Spreading Shadows

The power of love is a curious thing

Make a one man weep, make another man sing

~ Huey Lewis

Chapter 3

A man can lose sight of everything else when he's bent on revenge, and it ain't worth it. ~ Louis L'Amour

Leon felt his stomach drop at the sight of the darkness reaching out for the fleet.

"But we're not even over the island!" Lloyd exclaimed.

"Last time they didn't show us everything they had," Leon answered, staring over at the oncoming shadows. "It isn't stopping. Brace for impact!"

He'd decided to use the negotiations to visit the ships of his little squadron rather than remain aboard the Dreadnought. Honestly, he'd been surprised Frampton asked for a parlay at all - surely he must realise that any treaty offered would be looked at with suspicion after the debacle of the letters he'd handed out at Leon's abortive trial?

"Duke Ades and Marquis Frampton are dead," Luxion reported. "Marchioness Dieke has been transformed into a monster and is rampaging upon the flagship."

"Signal all ships to make best speed with the wind," Leon snapped.

Lloyd took the orders as meant for him and started shouting instructions to the signallers. He wouldn't have time to get anything hoisted before the shadows reached them. Even Luxion was going to be pushed…

Grabbing the ship's rail, Leon wondered if he might be one of those transformed. What would Luxion do if he was?

"Can you destroy the source of this?" he demanded.

"The origin appears to be somewhere under the surface of the island. I would be firing effectively at random. I could expend my current stock of ammunition, but it would take a full hour and have no certainty of success."

"Not a good plan then."

A spark of light caught his attention and he turned towards the source. On the foredeck of one of the three ships sent by the temple - the same one that had brought Julius' group before - Marie was standing tall (or as tall as the tiny girl could), wearing a white dress, the Saintess' Necklace and the Saintess' Bracelet. She raised the Saintess' Rod in both hands and the light was coming from the tip of the rod.

Like a glowing bubble, the light expanded out to meet the shadows.

They struck with the sound of a bell chiming and the light shattered in the path of the shadows. Despairing cries came from the sailors watching.

But Marie threw another wave of light defiantly up at the dark magic. Leon saw that the four boys around her had dropped out of sight suddenly. The barrier met the shadows and for a moment it looked as if it would succeed…

But no. The barrier broke apart, one section at a time, crumbling until the tendrils of darkness once again threatened to complete the ritual circle and engulf them.

Leon saw flags rising on Luxion's signal mast. The right orders - or at least those he'd given. "Luxion, you can open fire on Fanoss' ships," he ordered in the brief moment of respite. "Go for their faster ships first."

One more time, the rod blazed with light and Marie hurled her paltry light magic out. The regalia would enhance it, but Leon wished that he'd pushed to have Olivia come along rather than sending her to the Ministry.

The bubble of protection contacted the darkness just before it first reached the cargo ships and their escorts. The ringing sound of the collision was deafening. So close that Leon thought he might be able to reach out and touch the interface between the two - if he wasn't fighting to stay upright.

The shadows pressed against the light and Leon saw the protection shrink back. He stumbled back and away from it, dragging Lloyd with him and away from the shadows as they pressed over the side of the skyship.

Those of the crew that could see what was happening were doing the same, fortunately there weren't enough of them to completely overbalance the skyship. Leon scrambled up onto his knight-armour, hoping to be able to get it into the air ahead of the slow advance of the darkness.

The helmsman was spinning the wheel, staying at his post until the last minute, trying to turn the ship further into the shrinking area to be protected.

An outcry from below suggested that someone hadn't got clear and had suffered the full effect of the horrors. The inhuman roar that followed confirmed it.

Leon saw the darkness reach the hand of his knight-armour as he started closing it. "Hold on!" he called as the hatch shut. "I'll try pushing the ship!"

No, I'll pull, he thought as it locked shut. Not going out into that to push. Should have thought of that before I said anything.

The knight-armour came to life around him and he looked at the coming wave of dark magic. Did he have time?

It was still just grasping at the hand. Was the ship moving ahead of it? Firing up the knight-armour, Leon took to the air and looked for somewhere to grab onto the ship. With more perspective, the ship was gradually pulling free of the magic. Around him, he could see the bubble of light magic was still holding. It might even have stopped the shadows for now.

Catching hold of one of the sturdier pieces of the rigging, Leon powered his thrusters up gradually - not wanting to rip his grip free.

With agonising slowness, the skyship pulled out of the nightmarish tendrils until it was fully within the protected region. How much was due to Leon pulling and how much to the helmsman, he wasn't sure. Honestly, as far as he was concerned, the man could have the credit.

"Master, the new human skyships are clustering around me and blocking my fields of fire," Luxion warned. "May I destroy some to clear my shots?"

"No, just let them get past." Leon checked the winds. Blowing from the south. They'd flee northwards then. The merchantmen and troop transports would need all the speed they had to say ahead.

