Chapter 15:

Chapter 15: Heretic

Mine Blown


“Your Grace,” I bow, “I w-”

“Who are you?” they ask.

“One of the servants of the will of Topaz, Your Grace. I serve as a guard for His Holiness,” I lie.

“Is this how you guard the High Priest?”, they grill, “What did you see in there?”

“Nothing, Your Grace. I only wished to determine if you were possessing any rumors or weapons that could bring harm to His Holiness. I see now that my actions were disrespectful, forgive me, Your Grace. Yo-”

“Be quiet,” they command.

That’s twice now this damned advisor cut me off. I click my tongue as they start to drag me back to Mika and Akechi. 

Damned bird, why didn’t you let me know that they were here? 

I scowl up at Phoenix resting snugly on the rooftop. Their clothes are thick and furry to bear the weather; I can still feel the tightness of their grip despite their gloves. 

An arm cyborg?

“Your Holiness, can you please explain to me why you sent your lackey to search in my personal belongings?” they question, tossing me in front of him.

Akechi is acting surprised while Mika doesn’t even attempt to answer them.

“Are you attacking the mines?” he cuts to the point, completely ignoring Hehu’s accusation. 

Hehu pauses, astounded at Mika’s notion. 

They pause but they don’t deny it.

“Does your queen know of this? I find it questionable that she would be this oblivious-“

“Do not speak ill of Her Majesty,” they hiss.

“Oh? It seems I’ve struck a nerve,” Mika smirks, “am I right? Is your queen so gullible-“

Hehu’s fist connects with the bridge of Mika-El’s nose. 

Better him than me. 

I go immediately on the defensive, protecting Mika from further harm. Akechi’s bow is drawn and nocked at the scholar. The way they are moving is rigid like they are overly tensed. The mansion staff is now scurrying out, taking this altercation as an indication that their work has finished for the day. The clanking of the knights’ armors forms an orchestra as they aggregate behind their leader.

“Go, I will deal with this myself,” they order.

“B-but Your Grace, we could not poss-”

“Go!” they shout this time.

The knights bow their heads at this command and make to leave the estate. 

Why would they send their knights away? With their numbers, they would be at every advantage to keep them. 

Mika brushes off the flames that have licked his toga from the fireplace and attacks, aiming for the head. Hehu dodges nearly all of Mika’s blows, returning hits whenever they allow themselves to take some. 

I can’t intervene at the speed they’re moving at, it would confirm that I’m not just a Mental. If I can move this struggle outside, I can slow them down with the environment and jump in. 

Akechi’s still aiming his bow at the two, not firing because of the fear of hitting Mika. I snag the weapon and aim for Hehu’s feet, Mika is getting in some kicks as well so it provides me an opening. When I fire, Hehu hops back before continuing his brawl with Mika-El.

Damn, it didn’t work.

I was hoping Hehu would focus their attacks on me, allowing me to slip outside with them on my tail. Or at the bare minimum, give Mika the opportunity to finish this. 

But they’re wholeheartedly ignoring me; it almost pisses me off. 

I need a new plan. Think, I could try to tell Mika-El to go outside. No, there’s no way that scholar wouldn’t catch on and then purposely stay inside. I could toss their queen picture out in the mud, they might go after it in an attempt at preserving a prized possession. Or they might just break my legs before I can get the photo down. 

The shed! That noble nearly had an aneurysm when I was peeking into their secret workshop. Not to mention the fact that they went there first despite knowing that the High Priest was in their waiting room. Whatever contraption they’re building or studying in there must be ominous enough to ruin their reputation.

“Akechi!” I catch his attention and hope he catches a hint.

He follows me outside and we try prying open the doors. 

The janitorial closet I hid in earlier had tools like shovels and gardening hoes which now prove handy under these circumstances. 

After several attempts, we ultimately fail at opening the shed but the clanging achieves its goal of drawing out the queenly counselor. They throw a punch targeting Akechi, but I shove him out of the way, letting their fist slam into the shed behind us. The blow leaves a dent. I regain my footing and swing my shovel down onto Hehu’s back, but they don’t react. I bring my arms upwards so that the force of Hehu’s sidekick doesn’t break my collarbone. 

My wrists will bruise tomorrow for sure. 

I’m thrown back but I let Mika and Akechi cover me until I can find another opening. 

Why didn’t they go down? I’m a trained combatant so I would know best; that hit should have left them on the ground or at least knocked the wind out of them. 

Phoe swoops in, upset that his owner has been attacked, and starts clawing. 

Damned bird, you’re in the way and no one called for you. 

Hehu backhands Phoenix. 

He tumbles away. He doesn’t soar back up.

No. 

I go to him. 

His wings are soaked in a mixture of mud, rain, and blood. He’s twitching. 

Get back up, damn you. You damned bird. My damned bird. 

I don’t permit you to die. Get up. Please. 

I won’t call you a damned bird again if you get up. I’m sorry. You can favor Akechi all you want if you get up. I’ll give you all the crackers you want if you get up. I fumble the mushed, soggy mess that used to be crackers out of my pocket. Here, they’re the sweet ones you like. Now please get up. 

