Casper had understood that the situation was strange, and he had a building suspicion that it was all mounting to something, he just couldn’t quite pin down what.
When Annabelle had whispered to him what she believed to be the plan for everyone inside, it only confirmed that his gut feeling was correct.
He didn’t know the specifics, or what Annabelle had picked up to draw her to that conclusion, but he trusted her intuition for reading a room and the people in.
Now that he was made aware of it, he started to see the signs. Regardless of how high the price was rising for the marked child, Duke Regalt continued to bid. He was buying time it seemed. The guards stationed at the doors leading to exits were more rigid, poised and ready to strike almost. The tension in the room as a whole was building at a steady rate but not everyone was aware of the extent quite yet.
Casper, along with Annabelle and Captain Dumont left the mounting pressure of the auction floor, and entered into the side room where payment was to be made, and the slaves to be collected. Captain Dumont himself had asked for Casper to join him, seeing as he wasn’t going to be better on anything, and Casper of course accepted.
While he hated this man, it was better to get in close so when it came time to stab him in the back it would be less expected.
The walls of the auction house had to be thick, Casper thought, as the sounds of rising bids become nothing more than a background hum as the door closed to the administration room.
Captain Dumont made quick work of approaching the counter and fishing around for bank notes on his person after handing over a slip of paper indicating the validity of his winning bid tonight.
“So what's the situation?” Casper asked, turning to Annabelle and talking in a low whisper some distance behind the captain.
“By order of the king, for as long as he’s been alive, from his father to his father and so forth, the standing order has been for anyone who's witnessed a marked child, to be put to death along with said marked individual. Duke Regalt has been on this quest of killing children born under the dark star for two decades now, there is no way he would ever allow someone to buy one. This is all a show meant to distract everyone. I bet my life that the Duke wanted to round up as many of the worst of the worst this kingdom has to offer here to kill them all in one fell swoop” Annabelle explained, anxiety building over her as she relayed her impression of the direction this day was going to be going.
“Shit, and he just bought a red dragon” Casper bit his lip. He knew the stories after all. The Duke would have sent one of his guards or personal servants to retrieve the dragon the second he won the bid. There was a non-zero chance he wasn’t going to be using that powerhouse to level the place. After all, this is one of the most expensive auctions they have had, and Alex herself explained that all of this was illegal, the only reason they turned a blind eye to it all was for money, and now all that money is sitting, guaranteed, in the pockets of the people gathered here. They needed at least %50 after all.
“We need to find a way to leave, quickly” Annabelle urged, her tone rising as the noise outside got ever so slightly louder.
Casper looked around, this was not at all what he had planned on doing. The goal was for him to kill Duke Regalt after this auction was over, and he could still try and do that but it would be a hell of alot harder now that he knew the plan was for the Duke to just up and kill everyone himself.
“Thank you, my good sir,” Captain Dumont smiled. “Come come! Let's look at the goods shall we?” He turned his attention back to Casper and Annabelle.
Casper had to think, and think quickly. Running through the possibilities he settled on one.
Improvise.
“Let's take a look” Casper smiled and gave Annabelle a nod, letting her know that he would take care of things.
The two followed Captain Dumont through the second set of heavily guarded doors into a large lounge room. Inside the room were a series of couches and tables offering wines and pastries. Beautiful murals lined the walls all around them, spanning up to the high ceilings. Another door led further into the auction house. With a second door leading to what Casper could tell was outside, though that door too was heavily guarded.
The items that had been won were set on their own pedestals, such as the deeds of ownership for the properties, heavy chests for what he imagined was the sword, and flanked by several guards each where the slaves.
The husband and wife duo who had won the Celestial twins were engaged in “testing the wares” already it appeared, brazenly and with no regard for the many observers in the room as they tumbled and moved around the space in violent throws of passion.
A well dressed servant woman was in the process of handing a piece of paper to the Dragonkin woman, who read over its contents with a smile that made Casper's skin crawl, and finally the archfey male, standing proudly, watching the captain approach casually.
This was going to be tricky, Casper realized as he examined the number of guards.
He could try and kill the dragon now, catch her unaware but almost instantly out himself as marked. This would ruin his chances of leveraging his “friendship” with the captain which could prove invaluable later down the line.
Or, he could wait, let the dragon leave to join the Duke's side, and give him free reign to ensure Annabelle and the captain got out of this venue alive, without directly outing himself. Annabelle had seen him take on guards and knights and soldiers before, catching these ones unaware wouldn’t be too far fetched.
However, it looked like the fates were about to choose for him.
As Casper ran through the possibilities, 4 guards dressed differently from those belonging to the auction house entered the room abruptly.
