Chapter 57: Ch. 56 – The Goat Wasn’t Crazy

With the back door to the Judgement Room flung wide open, Septim had a clear view of the entire party of troublemakers. He stood alone, trembling in his boots, as he pointed an accusatory finger at Momo.

Momo was quite proud of the degree that he was terrified of her.

“The thieving necro survived!” he yelped. His arm was in a sling, and he wore bandaged knee pads over each leg. It looked like he had gotten in a fight with gravity, and lost badly. She supposed it had been from the fall he suffered at the mage’s tower. Oops. Her bad.

Looking farther into the distance, Momo could make out Pol and Gunther still ascending a make-shift ladder onto the platform. They were climbing as fast as they could, but the distance upwards was formidable, and Gunther’s heavy armor weighed him down.

From the looks of it, the thieves had under a minute before the knights breached the back entrance. Septim didn’t look like he was going anywhere, happy to tremble and point until reinforcements came.

“Do you still have time to seal the exit?” Momo said, whipping her head back to face Vivienne. The [Holy Knight] didn’t need to be asked.

“[Pinning Blow]!”

The door slammed shut before Momo could finish her sentence. Vivienne had launched herself at it with the full force of an avalanche, throwing back Septim and rattling the door on its hinges. Due to its design, it locked in place as soon as it crossed a certain threshold. It was shut tight as a clam.

“Nia, spot me,” Vivienne commanded as she recovered, taking a knee by the base of the door. “The physical lock will only do so much. It needs a magical sealant, or else we’ll all be in chains when Pol gets here.”

Nia nodded and held both her hands upwards, palms open. Dark energy radiated off of them, and Momo could feel the air in the room pressurize like a ticking time bomb. Whatever Nia had silently cast, it had the effect of keeping everything very tight. Not only was the door not going to budge – but neither was Momo. Her throat tightened, and she focused on getting as much oxygen in as possible.

Vivienne began whispering as she dragged her hand across the door’s golden filigree. White light emanated from her fingertips. “[Holy Seal],” she whispered quickly. The halo of light traveled from her fingertips to each corner of the door. After a moment, the entire entranceway was bathed in a white, ghostly veil.

Having seemingly recovered from his fall, a loud knock persisted on the other side. Septim was nothing if not relentless.

Relentlessly useless, Momo thought. Not that she was doing much herself, unless one counted standing there and trying not to die of asphyxiation. She backed away from the door and towards the middle of the room, an equal distance from Nia and from the Con Artist Cage. She didn’t particularly want to be near either of them, still traumatized by the unprovoked bodysurfing she was forced into earlier.

“Will it hold?” Nia shouted.

“Not for long,” Vivienne muttered, stepping backwards. The veil of light began to dissipate, the incantation complete. “It’s a lot less powerful than the one I put on the front door, but that one took hours to set up. I can’t believe I forgot the second entrance.”

“Me neither,” Nia raised an eyebrow. “You only ever betray the city you govern once in a lifetime, maybe twice. One would imagine you’d think harder about the prep work.”

Vivienne glared at her.

“Shut up. We don’t have much time. We have to get those chains off,” Vivienne paced back to the center of the room, looming over the sitting woman. She looked at her almost sadly, with a pitying expression. “I’m just – I’m scared. I don’t know what kind of mental situation she’ll be in when they come off.”

“She’ll be fine,” Nia waved away the concern. “She’s as resilient as they come. Ten years in lockup is practically paradise for her – more time to plot her brilliant plans, brainstorm new monstrous creations. All her favorite activities.”

Nia squatted next to the woman, and affectionately caressed the side of her hooded face.

“In fact, with her mana completely muted, maybe she’s actually experiencing a coherent train of thought for the first time in her life,” Nia smirked, patting the woman’s cheek. “Now wouldn’t that be something.”

“I highly doubt even the most powerful artifact in the world could accomplish that.”

Momo stood and stared, absorbing the information. Ten years in solitary confinement? Momo thought she was a fan of alone time, but this woman took it a step further. Momo could only be inspired. Jealous, even. An isolated cell with no one to bother her, for ten entire years? That sounded like an extended vacation at this point.

