Chapter 56

As Rhaseris and Isabetta reached the portal of the mansion, Moulster immediately opened the door.

“Hello, Moulster,” Isabetta greeted the servant. “This is my friend, Rhaseris. She’s a real princess and the First Priestess of Jabbit.”

Moulster only glanced at the new arrival and the dress she wore. It was a beautiful silk gown, colored in warm autumn tones and adorned with lush embroidery, which artfully displayed images of lovely and sacrosanct, long-eared little mammals.

“I welcome your Royal Highness to the estate of my Master, Dolberd Bars’Wolma,” Moulster greeted, bowing deeply. “May I lead your Royal Highness to the study, where my Master and his guests are conferring at the moment?”

Rhaseris followed the household servant while Isabetta joined her fellow Moppets in a dining room where they once again were busily trying to fill the void in their bellies. Moulster opened the door to the study and introduced the Princess of Danuba to the people in the room. Dolberd Bars’Wolma politely offered Jabbit’s First Priestess a seat at the table but it was Anjatta who gave Rhaseris a summary of the discussed enterprise.

“ ... So you see, while the Yorak, which he calls his army, will devastate all the lands along the Ewu and tens of thousands of people will die, you, his First Priestess, will feed the refugees and the Katerran population in the name of our benevolent god. Should Jabbit decide at some point to defeat and chase off the Yorak, the people will even praise him as the redeemer from evil.”

For a short moment after Anjatta had finished her report, their gazes clashed and dueled but then, without comment, Rhaseris turned away from the Ibanee princess and regarded Jabbit.

“My Lord, it’s very generous of you to make arrangements to help all these people,” Rhaseris stated, “even though many of them consider you to be their enemy and you were asked to disappear from public view. I feel honored you chose me to act in your stead and will do everything I can to prove I’m worthy of your trust in me.”

“Ouch!” Anseyla exclaimed. “Anja, I think the Princess just chewed through your objections against our Lord’s business proposal and spit them in your face.”

Dolberd Bars’Wolma rose from his chair. “I think we should leave the religious aspects of the discussion to Jabbit and the versed ladies in his company,” he addressed his friends and neighbors. “Let’s leave the study, giving them the privacy to do so. We’ll relocate to another room where we’ll take some refreshments while we discuss and coordinate the more business-oriented details of the proposal. I suggest we all meet again for dinner and then we can decide whether there will be a joint business endeavor or not.”

Bars’Wolma’s friends readily agreed and all professional traders quickly left the study.

As soon as the door had closed behind the merchants, Anjatta turned to Evanis. “Sybelien told us she’ll appoint you as the Protectress of the Empire. Will you sit back and do nothing when the Yorak invade and lay waste to Aloria?”

“You conniving little bitch!” Anseyla cursed. “Ask your niece to fight the Yorak and you’ll see if she shares your sanctimonious attitude. But don’t you dare drag Eva into this by goading her rebellious nature.”

Evanis snorted. “You can calm down, Ansa. I protect my friends and family but I’m still a mercenary at heart. Unless someone pays me a lot of gold, I won’t fight to protect the kingdoms of the vultures who robbed Aloria after the Yorak murdered Sybil’s family and burned down Katerra.”

Anjatta pleadingly looked at Sybelien but the blonde just shrugged.

“I hate the Yorak more than anyone,” Sybelien stated, “but the boss said I’ll get my revenge and I trust him. That’s all I care about.”

“Once Sybil gets her vengeance on the Yorak, I’ll recapture Aloria’s lost territory from the neighboring kingdoms,” Evanis added. “I know it’s what bunny boy wants me to do but I’ll do it anyway because I agree with him this time – it is justice.”

“But many thousands of innocents will die when the Yorak raid the lands,” Anjatta countered. “They’ll die because Jabbit called for the Yorak. They’ll die although he could rescue them. He could defeat the Yorak before they raid the lands and you would get your revenge on them, Sybelien - but that’s not his plan. Condoning the death of innocents to gain believers is not justice; it’s pure evil.”

“You heard your oracle, my evil Lord,” Anseyla turned to Jabbit with merrily sparkling eyes. “What do you have to say in your defense?”

“The Yorak are coming because I called for them,” Jabbit confirmed. “I called them because I want them here. But the Yorak won’t come because they obey my command. They will come because I gave them reasons to come. Sybelien and I made a deal. She wants revenge on the murderers of her family and she will get her revenge. I made a deal with every one of you and each of you gets what I said you’ll get. I also want a deal with the merchants in this home. If the merchants don’t want the deal I proposed, I will find others who want to trade with me. I offer something and I want something in return. If that’s evil, every one of you is evil and the whole world is evil, too.”

