1.7 Winning Friends and Influencing People
It's Holden.
1.7 Winning Friends and Influencing People
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He holds a hand up to Spence. "Bide."
"Hey, what's up man!??" He turns and winks at Violet.
"I'm standing in front of the thorn-covered castle with Prince Spencer. We're okay to go back to being shiftless recluses. He's getting to the bottom of this."
Q gives him a smirk.
Spence looks pissed as hell at Quill when he tells him to “bide”.
Violet fakes a sneeze and covers her now grinning mouth.
Spence walks over and hands her an elegant white handkerchief, which Violet takes, batting her eyelashes sweetly.
“Thank you, General Spence. How very thoughtful of you.”
Holden, who looks like someone used his face as a dart board recently, almost chokes in response to Quill’s comments.
“I heard about the thorns. I did not hear we were placing the fate of all reality in the hands of General Stick Up His Ass. Are you okay with this?”
He swings his sword around casually and his pinky falls off. At least there doesn’t seem to be any blood coming from the place the digit just vacated.
“Shit. I hate when that happens. Just bring me through,” he sighs, jams a cigarette in his mouth, and extends his hand.
When Holden arrives, Spence looks practically apoplectic.
“Lord Holden, I believe you are still currently banished from Amber,” Spence sneers.
Holden spins his blade about expertly and it flashes nearer to Spence then one would consider proper even in the best of settings.
Holden now holds a bit of Spence’s hair in his hands and he blows it in Spence’s face as if he’s blowing the man a kiss and he says, “Doesn’t look like King Random’s in much of a condition to do anything about my so called banishment, now does it? Too bad he didn’t have someone more competent looking out for him. Maybe he wouldn’t be hanging in a thorny noose with his balls hacked off. Now who was it that was in charge of making sure Amber stayed safe from external threats? Let me think. Was it Q? No. Was it me? No. Hmmmm. Let me think….I think it was…” he smirks at his cousin.
Spence draws his sword.
Violet looks a bit nervous.
Quillan walks over to Violet and gets her away from the two testosterone-laden combatants.
"It's a repressed latent homosexual thing. They really love each other." He says very quietly, not wanting an ass-whipping of his own.
"First blood only guys, okay?"
He turns back to Violet. "So what's a nice girl like you doing at an impromptu duel like this?"
Violet grabs onto Quill’s arm as she starts laughing.
The two men both grunt in acknowledgement of Quill’s first blood comment but neither seems happy about it.
It is clear that Spence has been classically trained and is far superior to most swordsmen that Quill has ever witnessed before. His speed is astonishing, but his predictability is proving to be a weakness.
Holden is gifted beyond measure, and his unorthodox style throws Spence off. Holden is far more willing to take chances and seems to be actually enjoying himself ten minutes into the duel.
Spence looks like he’s been sucking on lemons and as if he believes that cutting Holden’s head off still counts as a legitimate option under the rules of first blood. The steel is moving so quickly now that it is impossible to tell whose blade is whose. The constant clanging is a bit unnerving.
Spence’s men are obviously betting on the outcome.
Violet responds with an impish grin, “I was swept off my feet by a ne’er-do-well sorcerer who promised to show me the sights of Amber. Instead he brought me ringside to a cockfight.”
“So who do you think will win?”
"Oh, my boy Holden will be victorious. He's really quite good. Better than me. Much…better than me."
Quill whispers in her ear. "What do you mean, 'ne'er do well?' Has someone been talking?"
He grins.
Violet gives him a playful smile and she says, “I was really just being hopeful.”
A red head trumps in and hits both men with tiny lightning bolts, knocking them apart.
It’s Belles. She is holding Holden’s ex-pinky in her hand and shaking it at him, “I just fucking sewed this back on you! What the hell is wrong with you?”
She looks up suddenly and her mouth drops open as the state of the castle registers with her.
“Random!” she cries out and runs for him.
Spence tackles her just before she gets to the thorns.
Holden stands up looking sheepish.
Spence’s men grumble obviously unhappy that the duel was cut short.
As they nearly crash into the thorns they hit an invisible barrier which suddenly lights up. It is a translucent disk, inner lit with a pale yellow light. A gonging noise loudly proclaims someone has touched it.
"NOOOO!!!" Quill yells as they nearly hit the thorns. The Word of Warning is between them and the thorns. Quill runs over and yanks Belles to her feet. "Are you fucking insane!! Why would you run into the castle looking like this when we're all standing here, did you think we were A. Blind, B. Stupid or C. Some combination thereof? You almost got yourself killed goddamnit!"
He mutters to himself. "Fucking redheads."
Belles has tears in her eyes and looks as if Quill just slapped her.
Spence gets up, glares at Q, and puts his arms around Belles. Belles pushes him away from her, walks a few paces away, and begins going through her trumps. He can see she is trying to contact Bleys.
Holden looks in awe at the castle where the disk had appeared and says, “What the hell was that?”
Violet silently watches everyone.
Quill walks up to Belles. "His Trump probably won't work. Are you okay? If you fucking died on me I'd jump off a bridge or a high mountain." He double-takes a look at Kolvir.
"Now I wasted my last spell saving you and Captain Amberica. You have to protect me now."
He brushes some dirt off her shoulder, then turns to face Spence.
"We need to get as many members of the family that are available and discuss what to do. Spence, the word needs to get out to everyone not to fuck with the thorns. Let's stop burying people, damn it. We need to still protect the castle and be ready for whatever might come after us. We need to ascertain the position of all the Elders and anyone else who is trapped. We need to get ready for a war without a castle or the wisest, most powerful defenders Amber has. We need to stop measuring how big our dicks are, and work together. Then we can take turns beating the shit out of whoever did this. Unless I did it by accident, then I'm off the hook." He grins.
"I should have freedom to use Rebma's libraries, since Amber's are now denied to us. We should attempt a trip to Tir when it next appears in the sky. I'm going to check on Rebma's Pattern. We need to get some bugs or small mice who can report back to check the inside of the castle and see if there is anyplace one can safely teleport into."
"Belles, Violet, Holden, Spence, I'm very, very open for suggestions, other than to go fuck myself."
His tone shows his sincerity, and great worry. He can't bring himself to say anything about Fiona probaby being inside, pierced with thorns, unmoving, and maybe even dead.
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