Otherlife Nightmares: The Selfless Hero Trilogy by William D. Arand Page A

caught Katarina and Thana staring at him. Smiling, he waved at them a little before beginning again.
    “The current Human ambassador is plotting with the Barbarian ambassador in an attempt to pressure them into agreeing to an armistice so the Human army can turn to attack you unopposed. The ambassador has been bribed and will condone this plan, though I do not think the crown will support such an action.”
    Scanning the rest of his document, he found notes and details of the names involved so the king could sweep them all up.
    “Oh, your wife is sleeping with the chancellor. Your son isn’t yours, he’s his. You are in fact childless. She doesn’t know of the plan to take the throne, though it’s likely she’ll support it. Ah, yes, and finally. Knight Damalis. He would have laid his life down to protect you, so multiple factions sought to implicate him in a frame job to see him disposed of. The messenger for the Barbarians will be arriving today, more than likely before noon, though I’m not sure, to discuss the aid I mentioned earlier.”
    Finished, Runner let his hand drop and he looked towards the king. The man sat still as death. His eyes glazed over as he tried to process it all.
    With a scream of fury, the Human ambassador lunged at the Barbarian ambassador and began stabbing him with a dirk. In the same instant, the Queen had started screaming at the chancellor that she’d been tricked, and she had no idea of his plot.
    Then the whole room went crazy as the guards loyal to the princess charged the king and the guards loyal to the king charged the traitors.
    Apparently he’d triggered more than a few events and flags.
    Deciding this would be the time to leave, he dragged Petros towards Katarina and Thana and dropped him against a stone wall.
    “Kitten, protect the king. I’m sorry, I still have your sword. Keep them busy even if you can’t fight back. Lady, pick off targets who are marked and low health. Hanners and Rabbit already have similar orders. I prepared them ahead of time in case this happened. I’ll work on keeping people alive and marking. Go.”
    Katarina bolted forward, her shield held up before her like a battering ram. Sliding to a standstill in front of the shell-shocked king, she immediately shield bashed an attacker to the floor.
    Quickly giving the room a once-over, he picked out the traitors and marked them. Selecting the sergeant he’d spoken to the day previously, he cast Heal and then Regenerate .
    He was eager to try out his new spells, but he felt keeping as many loyal guards alive as possible would be the better political move.
    Moving from guard to guard, he worked to keep them healthy and in the fight. Thana utilized her new staff to great effect, ending the lives of several of the traitors.
    Nadine and Hannah worked in tandem, bringing down three themselves. Katarina stood at the foot of the dais, allowing no one by her position.
    It took only a minute, though it felt like hours, but the throne room returned to its previous state. Plus some twenty-odd corpses.
    As if on cue, a Barbarian woman rushed inside, falling to a knee in front of the King.
    “Your Majesty, your cousin requests your aid immediately. The Humans march on our capital.”
    The king looked from the messenger, to the corpses, to Runner.
    “She’s good, that’s the truth. Though it’s not as dire as you think. It’ll take a week to travel there normally but the Human army won’t arrive for two weeks. The dates were listed in the quest nodes.”
     
    Many of the AIs in the room are irrevocably broken. The king nearly did not make it through his own Awakening. Those who are broken will no longer accept any type of influence if it does not run along the lines of their original programming. I do not recommend repeating such an action in the future.
     
    Runner opened his inventory, pulled out a beetle, and devoured it. The small relief it provided was enough to let his mind catch up.
    For this court of