It had been a few hours since they had left the inn. The two girls wandered around town for a bit allowing the sunlight and heat to slowly dissipate in order to spare the horses from the midday heat. So, with it nearing supper time and the town now encased in twilight, the two girls decided that it was time to leave Tristain, but when they had attempted to leave they were denied access to the main road through the gate. She was about to yell at the commoner guard when she noticed why it was closed.
An ivory coloured carriage pulled by a set of unicorns which almost certainly contained the princess passed in front of her, leaving the city."Henrietta," Louise murmured as memories of when they were young dashed through her head. Playing imaginary royal court, running around trying to catch bugs, Cardinal Mazarin yelled at them for that but not as loudly as the time he found fire salts in his underwear. She let a small chuckle escape her lips. For being raised by her mother, who by all accounts was the definition of strict, she sure did act like a tiny deviant.
'But does she even remember me?' That single thought caused her smile to disappear, replaced with a scowl. Of course, she wouldn't remember her she's a full-fledged princess, she is too busy to remember a nobody like her "I wonder where she's going," she asked no one in particular.
"I think she's heading to the academy," Siesta said smiling, causing her to look at her with a confused expression.
"What do you mean?" She briefly wondered how a maid could be more informed than her.
Siesta's smile faded. "You of all people should know, Louise." When she didn't say anything, Siesta continued, "Tomorrow is the Familiar Showcase."
With that simple sentence, her mind was thrown into a flurry of thoughts each vying to be heard. Had she really forgotten about the showcase? She didn't even have anything planned, She began to hyperventilate. "Henrietta is going to be there," she said in a small voice between breaths.
She apparently heard her muttering because she asked, "What was that, Louise?"
She turned to face the maid before grabbing her by the shoulders, causing Siesta to wince slightly from the grip. "The princess is coming to the academy to view our familiars and I don't even have a plan as to what I'm doing!" She shouted wide-eyed at the maid.
"I mean do you really need a plan with your suit," the maid said, apparently attempting to console the mage.
The mage pondered this. It was true that she didn't really need a plan if she could just use the camouflage and impress the crowd with her new-found skill. She could probably even get Tabitha to shoot ice at her or something to show off the armour. Her breathing slowed as she formulated a plan; her familiar wasn't some mindless beast like all the other students' familiars. She was in complete control of this familiar.
But she needed to be at the academy in order to do these things. She walked up to the guard who was still blocking off the road. "Excuse me but I need to return to the Tristain Magic Academy."
He scowled at her. "The gate is closed for the next hour. Now get lost."
She glared at the man, narrowing her eyes. How dare this simple guard block her. She could easily pass the man with her camouflage but what about Siesta? She couldn't just leave her here. She was a simple maid, but over the past week, she had proven to be a good friend.
She was broken from her musing when she tapped her on the shoulder. Turning she saw Siesta, a nice gentle smile on her face. Silently the maid nodded as if telling her to go for this. she returned the smile before running off to a break between the buildings where she was out of sight. She took a deep breath before calling her mask down.
CLOAK ENGAGED.
With that single thought, her body disappeared from sight. Looking at her arms to make sure that she had gone invisible, she found that they were completely see-through causing another smile to creep up on her face. Glancing back over to the guard, she slowly made her way back to him, trying to conserve as much energy as possible.
Once next to the man, she crouched down, beginning to feel the power well up in her legs. In an instant, she uncoiled, launching herself upward high above the guard. A moment later she landed, the suit silencing her landing. She looked back at the guard, making sure she wasn't spotted. Seeing that the man hadn't noticed anything, she took the opportunity to dash through the open gates.
She made it several hundred feet before her suit's energy reserves finally died out, causing her to become visible again. Turning back around she gazed at the city. In the distance, the castle where she had spent so many of her summers playing with the Princess was now glowing a beautiful orange colour' the town beneath was similarly coloured.
"Now that is new," the sword on her hip spoke, breaking her trance.
Scowling she looked at her sword. "What was that?" she asked harshly.
