Josie looked around the empty office. Her bird had dropped her raiding party in a room

  with a view, lit fireplace, and lit lanterns on the wall.

  There was no sign of Illheim.

  “He must have just stepped out,” said Budd. He went to the window. “It looks like we’re

  in his private quarters. The rest of the place is to our left.”

  “Let’s see if he left us something we can use to hang him,” said Josie. She went to the

  desk and began searching it.

  “Would he keep damning information in his desk?,” asked Case.

  “He can’t run a billion gold coin business without some kind of work book,” said Josie.

  “He might have a safe hidden in the wall. I will look for that as soon as I make sure he

  doesn’t have his invasion plans in plain view.”

  “Illheim might be prepared for us,” said Rickard. He started running his hands along the

  books in a shelf next to the fireplace. “He has had time since I sentenced his brother and

  sent the paperwork for him to take over the titles.”

  “He has had time, but he hasn’t changed any of his plans,” said Josie. She found a book

  in the desk and began reading it. She nodded. She pulled on Zatanna and asked the book

  what it was. It told her it was a ledger full of monies. She changed Zatanna for the

  Calculator. That gave her the extent of the enterprise and it was more than just causing

  a conflict for a land grab.

  He had a plan in motion to take over both countries, and then push on his neighbors

  after he had consolidated his power.

  She admired that amount of long range planning. She could barely get her morning

  coffee without problems.

  Elaine was a godsend, and deserved a better man than Jack as a husband.

  “Illheim and his cronies own half of the kingdom through the bank,” said Josie. “Once

  he had the carved out slot like we talked about, he planned to slowly expand his

  operation until he controlled the west-east border of the two countries, and then he

  planned to expand until he had the rest in his hands.”

  “Caroline?,” said Rickard.

  “Sacrificed for the greater good of the country,” said Josie.

  “Naturally,” said Rickard. He found a book that didn’t want to come out. He examined

  it, discovering he could only tilt it down. The shelf swung away from the wall for him.

  He pulled his sword and took a nearby lantern off the wall. He stepped inside the room

  that had been revealed. He noted the various maps and notes held to the walls by nails.

  He frowned at the extent of the planning before him.

  “He certainly was trying to cover all of his basics,” said Budd, entering the hidden room.

  “Most of this is before the time Madam Witch and Jack got involved with their slaver

  hunting.”

  “This section covers the suborning of Caroline’s guards,” said Rickard. “And this is

  Exhua’s declaration of the monies he could raid from the Treasury.”

  “This is a report about the old Duke Hent and his friends being killed by some stranger,”

  said Budd. “This is a report on the new Duke Hent. It looks like they wanted to replace

  him when they could.”

  “Jack and Josie taking him under their wing may have saved his life,” said Rickard. “I

  think I have seen enough. We should close this up until I can get some people from the

  Army in here to sort everything. We might have stumbled on the main body of a hydra

  that is ruining everything it touches.”

  “He certainly wanted Caroline as a hostage, or under his thumb as the queen,” said

  Budd. “I’m glad we could help stop that.”

  “So am I,” said Rickard. He put his sword away and gestured for the younger man to

  leave the secret room in front of him. “I am still not sure if Case is the right man for her,

  but he is better than Illheim.”

  Josie leaned back in Illheim’s chair and decided that she might want to keep it after they

  were done with the princeling. She thought about how he could be running the Montrose

  and ruining everything he touched.

  “I think someone is coming,” said Case. He stood by the door, listening.

  “Take the other side,” said Budd. He pulled his sword and moved to the door’s left side.

  Case nodded and took the other side. He would be exposed when the door opened, but

  hopefully Madam Witch would keep him alive to get back to Caroline. He drew his

  sword.

  The door opened, and the group outside froze as they spotted Case standing there.

  “Come in,” said Josie. “Have a seat so we can talk.”

  Illheim entered the room with his two guards. They had their hands on their swords, but

  Case shook his head. They weren’t in trouble, so they shouldn’t push things.

  “Hello, Uncle,” said Illheim. He frowned at the woman sitting behind his desk. The

  Makeover marred his flesh, marking him as one of the Montrose’s members. “Who is

  this?”

  Josie stared at the cousin. She saw a connection that she had never seen before. She

  shook her head.

  “Of course,” she said. “They knew all along.”

  “Excuse me,” said Illheim. His eyebrows lifted.

  “I apologize,” said Josie. “I’m in the middle of an epiphany. Go ahead and sit. I just

  realized that I could kill your whole organization from here, and I am thinking about the

  ramifications.”

  “Josie?,” said Rickard. “What are you saying?”

  “I can clear the continent just like I cleared the capitol,” said Josie. She smiled at

  Illheim. She waved her hand at the empty visitor’s chair. “But there are problems if I

  follow through with it.”

  “What do you mean cleared the capitol?,” asked Illheim.

