NOVEL NEXT Chapter 120: Unpleasant news
Sagel flew across the landscape, now in the form of a great fairy bearing features of one of the humans he’d taken the form of at a point far in the past. While it was not exactly difficult to mimic the form of a great fairy, Sagel was among the very few capable of even mimicking the bloodline magic and utilizing true fairy flight. Such bloodline mimicry was an ability held by only the first few generations of changelings, before the changeling bloodline began to loose it’s potency.
Even for the few such as him who had this ability, it was still rather uncommon to have an assignment which permitted using the form of a higher fey race. In this case, he was the one assigned to keep up surveillance on Asaren and those around her. He was now given the assignment to retrieve her and bring her to the capital. In this sort of official duty, he was given permission to use any and all powers he had available to assure this child was transported safely and quickly to the capital.
He was able to locate the Hidan camp quickly. They had not moved since he was here last. He had left to give report to the seventh only shortly after they had arrived at this location. While the Hidan would nave not likely moved all so quickly, he had still been somewhat concerned due to having been away far longer than normal. It was while he was in the middle of giving report that the incident with Neruu occurred. At that time, he was summoned before the queen to testify to the full fey court.
Asaren was incredibly sharp. While Rimir would likely act in deference to him, the man lacked the training to lie to the degree that would fool a person like her. As such, he could not risk revealing he was present. Rimir would certainly have some strange change in behavior, and Sagle had no doubt Asaren would notice it immediately. Even if she did not realize what was happening immediately, she would be paying attention and unravel it eventually.
This time, however, he had almost wished several times he’d clued Rimir into the fact he was following them. Then, the man could at least stop the Hidan should they get the urge to move the camp due to some un-expected development.
Almost as though to give credence to the fears Sagel had been tormented with, there was a great deal of strange movement in the camp as he was descending. He saw the beasts being rallied. The lithe predatory beasts were being fitted with riding blankets, and the greater beasts were being saddled and laden with a full complement of spears.
Men and women of the tribe alike were making ready, but it was clearly not for purpose of moving camp as he had initially feared. Rather, it was something different, and somewhat concerning. This pattern of behavior suggested they were making ready for war.
The Hidan were so busy with war preparations that they did not even notice he was present until he was a tree-height from the ground. As he was noticed, however, the busy preparations abruptly halted as all the warriors turned to look at him. He had made sure to land near the women in keeping to the traditions of the Hidan, and the oldest among them were quick to approach him and bow in deference.
[Noble lord of the fey. What brings you so far from the forest of the queen? And to what honor to we owe this visit?]
He looked them over, appreciating how cooperative they were being due to the fairy form he had taken. Whatever is going on here, it should be little hassle if they are so accommodating toward him.
[I come by order of the queen. I am to confer with Rimir, the ancestor who travels with you, and to retrieve the elf child Asaren. I would ask you to direct me to them.]
The women all seem immediately uncomfortable with this request, and the elder who had first addressed him hesitates on how she should respond for a good second, giving him enough time to realize something is wrong before they even speak.
[We beg you for forgiveness lord, but the elf child is currently venturing away from us in a nearby human city. Lord Rimir had expressed he had some trouble he would not speak to us about, and said she would be going to the city with lady Kiiria and lord Eirlathion. We were not to interfere or participate in any way. However, the party we had watching the city reported a strange wall of crystal that had risen around the city, and so we are preparing for a fight.]
Another lady stepped up after the representative elder finished talking.
[Before this was reported, we had heard of some mages of Neruu who were present in the city. However, this seems like it is far more powerful than human mages could manage. Lord Rimir became distraught and ordered us all ready as quick as possible.]
Sagle frowned upon hearing this. [This is disturbing.] He said, keeping his tone as level as he could manage with how quickly things had developed. [Thank you for the candid report. I will hear the rest directly from Rimir.]
With those words, he took to the air using the racial bloodline magic of the fairies. He had an easy time locating Rimir by way of spirit energy and could have easily approached him directly had he wanted to do so. His only reason for approaching the women of the tribe first was to observe Hidan tradition and hopefully finish this mission smoothly without making a disturbance. However, it was now obvious that outside forces had already created a disturbance large enough that speed over etiquette would have to be the new mission rules he would be operating under.
