Chapter 22: Refugees

  Camelot Castle was much busier than I expected when I returned. People I didn’t recognize hustled every which way as I made my way across the courtyard.

  “Hey!” a pompous-looking man yelled as I walked past him. “You need to get in line. That ghost guy said we will be seen in order. That means no cutting.”

  “I don’t need to be seen,” I said, swatting at the air like the man was another shadow gnat. “I live here.”

  “Like Hecht, you do,” the man snarled. “If nobles aren’t allowed to live in the castle, then surely riffraff like you can’t…”

  “Kneel before The King!” Sir Palamedes commanded in a voice so loud it echoed. “Any more insolence, and I’ll have you beheaded!”

  “You hear that!” the pompous man yelled, pointing a chubby finger at me. “Off with his head!”

  “The head I speak of is yours,” Sir Palamedes said, leveling his sword at the man’s throat. “The man before you is Lord Alexander The Great, the High King of Albion.”

  “The high…” the pompous man fell to his knees. “I am so sorry. I meant no disrespect. It’s just that we’ve been waiting out here for hours, and I…erm…grew disoriented.”

  The man turned three shades of green as the knight stood stoically before him.

  “Who is this guy?” I asked, stopping to look the man over for the first time. He wasn’t someone I recognized.

  “He is a refugee from Dabia, My Lord,” Sir Palamedes explained.

  “Refugee?” I asked. “What happened…”

  Before I could finish, the man began speaking. “It was horrible, My Lord. An evil man came from Celestea and slaughtered the king and queen along with half the nobility before just up and leaving. The place was a bloodbath. I fear the monarchy has fallen.”

  “Bori!” I gasped, realizing she was still in Yew.

  “She’s safe,” Iris spoke without bothering to extricate herself from her tattoo. “I would know if the protection of my shrine was violated.”

  “I also took the additional precaution of hiding her core before we left,” Aura added.

  “What about Pippa?” I asked with a sinking feeling in my stomach. “I sent her to Dabia.”

  “Lady Pippa arrived with the first wave of refugees,” Sir Palamedes explained. “Without her, nobody would have made it here.”

  “I see...” I trailed off, trying to think if I’d forgotten anyone. “Where is Ceru?”

  “She is resting, My Lord,” Sir Palamedes reported. “Lady Cerulean just gave birth to your heir.”

  “My…heir?” I asked tentatively.

  “Yes, My Lord. She bore you a son.”

  Isa and I gasped at the same time. I turned to look at her and noticed the frown that she quickly tried to hide.

  “Can you take me to them?” I asked.

  “But I…” the pompous man began.

  “Silence in the presence of royalty,” Sir Palamedes cut him off again. “My Lord, if it isn’t too much trouble, some decisions require your immediate attention. If you can, please accompany me to the throne room for just a short while.”

  “Okay,” I sighed, deciding to go along with things for now. While I did want to meet my son, there were a lot of unanswered questions about Dabia running amok in my head.

  “We’ll just get settled in,” Vince said, guiding his family toward the guest quarters where their rooms were.

  “Okay,” I replied, still lost in thought.

  Only after following Sir Palamedes did I realize just how long the line was. What I thought was just a bottleneck through the main castle gates stretched through the courtyard and wound through the wide halls of the castle. A pair of knights barred entry to the throne room, only parting when we walked past.

  “Finally!” Primith said as I walked up to the throne. “Why did you up and disappear to Xanadu? You were supposed to come right back after recruiting in Yew.”

  “We heard news that Mardella was distracted, so we tried to sneak in,” I explained while taking a seat on the throne. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be.”

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  “Well, you’re not going to like what I say next,” Primith huffed, brushing past Sir Palaedes as he tried to block her from approaching me. “The minute you left, the rest of those idiots decided to follow you out there. They were convinced you did it to outscore them and win the game.”

  “The game?” I asked before it dawned on me. “I stopped playing that stupid game ages ago. Did they even stop to think we don’t even know what we get if we win?”

  “You don’t?” Primith’s eyes widened. “You didn’t ask about the prize selection when you agreed to play, did you?”

  “Uh…” I hedged. “Actually, I was just looking to get away when they invited me. I figured the prize would be a unique trophy or game code.”

  Primith rolled her eyes. “You really are a beta tester, aren’t ya?”

  I sighed. “Guilty, as charged. That changed when I got here, though. At first, I was upset at how they treated me, but then I decided to stay. After that, the game pretty much became an afterthought. Other than blaming them for Isa’s death, that is.”

  “Well,” she sighed. “Everyone else negotiated prizes from the company, and they are out there playing to win right now.”

  “I wonder how they got magic weapons,” I chuckled.

  “What do you mean?” Primith asked, raising an eyebrow.

