Halkegenia Online - Chapter 11 - Part 2

"I'm sorry, Lord Mortimer." Standing on the far side of the Moonlight Mirror, the Spriggan Hunter bowed her head shamefully. "I thought we had them in the catacombs, but then I lost contact with my lead Tracer, and the backup went dark a little while after that." She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I've done everything I can."

The gathered Royals, Nobles, and Fae looked to one another, some showing dismay, others, quiet looks of resignation.

This plan had always been a risk, a last resort that never should have been required. For Henrietta's inner circle to have been so infiltrated that her body double could have been kidnapped, changed everything. Just how far did the conspiracy go, and out of the hundreds gathered at the palace, just how many were in bed with the enemy? Now they could only hope that they could somehow rescue the Faerie masquerading as Henrietta in time. Their last hope to trace the conspirators to their base had likely just been lost for good.

How much an hour's time changed things, Henrietta thought at she looked around the room. Just a short while ago, she had been hidden away atop the palace, watching the Gala alongside a contingent of her bodyguards as her double moved about and socialized in her place. It had all seemed like quite tremendous fun to play a part in this masquerade. A shame that it could never be known to any outside a small minority of the Royal Guards, her mother, Cardinal Mazarin, and the Faerie Lords.

What was more, watching Mister Kirito navigate the party with such sublime grace had been a delight in itself, payment for the hours that she and Asuna had spent teaching him the basics of etiquette so that he might imitate, for a brief time, the proper mannerisms of a highborn daughter.

Henrietta had been meant to switch places with her doppelganger prior to her formal announcement that she intended to take the throne and be crowned as Queen so that the initiation proceedings could be fully officiated by the Lord Justice and Cardinal Mazarin, she would then have switched places again to minimize her exposure to the kidnapping plot.

But she didn't think many of the Nobility would appreciate being fooled for an evening, even for a good cause. As Cardinal Mazarin would say, it would needlessly expend a good deal of the precious Political Capital that she would need in the coming days, if the ploy ever came to light.

Now, it all seemed a trifling concern compared to this latest catastrophe wrought at the hands of the Reconquista. Lord Mortimer nearly killed and framed, the city set ablaze, and Henrietta herself nearly kidnapped if not for the last minute precautions that had been taken to ensure her safety. And there was every indication, as the story was allowed to unfold piece by piece, that things were only going to get worse. For in no small part, tonight's attempt on the lives of herself and Prince Wales had been made possible by a traitor from a direction that they had never even thought to look.

She wouldn't have believed it if the news hadn't been delivered by Lord Mortimer himself, the real Lord Mortimer, so recently arrived beaten, bloodied, and sopping wet from his brush with death and his subsequent flight through the torrential downpour that had taken the entire countryside by surprise this mid-spring evening. The Guards hadn't at first known what to make of the his ghastly appearance, had even considered leveling their weapons on him despite being in the august company of Lady Morgiana and a young Gallian Chevalier, a friend of Louise's who had already been closely associated with the investigation even before the full scope of de'Martou's conspiracy had been revealed.

There were indeed treacherous Fae involved in the conspiracy tonight. They simply were not the ones that the people of Tristain were meant to believe.

Lord Mortimer was certain that at least one, but more likely two traitors were among they Fae, though as for their identities, he could offer only his suspicions for now. It was the likely identity of one of these traitors that could mean ruin. A conclusion that he had drawn from circumstantial evidence and the accounts of a trio of Fae investigators.

Ephi, the commander of Sakuya's guard contingent had likely betrayed them all, and with this revelation Sakuya's strange absence tonight had taken on a new urgency.

"N-nyoh!" It was a sudden and sharp outburst, so unlike the normally fanciful Lady of Freelia. "There has to be something more you can do!" Lady Alicia hissed.

"Alicia." Lady Morgiana said, looking unusually morose.

"Something you haven't thought of!"

On the other side of the mirror, the Spriggan woman looked away, lips pressing into a thin line.

"Alicia!" Morgiana's brow twitched.

Alicia's ears had folded back, features stretching gaunt. "You just aren't trying hard enough!"

"Shut. Up. Rue."

The sound of Morgiana's hand striking the surface of the table brought everything else in the room to a stop. The Lady of the Spriggans had not, Henrietta thought, been in the best of tempers when she'd arrived, and hearing the dejected report of her subordinate had not helped matters at all. Those nearest to her cringed away as she loomed over Alicia. The only ones who were the slightest bit un-stymied were Lord Mortimer and General Eugene.

