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At first, everything was aching. His senses were consumed by it. An ache behind his eyelids, aches in his arms and legs, in his torso, his neck, his head. His entire body thrummed with pain. It enveloped him in a crushing embrace and refused to relinquish its hold.
Then, darkness pierced the aches. The darkness pried him from the grip of the aching and instead left him feeling nothing. Nothing but tingly darkness as it coated his limbs in tar. It was nice, having the pain go away. And the darkness was gentle where the aching was not. It felt like the tenderness of a parent. Bit by bit he surrendered his body to the dark.
After the darkness came light, and from that light, he could see.
He was in a room, sterile and lifeless. He was in a bed equally as dull as the rest of the room with blankets thin as a sheet of paper and pillows about just as comfortable as one. Across from his bed was Joey, lying limp with a weird tube in his wrist that connected to a steadily depleting healing potion. The pirate's breaths were slow and laboured as if each one were about as difficult as arduous labour. His clothes had been replaced by a simple white nightgown.
Scott looked down and found himself in a matching nightgown. He groaned, head lolling back against the wall. Could they not add a tiny drop of colour to these clothes? Or the walls? Hell, he'd be interested in the floor as long as it wasn't the basic monotone or beige.
Lizzie was lying on one of the beds, too. As was fWhip and Joel. He spotted Shelby a little further down, opposite Katherine. Pix, it seemed, was not in this room. Maybe he just hadn't drunk anything, or he was simply in a different room to them.
At what felt like the furthest point in the room from where he was, lay Jimmy. He looked as if he were merely sleeping peacefully, his eyebrows furrowed slightly with pursed lips. They looked soft. What would they feel like on his own lips? Would they taste of anything in particular, or just of Jimmy?
"Hello?" he called out, leaning forwards and craning his neck towards the door. "Hello? I'm awake. Are you giving me drugs, or just a healing potion? I'm asking because I can't be bothered enough to give a shit and at this point drugs would be legendary. Anyone there?" This was probably the worst service he'd ever seen in a... what was this place, some kind of hospital? It could easily have just been a room in Katherine's castle, if he was honest. All the buildings here had similar appearances, but then again every empire had a theme when it came to the architecture.
The door opened, and the twins - Aeden and Aphid - entered. They bowed their heads then looked up, surveying the room and its occupants.
"Did you find anything?" Scott asked. His voice was mildly hoarse, but he could talk well enough.
Aphid shook his head. "No, sir. They've either been communicating in person the entire time, or they are incredibly good at hiding things. We found nothing."
Damn. He needed to have something. At this point, he was contributing nothing to both alliances he'd made, fake or not. He hadn't found much to assist Jimmy, and it already seemed like the others weren't too inclined to tell him everything.
"You two can go now. Thank you for your contributions."
The twins bowed their heads and left swiftly, shutting the door behind them without a sound.
He looked down at the tube inserted into his wrist. The healing potion was already almost fully depleted, so he removed the tube and let the tip fall to the floor.
Most of the other rulers had almost finished their healing potions, but many were still unconscious. The nobles at the ball would be in a similar state, as well as pretty much every other guest here. No one would know if he were to snoop around.
With a plan set in his mind, Scott left the room and stepped out into the corridor.
Everything was deathly silent. No one walked past him, and no one could be heard walking or talking anywhere, whether it be behind doors or around corners. Nothing but suffocating silence.
Scott passed a few doors until he reached the one that led to his room. He pulled it open and stepped inside, closing it behind him with his foot. Approaching one of his bags, he rooted around until he pulled out a small piece of paper wrapped around a vial. He uncorked the vial and poured the contents into his mouth and swallowed it. It had the taste and texture of honey, but was the same colour as wine.
His body eased, not quite numbing his limbs but a very near thing.
It was all moving so fast. He figured he'd have more time before everything went down. A week, or perhaps a month. Enough time to begin constructing defences for Chromia. It seemed now like he wouldn't get the privilege of having that time anymore.
Obviously Joel must have persuaded Sausage to poison the drinks, but where'd he get the skulk from? As far as he knew, Sanctuary didn't have any skulk or if they did they avoided it as best they could. It wouldn't be a very good sanctuary if everyone went around bringing dangerous substances in and out where somebody could get hurt easily. He mentioned having acquired it from somebody; maybe another ruler, or a noble? But who had that kind of access? Even Scott wouldn't be able to get his hands on that stuff without losing most of the favours he'd cultivated in the past.
