Raylan the not-quite-a-snake-man arrived in the hall outside the ritual room before the zarovians, but likely because Emily sprinted by him on the way to the zarovian barracks. Emily’s energy seemed boundless, so if it wasn’t cocaine, it was definitely something she was eating for breakfast.
Lydia, Emily, and two big burly zarovians in leather clothing arrived together, and as all four came to attention before the door, Drake beckoned Lydia over.
“Any reason we can’t free these zarovians right now? And Raylan?”
She visibly considered. “That should cause no problems. I spent last night evaluating many scenarios, and I now believe this transition will not be so difficult as I feared. If we pull in the remaining leadership today, and you answer a few questions related to matters I’ve been unable to finalize, I believe we can free everyone in the manor tonight.”
He grinned with hope. “That fast?”
“My primary worry was that allowing everyone the freedom to defy all prior decrees would compromise our security and endanger the manor. However, having now considered the reactions of all so far, I think it will only make them more loyal.”
“That’s not why I’m doing it,” he reminded her.
“I know.” She smiled. “But everyone will be free to make their own choice. There are some logistical issues I still want to discuss, but nothing that should cause delay.”
“Terrific.” He nodded and then looked at his people. “All right. Thanks for coming, folks. Before we get started, I have a decree.”
Raylan looked visibly shocked as Drake laid everything out, but neither zarovian visibly reacted to the new rules. They looked more bored than anything. Each zarovian was half the size of Cresh, but still taller than he was and as muscular as pro-wrestlers.
Also, they had differing skin colors. Cresh had been a fierce, almost crimson red with black stripes. The first of these new zarovians was mostly orange with yellow stripes. The other was a pale yellow with white spots. They wore leather tunics and breeches with holes for their tails to stick out, but no boots. The toes on their huge four-toed feet bore sharp talons.
“So... names?” Drake asked.
The mostly orange zarovian pointed one taloned finger at his chest. “Korrag.” He wiggled his taloned thumb at his pale yellow buddy. “Xutag.”
“Xutag doesn’t speak?”
“Cannot,” Korrag agreed with a slithery nod. “No tongue.”
On cue, Xutag—the pale yellow zarovian—opened his long snout to reveal rows of sharpened teeth that looked like they could cut through Drake’s arm. All that remained of Xutag’s tongue was a pink stump. Drake felt a sneaking suspicion he knew why it was missing.
“Was Xutag punished by a prior lord of Gloomwood?”
Korrag nodded. “Too many jokes. Xutag very funny.”
The pale yellow zarovian produced a stuttering hiss that sounded like a gas burner failing to light, then wiggled his raised claws. Drake would swear he was doing jazz hands with his taloned fingers, but that couldn’t be possible, could it? He was hallucinating.
Lydia lightly cleared her throat. Right. On with today’s business.
“There are two bodies in the ritual room. I give you permission to enter. The body in the bloody robes is your prior lord, Dickcheese. Do we have a refuse pile somewhere?”
Korrag nodded. “Out back in old wood. For rancid meat and poo.”
“Perfect. Haul Dickcheese out of there and toss him on the pile. You don’t even need to cover him up, so long as you get him out of my manor.”
Xutag looped two fingers and dipped a single finger on his other hand through, then swirled like he was swirling tea. It was odd enough Drake had to ask.
“What’s he doing?”
“Is poo pot, lord,” Korrag said. “Wash the old lord down. Very funny.”
Xutag really was a comedian. Great. Just what he needed right now. “The second body is that of Samuel. Emily has verified he’s still alive. Bring him up here very carefully and place him on the sheet.” He glanced at Emily. “You got the sheet, right?”
Emily gasped, then looked frantically at Lydia. “One moment!” She took off so fast he could swear he saw her slippers kick up dust as she left.
Korrag and Xutag were already bustling into the ritual room, single file with Korrag in the lead. They were big enough that they had to duck to get through the single door, but Drake knew they could handle the stairs. They would also have no trouble handling the weight.
Emily made it back—with a clean sheet she had likely snatched out of some bedroom somewhere—just before Xutag emerged with the prior Lord Gloomwood tossed over his big shoulder like an old, bloody carpet. Lydia, Emily, and Rayla all watched it with hard eyes.
No love lost there. No surprise either. Xutag offered Drake a friendly wave with his free arm as he trundled by with Dickcheese’s lolling head bouncing against the back of his shoulder. Drake returned a respectful nod. Too bad lizardmen couldn’t regenerate their tongues.
