The Axe Falls 2 -chapter 8-

“Well,” Sara murmured and then jammed her sword through the chest of the Centaur as it thrashed about on the ground. The monster stiffened momentarily and then started to writhe about again. “Oh for… just… let me finish you. You’re just making this harder.”

Sara drew out her blade and stabbed it again in the chest. The sword punching right through the soft leather armor it was wearing.

There was a rough groan followed by a hiss of air as the monster finally went still.

“They’re tough bastards, eh there Bright Tits?” Jessie said from the side. She was currently rooting through one of the other Centaur’s pockets.

Finding nothing, Jessie sat back and then huffed.

“They are indeed rather… sturdy,” muttered Sara in response.

“They’re also broke as fuck. Not much at all on them,” growled Jessie who then stood up and kicked the corpse.

Nick looked away from them and put his focus to Claudia.

Two six foot bone golems stood on either side of her and Rahak.

Four more of the golems had been part of the fight, but three had been destroyed. The Centaurs had been tough but it had been an unexpected patrol of them to join the fight halfway through that’d made it a bit too rough.

They weren’t strong golems given that they were made out of the enemies on this floor, but they certainly helped to spread incoming damage around. Which was more than good enough for Nick.

It was like having a bunch of free hitpoints that they could utilize at all times.

“I think-mm-that this should be the end of today’s… journey,” Rahak stated. “This is the point where we will no longer be at our best. We were surprised. We shouldn’t have been.

“A rest would be good.

“We are nearing dinner, the day is over, a day of work, is worth a night of rest.”

“Rahak, you’re a great Steward,” Jessie stated before stepping on the Centaur’s corpse and moving to go stand with the rest of the group. “I agree with this plan. Dinner as a party and then rest.”

“I should probably skip dinner and see if I can’t run down Julie,” Nick countered with a shake of his head. “She’ll have an answer one way or the other by this point and I don’t want to leave her loose.”

“You always leave me loose,” Jessie remarked with a thoughtful look on her face and a nod. “But that just really gets me thinking about the body as a whole. Like what if I tell him to go at me for an entire day. Would that—”

“Jessie, you’re going to start babbling,” Claudia put in gently, causing Jessie to sputter out, ending with a raspberry noise.

“Yeah, thanks,” said the Dark Elf with a grin. “Okay. Dinner for the girls. Nick can go off by himself.”

“I’d like that,” Sara said, running a cloth along her blade.

“Yes, that would be… good,” Rahak agreed.

“Ker, come with us? We can get you some fish-heads for dinner,” Sara offered, looking over at the big Fisher.

Ker snuffled, bobbed it’s head, and trundled over to rub itself against Sara’s leg, then Claudia’s leg.

Nick only grinned, shook his head, then held a hand out to the cloth Sara was using on her blade.

She handed it over and gave him an odd smile.

“Keep it. I’m always getting more as they wear out. Never hurts to reuse it for something else,” she said and began walking off toward the direction that they’d come from. The magical portal that’d taken them to this floor of the dungeon, the third, would also take them back to the exit.

Quickly scrubbing the fabric across the head of his poleaxe he hesitated just after he finished. There was an odd cut to the fabric.

Unfolding it, he looked at it more closely.

It was a pair of women’s underwear.

There were several holes in them and her statement now made more sense.

Shrugging he stuck her underwear into his bag and followed along after.

Never hurts to reuse something.

I’ll just give it back when I’m all done with it.

Because if she’s gonna start fucking with me like Jessie does, I’ve gotta return the attention, right?

“I would warn you that playing games with Elves, Sire, is often what leads Humans to embarrassing situations at the least and dangerous ones at the extreme,” warned Lucian. “They’re not Human and have their own sense of fun and fulfillment.

“After all, the Dark Elf and the High Elf seem to live to fight one another at the moment and I can no longer tell if they’re enemies or friends.”

That’s a good point.

Though, now I have to wonder.

What would a Dragon woman be like?

“Ah… well… that… hm,” Lucian said in a hesitant voice. “I would say, let’s hope we never meet one your age, or has you as her type.

“They are temperamental in the best of times. I say this as a Dragon first, your grandfather second. They are troublesome.”

Suddenly Nick wanted to meet a Dragon woman. He wanted to go run one down just to see what they were like.

Gramps, I think maybe I sometimes seek out trouble.

“That’s… the Dragon, in you, my boy. That’s the Dragon,” lamented Lucian.

***

After cleaning his poleaxe, oiling it, and performing a decent run of maintenance, Nick put it away. Along with his armor and his dungeon gear.

He dressed himself up in his best civilian attire, belted on The Fall to his hip, and went out to the guild.

If Julie was waiting for him then it’d be there. Likely expecting him to turn in his quests.

That or she would have been waiting for him at the inn.

Which she wasn’t when he’d gone to change.

Entering the guild, Nick immediately looked to where Julie had been last time. Figuring she would probably be in the same spot she’d been last time.

