Chapter 62 An Audience.

Something about the young Arbencroft made Isaac feel like he was going to be the architect of years of entertainment and intrigue. “I don’t believe I’ve gotten your name, duke to be.”

“Lucius Serris Von Arbencroft at your service.” The heir to the Duchy of Safeharbor replied with another bow, this one a bit more exaggerated matching Isaac’s flare almost perfectly.

Before any further conversation could begin Sera stepped in. “Isaac, Lenna, would you two please open the dance floor? The first dance is yours as the guests of honor.” She explained.

Isaac glanced at Lenna. “Certainly.” Lenna replied.

Sera raised her wine glass and then realized that she didn’t have anything to rap against it. Isaac handed her one of his throwing spikes casually. No one saw where he got it from. Sera hesitated for a moment before accepting it. “T-Thank you.” She told him to which he just nodded and looked around. She rapped it against the side of her glass a few times. “Our guests of honor, Lord Wexler and Lady V’Nova are going to perform the first dance.” She spoke once all side conversations had died down. The servant who had been introducing the guests opened up the wall at the end of the ballroom. The center half of the wall was actually two sliding doors that pulled out of the way to reveal a small orchestra. A few different string and brass instruments along with a piano and few large drums were arranged with musicians getting ready to start playing.

The guests pulled away from the center to give Isaac and Lenna space to have the first dance. “A violent symphony is preferred but a waltz will do.” Isaac spoke. In the near silence of the ballroom his voice carried enough that the musicians heard him and the conductor went around turning pages to a specific song. Isaac and Lenna walked out into the center of the room and stood across from each other. “It is a dance of your people, you should introduce it.” Isaac told her.

Lenna barely held herself back from scowling at him. She hated the attention suddenly locked onto her. “This is the sword dance known as Blades of the Night Lily.” She spoke clearly and then looked pointedly at Isaac.

He looked at her with some confusion for a moment. “Oh!” He said once he realized what her problem was. He closed the distance. “You still need help drawing your blade.” He told her. The next string of lies was simply him setting the stage for another plan in the future. He had explained to Lenna what he needed her to do and how to act to play along but he hadn’t explained to her why. Not yet anyway.

“Indeed, my Lord.” She replied and her gaze softened.

He reached out and turned his hand sideways like he was about to grab the hilt of a sword only his hand was a mere inch away from Lenna’s breastbone. A bit too low on her chest to be proper in any sense. Right when the onlookers were about to start whispering to each other about the indecency Isaac clamped his hand closed and the hilt of Lenna’s blade appeared in it. He pulled it out with great care to not clip her with the edge of the blade and then presented her sword to her like it was a blade of legend. He held it in both hands horizontally and smiled at it and then her warmly. “Your blade, my Lady.” He offered with great gravity and warmth.

The ballroom was silent at the display. It looked as though Isaac had pulled the sword out of Lenna’s chest. There was no place that it could have been hidden and it looked real. Isaac’s hands visibly lifted when Lenna accepted the sword from them. Her one shoulder dipped slightly with the new weight in its respective hand. There was nothing that gave it away as an illusion for it was real. “Thank you for the assistance, my Lord.” Lenna told him. “I am ready when you are.”

Isaac took a step back and created a sword made of shadows that was a bit larger than his real steel weapon. He grabbed the hilt but his hand seemed to sink into it slightly. He mentally moved the Inventory window away from his hand so the rest of the sword would come out and remain hidden inside of his shadows. He swung the sword hard to the side and let go of the shadows that were hiding it. Out of the black fog was a thin, shining, very real, steel straight sword. Isaac had kept some of the shadows on the sword and made them cover the weapon’s edge. The result was the sword looking far thinner than it actually was and making it very easy to lose sight of it while it was moving. If it weren’t for the many lights, reflecting off of the still revealed steel, the sword would be almost invisible to the eye.

The sudden appearance of two very real blades that seemed to materialize in Isaac’s hands definitely left a more tangible impression than his purely magical show of force. With most of the guests not being mana sensitive it was hard to truly express Isaac’s power to them without a public execution. He glanced at the orchestra. “Ready.” He told them. The conductor nodded and raised his hands. A long low note pulled across the strings of a few of the larger string instruments. A flick of his wand and a gesture had a few deep notes retort from the drums. Isaac smiled. “Perfect.” He said more to himself than anyone else.

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Isaac entered the starting position for his part of the sword dance and Lenna entered hers. They shared an almost invisible nod and then began. They slashed, parried, thrusted, and danced along with their blades. A few twirls and exaggerated cuts in perfect time with the music. Sixty four exchanges and sixty four repositions in sixty four seconds. They moved silently. The only noise being the occasional clinking of Lenna’s little mirrors on her dress. The bottoms of her slippers were coated in shadows and of course the bottoms of his boots were as well. They started off serious and focused on making the right moves and keeping the proper time but by the end both of them were smiling and enjoying themselves. All conversation had remained stunted around them as the rest of the guests watched in awe at the perfectly choreographed silent battle of blades.

