A/N Sorry for the fight between Lo and Fay being short, I tried to make it longer but it just didn't work. Anyway please feel free to write a review or follow the story, both help to keep me motivated.
Lilith was sat across from Gnarl, a look of pure anger on her face. "And you just let her go?"
"Have you seen the size of that wolf?"
"You were scared of a child and her dog. It's a good job he has more sense, if it was just you the plan would have failed instantly."
"The plan has failed."
"Not entirely, it may be salvageable."
"And how do propose we do that?"
" She will return eventually, they always do."
"They don't refuse in the first place normally."
"Maybe if we had placed her in a lower class family, then she would feel that she had suffered some injustice."
"No then we wouldn't be able to get the leaders to gather together in one place."
"They still will though, we can use that."
"Yes but there's no easy way to get into the city now, the Paladins monitor the area for any dark magic."
"You own a few brothels, how did you get your people in then?"
"I had a few distract the guards, but that was before the paladins and the buildings themselves are shielded from the search."
"What about the Red Dawn, surely they can help?"
"No the Paladins have started purging the safe houses that are spread throughout the city, they believe there is a rat."
"So all we can do is wait and see if she returns."
Lilith gave a nod. "What are we to do with Fay?"
"I thought you might like to deal with her, I remembered that you two had problems getting along."
She then gave a malicious smile. "Oh, Gnarl, you always know what to say to make a girl feel better. Where is she now?"
"Being dangled over the forge without the ability to move her arms or legs."
"And you always know the best wrapping paper. I'm going to play with my new toy."
After a short fly she arrived at the forge where Grubby was hitting an anvil with a hammer. There was no metal on it, it was just a force of habit. Gnarl was right, Fay was suspended above the forge, dangling upside. When Lilith arrived Fay tried to spit on her but it evaporated before it could even reach halfway across the molten metal. "Such polite manners, you know I could just drop you in metal, can elf's survive molten steel?"
" If you're going to kill me do it now succubus whore."
"No, I'd rather have some fun with you first. When you betrayed my people I started planning on how I would have my revenge. You took something important away from me so I thought I'd do the same. Then I thought whose important to you."
Fay gave out a laugh. "You obviously haven't thought this through then."
"Oh I have. You only care about yourself. Then I realised how much pride you took in the fact you're un-ageing."
"You can't take immortality away."
"You can, you just need to do a lot of research and have a lot of power."
"Which you don't have."
"No, but I found someone that was willing to let me borrow some." And with that she produced a gold mask from somewhere in her bag. "I doubt you know what this is, and I doubt you'll ever learn." A horde of shadow like hands flew from the eye sockets and circled Fay before grasping and forcing her mouth to open then one of them pushed itself down her throat. Lilith watched in amazement as an orb of light was forced out of her chest before the hands swarmed around it and crushed it.
"What have you done? What's wrong with me?" She was panting and the light she normally emitted had disappeared.
"Welcome to mortality. You're going to die, now that's a certainty."
Fay shook her head, this couldn't be possible, she could feel herself slowly being killed, not by a poison, but by time itself. And there was something new, pressing against the inside of her mind, a voice whispering inside her head, whispering the same phrase over and over again. Remember me. Remember me. Remember ME!
Lo collapsed on her bed after getting changed, she was tired, the fight had been short but blocking Fay's attacks seemingly effortlessly had taken a lot of effort. Fengir curled up at the foot of the bed, covering Lo's from foot to waste but not putting to much weight on her slender body. He flicked his tongue along his teeth, cleaning the mixture of Fay's blood and the seal's that he had killed on the way back. His nose and ears started to twitch and he raised his head eliciting a growl. Lo knew the sign after witnessing it for the first six months she had him, a stranger was at the door. She gave out a sigh, shuffling her feet from beneath the furred form that rested there and walked towards the door.
As she pulled open the door she threw her arms around the man that had knocked. It was Baristan. "It's nice to see you too Lo."
"So what brings you to Nordberg?" She asked, unlatching her arms from his knock.
"It's not just me, I'd like you to meet Sir Khalenhad, second in command of the Paladins." The man that stepped forward was... well the only way Lo could think to describe him was handsome, he looked to be in his mid-twenties, his features were stern, but held kindness that seemed to permeate the air around him and his flaxen blonde hair was tied in a top knot. Lo couldn't stop herself from blushing as he knelt down and kissed her hand. "There is another guest as well."
"And who might that be?"
"I'd like you to meet Queen Audrey Baleon, wife to the king and lady of Heaven's Peak."
