Chapter 14: Stick To What You Know
Shiv opened his eyes to the unpleasant sight of a toothless old man standing above him with an ugly scowl on his face.
"Uh, hello." He hesitantly sat up, looking around with curiosity.
The old man hooted in amusement. "You're a stubborn one! Lay your skinny self back down there, sonny. You took quite the beatin' out there."
Shiv looked at him with raised eyebrows. 'He sounds happy, but he looks super angry. What's going on here?' He obeyed, though, having gotten a good look at the room. He was in a wooden room with a big window on the farthest wall showing nothing but rain. The floor was made of stone, and the bed he was lying in, devoid of blankets like every other bed he'd seen on the planet, was surprisingly soft. 'Maybe some of these people really do know something about comfort.' The thought filled him with indescribable hope that he tried desperately to get rid of. Hope was dangerous. The hot rain had already proven that.
"You're prolly wonderin' where you are, am I right?" Mr. Frownyface sat back in his chair with his arms crossed.
A sudden thought of Briggs and the magic he had used popped into Shiv's mind. "Actually, I have a more urgent question. Briggs- do you know about him?" More hope filled him despite his unwillingness.
"Know him? He's my boss. O'course I know him." He cackled.
They were interrupted by the door opposite the window opening, revealing a short man in a cloak stepping quickly out of the downpour of rain. "You're up. That's good." Briggs took his cloak off and hung it, dripping, on a coat rack. "Thanks for your help, Samuel. I'd like to speak with our guest privately now." Briggs spoke as he walked forward and jerked a thumb toward the door.
The old man left, motioning at the dripping water, then walked out with the water following him.
"Samuel healed you. You should thank him next time you meet." Briggs said while sitting in the recently vacated seat. Then he leaned forward and looked Shiv directly in the eyes. "Alright, Stranger, it's about time you answer some questions."
Shiv involuntarily leaned back from the intense gaze and scowled. "First, I've got a question for you."
Briggs blinked.
"What kind of magic do you have?"
"Ice magic… don't you remember the fight?"
'I'm so glad I didn't kill him.' Shiv was on cloud nine. "You are now my most favorite person in this entire cursed world."
"I see. Then why did you question my subordinate while threatening his life, then knock him unconscious?" Briggs crossed his arms. "Do not lie. I will know if you are lying."
'Guess he doesn't know I killed the rest of his crew.' Shiv thought that he most likely wouldn't be alive right now if Briggs knew that piece of information.
"Oh, that?" Shiv laughed. 'You want the truth, ah?'
He shrugged. "I was brought here from far away in order to destroy every single thing in this horrible place."
"Why?" Briggs asked one simple question that Shiv did not know the answer to. Why did the suited guy want this place destroyed so badly, anyway?
"I can't tell you that." Shiv said.
"That still doesn't explain your actions against my subordinate. Why not kill him if your job is to destroy everything?"
Shiv scowled. "He reminded me of an old friend, and I was feeling merciful. Don't worry, I'll get around to killing him eventually."
Briggs raised an eyebrow then changed the subject. "How did you know about our most recent operation?"
Shiv absentmindedly told him the truth again. He was realizing that his wounds had been healed. "I was following you and listening in on your conversations."
"Why?"
"You really like that word, don't you?" He stretched with a gleeful, painless expression. "To figure out why you were way out here in the scary forest. Why else?"
Shiv got up and went to peer through the window.
"How do you plan to destroy this country?" Briggs didn't move.
'This country? Ah. I guess that's a reasonable misunderstanding. Wait. I wonder If I can use this…' Shiv turned from peering out the window and pierced Briggs with a contemplative smile. "Why do you ask?"
"Depending on your answer, I might be willing to help you." Came the guarded reply.
Shiv grinned. "Why?"
Briggs did not see the humor. "I have the same goal." He stood and walked over to look out the window as well. "Depending on your plan and the resources available to you, I might be willing to combine forces with you."
