Chapter 62: Deals

If anyone had asked the Slime party if this was a trap, they, each one of them, would have said yes. They were seated around a richly decked table, with all the foods that they liked to eat. For, they were traditional cuisine.

King Leon looked to be no older than twenty-five, and he kept glancing at Lucius from the corner of his eye.

"How could you blunder something so simple?" The king asked, his fake courtesies a thing of the past.

"How could you call for the death of eight hundred thousand children?" Lucius spat. The number something that Thomas liked to remind him of often.

"You knew why Lester Vermont had to die. Why his city had to be reduced to nothing," Leon snapped. His crown rested on his head, but he could feel it slipping. There were no servants in the room with them. Just the vampire, the king, and the Slime party.

"Yima would have seen it done," Lucius hissed at the king. "He foiled your plans."

Leon's eyes traced Lucius's finger, and they rested on Thomas.

"Dungeon master, you have made a formidable enemy in myself," the king said. Not trying to deny his orders in the slightest.

"And you in me," Thomas snapped. He saw some eggs in the middle of the table. He reached out for one, much to the king's scowl. "You are not with the upper hand in here. Even if you played your part."

The mockingbird became visible for all to see, and the king's eyes narrowed.

"Protector of the People," the king spat out the title as if it were a grave insult. "Dungeon master!"

"Tommy will stand in your way again, if he needs to," Rina spoke, conviction in her voice.

"Yes, you won't get away with killing off Yaranhold," Teri chimed in.

"How much does what is left of the guild know of all of this?" The king suddenly changed his tune. He knew that these two had big mouths, and he didn't want them running off.

"That Yima is dead, and Thomas is the one who ordered it," Lucius said, a smirk just for the siren on his lips. "The truth, more or less."

"That is unfortunate, considering that your trial period will be overseen by those three," Leon rested his chin on his hands.

"What trial period?" Lucius hissed. Yima was dead. The cream of the guild was dead. Wasn't that enough?

"You admitted to wanting to destroy a city, Lucius. While you are guild master, you will need to be reined in," Leon spoke. "These three will make sure you don't march on another city."

"I marched on your orders," Lucius snapped. "Yours and Yima's. How come only he paid?"

"King Leon, you speak like you have won," Thomas was slowly peeling the egg's shell. It was still warm. A good breakfast after he had nearly succumbed to his sickness.

"That is because I have done just that," the king boasted.

"You will be telling a different story if I leave the mockingbird with you," Thomas told him. "We, the Slime party, want nothing to do with the Orestria guild. You will let Lucius do his own thing, or else."

The bird flew from Thomas's shoulders and over the head of the king.

"Are you threatening to strip me of my free will?" The young king looked pale at the prospect.

"I am," Thomas admitted. He finally managed to get the egg out of the shell, and he cut it up. Getting the yolk out, for he had never liked it, he proceeded to eat the white.

The king's eyes wildly looked from Lucius, who was now sipping from his glass of blood, to Thomas, who looked uncaring as he ate.

"This is treason," Leon managed to get out. "You want to replace me!"

"Are you really fit to bear the crown, if you want to get rid of Yaranhold so badly?" Thomas asked. "You will just try again, when I am not paying you attention. I have not forgotten how many children are there in that city. The screams of my friends as they choke on poison gas don't allow for me to forget."

The cold look of the siren stopped the king from talking further.

"Well, I dare say that I prefer you silent, king," Lucius spoke, a sour expression on his face. "I just wished that I was the one to steal your words."

The mockingbird landed on the shoulder of the king, and he stared at it with wide eyes.

"You are no longer king," Thomas told the man, when the bird spread her wings. "You are a puppet. Until the next one is chosen."

"What will happen to me, when that happens?" King Leon said, voice wavering.

"What would have happened to the children of Yaranhold?" The siren asked, instead of answering. "What would have really happened, if my friends had not died?"

"Murdered," Lucius corrected him. "They were murdered, by you, Tommy. Don't try to sugar coat it."

"Sorry," was all Thomas managed to say. Rina placed a hand on top of his, and gave it a light squeeze.

"They would have died," king Leon spoke, eyes now threatening to bulge out of their sockets. "I don't want to die."

"Don't plead now. It is a bit too late for that," Lucius told him. "Can't you take his will already?"

"Only if he does a misstep," Thomas said.

Teri looked between his friend and the king, and then shook his head.

"I can't just watch you destroy yourself," the tank spoke, and Thomas looked at him. "Rina, you can't tell me you can watch him do such things, either?"

"Teri..." Rina was conflicted. She knew what the tank was asking of her.

"I am leaving, this city, this country. Rina, come with me," Teri stood, and walked to the door.

"I am sorry, Tommy," were the final words the elf girl would ever tell her once party leader.

Thomas balled his fists under the table. First Owen, now Rina and Teri. He had lost it all. Lucius, the same Lucius who now looked at him with victory in his eyes, and the king, who was pleading to him with his, were the only ones who remained with him in the room.