An Untitled Novel

Finally settling in Basil made his way to the Redcap’s castle itself where the food and drink were being served. After a few casual conversations with Redcap guards who seemed at least tolerant of conversing, albeit a bit surprised to be prompted with questions, Basil learned some more of the basics and what to expect from the event. He also heard neither the Redcap royal family nor Lizard King were going to be at the dinner, both being in the Redcap royal quarters negotiating what would be an end to the ongoing war. Making his way to the food he grabbed a full plate, and having decided to skip painkillers for the night grabbed what would ultimately end up being a little too much wine. Seeing the Arkepello representatives at a nearby table he sat down to join them. Jarvis seemed slightly tense, but Basil could not tell whether it was directed at him or not, and Jace and Niles seemed glad about his presence.

“You, come with me” Basil heard over his shoulder from an obviously inebriated man. Turning around he saw an older man, shorter than most of the other guests, with thinning grey hair wearing what Basil could best interpret as something like a naval uniform. Basil, a little surprised at the demand, turned to the man while remaining seated. “Sorry, did I do something wrong?” The man chuckled. “No,” followed by an oddly long pause. “The Redcap King has requested you meet with him to discuss the sale of weapons.” Though the uniformed man spoke in a manner that was likely intended as a whisper, due to the man’s inebriation he failed at preventing others from hearing his request. “I don’t sell weapons” Basil replied while remaining seated. The man furrowed his brow and replied with a short “You are able to acquire them, no?” before pausing as if he forgot what he was to say next, then continuing “You provided some to the Arkepello General. We require them now and you are being instructed to meet with the King himself to negotiate providing them.”

Basil, recalling his meeting with the man who turned out to be the Lizard King, thought briefly about the best way to respond to this request. “Those were a one off gift to a friend, I don’t sell weapons. Sorry.” Jarvis, who had been listening to the conversation, butted in with an annoyed “I don’t care that you are the Redcap’s General, Edwards, you are not getting weapons from us or him.” Basil, glad to be on Jarvis’s side for once, gave him a quick nod before turning back from Jarvis to the man he just learned was the Redcap General. Edwards seemed to be mulling over Basil’s and Jarvis’s words in his intoxicated brain.

“Don’t you turn away from me, this conversation isn’t over” Edwards quipped with a delayed expression of annoyance finally coming over his face. “Yes, it is. No weapons. If you invited me here just for them you’ll be disappointed” Basil responded, before following up with “Come back sober and more polite, maybe we can discuss medicine or agriculture, but there’ll be no blood on my hands.” The General, seeming to realize that the conversation would not prove fruitful, began to stumble towards the exit of the hall they were all eating in. Basil, having run out of wine and feeling a need for more after that conversation, also got up to refill his glass.

While walking away from his table, out of the corner of his eye Basil could see Spiro walking in his direction. He began to recount the events of the last few moments in the expectation that he was going to ask him what had occurred, but his thoughts and Spiro’s approach were interrupted by somebody timidly grabbing Basil’s shoulder. “Basil, right? I need to speak with you” said someone, who despite his height being nearly Basil’s, was probably a teenager. The kid seemed nervous about Basil’s pending response. “Huh, what’s up?” Basil asked as he turned around, feeling more inebriated than he did a moment ago with the unexpected movement and change in planned interactions. The kid spoke, seeming to find a little more confidence. “My father wishes to speak with you” the kid said, before a quick pause and another statement to provide more elaboration. “My father is the Lizard king.”

Basil shook his head. “I already spoke with him actually” replied Basil, before continuing. “The old guy in the robes said something along the lines of ‘don’t try to speak to me again or there will be dire consequences.’” Basil spoke while trying - but failing - to do an impression of the robed man. “You were that guy?” Asked the kid in amusement. “He’s been wanting to speak with you for months, I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he finds out that the first time he spoke with you the Wizard threatened you.”

Basil let a chuckle escape at the thought of a royal ‘Wizard’ before trying to contain it, but was nevertheless glad to hear he hadn’t made enemies with one major faction in the festival after all. Re-collecting his thoughts he responded in a more reserved tone. “Just to be clear, no weapons. I just had that conversation with a guy, Edwards, who is apparently the Redcap General. He was not happy about that.” Basil continued to speak but switched to a more casual tone. “But I’d be happy to meet with him.” The kid, who seemed a little unhappy while Basil explained that he wasn’t willing to provide any form of weapons, still seemed happy that Basil was willing to meet with them. “My father should be finishing up talks with the Redcaps soon, why don’t we go now?”

Suddenly Basil felt a buzzing in his pocket. “Hold on” he said as he pulled his phone out hoping that ACE had found a way to get a signal through, but only saw a reminder to take his painkillers - the ones he had elected not to take in exchange for his overindulgence in the wine offered here. “What’s that?” the kid asked Basil, eyes fixed on the flip phone. “My radio” Basil stated, before hesitating and asking “You’re familiar with radios right?” The kid nodded his head, “Of course I know what a radio is.” Basil, now more confident he could explain the device, continued. “This is pretty much like any other radio, but it can only communicate with other radios like this one, and it can do a few other non-radio things as well. When I heard it make a noise I thought maybe it was a friend who found a way to reach me, but it was only a reminder to take medication.”

The kid seemed very interested in the device, so Basil said “Watch this” and pointed the camera at the two. The kid stared at the pixelated photo with infatuation, finally turning to Basil and speaking. “Can you get me one?” Basil gave him a quick smile. “It wouldn’t work as a radio, but I’m sure I could get my hands on another one. We could call it a diplomatic gift or something like that as long as your father’s okay with it.” The kid looked excited, but suddenly his expression changed to surprise as his head jerked to the side.

“You!” shouted the robed man that had accosted Basil earlier, and whom the kid identified as the ‘Wizard.’ “I warned you to-” he began to continue, before seeing Basil holding out the phone. His demeanor changed mid-sentence and he pulled out a large double sided knife from within his robe before stepping in between Basil and the kid. “Keep away from him, or I will not hesitate to kill you” the ‘Wizard’ shouted, before continuing in a somewhat less frantic tone. “You were warned to stay away from us.” Basil, having finally processed all that happened, began to speak but was distracted by the kid laughing. “This is not a game child” the ‘Wizard’ scolded. Basil, now re-trying to collect his thoughts began to say “Relax, I-” but the ‘Wizard’ cut him off with a harsh “Quiet” before he took a large step closer while still pointing the knife at Basil.

The kid spoke again, beginning to say “He isn’t-” but the ‘Wizard’ spoke over him with an abrupt “We will talk about this later.” The ‘Wizard’ took one more step towards Basil, and seemed to be about to say something more, but Basil had had enough of the non-verbal threats. Taking the phone in his hand he held it out directly at the ‘Wizard,’ camera pointed in his direction. The ‘Wizard,’ already seemingly afraid of what he must have presumed to be a weapon, jumped back and stood directly in front of the kid. Basil started laughing, the kid resumed his laughter, and the ‘Wizard’s fear seemed somewhat disarmed by the laughter. Without a single further word, he grabbed the kid by the arm and walked briskly towards the exit, practically dragging the still laughing kid. Basil looked around, realizing that all eyes were now on him.