"You weren't really what I was expecting when it came to being my partner; I mean turning invisible, and here I was thinking you were some common swordswomen." The sword chuckled. "Well, it's good to be back in the hands of an elf." What did this sword just say?
she could feel a wave of anger wash over her; this sword had thought she was a Founder damned elf, the creatures that they'd been at war with for millennia. "I'm not an elf!" She shouted, shaking with anger.
"If you're not an elf then how did you pull off turning invisible without a wand?" the sword asked inquisitively.
How oblivious could this sword be? "My magical suit obviously."
"If you say so," the sword simply stated before slipping back into its sheath
As she turned back to the road, a sudden thought filled her head; she had forgotten the horse. Turning back to the town she saw the stable where they had left the horses and sure enough, there was a guard detail blocking her path to the stables. She doubted that her camouflage would extend to the horse she was on.
She had to get to the academy before curfew so she could plan, but it would be difficult without a mode of transport. Turning she began to jog down the road silently hoping that her suit would empower her stamina long enough to make it back to the academy.
xXXXx
A few miles ahead of Louise was the unicorn-drawn ivory carriages. Before and after were two pairs of the best knights Tristain had to offer. They wore large suits of iron armour and carried sword wands at their hips. The guards would occasionally glance around but all in all, it was a relaxed atmosphere.
Inside the carriage, the atmosphere was seemingly the same. Sitting inside was a young woman whose hair was purple in color and cut short. Her eyes were as blue as the water her magic commanded, and the gown she wore was an immaculate shade of white.
On the outside, she appeared calm, as if this trip to the local magic academy was a simple appearance to the future nobles of the various kingdoms, but internally she was stressed due in part to the uncertain times that the world had found itself in.
It all started a little bit after the plague sank its teeth into Albion. Her father left to go perform an inspection of his troops that were currently patrolling Albion. The ship he was on got caught in a storm that caused the ship to crash on the Island. The crash site was later found, but neither he or the crew were ever found him.
She and her mother had hoped that he had survived. But as time passed, and news of his survival refused to show up, that hope slowly faded. Now her mother was a husk of the women she once was, content with simply eating, sleeping, and sitting in the throne room.
It was to the point where she didn't even attend the royal court anymore. So Henrietta was forced into her mother's stead, sitting in on the debates between noble families, as to who would get to decide what.
It was those days, where the arguing eventually degraded into name calling, that Henrietta had wanted to return to the child she once was, playing pretend royal court with her best friend, Louise. Running around the garden getting dirty, sneaking out of the castle to explore the town, they were always caught by Louise's mother but they didn't care; that sense of exploring, and seeing new things had always appealed to the princess.
But as she got older and the responsibilities started to pile up, she found herself with less and less freedom. She found herself missing her friend more and more.
But she was going to see her friend. She hadn't heard much from her friend in the past few years since she had entered the academy, but she had it on good authority that she had been having difficulty when it came to her magic, as such she was worried; naturally if she was as prideful as she was when they were kids then there was cause to be concerned.
But her friend wasn't the only person she was thinking about, no there was one other person who worried her, Prince Wales.
"You really shouldn't scowl like that princess," a voice said breaking Henrietta from her musings. She glanced over at the other person in the carriage. Cardinal Mazarin was the current leader of the country in every way except name until she was seen to be fit enough to take the crown. He was an older man, looking to be in his late fifties or early sixties if his snow-white hair was anything to go by. He wore a long blue robe that covered his entire body.
"We're alone in a carriage, with the only things surrounding us being trees and shadows," she reasoned.
The man frowned. "But you still need practice, you must always be prepared to face the people, and to frown like that is unbe-"
She rolled her eyes "Unbecoming of a princess, yes Cardinal, I remember when you told me the other hundred times," the princess stated.
"You must understand the importance then. These are uncertain times, my lady, and the people will need a person to look up to in times like these for guidance,"
"Then does that not give me the right to be worried when I'm alone?"
The man let out a tired sigh. "That is the burden of royalty, to not be allowed to show one's true emotion. Your parents and their parents before them hat-"
Henrietta drowned out the rest of what the man across from her was saying and returned to looking outside the carriage. Her mind soon returned to the person whom she worried about, Prince Wales. Before the quarantine of Albion, they had spent many a summer together in each other's arms, they had loved each other, and their parents had known it too.
