Book 5 Conclave (The Kid Emperor of Occultoria

Chapter 8 - A Helping of Courage

Fluffy white clouds were being hurled at them. He dodged one, then another.

"What are they?" he cried.

"Cloud spirits," shouted Ariel, jumping around.

Max was being pummeled to the point where he wanted to give up. Cloud spirits were whacking him hard across the face and into the chest.

Pain sprouted up all over his body.

He had been knocked down and was now covering his face with his hands.

But then, he reminded himself of why he was up there. Not only was he there for the Empire, he was also there for Jessica.

"No!" he cried bravely. "No, I will not take this lying down!"

So he got back up and courageously confronted the cloud spirits.

"You just don't give up, do you?" a voice asked.

Riding on a cloud transport was an old man wearing a crown made of mist.

Max stood up tall. "No, I don't. And I won't give up until you rejoin."

The King of Celio sighed. "Fine. As it happens, my treasury is going bankrupt. If you give me 500,000 gold coins, I will rejoin the Empire. But even then, you must leave me alone and allow me to govern my domain as I see fit. I will only pay homage to you for show. I wouldn't really mean it."

Max looked at Ariel. "Do we have that kind of money?"

"No," said the cat bluntly.

Max decided he would raise the funds somehow, maybe raise taxes or something. He was not going to lose this chance to have Celio rejoin the Empire and to annul Jessica's engagement to Count Ludwig Von Hapsburg.

"Deal," Max said.

Now that the King was once again his vassal, all Max needed was the annulment from the Matriarch and he could marry Jessica and make her his Imperial Consort and the Empress of Occultoria.

That was all he could think about.

He felt so happy he wanted to do a little jig.