SFC Book III – Chapter Forty-Nine – Shattered
Froggy didn’t take the news well.
They had returned underground and used the secret passageway to avoid the Colonnade Court with the envy steeds there and walked back through the labyrinth. Their alliance squads were camped out down from the mausoleum and the grand staircase which led to the palace section and the gardens on a lower section of the Underdwell. It was the farthest section away from the exit.
“Those fucking animals!” Froggy raged. Then saw Tomi. “Sorry.”
The cat girl only laughed. “Tell your bear boys there you’re sorry. I’m too exhausted to care. I’m going to nap a little while we can. She then sat down, leaned back against the dusty wall, and closed her eyes.
She was out in seconds.
“What of the points?” Krain Darkstone asked in a growl as he stroked his beard. The other dwarves were muttering to each other. A few had been against the alliance, but they had trusted Krain.
“The last idol—the Status Instinct idol—is worth two points. Which means any of us could still win. They’re giving us a three-hour break before they open up the last two sections where the two idols are.”
Mean Marla shook her head. “I doubt very much that you’ll let the Lucky Bastards have the Status Instinct idol. Then we could win and there would be a tie for second place with one of the other teams.”
Pinch was standing back, arms crossed, a look of completely rage on her face. Next to her was Lilian, who was gazing out at nothing with no expression on her face. Her core was churning with blood-red mana from her despair resonance—or whatever that was.
The fae girl stormed forward. “And in your little plan, Marla, Squad 23 gets nothing.”
Marla was the wrong person to antagonize. “Fuck you, Pinch. We made this little alliance so no one would kill you. You’re still alive, right? I can’t help it that Brutus and that bitch Sabika Mitsuri fucked us.”
Pinch didn’t back down of course. The two women were squared off, seconds away from throwing punches.
“We should just go it on our own,” Pinch spat. “We don’t need these fuckers. Any of them.”
It was Lilian—surprisingly enough—that pulled Pinch back. “It doesn’t matter. None of this matters. It all ends in fire and death. The alliance was stupid. All of this is stupid.”
The fae girl turned. “It’s not. It’s everything to me, Lil. Everything. I gave up…you don’t know what I gave up.”
Lilian smiled a little. “A kingdom? A title? Money? Status? Comfort? A Future?” Her voice turned sarcastic. “Sure. I wouldn’t know anything about that. Maybe I’m not the only fucking idiot on the team.”
Gray glanced at Ames, thinking she’d scream in Lilian’s face.
But it seemed the Quelling elf only did that when Lilian’s barbs were aimed in a different direction.
Marla laughed suddenly, and it was loud and jagged. “Well, we all got points and the fae fuckers and those fucking orcs don’t.”
“Not all of us,” Pinch said bitterly.
Marla shrugged. “The alliance was good while it lasted, at least for us. And am I the only who thinks that Blonko asshole is creepy as fuck?”
“Not the only one,” Krain said with some bit of disgust. “Me squad isn’t so keen on continuing the alliance. No offense to anyone…and we don’t want anyone dead. But we’re going to go our own way once the last two sections are open.”
“I have to talk to my people,” Marla said.
One of the gamblers—a man with very bush eyebrows—snickered. “I have a ton of money on this little game. Bet it all on us coming in first place. I’m not going to lose out. Just a word of warning there.”
Marla sighed. “Let’s talk amongst ourselves, shall we?”
They all moved away. As did the dwarves.
Froggy stayed with her two big bearkin next to her. Steffy was curled up on the floor with the others, sleeping.
Gray thought that was the right move at that moment.
The she-orc gave him a friendly shove. “We’re still with you, sexy. How about we make a deal? If I let you win, I get to give your manhood y own special brand of mouth pleasure?”
“Froggy!” Rynn shouted. “Quit flirting with my husband! Mother’s oven! He already has two wives, and a third might kill us all!”
Froggy laughed. “What a way to die. I’d chance it, sexy. And elf girl, I’d give you a licking that would blow your little elf mind.” She paused. “And I’m not flirting. I’m offering all three of you the time of your life.”
Ames stood there staring at Froggy’s mouth. It was clear what was on her mind.
It was so awkward that the only thing Gray could do was laugh.
Midj wrinkled her nose. “Mother’s oven? That’s a goblin curse.”
“Sorry,” Rynn said. “I was just upset.”
“What’s mouth pleasure?” Midj asked. Then her eyes got big. “Mother’s oven. Do people really do that with each other?”
“All the time,” Froggy laughed. “It’s a way of having fun without the bonding. At least I can do it without bonding. Best hobby ever.”
Gray stepped in. “Let’s all get some rest. Froggy, mouth pleasure aside, we’ll work together. If we both get the next statues, then we can both get two points and tie with the Savage Seven for first place. How does that sound?”
Froggy smiled. “That sounds like an enduring alliance. Even if you have two angel-heads and a crazy fucking fairy girl on your squad.”
Ames raised her hand. “And a very strange dark elf who can throw pain. I think I can do it now. I should try. I really should try.”
“After we sleep,” Gray said.
Lilian came over. “Go after Pamalee. She’s…she’s not taking the betrayal well.” Keeping her voice down, she added, “You know all about betraying people. You can talk to her.”
Gray sighed. “I should yell in your face, Lilian. Just like Ames.”
“Please, don’t.”
“But you deserve it.”
The princess shrugged. “Maybe. But I regret nothing.”
“Liar.”
“Takes one to know one.”
Gray left the princess and found Pinch in front of one of the massive temples. Outside, there was a central figure— a king holding a scepter and crown. He had the robes and finery of royalty but instead of human features, he had the head of a squid with tentacles splayed out over the entrance.
Pinch closed her eyes as he approached her.
