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Chapter 25
It was a faint groan, but a groan nonetheless. Leland stared half-heartedly at the ceiling and crossed his legs atop the center table. He had fallen back into his seat when Atalanta had demanded he remained. There was no effort on his part to hide the rolling of his eyes. But, when Gareth and Yuel made their exit, an arrogant smile formed on his lips.
“You were asked a question, Leland.”, Priam emphasized with a disapproving scowl.
“Still not dead yet, Priam?”, Leland chirped out with glee. It was a light jab that should have been sarcastic in any ordinary situation. But, of course, this was anything but ordinary. It was clear to many in the Order that Leland Hart, Captain of the Aster Brigade, had no love for Priam or Atalanta.
“Your insubordination knows no bounds.”, Priam answered. It was always difficult for him to hold back his irritation. Leland always coaxed it out of him. No matter what he did, Leland would always be an unworthy Attendant in Priam’s eyes. “If it were my decision to make, you would be excommunicated this instant. I’d have your own peers throw you out of the Citadel!”
“Why not do it yourself?”, Leland glared from his seat. He knew well and good that his own behavior at that moment was beyond nasty, but that was the point. He had no intention of contorting his act so that the satisfaction of his superiors would be realized. He was going to speak when he wanted. There was no fear in his eyes. In fact, there was a dangerous mass of confidence.
“You pompous little shit-!”
“I’m kidding.”, Leland grinned. “Stop being so serious, it’s unbecoming of an honored retiree. - You know I just like to mess with ya’.”. He shrugged and played off this threat. But, even that excuse was aimed to anger Priam.
“You’ll do well to respect my place in this keep, captain.”, Priam answered. “You know nothing of what I can do to your standing in my Order.”
“Your Order?”, Leland lifted a contentious brow.
“That’s enough.”, Atalanta’s voice stamped across the conversation. “Leave us, Priam.”
Aside from the High King himself, there was not much in the capital that could command a full stop of anything quite like Atalanta. There was an unrelenting pressure always about her tone. And, it never failed to kill a moment when it needed to.
Priam’s lips opened mid-way, but went no further. Despite the displeasure on his face, he exhaled and looked away from Leland. His eyes rolled when he took his first step towards the door. For several seconds, the clicking of his cane was all that echoed between the walls of the room. His old form shuffled away and grumbled.
“Why do you keep that thing around?”, Leland asked openly as he stared across the table.
“What business did you have in Angoulet?”, Atalanta asked once more with the same authority. She had a distinct dislike for inefficiency and laziness. Both of which were carved neatly all across Leland’s character.
He held his tongue and sighed. Though, it was important to note that his feet still rested atop the table.
“I went to investigate the attack; to confirm whether or not it was the same creature that got away from me.”
“You waste your own time. That initiative is of no concern to you.”
“No concern? I failed to kill it when I had the chance, it's out there right now ready to attack again.”
“And when that problem comes to pass, I will send the appropriate Brigade to solve it.”, Atalanta commanded. “You were under strict orders to remain in Gracewind whilst your cloak was being repaired. Not to mention the fact that the Aster Brigade was assigned to be security for the trials. - What use do I have for you if you’re not present?”
“It’s my mess, I will fix it.”
“The only mess you’ll be fixing is your sponsorship of that girl.”
Atalanta was not talking to Leland. She was talking at him. That much was clear when her commands continued. They were steeled and did not waste time in pinning themselves onto him. Leland shook his head with distaste.
Leonora had asked him to bring Ezabel here. He was asked to see her through the trials. And, no matter how little her success mattered to him before, it was all the more urgent to him that she passed now. The idea of seeing Atalanta’s orders defied by a little girl was too enticing.
There was also the fact that his arrangement with Leonora was a promise. Something that he had every intention of keeping. It may have been petty, but he had another reason to follow through with it now.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“You are no use to me as security if you are mentoring a candidate. You are to drop her this instant and resume your duties in the Citadel.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so.”, Leland grinned.
“Excuse me?”, Atalanta’s glare grew deadly.
“Relax. My Brigade can handle security while I go through with my sponsorship.”
“You are going to defy my orders then?”
“No, no.”, Leland took his legs off of the table and leaned forward. “I’m offering an alternative solution. - We can both win.”
“I’m not concerned with winning. And, this is not a negotiation.”, Atalanta lifted her chin slightly. “That girl has employed the full power of a knightstone without consent from the Citadel. She should be in a cell. Instead, I had Leonora fail her. She has no right to be part of the trials now.”
“And, here I am using my status as a Captain to sponsor her. She’s back in the race. - Not even a Cardinal like yourself can deny that right from me.”. Not often was Leland confrontational, yet there was an undeniable belligerence in his tone. Admittedly, it may have been less wise for him to be so. However, he simply could not help but be defiant.
In the end, he was correct. It was a captain’s honor and right to sponsor any candidate they saw fit. Potential rested in all people, even the unlikely. An Attendant was a beacon of safety and hope. All looked to them for assurance. Society hungered for their kind so that they may revel in their legends and maintain their culture. Leland may have been less caring of such a tradition, but he knew its impact well. To deny anyone the opportunity to help the realm was a disgrace.
“Then you leave me no choice.”. Despite Leland’s insubordination, Atalanta showed no sign of faltering. Her composure remained as well ordered as always. “Upon the closing of the trials and when your candidate inevitably makes a fool of herself, the Aster Brigade will be changing posts. - Our presence has been lacking in the southern reaches of the realm.”
