Felix used storm sorcery to fly up to the landing platform at the Teeth of the Red Dragon, for the first time. It had been a very long flight from the south, riding on Brigid's back through the Elemental Plane of Spirits. It was almost dusk already, and the platform was empty.
I sensed a Shadow Hunter for a moment, the Light Elemental warned. However, she escaped to the Plane of Darkness almost instantly.
Someone must be watching the platform, Felix thought. Watching for me.
It was not lost on him how useful the Light Elemental was. He resumed his march into the headquarters, where he found Neasa working in her office, buried in piles of paperwork. It was such a relief to finally see another person with proper blood-red hair. Though, it was strange to see her bright red eyes without her shaded spectacles.
"Felix! You're back! What the hell happened to your face?"
Remembering herself, she stood up and saluted.
"Sir."
"The Elemental Queen of Light branded my face," Felix replied. "How is the training going, Lieutenant General?"
"Commander, we have three-hundred and twenty-six officers of all ranks qualified and current with the most recent designs. One hundred and thirteen warrant officers, and three-thousand two-hundred enlisted men. The Lord Paladin has expanded the budget to meet our six-month projections. Also, the Prime Minister came to Black River looking for you."
Felix nodded in silence as the woman rattled off the figures, but suddenly felt assaulted by the last statement.
"The Prime Minister? Why did he come?"
"Felix, it is said that the Prime Minister will pardon all of your crimes, and bestow military honors and awards for your performance in the battle for the Teeth."
A half-truth, the Light Elemental said in his mind. Be careful. It could be a trap.
"But commander, there is something you need to know," Neasa began. "My father, Count Owen, has also ventured south to oversee his factories in Black River directly. He sent me a letter. Please, have a seat. Close the door."
She is telling the truth.
The red-haired woman reached across the table and offered a handwritten letter. Seated, Felix slowly opened it and began to read.
Bastard girl, I have need of you. Convince the criminal named Felix of Quaria to stand before the Prime Minister. Aid Sylvester in his deception. Do this for me, and I will name you my legitimate daughter, a full member of House Siofra, and eligible to inherit my title.
"Is he telling the truth?" Felix asked. "Will he really legitimize you?"
Neasa reeled back in her chair. "That is not what I expected you to say!"
"And yet I have said it."
"He has always known that I wanted to be legitimized, but there is nothing I could do to force the issue. I do not have any legal rights, and this document is not a signed contract. What does it matter? He admits that the Prime Minister plans to betray you."
"I knew the shape of the trap the instant you mentioned that the Prime Minister was looking for me," Felix said. "It's a stupid idea. Sylvester is a dead man. But I will gain any advantage I can from this situation. We will confront your father and force him to legitimize you."
"How?" Neasa asked.
Felix replied with his eyes. Suddenly the woman looked terrified.
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"This place bothers me," Neasa said.
She wore a leather cap and brass-rimmed glass goggles, even though it was somewhat unnecessary. The Elemental Plane of Spirits had no strong winds, and Brigid wasn't flying very fast.
"You get used to it," Felix said.
They flew under a dull, sunless magenta sky. Diffuse, misty black clouds flowed across the landscape below. Brigid twisted her wings back into a descent configuration, and seeing this, Neasa signed with relief.
"Never in my life would I have ever wanted to ride on the back of a drake," Neasa said.
"You get used to it," Felix repeated.
The three mounds of Black River extended out in front of the purple drake as she descended. They looked somewhat strange without all the layered tenement buildings and smokestacks. The last of the three mounds was covered in grass and parks, the location of the walled estates of the city's industrialists. But those walled estates were nowhere to be seen.
Brigid landed on the grass, in almost the exact place where Felix had landed during the All-Island Faire. Neasa struggled to unstrap herself and climb down from the saddle, but Felix simply floated down using storm sorcery. Retrospect, he understood why Shane loved it so much. It was very convenient. Brigid sembled into her human form. The purple-haired woman stood a full head taller than Neasa.
"Lead us to your father's cottage," Brigid said.
The souls of servants scurried around in ghostly kitchens. If Felix really tried hard to see, he could just barely make out shimmers of stoves, pots, and plates. But only for a fraction of a second at a time before they vanished into the dim haze. Overhead, on the second or third floors of the estates, Felix could sometimes see souls arranged around an invisible rectangle, as if dining at a grand table.
"It's just ahead," Neasa said, pointing to the end of a flagstone cul-de-sac.
There must have been a cottage in that spot, because the space beyond the grassy lawn was packed with souls. Dozens of people were arrayed in rows, like soldiers, up on the second floor. Felix counted at least twenty four soldiers and a single soul that appeared to be radiating cyan light. The souls of servants scurried about on the lower floor.