“Pamalee, we need to—”
“I’ll be Pinch. You have all been very kind to call me by first name, but it doesn’t fit, not anymore. I’m Pinch. I’ll always be Pinch. Alone. No mouth pleasure for me.” Her short laugh was completely humorless.
“Jealous of Froggy?” he asked.
“Never. Always. She’s free to flirt. If I said those things to you, Rynn and Ames would have my head. Remind me again why Ames screams at Lilian?”
“Lilian says mean things like they aren’t mean. But they are. She knows it, but she can’t help herself. It’s like you.”
Pinch closed her eyes even as her lips curled into a little smile. “Calling you all idiots out of habit. I get it. We’re two of a kind, me and your princess.”
“She’s not my princess,” Gray said.
“Oh, you’ve made that clear. Believe me. It hurts Lilian but she’d never admit it. She’s…” the fae girl didn’t finish her thought.
She didn’t need to.
“She’s sad,” Gray said.
“If it were only that simple.”
Pinch hooked her arm into Gray’s. “Let’s get away from these fucking temples. I don’t know what gods these are, but they leave me unsettled. Let’s pretend you and I are married, shall we? We are married, walking away from the ceremony. I have thrown the bouquet, and soon, we’ll be kissing in a beautiful room overlooking the sea.”
“Or the pits of hell.”
That made the fae girl laugh. “Or the pits of hell. Maybe that’s perfect for us in real life, but this is a story, my story, and we’re so bonded. You and I, the great Grayson Fade, the terror of First Field. Everyone wants to kill him because he’s so powerful, and do you know what?”
“What?” Gray was seeing a side of Pinch he didn’t think existed. It was dreamy and sad but wonderful as well.
“He won the Reckoning, you know. He came from behind, he and his unimaginably powerful Squad 23. With two gold medals, they won the entire Testing. Can you believe they only had five recruits for a time?”
“It’s impossible. No one can win an event with only five people.”
“And yet, they did.” Pinch turned to smile at him. There were tears in her eyes.
It was his turn to ask a question and add to the fantasy. “Do you know what?”
“Tell me.”
He stopped and took her hands. “The real magic was in that fae girl, Pamalee Thornpinch. She joined Squad 23 when they needed her most.”
“She’s not very important,” Pinch said softly. “Actually, she didn’t think they could win the Reckoning, not when they had zero points with only two idols left. She’d lost all hope.”
He squeezed her hands. “Good thing she had a squad. They had hope.”
“Not all of them,” Pinch whispered.
He nodded. “Not all of them. But Grayson Fade did. He had a secret.”
“What kind of secret?” she asked.
“He had a plan. If Squad 23 lost the Reckoning, and if none of the Watchfire families wanted them, he was going to keep his team together and they would make their own way in the world. They’d come so far…who fucking cares if they lost at the silly games everyone thought were so important.”
“Do you mean poaching?”
He shrugged. “Does it matter? First Field could’ve been a stepping stone for them, and it was in the end, but it didn’t need to be. That Grayson Fade and Pamalee Thornpinch were powerful beyond belief. Between them two of them, they had more mana than all three of the avatars combined.”
A tear dribbled down her cheek. “They were good together. It’s a shame they never got married.”
He reached a wiped a tear off her face. “They didn’t need to be married. They could be friends forever. There are all kinds of bonds.”
She laughed, hugged him for a second, and then they returned to walking. “Fucking idiot! This is my story, Gray. Those two won the Reckoning, and they were married, forever bonded, Gray and Pinch. And yes, she is Pinch! She is proud to be Pinch! She is strong, and lethal, and have you seen her at the gaming tables? She never loses! Blessed by the gods, Grayson Fade. That Pamalee Thornpinch is blessed by all the gods that ever were, even that squid fucker in the Underdwell. Lucky at cards and even luckier at love, and that is, my friends, is Pinch!”
“And that is Pinch,” Gray said quietly.
They returned and Pinch pushed him away. “Go your wives. Snuggle up close. I can’t believe I’m grateful that we’re allied with Froggy’s fucking Thunder. But I am.”
Pinch then went off by herself—she didn’t even lay down next to Lilian. The fae girl covered her head with the hood of her coat, wrapped herself up in her own arms, and dropped her head. If the gods were kind, she would sleep.
Gray hoped she would.
Midj agreed to take watch, but only if she got to eat while she did it.
Under her watchful eye, he did go to Rynn and Ames, and they all leaned against each other and found some sleep.
They woke to the sounds of bells, gongs, and screaming. “The palaces and the gardens are now open! Get to it, squads. Get to it!”
It was Grumli Greedway, the leader of the Collector Brigade, shouting.
The dwarf pointed his gong mallet at Gray. “Get to it, Squad 23. Miss Hama would be so disappointed if you didn’t win this thing.”
It was Pinch that laughed. “Fuck Hama Hama Avarica. Squad 23 doesn’t need anyone. Let all the Belly bow down to our power.”
Rynn kissed Gray’s cheek and whispered into his ear. “Thank you for being kind to our Pamalee.”
“Pinch. She’s Pinch now.”
Ames giggled. “Now and forever, the ice that burns and burns and burns. Call me crazy, but I prefer it to the flames that freeze the whole world.”
Gray didn’t have to ask who she was referring to.
The Savage Seven sprinted down the grand staircase—two huge sets of stairs that descended down even deeper into the massive underground city.
The Lucky Bastards followed them.
Mean Marla caught Gray’s eye. “Sorry, Gray, but we have too money riding on this little venture. It’s every squad for themselves.”
“Not every squad, bitch!” Froggy snapped, rubbing the sleep out of her buggy eyes.
Marla didn’t comment. Her and her squad were right on the tail of the other team.
Gray didn’t know where the Winners, the Raiders, and the Flyers were, but he would soon learn.