A pause fell upon Leland’s front. He was not dumbfounded, he never was. But, it would be a lie to say that he was not caught off guard.
“You and your personnel are henceforth reassigned to Fort Valor. Say your farewells to the city, Leland Hart. Your services are no longer required here.”, Atalanta stood from her seat and her amber eyes casted a glare upon him.
Leland’s stomach knotted and his face curled into a slow glower. He never liked Atalanta. But now, she was on the verge of being his enemy. Such was the power of a Cardinal. Atalanta had dumped him in a far corner of Melle, where his antics would bother nothing other than the old country.
°°
“Leonora!”, Dani shouted and brought Ezabel’s attention back to the present. Leonora stood before them and gave a genuine smile of welcome. Zo, floated through the thinning crowd and hovered with a slight look of anxiety. The situation was tense and he had no real way of dealing with it. Luckily, Leonora was there to put a stop to the fight.
Another glance at the crowd had given Ezabel a few familiar faces from the assessment in Angoulet, but none were as bright as Leonora who placed her hands against her hips. This was the woman who had failed her in place of having her arrested. Ezabel was uncertain of how she would play the circumstance now that they had reunited.
Would Leonora have her arrested on the spot? Or, would she demand that Ezabel abandon her hope to become an Attendant? She was every bit as intimidating as she was when they first met. Her tall figure, sharp gaze, and polished visage were far too impressive.
“S-sorry..”, Ezabel had no other way of answering her.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about!”, Leonora nodded.
“But, I thought you failed me? Are you going to send me away?”, Ezabel mumbled aloud. By her own logic, Leonora should have been less friendly than she currently was. Ezabel used a knightstone and essentially left a lasting swathe of destruction across an innocent village. Leonora would have surely stamped her application as a reject.
“Zo, why don’t you go ahead and continue with Dani’s tour of the Citadel?”, understanding was clear in Leonora’s eyes. “I have a couple of things I’d like to discuss with Miss Grover. - I’ll show her to her quarters later.”
Zo’s ears perked into the air and his form shook with acceptance. Anything was better than the stress he had just endured. So, he nodded and offered a thumbs up. “Leave it to me Leonora!”
It was a duty he was well acquainted with and so it offered him much needed comfort. Fortunately for him, his worry had gone unnoticed. Dani’s curls bounced marginally as her attention juggled between Leonora and Ezabel, only to be tugged away by Zo. His little form grabbed her by the finger and drifted forward ever so slightly.
“Take this time to situate yourself, Miss Ormend. I’m sure the road has done its work on you.”, Leonora reassured. She had noticed a tinge of reluctance on the part of Dani. To follow Zo was to start her way into the unknown. She knew the experience of coming to the Citadel for the first time as a candidate all too well. So, at the very least, it was her hope to offer even the smallest sense of comfort. “I’ve had you both placed in neighboring rooms. Nothing calms the nerves quite like a friend.”
It may have been little, but a spark of confidence had weaseled its way into Dani’s composure. Just enough to momentarily bypass any precarious thought that could have come her way. So, she followed the echo spirit with careful steps.
Only when they disappeared through one of many lofty doors that bordered the yard, did Leonora turn her eyes back onto Ezabel.
“You must have a lot of questions.”, she asked curiously.
“U-um..”, Ezabel wanted to say ‘yes’, but the word simply refused to come out. Her long locks waved as she nodded instead, repeatedly.
°°
The honored cloak of an Attendant Knight was not damaged easily for it served as more than a simple decoration. A golden, resplendent trim traced the edges of the cloak and placed upon it a thorough spell circle. When a knightstone was activated and its magic coursed through the circle, it became an often impenetrable barrier. It carried all the fluidity of a fabric and the sturdy aegis of a shield.
It was a staple in the kit of an Attendant, which was all the more reason for Soren Graye to retrieve his own once it had been repaired. It hung over his shoulders now with a familiar nimbleness. But, it was not the only cloak he carried. He had also retrieved Leland’s.
“The quartermaster wanted me to give you a message.”, Soren stated as he tossed the cloak over to his captain.
Leland sat on a stone bench in an interior hallway neighboring the foyer where he had met with Atalanta. A quick hand rose and plucked the cloak out of the air.
“Let me guess: ‘Don’t ever let it happen again?’.”, he answered.
“Not quite. He said that he would break your teeth on a bench if you let it happen again.”
Leland, who leaned into the wall behind him, turned his eyes to the bench beneath him. The thought was disturbing, truly. He had endured plenty of pain before, but the idea of his teeth crumbling against stone was something he did not want to imagine.
“You best not put yourself in any more shitty situations, then.”, he replied.
“I was headstrong against my better judgment. I apologize again, captain. I would have been badly injured if you had not stepped in. Or perhaps even worse.”
“Don’t sweat it, kid.”, Leland was only a handful of years older than Soren, but he had a habit of referring to his brigade members as such. “I don’t speak for the Order. But, I do speak for the Aster Brigade: We look after our own. Your lives are worth much more than this old thing.”
Between his fingers, Leland spun the loose end of his cloaks like a rag. There was a blank stare on his face as he looked up at the ceiling. Soren knew such a face to be a sign of deep thought. He had attributed it to Leland’s carefree attitude when they first met. He was wrong then. It took a while, but he eventually understood it as his captain’s way of devising his next move.
“Did you find anything in Angoulet?”, Soren asked. He stood in the same spot, resolute and purposed.
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