Once Xutag had trundled off with the trash, Emily and Lydia fluffed out the sheet and laid it down on the carpet. Naturally, between them, both maids managed to get it perfectly flat. Drake would never have managed that. They weren’t slacking on domestic duties, either.
Korrag ducked through the door with a rancid-looking, bloody corpse cradled carefully in his arms. He looked more somber than he had when he went in. Perhaps seeing what Dickcheese had done to poor Samuel had darkened his cheery mood.
Korrag knelt at the edge of the sheet and gently settled Samuel’s corpse in the middle of it. Blood and other fluids stained the sheet dark red immediately, as a corpse covered in blood and loose flesh would do, which was why Drake had asked for the sheet. He doubted they had steam cleaners in this world.
Korrag stood and looked to Drake for orders.
“Thank you, Korrag,” Drake said calmly. “You may stay and observe or head back to your barracks. Remember, that’s your choice now.”
“Odd to have choice.” Korrag bared his sharpened teeth. “Will stay.” He sidled sideways to take up position near the hallway wall.
“Gods’ mercy,” Raylan whispered. He knelt beside the sheet, staring at the skeleton that used to be the butler, and then looked up at Drake. “This is Samuel?”
“I think so,” Drake said. “How many here knew his rarity was physical regeneration?”
Lydia and Emily exchanged glances, then looked to Raylan. All three of them then looked to Drake, but only Lydia spoke. “None of us, lord. How did you find this out?”
“Zuri told me.”
Lydia’s expression darkened a moment before she nodded. “Then it is possible we may see him again.” As her gaze turned to the savaged corpse on the sheet, her expression softened. “You’ve given us another gift, lord.”
“Wasn’t me,” Drake reminded her firmly. “If you want to thank anyone, thank Zuri.”
“Of course,” Lydia said evenly.
“Raylan, can you heal him?”
“Lord...” He surveyed the wreckage of Samuel’s body. “I’m not certain I should.”
“And why not?” He imagined Raylan had a good reason, and not just because he had some beef with the old butler.
As Raylan looked up from the body, he scarcely trembled. “May I speak freely?”
“That’s how this all works now,” Drake assured him. “Everyone can speak freely. No one has to worry about getting their heads chopped off. You only serve me if you want to.”
“That... is good to hear.” Raylan cleared her throat. “Then a question first, lord. Has anyone ever spoken with you about rarity cancellation?”
“Of course,” Lydia said softly. “That could be an issue here, couldn’t it?”
They both obviously knew something he didn’t. “No. Could you explain it, please?”
Raylan seemed surprised he asked so nicely. “Well... yes, lord. Though you no doubt know that rarities rarely repeat, there are some cases where similar rarities have been seen in different people at the same time. When those rarities overlap, they sometimes fail."
“Fail how? They just stopped working?”
“Or a single use of a rarity fails, or unexpected and undesirable results occurred. The few documented instances of rarity cancellation never caused any permanent damage to those involved, but in some cases, both lost the ability to call upon their rarities for hours or days.”
Raylan’s rarity was called empathetic regeneration. Drake saw where he was going with this. “So he regenerates. You give people regenerative powers. And if you try to regenerate him while he’s regenerating, your rarities are similar enough that you might kill him altogether?”
“That is my fear, lord. If I were to use my rarity on him, cancellation could occur. His body could stop regenerating. Therefore, I recommend we don’t take that risk.”
“You’re the doctor, or... the healer. If you think it’s too risky, I trust you to know your business. So if you can verify he’s still regenerating, I say we let him do his thing.”
He did need answers. Samuel, as Dickcheese’s butler, could know more about the old man’s business than even Lydia. Yet as desperate as Drake was for those answers, Samuel was hanging on by a thread. He wouldn’t learn anything if he accidentally killed his butler.
As Raylan looked at Samuel again, his oddly forked tongue slid across his lips. Drake wondered if he had been like that since birth and decided it would be rude to ask. He wondered if, when a lizard kid popped out, Raylan’s dad had asked mom some awkward questions.
“Earlier today, we verified Emily can see Samuel’s soul, but barely. What about you, Raylan? Do you see any life in there?”
“My rarity does not work like that, lord.” Gloomwood’s shaman watched Samuel’s unmoving corpse intently. “But... there is a feeling.”
“Like he’s still alive?”
“I feel a faint warmth. Would you be willing to do me a favor?”
“Of course. What do you need?”
Again Raylan smiled up at Drake with obvious gratitude. “Could all of you back up? I need everyone to back up at least twenty paces.”
Drake motioned with his head to Lydia and Emily, then looked to Korrag. The big lizardman was already treading lightly past the sheet. As a group they moved back what Drake hoped was a sufficient amount, leaving just Raylan and Samuel alone in the hall.
