The days leading up to the witan were filled with Violet learning the ins and outs of managing her new farmlands. The fields were well established, and the people who lived and worked on them were all friendly when she introduced herself. She was shocked at how much coordination and planning were required to run smoothly.
There were very few amberclaws available in Kasmaya, and as a result, many things were done using magic. It was common for at least one person from each farming family to know how to use modern magic. There were spells available to till the land and water the fields. Mana was a limitation, but there were ways for even non-magic users to donate their mana to a casting.
Violet was fortunate enough to be present for the plowing of a field. Participating in a spell as a mana battery was a new experience for her. The farmer’s wife, Anita, had brought out a giant spellbook on a podium beside the field. Before the spell was cast, everyone there held hands to create a chain. The first person in the chain would touch the person casting the spell to supply mana.
She had asked if people could be used as mana batteries against their will. After receiving a dirty look, they said mana could not forcefully be taken from them if anyone was unwilling. It seems that even modern magic had a lot of intent-based rules.
When everyone had assumed their positions, the casting was fascinating to watch. Anita was singing a song in a foreign language while using her hands and arms to make complicated gestures. Once the song and gesturing were complete, Violet felt her mana slowly draining to fuel the spell. It was not an unpleasant feeling, and she thought she could stop the draining at any time if she wanted it to stop.
The field in front of them was marked with unique stones to direct the magic. After the magic was done, the area was plowed, and there were mounds shaped in orderly rows. Anita told her after the spell had been completed that she was shocked so much had been done. Usually, they did not have enough mana for the entire field to be done with one casting.
The only parts of farming done by hand were seeding, weeding, and harvesting. There were spells for those things, but they were inferior to doing them by hand. Seeding with magic was imprecise, and for the plants to be placed in rows, it was best to sow by hand. When you used magic to weed a field, half the time, the spell would destroy part of the crop along with the weeds. The same problem happened when trying to harvest with magic. The modern magic spell would damage the crop.
Violet imagined an ancient magic Nature user would overcome these difficulties, but modern magic was too limited. No new spells were being created for modern magic because the knowledge of how to create spells was lost. She wouldn't be surprised if an ancient magic user were the one to make all of the known spells.
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The witan snuck up on Violet. She had let herself get so distracted with meeting her new people and learning what they did that she had forgotten about the meeting. Thankfully, she had not had any more nightmares since her poisoning dream. She still, to this day, was not 100% sure if it was a nightmare or a Divination. When she had woken up, she had felt for sure it was a Divination, but nothing came of it.
Regina showed up on the morning of the witan with a handful of maids in tow. “You forgot, didn’t you?”
“Forgot what? You know my brain doesn’t work quite as well in the morning.”
“The witan is today!” She said while opening Violet’s closet. She picked up a yellow silk dress and said, “You should wear this one. The yellow looks nice against your tanned skin and brings out the purple of your eyes.”
“Is there a ball or something you failed to mention?”
“No, you just need to dress as if you were attending a ball when you go to the witan tonight.” She said while rummaging through Violet’s jewelry box to look for something to match her dress. Regina had never been shy about snooping through Violet’s things. The majority of the jewelry that Violet owned was forced on her by Regina in the first place, so it’s not like the contents of the drawers were a secret.
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The witan was being held in one of the smaller ballrooms in the palace. Tonight’s meeting would be hosting the majority of the local nobles and a few from other cities. All nobles were required to attend this meeting four times a year, but tonight was not one of those nights. Even with it being local nobility, Regina warned her there would likely be more than two hundred people in attendance.
When Violet arrived for the witan, she was announced at the ballroom door. She would assume this was a dance if she didn’t know better. Several musicians were off to one side playing light soothing music while people who had already arrived were socializing.
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Violet’s experience with other nobles to this point had been very negative. The noble children she attended school with were scheming, backstabbing, and rude. Not all of them were this way, but she had not found any friends among her classmates. All of the races in Kasmaya were represented as nobles. Most were human, but several beastkin, elves, and centaur nobles attended.
Nobility in Kasmaya was expected to take care of the commoners attached to their lands. It meant if they did not, the commoners could petition the crown for mistreatment. What shocked Violet was if a commoner did petition the crown, the crown often sided with the peasant. If a noble was found negligent, their title could be removed and awarded to someone who would do the job correctly.
Usually, the only thing required was to manage logistics and ensure each family had access to the tools they needed to succeed. If a farming family did not have a magic user, the nobility would provide one for an extra fee. The fees were often steep, but they always followed the letter of the law.
Violet felt out of place in the large ballroom. She didn’t know many of the people there, and those she did know, she didn’t care to talk to. Many of the people looked like older versions of her classmates, which made sense because nobility was something inherited from your parents for most people. Violet was only a noble because of her ability to access ancient magic.