The sound of their arrival instantly stirred the married couple from their extra curricular activities with the visibly disinterested celestial twins, prompting them to break apart from one another and stand in awkward silence, watching as the guards approached the dragonkin woman and the servant.
“The duke will have you now” one of the guards intones as the others move to position the dragonkin in the middle of their “pack”
The motion was obviously defensive, though it wasn’t as if this dragonkin needed protection from mere mortals.
It was possible the display was to act as a show of force so that the auction house guards would not interfere with anything, and by the look of general tension and unease present even under the armor and helmets of the auction house guards, that was most certainly the case.
As the dragonkin is led from the room in silence, the auction house guards within look as though they want to interfere, or stop them. This is likely not at all part of their standard protocol, but still, the dragonkin and the duke's guards leave uncontested.
In the minor distraction, Casper worked to reposition himself in the room, so that one guard was at his back, the one guarding the door out of the auction house from this room, with the celestial twins and the couple who purchase them directly in front of him, in the center of the room.
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“Annabelle, do you trust me?” Casper asked softly as he began to maneuver his way around the fine furnishings as if to get a better view of the celestial twins' activity.
“Of course” Annabelle confirmed, almost insulted.
“Good” he nodded, and waited.
“I really do look forward to bringing you on my ship, you and I will do great things together” Captain Dumont hummed softly as he inspected the arch fey much closer.
“I promise to be a good little slave” The archfey teased with a heavy sarcasm.
“Ah ha! You will need some work, don’t worry, I knew just the people to break that attitude out of you, you see back-”
Captain Dumont's words trail off as the earth itself shakes around them. Glasses of wine rattle on the tables in the space around them. Torchlight flickers as the air of the auction house is disturbed. The previously mute sounds outside rise in a steady, distant scream.
‘What in the gods-” Captain Dumont turns, and Casper makes his move.
Having positioned himself close to the door, Casper drives his legs hard, throwing himself into the closest guard with a shocking amount of strength.
His shoulder collides with the plate armor, not doing any damage to the man but sending him toppling down towards the door.
With a heavy CRASH the guard's weight sends the door bending outward, threatening to break from the weight of the both of them at its center.
Annabelle, instantly understanding what is going on, throws her weight into the door as well. With one solid strike the lock breaks and sends them tumbling outside into the open air.
Casper huffs as he is forced to the ground from the sudden lack of resistance, but quickly recovers. From outside the sound is much-much worse.
Fire billows from the now broken glass dome of the auction house's roof, screams escaping from inside. Looking around, it looks like several guards had been positioned outside just in case anyone tried to escape, and they were moving in quickly at the sight of Casper and Annabelle.
Inside was worse, the guards were already moving to pinch them in, and they were closing the distance, fast.
“Annabelle! Take the captain and get him to his ship, he will show you where it is!” Casper shouts over the sound of fast approaching plate armor, having to duck under the sword swing of a man who got there much faster than he had anticipated.
“By the gods!” Captain Dumont exclaimed, as he was shoved out of the way of another sword strike by Annabelle, the big woman quickly moved to bind up the attacker before shoving him at another three guards threatening to engage them already in the threshold of the doorway.
“I can’t take that many armored men!” Annabelle protested, shifting her attention between both the fast approaching guards outside, and the already on top-of them guards inside.
“I'll get you help” Casper confirmed, and moved.
The guards inside were spreading out to try and catch Casper and Annabelle at their flanks. Casper, channeling the mark just enough to not be noticeable, shot the gap between the men, barely shifting his weight in time to avoid the heavy shield that was already being brought up to block his path.
Slipping through the guards defense by a hair's breadth, he quickly brought his blade down against the husband and wife pair who had remained stunned in place from the sudden violence.
With two quick swipes the husband and wife's blood spattered hot against Casper's arms. He didn't have time, and he didn’t even know if this would work, but he had to try.
Only momentarily paused at the sudden murder of their recent owners, Casper channeled even more of the mark and reached his hands out to grab both celestials by the throat around their collars.
Time appeared to slow to a crawl as Casper’s awareness heightened at sudden and nearly instantaneous preternatural sensation of danger while in proximity to these celestials.
Their perfect blue eyes locked onto him in an instant, meanwhile Casper switched his focus to ensure no one was watching.
He was fast, but he wasn’t fast enough to be invisible which meant that Annabelle would take a look over in this direction soon.
He watched he break one of the guards arms, only to get a grazing cut down her shoulder for the effort.
Casper didn't have time, he needed to take the gamble.