Raylan spoke so softly Drake barely heard him. “A warmth remains inside him.”
So Raylan must be able to sense warmth when in the presence of other living beings. Like how Emily saw souls, but far less useful for spotting assassins. Still, Drake imagined feeling life could be useful, and Raylan had saved Nicole’s life despite her seemingly grievous injuries.
Raylan looked up. “You may approach now, lord.”
Drake walked forward as two pairs of maid slippers and one big pair of feet thumped on the carpet behind him. “So, it looks like we need to find somewhere to park him and let him grow back on his own. Do you have somewhere you can watch over him?”
Raylan stood. “I do. I have a resting and meditation chamber that should ensure ideal conditions for an ailing human to recover.”
As Drake looked to Korrag, he was glad the zarovian decided to say. “Could you pick up Samuel again? And the sheet. Follow Raylan and settle Samuel where he needs to be.”
Korrag nodded his long lizard snout, then looked to Raylan for permission. The man took a single step back and motioned for Korrag to proceed.
With grace that Drake wouldn’t expect in such a big, brutish figure, Korrag slipped his arms beneath the sheet. He picked up Samuel while barely jostling the bloody mess. Then, with the skeletal butler and sheet cradled against his chest, Korrag looked to Raylan.
Raylan set off at once down the hall with Korrag trotting contentedly behind him. As he passed Drake, Lydia, and Emily, Raylan offered a faint smile. “Thank you, lord.”
“Thank you,” he reminded his shaman. “Let me know the moment anything changes.”
“I will, lord.” Raylan inclined his furrowed head and walked off with Korrag and his precious cargo trundling along behind. The lizardman’s tail swished evenly left and right.
“We should tell Olivia,” Emily said softly. “Both of us. She’s going to collapse.”
Olivia was the young blond battle maid who’d nearly fainted when she brought him his clothes. With Emily close on one side and Lydia close on the other, Drake was forced to look between them for clarification. “Did she know Samuel?”
“She is his daughter, lord,” Lydia said softly. “And she believes him dead.”
No wonder the poor woman had looked so freaked. “You better let her know.”
“I think it would be best if you did that,” Lydia said. “We will free her at the same time.”
Drake nodded. “It’s about time to do that anyway.”
Raylan the not-quite-a-snake-man arrived in the hall outside the ritual room before the zarovians, but likely because Emily sprinted by him on the way to the zarovian barracks. Emily’s energy seemed boundless, so if it wasn’t cocaine, it was definitely something she was eating for breakfast.
Lydia, Emily, and two big burly zarovians in leather clothing arrived together, and as all four came to attention before the door, Drake beckoned Lydia over.
“Any reason we can’t free these zarovians right now? And Raylan?”
She visibly considered. “That should cause no problems. I spent last night evaluating many scenarios, and I now believe this transition will not be so difficult as I feared. If we pull in the remaining leadership today, and you answer a few questions related to matters I’ve been unable to finalize, I believe we can free everyone in the manor tonight.”
He grinned with hope. “That fast?”
“My primary worry was that allowing everyone the freedom to defy all prior decrees would compromise our security and endanger the manor. However, having now considered the reactions of all so far, I think it will only make them more loyal.”
“That’s not why I’m doing it,” he reminded her.
“I know.” She smiled. “But everyone will be free to make their own choice. There are some logistical issues I still want to discuss, but nothing that should cause delay.”
“Terrific.” He nodded and then looked at his people. “All right. Thanks for coming, folks. Before we get started, I have a decree.”
Raylan looked visibly shocked as Drake laid everything out, but neither zarovian visibly reacted to the new rules. They looked more bored than anything. Each zarovian was half the size of Cresh, but still taller than he was and as muscular as pro-wrestlers.
Also, they had differing skin colors. Cresh had been a fierce, almost crimson red with black stripes. The first of these new zarovians was mostly orange with yellow stripes. The other was a pale yellow with white spots. They wore leather tunics and breeches with holes for their tails to stick out, but no boots. The toes on their huge four-toed feet bore sharp talons.
“So... names?” Drake asked.
The mostly orange zarovian pointed one taloned finger at his chest. “Korrag.” He wiggled his taloned thumb at his pale yellow buddy. “Xutag.”
“Xutag doesn’t speak?”
“Cannot,” Korrag agreed with a slithery nod. “No tongue.”
On cue, Xutag—the pale yellow zarovian—opened his long snout to reveal rows of sharpened teeth that looked like they could cut through Drake’s arm. All that remained of Xutag’s tongue was a pink stump. Drake felt a sneaking suspicion he knew why it was missing.
