The whole of the Arcane Suppression Force stood before her throne, bent on one knee and head bowed in an act of respect. She sat, a withering look upon her face, with her back straight against the throne, waiting for an answer. An answer the Arcane Suppression Force did not have.

“Well?” her voice sliced through the silence. It was low, dangerous almost. Like the right word could cleave you in two. “Care to explain to me, General Derring, why you have not come back to the Castle with a mage in tow?”

“They escaped, Your majesty.” came his simple reply. He was knelt but looked at her while she spoke. If there was one thing the Queen hated, it was when people didn’t look at her when they spoke to her.

“I see” she stated. Standing up from her throne, her movements were graceful and measured. Her high heels clicked on the marbled floor as she descended. Each step ignited fear in the hearts of the task force. Her arms clasped behind her back as she paced in front of him “So you are to tell me that, even with the finest magic manipulation and mage finding technology in the whole of the eight kingdoms, you have failed me? Her voice showed no sign of anger, but her stare could cut steel.

“In our defence, Queen Nyxara, they blocked our line of sig-” the General started only to choke as the Queen snapped at his throat and lifted him into the air effortlessly, his feet dangling uselessly. Queen Nyxara sneered at him as she leaned in close, her words like venom “Your job, General, is to hunt Mages. That is what you do. That is what I picked you for. That is your only purpose. You should be ready for anything. A simple trick like that should not have outwitted my finest team!” She dropped him and he crumpled to his knees on the floor, red faced and spluttering as he rubbed his throat, sucking in great lungfuls of air.

“I should not have to tell you more than once how imperative it is for you to find this mage, General.” she stated as she looked down her nose at the snivelling man at her feet. “You may have access to whatever materials you may need to capture them.” Her final words to the man were low and threatening as she turned her back to him “Find the Mage, General Darring before you and your team lose your heads.”

She waved a hand as a sign of dismissal, hearing the scurrying feet of the Arcane Suppression Force scramble to leave the room as quickly as possible. She smirked, the idea of terror running through their veins filled her with a sadistic pleasure.

Returning to her throne, her smirk quickly faded to a frown as she tapped her fingernails rhythmically and repeatedly on the marble arm rests of her throne. It had been a long time since a category four mage had been spotted in the city and it worried her how easily the mage had slipped through her fingers. It only took one high level mage with a superiority complex to topple the kingdom. She had gotten lucky with Ragneth, having found out the one thing she could use against them to keep them in line.

Her mind whirled as she thought of the possibilities of what could happen if the reputation of the ASF was ruined. It only took the smallest crack in the hierarchy for the smoke of rebellion to be smelt by people and then there would be trouble. The sooner she dealt with this mystery mage the better, it was crucial that this new mage was dealt with as quickly as possible. She couldn’t afford another distraction, not with the whispers of war spreading around the kingdom.

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Summoning one of her servants as she sat up straighter in her chair she instructed “Send a message to the ASF, increase their training sessions. They’ve grown sloppy with the lack of real magical threat and I will not tolerate sloppiness from this kingdom’s best. Next, I want you to contact Ragneth. Find out where they are and get them here asap.” there was a millisecond of pause before the Queen shouted “Go! Now!” her voice echoing around the throne room.

As the servant practically sprinted out of the room, Queen Nyxara was left alone with her thoughts. They seemed to be piling up on her so she took a deep breath and tried to relax as she sorted them into different categories to try and understand them better.

First of all, the war talks from the Vombardy Kingdom were worrying. Killing King Vombardy only a few weeks after they had gotten married had been a mistake on her part, but the man had been insufferable and disgusting. The marriage had been seen as an essential turning point for the kingdoms, who often had been at war. The marriage had supposed to bring the two kingdoms together to extend the fragile peace that was currently between them. Being Queen meant that you often had to make sacrifices but this one had been too much. She shuddered at the memory of laying with him the night of their wedding. Although King Vombardy had been a stupid and impulsive fool, his son, Prince Balmuse was quite the opposite. He was sharp and intelligent and never acted rashly, he suspected the Queen had killed his father right from the start. It was insulting, she had gone to such lengths to make it seem like the old goat had died of natural causes, and here he was insinuating that she had killed him.

Prince Balmuse was a very big problem, he was clearly upset and there had been whispers of him meeting with his administrators of war. Going to war seems rash and rushed for the Prince which meant he must have some sort of evidence. The Queen made a note to get her mole within the Vombardy Kingdom to do some digging for her.

Second of all was this mage. She had read the report from the ASF, how they had got to the location where the arcane beacon had initially detected the mana surge, only to find a corn field completely decimated, reduced to nothing but ash. This level of terrain damage hadn’t been witnessed in decades. In fact the Queen was unsure if anything to this magnitude had been seen since Ragneth’s capture. It was perhaps even stronger than Ragneth’s mana surge. But without seeing it in person, Nyxara couldn’t be sure. Pictures only show so much.

She had read on in the report how they had spotted the suspect attempting to flee the location, how they had followed protocol right up until the unidentified mage had given them the slip. The report was vague on the details, but mentioned their line of sight of the suspect had been completely removed by a spell they had used. The suspect had been fleeing towards the city where the trail then went cold.

Feeling her anger start to boil up, the queen marched over to a window that gave a view of her kingdom, her hands clasped behind her back. The grand buildings of the upper class overshadow the smaller buildings that housed the poorer citizens. A stark contrast to the luxury she lived in. In the distance she could just about make out the forest and farmland that sat upon the edge of the city. This mage could not get away from her. She would not allow it. She willed herself to calm down, She was the Queen and anger over something or someone lower than her position was unbecoming. If the little mage wanted to hide, then let them. She smirked, the thrill of the hunt bubbling up in her veins as a glint of amusement appeared in her eye.

If the little mage wanted to run, then let them. Queen Nyxara Carpathica had eyes and ears everywhere. There was no shadow they could hide in nor road they could run down without her knowing. They were merely delaying the inevitable.

The Queen let out a low, dangerous chuckle. Her eyes staring out towards the fields in the distance “Run and hide, little mage. The Queen is coming”