146. [SEGUE] Not Quite a Heist Movie

All things considered, Zacarias Borges-Juventus had enjoyed his stay in Pretjord, warts and all.

Sure, said stay had been marred by false starts, close calls, rough patches, and enough soapy drama to fill a whole season of the Dead and the Faithless. But in between all the bullshit, there'd also been good food, good company, good adventures, and plenty of eye candy for a hot-blooded young-ish man to admire (and nothing more, of course; 'faithless' though Zacarias might be, he'd never stoop to being 'unfaithful').

Perhaps the most notable of such eye candies was one Hilde Vindsdatter, the Kronvakt's second-in-command and high priestess of the Cult of Prince Sicko. Presently, Zacarias watched the manta-ray woman from the safety of a secluded treetop—not to admire her chiseled figure, but to scout out a potential obstacle.

In the absence of a binocular (another Manesferan invention that had yet to make its way to the lower Realms), Zacarias had 'borrowed' one of Eddur Lokksen's SCRYGLASSes. He could do without the severed blood vessels and nerve endings getting in the way of a clean view, but it did the job as far as square pegs went.

It was also a rather cruel contrivance he'd never get to try if Serac were around, she being oddly squeamish for a soul who'd endured a life of torture and mutilation. Zacarias had no such qualms, of course, knowing his barreleye colleague could easily grow his eye back upon reconstitution.

In any case, the SCRYGLASS proved to be a savvy rental, allowing Zacarias an extensive view of the Bulb and its branching points from his stationary position. From there, he made note of all the goings-on in and out of the palace—as conducted by Hilde in Rathor's conspicuous absence.

In a word, what Zacarias had observed so far was mass confusion. Whether or not Team Serac's earlier activities had much to do with it, the whole palace was in a mad scramble to put out one fire or another—both figurative and literal. Hilde was in the middle of it all, as she directed her troops (both of the Anchored and Wayfaring varieties) this way and that, and it was from her commands and conversations that Zacarias gleaned most of his 'intel'.

The messy sequence of events appeared to be thus. A series of violent skirmishes had broken out in the lower segments, prompting Rathor to finally get off his vermilion ass and perform his princely duty. This was later followed by the deployment of several Kronvakt strike teams on salamander-back, leaving a skeleton crew in Krongard to hold down the fort. At around the same time, word got around of the outrealmers' 'betrayal', which meant anyone with a weapon or an Instrument had been conscripted to guard and patrol the palace.

All of the above had been more or less predictable—in line with the contingencies Team Serac had prepared for. To that end, Zacarias had stashed Inge (who, in the ten days since the Realmhunt, had sadly 'reverted' to her senile, incoherent self) inside Ashvanaga and left them to camp in the Neck, just outside the boundaries of the 'dungeon' where a Steed would be forced to assume its portable form. The instructions for Ash were to evade discovery and capture for as long as possible—at least until Zacarias could return to it with two princesses in tow.

He'd also asked Petter Svensen to stay behind and look after Inge and her tortoise. The mackerel man had agreed after some resistance, but Zacarias had a hunch this was one arrangement that wouldn't last through the night. Which, in all honesty, was well and good… because part and parcel of being a Wayfarer was for one's reach to occasionally exceed one's grasp.

With all that said, there had been one bizarre development no one could've prepared for—namely that the Realmtree was on fire.

Yes. The fire had started in the lower segments and crept upward as the day wore on. Now, with the pale-jade moon bearing witness, the craziness had reached the Crown. Black-green flecks rose with the hot air and sparked multiple fires all over the palace, thus stretching the Kronvakt and Kronheer forces even thinner.

Zacarias had no clue as to the why, but the who couldn't be more obvious. Whatever Prince Sicko was up to, it'd surely be more bullshit for Team Serac to deal with. But all that could wait. For now, Prince Sicko's burning bullshit provided the perfect distraction to take some heat off a NINEFOLD interloper.

Case in point, Zacarias SCRY'd an animated exchange between an irritated Hilde Vindsdatter and a soot-covered Skjal Sorensen. The manta-ray woman eventually relented and vacated her post, perhaps to lend her gorgeous pectoral fins to the firefighting efforts.

This is my cue. The opportunity had presented itself a little sooner than Zacarias had expected, but there was no sense in passing it up. Wasting no time, he jumped down from his tree and snuck his way across the Bulb.

At this point, he could force his way into and through the Apical Bough—towards that 'secret ladder' Petter had briefed him about. But such a direct approach would pit him against at least several members of the Kronvakt, as well as necessitate the unsanctioned killing of Kronheer soldiers.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

It wasn't that Zacarias valued the lives of Anchored souls who would stand in his way, but he did care (at least a little bit) about Serac's opinion of him. Besides which, he wished to keep his Karmic balance in the black as much as possible.

