Chapter 25 Dusk.
“Well, it’s been five minutes.” Isaac spoke calmly. His voice had lowered by half an octave and Lenna instantly knew exactly what he was going to do.
“Well, that’s probably better than just knocking their door down, but it is still going to be a mess.” She commented.
“Things get messy when we show up.” Isaac replied and ignited in flames so dark that the dock in the full, late afternoon, sun looked like dusk to all of those that witnessed it.
—
Alejandro Eddenna sat in his chair reading a new research paper that was being passed around in the upper circles of court mages. It was a brilliant, though mildly misinformed, piece about the nature of entities from the elemental planes. He was about to set it down on the small table next to him, as he had just finished reading it, when his very soul began to tremble.
The magic detection array, that was standard in mage towers on the border, surged with power unlike anything he had ever seen. The only thing that had ever come close was the time when Storm themselves had shown up and stopped a hurricane cold, before directing it up the coast to hit a different port city. The array temporarily overwhelmed his senses with pure terror and the feeling of falling into the river styx. He was immediately crippled as the feeling of a puppet whose strings were just cut overrode all other feelings in his body. He convulsed for a full second, before the automatic input/output balancing system that he had added to the magic detection array activated and muted the incoming terror down to a level that permitted his conscious thoughts.
Alejandro gasped as he struggled to right himself in his chair. His body was covered in a cold sweat and he was trembling too much to even cast a spell. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small flat stone that was covered in runic engravings. On the stone there was a place for a person’s thumb to rest and he did exactly that. Once he did so, the runes on the stone all lit up and he was certain that the other three that connected to it also activated. “Dock, deific, magic signature, proceed, with caution, unknown.” He gasped out as he tried to catch his breath. He picked his thumb back up off of the stone and dropped it back into his robe’s pocket. “Tower, activate defensive armament protocol.” He spoke after he had given himself a few more seconds to stabilize his breathing.
As one, his robe removed itself from his body, a new one flew to him and dressed him, a staff made of layered gold and platinum around an oak core settled into his hand, and a large wide-brimmed hat settled on his brow. He felt the new magics from his new set of gear instantly resynchronize with his mana signature and soul silhouette. With one deep and steadying breath he focused and mentally prepared himself to meet with the being that had just nearly accidentally killed him by raw power output alone. “Tower, take me to,” He began and felt the teleportation array begin to power up. “twelve feet east, on height, highest recent array alert.” With the final piece of information the array was waiting for, Alejandro vanished from the relative safety of his tower and appeared behind the person that had just sent the entirety of Sapphirestone into lockdown.
—
Isaac and Lenna felt mana begin to stir behind them so Isaac no longer had a reason to blaze like a lighthouse in the dead of a new moon night. Neither of the pair bothered to turn around yet though as they both watched the scattering of windows and doors, in the sapphire fortress in front of them, be covered in iron bars almost simultaneously.
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“Good, you’re finally here.” Isaac spoke calmly. “Slower than I expected, but fast enough. Inform your duke and duchess that the Lord of Darkness and Lady of Hellfire wish to speak with them at their earliest convenience.”
—
Alejandro wasn’t sure what to expect but a man dressed in pure black standing in the middle of the late afternoon sun was about what he had imagined, though with a lot less exposed bone and thankfully lacking a scythe. The individual next to him also seemed entirely calm and nonchalant about the chaos that he had just caused. Alejandro knew immediately that the culprit was the black cloaked individual not just from his visible form, but also from the faint shadow of the power that had almost given him a brain aneurysm.
It took Alejandro a moment to process what the man had just told him, but as he did so, everything seemed to fall into place. He had been briefed on the Lord of Darkness and his companion, the Lady of Hellfire, by both his duke and the court mage of Safeharbor. Their presence was expected but the event that was their arrival was not. “I see. I will convey the message, though I cannot promise that it will be today. My Lord is quite a busy man.” Alejandro told Isaac in an attempt to get the death elemental in human form to leave his master alone by virtue of meeting him being more difficult than it was worth.
“What is your name, court mage?” The Lady of Hellfire spoke as she turned her head slightly to get a side-long look at him. The pitch black lenses in her helmet’s eye holes did nothing to make the woman seem less untouchable or imposing.
“Alejandro Eddenna, my Lady.” He replied with a slight bow of his head. He had been informed that courtesy towards the lady was not only expected but required lest her companion ‘take it personally’. Alejandro had no intention to find out what exactly that meant.
“Magus Eddenna, I find myself curious as to why your duke was not present for his sister’s birthday ball. Is he a cripple?” She questioned pointedly. “I wish to hear his reason, out of his own mouth, and some reality walls and iron bars will do little more than preemptively annoy me before our meeting. Do tell him that as well.”
Alejandro swallowed hard under her piercing gaze. He couldn’t even see her eyes, yet he felt like they could watch mana move through his core. “I, will relay that to him as well, my Lady. Where will you be staying, so I can send a messenger once a time and place for the meeting has been set?” Alejandro questioned her with as much grace as his trembling would allow. The feeling that the array had imparted into him had still not left the forefront of his mind and he knew that it was clouding his focus and judgment, but there was little he could do at that moment. He needed to rest and have a cup of tea before he would be back to normal, but unfortunately he did not have the time for either of those things.
“If your duke does not mind the slums being turned upside down, then we will be staying at the inn across from the Adventurers’ Guild.” The Lord of Darkness spoke calmly once more. “Otherwise, we will wait here until dusk.”
Alejandro bowed slightly to both of them. “I will converse with his grace and inform him of everything that you have spoken, verbatim.” He assured them and tapped his staff on the ground. The simple motion activated a spell that yanked him through mana back into his tower. He immediately pulled out the Speaking Stone and pressed his thumb back into place. “It is the Lord of Darkness and the Lady of Hellfire, your grace. Please proceed with caution. Captain, cancel the Guard response, they would not be able to do anything to them anyway.” He spoke.
A moment later he received a reply but it was not from his duke. “Why not? What are they?” The captain questioned him.
“A fire breathing adamantine golem and the king of death elementals.” Alejandro replied sharply. “Do not, I repeat, do not antagonize them.”
“Understood.” Was all that Alejandro got in reply from the captain but that was good enough.
A moment later the duke’s voice came from the stone: “Alejandro, meet me in my office and explain everything.” Little did the duke know but Alejandro was already leaving his tower to head directly there. They had until dusk, three hours by Alejandro’s estimation, to either meet with their visitors or let them run free in the slums. Neither seemed like a great idea.
—
“I think that went well enough.” Isaac commented once he was sure that no one was close enough to hear him except for Lenna.
“He looked like he was about to soil himself.” Lenna replied with her usual stoic tone. “I think we overdid it.”
“Honestly, I think Duke Von Sasston could use something like this. I didn’t think about it until you said it, but he really didn’t show up to his own sister’s birthday ball, even though they are only three days' ride apart, and they have a court mage who can probably just teleport them there.” Isaac told her with a frown. “What kind of bastard doesn’t show up to Sera’s birthday party? I understand skipping Izen’s, Izen didn’t seem like he wanted any visitors anyway, but Sera’s?”
“I know.” Lenna agreed. “That’s why I said it.”
“Well, at least the sea breeze is nice, while we wait.” Isaac commented after a moment of silence. He then pulled a skewer out of his Inventory and offered it to her. “Fish?”