Chapter 63: What is left

For lack of anything better to do, Thomas remained in the castle. Leon showed him every courtesy. Some even noted that their king was almost bending backwards in order to accommodate their resident dungeon master.

There were those who spoke of a curse, that were closest to the truth. Others spoke of love. A kind that happened after only one look, after only one good deed.

 Only the siren and the king knew the truth. Thomas was alone. His old home rented out to others. He held the mockingbird on the king's shoulder, and so, he demanded that the king let him live, and just that, in the castle.

Two days passed with lavish meals, where Thomas only picked at his food. Sunday was approaching, and he felt like he had nothing to show for it. Not even when he began to run around the walls.

Afternoons were spend singing and playing the harp in the gardens. Mornings-running. He had even gotten a kettlebell to swing from the castle's training hall. Something Lucius had told him to do, when things still made sense.

Jeremy found him doing his seventieth repetition in his morning set. The alchemist looked well-fed, and for that, someone had died recently. 

"You sure are chipper," Thomas noted. The man had a bounce to his step. An amused smile tugged at his lips.

"You can't believe what that loon Leon has cooked up now," Jeremy said in a sing-song voice. "The rumors he is spreading."

"Do tell," Thomas went back to swinging the kettlebell. Whatever it was, it wouldn't hurt him like the leaving of Rina and Teri.

"The fool proclaimed at court this morning that he is in love. I nearly died laughing when I heard," Jeremy let out a chuckle at his own words. "He thinks that if he romances you, he won't end up replaced."

"Not very likely, did the bird put him up to it?" Thomas placed the kettlebell down, after doing the one hundredth repetition.

"When has the mockingbird ever needed to put him up to theatrics? He came up with the declaration himself. Said something that only someone who protects his people could protect his heart. Can you believe it? Lucy nearly fell down from laughter," Thomas snorted.

As guild master, Lucius was a fixation at court. At least, during the early morning petitions. Thomas didn't need for anyone to tell him he was fat, and therefore not desirable as a lover. This was a ruse. He was not falling for it.

"What else did he say?" Thomas sat on the floor, and looked at his greatest ally.

"That he will give you your time to work on yourself. As any devoted lover would," Jeremy rolled his eyes. "Lucy told me to ask you to drop over the guild later, when you have time."

"What for?" Thomas asked.

"He just said that you had to atone and not to make him come and drag you from here," Jeremy went around the rack with the equipment, and picked a spear without a spearhead. He twirled it around expertly, and looked at Thomas. "I can tell him that he has to pass through me, if you'd like?"

"I'll go," Thomas spoke. He was still sweaty from his morning run, and he was pleasantly heated from the kettlebell swings. He felt great, but there was a hunger in the back of his mind that made him thirst for blood.

"My offer still stands," then, for lack of better words, Jeremy began to twirl the spear so elegantly, that it looked like a dance. Thomas took his harp, and began to play a tune to match each movement.

Jeremy smiled gently as he kept on dancing.

"I have missed this," the alchemist said, when he was done. "I thought that I will be a prisoner forever."

"And now you are free," Thomas noted. "Even if you can eat only human flesh."

"How are your slimes?" Jeremy asked. Not caring to be shamed for what he ate.

"Pavos and Yar miss Rina and Teri," the, I miss them too, was left unspoken.

"They are good people," Jeremy noted. "Loyal and true. Yet, because of that, they couldn't see you playing in the muck."

"Playing in the muck?" Thomas asked. He didn't feel like he was playing. More like, doing what the king and Yima had done. Taking hostages and deciding people's fates.

"Yes, it is a dark place you are heading to," Jeremy warned. "Chem won't be happy. Or, maybe, she will be."

"Chem says that I am doing fine," Thomas had spoken with the dungeon core on some occasions, and she had been the only one happy with him. "Although, she wants new dungeon grounds."

"Give her Orestria," Jeremy suggested. "The only thing she would do is to clear the mana around the city, and fill the countryside with mobs."

Thomas remembered Owen. Wondered where the man's animals were now. Were they alive, or lost in the forest? No, he was not going to do that to the ranch owners. He shook his head.

"I was thinking the Mammoth's Graveyard," Thomas said. "No one will be able to pass through it. Chem won't be disturbed."

"It won't be easy," the dark-skinned alchemist told him.

"But you will be by my side, yes?" The siren wanted assurances that he won't be left alone by everyone he knew.

"Well, we have a contract," Jeremy mused out loud. "Tommy."

Thomas winced at the pet name. The period when his true friends had called him that still too fresh in his memory.

"Do you think I will ever see them again?" Thomas asked. "Rina and Teri, I mean?"

"Who knows? Maybe you will hear of them, someday. They have soul weapons, after all. Now, don't be late, or Lucy will march in here," Jeremy then left the training hall.

"You shouldn't call him that," Thomas murmured. "He deserves more respect than that."

He stood, and went to his room. After a quick shower, he dressed and got out of the castle. He let the familiar streets lead him to the guild hall.

The place was the same as always, but the people were not. They gave him hard looks, blaming ones. Thomas bore it and went inside. No one tried to stop him from making his way to the guild master's office.