Which meant Sausage must have gotten it from someone with direct access. An empire that hadn't gotten rid of their skulk, but were instead keeping it away from others to sell.
Were this happening a few months ago, Scott would've pounced at the idea of getting them to sell skulk on the black market. Now though, he wished he had the black market back so that could be an option.
He could easily contact people for help. They wouldn't be chuffed about it, but he still had a few friends to get him out of a pinch. It was just a matter of whether they could get here fast enough for their help to be of any worth to him or not.
There was a knock on the door, presumably a member of Katherine's staff. He bid the person on the other side to enter.
In stepped Katherine, her arms swinging at her sides as she strolled in, past Scott and towards his bed, sitting down and patting the space next to her. He sat down next to her and watched her curiously.
She drew a sharp breath. "You are aware that we were all poisoned last night, correct?"
He scoffed. "Of course I am. I'm not a fool, Katherine, and I wouldn't believe that you tried to poison yourself and your guests." he smiled, their eyes locking. "Especially not when Shelby was there amongst them."
Her cheeks were dusted with a light pink blush. Coughing into her fist, she nodded. "Yes, well I wouldn't believe it either. But since you're pretty much the only other ruler awake right now, I wanted to know your thoughts."
Scott glanced down at his lap. The paper was crumpled in his hand and he rubbed his thumb against it as he thought.
"I don't think it was Joey, mostly because pulling something like this off seems too difficult for his skill set. Pix is unlikely. Gem as well, but I can't be completely sure there. Lizzie and Joel seemed quite occupied with each other, so they likely didn't get the time." He made a face at the implications of his own words. "You wouldn't sabotage your own ball. Shelby is too fond of you to mess this up. I think it's safe to say that I didn't do this, or else I'd have made sure I wasn't among the first to wake up nor would I have given myself as strong of a dose."
"What about the others?"
"Oli definitely didn't, he doesn't have the brains nor balls to pull that off. I was with Jimmy for most of the evening, so not him. I... don't know about the others."
She hummed in acknowledgement, looking up at some invisible spot above the door. "I want to know who did this. They had to be a ruler like us, to have gotten access to the poison. But how?" she threw up her hands in exasperation. "I'm exhausted. Why can't we just have a normal ball where nothing goes wrong? I mean, the carriages exploding, now this? What else? For all I know someone might be planning to blow up Glimmergrove!"
Scott placed his hand on Katherine's shoulder. "It'll be okay. You'll figure it out."
"Will I?" she stood up, muttering her thanks, and left Scott's room.
---
He read the note for the umpteenth time that hour. He'd almost memorised the entire damn thing by that point. Over and over again he scanned the words, wishing they could change.
No word of skulk seller. Looking to find out more. Will report back soon.
Sunflower remains tight-lipped, as does Fern. Nothing has been mentioned by Acalypha or Knautia Macedonica yet, but still being looked into.
He sighed and scrunched up the paper, stuffing it back into his bag. The moment he was alone he'd changed back into his usual attire. The weight of the fedora on his head was a welcome thing.
Scott ventured out of his room and followed the faint sounds of voices until he reached a room with a large table and the other rulers sat at different seats as they conversed with each other, shooting scathing looks at each other every now and again. There was a seat available between fWhip and Lizzie, and another next to Jimmy. He walked over to fWhip and Lizzie, taking the seat.
"Hey!" Joel's voice boomed. "Look who finally left their room!"
"Just had to get changed, that's all." he said, leaning back leisurely in his chair and, with a small glance at Katherine, propping his feet up on the table. "Anyway, what's our next move?"
Lizzie looked to either side of her, then lowered her voice to a whisper. "It's happening now. He's gonna do it."
He looked at fWhip. He was genuinely gonna do it, was he? Scott made eye contact with Sausage, who sat beside Joel, then broke the stare first in favour of analysing the table.
Slamming his fists against the table, fWhip stood up on his chair. The chatter of the room dissipated as all eyes fell on the goblin king. fWhip cleared his throat. "I wish to make an announcement." he looked over at Katherine, who simply gave him a nod of her head. "I believe Tumble Town to be responsible for this."
