Chapter 238: New Lord

Chapter 238: New Lord

“Leland.”

He turned, finding Floe’s imposing figure toward the back of the cave. She was laying down in such a way that only her head was front and center. But that didn’t stop her body from radiating cold. They stared at each other, a nervous thread of air wafting between them.

“Tell me about the Lords you’ve met,” she whispered before her eyes returned to the other end of the cave.

Leland followed her gaze, finding Jude and Jude Two playing music. Jude’s fingers were dancing across his new flute, Jude Two was plucking away at a guitar. Together they dueted a vibrant piece with many ascents and descents. It was nice. Happy, even, although incredibly tedious. Jude’s skill with the flute was far and away worse than the harmonica or guitar.

Like a prairie dog emerging from his hole, Gelo’s head rhythmically bounded up and down with the song. When the Judes would lull, she would quickly try to step into the song. She howled, or more accurately, quietly roared as if she was a violin or cello accompaniment. And while she was horribly off key and tempo, the Judes didn’t discourage her whatsoever.

At some point, Gelo realized that howl-roaring wasn’t working. Instead, she swapped to vocalizing. Grunts became non lyrical song, which paired much better with everyone’s ears. Since they were in an echoing cave, Gelo started to sound like a full choir, her singing wrapping itself in harmonization.

Glenny was bundled in his cloak of shadows, a mug of hot tea in his hand, listening to the song. He stared longingly into the fire, his eyelids dipping closed and shooting open. He carefully put down his mug before he spilled it.

Leland glanced at Floe, finding a soft smile across the great bear’s snout.

He smiled to himself, and said, “The Lords are... unique. I guess you have to be to reach that level of power. Most have been nice to me, some have been cold or non receptive.” He chuckled a little. “They are usually kind even to a mortal who struggles to find a reason for them to offer part of their magic. I’ve realized it before, but I’m sort of like a parasite myself. A leach. Just someone begging for power, power which they happily hand over.”

Floe looked away from her daughter. “You’re not a leach, Leland.”

His lips tugged further back. “Thank you. And I know, but you also know me. Can you imagine what a Lord might think when they see me? I invite myself to their homes unannounced and practically demand to trade. And most of the time I get what I want for next to nothing. A drop of special water from one of the easiest cantrips to learn? I got an entire spell from the Lord of Water for that.”

“I don’t think I understand where you are going with this,” she replied.

“What I'm trying to get at is that Lords want to help. For the most part, Vile Lords notwithstanding. I have yet to meet a proper Lord who only is in it for themselves. Allow me to tell you about the Lord of Healing.”

Leland leaned back and recounted. “She was one of the first Lords I tried to contract with. And she turned me down. But not because she didn’t want to help or because I didn’t have anything to offer in trade. No, she couldn’t find ten minutes to work out a deal with me because of all of the people flooding her with prayers for healing. I saw them, you know? The people she was healing. They were like remnants. Distant echoes of people dying, in pain, or pleading for her to heal their loved ones.”

Looking Floe right in the eyes, Leland said, “And she listened to each and every prayer. Each request. Each crying young kid, each grieving widow. She listened to them all and healed the ones she could.”

He sat in silence for a moment. “That,” he whispered, “is what a Lord is. Someone who takes their role seriously. Who helps those who ask. Who gives tools to those who don’t.”

Floe looked back at her daughter. “Is she going to be alright?”

Shrugging, Leland said, “She’ll have her mom watching over her day and night.” He smirked a little. “Literally. I don’t think you’ll sleep as a Lord.” A beat passed. “But yeah, she’ll be fine. She’ll have Jude, Glenny, and I. We’ll take care of her until she gets sick of us and wanders off into a blizzard somewhere.”

“Will she be strong enough?”

The question was asked before Leland even finished his sentence. And as good as Floe’s mask still her troubled vocal cords gave away the truth. Distressed and cracked, there was only heartbreak in her voice.

“She will,” Leland instantly answered. “And when she becomes a Lord herself, you two can share the same divine cave or whatever you are going to live in.”

He had said that facing forward, but couldn’t help but peek at her through his peripheral vision. He saw a crystalline tear fall from her eye before landing heavily on the rock floor and melting away to nothing.

A hitch hardened in Leland’s throat, but he fought through the issue. “I can find another way to get you out of here—”

“No.” It was hardly more than a whisper, but it shut him right up. Floe took a few deep breaths. “It is like I told you before. I want what is best for her. And anywhere I am tied to, she will wish to be. So, the best place for me is either dead or somewhere she can’t go.”

Leland squirmed in his seat. “Divinity it is.” A moment passed. “And who knows what kind of cool dungeon abilities you’ll get. Lord of Dungeons is rather niche when it comes to Lords. Maybe you can change what loot we’ll get when we enter one. Show us some nepotism and give us the good stuff.”

Jude, Glenny, and even a dejected Gelo all nodded.

“And uh, if there are any Lords who are still on the fence, I could sweeten your vote with a potential contrac—”

“Leland. Shut up. Your job is done.”

Having felt and stood up to multiple Lords at this point, Leland was the only one of the group who remained on his feet. Even Floe, the soon to be Lord, tipped over and kicked up a puff of fluffy snow. Yet that wasn’t to say he was immune to the yelling. He wasn’t. Especially since he was the subject of the Curse Lord’s ire.

“Loud and clear, Granny,” Leland muttered to himself, picking at his ear like he had a wad of wax stuck deep in there.

It took several minutes, but eventually his friends were up and at ‘em trying to look well and away more busy than they actually were. Glenny messed with a bag he had inconspicuously removed from his inventory ring. Jude was suddenly tuning his guitar. Even Floe and Gelo had taken up a quiet conversation.

“Smooth guys,” Leland told them.

Jude answered for the group. “Maybe if we act like it was your idea, Leals, they won’t kill us.”

He rolled his eyes. “Granny wouldn’t have yelled at me like that if it wasn’t already a sure thing. She didn’t want me to be taken advantage of by eager Lords looking for a gopher to do some dumb mortal task.”

Seeing that his friends weren’t convinced, he added, “If Floe wasn’t going to win the vote, then Granny would have allowed me to make those contracts. She then would have made fun of me the next time I spoke to her.”

He scanned their unbelieving faces, finding Gelo about ready to burst. When they locked eyes, the cub exploded with a question, “Can Lords talk like that anytime they want!? When Mother becomes a Lord can she just—”

Leland held up his hands. “I don’t know what she’ll be able to do. But I can say that was not normal. Lords shouldn’t be able to speak like that. I have a theory—”

Glenny and Jude both groaned.

“— that because I was speaking to all of the Lords, they could speak back. It was just Granny who did.”

“So that was the Lord of Curses?,” Floe asked. “She seemed nice...”

Leland laughed at that. “I think it’s better to call her an old hag than ‘nice.’ She may take it as an insult if I’m being honest.”

Floe’s eyes widened a bit.

It was then Jude chimed in. “How long do you think it will take for the vote to finish—”

A sudden pull of divine authority rippled out from the group, originating from Floe. She pulsed with vibrant light, each wave iridescent and eternal. Only Leland was able to stand tall and watch the lightshow, the others obfuscated their vision like they were walking in the direction of the sun.

“I’d guess they voted!” he yelled. “And I take it she won!”

Magic spilled from Floe’s paw as she pulled her daughter in close one last time. The Lords presiding over her transcendence must have allowed the moment to happen because as soon as the two said their final words, mother and daughter were split apart.

Gelo stood where her mother had just been, a large indent in the snow all that remained.

Plink, plink, plink, more frozen tears fell.

Jude wrapped the cub in a hug, Glenny and Leland one step behind.