Battalia: Kill the King!

12. Life for Life

"No," she shouted as a spell circle formed. A beam of light shot from it, blowing a burning hole in the man's chest. He froze, blade still up in the air, then fell over. The villagers were still struggling to take out the last one when an arrow pierced his chest. Jorge was on top of his cottage, aiming down. The dying man turned to him before he fired another. It was over. They were all dead.

"Granny, I can feel it burning," Angie said.

"I know child, we did it," she responded.

"I don't mean them. Clay's house...it's on fire."

The old lady was surprised. Angie was still a novice when it came to sensing mana but was learning incredibly fast.

"Good, now comes the hard part," Yolanda said. Shaddox looked at the village square. It was now littered with bodies. Fortunately, none of the townspeople had died, though many were injured. The doctor and Marge got to work, immediately tending to the wounded. Jorge and the men who weren't wounded started cleaning up. They put out the fire and prepared the bodies. For Shaddox, the night was just getting started.

...

"We need someone who's willing to give up their life," Yolanda had told him.

"What?" Shaddox asked.

"I guess that sounds a bit overdramatic. We need someone to pretend to be Clay. Most of the mercenaries are nomads. Nobody will miss them, and I doubt anyone from the capital knows who they are. Clay is different though. He's a businessman. There might be contracts that will activate upon his death. On top of that, he's the main line of communication between Oberon and Ažakan. We need to create a convincing replica. So, we'll need someone to give up their identity and become Clay."

...

Shaddox entered the doctor's practice later that night. The place was packed with injured villagers. The doctor was in the process of sending them off for the night. Battalia helped apply bandages and gave out medicine while Angie used what little healing magic she could.

"Thank you so much," Elain told Battalia, grabbing her hand. "If you hadn't come, who knows what they would have done to her."

The man was delirious, recovering from a head injury.

Battalia placed her other hand over his. "I did this to avenge my people, you don't have to thank me." Battalia truly had no interest in being their savior.

"You don't seem like the vengeful type," Elain said, passing out shortly after.

"He should be fine," the doctor reassured.

His clothes were stained in blood. Even his cigarette had a touch of crimson on it. Once things settled down in the clinic, the doctor led them to a room in the back. Clay was laid out on an operating table. There was another empty table behind him. Yolanda sat on a stool in between them both. Jorge was the last to enter the room.

Shaddox pulled out a mask. It was made of metal, designed to just cover the eyes. Yolanda had given him the day before.

"I will go over this once more, so all six of us are on the same page," Yolanda said. Everyone sat in silence.

"Having someone pretend to be Clay for a few hours is easy. But for months, possibly years: that's going to be a little more difficult. The spell we'll be using is Gemini Mask. If the alias is being taken, and not given, then the alias must stay alive. Clay cannot die. The doctor here can keep him unconscious, but it'll be time-consuming and difficult. As for the wearer, Shaddox has volunteered to become Clay. He will be able to transform into Clay at will, with the cost of being unable to remove the mask. At least until we're done with him. He also can't be seen by any of Clay's closest family and friends."

Angie remembered something that both Yolanda and her mother had told her.

"Magic is unfair. Not all spells are created equal, and neither are all mages. The only fairness in magic is the Rule of Values. Something given will always be worth more than something taken."

If an identity could just be taken then people would do it all the time. Yolanda would often complain that it's much easier to kill someone than do anything else with them.

The witch continued. "The second thing is that in order to keep things running smoothly with the capital, I will have to copy Clay's memories and graft them into Shaddox's. Either we can do this fast and painless, and risk Shaddox going insane, or we do it the long way. And I do mean that for myself included. This will take hours, and during that time neither one of us can be touched nor spoken to. No matter how much we scream or yell, unless one of us passes out, ignore us."

Yolanda faced Shaddox. "We don't have to do this now, you know? You've had a long night, and you're probably high off the adrenaline. You could pass out any minute."

"We'll need to get into the swing of things as fast as possible. The quicker we can answer the hard questions, the better. The villagers will want to celebrate tomorrow night anyway."

Shaddox laid down on the other table.

"The doc is going to stay and make sure we're stable. Jorge is going to stick around as well." She looked over at Battalia and Angie. "You two go get some rest. The both of you have done enough for us."

"Oh shut it Granny, you know we're going to stay. Besides, neither one of us is tired."

"You two did the most and neither of you is tired," Yolanda mumbled. "Magic really is unfair."

Shaddox put on the mask, and the process began. Both Shaddox and Yolanda grunted the entire time, yet neither screamed. The doctor smoked more that night than any other in his life, burning through his entire supply. Angie sat worried, trying not to cry. She was also trying to figure out if Battalia had fallen asleep sitting up, or was doing some kind of meditation. It was a mixture of both. Jorge spent the entire night working on a piece of leather he had bought. He sat right outside the room, just in case the sound might disturb the two. It was nearly daybreak when it was finally finished.