After he had left last summer, she had heard rumours that both their parents were in talks. Originally she was fearful that they would separate the two, but she later learned that they were talking about arranging a marriage between the two.
She was so happy when she had learned of this and quickly wrote a letter informing her Prince Wales of the news. She soon received a letter from him saying that they should start planning. And that they did; they had chosen the lake in southern Tristain, known for being the water spirit's domain.
And truth be told, it was going so well that the wedding was scheduled for the following summer during the summer solstice. But before any of that could happen, the plague showed up. It wasn't so bad at the beginning; she had heard that the Albionese soldiers had quarantined the town where the plague was first seen, and been in the process of dealing with it the same way they had dealt with plagues in the past, ending with the destruction of Saxe-Gotha.
Or it should have, a few weeks later, another town reported the plague; the healthy were taken from their homes and the rest were burned with the town. But in the following weeks, the plague kept popping up no matter how many times they tried to get rid of it.
It was at this point that the call to quarantine the island was issued by the pope. Every other country was in a panic after seeing that their conventional means of dealing with sickness had proven fruitless. Everyone, including Germania, pitched in troops to patrol the skies blockading Albion. She knew why they needed to do this, but she missed her prince.
"Princess, are you listening?" Henrietta glanced back at the man across from her indicating that she wasn't listening. "That is something else we need to work on. Princess, you shouldn't tune people out like that. Not only is that rude, but in the world of politics, you must be ever vigilant. Why when I was your age, I woul-"
Henrietta returned to gazing out the window. She had to admit, the orange glow of the sun seeping through the trees was beautiful. A smile crept up on her face, she found it somewhat funny that for a princess with the world at her fingertips, the thing that made her smile was something as simple as a nice view.
She continued to watch the forest pass by, as thoughts of her friend, and prince danced through her head. As the carriage continued down the road, Henrietta noticed something amiss in the trees, there seemed to be a someone lurking in the shadows, observing them. As if alerted to being spotted the man ran off into the woods.
"Wha?"
"Princess, did you tune me out again?" the man said in a harsh tone.
"Did you see that man?" Henrietta said turning to the cardinal
The cardinal turned to the window only to be met with a view of passing trees. "There is no one out there princess."
"I know what I saw."
"It's just the shadows playing tricks on your eyes," the cardinal said turning back to view the princess.
She looked at him speechless, had she been affected by stress to the point where she was imagining things? No that couldn't be it; she knew what she was a man out there. "I know what I saw cardinal." She repeated "There was a man watching us,"
The man was shocked but quickly regained his composure. " You are simply stressed, with all that is going on, it was bound to affect you. Perhaps a nap would do you well."
She glared at the man. She knew it was useless; the cardinal never took her seriously. In the time that she has been under his guidance, as she prepared to assume the throne, he had listened to none of her suggestions; no one did, not the court, not the cardinal, not even her own mother. "Fine, I'll take a nap,"
She was about to close her eyes when a horse's cry of pain was followed by a scream. Alerted to a threat, she looked out the window in an attempt to see what had happened, when she felt the entire carriage begin to tip.
Before she was able to grab anything, she felt herself fall towards the wall, as the carriage fell onto its side. Henrietta landed on her back with a soft thump. The cardinal was less fortunate however as he landed on his shoulder with a sickening crack.
Henrietta slowly picked herself up, her head spinning. Outside the carriage, the sound of battle was clear as her knights fought back against whatever was attacking them. Placing a hand on her head in an attempt to settle the dizziness that she felt, she glanced over to where the cardinal lay. She heard pained groans as the man held his shoulder.
Moving over to the cardinal, Henrietta attempted to examine his shoulder, but the man's shirt was in the way. Pulling out her wand, Henrietta used her water magic to make a small cut at the shoulder of his shirt, allowing her to tear the shirt more easily. Looking more closely at the wound, she found that it was dislocated.
She started to mutter an incantation in order to help him but was stopped when his hand reached out and grabbed her arm. "Princess, you must leave. Escape while our knights fight." She simply shook her head, she was afraid of what was to come, but she wouldn't cower, not at this moment where she could prove herself.
