Nadine Book 4

59. Clicking

We speed to Dipak's office. The same people are sitting there.

Dipak jumps up and takes the folder. "EVERYONE GET THE LOTION ON. GUARDS GO. SERVANTS TOO."

"High heel practice is over for the day."

Everyone runs out except me and Dipak.

"When did this happen?"

"Last night."

Dipak takes off, running down the hall after Frode. The Borin guys are still here. But they are the only ones. Even the servants and door guards are gone.

I scratch my head. "What lotion?"

They shrug their shoulders.

"I guess I'm in command now." I sit in Dipak's seat. "What's going on?"

"Well, we are..."

Thora runs in. "WHAT DID I MISS? EVERYONE'S RUNNING AROUND LIKE CHICKENS."

"I don't know. I just got here." She sits in Dipak's seat with me.

"Why are they here?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe someone took some notes." She picks up Frode's. "I found it. They want more information about our water system."

I shake my head.

She smirks. "That's bullshit. What do you really want?"

They glance at each other like they've been busted.

A servant comes in with her regular shoes on.

"What lotion?"

"The one for beings."

"They think we're being attacked by them again?"

"All I know is to put lotion on."

"Summon Dr. Cruor, and his information about beings, as well as 10 things of cream. And when that's done, summon me the shoemaker."

"My pleasure."

Me and Thora turn to the Borin boys.

She sits up straighter. "Did you boys come up with something else to tell us yet?"

Elek sets his pen down. "We have a feeling that you are the queen of queens. We are trying to get more information and see how things are ran here."

Thora doesn't miss a beat. "You picked a bad day for that. This whole place is running like a s**t show today."

"It really is."

"And the queen of queens?"

"I don't have a comment about that." They smile at me.

Thora puts her eyebrows up. "Hypothetically, if we knew the queen of queens, would you want to kill her or submit?"

The king answers, "Neither."

I nod. "So, what difference does it make?"

"Well..." The king's getting upset.

I stand up. "You come into my castle with lies about why you are here. You accuse me of being something. Saying you don't want to kill me or submit. What are you people doing? What do you want?"

Elek puts his hand up, so everyone stops talking. "We have suspicions. We won't hurt you or anyone here. We're trying to understand. Trying to get more information before we make any kind of decisions. We don't know anything at this point and..." I put up my hand to stop him.

I hear a clicking.

"Thora, what is that?"

"I don't know. I hear it though. It's like clicking." She looks at Elek. "Do you hear clicking?"

"No."

Cruor runs in. "HERE. I'M IN A HURRY." He dumps the stuff I summoned in the middle of the table and runs back out.

She shrugs her shoulders. "The whole place is a s**t show today."

"Now I hear it." Elek takes his sword out.

"It's getting closer."

Me and Thora stand up and pull our swords. I check out the door. "I can't even hear it over here."

Elek nods. "I can't hear it anymore."

Thora goes over to the window and peeks out from the side.

One of those beings jumps through the window. It clears the couches and lands 10 feet from me. Glass flies everywhere. I smack it with an orb so fast. It flies straight back over a couch.

It jumps up and comes for me. I throw a sword at its throat. It sticks in perfectly. Thora smacks the sword down and off pops the head. It flies at me.

"AAAAHHHHH!" I jump out of the way and Elek catches me. I spider monkey his back. "YOU THREW A HEAD AT ME."

"WELL I DIDN'T MEAN IT. THAT'S JUST THE WAY IT POPPED OFF."

Elek helps me to my feet. "Thank you, sir. I'm sorry I spider monkey'd you."

He smiles and motions at Thora. "Get away from that window."

She runs over to me. Elek goes through the stuff Dr. Cruor brought. "These beings are full of something that is poisonous to us?"

Another one jumps in the window. We both hit it with an orb at the same time. It explodes. Right at me.

I jump out of the way, but the tiniest little drop lands on my arm. "AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Blisters pop out immediately and move up my arm. It hurts like hell. "AAAAHHHH!"

All I can do is stare at them. I can hear Thora screaming too. "AAAAHHHHH!" They get to my shoulder.

6 hands are on me with cream. One of them goes right down my arm. The blisters go away as fast as they showed up.

It was Thora, Elek, and one of the advisors that put the cream on me. "Thank you. And that poison isn't very pleasant, sir."

I take the open container and put more on. "The lotion is the antidote, but it's also a barrier. You won't get the blisters if you have it on." I take my shoes off and rub some on my feet. Then I put my shoes back on. "You can use it. And we will send you the recipe. But I honestly thought we killed them last time."

Dipak and Dracul come in. "What the f**k?"

"We found a small group of them not far from that cliff. They were trying to reform. But we never found the new king. Who killed him?"

"SHE THREW HIS HEAD AT ME."

"I TOLD YOU ALREADY. THAT WAS HOW IT POPPED OFF."

"How did he get in here?" Dipak shoves his sword through the beings' heart.

Thora points. "Window."

"2 of them came in. The other is," I look around. "Everywhere."

Elek taps on the table. "It sounded like he climbed the wall or something. There was a clicking sound."

"That would make sense. We know they can't fly."

Dipak looks at Dracul. "Well, Thora killed the king, apparently. I can't believe he came right to this office."

"Yea, he left his people to attack here."

"Well, at least you 2 got the cream on." Dipak sits back down in his seat at the conference table and Dracul sits in his spot. The Borins sit back down where they were. The boys start roaming back in and sitting back down. Servants come in and start cleaning.

I scratch my head. "Are they all dead this time?"

"Their settlement is dead. The new king is dead. I would say yes."

Thora crosses her arms. "You said that last time, Dipak."

Dipak motions to Frode. "Where were we?"

"Dracul was about to discuss the showering system."

"We already did that."

"You did?"

Thora rolls her eyes. "Well, yea, before this we had to talk about something. We read your notes and took over."

I smile at the Borins. "I definitely suggest a shower in the medical area. It saves so much time and goo from being tracked all over the castle. I told them they could have the recipe and some of this cream." I look at the Borin king. "I don't know if you want it though. Apparently they're dead... Again."

They laugh.

"Me and Thora are done for the day. This was enough. Enjoy the rest of your day everyone."

Thora runs at me. "LET'S CHECK OUT THE NEW PAINTINGS AND DRINK WINE LIKE FANCY PEOPLE."

"PERFECT."

"LUNCH FIRST."

Dipak stands up. "Yes, it's after lunch. Everyone missed it. Let's go do that. It'll give everyone a chance to wind down. Servant, have the ballroom prepared for say 30."

"Yes, sir."