  I grinned. “Xanadu is flooded with shadow monsters that normal weapons can’t touch. We had to get the goddess’s blessing for half of our weapons. I doubt those guys have anything that can damage them. And their armor is going to be pretty useless too…”

  The thought of their armor worried me a little more than their weapons did. They were sitting ducks.

  “Maybe we ought to bring them back,” I conceded quietly.

  Primith sighed. “It’s a little late for that. I’m sure they will come crawling back…if they survive, that is. Don’t blame yourself for their stupidity. I tried to warn them. In the meantime, I think you have a lot of work to do around here.”

  “Yeah,” I replied, looking at the line of people waiting patiently to meet with me. “Any idea what they all want?”

  Primith giggled, a sound I was unaccustomed to hearing from her. “Isn’t it obvious? They want to make deals with the king. Most of them are here for asylum.”

  My knights were very good at their jobs, so the first people through the door were here for other business.

  “Greetings, My Liege,” a man bearing a guild emblem gave a slight bow. “I am led to believe you’d like to establish a guild presence in your kingdom. A wise choice, if I may say so.”

  “Yes, I do,” I replied, waving off his theatrics in an attempt to get down to business. “Do I need to sign something?”

  “Ah, yes,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “But first, we must observe the custom of…”

  “Skip it,” I replied. “You can use some of the land by the crossroads to build the guild hall.”

  “…granting you the noble seal of the…” he stopped and seemed to soak in what I said. “Wait, did you just say we can build our guild hall outside of the castle?”

  I nodded. “Yes, that’s right. We plan on building a kingdom, and your building should be included.”

  “What’s wrong with the castle?” he asked, crossing his arms.

  “Nothing,” I shot back. “It’s a nice castle, isn’t it?”

  The guild official looked scandalized. “We aren’t accustomed to not having our headquarters in the capital…”

  “It will be,” I replied. “Consider this castle my personal residence. We plan on building the city around it. You wouldn’t want someone setting up shop in your living room, would you? I didn’t see any guild offices in the castle at Dabia.”

  “Well, it was in town,” he glared at his clipboard while he spoke. “In your case, you don’t have a town yet. Surely something temporary can be set up.”

  “Good point,” I said, nodding to Sir Palamedes. “Let’s find something temporary for the adventurer’s guild. Do we have any tents available?”

  “T-t-t-tents?” the man gasped. “You mean to make us operate out of tents?”

  “A tent, singular,” I replied. “And like you said, it will only be temporary. I intend to make building my town a top priority…right after I get through this long line that’s growing behind you.”

  “I…understand,” the defeated guild representative replied before being ushered from the room.

  The next person to approach me was a little girl who looked to be about ten years old. She had flowing blue hair and a white lab coat with lots of pockets. Still, the thing that stood out to me was the headphones around her neck.

  “Hello, new king,” she said dryly. “I am here to make first contact as a member of the TGB. I know you’re busy right now, so please send your delegate to Dabia at your earliest convenience.”

  “Wait,” I said as she’d already turned to leave. “Are you, um, from Earth?”

  She smirked. “What gave me away?”

  “The outfit, mostly,” I replied, rubbing my chin. “And the accent, but I can’t place where it’s from.”

  “Poland,” she replied softly. “Though, I am speaking the local tongue at the moment. It took a while to make a device that can do that.”

  “You have a translator device?” I asked, looking the girl up and down for signs of more electronics. “And why did that TCL or whatever you called it send a kid?”

  “TGB,” she corrected me. “And I’m not a kid. I’m a legal adult in your world and in mine. We have many devices, including one that can generate a portal back to Earth. If you choose to ally with us, we might consider making one accessible to you.”

  “Ally?” I asked. “What does TGB even stand for?”

  She coughed. “Technician’s General Bureau. That’s not important. What is important is that we have taken control of the nation of Dabia in accordance with their laws. I am personally extending the olive branch of friendship to your nation. Please be aware that we may not be so generous once we are more firmly established.”

  “Were you the ones that overthrew the old king?” I asked.

  She sighed. “No. Technically, that was Russia.”

  “Russia?” I asked. “Aren’t they already busy with another war?”

  She sighed again. “Not that Russia. Do you remember Rasputin from your history books? Well, he’s still alive. At least, he was a month ago. I’m not exactly sure what happened. Either way, when I woke up, he was gone, and the country was in disarray. We’ve been helping everyone put things back together ever since.”

  While I was a little worried this TGB was taking advantage of the chaos, there was little I could do about it. Still, I was curious about the new regime and the technology they promised.

  “I don’t think I got your name,” I said. “My name is Alexander Krup.”

  “I’m The…” she paused. “I mean, my name is Zofia.”

  “Do you have a last name?” I asked.

  She glared. “You don’t need to know my last name.”

  The expression sent shivers down my spine. “I don’t need to know your last name.”

  With that, she spun and left, leaving me with regrets that I didn’t manage to get my hands on at least one of her tech toys.

  “Next,” I called out, eager to see what else the night had to offer me.

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