"You foolish girl!" The cardinal was about to continue when the two realized that they no longer heard the sound of fighting outside. The two waited with bated breath, waiting to see what would happen.
The sound of footsteps could faintly be heard through the carriage walls, Both of them held their breath as the sound got closer before it stopped entirely. Time seemed to slow down for Henrietta as she waited for whoever was out there to act. In a single moment, several fingers of dirt pierced the top of the carriage before ripping it off.
On reflex, Henrietta brought up an arm in an attempt to shield her eyes from the daylight that flowed into the carriage.
As she adjusted to the light, she felt something wrap around her body and left arm, it pulled her out of the wreck of a carriage. Her eyes soon adjusted, allowing the princess to take in her surroundings. She found herself several feet above the ground in the grasp of a giant earth golem.
She struggled in the golem's grip; after several moments she finally relented. Looking around, she found the bandits currently in the process of piling her guard's bodies on the side of the road.
Her driver and the cardinal were the only ones to have survived the encounter and were currently on their knees, a tall brutish looking bandit walking around them as his men tied them up. Turning her head she saw what appeared to be a hooded woman. The only feature that the princess could see was her smirk.
xXXXx
Louise was angry. She had been running for the past hour in hopes of returning to the academy when she heard the noise of battle ahead of her. This threw her into a bit of a panic. Knowing that the princess was up ahead on the road, she picked up the pace in fear for the princess' safety.
She went from a jog to a sprint, the suit empowering her running to a point of almost ludicrous speed until her suit alerted her to the threats in front of her. Stopping for the moment, she looked around, before finding a branch that would allow her to gaze upon the trail up ahead and where she currently sat.
Using her tactical visor, was able to scan the battlefield, and what she saw enraged her. The royal guard tasked with protecting the royal family, lay dead, their bodies were being piled on the side of the road by several bandits armed with swords and muskets. The pristine ivory carriage that she had seen so many times before was tipped over by a pillar of dirt stood on the road, but no matter where she looked she couldn't find the princess.
MAJOR ENERGY BUILD UP DETECTED.
She turned her head only to see an earth golem begin to rise from the ground. With a swift motion, the giant earthen creature's hand wrapped around the top of the carriage before quickly ripping it off. The golem reached in and pulled out Henrietta struggling in the golem's grip.
She felt anger begin to wash over her. Whoever dared to harm the princess was going to pay. Continuing to watch the golem as it placed the princess on the ground next to two other people, she pulled out her bow, preparing it for the coming action.
NEW OBJECTIVE: RESCUE HENRIETTA, DISPATCH THE BANDITS.
She saw the text flash in the center of her vision and couldn't agree more; her friend needed her. She was no longer the Zero and she would prove it. A small white diamond appeared on top of Henrietta, she continued to look around marking all the bandits with her suit causing red outlines to appear around all thirteen of them, but something was off about the last three, she hadn't been able to see them as they were behind the foot of the golem but all of them had an extra piece of info attached to them.
The group consisted of one female and two males, the female was shown to have what the suit described as a level four energy signature while the other two both showed level three. Perhaps it had something to do with magic?
She shook her head. Now was not the time to be questioning her suit; she had to save Henrietta. Pulling her bow off her back she adjusted the draw weight; during practice it had been set to the lowest weight, but with the battle having taken place several hundred feet away, she needed the extra range, setting it to the medium setting might give her the range, but would it have the power to do anything?
She continued to gaze down at the bow before switching it to the highest draw weight. Pulling an arrow from her quiver she slid it into the bow before attempting to pull back on the string, she let out a grunt as she put all of her strength into pulling the string back.
Slowing her breathing, she levelled the bow, her target was a young man, currently standing with his back on the flipped carriage, a musket at his side. He was currently talking with two other bandits, both male and both wielding sword and shield. she slowed her breathing as she made final adjustments. Breathing out she let go of the string, allowing the arrow to take flight. It hit the man in the throat, the power that the arrow carried was so great that it caused him to fly back before being impaled into the carriage.
She was astonished at the bow's power but quickly recovered. The power was way too much for what she needed, but it was too late to change it. Taking another arrow from her quiver, she pulled back on the string, readying the arrow. The men that were talking were now running alongside the carriage in hopes of making it to the other side to shield themselves. Targeting one, she fired the arrow, but his erratic movements caused her to miss her mark hitting him in the lower back. The power of the bow threw the man forward causing him to fall face first onto the ground. His loud cries of agony could be heard even from where she was.
