Chapter 6
Six
brILLIANT IDEA
Clamoring, screams, and protests filled the air as the guards dragged all the captives away. Their desperate wails and yelling echoed down the halls beyond the doorway.
I gasped in horror. “What the hell are you doing?” I ran to stop them. “No! You can’t do this!”
“Take her away too.”
A couple of guards grabbed hold of my arms.
I jerked in alarm. “What? Oh my god—stop it! Let me go!”
I turned my horrified gaze up to the man standing on the dais—immobile, uncaring. My chest ached at the renewed realization that the man I once knew had been lost for good.
I bit my lip, racking my brain. I shouldn’t be swayed by things in the past. If the king were a different man, appeals to his past nature were unlikely to work any longer. I needed to change my tack. I had to do something. I couldn’t let him kill them. I had to think—quickly.
“Wait!” I cried out, even as I tried to struggle away from the guards. “I have a better idea.” But the guards kept marching down the aisle.
Nearing the doors of the massive throne room, I panted in desperation, my feet scuffing the floor as they forcibly dragged me away. “Wait, please! Your Majesty!”
His command boomed in the air. “Stop.”
It was as if the air froze all around us when everyone stopped moving in an instant.
“Leave us.”
At his barked words, the guards let me go—so abruptly that I collapsed to my knees, my chains clinking against the marble as the doors slammed shut.
I braced my hands on the floor, trying to catch my breath. I was acutely aware that my loud breathing was the only sound remaining in the imposing, massive hall.
The king’s manner was not perturbed at all. Still standing at the dais, he turned to one side. I was a mere afterthought. He likely couldn’t care less what I was going to say. He was toying with me.
“And what is this brilliant idea of yours?”
I pushed up to stand once again, wincing when the chains bit raw into my wrists. Ignoring the part of my brain that insisted this was absolutely madness, I clenched my jaw. If it gave me a chance to save those people, I had to try something.
I lifted my determined gaze to meet his once again.
“The first step in any problem-solving endeavor is finding the root of the problem,” I announced with authority, willing my knees not to tremble.
“In my view, your elimination system is quite flawed, disorganized—this killing off random groups of people. It wastes time. It will be near pointless to kill off the arms and legs when what you really need to take care of is the head.”
“Are you saying you’d like me to cut off their heads?”
“No!” I shot out. “I…I simply believe it would be significantly more efficient if you were to first discover the root of the disloyalty. If you can glean more information, figure out where these people are from, who they are working for—that would be a more prudent use of your resources.”
“You are suggesting I sit down to tea and talk to them? Questioning all these individuals will be tedious and pointless.”
“Then perhaps a compromise,” I piped up. “Why not first weed out the suspicious characters from the innocent ones? Surely that should save you at least half the time.”
His eyebrows rose in mockery. “Are you then offering to be the one to interrogate these ruffians and validate their objectives?”
“You… You are requesting my help?”
His eyes narrowed. “Probably best you don’t mistake these as requests.”
I furrowed my eyebrows. “I’m curious, Your Majesty. As the most powerful being in Wünder, can you not probe these people’s intentions using your own magic? You also wear a mystical heart. Does it not serve you at all?”
“Of course not.” He sniffed, as if annoyed at the reminder. “This borrowed heart is nowhere near as powerful. And since it seems the one you have has not degraded as I had expected, I shall make use of your magic as well. You shall reside here until I have completed my mission.”
“For how long?”
“Until I have eliminated all who I consider a threat to me. The security at the ball should have been thorough. We still have yet to uncover where these people even sourced their invitations. My sources tell me there is one particularly influential faction that is going rogue. But my armies cannot seem to gain much information about it, or these people, including where they are from, or who they are working for.”
Swallowing hard, I dropped my gaze. There was no guarantee what he would do with the magic sealed in my heart. No guarantee he would show mercy to any of the prisoners. But he was powerful enough without the boost from enchanted hearts. It would be futile for me to refuse him anything.
I had no choice. The only thing to do was to ensure I got something out of this bargain. Even if he never honored it, even if he went back on his word, at the very least, I had to try. I took a deep breath. “Then I am sure we can come to an agreement.”
His eyebrow rose, more in amusement than annoyance. “What sort of agreement?”
I made sure to meet his gaze steadily. “I will do as you say, under three conditions.”
“You wish to negotiate with a tyrant?” He cracked a smirk. “Very well. I should say I’m not an entirely unreasonable man.” He folded his arms across his chest. “State your terms.”
I took a deep breath, my mind zipping back and forth through permutations of this problem. I needed to ensure I would not seem like I was asking too much, but guarantee I got a fair exchange.
“First, in the event that I identify any more of your would-be assassins, you will endeavor not to kill these people without a fair trial.”
“Would you have them escape and attempt to murder me again?”
“No. I simply mean, you must be open to negotiation—”
“More negotiation?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head. “No. I will decide what to do with them.”
I jumped in alert. “Then at least, please, let me ensure that you punish only the ones who are indeed guilty,” I beseeched. “If you kill off your subjects whom you suspect of disloyalty, I fear you will have no subjects left, Your Majesty.”
His face twitched again. “What’s your second condition?”
“Second, in exchange for my—my help—” I faltered since he had emphasized that these were not ‘requests.’ I steeled myself and went on. “You must take me across the River of Tears to search for the Hatter.”
Among all the other creatures across Wünder, the Hatter was the only other being sufficiently enlightened who might be able to help me in completing my latest invention.
The eccentric Hatter was once a brilliant scientist, before madness took hold of him. He controlled a convergence of otherworldly energy, likely the very same magical doorways through which I had stumbled into this land to begin with.
Unfortunately, in the days succeeding the shift of power, the Hatter had mysteriously disappeared. It was unclear whether the magical doorways had disappeared too. But without a way to cross the River of Tears, it was impossible to confirm.
If only I could cross the river, I could at least search the Mad Hatter’s laboratory again. He might have the last spare part I required. I might even find traces of the magical doorways and perhaps take over its operations.
The king’s eyebrows rose. “The River of Tears has been impassable for many moons. Even I am not aware of how it came to be so.”
“But with Your Majesty’s powerful magic, surely you would be able to find a way.” I gave him my best imploring look.
I had noticed so far that, whenever I called the king ‘Your Majesty’, it evoked a particular reaction in him. I was curious if perhaps I could use it to my advantage.
“Fine.” His answer was curt, offhand, but with a hint of frustration which I wasn’t able to decipher.
I lifted my chin in satisfaction. I was right.
“I shall help you to the other side of the river.” He sighed. He seemed almost bored now. “And the third condition?”
I lifted my wrists with a clink. “Remove these chains.”
The king gave the slightest wave of his hand, and the chains around me dissolved into the ether.
“We have a bargain then.”
I gave a slight nod.
“Say the words.” His deep voice rumbled, and a chill shot up my spine.
I tried not to stammer. “A bargain.”