The pair froze at the end of the first part for a whole second before switching stances and beginning again, this time doing the other’s part. Back and forth and back again they went until the second part was over. At the end they were both breathing deeply but maintained their composure. They were standing in the exact same places that they had started in, having only covered an area of a fifteen foot diameter circle throughout their entire exchange. The music died down after a long moment. “Well done.” Lenna complimented Isaac with a smile. He had managed to do the entire thing without messing up even once. They had moved in perfect harmony as if no one was watching them. In fact, they had both forgotten about their audience and had only then realized that others were in the room.

Isaac gave her a shallow bow. “And you as well, my Lady.” He told her.

Lenna gave him a deeper curtsy than she gave Izen or Sera. “Thank you, my Lord. Your words honor me.” She replied.

Their final exchange was met by a round of applause led by Sera and Izen. Isaac couldn’t hide his grin. He darkened his shadow and moved it to lie next to him on the ground. He casually dropped his sword over it and the shadows seemed to devour the weapon before returning to normal. He closed the distance. “You are lovely.” He told her just loud enough for her to hear him over the applause.

She smiled back at him somewhat bashfully. “Stop flirting with me. We have an audience.” She chastised just as quietly and without any bite.

“I don’t care.” He told her and held out his hands for her sword. She laid it onto his outstretched hands. “Are you ready?” He asked. What was about to happen was the hardest part for her. She had to not react to Isaac stabbing his sword through her chest. Of course the blade wasn’t supposed to actually make contact with her at all but it was still a very real sword being aimed at her heart and thrust towards it.

She nodded. “Yes. I trust you.” She told him. Her words warmed Isaac’s heart and collar. Isaac held up her sword and pointed the tip at her heart. The room went silent again and someone gasped in horror at what was about to happen. Isaac positioned his Inventory window as close to her skin as possible. It wouldn’t do for someone to see the weapon disappear with a gap in between it and her. The problem was that Isaac had to get the position exactly right. Too far away from her chest and it would be visible to the onlookers, too close and he risked cutting her.

Isaac pushed the blade forward and downward into the Inventory window set almost flush with Lenna’s breastbone. She didn’t even flinch, simply accepting the weapon as if it couldn’t hurt her. Once it was gone Isaac noticed a small cut right where the tip of the blade had been. She had breathed in at just the wrong time and it had pushed her chest just far enough forwards that the tip of the sword had cut her before going into Isaac’s Inventory. His eyes went wide slightly but before he could slip out of character he got an idea on how to continue in a way that would still benefit them. “My Lady,” Isaac began. “I’m afraid not even I am perfect.” He told her and looked pointedly at the small cut that was about to let a small drop of blood roll. He raised two fingers and kissed them leaving behind the smallest amount of death flames. He reached forward and placed the fingers delicately onto her cut causing it to heal over and vanish. He pulled out a black handkerchief from his coat pocket and handed it to her.

“A cut as small as that one did not require your power, my Lord.” Lenna replied. “But thank you.” She wiped the blood away from her chest and handed the handkerchief back to him. He wiped the blood off of his fingers and made a show of causing it to vanish in a small puff of shadows.

He gestured back towards the Arbencrofts. “Shall we?” Lenna threaded her arm through his and the pair rejoined the duchess and her family.

“You two are incredible!” Sera told them and took a hand from each of them in her own. “Thank you both so much for accepting my invitation.”

“Like I said before Sera,” Isaac replied with a smile. “I wouldn’t have missed your birthday.” His smile turned apologetic. “Unfortunately your birthday present isn’t ready yet.”

“Oh?” Sera asked and then looked at Lenna. “You didn’t say anything about a present. Your presence is more than enough.”

“Don’t worry, I am sure he will still charge your husband for at least part of it.” Lenna replied with a smile. She knew Isaac and hit the nail on the head.

Izen looked at Isaac pointedly. “Don’t worry,” Isaac assured him. “once you hear what it is, you will be more than willing to pay for the entire thing, not just manufacturing costs like I am going to charge you.”

“Is that so?” Izen asked skeptically.

“It is related to our most recent bounty.” Isaac replied with a grin.

Edward gasped. “That, that might have some implications.” He explained quietly.

“Better to not talk about it here then.” Sera replied and gestured towards one of the tables set against the wall of the ballroom. The music had started again only this time it was a high and light waltz that several of the nobles had begun to dance too.

Lucius took the moment to remind everyone of his presence and also gestured towards the table. “Agreed. And why speak while standing out in the open when there are perfectly comfortable chairs and delicious snacks to be had.”