Except when Nick looked, he didn’t find her there.

There wasn’t anyone at all in the guild lobby at all other than an employee standing behind a desk, looking terribly bored.

They’d already noticed Nick and then clearly dismissed him, looking back at the book that was laid out flat on the counter top in front of them.

Well… damn.

I guess I’ll need to just suck it up and take the loss.

Really screwed up there.

Genuinely I thought I could trust her.

Take her at her word.

Clicking his tongue, Nick did one more look around the guild, then just left. Exiting the building and moving back out onto the street.

There wasn’t anything to be done about the situation. Julie had clearly already bolted. Likely riding either straight to the king to sell the information she had, or to the Dukes and reveal who he is.

“It’s alright, Sire,” Lucian said soothingly. “If the wost that can be said is we trusted Julie when we shouldn’t have, I think we’re a step ahead of where most would have thought we would be.”

Turning back toward the inn, Nick began walking that way. There was no reason to linger here and rushing off wouldn’t do anything either.

Julie would be long gone down the road.

Most likely last night.

Well, time for dinner then.

I wanted to test out cuisine on the ledger anyways.

It seems far easier than I ever expected it to be. I was overthinking it pretty hard.

“To be fair, my boy… its very easy to overthink the ledger,” agreed Lucian. “It’s just there to be a guide which directs you to shops. Which are on the pages and their inventory listed.

“Thinking of it as anything more than that is just going to make it harder for you in the long run.

“The tool is meant to be simple, no fuss, no mess, no problems. That also makes it hard to utilize it in a way that’d go beyond it’s intended use.”

Yeah, yeah, I know.

Stopping dead in his tracks Nick watched as a woman with a lovely figured walked smoothly along the sidewalk. She had a gait and walk that spoke to a breeding similar to Claudia’s.

Her hair had been trimmed recently and looked as if it’d just been styled. There also seemed to be some type of hair product in it.

Additionally her clothes and the makeup she wore marked her out as someone who had coin and had invested in herself.

There was even a small bag she held near her side that he had only seen Claudia have on her person when he’d first met her.

As if realizing she was being stared at, the woman looked to Nick and just about tripped over herself.

No sooner than their eyes met, Nick realized that he knew this upscale woman.

It was Julie.

A very dressed up and extremely well put together Julie, but Julie nonetheless.

“Julie?” Nick said, really not sure what to say.

“Ah! Nick!” Julie gushed and then hit him with a smile. One that made his mouth go dry and left him suddenly remembering how often he’d been atop this lovely woman.

Walking right up to him she took in his clothes, the weapon on his hip, and his hair.

“If I don’t miss my guess, you just left the guild,” she said as she walked over to him.

“I did,” he agreed, his voice feeling scratchy.

“It would seem we dressed up for one another,” Julie murmured and made a small finger flick. A bubble erected itself around them and only them. “My Lord, do forgive me for not being at the guild. The hair-dresser was a touch busy and it was harder to get an appointment than I expected.

“There was… there was no way I would be presenting myself to you without cleaning up. Not after-after what I did to you.

“I’m not stupid and-and I know you were just being brave to someone who had attacked you. Your words were flippant and I took you up on it and— ”

Nick held up his hand and Julie came to a rambling halt.

“You didn’t do anything I didn’t want. I will remind you that I often pushed you into sex, just as often as you did,” Nick pointed out. “We’ll just leave that conversation alone as if it didn’t happen.

“I never told anyone about what happened. Remember? You’ll need to not talk about it either.

“Cause if we do talk about it, my Dark Elf queen, Jessie, might get insanely jealous and kill us both. Or maybe just me. Who knows.”

Julie’s eyes were stuck on him and she didn’t even seem to be breathing at the moment. Her whole body was rigid.

Her mouth pressed to a line, she exhaled, and then she nodded her head.

“I will… view it as having sexual relations and not something-something bad. That we both enjoyed it and wanted it,” Julie stated, her hands grasping tight to her handbag. “I won’t bring it up either. That’s a secret for you and I.”

“Exactly. Now… what’s this about. I thought you were a dark sorceress that had low morals and worked for coin,” Nick stated and gestured at her. “Not that I’m complaining. I mean, I’ve seen you naked, sweaty, while under me. I thought that was a great sight.

“Right now you look like a noble born woman who wouldn’t be caught dead doing the work you were doing.”

“I’m… ahhhh, that is-my name is Julienne Margrave,” Julie said, her color draining down to a pale white color. “I’m a very deeply removed cousin in the Margrave Barony. It’s-it’s outside the walls to the east.

“My family has sworn itself to you and I’m duty bound to support you in whatever way you see fit.”

“Yeah… Julie… this whole… boot-licker thing is not for me. Could you go back to demanding I throw you in the bed knock your insides outside, complain about how many corpses you had to dump, and the fact that you melted someones face?” Nick demanded. He realized he really did need to throw her a positive though. “Though you can keep the look. I’m a fan of that.”

