Aranor Starfury P.O.V.
The visit turned out as well as I could have hoped, with the Empire being so close even the neutrality shown by Gryndor in their dealings inspired more faith from Emeris and Fealin. That was without mentioning how much their stance on Ajax changed after the duel he had with Helmeth Septimus.
“What did House Hearthbound have to talk to you about so last minute?” Fealin asked Elara and Arianwyn. He didn’t direct his question towards Leandra since it was obvious to all that her discussion was concerning the cement recipe.
“We have an agreement with House Hearthbound about sending a few of our people to help train their Mana inclined retainers.” Elara answered. “They asked that we increase the number of people we send since they expect to have a large increase in the number of Mana inclined retainers with the arrival of twenty thousand former beastkin slaves.”
“What did you ask for in return?” Emeris asked.
“Nothing, we were happy to agree.” Elara said with a smile.
Elara’s answer took a few of the people present by surprise, all of them too young to realize the reason for it. “Why not get something for it?” Emeris asked.
“Because they are getting something for it.” Fealin answered him. “We all are. A good portion of those beastkin will become retainers to a very influential figure, they will have good reason to hate the Empire and with us teaching them a good reason to look favorably upon Sylvanthal.
I could already see both Xavier and Benedict were not happy with the explanation but both of them realized it was a correct analysis. That wasn’t even taking into account how it would strengthen the collaboration between Gryndor and Sylvanthal. It could very well be that in two centuries the kingdoms will be a lot closer than just allies.
My thoughts grind to a sudden halt as I feel the presence of Mana in large quantities. It is relatively far, around the edge of my [Sense Mana] Skill but I can feel my heart rate increase as I recognise the spell and casting. What is she doing here?
“Uncle Aranor, what’s wrong?” Arianwyn asks me, clearly she must have picked up on my reaction.
“I just sensed a large amount of Mana.” I answer, I don’t mention that I also recognise the caster as one of my former students that deserted.
“You think there’s an attempt on us?” Fealin is suddenly prepared to fight even though he wouldn’t make much of a difference.
That’s when I sense the Mana of a second person with enough magnitude to pick up clearly. More than that it is also something I recognise, something I have only seen in action days ago that I had figured was almost impossible, [Telekinesis].
“No , this is an attempt on Duke Hearthbound.” I say with a grim voice as my eyes lock with Rex. “About two miles away.”
Both of us are tense. Both of us have a job to do protecting the people present here but there is an attempt being made on Ajax’s life by someone strong enough that I can feel their spells two miles away. That’s not even mentioning that there are almost surely more people that aren’t specialised in Mana if the people who orchestrated this have researched their target even a little.
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“What are you waiting for Rex?” Xavier is the first to break the silence. “Go help him. We’ll be fine, not like they’ll try anything this deep into Gryndor territory.”
I can see Rex looking torn between Xavier’s logic and his orders. “Aranor you go too.” Arianwyn’s words follow soon after. “We’ll be fine, the risk to us is small, especially when compared to the political mess that Ajax getting killed would be.”
Rex and I look at each other once more before the doors of the carriage are all but ripped open and both of us take off. A quick spell launches me into the sky yet I am left behind. I have to say I am impressed at how quickly Rex not only figured out the direction to head in based on the way I took off in but also his speed. As a physical fighter his body can move at a speed faster than I can fly.
The closer I get the more clear a picture I get of the fight, my [Sense Mana] showing more and more detail on the spells Ajax is using, oddly enough it doesn’t seem like he is directly engaging Revina, my former student seems to have taken the supporting role and whoever she is working with isn’t using Mana.
My eyes catch the first glimpse of the fight as Ajax and his pursuers enter my line of sight. Two beastkin are chasing him with Revina doing her best to just keep up with their chase and using a spell or two here and there. Ajax is in full retreat and he looks worse than I have ever seen him.
I can however see the scales are about to tip in the other direction as Rex is charging towards at almost twice the speed they are moving. I know full well Rex can handle the two assassins so I change my angle and head straight towards my former student. Even if she is a known traitor her capture could come back to bite Sylvanthal in the long run.
Ajax somehow manages to detect Rex a moment before he enters the fight. This however causes a distraction that opens him up to a knife in the gut, as the snake beastkin moves in to finish him off however Rex takes his head off with the two handed axe he pulled out of his spacial ring while putting his body between Ajax and his other attacker.
I can see Revina catching up, we both start to chant at almost the same as she also entered my range. I can’t help but feel a little disappointment when she doesn’t sense the Mana I am gathering to launch at her.
My ice lance finished well before she had a chance to interfere with the fight any more. I can see the moment she senses my spell, the way she looks right towards me, obviously recognising who it is that cast the spell in the same way I recognised her Wind blade tornado. Her eyes go wide as she barely has time to register the ice lance before it pins her to the ground, blood gushing from her gut.
She’s out of the fight, I look back towards Ajax and am surprised to see the second beastkin is still alive. He is missing an arm and I can see deep cut down his chest but he must have been pretty strong to have survived so long against Rex, even if he was prioritising protecting Ajax.
That’s when I feel an enchantment activate from the body of the first beastkin. A moment later I can feel the same enchantment activate from Revina’s armor as well, and a moment later the second beastkin also activates the same enchantment, even the arm armguard on the arm he lost has the same enchantment activated. An enchantment I know well.
“No!” My shout does nothing as I can read Revina’s lips. “Goodbye, teacher.”
Rex made the right choice dashing and getting Ajax away as all three bodies explode. A standard assassin move to not leave evidence behind when caught. Revina’s betrayal is an old wound that I long thought to have healed but seeing her again like this has clearly affected me. I do my best to keep anything from showing as I fly towards Ajax and Rex.
“How is he?” I ask Rex.
Even I can see that Ajax is fully focused on healing himself, no point in distracting him as I feel the Light and Life Mana rushing through his body.
“That’s a nasty poison he was hit with but I think he’ll live.” Rex answers. “We need to head back to our posts, I’ll bring him.”
With that we both start heading back towards the carriage at a much slower speed than our previous departure. Something I am very thankful for as I could use the time to make up my mind on how I am going to approach this.
The three man assassin squad is a staple of the Empire, this attempt was clearly made with the fallback plan of blaming the Empire. I doubt anyone else would have recognised Revina in the middle of a battle like this and I didn’t know the other two but I know Revina turned traitor and joined the beastkin kingdom of Lioness.
We all knew they were up to something and this only goes further to confirm it. They want Gryndor and the Empire fighting each other, they want to get rid of Ajax and from the shape he is in they very nearly succeeded.
I need to use Arianwyn’s communication device and get in touch with her father. Whether we tell Gryndor that this was Lioness or let them blame the Empire will be up to him. Looking down at Ajax’s body covered in blood, his armor in tatters from where slashing and stabbing attacks landed, I am very glad we seem to have made it in time. Whoever made this attempt was clearly not expecting Ajax to be this strong, the kid’s monstrous growth working well enough to save him.