

There was a moment where Nick almost screamed. His breath had caught and it felt like the veins in his temples were pounding. Even his jaws seemed to be throbbing but he couldn’t tell if it was with the strength that he was pressing his molars together or his heartbeat.

“I’m sorry… my boy, I’ll just… leave it be at that. We’ll make it known to the land later that this just isn’t feasable,” stated Lucian. “It’ll listen and we can just distract it with something else.”

“—get going. I’m worried about bringing-bringing our guest but we have no choice,” Count Distis muttered, not looking at Nick though it felt like the man wished to. “I have no doubt that the word would get back to the others that he arrived as he is a Knight of our territory.

“They’d expect him to be there. Him not being there would make them more curious than him actually being in attendance.”

“I can… I can go hide, right?” Jessie asked in a whisper.

“Yes, that’d be fine,” the Count answered. Nick hadn’t missed it when the man had almost continued with ‘your highness’ to Jessie, but had reigned it in. “Claudia and Erica will need to be there but… the rest of you can sit this one out if you choose.”

“That’d be best,” suggested Sara. “We’re… Elves. We stand out. Harlowe should come with us as well.”

“Yes,” agreed Harlowe with a mere nod of her head. “I would prefer to go remain with the mounts and… watch the entry point.”

In other words, she wants to smell everyone going in and out.

“Alright. Let’s go then. There’s no sense to change or try to dress it up,” the Count said with a huff, then looked to Fash. “Anything to add?”

“None at all,” the Duke said after a single beat. “Off we go then.”

Exiting, the Duke, Count, Claudia, and Erica all filed out.

Nick briefly caught Jessie’s eyes and raised his eyebrows. As if asking her if she was alright.

To which she smiled and waved a hand at him in a ‘go on’ type of way.

He briefly looked to Sara and Harlowe who both gave him a smile, then turned and left the tent. Following behind the others, his poleaxe idly swinging back and forth on his shoulder.

For all intents and purposes, Nick looked like a sort of bodyguard, footman, or knight at the moment. Dressed in his full armor and his weapons and walking around as he was, there wasn’t much possibility of him being anything less, in fact.

In only minutes they entered a massive tent that was more similar to a circus enclosure. One that reached up quite high above and could be seen a significant distance away.

It would make a grand target to fire on, Nick thought to himself as he trooped along with the other Knights and Man-At-Arms that were part of the Duke and the Count’s retinues. They’d stopped only to pick up more people as they went and Nick had quickly been lost in the crowd.

The Count and the Duke took two chairs that seemed overly familiar to them to the point that they did it without thinking. With the Duke being at the front and the Count being a single seat behind him and to the right.

There were a number of other chairs to the left and the right of the Count.

Nick went and stood in the general vacinity behind the chairs that were behind the count. Which were most certainly there for smaller titles that rolled up to the Count.

A great many people were just about rushing into the tent and taking seats with urgency. Very few people said anything at all and they all looked as curious as they were concerned.

“Something certainly happened,” rumbled Lucian.

Nick could only nod his head, watching as more and more people streamed into the tent.

As if his eyes were drawn by magic, he found Julie in the incoming crowd. The beautiful magician was dressed in a rather form fitting dress that showed her off quite well, but was still quite respectable.

She hesitated after entering and scanned the chairs, looking them over.

I wonder if her attachment to the gathering is through her family.

Does she have anyone here that she’d call a relative?

She did mention the entirety of her family are dark casters and work in the dark out of the way places.

Julie’s eyes made it to the Duke, then the count, only to find Nick after that. She stared at him for several seconds before moving quickly in his direction.

Hm, she really does pursue me very earnestly and honestly. Doesn’t she?

“Sire, you’ve seen her naked, shared a bed with her repeatedly, and you kissed her a great deal,” remarked Lucian dryly. “You treated her as a woman you were wed to, rather than sleeping with. Given her disposition, her lifestyle, and her background, it’s likely you were the first person to treat her as a woman, let alone a woman of worth and consideration.”

