Chapter 10: Liadrin

Liadrin was intrigued by the servant of the gods they had just encountered. She was never particularly invested in the religions of the world, only having gone to festival days in the past for some type of prayer that a fancy man in a fancier robe would say. I never knew that they could actually do magic.

She glanced at Cobalt whose brow was furrowed and scowl was firmly displayed. Or miracles, rather. If I had known that, maybe I would have gone to services. She sighed and looked down at her arm, who am I kidding, she thought. I won’t be welcome anywhere anymore judging by the guard’s reaction earlier. The sigh drew Cobalt’s attention.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Come on,” Cobalt smiled slightly, “You can tell me.”

“Well…that guard earlier-”

“The bigot.”

“-Yes. It just made me re-realize that life is going to be different than it was before.”

Cobalt grinned slightly, “You’ll get used to it. Once we get some fancier clothes from Arestil we should be treated a bit better.” He shifted his gaze to something off in the distance. “After all…nobility…what is that?” He pointed as he trailed off, and the two came to a stop in mid-air.

Liadrin tore away her gaze from him and in the direction he was pointing. They were floating several hundred feet above the town - just on the outskirts - and the central tower of Baron Bradley’s keep was wreathed in a swirl of barely-discernible colored splashes. Just like when you mix grease and water, she thought as the colors shifted between visible and invisible. “Some type of magic?”

Cobalt gestured and the two moved at great speed through the skies toward the tower, “That’s magic all right. Someone is trying to covertly use their magic.” He continued as his expression grew stern, “Some mages can try to mask their magic with a special element of creation - deception - normally an emotion-based magic, but the concept of trickery and deceit that lay within can be used upon other elements of creation.”

“So it’s not available to the two of us,” Liadrin said under her breath.

“Precisely.” Cobalt smiled at her, “You’re picking up quickly. We can only see traces of it because they aren’t very well attuned to deception. Meaning they’re a universalist or have a broad access to different elements of creation.”

Liadrin beamed at the compliment as the two came to a stop above the tower, floating just outside of a window. The two slowly moved forward - the only sound was the small whoosh of the air beneath them.

The room was a mess. Furniture was thrown about, the dresser smashed in two pieces, curtains ripped to shreds, and standing at the foot of the bed was a heavily injured Fort in his night clothes, who towered over a figure gasping on the floor.

Arestil was standing in the corner, eyes wide and wild with fear as he held his bejeweled dagger in front of him. Fort swung his mighty sword in a cleaving blow, and Liadrin barely caught the glimmer of a multi-colored whirl that was sliced by the blade.

“Invisible assassins!” Cobalt growled as he held his claw up to the window. Tiny pin-pricks of wind formed into miniature drills from the tips of his fingers as the glass shattered - but no sound came out. He turned to Liadrin and his lips moved - but once more, no sound came out.

They are muting the whole area, Liadrin thought as she felt the heat within her chest begin to build up. As she raised her clawed hand and thrust it into the chamber, a loud CLANG echoed as her arm dipped - impacted by something sharp.

Sparks emitted from her scaled appendage as the invisible blade scraped across and into Cobalt’s side. He grunted as the invisible blade tore deep. Liadrin tried to scream out “No!” but could not. She stared at the near-empty room in front of her. Burn everything, except Cobalt, Fort, and Arestil. 

The flames within her responded to her command as she flexed her fingers, opening them and spreading her fingers as wide as possible; to shape the blast to expand as much as possible given her will and intent.

The room ignited as a tremendous blast of energy roared through the tiny area. Gouts of fire raced out past Liadrin as she tugged Cobalt behind her to shield him from the blast. Noise returned - crackling noise of wood being burned to cinder, down to the masoned stone floors and walls. She heard her companions’ sounds.

The panting and pained growl of Cobalt behind her.

The shrieking in terror of Arestil which grew silent as the smoke cleared.

The huffing breaths and soft splatter of blood upon the ground from Fort’s wounds and exhaustion.

“Are you okay?” Liadrin asked.

Fort grunted, “You saved my arse.” He sat on the floor and laid on his back, “Don’t suppose you can heal me though. Losing…a lot of…” He fell into unconsciousness as more blood seeped out of him.

Liadrin pulled herself through the window and glanced back at Cobalt. He had been sliced across the chest and along his arm - he bled profusely.

Arestil seemed uninjured as he composed himself, drawing up to his full height as he reached into his night-coat and reached into his jacket pocket. “Please, come in. I can deal with these injuries.” 

Cobalt floated inside and alighted on the ground before collapsing to his knees, trying to suck in breath. He tried to say something, but began to fall forward, and Liadrin caught him before he hit the floor.

Arestil had a Miracle Seed in his hand, gripped it as he closed his eyes. He whispered something, but all Liadrin caught was the word “Vel-tanaan.” A dull flash of gold light flew out of his closed fist as Fort’s wounds sealed shut. Cobalt’s own injuries seemed to vanish as well. All save for the charred corpses of the assassins on the ground seemed to be in peak health.