“Well, we’re about to find out. Let’s get this over with,” Nia pulled out a key from her pocket. It was a short, heavily detailed tool made of obsidian. Stuffing the pocket watch away, Nia wrapped her fingers around one of the hundreds of small locks that ordained the woman.

“Here goes nothing,” she inhaled, twisting the key inside of it. A faint pop echoed through the room as the lock fell off the chain, smooth as butter.

“There we go,” Nia grinned wolfishly. She proceeded hastily, unlocking a dozen more. The locks were simply piled on the woman. It’d take more time than they had to get them all off.

The chained woman’s eyes looked down as the locks descended into a pool by her legs. The end of her lip moved the tiniest twinge, flicking upward. Although she could barely emote, Momo sensed excitement bubbling within her.

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Momo had the faint feeling that she was sitting at the foot of a volcano that was about to erupt.

As Nia proceeded with her work, several footsteps halted at the back door. The door handle rattled against the latch, spurring several complaints from the new visitors. Septim’s voice rang out on the other side.

“She’s taken Vivienne hostage, and the prisoner too, I saw ‘em,” he warned the figures who joined him, who Momo presumed to be Pol and Gunther. The two knights responded in surprise, and they began chattering conspiratorially behind the door at a volume Momo couldn’t perceive.

“Hostage?” Vivienne gaped, clearly offended. “If anyone was taking anyone hostage, it surely wasn’t her to me.”

“Oh, get over it,” Nia barked out at her, another lock clattering to the ground. “This is a good thing. We need you to stall.”

“Stall? How?”

“I don’t know, run out the main door? Scream like a little girl and make it seem like Momo’s taking you hostage somewhere else?” Nia suggested. “I just need a few more minutes, then we won’t have to worry about something as measly as a few knights anymore.”

“Gods,” Vivienne grasped her face in her hands. “This has gotten so out of hand. But fine.”

“Does that mean I have to go too?” Momo piped up. “I’d rather stay here, if that’s alright.”

“Yes, stay here,” the other two said in unison, looking at Momo sternly. The pair of them in agreement, Vivienne took a long breath in, and then headed for the front door. With a whisk of light, she pressed through the main entranceway. Out into the hallway, she proceeded to scream bloody murder.

“Someone help me!” she yelled. “The vile necromancer is taking me away to my doooom!”

Momo had the sense that this was a blow to Vivienne’s dignity that she’d make Momo pay for later.

Vivienne slammed the door shut firmly behind her, solidifying the enclosure spell once again. Momo felt relieved, knowing they were protected at both exits – at least for now. She heard the patter of Vivienne’s boots as she ran in the opposite direction of the Judgement Room, back down towards the Knight Barracks.

“Did you hear that?” Gunther said. “They’re getting away!”

“I’ll go after them,” Pol said sternly. “You stay here and work on that lock. You’re too slow.”

Gunther grunted, clearly annoyed, but obedient. He rattled the handle again. No luck. Irritated, he backed up a few steps, and then threw the full weight of his body at the door.

“[Pinning Blow]!”

The door didn’t budge a bit. Momo stifled a laugh. The [Holy Knights] had a very limited skillset, it appeared – big light beam, and charge like a bull. Faced with an unmoving door, they became reduced to animals, stampeding at each other uselessly from each direction. At least Vivienne had the foresight to reinforce the lock with magic, or else Momo might have been gum under Gunther’s shoes by now.

“What kind of lock is this?” he growled at the door. After a few moments, he paused. “A [Holy] lock? Did Vivienne put this on? Why would she lock out her own knights?”

Momo heard the cogs whir in his furry brain. Oh no. He was doing something the other knights didn’t dream to do – think.

“I don’t think we have much time left,” Momo mumbled. “The bear’s got us figured out.”

“Oh, sweet Momo,” Nia grinned, wide as she’d ever seen it. “He has no idea what’s coming.”

With a final click, the last lock clattered to the floor.

In the same moment, every single glass window in the palace shattered.

—

“Oh god,” Momo gasped. “The goat wasn’t crazy.”

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