Tales of the Pearly City (Pearly Tales Vol.1) [Completed]

91. The Final Act: Guildmaster the boogeyman

"Alice, this man's name is Cal, he is the Guildmaster. He may have led a raid on the Dravenkin, however once he entered the camp of the Dravenkin, he conquered them without slaying a single one. In fact, he sat on my brother's unconscious body while negotiating with my father. Isn't that right, Brother?"

"Cal, you told her! I thought we were blood brothers! Not cool man!" Ten'lo shouted.

The entire hall turned to Ten'lo who went red with the attention and shut up.

Shayley giggled at Ten'lo's shameful display. She then nudged Cal.

"Huh?"

"Do something." She whispered.

"Do what?" He smiled, and whispered through his teeth.

"I don't know, you are good with kids, think of something." She slapped him on the back.

He stumbled forward and all of the Arachne took a step back except Saltif. Alice nearly broke out in tears.

"Shit, with Ophelia, I at least had time to prepare a snack or something." Cal muttered. He sat on the ground crossing his arms and his legs as he concentrated the eyes away from him. The more he thought about it, the more he realized all of his powers were incredibly scary.

"Oh, I got it." He held up a finger. At his sudden outburst, all the Arachne flinched again.

He patted down his chest looking for something. "I know I put it here somewhere, aha!" He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small bag, and emptied into his hand. "My daughter gave these to me for good luck."

Cal pulled his hat off and set it on the ground in front of him.

"Alice, do you like flowers?" Cal asked.

Alice winced, then looked up at Saltif who nodded. Alice cowered and squeaked, "Y-yes."

"What are your favorite kind?"

Alice looked up again at Saltif, who only nodded again. Alice shivered enough to make even the princess nervous, "L-lilies."

Cal waved Alice over, but she only cowered.

"Don't worry, if I lay a single finger on you, the princess will have my head."

Saltif took a step to the side to give Alice more motivation to walk forward.

Cal gave his best disarming smile, and spoke as sweetly as he did when he talked to Ophelia. "Alice, do you know how I got so strong?"

Alice shook her head.

"I stood before many enemies bigger and stronger than myself, I looked them right in the eye..." He pointed at his one eye playfully. "...and I smiled. My momma always said; 'a smile a day makes the fear go away.'"

"You... smiled?" Alice asked.

"Yep, like this." Cal pointed at his face and gave her a big grin. "Try, it. Then step forward to show fear has no hold on you."

Alice once again looked at Saltif, and once again Saltif's rugged nod was all she needed. Her face creaked and twisted until she weakly smiled. She took a couple shaky steps forward until she stood before Cal and the hat.

Cal smiled and waved her to sit down in front of the hat. And she nervously complied.

"My daughter is a very talented half dryad, she taught me this trick while we played one day." Cal spread seeds on the top rim of his hat.

Good bye, hat. I'll miss you.

Cal held his hand over the hat. Green stalks sprouted from the seeds as they grew taller and taller. Buds sprouted from the green stalks, and then white lilies sprouted from the buds.

Alice's eyes grew wide with wonder as she watched the magic unfold before her.

"So pretty..." Alice couldn't hold in her wonder as her eyes sparkled.

"Do you like them?"

Alice nodded.

Cal picked up the hat and set it on her head.

"There, they even match your hair. And the hat looks amazing if I say so myself." Cal winked. "Consider this a gift from my daughter and I, as way of apologizing for scaring you."

Cal stood up and offered Alice his hand. She pulled the hat over her eyes and took it.

"Thank you." She used the hat to hide her face, but Shayley saw her blushing and smirked.

"You're quite a charmer, Guildmaster." Shayley remarked.

"Your orders were so vague I had to improvise. Did I manage to fulfil your request to your satisfaction?"

"Alice, are you still frightened of our resident boogeyman?"

Alice clutched her new hat with both hands. After a moment, she shook her head hiding her blush behind its rim.

"I'm satisfied, Cal you may stand down."

Cal bowed, "It was an honor your highness." He returned to Wendy and Seamus's side. He sighed, and thanked Gaia and Kami that he had an oracle daughter. He also noticed that Shayley conveniently left out the part where in a fit of rage Cal brutally slaughtered and entire Dravenkin hunting party in cold blood.

"Very strange. It pleases me to know that he was able to calm our princess's nerves with such a simple trick. But you know Elf princess, if he had brought harm to her in any way, I would have had to remove his had from his shoulders."

Shayley smiled. "You would have had to beat me to it."

"Promising. I once again acknowledge you, Elf Princess Shayley." Saltif almost laughed, she touched Alice's shoulder. "If you've mustered your courage, meet her eyes and say what we had practiced."

Alice locked gazes with Shayley, and for the first time she saw the vibrant purple eyes of the Arachne crown princess. "I-I C-crown Princess Alice Silversilk, swear myself and my brood to Princess Shayley. For the time being, Saltif Widow will be my representative until I reach the age of a brood mother, and lead my brood under your rule." She bowed as well as she could with the flowers on her hat bobbing with each motion. She stepped back so that Saltif could step forward.

"Your highness." Saltif bowed. "To ensure the continued peace between our kinds, who are so very different, we donate our warriors to your service and our greatest one, other than myself, to the guild." behind her was an immense Drider male shrouded in armor.

Shayley looked at Cal. "Well Guildmaster, do you accept this man into your ranks."

Cal looked the Arachne up and down, the warrior sneered at him.

Cal scratched his head and his flippant nature came out. "...Umm, I know this is neither the time nor place, but am I allowed to refuse?"

The Arachne balked.

Saltif spoke up. "Do you find our greatest warrior insufficient?"

"Kinda..." Cal avoided their gazes with a nervous laugh.