While his elder brother continued to study the map of the Capital spread across the parlor table, showing its streets and districts, the Salamander General had been the first to act, stepping forward to hesitantly place a hand on the Spriggan woman's shoulder, squeezing softly. For whatever reason, this seemed to help, if only a little. The tension and anger draining from her, Morgiana's temper cooled until she could look Alicia in the eye without glaring and speak without shouting.

"Marina and the others are doing all they can right now." Morgiana said, meeting the angered gaze of the Cait Lord. "Chances are that the slimeballs who are helping out these Reconquista bastards have also been giving them some tips on countering our magic."

Alicia opened her mouth as if to speak. The words seemed about to come, but then died on her lips. A moment of shaking before she began to fidget with the bow of her golden gown. "But Sakuya-chan is…"

"Sakuya is out there too." Morgiana sighed softly. "If we're really lucky, finding where they've taken Shirishi will lead us to her. But that means that two of our friends are in danger. Believe me, none of us is more motivated than Marina to find them." Gray eyes like a coming storm looked down at the smaller Lord. "Unless you think there's a single Kurotaka here tonight who doesn't have a personal stake."

"No." Marina shook her head.

Behind the Spriggan woman, Henrietta could see activity atop a roof, the other Faeries and Knights that had formed the pursuit team. After losing the trail underground, the commanding officer had returned them to the surface where they could contact the Palace for further instructions. If only they had better news to report…

"Marina?" Morgiana looked almost surprised.

"No, Big Sis, I'll speak for myself." Marina took a breath. "I'm sure there was more that we could have done. But I let myself get overconfident, we hung too far back. I didn't want to risk being spotted. And now Shirishi and Sakuya-sama may have to pay for my mistake. I…."

"In hindsight the most difficult decisions can appear the most clear."

Simple words spoken by a distracted Lord Mortimer as he traced fingers over the city map, hardly paying any mind to the Undine and water mage that were fussing over his wounds. In all honesty, he shouldn't have even been standing, even with his Fae vitality and the sole attention of two healers. A shoulder wound, and the blood he had already lost, the risk of shock. Henrietta could imagine the toll it would be taking. But Mortimer had simply waved aside all urgings to rest.

"You're thinking of something, aren't you brother?" General Eugene rumbled.

Asuna and Wales had been using this room from the beginning to plan and organize the firefighting efforts in the lower city wards. The map, now strewn with tokens and quite resembling one used for war, was displaying the location and status of the fires and the arrangement of the forces dedicated to their containment.

The conspirators had done their work well. Fires, initially small as to prevent early notice, had been scattered throughout the commoner wards, thereby making it almost impossible to stop the flames before they had already become a fierce blaze too large for a few petty mages and commoners to contain. The fireworks had only spread the calamity further.

Predicting the devastation that would be wrought, after some semblance of order had been restored among the panicked party goers, the Faeries had volunteered themselves for service. Lord Thinker had directed his own guards and the Undines stationed at Champ de Mars to do everything in their power to bring the fires under control.

The Undine Fae had already proven themselves invaluable in containing the flames, drowning out rooftops and laying ice barriers to barricade buildings beyond saving, keeping the fires from spreading and aggregating. Now, with the rain on their side, they were finally making progress at containing the damage before it could reach neighboring districts.

"No, this isn't your fault Marina-san. If it can be blamed on anyone…" Mortimer licked his lips. "I just…I just need time." He said, still distracted. H "The answer, It's here, somewhere, I can almost see it." The Salamander Lord's normally smooth brow was knit in concentration. It hardly seemed an exaggeration that, for now, the world around him was little more than a distraction.

"Sir Marlow brought his familiar with us." Marina reported. "A Germanian Bearhund, but even it can't follow a scent down there. It's the waterways… scents get carried everywhere."

"That was likely among the conspirators' intentions, in choosing this avenue of escape." Captain Hammond deduced. "The underground is a maze. Leagues of tunnels, and catacombs dating back to the city's earliest days. You could lose your way down there even with years of experience."

"Experience that could be provided by a certain corrupt Tax Collector with certain smuggling connections." Wales noted.

This night had done the Prince no favors, and though he had escaped injury, events were clearly taking a heavy toll on his stamina. Wales had sworn himself to her, to keep her and Tristain safe, and she could not escape the feeling that he somehow thought this to be his fault in some part. More than anything, Henrietta wanted to reach out to him, to reassure him in the way that Asuna could do so openly with Kirito. The two Fae, stood close together even now, exchanging small hand squeezes when they thought nobody was looking.

