Chapter Thirty

Chronostasis lets you reflect on how everything went wrong. Maybe it would have been best not to have succeeded so much? Even if they had trinkets that revealed a lack of truthiness for some answers, or they had the suspicion maybe Harmony could have juggled one or two more balls than she did, perhaps this wouldn't be the position she was in with the majority of the room's attention focused on her. All over that ridiculously cheap blow she'd delivered, a valid attack if not a polite one. She had plenty of time to ponder while her pet prince dashed across the ballroom floor somewhere to her left. Yelps and barks from the event staff and guards at his disturbance were just starting.

Could it have been the silence affecting their bond and pushing Adric to action? He’d been distinctly uncomfortable when she cast it on herself. The reason didn’t matter. He was here. He was coming. It was time to get answers and she missed him.

Familiar hands picked her up and spun her around. At least they’d given him access to his old wardrobe. All the clothes he’d had with her were slightly threadbare even after multiple mends. The red coat with gold trim looked dashing and princely on him, not that he was ever not adorable, and matched his white shirt and black pants. “What are you doing here..” She watched the realization that his Harmony was distinctly not looking Harmony-like before he plopped her back down. “... um, stranger.”

The eager undead prince bandying about with a woman who had no discernable past and happened to be Lady White’s height. Even the dullest of news hounds would figure this one out. Plan to sneak in, check on Adric, and sneak out completely ruined. “It’s okay.”

Harmony dropped the act. [Beautician] entwined with [Manipulate Dead] to undo the changes she’d made, restoring her hair and face. From inside her, [Small Armor] exchanged the bland less functional get-up she’d donned of old modified clothes and ball-busting gauntlet for Night. Even the obscuring choker was whisked away with it, but if they got destroyed, who cared.

“See, Addy. I was a tad worried and wanted to check in without causing a fuss. Since you disappeared without telling me.“

“Jacob promised he’d deliver my letter.”

Harmony gave a slight shake of her head dissuading him of that.

“I mean he is forgetful.” Maliciously so, if the stories she’d heard from Adric were true.

“Halt!” The staff and guards finally arrived after pushing through the now even more curious and growing crowd. With their hands resting on their weapons they were probably more confused than anyone else. Well. There’s that to deal with.

Before Harmony could decide what to say. The abbess Violet Everdeen stepped before them. “My applicant, the necromancer Lady Harmony White is merely having a meeting with her pet Prince Adric Highsmythe. Please carry on.”

Frustrated looks of irritation painted the faces of all the sun temple guards. “Our mistake.” The head one said sourly. This can’t be worse than Violet’s last applicant who set the fires.

Where before the crowd had looks of interest and analysis. They now had wide-eyed shock and curiosity. She wasn’t even a big deal in Naewauld like she was in Hazeldown, at least wasn’t before the Ascendant Games announcement. As a whole, she gave the crowd a slight shrug and faint wave. They all started to talk and move forward almost at once.

“Let the lady converse with her prince. I’m happy to field any questions and inquiries.” The abbess intervened.

Gratitude, but it isn't like the woman had done more than meet Harmony for the first time scant hours ago. There was sure to be some favor owed somewhere because of this. Focus.

Harmony returned her attention to Adric, “No letter was received even after we’d inquired about you. When you didn’t return I was a bit worried. I merely wanted to check in to make sure everything was okay. Perhaps with a more subdued meeting. I'd planned to use our bond to call for you when I had a more private bit of space.”

“Everything is okay. Family matters. They’ve been evaluating me to make sure I’m all healthy before welcoming me back.”

Remembering the tea incident, Harmony sent an, oh, really? Look.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Nothing I haven’t tried myself already. Plants, potions, physical examinations, some anti-undead spells and items.” Adric continued.

That did not sound health-inducing. Despite his resistance to expected skills, Harmony knew he had been dead, weeks dead. He wasn’t even alive now in the way others were. Resistance to [Manipulate Dead] had proved that. He is technically undead, but not a ghost, or a zombie, or anything she was aware of. Subjecting him to such things was not approved of, if she’d known of his risky experiments earlier she’d have stopped those too.

