Chapter Four Hundred And Thirty Three – 433
"Young Master! Young Master where are you?"
The words were muffled and almost drowned out by the roar of storm and crackling fire, but he heard them. From within the heavy corpses of his former guards, Florian Iretus raised a bloody, shaking hand. Cold rain soaked him before someone with coarse leather gloves grasped it and heaved. The bodies of his guards fell away, and he cried out weakly against the chill deluge from the sky.
"Florian! You're alright!" His sister, Meina, pulled him into a tight embrace. She was just as blood-soaked as he felt, and twice as wet. "I feared the worst!"
"Young Master, thank the Highest you're alright," another voice said, before Florian heard the sound of metal against metal.
"Watch your tongue, Krin," said a far gruffer voice. Captain Landas, the grizzled veteran that led his father's men, had his hand firmly on the other guard's pauldron. "Or do you want to attract their attention?"
Florian followed the captain's gaze toward a pair of women. One was a Faun, common enough around the city, though the red hair a touch less so. The other...the other was wearing bloodied armor of blue and white design, wielding a huge spear and directing a number of armored soldiers around the docks. All of them saluted and scurried off, quick to do her biddingeven the two enormous, blue-skinned giants. "Who is she?" he asked.
Meina had produced a thick woolen blanket from somewhere and was busy draping it around Florian's shoulders. She gave the women and their soldiers a quick, fearful glance. "A Duchess from the Hierocracy. She came with...with him."
At the last, Meina gestured with her head up, toward the Temple of Elemental Fire. Or what had been a Temple. Now the bright beacon of their city had guttered out. There was little question in Florian's Mind about who his sister meant, and it sent a thrill of fear through his belly. "Why would she fight against the Paladins? The Paladins...! The ship!"
"Is gone," Captain Landas said, blunt as ever. He kept talking, even as Florian spun in an attempt to find the Manaship, as if he could conjure it from thin air. "The Paladins unmoored it and took it down, into the waves. They're gone, lad."
The young master of House Iretus shivered in the cold, driving rain, less concerned with the pending Status Condition than with what his father would say. Florian had been given charge of the skydocks, and of this project in particular. To salvage one of the enemy's Manaships and retrofit it for sea travel. While the other Houses were scrabbling to arrange an audience with that man, they were taking action to ensure their merchants would have exclusive ownership of the seas. And now it was all gone.
Did they die for nothing? Florian's whirling gaze forced him to once again confront the pile of corpses he'd been pulled from withinit was all he could do to keep his bile down. Men he'd known all his life were splayed across the ground, split and stacked like cordwood...all in an attempt to protect him. The young heir of House Iretus said a quick prayerbut he kept it silent.
Men had died for him today. He would never forget that. And while he was free of their stiffened grasp now, Florian knew the feel of them would linger on him for all of time. Their sightless eyes, clouded with death, their warm, wet lifeblood....
"Young Master? I would like to introduce you to Her Grace, Lady Vessilia Dayne of Pax'Vrell and Miss Fiammetta, of Ahkestria," Captain Landas said in his gravelly drawl. "Without either of which, far fewer of us would still be standing."
Florian paled and stifled a gasp. He hadn't noticed anyone walking up to him at all, and now the two women were so close. "I-It is a pleasure to, ah, to meet you both."
The Faun's lips quirked slightly, but she inclined her head. The other, however, looked at him with upturned brows and soft, dark eyes. "Are you well? Is all that blood from you?"
"Me? N-no, I'm fine. My guards they"
"The guards of our House saved my brother, sacrificing themselves to the blades of the Pathless' dogs," Meina said, almost spitting the words. "Captain Landas, please recommend all your men here for honors from our father. You are all to be commended. As are you, your Grace."
"My efforts were paired to my associate Fiammetta, and without Captain Landas and his archers, I doubt we would have held them back long enough," Lady Dayne said modestly. She was like the captain in that way, Florian realized. The way her eyes kept scanning the battlefield as if looking for others to helpit spoke to her compassion. Not something the young man was familiar with in Ahkestria.
Is this Pax'Vrell so different? he wondered. And what is she doing with this group of invaders? It didn't make sense to Florian, but then, the world had become a confusing place in a short time. At least now things were quieting. The Paladins escaped, yes, but those horrible creatures were no longer threatening the city or House Iretus' property. "What of the fish-men? Are they gone?"
"Aye, dragged to the depths of damnation by" Captain Landas cut himself off, turning his words into a grumble. "Lord Nevarre stopped them."
"Truly?" Florian wasn't sure he believed it. Before he'd been buried, he'd see the swarms of the monstrous fish-men. They were powerful, enough that their claws ripped right through his guards' Journeyman Tier armor. To have one man face them, alone? All of them? That beggared belief.