Though Kirito had as yet neglected to dispel his illusory form as Midori. Not that Henrietta could blame him while garbed in the tattered remains of a gown carefully tailored to his current proportions. At least someone had gotten around to giving him something warm to cover up with, an officer's jacket provided eagerly by one of the young mage officers outside.

"It is a problem indeed." Lord Zolf agreed softly. "What about the peeping spell we set on Shirishi-san?"

"It didn't do any good with her head covered." Marina said. "And the connection broke a little bit after I lost my tracers. We must have gone out of range."

Zolf nodded slowly. "And Scrying is like moonlight mirror, it can only transmit under the light of a shared celestial body. She's either being kept underground or . . ."

"Don't say it." Morgiana whispered, voice carrying the promise of violence. "Don't even say it."

Or she might be dead, Henrietta understood the unspoken implication. In which case, the Faerie spell would be of no use. No magic known to human, Fae, or Elf could delve beyond the divide. And if that were the case, it did not bode well for Sakuya either.

"I meant…I meant no disrespect, Morgiana-san." Zolf whispered as he withdrew a small, almost Brimiric cross from his pocket, gently squeezing the ornament as he whispered under his breath.

"Zolf, what about your body guards." Mortimer suddenly asked.

"You mean the Hogei-sen?" Zolf asked as if surprised to hear the question.

'Hogei-sen?' Another strange name, one of the institutions the Fae referred to as Guilds, loose associations of Faeries with complimentary talents and skills such as the Kurotaka. Henrietta recalled the name from the reports and, if she did not misremember, the Hogei-sen were…were…

'Oh my.' Henrietta's eyes widened.

They were not highly regarded, even among the Fae, though not for lack of skill or even for their conduct, which was said to be among the most courteous to be found among the ranks of their kind. Rather, the Hogei-sen bore the unfortunate distinction of being marked with the blackest of brushes, especially now. An Assassin's Guild. A reformed Assassin's Guild, they were always swift to assure, but Assassins nonetheless.

Following the Transition, they had taken it upon themselves to purge their ranks of the weak, those lacking the fortitude for real combat, and had gathered only the strongest and most tested of Imp stealth fighters.

Masters of the Fae Darkness magic. Cloaked in deep violets and blues and issued with ingenious Leprechaun crafted equipment, hiding themselves behind glass eyed masks in battle, like something that would be worn by a plague doctor. They were foreboding sights wherever they might be found, most often in the caverns of their capital, or the in shadow of their Lord.

That the kindly Lord Zolf could ever employ, let alone require such people seemed impossible. But like all the Fae, the identities they had crafted in the illusion world were just masks worn while indulging in fantasy that spoke nothing of the true quality of their character. And at the same time, who better to guard their gentle spirited Lord then men familiar with the knife, the poison, and the crossbow, the tools of the Assassin?

"I contacted them at once." Zolf said. "They've already scattered themselves along the river way and are keeping guard in both directions. I've received no reports back of any suspicious activity near the water ways."

Mortimer nodded slowly. "The night vision of the Imps is superb. If anyone would have seen a thing, it's your men. Then…we can assume they haven't attempted to use the water ways to take them from the city … yet. That means … maybe." He blinked furiously as if deep in thought.

Alicia, seeming to scent the strange behavior, perked up, ears standing tall. "Hey, Mort, what are you saying? You're thinking of something aren't you!" She suddenly sounded alive again, stretching up on her tip toes, palms planted firmly on the table. "Come on Mort. Spill it!"

"Captain Hammond, there are official offices of the City housed in the House of Peers, are there not?"

The Manticore Knight stroked his chin, he appeared as unsure as Henrietta, as everyone else really, of where Lord Mortimer was headed with this. But the Salamander had already proven a well of ideas in the past. If Mortimer thought it would be of use then it was best to assume it would be of use.

"Yes, the Tax Offices and the Archives. Why, is there something you might need from them?"

"Maps." Mortimer said simply. "Maps, plans, anything that shows the major underground construction. Waterways, catacombs. Gross plans and details, anything at all."

Captain Hammond's brows rose. "That would be…decades…centuries of old documents. What could possibly do with…"

"Please." Such an alien word to hear from the taciturn Salamander, and with it, the faintest hint of desperation. "I just need them now. Anything, everything you can find, bring it here as quickly as you can."

"Lord Mortimer has our full support." Henrietta instructed the uncertain Captain. "Please instruct the musketeers to handle it at once."