“I’m glad no harm has yet to come to you. If you’d gotten hurt, think about how Ambrosia would react if someone took a sling to one of her birds. Sounds like you passed all their nasty tests, they can be free to reinstate you and let you come back to me. There we can talk next steps as a team.”

“Um, actually. I’m not allowed to leave the palace. The charter members are sending their expert in to review the situation.”

[Recall] reminded Harmony he’d mentioned this group once before. “Charter Members?”

“The royal family are kind of stewards of the kingdom. We're tiny with only Hazeldown and Naewauld, compared to the other kingdoms. We operate under the charter set up by mostly the neighboring evolved kingdoms, that way none of the larger kingdoms gobble us up without the other charter members defending us. It’s like a defensive treaty. “

“And they get a say in what happens to you?”

“It’s just a formality,” Adric answered as though that had been told to him a hundred times. This must be one reason why Len thinks that something is off about the kingdom. And if it just a formality then why won’t they let him leave and why didn’t they respond to her requests?

“Well, I want to be there when this formality happens. If possible I’d like access to you to visit when I want. I’d rather not go to the guild and suggest to them that the kingdom is trying to unduly influence me through my pet over the Ascendant Games.” That last statement Harmony said loud enough for the crowd to hear. You’d think clergy were good at keeping secrets, but while she didn’t associate with them she’d heard they spread rumors and gossip like fishwives. Probably more useful than actually getting entangled deeper with the guild. “Put the request through. If I don’t hear from them by tomorrow afternoon. I’ll need to be more assertive.”

And there she was playing politics. Adric was hers, damn it.

Adric’s shove came as a surprise. That flair of danger through their bond. [Stride Before the Fall], while she hadn’t had the skill for that long, part of her training has been to trigger it when you feel that sense of trouble. That’s probably what she needed to invest in next with her free skill slot, something that gave her a little more warning of trouble. Everyone serious about advancing tried to make themselves jacks of all before evolving as it is, cover your weaknesses before you specialize.

She watched and felt the dagger plunge into her back and through her chest with a speed that would prevent [small armor] from blocking, not that she could see the skill to block it. Hyacinth would call it a proper ambush. A clean lethal shot from out of the shadows. Night resisted some of it not even cutting, but the force was too much. You’d think death would hurt more.

“Adric screamed. The crowd screamed. Harmony reached back to her attacker as she felt her life slip away grabbing his ear [Cold Touch] synergized with [Final Silence] boosted by her dying state that allowed her to put everything into the act. The man who was her attacker screamed as well, but his was silent.

The decision to choose was gone as only one Harmony was alive and with that [Stride Before the Fall] leveled for the first time. All that work she'd put into trying to level the skill earlier wasted. Dying was key. Such a stupid skill.

Adric grappled the silenced assassin. Sun guards joined him. Even while struggling his eyes found Harmony’s.

With a nod, Harmony best to slip away while everyone was watching the scene unfold. Night did not make the easiest outfit to slip away in as it stood out. Two guards joined her. Abbess Violet as well.

“I want to apologize, Lady White. I never expected this. Some prejudices I guess die hard.”

[Poise and Bearing] kept her from wincing at Violet’s use of the word “die.” Plenty of people disliked necromancers, abuse, slights, and inconvenience from it had always been present. But this? Naewauld had plenty of necromancers, she hadn’t heard of attempted murder like this. First, get to safety. Then dissect the problem.

“I wish I could say the evening was fun. But some chaos is not my cup of tea. Thanks for letting me crash this party.”

By the time she was outside the palace, her guards were a good dozen. Janos, that knight she'd knocked down, and two patrons she didn’t recognize joined five sun temple guards and there were four palace ones.

A croak came out of the shadows. “My familiar is here,” Harmony informed the group so as not to spook them. The massive toad hopped into the protective crowd. Harmony put her hand on him. Shadows were everywhere, cast from buildings and trees lit by glow stones for the night. The mass of people around her even cast long shadows. “It’s certainly been a party. Farewell.”

She and Hyacinth slipped into those shadows back to The Dragonfly Inn. Discreetly go and check on her pet to assuage her fears. Don't stand out, don't get into trouble, and certainly don't die. None of that had gone to plan.