CLOAK ENGAGED.
She hopped down from the tree and quickly ran around the battlefield through the forest as shouts could be heard from the panicked bandits. Reaching a new position behind a tree at the bandit's flank, she decloaked allowing her energy stores to fill back up. Gazing around the tree, she found that the bandits were still looking toward her last position giving her a clear shot at everyone. But she also got a good look at her princess; she was crouched over her eyes tightly shut as if trying to block out the world.
She sat down behind the tree, taking the time to lower the draw weight on the bow. The screams of agony from the second bandit she hit were now nothing but murmurs. The thing that she was focusing on was the three people who were hidden from sight before.
Taking a closer look at them, she had no doubt that they were mages. Unlike the bandits that were currently cowering behind debris, the three wore no armour. Instead, wearing cloaks in order to hide their identity. Their weapons were also different; the female held nothing but a wand, an indication that she was the one in control of the golem. The two males, on the other hand, held sword-wands.
She had to get rid of that golem, it would be the biggest hurdle in saving the princess. Slowly she pulled out another arrow placing it on the bow before pulling back on the string. She levelled the bow to the women's head. Exhaling she let go of the string. But as the arrow sailed through the air, one of the men pushed the women causing it to simply graze her cheek.
"Over there, shoot him!"
Several muskets shots flew by her position. She looked around the tree only to see the golem pick up Henrietta while the women and the man that saved her life rode atop the golem. She internally cursed. If she hadn't switched the draw weight, the woman would have been hit by the arrow. a brief moment of clarity hit her, it was as if the red blinders that had been clouding her vision disappeared why was she fine with ending these peoples life? She was always squeamish when it came to death, so why she was fine with it now?
THE BANDITS ARE ESCAPING.
The suit was right; she could worry about that later. Leaving her cover, she rushed the bandits taking out another three before finally reaching the battlefield. Holstering her bow, she unsheathed Derf who let out a squeal of joy about being used. A large, brutish, sword-wielding bandit attempted to rush her down.
MAXIMUM ARMOR.
The bandit swung wide allowing her to simply block it with her arm before plunging Derf into the man's gut. Grabbing the man's sword from his still warm hands, she threw it with extreme precision, hitting one of the bandits that had attempted to flee. As she pulled Derf out of the man, the body fell to the ground. She attempted to turn towards the rest of the bandits, only to be hit by several musket balls and what appeared to be a flame spell. The recoil from this attack was great enough to toss her off her feet and into the tree behind her.
Gazing at her energy supply she noticed that there was only ten percent left. turning off the armour, she sat there, in her vision was the golem walking away with the princess but she was currently helpless, she didn't want to risk getting shot.
The bandits soon moved forward, the mage sitting in the back of the group seemingly still wary of her. she continued to feign injuries in order to lure them closer as she came up with a plan of action.
The three non-mage bandits walked up to her, their muskets at the ready to fire.
"Founder, what is this thing?"
"Don't know, looks like something parents would use to scare their kids."
"Doesn't matter. He killed our buddies," the second one said, venom soaking his voice
"Boss, what do you want us to do with it?" the third man said, poking her with the tip of his musket.
"Get away from it, you three. We don't know if he is truly out of the game." The mage said.
The three people turned away to face the mage. "He's dead or at the very least knocked out, not even an orc is able to simply shrug off that much ordinance."
MAXIMUM POWER.
She sprung to her feet, swinging her fist at the closest bandit. The sickening crack of bones could be heard throughout the field. Turning her attention to the bandit to her right, she brought Derf down from overhead, impacting the man at the shoulder and cutting through him like butter before coming to a stop halfway down his torso. Letting go of her sword, she yanked the musket from the man's hands, grabbing it at the end of the barrel. Turning to the bandit in the middle, she swung the musket like a club, knocking the guy to the ground, blood seeping from where the musket's stock hit him.