Evanis grinned at Rhaseris. “Your god is a mercenary at heart, just like me.”

Rhaseris rolled her eyes but turned toward Anjatta. “When will you finally stop being the stupidest oracle who ever walked this world? If you want to rescue the innocents from the coming war, you’ll have to do what I’ll do. Make them believers of the only god who can rescue them.”

Anjatta bowed her head. “I’ll follow your lead, First Priestess,” she meekly responded.

Anseyla rose from her chair and sashayed toward Jabbit. “Now that your First Priestess cleared the issue for your Oracle,” she stated as she sat down in Jabbit’s lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. “What can I do for you, my merciful Lord, to escape the punishment I deserve for the sins I’ve committed?”

Jabbit smiled at Anseyla. “Although I’m unaware of any sins you’ve committed, I’m open to suggestions from you for how to atone for your sins.”

It was Sybelien’s turn to roll her eyes. “Woe is me; I chose a trollop as my Empress Consort,” she lamented, while her girlfriend was whispering in Jabbit’s ear.

“Actually, I need to ask you a question on my own, my most generous Lord,” Rhaseris interrupted Anseyla’s and Jabbit’s speedily heating discussion. “How am I supposed to pay for all the food and stuff the merchants will bring to me? I am a princess but I’m far from home and have no access to the vast sum of gold this trade will require.”

Jabbit stopped kissing Anseyla and pushed a small pouch across the table toward Rhaseris. “I’ve earned eighteen gold coins today,” he announced. “Take the pouch and pay the merchants with my gold.”

Jabbit was proudly smiling at his First Priestess as she picked up the pouch but everyone else in the room was smirking at Rhaseris.

“I have a new priestess apprentice,” Rhaseris casually mentioned while she opened the pouch and looked inside. “You know her, my Lord; it’s Isabetta. I want to buy her some pretty dresses. May I also use your gold to pay for her new clothes?”

“Of course,” Jabbit allowed. “You are my First Priestess; you may use my gold for anything you want to buy.”

“Thank you, my Lord,” Rhaseris replied, and with a content smile on her face, she closed the pouch again.

Evanis stopped grinning and snatched the pouch from Rhaseris’ hand. “You two are driving me insane!” She complained, opening the pouch and turning it over.

Eighteen imperial gold coins dropped on the tabletop.

“There! That’s not nearly enough to pay for shiploads of food,” Evanis pointed out.

“Can I get the pouch back now?” Rhaseris asked, calmly, with only the barest hint of annoyance in her voice.

Evanis held out her hand with the empty pouch and with her other hand, she shoved the coins across the table toward Rhaseris.

“Yes; take it ba--,” she said but froze amidst her words and movement.

Her head spun and the hand with the pouch in it retreated. Glaring at Jabbit, she shook the small leather bag and another eighteen shiny gold coins fell, jingling, onto the marble tabletop.

“You’re a cheat!” Evanis accused.

“I’m not a cheat,” Jabbit defended himself. “The gold coins are real. I earned them.”

“You are a cheat,” Evanis insisted, while steadily more coins spilled on the table. “You may have earned eighteen gold coins, but I’m bloody sure you didn’t earn a pouch that refills with gold coins endlessly.”

Jabbit shook his head in denial. “I’m not a cheat. I earned eighteen gold coins and there always will be eighteen gold coins in my pouch - not one coin more nor one coin less.”

“To own a magical purse of gold is cheating,” Evanis persisted.

The continuation of the argument was hindered by Sybelien, Anseyla, and even Anjatta bursting out in laughter.

“I’m eagerly awaiting the first patch-man who’ll accuse Evanis of cheating after she killed him,” Sybelien remarked, wiping tears from her eyes.

Anseyla kissed Jabbit’s cheek and took a handful of gold coins from the table. “I want more dresses, too,” she cheerfully announced. “You can call me a cheat as well, Eva, but I’ll love paying for them with my Lord’s magic gold.”

“How did you know the pouch is magical?” Anjatta asked Rhaseris.

“I didn’t know it but I believe in my god,” the Princess answered.

Anjatta sighed but then she smiled at Rhaseris.

“I’ll atone for my lack of faith, I promise.”

Only a short while later, the door to the study opened and Moulster asked Jabbit and company to dinner. They followed the household servant to a large dining room. Bars’Wolma and his merchant friends had already taken their places at the table and greeted them politely.