  “What kind of problems?,” said Rickard. “I think our allies would like it if you can do

  something like that.”

  “I spotted three major problems with the process,” said Josie. “We’re not going to kill

  you yet, Illheim. Sit down.”

  Illheim sat down. He looked at his guards. They moved to the back of his chair to face

  Budd and Case. The two adventurers held their swords at the ready.

  “The first problem is the Society,” said Josie. “They like to keep things stable. A small

  city worth of people dropping dead all across the continent wouldn’t be great in their

  opinion. If they decided it was too much, you would be stuck with Jack as your main

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  protector.”

  “The man who thinks it’s fine to drop lightning inside a city at moving targets?,” asked

  Budd.

  “The man who brought home a dragon for his niece because it was blue?,” said Case.

  “I was thinking of the man who would murder a nation if something happened to his

  beloved,” said Josie. “Let’s go with your two examples of his character.”

  “You said there were two other reasons,” said Rickard. He had seen how close Elaine

  had come to being killed. He didn’t want to be the man tasked with stopping Jack from

  taking his revenge.

  “The second is your government is going to need an example of what happens when

  someone crosses a line,” said Josie. “The nobility won’t like it, and you may be facing

  a civil war, but you have to show you can govern.”

  She frowned at Illheim. He could almost see her eyes glow in the lamplight. He didn’t

  like it.

  “The third reason is the most important,” said Josie. “If I kill all the Montrose right now,

  what happens to the women they are transporting. I don’t think we’d be able to find all

  of them before they starved to death in their cages.”

  “You could find them all first,” said Case. “Then you can get rid of all of these tattooed

  men. Then you would just have to gather up the captives.”

  “That is a good idea, Case,” said Josie.

  “Apparently he is smarter than he looks,” said Rickard.

  “What do you think, Illheim?,” asked Josie. “Do you want mercy, or an execution?”

  “I suppose I will be joining Rustam,” said Illheim.

  “I think so,” said Rickard. “I imagine a place like the Delve will give you chances to

  escape and rouse the nobility against me.”

  “Give me your hand,” said Josie.

  “Why?,” asked Illheim.

  “So when I need to find you after your daring escape,” said Josie. “I will have

  something to lock on.”

  “All right,” said the royal. He leaned forward, offering his left hand. His right went for

  the dagger in his belt. He stabbed over the desk. This witch would never take a piece of

  him.

  Josie pulled him over the desk. She blocked the arm with her arm like June told her,

  slamming it against the desk top and popping the knife loose. Then she grabbed the

  letter opener and stabbed Illheim in the arm.

  He howled at the pain, but it was enough for her to change forms with a touch of her

  watch. Suddenly, he was in the grip of something made of red lightning holding him by

  the neck.

  “Wrong move,” said Josie. She flung him up in the ceiling and let him crash against the

  floor. His guards stirred, but they didn’t move to force their way through Budd and

  Case.

  She switched to Zatanna and drew a booster array across the floor. It would be nothing

  to explode his head with her power, but she decided that she would give the king what

  he wanted and destroy the Montrose at the same time.

  She implanted a small engine of magic inside Illheim. She checked to make sure it

  would work like she wanted. Then she flung him back into his seat with a wave of her

  hand.

  “How do you want to handle the rest of this?,” asked Josie, letting the persona go.

  “I’m going to send for some officers to take in this room,” said Rickard. “I am going to

  call together all of my nobles. Any one of them that is implicated will have to defend

  themselves from charges.”

  “So you are going to live, Illheim,” said Josie. She almost smiled. “You wouldn’t have

  wanted Jack to come up here after your goons attacked his beloved and my girls to get

  to Caroline. He would have done something horrible to your property and your staff.”

  “Something that would last forever,” said Budd. “Do we take the bodyguards?”

  “You can flee,” said Josie. “Matter of fact, rouse the castle, and tell them to flee if they

  have the markings on their face. If you get arrested later, that’s just as good as getting

  arrested now. But if I were you, I wouldn’t hurt anybody else while I was escaping

  justice.”

  The guards stood. They seemed torn about what they were supposed to do.

  “If you don’t do as the Ear Ripper says,” said Rickard. “You will get an example of why

  they call her the Ear Ripper.”

  He waved his hand at them to go.

  “Enterprise?,” Josie asked her com. She kept her fuming to herself as the guards slowly

  walked out of the office.

  “Acknowledged,” said the machine.

  “We have a prisoner that needs to go to the brig,” said Josie. “The rest of us would like

  to come aboard and get a drink and sandwich.”

  “Affirmative,” said the machine. “Moving to station. Estimated time of arrival is forty

  seconds.”

  Josie took the time to wrap Illheim in his chair with a piece of magic. He vanished first

  when the Enterprise arrived overhead. Then her crew. She vanished last.

  She blinked in Transporter Room One.

  “Enterprise,” she asked the air. “Status of the new prisoner?”