Flipping the musket around she took aim at the mage, who was stunned with shock. The hammer came down as she pulled the trigger, causing the black powder inside to ignite with fury sending the ball soaring through the air before being blocked by a torrent of fire. Gone was the man's shocked look, now replaced with one of fear.
"I'm not some common bandit boy." He told her attempting to fake confidence.
CLOAK ENGAGE.
She snuck around the man while he looked frantically for her. "Fuck! where did it go?" the man shouted as he looked around for her. was behind him at this point. Raising her leg, she brought it down on the back of the man's knee, causing him to fall to his knees, she proceeded to grab the man's chin and the back of his head before quickly twisting, snapping the man's neck causing his body fall to the ground in a pile of limbs.
Grabbing Derf from the bandit's body, she walked over to the two other hostages. One she recognized as the royal cardinal, but the other she didn't. Ignoring that she cut them both free. As she turned to go deal with the golem she felt something grab her hand. Turning her head, she saw the cardinal, a pained expression on his face as his other arm hung limp. "You must save the princess; our queen has been so distraught after the loss of her husband. If she were to lose her daughter..." She simply nodded at the cardinal before running off in the direction of the golem.
She needed to be fast; the white diamond was still placed on where the suit thought the princess was but if her suit was right it was over half a mile away at this point. she ordered the power to her legs allowing her speed to increase, even faster than before, the forest around her transformed into nothing but a blur. "So, what's the plan?" The sword on her hip asked.
"What do you mean?" She asked confused by the question.
"Well, you've seen how big that golem is, how do you plan on defeating it."
"Well I. uh" She really didn't have a plan at this point, how was she going to take out that golem, it was huge.
"Well if you're willing to listen to an old sword like me I have a plan." She looked down at the sword allowing him to continue. "You see I may look like a normal sword, but can absorb magic, you throw me at the golem's hand and I can turn it back to being a useless pile of dirt, you catch the princess and me and then run off to save the day." She let out a tired sigh, it wasn't the best plan but at least she had something.
After several minutes of running, she could see the golem. Holding Derf in a reverse grip she prepared to throw him. After a few more moments, she reeled back her arm.
MAXIMUM POWER.
She threw the sword and watched as it cut through the wind the mage summoned allowing the sword to embedded itself in the golem's wrist. The effects were immediate; the golem became more sluggish, and the women powering it seemed to be straining more to keep the golem going.
After several moments, the hand of the golem began to break apart, she could hear the mages cursing from the top of the golem before a loud scream overpowered it. The source was the princess as she fell from the golem's hand.
Rushing over, Louise caught her just before she hit the ground. Setting her down,Louise reached up to catch the falling Derf and slide him into his sheath, before picking up Henrietta bridal style and running back towards the road.
The sword on her hip was laughing like a madman. "That's a good arm on ya girly; haven't felt that alive in years."
She scowled at the sword from behind her mask. "It's always either" girly" or "pinky"; you know I have a name, right."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Lacey. Wait, Lassy, no that's not right, Lori?"
She couldn't say the name, not with the princess in her arms. "Just drop it ok."
Henrietta mind was in overdrive, she was just captured by the bandits when she was rescued by what she had assumed to be a tiny male until she heard the voice. It was female, but more than that, she recognized it. She couldn't name where she had heard that voice before but she knew it.
"My lady!" a voice shouted causing her to turn towards the source of the voice. They had made it back to the to the road. The bodies had been cleared, but the blood of both the bandits and the knights covered the road.
The cardinal sat by the overturned carriage while the driver calmed the unicorns down. She slowly let the princess go, allowing her to stumble to her feet.
The cardinal attempted to stand up but was stopped when She raised her hand. "Your shoulder is dislocated." The princess went about attempting to treat it.
But as all this was going on, She simply stood at the edge of the road, gazing out at where she had murdered everyone. She wasn't going to beat around the bush, as that's what she had done. But the thing was that she didn't feel anything, no regret, no remorse.
She had taken these people's lives so why wasn't she feeling anything? She began to clench her fists. She had always heard the stories her mother's friends told about taking a life, and how hard it was. But here she was, standing at the sight of her first true battle and she felt nothing, was she a monster, a person who can shrug off killing people because it suits her interest? But something else was pulling at Louise, the way she fought.