He landed next to Rimir in seconds. The man was already facing him, having certainly detected Sagel the same way Sagel had him. What Rimir might have been doing and been forced to end quickly before Sagel had arrived was of no consequence to him at this moment. Sagel was not happy, and he was letting it show with a harsh scowl.
[Rimir. I have been ordered here to retrieve the child left to you to care for. However, I hear that something has gone wrong. Why was the child allowed to go alone to this city, and why is it you do not know the details of what is happening there?] He demanded.
[I… I have no excuse.] Rimir stammers with a face drained of color. [There were… circumstances, and this lead me to exercising poor judgement. There is nothing I can say.]
[I will hear of these circumstances as we travel to the city. This is no longer a matter for the humans of this tribe. The two of us will be getting what information we can personally, and then you will be flying back to the capital to alert the fey court and call for reinforcements should the situation demand.]
Sagel did not even wait for a response. He immediately took to the air. He did not even wait to give Rimir time to speak on these ‘circumstances’ he’d mentioned. In fact, he had no intention of waiting for such a report. He was not discounting that the information might be important, but right now it was even more important to arrive at the city quickly to assess the situation. He would hear what Rimir had to say only if time allowed for it after he could see what they were dealing with.
He was aware of Rimir scrambling behind him to catch up, behaving in an incredibly predictable manner as Rimir had established a position of dominance over him. Sometimes he could not help but mentally berate those outside the seventh committee for how easy it was to make them act according to how he wished. He had not even given a name to Rimir, nor a courtly rank. And yet, the man was following so obediently.
If this man were in the seventh, Sagel would personally give him lowered in rank for such carelessness.
He shook off such musings as he looked ahead toward the river upon which the city in question sat. He could see this crystal wall the Hidan representative had mentioned. It was a wall of red glowing crystal.
Sagel felt a skip of the heart beat as he saw this wall. The woman had not mentioned the color red, and now as he saw it, he knew exactly what this enemy was.
The gnomes who served the wicked high priest of Iuutel.
If it was those gnomes, they were far beyond any mere great fairy. The dominance of the earth mana around them would be so great that no wind elemental spell could even be cast.
He stopped in the air, allowing Rimir to catch up.
[We do not need to get any closer than this.] Sagel said. [The enemy is among the strongest forces of the demons. The only reason they would send someone this strong is if they were targeting the child personally. She is the objective of these demons. Tell the council that we are dealing with the gnomes of Iuutel. We will need the elite of the war committee in order to even stand a chance.]
[What?! How can this…] Rimir stammered. [No… I… I should have listened to her before…]
These broken and stammered phrases caught the attention of Sagel as he glanced back at the man.
[Lord Rimir] Sagel said in a heavy tone. [Tell me quickly, exactly why did you allow the child to leave to this city alone? And what could have possibly drawn her to this place to begin with?]
[I… Asaren said something that made me strongly suspect she may be a seer. This only deepens that suspicion. I had responded harshly, thinking the danger she saw was only from the mages of Neruu which could easily be handled. She is very smart. I’d hoped this would have her learn to choose how she spoke of the future carefully while giving me the ability to deny ever hearing her say anything of this sort. But... it seems the danger she saw was far greater than I’d imagined.]
A seer. In other words, a seed of Marduk. The evil god who had slain the mother of the creators.
This still did not mention what could have driven Asaren to go to this city in the first place, but perhaps it was just her luring this attack away from the Hidan and toward the city in which dwelt the mages of Neru. If the attack was inevitable, it would be better to catch an enemy in the collateral damage than an ally.
[Very well. Be off then and speak nothing of what you just told me. Tell the council that Sagle of the seventh sent you, and that haste is needed if we do not want to be too late.] He said.
[Of course!] Rimir said and then immediately took off in the direction of the capital.
At fey speeds, it should not take long to travel even this distance. It should be just over an hour before an entire wing of the strongest fey-dragons arrive over the horizon. But before that, he should assess just how powerful this wall of crystal is.
Although the gnomes of Iuutel are the only ones he could think of who could work an earth magic this large, it seems outside of what even they should be capable of. He has a sinking suspicion there is something far more powerful involved here. And if he’s right in this suspicion, then this could be very bad indeed.