No, what this operation calls for is a scalpel, not a hammer. Back to some more heist movie shit. Although I doubt any production in Manesfera could pony up the VFX budget for what I'm about to do…

To that end, Zacarias made for the Eastern Bough—or, more specifically, the Pasture. The naturally preserved habitats here had been hit especially hard by the fire. Even now, gaggles of exhausted soldiers ran about the place with buckets in hand, giving a NINEFOLD interloper more or less free passage through the Royal Hunting Grounds.

Here again, the outrealmers' week of harvesting 'ammos' for [Metabolic Shift] paid dividends. Zacarias knew the Pasture and its layout like the back of his hand, enough to draw a mental map of his 'farming route'. The question wasn't if he could hit all his stops, but just how fast he could do it.

A quick sprint through the caves to wake the Rumpetrolls and Slangespytts. A hike through the thickets to rustle up the Ulvknalls and co. A dip into the rivers (careful to avoid the soldiers filling their buckets!) to bait out the Nokkens.

Finally, the pièce de résistance. A flash of [Sinner Aspect] at the shores of the simulated Netherpool. It was the same square peg from the Realmhunt, shoved into an even rounder hole. No points for style, but the result was all that mattered.

Mennesketers and Jotuneters both jumped out in droves to join Zacarias's growing brood. The sudden spike in threat generation also had the effect of riling the rest of the Untamped Calmspawns into a state of 'wild' rage. And they converged as one 'army' upon the angry Pranja who stood at the epicenter.

Fire and ash. Chaos upon chaos. The Kronheer, already pushed to their limits by the unfamiliar task of firefighting, utterly crumbled as a horde of Aberrants descended upon them. Forget apprehending the Manusya criminal; it was all the soldiers could do to dive for cover and pray the monsters would leave them alone.

Zacarias—the king of rolling with the punches—knew exactly what to do. He led the stampede from its chaotic core, weaving through the crowd to ensure that they all remained sufficiently aggro'd.

That was the easy part, however. The hard part was to protect his 1 point of HP, all the way from the Pasture back to the Bulb, then onto the heavily guarded gates of the Apical Bough.

He managed it by using the Calmpsawns themselves. At times hiding inside Wolf Boy's pocket sand, at times shielding himself behind a swarm of Slangespytts, and at other times even getting Jotuneters and Nokkens tangled up in each others' business.

And as Zacarias herded his Aberrant army towards the childhood home of his friend-in-distress, he was reminded of his own childhood, and of the long nights he'd stayed up glued to a TV screen waiting for Mama. But the scene failed to evoke any of his favorite heist movies like Lake's Eleven or the Espinosa Job. No, he was man enough to admit that his scalpel was much more like a hammer than he would've liked.

What did I expect? I'm not a surgeon, and I'm certainly not a master con man. Trust in square pegs. Square pegs will see me through.

With that final affirmation, Zacarias sprinted towards the gates, sending his entire army into Krongard's last line of defense. Said defense included fellow Wayfarers of the Kronvakt, who quickly got over their initial shock to then start smiting the rampaging Calmspawns. Thus, the Aberrant army's collective 'aggro' shifted from one angry Pranja and onto a squad of dutiful Yakshas. Hammer, meet nail.

But just because Zacarias had swung a hammer, it didn't preclude him from being the scalpel himself. As the Yakshas met an oncoming army—and as the leaders among them shouted for reinforcements—the lone Manusya slipped away from the main point of attack. He too would have to find his way into the royal chambers, but he had a more roundabout route in mind.

Shit, almost forgot! Just as he was about to leave, he traded his angry Pranja for a laughing Buddha. He then doubled back and grabbed a Rumpetroll by the tail. The slimy tadpole tried to wriggle free, predictably enough, but Zacarias held fast, invoking [Palm of Empowerment] for some added grip strength.

This was followed by a mad dash along the outside of the Apical Bough—the short way around, as had been outlined by Petter. The amber wall to Queen No-Chill's balcony soon came into view, which meant it was time for the most heist-movie-esque part of Zacarias's solo run.

[Dreamer Aspect: THE SEVENTH DAO—GEARS OF ENGAGEMENT]

Zacarias reached the wall—a sheer, vertical plane about a hundred feet high—and kept going. The Dreamer-upgraded version of [Staff] turned his legs into fast-churning motors, normally reserved for the most frenetic of dodge-tanking duties. In this case, the [Gears] also helped him to defy gravity, at least for a few seconds.

A few seconds were all he needed. As he neared the top, he finally put the Rumpetroll to use, flinging it onto the balcony along with a friendly warning for anyone within the blast radius.

"Fire in the hole!"

The Tadpole Grenade exploded, eliciting frightened yelps from the Kronheer guards above. Zacarias scanned Pathsight for potential Karma deductions, and seeing none, he vaulted over the balustrades with a clean conscience. At least Serac would be happy to know that her partner-in-crime had kept his hands clean and murder-free.

But before she could be happy, she first needed to be rescued from impending starvation. With that in mind, Zacarias the scalpel had made his first incision. For the explosion had done more than scare away the guards.

Trust in square pegs. Square pegs will see me through. The smoke cleared, revealing the entrance to Loha's secret cave.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.