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Silver: Chapter 199
🕑 Added 2022-12-20 02:15:38 +0000 UTCBook Three Chapter Sixty Three: CC_Maze_Puzzle
The problem, of course, with the loss of belief that she was on the side of Good, and the logical conclusion that this meant anyone who opposed her was Evil, was that it made it a lot harder for Qube to contemplate fighting the Royal guard.
The more she thought about it, in fact, the more worried she became that if she accidentally hurt the guard, it might ruin his life.
What if he didn’t know that the Evil Emperor was Evil? He may have been trained after the rise of the Evil Emperor, and taught in school that the current political leader was Good! Or, similar to how she could affect other people’s minds, maybe all the Royal guards were under some kind of compulsion, or spell!
The thought was like a thunderbolt. It struck hard, and illuminated what had once been obscured.
Of course! Why else would the Royal guards abandon their morals like that? The very core principles that governed their entire organisation? The Evil Emperor must have used an Evil spell to corrupt their minds so that Good things became Evil, and vice versa. That would also explain why this maze guard had been attacking innocent civilians in an open maze! It was perfectly fine for people to be wandering about, and very not fine to attack people minding their own business, so of course he’d gotten things switched around!
In which case she practically had an obligation to [Heal] them, or get Sencha Bard to cast [The Bard’s Ballad] on any Royal guard they came across, and free them from their enslavement!
The very moment she’d decided it was perfectly acceptable to counter-mind magic him, the Royal guard came whistling around the corner. With her new enlightenment, even this made perfect sense. When one was secretly patrolling an area, it was a good idea to keep quiet, so as not to alert any interlopers, and give them time to hide. Therefore, this loud, continuous whistling could only be the result of a swap spell.
“Can you see me?” she asked as soon as he came into view, just in case. He didn’t react to her speaking, which at first made her feel relieved, but then he did something very confusing. A few steps in front of her he stopped, and tilted his head.
“Something strange going on here,” he said, to no one in particular. It was similar to how Mr. Clockwork had reacted to her, back when she’d run into him in Cobbletown.
Shoving that particular memory deep down into the recesses of her mind, Qube held up her hands.
“I know you can sense me,” she said, “and maybe, some part of you knows I’m here, and can hear me. Please, you’re under a spell. The Evil Emperor isn’t who you think he is. He’s Evil. You need to bring back the King and Queen. I’m here with —”
The Royal guard took a few steps to the left, until he was pressed against the hedge itself, and tried to walk past her. She mirrored him, blocking his way.
“— the Chosen One. He’s going to save the kingdom. Please, if any part of you can understand me —”
“Something strange going on here,” the Royal guard repeated, taking a few steps to the right, back into the middle of the path.
“— please give me a sign that you accept me freeing you from your terrible compulsion,” Qube finished, trying not to get frustrated as he took two more steps to the right and tried to bypass her again. It wasn’t his fault he was under a spell, and her under a curse. They were both victims of fate. Or, more specifically, victims of the Evil Emperor.
That didn’t stop it from being irritating when he took a few steps back into the middle and started trying to get past her again, however. It was like they were locked in some kind of socially awkward shuffle, each of them trying to step out of the other’s way, neither of them able to progress until the other gave way.
An idea sparked at this thought, only to be chased away by a sudden twig snapping from the direction she’d come from. She swung around, trying to locate the source.
“Hey! What are you doing?” she heard a voice whisper from just beyond the bend. “Are you okay? He stopped whistling; are you pushing him?”
“Chosen One!” she nearly hissed and she just managed to stop herself from jumping in surprise at his closeness. “What are you doing? I’ve got this! Don’t let yourself get caught by him!”
“So you got this?” her annoyingly helpful friend insisted.
“What’s that I heard?” the Royal guard said, instantly confirming her worst fear.
“Nothing!” she said, even knowing he couldn’t hear her, and shoved him with all her strength.
To her surprise the Royal guard staggered backwards.
“We’re under attack!” he shouted.
No! Backup must be close by! Of course it was, they never would have let a guard patrol alone unless there was help in the immediate area.
“Chosen One, go back out to the gate!”
“We won’t leave you, peaceful Healer!” Sencha Bard declared bravely from behind the hedge.
“Are you all there?” Qube yelled.
“Of course, love, you didn’t think we’d leave you all alone in a scary place like this, did you?” Even with the threat of the Royal guard bearing down on them, Sexy Screamy Spider Briar managed to sound sensually amused.
“I thought you might trust me to take care of the job I was given!” Qube snapped, shoving the guard in front of her. Guilt assailed her as he staggered back again.
“I’m sorry, it’s not you I’m angry at,” she said, then gulped as he drew his sword.
“To me!” he cried, and two more Royal guards came running from deeper within the maze. “There’s someone attacking us!”
But, for all his shouting, and brandishing of blade, he still made no move to shove past Qube. It was as if, even though he was being “attacked,” he had verbally threatened a civilian he’d then cast a spell on, and she was invisible, his social graces wouldn’t allow him to shove someone out of the way.
Even the Evil Emperor’s curse wasn’t strong enough to overcome the basic politeness of the Royal guard, it seemed.
“Get away from here,” Qube yelled at the group hidden behind the corner. “I’ve got a plan!”
She didn’t want to [Heal] the Royal guards, not so close to each other, and especially not when their swords were drawn. She remembered all too well the violent flailing that could result from her spell. No, instead she was going to try and weaponise their subconscious instinct that someone was in front of them.