'You’re Phoenix, aren’t you? The immortal bird. So fly again. Bite me again. Come back to my side again, like you always do. Please, Phoe, I need you.

I won’t be alone again if you get up. Please, Phoe, I don’t want to be alone again. He isn’t responding. There’s nothing I can do. No, maybe if I get him to Boss or a vet, he can be saved. Hold on, Phoe. You’re gonna be just fine. I start to break away from the battle when Akechi shouts.

“He’s gone, J!”

No, he’s not gone, Akechi. He’s fine. He’s Phoe. 

I won’t cry. I won’t shed a singular tear. Not over a bird who doesn’t listen to his master. I won’t cry, but I’ll kill a person over that bird. Heresy be damned. Just a minute, Phoe, I’ll make sure they pay. Leave it to me. You won’t be buried alone.

My bird provided me with some valuable information that can turn this Physical confrontation on its head. 

Hehu has Topaz-Blight. 

Phoenix managed to scrape off a scale or two after attacking them. That would explain their concealing clothes and them sending their knights away. 

But the shed? And TB leaves patches of the skin tense and scaly, not the whole of someone’s back. Whatever, I know how to kill them now. 

I need to slip my blade under the scales and gut them like a fish. Now that I know how, I just need to get their back turned. They won’t ever see me coming with this speed. 

I dart back to Akechi who has given up on pelting an arrow through them and is now timing his swings with a hoe. He misses every time, but it keeps Hehu on their toes. 

Having to dodge and parry all three of us simultaneously would be too taxing for them, so they’ll most likely create a distance that me and Akechi can’t cover in enough time to perform a coordinated triple attack. I suspend my shovel over my head to get the momentum I’ll need for this next strike; both Mika and Hehu see this coming, evading away from each other. I bring the tool down part-way and swivel it for a consecutive swing. Hehu dodges, Mika-El uses this as an opportunity to attack, as I knew he would, and I drop the shovel in his path. Mika stumbles but the speed he’s sprinting at working in tandem with the lack of friction on the muddy clay causes him to trip. Hehu charges toward Mika. 

Got you. 

I pump my heart’s blood into my feet and dash behind them, unholstering my blade. One diagonal slash into their back is all it takes. Hehu drops to their knees, unable to comprehend their defeat. It was simple enough, Your Grace; giving you an opening gave me my opening. Having Mika-El slip generally would have been a fatal mistake had there been no other speedsters in our ranks. I guess even scholars let their guards down once they think they’ve won. You were so focused on ending our vanguard that you ignored the infantry. I can’t say I blame you, though. Who would’ve thought that a grunt like me had a heart of Topaz?

Akechi’s eyes are bulging out at me while Mika-El stares in disbelief, his lower half drenched in mud. Guess the cat’s out of the bag. I’ll deal with that later, I decide, reaching down and pulling Hehu’s collar up so that they can meet my face.

“Did you think that attacking the mines would spare others your fate? Topaz can just as easily be stolen as harvested. The greed of humanity never ceases.”

“Her Majesty… will soon know of this. My people may have already reached her ears to inform her of this,” they threaten amidst heaves.

“I doubt she’ll be too upset once she realizes that you destroyed her national treasury and tried to kill the High Priest,” I disclose.

“On the contr…” they trail off, death glazing their eyes over. 

Don’t die before revealing crucial information, damn you. On the contrary? On the contrary what? So the queen doesn’t mind having her mine annihilated? Or she’s actively contributing to the demolitions? If so, why? What would she have to gain? I doubt she’d still be making public appearances if she had TB. There’s another factor at play here. 

I rise, taking light notice of my allies still quivering away from me. 

I just saved our asses, avenged my bird, and got some intel on the possible mastermind behind this mess and you two are scared of me? 

I rub my fingers across my damp brow, trying to keep my blood pressure from skyrocketing.

“Come on, let’s go, pull the truck around. We don’t have any time to bury those two,” I distract, “we need to get to the Royal Palace. I have a feeling there’ll be an army waiting for us at the entrance.”

I don’t have the strength to look at Phoe’s corpse again, but I know that if I don’t go retrieve his gem now, I’ll be in for a world of trouble when the headaches hit. I squinch as I place his Topaz into my pocket, purposely blurring my vision. 

'I also use this chance to explore the Hehu’s pockets, if they were that defensive of this shed then they should- Bingo. 

Keys. 

Seems like Hehu got some of Her Majesty’s paranoia rubbed off on them. The safest hands are one’s own. I turn back to the shed, anticipating finding something we can use against the queen.

“JJ!” Mika shouts unnecessarily loudly, “H-how?”

“Whatever you’re assuming is probably correct; my heart is Topaz, any limb of my body can be an enhancement if I will it,” I explain, growing tired of keeping up the charade I’ve put up with my entire life.

“There’ll be plenty of time to crucify me later, you two. But let’s have one mind at the moment. On your feet, Your Holiness, Your Highness. We’ll need to be at our best if we're going to kill the ruler of the Northern Queendom.”