Cold red eyes looked over to her from across the table, perhaps exhaustion had finally ebbed its way into him, but for a moment his eyes seemed to soften, a ghostly hint of thanks that was gone before she could tell if it had been there at all.

The order was given to a squad of Musketeers, instructed to let nothing get in their way. Even if they had to break in and kidnap the clerical staff they were to retrieve anything they could find and return immediately.

"Marina?" Mortimer asked carelessly, he was utterly lost in the map on the table. "Do you think you can tell me where you were when you lost contact with your tracers?"

The Spriggan blinked exactly once, and then realizing that Mortimer was beginning to scheme, was swift to answer "We made it about a kilometer on foot underground before I lost my tracers. Once that happened, we decided to surface. Luckily the catacombs intersect with the underground waterways that feed from the Noble districts, so we were able to take a service ladder back up to the surface just off of….

"Charon Street." A Knight behind Marina told her. "Near the statue of Saint Athos, if that will help."

Mortimer looked to Captain Hammond who was all too happy to point the place out on the city map.

"What good will this do?" The Captain was confused.

"You'll see…you'll see. Maybe nothing but…no, this must work or else…." Red eyes scanned the map one last time, lips moving fast and furious as he breathed out the names written in Halkegenian script.

More questions were asked as they waited for the Musketeers to return, not more than half an hour passed before they were back, short of breath and carrying rolls of paper beneath their soaked coats. Everything that Lord Mortimer had asked for. Maps, diagrams, church records of the locations of family tombs and catacombs. Centuries of Tristania's history recorded on yellowing paper.

And then, to their shock, Mortimer asked them to lay them across the floor. At first, none of the men knew what to do, even the Captain appeared to be no help.

"Don't just stand there." Lady Morgiana took one scroll from the hands of a befuddled Musketeer. "Boss says to spread them out, you spread them out!"

That had been enough to shake the men to action. Furniture was moved, Nobles and Fae stepped aside or stepped forward to help, making a clear space on which the plans could be laid out until they formed a quilt across the floor. Only then did Lord Mortimer step forward, comparing what he saw to the city map still resting on the table.

"That one." He pointed. "Put it over there."

Still unsure of exactly what the Salamander Lord intended, the men were nonetheless swift to obey as he pointed and instructed, rearranging the papers in some arcane fashion, requesting that some be overlaid or interleaved with others, demanding that still others be removed. He did this again and again, conferring repeatedly with Captain Hammond and the other officers about the specifics of the maps. Their titles, locations, scales, making marks in pen atop the city map as he grew satisfied with each portion of his tapestry.

At last, Mortimer stopped and simply stared. He did not blink, he did not even appear to be breathing, only the faintest flaring of his nostrils betrayed that he was still alive, the subtle movements of his eyes, and the slowly spreading flush across his forehead and cheeks, as if in the throes of a fever.

"What is he doing?" A young Mage Officer Cadet, Guiche de'Gramont, whispered quietly to the effeminately disguised Kirito.

"I think…" The swordsman paused, delicately biting his lip. His eyes widened. "I don't think someone can do that."

"But he is." Miss Argo whispered.

"Is…Is wha…mmph?" Guiche was silenced as a slender hand clamped down over his mouth, Lady Alicia leaning beside him, a glint of hope shimmering in her eyes.

He must have stood that way for a full ten minutes. Finally. Mortimer moved, stepping out across the maps, to the crinkling and tearing of paper. Henrietta cringed at the damage that was being done and the way that Lord Mortimer simply didn't seem to care. And then he stopped blinking as if rising from a daze, or a deep trance.

"Brother?" Eugene reached out, placing a hand on the Salamander Lord's shoulder.

Mortimer seemed almost surprised, as if he'd forgotten his brother was there, that any of them were there. He turned, storming back to the table, taking a pen and then drawing a wide circle over the Warders Quarter of the city. "There." He muttered. "If they haven't been taken out of the city. They'll be in there."

"What?" Captain Hammond looked to the map, and then back the papers on the floor. Most of his officers did the same, unable to comprehend what had just happened, what dread magic Mortimer had just wrought. Or if it had been magic at all.

"It's in the direction that Marina and the others were traveling." Mortimer explained. "It is along a major waterway, away from the primary outlets. This area is the only place to which they could have escaped after taking the waterways without emerging onto the surface."

"That's only if these maps show everything." Wales observed. "I can assure you, Lord Mortimer, that they do not."

