Lieutenant Adriana has gained an ability: Empath. This ability allows her to better understand the emotional state of allies and affect the emotional state of minions serving under her.
Good choices, honestly. Cassia’s was a perfect fit for her style of leadership, and Adriana’s seemed incredibly useful. It also seemed like the type of thing that would grow in power as more time and care was invested, and he looked forward to helping her nurture that.
Especially if it meant more nights like tonight.
“You both happy with your selections?” he asked after they’d stepped away from the crystal.
“I admit it is strange being able to see what the crystal has to offer. I was not expecting such a wealth of choice,” Adriana mused. “But yes, I am very happy with my selection. I believe it will be of great help
“It’ll serve my warriors well,” Cassia said. “I only wish I could’ve had access to it when they were all still alive.”
Guilt stabbed at Keaton, but Cassia didn’t let him feel it for long.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that. I told you, they had deaths fit for our kind. I’m proud of them, even if I will miss them in my ranks.”
“It’s hard not to feel responsible,” he admitted.
Keaton expected to be reprimanded by Cassia again, but it was Adriana who spoke up.
“This is the natural life cycle for a minion. They serve their lord as well as they can, until the day they die. Anyone who makes an agreement with a dungeon lord — especially a willing agreement — understands this.”
“People have that understanding when they march under a general’s orders, too. It doesn’t make that general any less responsible when he sends them to their deaths.”
Adriana gave him a soft smile. “No, I suppose it does not. It is a good attitude to have, to see the lives of your minions as something other than expendable.”
“You won’t feel that way when there are hundreds of them. They’ll just be another face in a crowd,” Cassia pointed out. “It’s naive to think otherwise.”
“Maybe it is. But I don’t ever want to get to the point where I’m taking the lives of the people who serve me for granted.”
She looked like she wanted to argue with him further, but after a moment, Cassia just nodded.
“I hope you never reach that point, then.” Her voice was soft, her words spoken with a depth of sentimentality he hadn’t even realized she possessed.
Of course, he didn’t really know her, did he? He knew every inch of her body, but he had no idea what her hopes and dreams were, what scared her, what made her cry. He’d never been averse to casual relationships, but the bond he now shared with Cassia and Adriana seemed to demand more.
Or maybe he was reading too much into it. Maybe this was just another thing he didn’t understand as a new dungeon lord. Either way, he was determined to take none of it for granted.
They called in all of The Labyrinth’s minions a few minutes later, and within the hour everyone was crowded in the Crystal Chamber that had acted as a war room before this salvage mission.
I’ll need to build something bigger to accommodate everyone. That’s a project for another day, though.
First they needed to make it through this mission. As much as Keaton preferred to stick to the shadows, if he hid himself and his minions away, they were going to be targets. He’d taken something from that snakekin, and while he certainly hadn’t gotten out of it without suffering losses, he had a feeling that wouldn’t be enough to feed her sense of “justice.”
It wasn’t enough to feed Keaton’s, either. He wanted that dungeon lady to get a taste of her own medicine. Or, barring that, he wanted to make an example of her so everyone would know not to fuck with him or anyone who worked with him.
“The two biggest obstacles facing us right now are the dungeon lady’s powers and the fact that she seems to command an endless supply of snakekin,” Cassia said, standing at one end of the war table. “My warriors can stem the tide long enough to buy us a little time, though I don’t know how much.”
One of the Emvola stepped forward. “The snakekin are quick, and their ability to fight with two blades is especially dangerous, but we will do everything in our power to hold them at bay.”
“One of the new powers I picked up should help with that,” Keaton said. “Rally.”
Cassia’s brows rose, a small smile curving her lips. “I didn’t expect a dungeon lord to take powers that would be of direct benefit to his minions rather than himself.”
“As I have said, Lord Keaton is different,” Adriana said, looking at him in a way that made warmth spread outward from his heart.
Even if that warmth was unearned in this case.
“I wasn’t, though. The first powers I took were for my benefit. But I don’t want what happened last time to happen again. Now or in the future,” he said, looking around at the others.
“If hissers problem, can throw stink at them,” one of the goblins said, seemingly out of the blue.
Keaton turned to face him, finding the scout he’d “recruited” first. It was a wonder the little goblin hadn’t followed him around like a puppy once they got back, but he’d mostly kept himself busy.
“Goblin make a dung ball, bind it with twigs and leaves,” Orbon said. “Good for clearing out rooms. Also good for giving to people you no like.”
The goblins snickered, elbowing one another, their long maws stretched wide with rows of sharp teeth. Keaton saw Cassia roll her eyes, but he was honestly a little fascinated.
“The Thieves’ Guild in Valfast had something like that. A little more sophisticated, but a stink bomb is a stink bomb.” He looked to the hobgoblin. “How quickly can you get those made?”
“How quickly goblins take a shit?” He paused a beat, then grinned. “Trick question. Goblins always taking shit.”
Cassia groaned and Keaton bit back his urge to laugh. He still had the sense of humor of a twelve-year-old, apparently, but those bombs really would come in handy.
“I can processss them into something a bit more potent, if you wish. It should not take long,” Vrishta said.
“That would be appreciated, though only if it doesn’t take up too much time. I need you to make us some healing potions.”
“Of courssse, massster. Ssso long as I have the ingredientsss, I will be happy to make whatever you wish.”
“Get me a list after this is over. I’ll have the drones work on fetching it. If they can’t, I’ll just go gather them myself.”
She dipped her head in understanding, and Keaton turned his attention to the other snakekin. “I imagine you two already know what I’m going to ask.”
“We do, my lord,” Yurgetse said, the first to make the adjustment to calling him “lord” instead of master. “I assume you wish to do thisss quickly, though. If that isss the case, I would advisssse only scale shirtsss for you and your lieutenantsss.”
“It’ll have to do,” he said, looking at Adriana and Cassia. “Will there be enough time to make some weapons, too? As many as you can.”
Ankhaga nodded. “I will work on weaponssss while my father craftssss the armor. They will not be my bessst, but they will get the job done.”
“That’s all we need right now. I’m not expecting miracles, especially since I don’t want us to take too long on this.”
“I agree,” Cassia said. “The longer we allow that viper to sit in her den, the more likely she is to catch us off guard.”
Viper was an apt descriptor, even discounting her appearance. Keaton shuddered as he remembered the hold she’d had on him; how she’d latched into his mind, exploiting his deepest insecurities to get him to do what she wanted. He would have given up his allies with ease had she kept her fangs pierced so deeply in his throat. That was something Keaton didn’t want to admit even to himself, but if he was going to face her again, he needed to deal with it.