Oyed sat in his cell for three days, allowed only the minimum of exercise and the most essential of food and drink. Reb brought in his midday meal. He gave a lecherous smile. “Have I been that good a boy?” he asked. He was handed the tray with his meal, and he began eating and drinking. Reb’s slime then pulled up a chair and she sat down, facing Oyed and pulling out a data pad. Oyed arched an eyebrow. “Okay, in all seriousness, what’s so important that the former Admiral of the now-defunct Scarlet Stream pirates needs to look at me?”
“Not look at, talk to,” corrected Reb. “I’ve been looking over these INTERESTING reports that I acquired when I retook my RIGHTFUL home of Plunder Island Stronghold. I’ve noticed some VERY interesting patterns on your front lines, note the PLURAL form. Was there ANYONE you wouldn’t fight against?”
“We need the room to AGGRESSIVELY expand,” replied Oyed. Reb rolled her eyes at his mockery of her verbal tic.
“Only an IDIOT fights a war on two fronts. You, sir, are the KING of idiots by fighting a war on forty-five fronts!”
“The Realm Trinity Empire can still handle it. Their resources AND yours are greater than you think.”
“So, my father’s crew was supplying BOTH sides, hm?” Oyed arched an eyebrow.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Reb clicked her tongue in disappointment. She then pulled out a crystal ball and an image formed in it. It was one of Oyed talking to a bearded man with the same color hair as her.
“Lord Oyed, this has been VERY profitable,” praised the man. “Both sides are paying through the nose for weapons, as you CORRECTLY said! I tell you, war or peace, it matters not to ME!”
“How did you-?!” spluttered the present-day Oyed.
“My father’s the DREADFUL source of my own paranoia,” explained Reb. “When he trained me to take command of the Scarlet Stream pirates, I became FRIGHTFULLY fearful that he might sell me out to the highest bidder, so I took the liberty of bugging his cabin during his meetings with other people. One never knows whether an INCONVENIENT truth will either fall between the cracks and vanish or be revealed to other parties, particularly parties that are enemies. That conversation worried me. After my husband and I were captured, we took steps to make sure we were in a STAUNCHLY protected position. Oyed, I have the feeling that your former associates are going to keep the Realms in a state of stagnation. When they go down, the Realms will fall.” Oyed rolled his eyes.
“They won’t have that kind of power, even as gods. You don’t appreciate how flawed they are.” He resumed eating his meal.
“I appreciate their flaws alright! And that is why your UNWARRANTED reluctance to help Arsha worries me!”
“And there it is! That magic word ‘Arsha’! The name that means ‘peace-seeker’ in the Mid-realm language!”
“Well, I intend to help her fulfill that in terms of this unfocused war! By drawing all forces into many smaller wars, you have effectively weakened their means of recovery, should the Council decide to do as you wanted!”
“The only way that they’ll destroy the Realms is through their incompetence! I may hate my children, but they were NOT incompetent as gods. Dr. Borg and her friends, however, they are, and they’ll be destroying the Realms because of it!”
“My point EXACTLY! And you are going to help us take the NECESSARY steps to prevent that! And you will start by disarming the Crypt’s VILE traps for Arsha!” Oyed laughed at Reb’s demand.
“Rebarisal Rojam, you are a fool!” he finally said. “I don’t know if Arsha told you this, but she correctly guessed that my title of Destroyer tells anyone what I do for funsies! If they’re gonna destroy the Realms, why would I help?”
“Because I asked you. Because you DO care about the Realms in some small capacity. Because you want to be the ONLY Destroyer.” Oyed chuckled to himself. Reb sighed. “All right, I didn’t want to panic you, but the real reason is because I made sure your food and drink were laced with my supply of tarsaline.” Oyed arched an eyebrow.
“…You’re gonna lie about my meal being poisoned?”
“Scanner, please,” Reb requested of the guard. He pulled the scanner out and her slime suit extended a tendril, grabbed it, then handed it to Oyed. Oyed set the scanner to look for poison and waved the wand over his meal. It flashed red and reported that the meal was laced with tarsaline. He goggled in fear at Reb and the guard.
“It’s been updated and tested,” said the guard. “You wolfed down a poisoned meal.”
“Tarsaline’s a VERY interesting poison,” chuckled Reb. “It kills a human within twenty days, and you ARE human, according to all medical scans. During the first ten days, the MAGIC timeframe where you can just take the antidote with no other medical attention, it enters the bloodstream and settles for just a bit. During the remaining ten days, it makes its way to the cardiovascular system. By then, you’ll need the antidote AND medical attention. On the twentieth day, the poison permanently alters all nerve signals to the heart so that it quivers, and no amount of defibrillation, antidote, or medical attention will help reset your quivering heart. To those who won’t know how to look, it will look like you had died of an extreme heart attack.” Oyed rushed to the energy shield in fear and anger, snarling at Reb.
“You give me the antidote! NOW!” he demanded.
“Arsha gave me the authorization to poison you, oh GREAT Oyed.”
“If you want proof,” called Arsha’s voice as she entered the brig, “I can provide it.”
“That won’t be necessary!” growled Oyed. “Just…why?! Why would you do something so desperate?!”
“To guarantee your cooperation,” explained Arsha. “And because, if our positions were reversed, you would have done the same to me. If I recall, you had a particular fondness for the Under-realm during the Savage Age and the Under-realm was the poison capital up until the middle of the First Age of Unity. It was always the instrument of choice back then.”
“Given my criminal connections,” continued Reb, “I always had a phial of tarsaline on standby. I only told Arsha about it a day before we got to Frigandor.” Oyed sighed in defeat. The only way he would be cured was by doing what Arsha said.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked.
“You’ve told me that you saw Crelima set the traps in the Crypt before he committed suicide” said Arsha. “You will disarm the traps and tell me how to use the Talkwen Stone. You will then lead me out of the Crypt with the Talkwen Stone in my hand. Once that’s done, you will be given the antidote. Oh, and just so we’re clear; no compliance, no cure.” She then took his drink of water, then made sure she was out of the cell before adding a drop of a neon-green liquid to it. The instant the drop made contact, it spewed smoke before stopping and returning to its clear state. She then raised the glass. “To your health, Lord Oyed.” She then drank the water after her mocking toast. Oyed snarled as he thought about what to do next.