One of those purple-sashed soldiers jogged up to them, a little too fast for his Apprentice Tier eyes to track. "Your Grace, there is no further sign of the Paladins. If there are any more in the city, they are not here."
"Thank you, Maryk. Please join the others and ensure no one was hurt in the nearby buildings."
"As you wish, your Grace."
The soldier jogged away just as speedily, and only after he had gone did Florian's eyes widen. That was a Henaari. Indeed, a good number of the soldiers weren't Human at all...a rarity within Ahkestria. Florian even saw a Goblin in mage robes. Do Goblins even know magic?
"If that's the last of the Paladins, I'll eat my boot," Captain Landas said.
"I agree that it is unlikely," Lady Dayne said with a sigh. She tucked her spear into the crook of her elbow and adjusted her armored gauntlets. "The Hierophant's forces have proven as invasive as a weed."
"Still. It sickens me to see any get away," Meina added. "After what they did here. And at the Temple."
Florian's father had told them what little was known of events the day prior, which was that the Paladins of the Hierocracy somehow invaded the city and attacked the Council Masters and the Matrons of the Temple. The Fiend and his forces had shown up during the conflict and ended it, but not before many had died, and That Which Burns guttered out. They knew the Highest Flame was gone, if only because everyone who had once been given a Blessing were abed, recuperating after their cores suffered an immense shock. His own father, mother, six uncles and three aunts were all stricken with fever and the shakes. Which was why Florian was here at all, managing this operation.
"The Paladins are a curse," the Faun said with considerable heat. Literally, as the air around her warmed by a fair margin. "If you see any more, tell us immediately. We are looking to expunge every trace of them from Ahkestria. We cannot let them get away again."
"I am not so sure that they did, Fiammetta," Lady Dayne said. She pointed out into the gloom that was rapidly progressing toward darkness. "Look."
Florian followed her gesture with baited breath, afraid to see more disgusting creatures rise from the depths of the strange, alien water. But at first he saw nothing at all. The curtain of clouds and heavy rainfall made visibility trying at best, but...There. Lightning, again. The storms had not ceased since amassing a day ago, and all that time lightning had traced its contours, stalking the skies like a predator. But nothing else. What are we supposed to be looking at?
Shouts came then, and more pointing, but Florian could only squint against the gloom...until he realized the light show was not from the storm, but from a tattered and hulking shape floating through the sky. Streamers of blue-white luminescence shot off of it in multiple directions, but it was the relentless pummeling from the ward in the sky that drew out the details for him. It was the Manaship, flying back toward them despite the restrictions...and it wasn't stopping or crashing.
"Is...is he?" the Faun started, before choking on disbelief.
"Yes," Lady Dayne said, and shook her head with a smile. "Yes he is."
The ship drew closer, and Florian suddenly saw what most others had already spotted: beneath the ship there was a figure, holding tight to the keel. Only, the Manaship's engines weren't engaged. Florian gasped, disbelief and awe warring over his Spirit. That lone figure was hefting the entirety of the Manaship on his back, and lifting it through the sky.
"That's impossible," his sister said. "Unless...is he a Master Tier?"
Florian had no words, and could only watch as the ship came closer and the man flew toward the docks, wreathed in blue-white electricity. Before he could land, however, a terrible flash split the sky. All of the rage of the storm raced down and hit the Manaship, as if punishing it for daring to fly. Everyone cried out, some blinded and others thrown physically back by the sheer force of the impact. Through dark splotches in his vision, Florian watched in stunned amazement as the man, the Fiend, caught the lightning itself.
And ate it.
The storm abated, perhaps as flabbergasted as the young master himself, and the Fiend landed with a mild grunt of effort. His sister rallied first, ordering their men to hustle forward and secure the damaged ship with enchanted mooring lines. Men and women scrambled up the sides, drawing nothing but an amused glance from the blue-eyed man, until they gave the all clear. Then he shrugged the horrendous burden of wood and steel off his shoulders, and into the prepared slip. Someone aboard had managed to get the Mana engine working, at least for a moment, enough to guide the ship into its lock before shutting it all down.
We have the ship back, he realized, belatedly. The information seemed unimportant, however, in the face of the Fiend's sheer...existence. What is he? What does he want?
The Fiend stood, watching it all happen with a grim expression on its face. His face. It was hard for Florian to consider the creature before him as a man, so covered in dark scales that he all but faded into the dark around him. Midnight black, save for the cyan markings swirling across his shoulders, visible though the rents in his tattered jacket. Holes that, as Florian watched, repaired themselves without seam or stitch.
"Who runs this skydock?" the Fiend asked. His voice was nothing special, just a man's voice, though his tone was commanding. Forceful.
"House Iretus," Captain Landas answered.