She found herself wandering around the outer edges of the room, trying not to look as lost as she felt. Regina and her family would be the last to enter the ballroom, and then everyone would be seated at a table for dinner. Violet was looking forward to all of the teas Regina had promised her.
Looking around the room, Violet started to feel like she was missing something. It felt like she was missing something important. It had taken twenty minutes for her to put her finger on what she was missing finally. She recognized the outfits many of the nobility were wearing. Bringing up the memory of her second dream, too many people were wearing the same clothing. The poisoning could happen tonight if her Divination were genuine. Not everything was the same as her dream, the location had changed, and she did not remember a dinner table. She would be extra vigilant and sound the alarm immediately if she found something.
About a half-hour after arriving, the royal family was announced. Regina made a beeline directly toward Violet but at a much more sedate pace than she usually would have taken. Violet hid a smile because the princess was required to act appropriately for her station tonight. The same rules, of course, also applied to Violet, but she felt so out of place the court manners felt more like armor than a restriction.
“Good evening Lady Violet. How are you tonight?”
Violet gave a proper curtsey and replied, “Good evening, your royal highness. I am doing well.” Their whole conversation revolved around the weather and other mundane things and felt stilted.
When dinner had been announced, Regina quickly whispered in Violet’s ear. “We checked all of the beverages tonight and found poison in most of them. Don’t worry. We’ve replaced it all so we will be safe. Your nightmare was worth having because it prompted us to check everything. I’ll fill you in on the details later.”
Her second dream had been confirmed, but this was good news. Her telling Regina about the nightmare had stopped the poisoning. Violet had not had a third dream based on these changes, so maybe the crisis was averted.
She was seated among her peers at the dinner table. Because she was of the lowest rung of nobility, she could not even see the royals from where she was sitting. Her dinner companions were polite and everyone stuck to the polite topics of weather, their estates, and how lovely everyone looked. Violet did not detect any poison in any of the food or beverages she was served and finally allowed herself to relax a little bit and enjoy.
Dinner was served in several smaller courses. Everyone was served the same dish, but care had been taken to include everyone’s tastes when planning the meal. Each plate served had at least one meat, some vegetables, and some greens. While Centaurs and Elves could eat meat, they preferred vegetables and greens. Humans and Beastkin, on the other hand, often chose more meaty dishes. Every individual had different tastes, so each dish was served differently. Spicy, sweet, salty, sour, and bitter were all served. The cooks made masterpieces of each dish.
After dinner, everyone migrated to a third room that Violet had not seen before. The room looked like an auditorium. Nobles were allowed to find a seat where they pleased, while the royals all had throne-like chairs on the stage. There were podiums placed on both sides of the stage for nobles to address the room.
Violet wondered if anyone would notice if she had fallen asleep. It had been close to two hours since everyone had been seated, and it felt like every noble present had some issue they wanted to address with the Queen and the other nobles. Many of the matters were squabbles between nobles for the pettiest things she had heard of. Noble A insulted Noble B, and now they wanted compensation for it. There was a lot of finger-pointing, and he said she said going on.
It was nearing the end of the session when disaster struck. The noble that had been prattling on stage stopped talking mid-sentence when an arrow manifested itself in his chest. It had taken the wards placed around the royals sounding the alarm to wake most people out of the stupor.
The hall turned into chaos. Several assassins with crossbows were hanging from the ceiling near the back, shooting at the nobles. An earthen shield had been erected around the royal family, most likely placed there by the Queen’s Consort David. Several nobles were banging on locked doors, trying to escape the arrows.
Guards stationed in the room were trying their best to get to the intruders in the back. There were too many people in their way. The guards were being expertly led away from the royals. Everywhere Violet turned, someone was bleeding on the ground. As soon as she saw the first arrow, Violet placed an invisible shield that used aspects for both water and spatial to keep her safe.
One of the shorter assassins climbed up on the stage and threw a device at the earthen shield protecting the royals. To Violet’s shock, not only did the device take down the protection, but it also took her guards down as well. It took her several heartbeats to reapply the shield to herself before she looked at the stage once again.
What she saw turned her blood cold. David lay unmoving with a large head wound while Louis crossed swords with the assassin. Violet tried to cast a ranged attack at the killer, but she had difficulties getting her magic to work after whatever that device did. Louis tripped over his father’s body and fell forward onto the assassin’s blade taking her mask off while he fell.
Green hair spilled down around the assailant’s shoulders, revealing a human woman. Violet used her spatial magic to lower her gravity and jump onto the stage with the royals. She froze in shock when she got close enough to see the assailant.
“Jade?”