Julie’s face was one of frustration, the mask of a young noble-woman bleeding away.

“Nick,” she said in a huff.

“Yes, Julie? Before you ask, we can’t go find a bed. Jessie would really kill us. Or me,” Nick said, grinning with one side of his mouth. “Also, this is gonna get me fucked later. Jessie. Julie. Julie. Jessie. Jellie. Jussie.”

Julie clicked her tongue, blew out a breath, then shrugged her shoulders. She reached up and casually fingered her hair.

“You like the look though, huh?” she asked.

“Definitely. Anyways. I’m glad you’re here. I admit I was a bit nervous when you weren’t in the guild,” Nick confessed. “My party thought for sure you’d gone off to tell the Dukes or the King about me.”

“Ah… no. I did put that list together you asked for as well as asking for an updated resource needs list,” said Julie with a shake of her head. “That and the clothes and haircut and… makeup… but that’s it.”

“Great. Glad to hear it,” Nick said and then decided to push this further. “What level and class are you?”

“I’m twenty-nine. A magician. Why?” Julie asked, looking curious now.

“I’d love to offer you a position in my court. It’d be great to have you in our party as well,” Nick explained. “We’re creeping up on level twenty for most of us so you’d be babysitting a bit.

“I think I’m worth it though.

“That and my resources really are second to none. I guarantee I can meet every need the Dukes have.”

“I mean… I could join your party. This dungeon in particular goes up to about forty I believe,” Julie mused. “And… what would be the position?”

Yeah, being able to get to level forty is pretty solid. The next promotion after the one at twenty, is at fifty, isn’t it?

“Yes, Sire,” Lucian confirmed.

“I don’t know. Something like Royal Court Wizard,” Nick said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Just make up a title you want me to give you.

“Oh, what’s your max level by the way? It doesn’t matter but I’m curious.”

“It’s… ninety-five and I’d want a title like-like Royal Court Wizard,” Julie murmured.

“You’ll join the party then?” Nick pressed.

“Yes. I’ll join your party.”

“Then as the last of the royal line of the Randolph family, I Appoint you as I name you the Royal Court Wizard if you’ll have it,” stated Nick, forcefully pushing the command out. “This is a lifetime position unless I revoke it. No going backward from this point.”

“I-I accept?” she whispered, staring at the screen in front of her. Her breathing had once more become uneven.

“Great! Great. Now, how about you and I go over that resource list over dinner. I need to eat, the rest of my party is doing their own thing, and they totally expected you to not be here.

“Taking you to dinner would give me an ugly little dig at them and that my trust in you wasn’t misplaced.”

“Sure, Nick,” Julie said in such a soft tone he barely heard it. “This is incredible.”

“I hear that a lot,” Nick said and put his arm around Julie’s shoulders. He deliberately began leading here away. The bubble thankfully followed along with them. “Dinner? You and me?”

“Yes. Please. I had planned on inviting you to dinner so that makes this easier. We can talk about all of this,” declared Julie, her voice firming up. “Especially the resource situation. The Dukes have coin but the problem is a lack of suppliers. Everyone is terrified of upsetting the King.

“It’s my side or their side without an inbetween.”

“Well, I suppose there’s a third now. My side,” Nick offered. He didn’t doubt for a moment that he would likely have to corral these Dukes at some point in the future. They wouldn’t be trying to enthrone him out of the goodness of their hearts.

“I’m most definitely on your side,” Julie put in quickly. “And… we’re going this way. I know where we’re going, what you’re ordering, and what wine you’re buying for me.”

Julie had pointed to one side as they started to cross a road.

“Great. I love not thinking about useless crap,” Nick said and followed the direction of Julie’s finger. “I’ll admit I was already trying to figure out where to take you considering how amazing you look.

“Anywhere I’ve been so far clearly wouldn’t fit your aesthetic and if I took you somewhere you didn’t belong we’d stand out worse than I’d like to admit.”

“Well, good news is I know exactly where to go, and you’re dressed to the point that I don’t even have to fuss over you. I’m even flattered that I didn’t even warrant you bringing your poleaxe, just your side arm. It’s flattering that you had put that much trust in little ol’me,” Julie murmured. “Now give me your arm already and escort me. I might not get the chance to act a lady that often and I’m about as far removed from one as currently could be.

“It’s going to be… aggravating to dip back into that. Great aunt would laugh herself silly if she knew all the damn things I’ve done today.”

Nick put his arm out as requested, but then forcefully drew Julie’s arm into his own. He put his hand on her forearm possessively.

The woman tensed up immediately as his fingers curled. Her muscles going firm and taut.

Well.

I can gently poke at Claudia and I can tease Julie a bit.

Jessie is the one I flirt with and Sara is a bit of a lowest common denominator on logic. Someone I can check against for my own benefit.

And Rahak… Rahak is too damn smart for me.

“Seems about right, my boy. I’m glad she didn’t betray us,” Lucian murmured with some warmth. “Also, you’ve been staring again at her. Try to curb that.”