"Why would I want your help? You were lost in the woods after having your butt kicked by a couple of old farmers." Shiv turned around to lean on the windowsill.
The short man smiled viciously. It was not a pleasant sight. "I brought those people on that suicide mission on purpose. The members of the group that I lost were mostly troublemakers and would-be traitors. But to answer your question: I am the leader of a large group of skilled combatants with little to no moral inhibitions."
Shiv didn't know the first thing about leading soldiers, but this sounded strange even to him. "You're not the type to use orthodox methods, are you?"
"Orthodox?" Briggs tilted his head. "Where are you from, that you use such strange words?"
"Orthodox means, uh, normal. And I'm from a place just across the ocean."
Abruptly, Briggs had a knife made of ice pressed against Shiv's throat. "I told you not to lie to me."
'That feels so, so cold.' Shiv would have been in heaven if the coolness wasn't coming from a knife threatening his life. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm from earth. Now put your knife down, OK? Nice and easy like. There we go."
"You are an annoying man." Briggs said and shook his head, making the knife disappear. "And no, I do not typically use… 'orthodox' methods." He sounded the unfamiliar word out carefully. "Where is earth?"
'That was uncalled for.' Shiv pouted. "Far, far away. So how good are your men at farming?"
***
An hour passed as Shiv explained his plan.
Close to the end of their talk, Briggs offered some advice: "Leave leading to me. You mean well, but stick to what you know. That being farming, economics, and murder. Once you've incapacitated the army and ruined the cities' defenses, I'll take care of the actual mass destruction."
Shiv thought about it for a long moment. 'The deity dude doesn't care how this place is destroyed so long as it's destroyed.' With that decided, Shiv agreed with Briggs.
"Works for me. Are you sure you'll have enough soldiers to do it?"
Briggs nodded. "As I said- leave leading to me. As soon as I begin receiving the agreed-upon funds, I will increase the number of soldiers under my command tenfold."
"Right." Shiv had just one more thing that bothered him. "Why do you want to destroy this kingdom, anyway?"
The two of them left the cabin, Shiv feeling like he was walking into a waterfall of boiled water. 'At least the bugs aren't so bad.' He glanced with jealousy at Briggs' cloak.
The short, cloaked man yelled to be heard over the downpour. "I was a lowborn noble in love with the princess. I thought she loved me too, but… she goaded me into attempting a task that, as I found out later, she apparently thought was impossible. I was given the false promise that, if I returned with proof of my success, we would be married." He spat. "I should have known better than to trust that witch of a woman or that council of greedy, money-grubbing naves."
Shiv noted that he wasn't the only one to assign suitable names to people. 'I'm probably the only one who does it to wolves, though.'
"The princess told me the council would help me, but they didn't. I persisted anyway and completed the task with absolutely no help from any of them. Just using my own wit and trusted friends, I managed to complete the task. When I came back to claim my reward," he paused as the two of them ducked inside a new building, and took his cloak off. "She tried to have me killed the night after our wedding."
They were in a long hall with three long tables spanning the length of the hall. Nobody was sitting at the tables, but they were being filled to the brim with bread and meat of all kinds by a group of women with fire tattoos on their necks.
"How'd you survive?" Shiv prompted when Briggs didn't say anything else.
"I was underestimated." Came the simple answer. They walked the length of the hall and sat at a table at the end of the hall. "Watch." He pointed at the large doors they had just entered through.
Shiv did, and before too long, people started entering. All of them were wearing various types of cloth armor that rainwater dripped off of without soaking. Soon, all three of the tables were filled with quietly chattering warriors.
Briggs motioned at the small army. "These are the tools that will sow the destruction you desire. As you can see, I will clearly hold up my end of the bargain. The only question is… will you?"
Shiv felt oddly reserved. He only nodded.
Soon, he wo
uld be responsible for the destruction of an entire kingdom.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Stuckers
Stuckers That was a mean princess. I hope we don't have to meet her later.
Weekly Power Status
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