  “In Cell One Two Five,” said the machine.

  “The other guests?,” asked Josie.

  “The Empty Lounge,” said the machine.

  “I didn’t get an all clear,” said Josie. “We must have missed something.”

  “Can’t you divine an answer?,” asked Case.

  “Who are you and what have you done with the real Case?,” asked Josie.

  “I’m fairly decent with tactical things,” said Case. “I have had adventurer training after

  all.”

  “Let’s get something to eat,” said Josie. She switched up and sent a bird down below

  before giving up her guise.

  “What was that?,” said Budd.

  “I forgot to seal up the room so the King’s messengers could gather everything up,” said

  Josie. “We don’t want someone destroying the evidence before we can show it before

  the court.”

  The quest cleared with that statement. She smiled.

  “The war is stopped as soon as news gets out of what Illheim was doing,” said Josie.

  “We’re going to have to do something to spread it, and we’re going to have to get the

  evidence to a court where it can be used to clear out his supporters.”

  “The job is done?,” said Case.

  “Except for the wrap-up,” said Josie. “The king is going to need reports on what you

  saw and did. I’ll talk to Captain Russ and get her to write something up for whatever

  you want to do, Your Majesty, for the Shemmarians.”

  “Illheim, or Rustam, could have become the king if Caroline had not found someone and

  had an heir,” said Rickard. “All this effort to bring my family down.”

  “We’ll put him in whatever jail you want him until you send him to the Delve,” said

  Josie. “If he had been successful, he would have destabilized the continent for years,

  maybe decades. Jack and I would have been stomping out fires as fast as they sprang up.

  Let’s get everything together and decide what the diplomatic part of this is before we

  break up. Then we can put you down while I take care of one last piece of business.”

  “What business is left?,” asked Rickard.

  “I have to talk to a man about some orphans,” said Josie. “Maybe make an example of

  him.”

  “Do you require us, Madam Witch?,” asked Budd.

  “No,” said Josie. “You can hang out with the girls after you fill out your statements.

  We’ll drop you off before we take care of this last little bit.”

  “So Caroline and I can be together?,” said Case.

  “Beatrice and Emily will be there, lover boy,” said Josie.

  “Hands to yourself,” said Rickard. “Ruffian.”

  “He likes you, Case,” said Josie. “He doesn’t want to show it because you might do

  something stupid and have to be hanged.”

  The king made a noise as he forged ahead to the lounge at the front of the saucer of the

  flying castle they were on.

  “Go ahead, Case,” said Budd. “I’ll have to think about the minimum I’ve done.”

  “Tell Markus and Vin I need something from them,” said Josie. “That way I can justify

  their pay to Eric.”

  “Understood,” said Case. He quickened his pace to catch up with his future father-in-

  law.

  “What you want, Budd?,” asked Josie. She had an inkling he was going to ask her about

  Beatrice. She didn’t know what she would do if it was for Bea’s hand.

  “I was wondering if you would mind if I asked Beatrice for her hand,” said Budd.

  “Why would I mind?,” asked Josie. “You seem okay. I think you guys are moving fast

  for only having met a couple of weeks ago. But maybe that is how things are done

  here.”

  “I understand if there are others you would like for her to marry,” said Budd.

  “Have you asked Beatrice?,” said Josie. “Maybe she won’t want to marry you.”

  “I thought it would be better if I talked to you first,” said Budd. “I don’t want my head

  to shatter into a million pieces if you didn’t like the idea.”

  “Budd,” said Josie. She looked at him, thinking about what she wanted to say before she

  said it. “I will set time aside with you and Beatrice to plan for your future. It just won’t

  be tomorrow, or the next day. But we will talk about this.”

  “So you’re not going to kill me?,” said Budd.

  “It’s not on my to do list,” said Josie. “When it is, I will be the first person to tell you.”

  “That kind of makes me feel better,” said Budd.

  “Get a haircut,” said Josie. “Now I am going to get something to eat, make sure

  everyone knows what everyone else knows, and has enough evidence to back everything

  up, and then I am going to offload everyone and deal with this other thing. Tomorrow,

  or the next day, come by the Hole in the Wall and we’ll talk about things. If Beatrice

  wants to move out and set up a place with you, that is fine, I guess. She is more than

  capable of defending herself with the right care and caution.”

  “All right,” said Budd.

  “I’m glad that you said something,” said Josie. “I would hate that you talked to Jack

  about this before me.”

  “I would never ask him for anything like that,” said Budd. “He might do anything for

  his own amusement.”

  “But he would stand up for you,” said Josie. “He would make you miserable while he

  did it.”

  “True,” said Budd. “Thank you for hearing me out.”

  Josie waved him on. She smiled. Beatrice bouncing back from Todd was something she

  was happy about. She had expected Bea to hold it against her for what she had done.

  Worse, for what she hadn’t done to keep Beatrice from being poisoned.