Nick couldn’t argue that point and so he didn’t. Instead he just nodded his head and watched Julie heading toward him.

I’m going to mess with her head a bit since she’s the royal consort now.

When she did reach him, he gave her his best smile, then leaned down toward her till his mouth was at her ear.

“You look amazing, Julienne Margrave,” he whispered, his lips just about in her ear to make sure she could hear his quiet words. “It’s a shame you can’t kidnap me and take me away to a tent for us to ravage one another.

“Then again, aren’t you my consort? Shouldn’t I be the one to kidnap you off so we can ravage one another repeatedly?”

When he finished talking, Nick turned his head to the side and proffered his ear to her mouth.

“You… are an ass. Hurry up with the kidnapping,” Julie purred, then bit his ear lobe, only to suck on it for several seconds. She released it quickly and pushed at his jaw, making him stand upright.

Julie pushed in close to his side and was now literally touching him.

Given how quickly everyone was moving in close to each other, he didn’t think anyone would notice or think much of it.

Or so he hoped.

“Thank you all,” boomed a voice as a large heavy-set man rushed into the tent. “We must speak immediately and I need absolute honesty from everyone here. There’s two things that we must address before we leave.”

Walking out to the center point between all the chairs, Nick noted that there was exaclty one seat that wasn’t filled at this point. When he looked back to the entrance of the tent, he found that it was now shut.

There were also several spells circulating through the tent. Rippling along the fabric as it rushed along.

Nick assumed they were protection spells to keep out prying eyes and ears as well as to protect the inhabitants from an attack.

The heavyset man had bright gray hair, flat dark brown eyes, and a face full of criss-crossed wrinkles and scars. His full bear was trimmed and well maintained as well.

“First, the Fash King has reached out to us to discuss terms. Something has happened or there’s a change somewhere that’s spooked him. We haven’t heard anything from our spies or infiltrators about it, but for the last six or seven days, he’s been in a near constant state of meetings. Endlessly. There were reports that he was meeting with ambassadors but… no confirmation,” the man declared with a shake of his head. “Whatever the situation is that’s caused it, the Fash want to talk. They want to talk and they’ve already stated that they’re willing to relinquish the throne in these discussions.”

I… what?

That’s insane!

There has to be an underlying reason, right?

There has to be. There’s no reason that he’d want to give up now after all this.

“It’s very likely that other nations now have a deeper understanding of what’s going on in the land, Sire,” mused Lucian. “If they’re putting pressure on the King to resolve this, or that perhaps they’re even moving armies to the walls to mass at our borders, than things have changed.

“It could be a ruse, it could be real, it could be just the Fash attempting to smoke out traitors in their midst. The reasons are many and the speculation endless.”

“— part of that is to become a Duke of Fash with guarantees that they won’t face reparations, executions, or anything of th elike,” the man said with a strange look on his face. “I truly don’t understand it, but something happened. The only thing that comes to mind is we’ve got more pressing concerns that they can’t solve as the king, but I don’t know why they can’t solve it themselves.”

“The rebound, of course,” Lucian answered in an almost bored way. “The King is suffering an extreme rebound for breaking the covenant. They will suffer it for a very long time and any person that inherits their throne and titles would suffer it as well. Likely the next in line after that, too. Assuming they live average life-spans.

“Unfortunately for them, their ancestors didn’t think that they’d ever have to deal with it and signed away a great deal of power on that assumption.

“But no one else would know that other than you and their king. It’d just look weird to anyone else.”

“Except… they aren’t willing to meet unless we can produce the Dragon King,” the man said with a grim face. “I know we’ve all been attempting to find him. Except… I haven’t heard of anyone even catching a hint or a whiff of it. Other than what the Fash King’s own men went and did afterward and who they were looking for. Yet that’s it.

“If ever there was a time for us to know where the Dragon King is, it’s now. Does anyone here have a suggestion, hint, or thought?”

The man nodded his head as he finished speaking and looked around to all those in the tent.

