Katolis Castle,
"Greetings, your majesty," The royal tutor bowed as he entered, " Prince Ezran and Lady Aanya, we'll have today's lessons in the library, the topic will be the history of agriculture," The two looked liek they'd rather be anywhere else.
Harrow nodded before finishing up his conversation with the two children, he then proceeded to pick up Bait and Zym in his arms and head towards his office. "Come on you two, we're going to do paperwork."
Zym looked happy thinking it would be fun while Bait narrowed his eyes as he looked at Zym before turning back to Ezran as his expression changed from a fake smile to his usual grumpiness as the glow toad let out a series of grunts which Ezran heard as "Oh! we're going to do paperwork, it's a dream come true, somebody punch me!"
The young prince translated the glowtoad's grunts for Aanya as they made their way to the courtyard.
Margrave's Office, Katolis Castle,
A man entered the room carrying a small wooden box, "Your Highness, I've have brought the item you requested," he saw the young prince was on the phone,
"Thank you, just place it here," he gestured to a spot on his desk before turning back to his phone call, the man did as instructed then left quickly.
After a few minutes, Callum set down the phone before picking up the box and opening it revealing the key of Aaravos which was now glowing as he held it in the palm of his hand, his eyes glowed a bright crimson for a moment before fading away. "I hope I don't have to use you for this."
He walked over to the window as he looked at his airship being loaded in the landing field assuming they'd be ready for him in another 30 minutes, he turned his attention to the castle courtyard and saw Ezran and Aanya with their tutor walking towards what he assumed was the library, he could tell Ezran was bored out of his skull.
The phone rang, he turned around and picked up the phone wondering if it was them and if they've hit a snag. "hello?"
. . .
"Sargent? what can I.."
. . . .
His eyes opened wide after hearing what came next, "what!?"
. . . . .
"Understood, I'll have it looked into right away, tell the family not to worry."
He ended the call and sighed in exasperation and turned to the ancient portrait to the side, it showed a man wearing a dark hooded cloak with a long staff, despite being cloaked and his face obscured Callum could at least make out that he was incredibly thin, behind in where the original members of the legion with several holding up banners, the knights appeared unusually large and their armor itself was unusual. He was never sure if the artist was drawing them as they actually appeared or if they chosen to make it look unrealistic due to the stories that surrounded the order when it was formed, he felt it was the latter.
He focused on the cloaked figure, "I wonder if being Margrave was as troublesome in your time." he picked up the phone dialing in a number and waiting for someone to pick it up.
"Hello? Tanyth I need you to get this message to Vaeril and make sure my aunt doesn't hear any of it."
Neolandia:
Kasef looked out from the viewing area of the royal airship at the combat airships stationed in front with pride, "well father, what do you think?"
"It's certainly bigger than a normal combat airship." Ahling stroked his beard,
"It's not just big, it might only have one cannon nut it has twice the range of any normal airship, it will be the core of our air fleets."
"Yes I suppose," Ahling wasn't sure why Kasef needed to bring him here when a photo would've been plenty.
"I just got a call from the archduke saying that we should increase our production of refined oil by a large magnitude"
"that is highly suspicious of them, did they say why?."
"No, I'm certain they don't intend to buy it from us and I have no idea what their goal is here, I've also gotten an unofficial message from Duke Vanderbilt, apparently he is plotting a coup,"
"ah, so that's why you asked to come here away from anyone filled with curiosity... don't pick any side until you're certain that they will be victorious, picking the losing side will have serious repercussions for us." Ahling felt like he would die from anxiety if thing kind of thing became common.
Storm Spire
The flapping of great wings could be heard over the winds that surrounded the top of the spire. The Dragon guard began and kneeled as Avizandum landed, informing him that his mate was resting, he quickly made his way inside to find Ibis and several others working on some potions, as he scanned the chamber his eyes focused on a particular herb being mixed in and guessed its purpose but decided to ask, "Has Zubeia been overexerting herself?"
"Indeed my friend, she refuses to take enough rest so we are forced to use these, we've made the dose small enough that it only prolongs her sleep by several hours and speeds up her recovery." Ibis didn't turn away from the cauldron as he kept adding in herbs and other ingredients.
Avizandum decided to not distract them any further. He made his way to their sleeping area to find Zubeia fast asleep, the fatigue visible on her face.
He brought his claw close to her mane but hesitantly pulled back. He turned his attention to the vibrant plants and crystals spread throughout this part of their nest, he recalled how much she would talk about changing this entire space to be the perfect play area for Azymondias once he had hatched, about all the plants to other things they'd found in their youth. A single tear trickled down his face before he laid down next and covered her with one of his wings.
Polmauren, Erdus Dukedom
Vanderbilt opened his drawer and found that the disk wasn't glowing meaning he had to talk to him to deliver his report. He closed the drawer and went over to a wall and pulled a lever hidden in the nearby lamp. A section of the wall rotated revealing a cloth-covered mirror, next to it was a small potted plant with what he believed was a larger purple variant of a dragon-headed caterpillar. He removed the cloth revealing a highly polished mirror which quickly turned as black as obsidian as an image formed in it, he saw an elegant room with a startouched elf sitting at the far end next to a fireplace reading a book, he picked up the caterpillar fighting the urge to throw away the disgusting creature as he brought it to his ear, it quickly jumped towards his ear causing him to shudder in revulsion as he felt it wrap itself around his ear. After months of doing this, he had finally managed to stop vomiting at this experience.