“Was Xutag punished by a prior lord of Gloomwood?”
Korrag nodded. “Too many jokes. Xutag very funny.”
The pale yellow zarovian produced a stuttering hiss that sounded like a gas burner failing to light, then wiggled his raised claws. Drake would swear he was doing jazz hands with his taloned fingers, but that couldn’t be possible, could it? He was hallucinating.
Lydia lightly cleared her throat. Right. On with today’s business.
“There are two bodies in the ritual room. I give you permission to enter. The body in the bloody robes is your prior lord, Dickcheese. Do we have a refuse pile somewhere?”
Korrag nodded. “Out back in old wood. For rancid meat and poo.”
“Perfect. Haul Dickcheese out of there and toss him on the pile. You don’t even need to cover him up, so long as you get him out of my manor.”
Xutag looped two fingers and dipped a single finger on his other hand through, then swirled like he was swirling tea. It was odd enough Drake had to ask.
“What’s he doing?”
“Is poo pot, lord,” Korrag said. “Wash the old lord down. Very funny.”
Xutag really was a comedian. Great. Just what he needed right now. “The second body is that of Samuel. Emily has verified he’s still alive. Bring him up here very carefully and place him on the sheet.” He glanced at Emily. “You got the sheet, right?”
Emily gasped, then looked frantically at Lydia. “One moment!” She took off so fast he could swear he saw her slippers kick up dust as she left.
Korrag and Xutag were already bustling into the ritual room, single file with Korrag in the lead. They were big enough that they had to duck to get through the single door, but Drake knew they could handle the stairs. They would also have no trouble handling the weight.
Emily made it back—with a clean sheet she had likely snatched out of some bedroom somewhere—just before Xutag emerged with the prior Lord Gloomwood tossed over his big shoulder like an old, bloody carpet. Lydia, Emily, and Rayla all watched it with hard eyes.
No love lost there. No surprise either. Xutag offered Drake a friendly wave with his free arm as he trundled by with Dickcheese’s lolling head bouncing against the back of his shoulder. Drake returned a respectful nod. Too bad lizardmen couldn’t regenerate their tongues.
Once Xutag had trundled off with the trash, Emily and Lydia fluffed out the sheet and laid it down on the carpet. Naturally, between them, both maids managed to get it perfectly flat. Drake would never have managed that. They weren’t slacking on domestic duties, either.
Korrag ducked through the door with a rancid-looking, bloody corpse cradled carefully in his arms. He looked more somber than he had when he went in. Perhaps seeing what Dickcheese had done to poor Samuel had darkened his cheery mood.
Korrag knelt at the edge of the sheet and gently settled Samuel’s corpse in the middle of it. Blood and other fluids stained the sheet dark red immediately, as a corpse covered in blood and loose flesh would do, which was why Drake had asked for the sheet. He doubted they had steam cleaners in this world.
Korrag stood and looked to Drake for orders.
“Thank you, Korrag,” Drake said calmly. “You may stay and observe or head back to your barracks. Remember, that’s your choice now.”
“Odd to have choice.” Korrag bared his sharpened teeth. “Will stay.” He sidled sideways to take up position near the hallway wall.
“Gods’ mercy,” Raylan whispered. He knelt beside the sheet, staring at the skeleton that used to be the butler, and then looked up at Drake. “This is Samuel?”
“I think so,” Drake said. “How many here knew his rarity was physical regeneration?”
Lydia and Emily exchanged glances, then looked to Raylan. All three of them then looked to Drake, but only Lydia spoke. “None of us, lord. How did you find this out?”
“Zuri told me.”
Lydia’s expression darkened a moment before she nodded. “Then it is possible we may see him again.” As her gaze turned to the savaged corpse on the sheet, her expression softened. “You’ve given us another gift, lord.”
“Wasn’t me,” Drake reminded her firmly. “If you want to thank anyone, thank Zuri.”
“Of course,” Lydia said evenly.
“Raylan, can you heal him?”
“Lord...” He surveyed the wreckage of Samuel’s body. “I’m not certain I should.”
“And why not?” He imagined Raylan had a good reason, and not just because he had some beef with the old butler.
As Raylan looked up from the body, he scarcely trembled. “May I speak freely?”
“That’s how this all works now,” Drake assured him. “Everyone can speak freely. No one has to worry about getting their heads chopped off. You only serve me if you want to.”
“That... is good to hear.” Raylan cleared her throat. “Then a question first, lord. Has anyone ever spoken with you about rarity cancellation?”
