“You can’t turn back,” I observed. “Is that the problem?”
She stopped fighting and meowed pitifully.
Which meant I’d essentially cursed her, using the collar as the anchor. “Stay still.” I plopped her on the bed and examined the back of the collar. It’d changed sizes with her, loose enough to fit comfortably and tight enough to not slide off when she moved. “The spell is only active while you wear the collar. To reverse the spell, all you need to do is remove the collar.”
Her body relaxed under my hand and a soft purr rumbled through her chest.
Delilah couldn’t remove the collar herself without opposable thumbs. She also couldn’t open the door, or call out for help …
I slowly raised my hands and backed away from the bed.
She continued purring contently for a moment until she noticed my absence. Her cat face wasn’t nearly as expressive as her human one, but I still read the confusion in her eyes.
And then the panic.
She pounced toward me, but I was already gone.
I teleported into the center of the throne room. “Imps!” I called. “Gather the minions!”
Five minutes later, every minion I’d hired had gathered into the throne room. Plus a few unfamiliar faces filling out the ranks.
I glanced sharply at Fyodor, who shrugged and said, “We needed more help.”
Can I afford this?Not that it mattered; it wasn’t my money anyway. “Within a week, adventurers will arrive in our forest.”
The minions all straightened to attention.
“I need you to listen to these instructionscarefully. Anyone who disobeys will no longer exist in this dimension.”
I’d reset time since displaying my power to a hundred minions, yet a shudder went through the crowd. Some memories lingered beyond existence.
“We are putting on a show for them,” I explained. “It istheater. We are not harming these adventurers, and we are certainly notkillingthem. Do you understand?”
A lacertian raised their hand. “Why not?”
“Because those are your orders.”
Fyodor eyed me skeptically. “What if they try to kill us? Can we defend ourselves?”
I remembered Treasure sprawled out on the floor, bleeding from a blow to the head. “If they try to fight you, surrender.”
“But …” Sisyph looked around at his gathered crew. “You told us to guard the lair.”
“New orders. If any of them try to bribe you, accept it. Bargain with them if you think you can get a higher price. Iftheysurrender, bring them straight to the throne room. Don’t bother with the dungeons. Don’t chain or lock them up. Don’t leave a guard. Let them roam around if they feel like it but keep them away from the stairs.” The roots were most stubborn there. I didn’t need anyone tripping and falling to their death.
“We’ll look like idiots,” Fyodor complained.
I pointed a finger at him. “Exactly. You’re the idiot minions of an idiot evil mage who stumbled his way into a title.”
The minions exchanged confused looks.
“Does this have anything to do with the cuff on your wrist?” Fyodor asked.
Everyone’s eyes dropped to the cuff. I tucked my hands behind my back and said, “Unrelated.”
No one looked like they believed me. I tried to override their skepticism with more orders, “Patrols should be predictable and widespread. Give them opportunities to slip past you rather than fight you. Kill anything you come across in the forest that poses a threat to humans.”
“Oh, so we do get to kill?” a minion asked, perking up at the thought.