A wiry man that could be charitably described as ancient stood up from his seat. He had just the barest hints of hair upon his bald head and a white haired mustache. He had dark blue eyes and a face that was stern and rather gruff looking.

“The contracts coming in from the south that we’ve been purchasing through,” the old man growled. “Whoever is providing those items likely has a connection to the Dragon King. The items themselves don’t match anyone else in the entirety of the country that could provide them.

“There were many an old story of the Dragon King having goods from his hoard that no one else could ever access. Granted down through their draconic history and dealings with their kin.”

“Ha… not quite but I do remember those rumours,” chuckled Lucian.

“Julienne Margrave, please step out and speak with us?” called another individual. “We must know who the contact is and if they know the Dragon King!”

Julie hesitated, her hand brushing against Nick’s leg, before she started walking toward the center of the hearing.

Gramps, if I took King-in-Hiding, could I call you to help?

“Yes, you could. I’m not sure how soon after that you could call out to me again though. It would be a waste to simply do so if only to prove who you are,” advised Lucian. “Are you thinking of stepping out now? In this situation?”

If not now, then when? If the King truly wants to give up his throne, because of some other reason, this seems like the ideal spot to do so.

As you said though, it could just be a false thing to try and smoke us out.

“Indeed. It’s a risk either way, my boy,” allowed Lucian, who then sighed. “As far as I can ascertain, all the Dukes present here have actually pledged to you. Sight unseen and without knowing you.

“The moment you declare yourself as Dominic Randolph the true King, you’ll attain the King-in-Hiding class without any help from someone else. It’ll also notify all those who have pledged to you that you’ve announced yourself.

“Contrary to the ‘in-hiding’ name, you’ll also be notifying the Fash King that you’re now in open contestation of the throne.

“The… rebound for them will increase significantly at that point, by the way. Don’t be surprised if there’s a report later that the Fash king collapsed. The entirety of his line will feel it, in fact.”

What about Erica and her father? Will they suffer that rebound at all?

“No. Their branch of the family has pledged themselves to you. They’ll be protected from it,” Lucian answered.

“—through empty warehouses and golems,” Julie explained with a shake of her head. “I’ve never actually met them. What you’ve said makes sense though.

“The items they offered and prices they quoted felt almost as if they were doing it at a loss if only to push the war effort in our favor.”

Would you step forward if it were you, gramps?

“I… yes. Yes I would,” Lucian remarked after a slight pause. “As you said, this is a possibility of us being able to step forward. On top of that, it’s an opportunity to show that we exist to the Dukes. At this point, there is the distinct possibility their own support in the war could be faltering since you never showed up.”

Quest!

Return of the Dragon King: Declare yourself as the one true king!

Rewards Granted:

Verification: all those who hear you, shall know you are the Dragon King.

All familial abilities granted.

All familial titles granted.

All familial possessions that are lost will be returned to “Gramps”.

“Well,” whispered Lucian. “It seems it’s time to step forward, Sire. It would seem the time is night.”

“—can’t reach out them?” asked the heavyset man, sat in his chair. He sounded genuinely curious.

“No, my lord. I’ve been unable to do so,” Julie lied. “All attempts to contact them in person have failed.”

There was a sigh that seemed to come from more than a few people at that.

“Thank you, miss Margrave, you may exit,” the heavyset man stated. “What do we do now though? We’ve— we’ve… what?”

The man’s words had trailed off after Nick had moved out of the crowd and went to take up the center position at the tent. Standing there in front of so many people.

Raising himself up to his full height, Nick stuck the butt-of his poleaxe into the ground and held to it.

“My name is Dominic Randolph, the Dragon King, true king of Dolphan,” Nick declared as he looked around at all those staring at him. He found Julie standing near Duke Fash.

Quest complete!

Rewards Granted:

Verification: all those who hear you, shall know you are the Dragon King.

All familial abilities granted.

All familial titles granted.

All familial possessions that are lost will be returned to “Gramps”.