He watches as both celestials begin to bring their hands up to strike at Casper. The air around each of their fists shimmered with golden light threatening to turn Casper to dust if he didn’t dodge the superhumanly fast strikes. Still. He needed to make sure Annabelle was safe and this was all he could think to do.
Channeling the mark throughout his body, he willed the heat to carve a path to the tips of his fingers. He felt the power flash over him like jumping into boiling water after coming in from a blizzard. It was the single most intense sensation he had ever felt while channeling the mark.
At first it hurt, hurt so badly he thought he might pass out, only for that pain to eject itself from his body as black smoke tore through the tips of his gloved fingers and poured out into the slave collars.
The magic runes carved into the metal dulled to a pitch black, and then shattered around the necks of the celestials faster than Casper could pull his hands away.
Shrapnel tore away from the collars, away from the necks of the celestials who all but managed to pull their punches a fraction of an inch away from Casper’s face.
Casper's body felt as though it would rip apart, as the incredible burst of energy’s consequences lingered in his hands. It felt as though someone tried to force a waterfall of energy through his veins. He felt his muscles ache and nerves burn as the smoke dissipates nearly as fast as it appeared.
The celestials looked to one another, then looked to Casper, they didn't know what to do, and Casper only had a second, if that, to capitalize on this strange set of circumstances.
“You owe me a life debt for freeing you” Casper said with a measured, but quick tone, using the custom he hated but knew was deeply ingrained in the culture of the world around him, and hoped to the fates that it applied to these Celestials too. “Help my friends escape and then leave and be free. That is how you will repay me” He finished, and quickly searched the eyes of the twins to see if this was worth the risk.
The twins' eyes widened, and then narrowed with determination. In synch they both replied “it is your will, and our duty, a life debt is owed.”
Just in time too, the guards were on them now and things were about to get incredibly bloody, unfortunately Casper wouldn’t be able to see it play out. He needed to slip away and get to the Duke as quickly as possible before the chaos became too unmanageable.
As the twins' attention turned to the guards around Annabelle and the captain, the last thing Casper saw as he rushed for the door back to the auction house was a swearing white light, and the scream of dying men.
The stench of cooking meat was overwhelming as Casper sprinted his way back into the auction house. Screams choked through rising flames, and the heat around him made him sweat through his thick layering of noble attire.
In just a short period, the Duke had made quick work of the auction house, and was still working it seemed.
People scream and cry and beg for mercy as they pile and crush one another at the locked doors, creating killing grounds for the guards who systematically butcher everyone trying to leave. Fire licks at the fringes of the stage, where even more bodies lay charred.
The sound is overwhelming, screams and cries, the thundering roar of another burst of flame that descends like a comet from the box seating down to collide in an inferno with a dozen auction house staff trying desperately to flee.
Looking around quickly, Casper spotted the marked girl surrounded by blood and dead men of the Last Legion, her collar broken, and at her side on the stage, was a man.
He stood tall, dressed all in black. Hard angular features accentuated by the licking fire around him. His pitch black hair was brushed back against his skull, skin pale, and expression of bitter amusement as he looked up into the box seats, where Duke Regalt sat, the nude Dragonkin slave at his side, smiling a wicked smile.
“A pity, I knew you as a practical man, i did not expect such theatrics either” The tall man in black said sharply, his voice low, with a rough edge like stone.
“Why settle for two birds with a single stone when you can just as easily burn the entire nest” the Duke's voice rang out with contempt over the screams, which were all but quickly dying.
Casper had no idea what the hell was going on and frankly? He didn’t care, instead he only knew that this Duke Regalt commanded the Last Legion, the legion whose banner was the shattered star, and he knew that the man responsible for controlling the legion needed to die.
There was no one in this building who would survive, he could channel the mark fully here, use his powers without holding back. With a rush of heat over his body Casper’s eyes filled with an overload of sensory information. In a fraction of a second the entire world slowed to a crawl, the fire stopped burning as brightly, the screams slowed to ambient, droning noise, every muscle in Casper’s body sang with power. He didn’t want to be wasteful however, besides, he would only need %10.
In an instant he was in the box seat, teleporting in a flurry of black smoke. His blade carved through the air aimed clean at the back of the Duke's head.
Easy, it would be over in an instant and he would have his revenge. To think all it took was a single opportunity-
His thoughts were cut off as his blade made contact not with the Duke's skull, but with a red scaled hand that gripped his fathers blade in clawed fingers.
“What?”
Casper's mind raced to comprehend what had happened. His attention shifted in a moment to look up at the source of the interruption.
The dragonkin's eyes met his, and with a flex of her powerful arms the blade in Casper’s hand shattered.