"They know we are coming," Felix said.
"My father may have eyes watching my movements," she said.
"Shadow Hunters," he said. "Whoever owns the bond was waiting for me to return to the city."
"You will find out soon enough," Brigid said. "You too, go to the other side and make your way to the second floor. I will stay on this side until I am needed."
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"Are you going to open a portal for us?" Felix asked.
"Do it yourself," Brigid replied. "You have a Dream Elemental now."
"Neasa, where is the front door?"
The woman traced a path sideways through the grass. She stopped and pointed. A faint shimmer of a doorknob appeared for a split second in front of her finger. A single soul stood stationary on the other side.
"Uh," Felix said. "Daughter of the Queen of Dreams, please make a portal to the other side."
A terrible place for a portal, but whatever. You're the boss, after all.
The portal appeared, a bird's nest of worm-like cyan lines with a black void in the center. Felix reached out and passed through to the other side. It was suddenly dark and cold. Gas lamps illuminated the crystal-laden wooden door ahead. Felix adjusted his uniform and checked his reflection in the glass before grasping the golden handle and inviting himself inside. Neasa followed.
"Welcome Felix of Quaria," the guard in the foyer said. "The manor house is open to you. Count Owen is waiting for you up the stairs."
That guard is bonded to a Shadow Hunter, the Light Elemental Warned.
"I'll deal with him later," Felix whispered.
The cottage smelled of flowers and burning candles. Checkered red and black wallpaper, polished ebony wood railing on the stairs, fine white rugs over a black tile floor, and lots and lots of gold. A massive crystal chandelier was suspended from four thick golden chains over the foyer. The landscape paintings along the stairway depicted images from all over the continent, from the snow clad mountains north of Flood's End to the red stone spires in the jungles of Riln. Two armless statues of bathing women, cut into shining marble, flanked the hallway into the main hall.
The industrialist, Count Owen Siofra, was not alone. Twelve soldiers stood at attention on each side of the room, armed with crossbows and sabers. The count himself was a middle-aged man with a graying red beard, and he wore an immaculate black suit and a top hat. He stood beside a small wooden throne, in which Prime Minister Sylvester sat. The old man peered through his monocle at Felix. He set his crystal goblet of wine down on a small table, next to a platter of cheese.
"Ah! Felix," the old man rasped. "Welcome. Welcome! I see you..."
"Silence!" Felix bellowed. "Count Owen of House Siofra. Speak true. Did you promise your bastard daughter that you would legitimize her?"
The Count squinted at Felix. "Sylvester, something is wrong. Look at his face."
"Answer my question," Felix hissed.
"You have no right to demand anything from us," the Prime Minister said. "Count Owen. Let us be done with this farce. Kill him."
"As you wish," Count Owen said. "High Daughter! Show yourself!"
The massive Dream Elemental, twenty feet tall, nearly scraped the vaulted ceiling when she appeared. She filled the room with a pale cyan light, painting the gas-lamp shadows of the soldiers on the walls. The enormous woman looked down upon the scene with surprising emotion. Is that fear I see in her face? Felix wondered.
Mortal, you are in grave danger. I suggest that you flee.
"High Daughter," Felix said. "Who are you speaking to right now?"
The huge Elemental looked down at Count Owen. I fear for you, Mortal. You are in danger. Everyone in this room is in danger. Even I am in danger. The enemy has a High Daughter of the Queen of Water. Even an Elemental Queen would fear such a creature.
"I didn't ask for your opinion!" Count Owen snapped. "I Wish that he was dead!"
A blue flash. The High Daughter of Water appeared behind the towering Elemental, dark blue and made from cascades of rushing water. She held a truly massive sword in her hand, at least fifteen feet long, dragging into the wooden floor. Buckling wood, cracking beans, crumbling floor, misty frost frothing in writhing swirls. That sword was almost perfectly transparent, except for the pale layer of sleet that appeared in the air as it was thrust upward into the Dream Elemental's chest from behind.
The High Daughter of Dreams suddenly jolted. Then, she screamed.
The sound of that screech stunned the soldiers on either side. Neasa reeled back, covering her ears with her hands. The Prime Minister's head snapped back, and with a rainbow shimmer, Brigid appeared behind him, dagger in hand, drawing it firmly across his throat. Felix saw Brigid's mouth move, but he could not hear her words.
Something happened then, Felix could feel it but he could not see it. Something was suddenly lost, forever, something broken.
I forgive you, the Light Elemental said. All is forgiven. Absolution is yours.