The Salamander Lord buried the tip of his pen into the center of the circle he had drawn. "It doesn't matter." He stood, breathing heavily. "This is all we have. And if we cannot scry them, they must be underground. Captain Hammond. Can you think of any locations in this area that would be ideal? Someplace abandoned but secure, that would have access to the underground waterways, somewhere that Shirishi and Sakuya would never have a chance to see the sky?"

The Captain frowned heavily as he leaned over the table, looking for some clue, or some reminder. "The Warder's Quarter? No, there's nothing there, old barracks, some church offices and poor houses." Then his eyes widened. "Wait." He looked the map over, confidence growing. "Here. This here." He planted a finger firmly on an unlabeled patch of the map.

"What is it, Captain?" Henrietta asked, coming to stand beside the two men and examine the map for herself.

"La Forace Prison." Captain Hammond said grimly.

There was an uncomfortable shifting among some of the Manticore and Griffin Knights standing in the room. The older ones whose years of service went back to Henrietta's childhood.

"La Forace? I've never heard of a prison of that name…" Henrietta said. It seemed an impossible oversight having lived in the capital for her entire life.

"And I would have wished you never would, your Highness." Hammond stated grimly. "It was abandoned long before you were born, at the order of your father the King." A small shake of the head. "Its impregnability was matched only by its cruelty."

"Wanna bet we can't crack it open?" Lady Alicia asked viciously.

"Why is it not on the map?" Mortimer asked.

"Once, it was." Hammond said as if recalling some ugly affair from long ago. "Or rather, the structure above it. Over a century ago, the First Lord Justice of Tristain commissioned the Prison to be built under his own home so that he could personally see to the ongoing punishment of the vilest of the condemned."

"So the Lord Justice's lovely personality is occupational?" Lady Alicia mused humorlessly.

"Even among the men who later succeeded to his office, Lord Aschcroft was a uniquely callous man." Captain Hammond assured. "The estate was demolished long ago at the order of the previous Lord Justice, after an incident. But the prison is still there, beneath the surface." His frown grew darker. "Are you sure, Lord Mortimer? Are you sure that this is the place?"

"Nothing is certain Captain. Least of all this." The Salamander's eyes widened, he tottered, steadied swiftly by his brother. "But it's all we have. Please, if you can think of anyplace else, speak now. In the meantime…Lydia."

A pale, silver-haired Salamander woman, Lord Mortimer's guard captain who was by all accounts as unfailingly loyal to her Lord as Ephi was a snake to his, stepped forward, hardly bothered by her bandaged cheek. "My Lord?"

"Gather up my brother's men and tell them to be ready. Heavy armor, knives, and swords, don't bother with the lances, this will be a close quarter's assault. Zolf. I want your men to coordinate with the Royal Guard and lay a cordon in the tunnels. I want nothing to escape."

"If this turns out to be a false lead." The Salamander's eyes were filled with quickly banished doubt. "Then the Warders district is still our best chance. We need to be ready to spread throughout the area and search out any hiding places."

The Imp bowed sincerely. "My guards are at your disposal, Lord Mortimer."

"I'll be heading out too." Alicia announced, even now, the diminutive Cait couldn't hide a fanged and unkind smile. "If you don't mind, I think I'll be right behind whoever kicks down the door."

"That would be me." Morgiana declared smoothly and then a small smirk. "Unless our petite little Midori-chan wants the chance." She gave a wink, much to Mister Kirito's flustered look of agitation.

"I'll have my men readied at once." Captain Hammond announced, shaking his head. "To think that I would ever return to that pit."

"Captain?" Henrietta asked. For a moment, he'd looked distraught by something half-remembered.

"Merely an ugly memory, Your Highness." And that was all that was said.

"Then time is of the essence." Mortimer was heading for the door now, followed closely by General Eugene. "There's no time for an elaborate plan. If the information that our investigators rushed to bring us is accurate, then Sakuya may have precious little time. If that man is involved, then no good can come to her."

The General reached out, grabbing hold of his older sibling's shoulder. "Brother. You've done enough now, please, you need to sit and rest a little while." Henrietta realized, alarmed, that Mortimer fully intended to be part of the strike force he was arranging. "Let us handle this now. You need to rest and…"

The Salamander Lord shrugged his brother's hand from his shoulder. "I can rest as soon as this night ends. Besides, if she dies…" A note of anger, heat that had never been in that neutral voice before, a cold temper strained now to its limit. "If Sakuya-san dies…my actions sowed the distrust that might have prevented us from seizing this information sooner. I can only conclude that if she dies," Mortimer looked up, red eyes hollow, "her blood will be on my hands."