“Thanks,” Cobalt grunted as he slouched against the wall. “Friends of yours?” he asked jokingly as he gestured to the bodies on the floor.

“No. Most likely people trying to rob me of the seeds. This isn’t the first time I’ve been accosted - but this is the first time magic has been in play.” He chuckled and kneeled next to Fort as he sighed, “Good thing I came across you two when I did. If you hadn’t shown up-”

Liadrin interrupted, “-Why not just steal them? Why kill you?”

“They were probably trying to apprehend me.” Arestil put his hand along Fort’s neck in a tender, almost lover-like manner. It was then that Liadrin blushed as she realized the implication of the two men being in the same room and in their night wear. “The Miracle Seeds require words spoken in my language, and as such they are useless to those who don’t know it.”

Cobalt sighed, “Well, we are all alive.”

Arestil stood up, “Indeed we are. I will have to speak with Baron Bradley regarding these intruders into my bed chambers. I suspect he had something to do with it - negotiations for the seeds this morning were quite intense, and we couldn’t agree on a price.”

Liadrin went to Cobalt and sat next to him, “What now?”

“I am curious why you two happened to be outside the window.”

“We were out on a night flight,” Cobalt replied. “The sight of magic on a tower seemed out of place at this late hour, so we investigated.”

This answer seemed to satisfy Arestil and he glanced around the room, “I fear that the majority of my possessions are now burned to a crisp.” He smirked and stared at Liadrin. “I do hope you considered my offer to become sworn to me? Otherwise, I may have to take you to court for damages.” He said this last part with a hint of humor in his voice.

Liadrin glanced at Cobalt. He mouthed the words ‘it’s your choice’ to her. She turned back to Arestil and nodded, “I want to work for you. But only if you’ll have Cobalt as well.”

“My dear, that was part of my hopes from first meeting the two of you.” Lord Arestil drew himself up to his full height and splendor, “I, Lord Arestil, Aran'Danil Falan, ruler of The Lightless Lands and keeper of The Miracle Grove, offer you a position as my sworn confident, counselor upon all things magical, and guard of my life and line. Do you accept?”

Liadrin nodded, “I do.”

“I do, as well,” Cobalt chimed in.

“Excellent! I’ll take your word for it. We’ll do a written contract at a later date. For now,” he gestured to the open window, “Would you be so kind as to take us out of here, Cobalt?” He turned to Liadrin, “And then come back for her once Liadrin here has scorched the place.”

Liadrin tilted her head slightly in confusion, “Huh?”

“You heard me. No evidence that I was assaulted. Just a scorched chamber with nothing in it save the stone it is built from.”

Cobalt nodded and jumped through the window, hovering on the other side, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He gestured as Arestil - surprisingly - hefted Fort over his shoulder and clambered out the window. The three flew off towards the town below.

Liadrin gulped, glancing at the scorched and barely-hanging-on door. What if someone comes up here? She glanced at the charred corpses and frowned. She raised her clawed hand once more. Burn everything except the stone - and the door - down to ash.

She felt the heat within her body surge once more; from her chest down her arm and finally out of her palm as the room was covered in scorching-hot, blue flames that turned all save the walls and door to ash. She had to squint her eyes due to the brightness of the sparks, but as she burned it all away…one object remained.

She knelt down and lifted a pendant out of the ashes; a silver, square amulet upon a string chased with black inlay. Nestled in the center was an onyx the size of her thumb. Strange. It’s oddly cold. She palmed it as a loud whoosh noise came from outside. She poked her head out of the window and saw Cobalt gesturing for her to join him outside. She jumped out of the window to find herself suspended aloft as she drifted alongside him.

“Everything okay?” He asked.

She nodded, holding out the amulet to him as they drifted downwards towards their temporary housing, “Any idea what this is?”

He gently grabbed it and inspected it - going so far as to lick it. “This is an enchanted item. If mages have an object that is extremely well made, we can imbue it with a semblance of what we are able to do on our own. It must be how that whole group of people was able to infiltrate and stay hidden - an aura based magical item.” He put the amulet around his neck and - to Liadrin’s shock - vanished from sight.

“Cobalt! Where are you?” She asked as she continued to gently drift to the ground. A second later he re-appeared next to her, clutching the amulet in one hand.

“I’m here. Just wanted to test it.” He handed it back to her, “Apparently it confers that same invisible and mute nature upon the person wearing it. I’m not sure how they all were affected by it - I’m sure there were three bodies.”

“Why didn’t my fire burn it?”

“These types of objects are really tough. You could probably destroy it if you really, really tried.”

She put the amulet in her pocket and nodded in understanding, “What happens now?”

Cobalt shrugged, “Our new boss will figure that out.”

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