The High Daughter of Water withdrew her blade. The screaming stopped. Felix still heard a ringing in his ears. The Prime Minister, his throat gushing waves of red blood, slumped forward and fell off his little wooden throne. Count Owen Siofra fell to his knees, stunned. The soldiers on either side, having realized that their Prime Minister had been attacked, suddenly began to draw their blades.
"Stand down!" Felix shouted, amplifying his voice with wind magic. Even then, he could barely hear it. "On behalf of the Lord Paladin, STAND DOWN!" This had the intended effect. The soldiers began to back away from him, sliding back towards the walls. Some of them still held their ears.
Count Owen was shaking.
"Please don't hurt my father!" Neasa screamed. She began to race forward toward the man, but Felix caught her and held her back. Brigid loomed over him, both her daggers pressed against the man's neck.
"Fourth High Daughter of the Elemental Queen of Dreams," Brigid said, "on behalf of the Queen of the Purple Dragons I command you to bond with me now."
Yes, I will bond with you. It is done. Please, please don't hurt me again.
"Tell me, Count Owen," Brigid continued. "Where the hell did you find this High Daughter?"
"What have you done?" the man rasped. "What... what have you done?!"
"Answer me!"
"That thing has been in my family for a thousand years!" the Count cried. "A thousand years! It is the source of all of our power. Our wealth."
"And where did your family get it?" Brigid hissed.
Count Owen was trembling. "When Ashe, the Elemental Queen of Darkness, captured a Purple Dragon, it was bonded to this High Daughter. The Dragon was captured, with... with help from my family. As a reward, Ashe allowed my ancestor to keep the High Daughter. She said... she said it was a curse, that there would be a reckoning someday."
"A reckoning!" Brigid said, laughing, her face filled with madness. "A reckoning indeed. Felix, dear, ask this man who killed your beloved Red Dragon."
A magenta-ringed portal opened, and Brigid vanished. Felix stalked forward.
"No, Felix, please don't," Neasa pleaded.
"Don't worry," Felix said, "I'm not going to kill your father."
He reached down and ran his bare hand through the blood of the Prime Minister, which now formed a broad pool on the mirror-like black tile floor. He walked up to the industrialist, and began to draw the shape of a horned skull on the floor in front of the man.
"Queen Ashe," Felix said with a grin. "You promised a reckoning."
Twelve shadows appeared on the walls, flickering in the light of the gas lamps on the sconces. Felix held his hand to his chest, counting the heartbeats. Ten, eleven, twelve.
"And so shall there be a reckoning," Ashe announced as she appeared in the chamber with a puff of black smoke. She glided over the floor, then did a little twirl on top of the pool of blood. "Felix, I'm proud of you! You succeeded in telling a lie to your subordinate, even though you are bonded to a Light Elemental! But of course, I allowed it."
"Felix," Neasa said. "What is that thing?"
Queen Ashe pranced behind the throne, the long horns on her skull-mask almost scraping the sconces on the walls. "Ah, so many betrayals. I love betrayals, you know. They are so amusing. Tell your daughter, Count Owen, what you really intended to do with her, once she betrayed Felix. Go on. You can tell her."
The man looked up at the Elemental Queen of Darkness with awe and reverence written on his face. "I was... going to sacrifice her soul to you, Queen Ashe. To you, a soul for you. Please, my Queen, I'm telling the truth. I was going to give you the soul of my daughter!"
"The idiocy of mortals is one thing that I do not find amusing," Ashe said. "Her soul already belongs to Titania. She is, after all, the best pilot in the Draconic Paladins. No offense, Felix. But, alas, I was promised a soul, and this time I think I'll insist on taking one with me. Seamstresses!"
Ashe clapped her hands twice. With two more puffs of black smoke, two zombified women appeared, with pale skin and frilly black dresses. One of them had a huge pair of scissors, and one of them carried a box filled with needles and spools of thread. Ashe placed her hand on Count Owen's head. He started shaking as the pink color began to drain from his face, leaving it a sickly snow white color. When he saw the seamstresses, he started screaming. The screaming cut off as they began to sew his mouth shut.
Felix yanked on Neasa to turn her away. The soldiers all around were trembling on the floor. Finally Neasa relented, and allowed Felix to lead her out into the foyer once again. She was shaking.
"I'm sorry, Lieutenant General," he said. "You can take a break if you need to grieve for your father. Just let me know."
Neasa nodded. "Just some time to clear my head, commander. Just a little time."
The guard on the ground floor looked up in shock as Felix began to descend the stairs. "Forgive the bond," Felix commanded. "Negotiate a new one."
It is done. The Shadow Hunter is yours.
"Daughter of Ashe. Hunt your former master. Then we shall be on our way."