So, in the face of three Royal guards, all with their swords drawn, she did one of the dumbest or bravest things ever: she took a step towards them. Sure enough, similar to the distance everyone subconsciously kept from the Chosen One, the Royals guards stepped backwards.
“We’re under attack!” all three yelled at once.
She took another step forward. They stepped back. After a few more steps, another two guards came running, and joined the cluster, only to also be driven back by their politeness.
This, Qube knew, was power.
---
She couldn’t find the heart of the maze. She’d managed to amass an entire crowd of Royal guards, all shouting and brandishing their weapons, but there was absolutely no sign of any kind of heart. A few times the Chosen One had tried to interrupt her on her herding mission, but she just kept telling him that he’d trusted her with this mission and he would give up for another half an hour.
Granted, she wasn’t sure what the heart of a maze would look like, whether it would be made out of greenery or meat, but she was absolutely confident that she would recognise it. Or, at least, she’d been confident a few hours ago.
Now, however, she was walking over a marker of hers for the third time, and all the shouting from her trapped guards was beginning to get on her nerves. There were also weird blips in the music every time she chose a new pathway. At first she’d thought it was a clue, but there didn’t seem to be any pattern to them.
Eventually she had to admit that maybe, just maybe, she didn’t know what the heart of a maze looked like. On the plus side, she was pretty sure she’d managed to round up all the guards in the place!
“Chosen One,” she called over her shoulder as she continued to block the guards. They’d mostly calmed down, several of them now muttering about how it “must have been the wind” or “my imagination’s playing tricks on me again.”
“What did you want me to do with these guards? I was thinking that maybe Sencha Bard should use [The Bard’s Ballad] on them, give them a chance to think for themselves. Maybe outside the maze, so they have space to… process.”
“Sure,” came the reply from behind the hedge.
Within a surprisingly short amount of time Qube had managed to trick the guards into exiting the maze. The instant they weren’t locked in such a small space, they started milling about like lost chickens. As she covered her ears and watched the power of Sencha Bard and Definitely Bad Guy’s invention roll over the group, she wondered if, same as all the constructs learning to think for themselves, this meant that the Royal guards, and all those affected by this spell infected with her [Heal], would be eligible to ascend one day.
What would happen to all these people, freed from the Dev-imposed affinities (however that was supposed to have manifested itself), live in the coming days? How would they feel, once they realised how much their thoughts had been trammeled by a group of people who, while anatomically somewhat similar to them, held the kind of power reserved only for gods?
Not for an instant did it occur to Qube to keep the knowledge of the Devs’ true nature, and the party’s ascension, a secret. If she’d stopped to ponder why, she would have replied that, having been kept in the dark so much herself, she was well aware of how frustrating it was to be left out of a conversation regarding your own destiny. It was the same reason she’d tried to ask the Royal guards for their permission before radically altering their world view.
If someone very perceptive had asked her why she hadn’t used the other party members to get the Royal guards’ permission, and why she was now leaving the newly-freed guards to instantly turn back to trying to solve the maze, she wouldn’t have known how to answer them.
“Chosen One, my mission is complete!” she said, smiling up at her friend as Sencha Bard signalled that they were safe to uncover their ears. “Now, you need to find the heart of the maze.”
She wouldn’t have been able to articulate that sensation of having an inner self, so full of rage and ruthlessness, pulling on her, dragging her onwards to the castle.
Nor could she have found the words to describe how her innate kindness, and her well-trained gentleness, was now constantly grappling with the deep-seated anger and justified sadness that had only grown since she’d left her peaceful village.
Instead she watched as the Chosen One walked away from the confused Royal guards, tilting his head as he made the turns, listening to the chimes that Qube hadn’t been able to understand. Sometimes he would turn around immediately, and take another route, other times he would happily charge forward.
Eventually they stopped in front of a portion of the hedge that was covered in white roses. They were releasing a fine mist that twisted in the wind until it resembled a large rectangle. The smell of their collective perfume was almost overpowering.
“Darling,” Sexy Screamy Spider Briar said to Sencha Bard, tilting her head. “I believe I just got the same feeling you did. I’ve never owned a fan, but I suddenly feel like all this running around in the maze is getting me all hot and bothered, and I wish there was some fan I could use to cool myself down.” The Hunter frowned harder as she dug into her own thoughts. “And something about fresh air? Really, these kinds of prompts are very annoying. I’m used to them giving me an extra layer of sexiness, but these kinds of innuendo don’t even make sense for me.”
“I’ll be sure to give the Devs your feedback,” the Chosen One said wryly. “They’ll probably ignore it, just like they did all the times I asked them to stop forcing you to flirt with me, but hey, at least it’s coming directly from the horse’s mouth.”
“Sexy Screamy Spider Briar isn’t a horse!” Qube said indignantly.
“You’re insulting!” Sencha Bard bristled.
But the giant arachnid didn’t seem indignant, or angry. Instead she was looking at the Chosen One with surprising tenderness.
“I knew you were a good, honourable man,” she said, reaching forward and grasping the sides of his face with her claws.
“Mo uhm nough,” the Chosen One mumbled through squished cheeks.
“You didn’t want them to force our affections. Oh, darling, how can I resist you when you’re so noble?”
Having said that, she leaned forward, and kissed the Hero on the forehead.