"Yes?" the elf's voice came from the caterpillar.
"They aren't in range so I thought I'd have you report on it for me." He saw the elf was still immersed in his reading,
"or you could just wait... unless there is a problem I doubt you need to report every single detail." he turned a page. "The potions were made according to my instructions?"
"Yes but if this doesn't work..."
"Then we will inform them and they'll try something different, you really should stop worrying so much, you'll have your silly little empire and they'll have the Custodian's Shard and whatever else they're after."
Vanderbilt fought the urge to scream that he wouldn't tolerate anyone mocking his dream, but he had learned that the elf only had two expressions which were smiling or emotionless, and he wasn't sure which creeped him out more but it was preferable to dealing with them.
"But if they get directly involved, then it will be a problem for me,"
The elf shrugged without looking away from his book, "They are already directly involved and at your request I might add, like I said just stop worrying or you'll lose what little hair you have left." He playfully twirled his long white hair bringing it between his horns.
"Do you have no stakes in anything?"
"No, not really." the elf let out a chuckle.
Vanderbilt removed the caterpillar from his ear and placed it back on the plant then covered the mirror. His mood was now worse than before.
7:00 PM, Location Unknown.
". . . ngh . . what happened? . . ." Jasmin awoke, she slowly opened her eyes to find her vision blurry, she found her body was slow to respond and heard the clanking of chains and found her arms shackled.
"How was your nap?"
She jumped upon hearing the voice, "Ray? that you?" she looked around, there was only a single candle to provide light but she could make out that the room had no windows or anything except a single door. As she looked around she found Rayla was sitting cross-legged staring intently at the door. She too was shackled. "What happened? where are we?"
"Short version, the food was drugged..." her expression became bitter, she was glad that she had built up some resistance to sedatives and poisons during the war, "... as to where I think we're somewhere underneath the restaurant." she saw Jasmin looking around and easily guess why ". . . don't bother, I already checked this room out, there is nothing here we can use."
Jasmin took out one of her hairpins and tried to see if she could unlock her shackles, after several failed attempts she gave up,
"Relax I already have a lock pick, its in my boot" she tapped her right boot then partially revealed it before pushing it back down.
Jasmin was perplexed, "anything else you got we could use?"
"two knives in my other boot, my powder set has cloth laced with a strong sedative hidden inside, a strangling wire in my bra hook... and don't ask why I have any of this."
"How? why? when?"
Rayla gave her irritable look, "what part of don't ask don't ya understand?" her ears perked up as she heard footsteps, "We have visitors, 5 of them, ETA 2 minutes." Rayla changed her expression to appear as if she was still under the effect of the sedative. Jasmin took the hint and did as well.
Soon the footsteps were audible, the door opened and the light from outside was enough to cause both of them to turn away as their eyes tried to adjust, a pair of men armed with pistols wearing simple masks entered followed by a well-dressed woman who wore a more elaborate mask with round eye holes and olive branch pattern on the right side painted in what they assumed must've been real emerald.
"Ah, I see you've awoken, your timing is most perfect," her voice was filled with anticipation as she brought her hands together with a slight tilt of her head.
Rayla and Jasmin continued their act while trying to see beyond them, they could see on the edges of their silhouettes that they were at the end of a long corridor with doors on both sides.
"Please come in," she stepped to the side as two more men entered their vision, they wore cloaks that revealed well-tailored white suits with white masks with elaborate patterns on both sides around the edges, with a smiling mouth painting where their lips would be, the eye holes were covered in a glass as black as obsidian, they one white glove with a curving pattern close to the wrist. The one in front was slightly shorter than his counterpart with his right hand in his pocket and what appeared to be a pocket watch with a chain in his suit's breast pocket. the other man was well built and his stance indicated that he was ready to fight if the situation called for it. Rayla could tell that combat wasn't an option right now.
"So these are the ones you've mentioned?" the man asked as he took a step forward.
"Yes, the elf should be quite a catch among your clientele."
The man moved forward with his associate not far behind, he lowered himself on one knee till he was at eye level with Rayla. he grabbed her by the chin and examined her. "To think you'd capture one of the prince's pet elves, I know of a client that would be ecstatic to acquire some fresh elven blood."
"Over my dead body." Rayla shook free of his grip and tried to bite his hand, though he quickly moved his hand out of the way before grabbing her face, she found it difficult to put up any real resistance without letting them know that the sedative had worn off.
"That can easily be arranged my dear, but that will have to wait." He let her go and turned to face the masked woman, "I'll come collect them after the auction." He and his associate exited the room.
"As you wish," the woman said and she and the two armed escorts left the room.
After a minute had passed did the two relax, Rayla leaned against the wall with the color draining from her face as she held on to her stomach.
"I think we're in serious trouble." Jasmin balled her fists in frustration that her knuckles had turned bone white.