She had never held a sword or thrown a punch; her mother never had time to teach her those things, so how did she know how to do those things? It was as if the suit was moving on its own.
"We need to keep moving. The bandits are going to be back any minute." The cardinal's voice broke her from her musings. Henrietta had healed the cardinal's shoulder as best as she could.
"The carriage is tipped and all the knight's horses fled." the driver told the other two.
"But the knights, they died protecting me. We must give them a proper burial!" the princess shouted.
"I know that you care for the welfare of your knights, but there may be more bandits. The academy is but a twenty-minute journey. Princess, please listen to reason."
She walked over to the tipped over carriage and crouched down. Sliding her hands under the carriage, she slowly extended her legs, lifting the carriage until it was upright. Walking over to the door, Louise simply opened it and motioned for the princess to get in. She reluctantly complied getting in, with the cardinal following her.
Turing to leave, she was stopped by the cardinal's voice. "Humble knight, our guard has been killed and we still have a bit of a journey left." Weighing her options, she climbed into the carriage. The rest of the trip to the academy was done in silence.
xXXXx
Royal castle of Gallia
The room Tabitha found herself in was one blanketed with darkness; only the small glow of a candle on a desk she currently kneeled at was visible.
"Ceph tech you say?" A small nod confirmed this. "Fascinating, a Ceph suit designed for humans. And who did you say summoned it."
"Louise de la Valliere, Your Majesty."
Joseph sighed. "You know how I feel about that, Charlotte."
"Charlotte is dead sir; she died on Skerry with her family."
He was saddened by this display. Charlotte was such a wonderful child to be around not three years ago, now here she kneeled a hollow shell of what she once was. "You remember my promise, right?" She nodded. "Because I plan to keep it. Now, what can you tell me about the mage?"
"Failure with conventional magic, explosive results. Perhaps void mage like you."
The man scratched at his beard. a void mage summoning Ceph tech. Very interesting. perhaps it would be wise to get Sheffield to look into Tristian royal lines. "What is it capable of?"
"Enhanced strength, speed, cloaking, and armour. Was able to take a hit from a troll's axe without flinching."
Very interesting indeed. "Tabitha, I thank you for reporting it to me. I need you to return to the academy and keep an eye on her; that suit might be what we need in order to survive the invasion." But Tabitha refused to move.
Tabitha slowly got up and walked away leaving Joseph alone in the dark room. "Sheffield!" Joseph shouted prompting a woman clad in a brown and blue cloak to enter the room.
"Yes, my lord," Sheffield said before bowing.
"I need you to find information on the Tristinian royal bloodline as well as anything you can find about a young girl, Louise de la Valliere."
"It will be done at once my lord." With that, she departed, leaving Joseph alone in the room.
xXXXx
A/N
So again, I didn't really need to change that much this time around as most of this was pretty good, to begin with.
Also, I need to correct my A/N in chapter three where I stated Louise's max speed in the nanosuit. The author of Crysis legion in an interview stated that a Nanosuit 2 user is able to outsprint a cheetah in short bursts.
taking this into account she is a fast girl.
I have a fun fact about her bow but bear with me I have to explain something about the suit. The muscle fibre that snakes around the suit is made out of carbon nanotubes. These act as the suits muscles enhancing the strength of the person wearing it, on top of maximum power mode. now it's hard to say how much this amplifies the suits strength but the two generally accepted numbers are ether two times the strength or TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY TIMES, very big gap here but, who knows it gives me a lot of ley way with what Louise can do strength wise.
Now I can't really say which is correct, I've done research but turned up arguments for both sides. But considering that in-game Prophet/Alcatraz can kick around cars like its nothing, or simply rip steel beams apart with there bare hands, I'm guessing that it couldn't simply be six times their strength.
Now, why am I telling you this it has nothing to do with the bow. but all of this does.
The bow in game has three different draw weights that you can choose from, light medium and heavy. now the interesting thing about heavy is that it is said to be at the upper limits of what the suit can handle. meaning that the draw weight she used to impale that man is somewhere around SIX THOUSAND POUNDS.
Anyways enough rambling. Have a great day everyone, and let me know what you think in the reviews.