"And that's you?" When Florian nodded, the Fiend grunted. "How many other skydocks are there in Ahkestria?"
"Three others," Meina said.
The Fiend gestured to several men, similar to the ones the Lady Dayne had been ordering. "Explain to them how to find these skydocks. Stennar, Olias, I want you to marshal more of the Claw and check them out as well. Ensure that there aren't any more of these Hatchling creatures, right?"
"Aye sir," the Hobgoblin and Dwarf saluted, fist to hearts, before leaning close to Florian's sister. She was quick, giving them House names and directions in only a few words, and soon the soldiers ran off. Presumably to get more of this strange man's army.
"Now," the Fiend said, turning his bright blue eyes in Florian's direction before flicking toward the Lady Dayne. "What exactly happened here?"
"So they tried to steal the ship and the Hatchlings showed up," Felix repeated, scratching his jaw. He hissed, and pulled his finger back to see blood. His stupid claws were too sharp; they scratched even his toughened skin. "But we don't know how or why they appeared. Right?"
"Those are the basics. But I cannot believe it is a random attack," Vess said. "That many monsters, all of one type? And you saw large claw marks in the crystal? I have to believe this was planned."
"Planned? By who?" The older soldier look at him with a steady, if tired resolve. He was a retainer for House Iretus, and apparently had helped a bunch in the conflict. Captain Landas was older and grizzled, someone Felix would have guessed anywhere between fifty and sixty-five years old had he been on Earth. On the Continent, however, he could be closer to a hundred. "If we are being attacked by more than just these pathetic Pathless, then I would like to know. Sir."
"You remind me of a friend," Felix said with a grin, and waved off the concerned look the man's subordinates were giving them. "You helped us, so I'll gladly tell you. There are creatures called the Fathom that are a problem in the Ghreldan Hills. It seems they have decided to enter the Leviathan Depths as well."
"The Ghreldan Hills? How would they have gotten past the fortifications in the Caleph Pass?" That bit of insight came from the teen boy in fancy clothes. He looked overwhelmed by everything. "Tevin's Knights wouldn't simply allow them entry."
"My concern as well. Felix, we may have a problem in the Hills," Vess said.
For his part, Felix thought he kept fairly calm, for all that his insides were boiling with worry and regret. "We will address that as it comes. As it stands, you are fine? And you Fiammetta?"
"We are well. Your aid was appreciated, as was that of your guards and Lady Zara," the Faun said. "Though...where did she go?"
Felix shrugged, but pulled a Healing Potion from a case at his waist. "Fiammetta, please pass these out among the injured. House Iretus included."
"Sure."
When Fiammetta took the potion case and started distributing its contents out, Felix caught Vess' eye again. "You're sure you're okay? You feel...I try not to pry, but it's hard. You seem troubled."
Vess wiped a bit of blood from her cheek, but her gaze was warm. "I truly am fine...or will be, soon. I need to process some things about our...connection. I would like to speak with you later. Perhaps this evening, in your apartments? I think I saw a particularly nice dining set or twelve there."
Felix smirked. "I think I could host a dinner for the whole city in those apartments, to be honest."
"Hm. Dinner sounds lovely. I am sure I will be famished by that point," she said.
"Oh, uhm, okay. Yeah, I'm sure one of those servant peopleyeah, no worries. We'll talk then." Felix managed to spit out the words just as Vess walked away, a strange smile on her lips.
"Quite the woman to pursue, if I may say so, sir." Captain Landas' eyes hadn't missed a beat of that interaction, and Felix fought down a blush. "Though I'd watch out for her father. Even in Ahkestria, tales of Duke Dayne's temper are legendary."
Rather than answering any of that, Felix turned to the young teen and a slightly older woman in her twenties. "You are of House Iretus, right?"
"We are," the boy said, pushing out his chest slightly. "I am Florian Iretus and this is my sister, Meina."
He handed a Healing Potion to both of them, pressing it into their hands when they moved to refuse. "Take it. You'll need it. Tell me about your plans for this Manaship."
"Ah, we salvaged them from the Paladins, when the ward shot them down," Florian started saying, before his sister laid a restraining hand on his shoulder. He shook it off. "You think he won't find out, sister? We stole them. The plan was to rebuild them into proper Manaships for when this storm passes...but it seems that isn't happening, is it?"
"It's not," Felix answered, refusing to give more information. Not like he knew much.
Florian nodded. "I had feared as much. My plan, then, is to adapt them for the sea."
"Seaworthy craft, huh?" Felix said, looking back over his shoulder. It was still afternoon, but the constant downpour turned everything dark and occluded. The rain was coming down so hard it obscured anything beyond a few miles, even to his ridiculous Perception. Mist had risen above the sea as well, and the waves were extremely high. "A dangerous idea. Tell me more."
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