A Bird Among Serpants

1.18

"MY LORD!" Percy runs into my room at full speed, struggling to stop as he slides face first into a pillar on my wooden bed phrame and ends up on the floor with a pain in his head. I don't think it was hard enough to give him a concussion, but I'll have to check. For fucks sake, this kid was in training to be a soldier? This goes far beyond him just being young, training someone this clumsy is more like incompetence. He'd misstep, mess up some mage's spell, and blow up both armies entirely as soon as you put him in a war zone. I'm not even sure of who would win in that situation.

I try to hold in the urge to laugh as I get up and walk over to him, feeling his head for lumps, "Are you okay?"

"I'm not sure.." he tries to get up then thinks better on it and glances up at me, "Are you okay?"

"Better than I have been in awhile. The spell worked."

"Oh thank god.." Percy takes a sigh of relief as I put a spell on to heal his bruising forehead, "Did you want to tell me something or were you just really happy to see me?"

"B-both.." he takes a breath and starts to sit up with a bit of help, hugging me to my surprise, "I'm glad you're not hurt, my lord, I really am. It's about the elf that you helped enslave."

I look a the ground as a wave of guilt washes over me. It happens whenever I think of him so I've just tried to ignore it, that didn't exactly make it go away though, "What about him?"

"The emperor has offered you the chance to rehabilitate and eventually free him if you would wish. All you have to do is get him from the brothel and start helping whenever you want."

"Why?"

He looks at the ground, as if thinking about it himself, "I don't think anyone knows, that was the only order he gave after your meeting yesterday."

I bite my lip and look down at the ground. I wish I knew why, if I knew why then I'd be more comfortable doing this. The only possible thing that I can think of is him maybe feeling guilty, but then again why? He's done this to how many different people and didn't seem particularly attached to the elf. Did he feel guilty for involving me in it? That at least seems probable, I'll have to find a way to ask him about it later, "How will I get there? The emperor made it clear that I am not allowed to walk around the castle."

He hands me a teleportation crystal, "Use this. Can I lay down, my lord?"

I try to hold in a laugh, the thought of him running face first into the pillar coming into my head again, "Sure thing Percy, do as you wish."

I stand as he slowly lays down on my bed, the stone feeling smooth in my hand. Feeling the strength of the magic and the fact that most of the people in the brothel are magical creatures, I know it's sending me to the right place. I'm not sure that eases my suspicion of it being a trap however. This could very well be a way for him to get me into the brothel without having to see my face. When I'm there, all he'd have to do is order someone to tie me up, then sell me until he's unable to keep down his empathy and comes to see me. Pearl told me that the drink was going to make me go mad, it is isn't that far fetched that this is another attempt to break attachment to me.

I bite my lip and glance at percy. Would the emperor have given the stone to him? I would've thought that it would be given to Pearl as to not hurt her as much, and he definitely believed it was a good thing, "What made you think he was telling the truth about the stone?"

"Pearl handed the stone to me after being in there with him for awhile. According to a few servants there was a lot of yelling coming from the room before Pearl came out and told them to give this to me. I just assumed she would tell me the truth."