The woman that came through was surprisingly plain, looks wise she was slightly above average, but apart from that she was normal. Her reaction to Lo's looks though was almost entirely different. Her jaw dropped and she clasped her hand to mouth as she let out a gasp. "I read a few reports on you but they do you no justice. I heard that elves were the fairest of the peoples, but did they have to make the comparison so easy."
Lo gave a slight curtsey. "My apologies your ladyship, my studies have been on magic and governance, and news travels slowly up here so I'm not really sure what to say."
"There's no need to apologise girl. I've come to escort you to the capital, my son and husband would love you to join his court."
Baristan gave a slight cough. " I'm sorry your ladyship, but Lo has known that this day would come for a long time, and what would come after it."
Audrey let out a sigh. "Oh well, I thought saying it like that was better than saying your father sold into an arranged marriage so you must come with us."
"Would you like to come in, I don't have any food but I do have some tea if you'd like a drink?"
The group came into Lo's room and the queen started looking over her belongings, her green eye's examining everything. "It must get cold at night for you to use a wolf skin as a cover." With that she sat on the bed and started stroking Fengir. His eyes opened slowly and Khalenhad pulled a staff off his back and a sword from the sheath on his hip.
"The beast is alive, move away."
Fengir padded off the bed, baring his fangs and lowering his body to the ground as he started to slowly circle the paladin. "Fengir, no, sit." Khalenhad looked confused as the wolf followed Lo's command and sat on it's haunches. "Sorry, he's a bit nervous around strangers."
Khalenhad still looked as confused as he put his weapons away and the queen resumed her examination. "Is this decorative?" She asked, holding the longbow that Lo had defeated Fay with mere hours ago.
"It depends."
"On what?"
"Is there any good game near Heaven's Peak?"
"No, but my husband has a small estate near Evernight where he goes hunting a few times a year."
"Then no."
"You're a very peculiar girl aren't you?"
"How so?"
"An elf girl, raised among human nobles, that has magic ,knows how to hunt, and has the loyalty of a giant wolf. Just one of those would have made you stand out from a crowd but all at once, you're one of a kind. Gentlemen, would you please leave us to discuss a few things."
Parcid walked out into the bright sunlight, the masked men following behind him before splitting up. He vaguely knew where he was, and could clearly see the college from here. This was the richer area of the city, where the lord's mansion was along with those who owned the smithies. He felt better now, but he'd have to find a way to make it up to Anise, but first he'd have to find her. He walked slowly, feeling the familiar crunch of snow under his feet and smiled, he felt warm again. For the first time without being inside the house or with Anise he felt warm. He should have told her or tried to follow her more but he thought that would make him look clingy. By the time he arrived at the college he saw Sir Baristan standing outside.
"Baristan, I assume Lo's leaving then?"
"She's to leave in a two days."
The man next to Baristan was slightly shorter than Parcid. "I thought the information was on a need to know basis."
"He's known longer than the girl has Khalenhad, he wasn't told but he found out any way."
"My name's Parcid." He offered to shake the man's hand but Khalenhad stopped and he gave a frown.
"Have you been near any strange objects recently? Or any people who could use dark magic."
"Not that I know of."
"Someone cursed you. Smells like" Khalenhad's nose started twitching almost frantically, "abomination, but there's something else, underneath, I'm not sure. Can you give me the buildings you've been in during the past few hours?"
"Er, the tavern."
"I shall start there then."
Baristan placed a hand on the shorter man's shoulder. "This is a royal visit, you can file a report back in the capital and send someone else to investigate."
"But they may leave."
"I'm sorry, what do you mean by abominations?"
Khalenhad started speaking as if reciting from a book. "The abominations are creatures whose essence has somehow absorbed a large amount of magical radiation, the first were created by the explosion of the tower heart approximately sixty years ago, the originals are mindless humanoids that wander the wasteland. Approximately thirty years ago it was discovered that those who were exposed to small amounts of magic exhibited strange abilities. The abominations must be purged due to their alliance to the overlord by order of the king ."
Lo took another sip of her tea as the queen carried on sketching. "Does your son know about this?"
"Yes, he's quite nervous, I thought a drawing might calm his nerves a bit."
"Does he feel anything else about the situation?"
"At first he was angry, then he became a bit deppresed as he had taken a liking to lady Elise's daughter. But now he's accepted the situation and sees it as his duty."
"Baristan talked to him didn't he?"
Audrey simply gave a nod.