The statement caused an uproar. Scott watched calmly as everyone began to shout or share hushed words with their neighbour. All except Jimmy. The Sheriff simply sat in his seat, his back straight and hands folded on the table, gaze set on fWhip then drifting over to Scott. Seemingly not finding what he was looking for, Jimmy looked back at fWhip.
He rose out of his seat. "On what basis, and what evidence, might I add, are you accusing my empire?"
"It's hardly an empire," Joel muttered. "Barely anything there." Jimmy gave Joel a look that could make a flower shrivel up and die.
"Well, let's think, shall we?" fWhip smiled, taking a step so he was now on the table. "Who here craves respect from us, and more often than not fails to get it? Who here demands we adhere to law but does nothing to win us over to the ideals he presents? Jimmy, that's who. He wants us to respect him as a figure of the law, but he's incompetent. He more often than not fails to efficiently enforce these laws. He's fed up! So obviously if he cannot make us respect him, then he can make us fear him. That is why our carriages were rigged with explosives - and which empire produces them as an export? Tumble Town. It is why he tried to give himself an alibi by being with Scott for most of the night." He walked across the table's surface until he was standing right in front of Jimmy. Even with the table to add to his height, he was still barely taller than Jimmy was. "If he would rig the carriages then why would he not poison us all?"
"I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I was trying to defuse the explosives, not make them go off!" Jimmy exclaimed. A muscle in his jaw ticked. "And may I remind you that I was not only injured whilst trying to save your ass and Joel's, but I was also poisoned. Why would I poison myself if I wanted you all to fear me, like you're trying to insinuate? Why would I do any of this?" Jimmy stood up and leered over fWhip. "If I had to hazard a guess, it sounds like you're trying to pin the blame of your own actions on me."
Another round of uproar. Sausage glared at Scott from his seat, and his message was clear. Say nothing. Don't make a scene. He swallowed nervously, but obeyed. It would do nothing for him if he acted out now and established himself on Jimmy's side.
He wanted to be over there, though. He wanted to stand by his side and hold his hand from under the table to calm him down.
Scott jumped into fWhip's mind and rummaged around, trying to find what he was looking for. It was all just crates of scrambled memories organised in a system he didn't understand; not chronologically, not alphabetically, not completely random, not categorised. Just a system that made sense to fWhip but not to Scott.
He pulled back out and attempted to maintain a relaxed composure.
"You're scrambling." fWhip hissed. "You're getting worried, aren't you? I know what you're up to and you can't have that. If you don't want fear, then you want to be the person we look to in a crisis. Is that right? Jimmy, the Sheriff, our hero after defusing the explosives and the man to step up and take charge after the ball. You planned this so you could make us respect you."
"I didn't!" Jimmy protested. "If I wanted you blown to kingdom come, then you'd already be there. If I wanted to make everyone respect me, I'd do it lawfully. What's the point of me being the Sheriff if what I do is breaking the law?"
fWhip walked back to his chair and sat down. "Jimmy, I cannot let this continue. The Goblands will not tolerate your terrorism of the empires. I declare war on Tumble Town on behalf of my people."
Lizzie rose. "I declare war with Tumble Town on the behalf of my people."
Joel followed suit, parroting what Lizzie said word for word. Sausage gave Scott a glare.
Scott did not stand up. He did not declare war on Tumble Town, not yet. He looked up at fWhip and the goblin king nodded down at him.
Before he could even understand what was going on, three things happened in very quick succession. One, Jimmy jumped onto the table and ran straight at fWhip, tackling him to the ground and beginning to punch him. Two, Shelby and Sausage stood up together and fled the room, with Katherine and Pix leaving as well. And three, someone threw a punch at Gem, which caused her to aimlessly hit back, which then escalated into an all-out brawl.
He ducked as Joey attempted to punch him in the jaw, and quickly delivered a swift kick to the pirate's chest, effectively pushing him away. Joel pried Jimmy off of fWhip and tossed him against the wall, his body crumpling to the ground.
Jimmy looked up and his eyes met Scott's from across the room. He mouthed at him to go. Scott, reluctantly, nodded and stepped outside away from the conflict.
He walked briskly back to his room, encountering Aeden and Aphid on his way there. He whispered to them as he passed and they both gave a nod in acknowledgement, barely noticeable unless you had stood up close as they did it. More confident now, he entered his room, gathering up his things to prepare for an 'unplanned early departure'.
He had preparations to make.