“Of course,” Lydia said softly. “That could be an issue here, couldn’t it?”
They both obviously knew something he didn’t. “No. Could you explain it, please?”
Raylan seemed surprised he asked so nicely. “Well... yes, lord. Though you no doubt know that rarities rarely repeat, there are some cases where similar rarities have been seen in different people at the same time. When those rarities overlap, they sometimes fail."
“Fail how? They just stopped working?”
“Or a single use of a rarity fails, or unexpected and undesirable results occurred. The few documented instances of rarity cancellation never caused any permanent damage to those involved, but in some cases, both lost the ability to call upon their rarities for hours or days.”
Raylan’s rarity was called empathetic regeneration. Drake saw where he was going with this. “So he regenerates. You give people regenerative powers. And if you try to regenerate him while he’s regenerating, your rarities are similar enough that you might kill him altogether?”
“That is my fear, lord. If I were to use my rarity on him, cancellation could occur. His body could stop regenerating. Therefore, I recommend we don’t take that risk.”
“You’re the doctor, or... the healer. If you think it’s too risky, I trust you to know your business. So if you can verify he’s still regenerating, I say we let him do his thing.”
He did need answers. Samuel, as Dickcheese’s butler, could know more about the old man’s business than even Lydia. Yet as desperate as Drake was for those answers, Samuel was hanging on by a thread. He wouldn’t learn anything if he accidentally killed his butler.
As Raylan looked at Samuel again, his oddly forked tongue slid across his lips. Drake wondered if he had been like that since birth and decided it would be rude to ask. He wondered if, when a lizard kid popped out, Raylan’s dad had asked mom some awkward questions.
“Earlier today, we verified Emily can see Samuel’s soul, but barely. What about you, Raylan? Do you see any life in there?”
“My rarity does not work like that, lord.” Gloomwood’s shaman watched Samuel’s unmoving corpse intently. “But... there is a feeling.”
“Like he’s still alive?”
“I feel a faint warmth. Would you be willing to do me a favor?”
“Of course. What do you need?”
Again Raylan smiled up at Drake with obvious gratitude. “Could all of you back up? I need everyone to back up at least twenty paces.”
Drake motioned with his head to Lydia and Emily, then looked to Korrag. The big lizardman was already treading lightly past the sheet. As a group they moved back what Drake hoped was a sufficient amount, leaving just Raylan and Samuel alone in the hall.
Raylan spoke so softly Drake barely heard him. “A warmth remains inside him.”
So Raylan must be able to sense warmth when in the presence of other living beings. Like how Emily saw souls, but far less useful for spotting assassins. Still, Drake imagined feeling life could be useful, and Raylan had saved Nicole’s life despite her seemingly grievous injuries.
Raylan looked up. “You may approach now, lord.”
Drake walked forward as two pairs of maid slippers and one big pair of feet thumped on the carpet behind him. “So, it looks like we need to find somewhere to park him and let him grow back on his own. Do you have somewhere you can watch over him?”
Raylan stood. “I do. I have a resting and meditation chamber that should ensure ideal conditions for an ailing human to recover.”
As Drake looked to Korrag, he was glad the zarovian decided to say. “Could you pick up Samuel again? And the sheet. Follow Raylan and settle Samuel where he needs to be.”
Korrag nodded his long lizard snout, then looked to Raylan for permission. The man took a single step back and motioned for Korrag to proceed.
With grace that Drake wouldn’t expect in such a big, brutish figure, Korrag slipped his arms beneath the sheet. He picked up Samuel while barely jostling the bloody mess. Then, with the skeletal butler and sheet cradled against his chest, Korrag looked to Raylan.
Raylan set off at once down the hall with Korrag trotting contentedly behind him. As he passed Drake, Lydia, and Emily, Raylan offered a faint smile. “Thank you, lord.”
“Thank you,” he reminded his shaman. “Let me know the moment anything changes.”
“I will, lord.” Raylan inclined his furrowed head and walked off with Korrag and his precious cargo trundling along behind. The lizardman’s tail swished evenly left and right.
“We should tell Olivia,” Emily said softly. “Both of us. She’s going to collapse.”
Olivia was the young blond battle maid who’d nearly fainted when she brought him his clothes. With Emily close on one side and Lydia close on the other, Drake was forced to look between them for clarification. “Did she know Samuel?”
“She is his daughter, lord,” Lydia said softly. “And she believes him dead.”
No wonder the poor woman had looked so freaked. “You better let her know.”
“I think it would be best if you did that,” Lydia said. “We will free her at the same time.”
Drake nodded. “It’s about time to do that anyway.”