He moved in to congratulate the helmsman, but then the quarter-deck of the skyship erupted in broken planks. The helm was torn free as something vast and ursine, but with great antlers and a cat's face broke out of the cabin beneath. It was also on fire, no natural flames but instead a silvery blaze that seemed to be agonising for it. The courageous helmsman was sent flying, crashing down onto the main deck, neck at an angle that couldn't possibly be survivable.

"Fuck! Off!" Leon snarled and drew his rifle from the weapons rack. He emptied all six shots into the head of the monster, blowing off one antler and half of the head before it stopped moving. As he'd seen on Sullivan's island, once dead the monster shrank once more into the mortal man that had given birth to it, the flames vanishing as if they had never been. Perhaps the fire would have done the job in a few more moments, but how many more would have died before that?

Lloyd stumbled towards the corpse and then Leon's schoolmate fell to his knees, staring at it.

"Lloyd!" Leon shouted. "Get up, we don't have time!"

The boy looked up at him. "L-Leon… You just killed my father!"

"..." For a moment Leon was at a loss. "Dark magic killed him, Lloyd. Now get your ship closer to Marie before any more of your crew is taken!"

The other student's face twisted from grief to anger. "I…"

"Do it!"

Stiffly, bitterly, Lloyd forced himself upright and started shouting at the sailors.

Commanders don't get to have friends, Leon thought. I'll have to apologise later, for what little it's worth.

"Master, Lafan's protective area is still shrinking," Luxion warned. "For now the diminishment is negligible, but as her fatigue grows I project that she will be unable to maintain it."

"Understood." Leon turned his knight-armour towards the temple's skyship. "Put me on loudspeakers."

"Done," the AI reported.

"This is Commodore Bartford. Some of us have been in this situation before. We're going to get through this the same way, except now we have light magic guarding us. All ships cluster together around the temple skyships. Hold formation and ride the wind - this circle doesn't go on forever."

From here he saw Marie standing alone, sweating and white-faced. Leon would have expected her four admirers to be supporting her, but all four of them were lying on the deck with crewmen just arriving to drag them aside. Whatever had happened had knocked the lot of them out.

"Luxion, any ideas what's up with the four of them?"

"If you mean Lafan's admirers, I can only speculate at this time." The AI didn't sound as if it was being entirely honest. "However, I have a statistically significant finding with regard to those affected by this dark magic attack."

"I'm listening."

The little squadron of warships and transports let the wind carry them away as Fanoss warships broke through the disordered remains of Duke Ades' fleet and began to tear the ships - already overrun by monsters - apart with heavy cannon fire.

There would be no last proud defence like Count Seberg's. As Leon looked back, he doubted even one skyship of the main fleet would get away.

"Of the knights and lords who were not transformed by the attack, almost all are notable in not having their wives living in the capital and not having significant amounts of debt, to judge by the financial records I have examined as part of your economic analysis requests. The overwhelming majority of those who are transformed have absentee wives, significant debts or both."

Leon parsed that for a moment. "So, men who were likely bitter and resentful - fonts of negative emotion, particularly due to unhappy marriages?"

"It is a plausible explanation of the facts available."

The boy groaned. "Fanoss has weaponized Holfort's traditions of lousy marriages for the gentry and lower nobility. We're in big trouble."

Leon's eyelids felt as if they were made of lead. He'd long since left his knight-armour in the hangar and relocated to the navigation bridge of the Dreadnought. The skyship was the only thing keeping the pursuing Fanoss ships from closing and overwhelming them. They'd outnumbered his force's twenty-odd warships by more than two-to-one at the start of the chase, and even after Dreadnought's guns had wrecked a dozen of them, they had kept chasing.

Oh, they hadn't closed in, but they had a pretty good idea now of what Dreadnought's range was and they'd tested it constantly, probing with airbikes and knight-armours, paying the price to learn what his limits were.

Leaving Leon's little squadron to their own devices while he went back to chase down the enemy's squadrons individually would be leaving the Holfort ships to their deaths, which was exactly what he'd promised not to do. Some of the warships might escape if they scattered, but the transports were too slow - the Fanoss fleet had managed to get around their flank once already.

Leon had the nasty suspicion that if he yielded to his fatigue, that Luxion would just go ahead and attack the Fanoss vessels the moment he wasn't awake to forbid the AI from doing so. That might be lack of sleep talking, but he wasn't sure.

"Master."

Leon glared at the display.

"Master?"

There had to be something - he'd tried lunging out to chase them off with Dreadnought but they simply scattered and tried to get around him to the convoy…

"Master!?"

"...oh. Sorry. What was it, Luxion?"

The AI switched the screen to a map. They were somewhere near the southernmost vassals of the Ades now. If the area hadn't been stripped to provide the core of the Blue fleet, Leon might have hoped for reinforcements. A blinking light sprang up ahead of him. "A new fleet of skyships is visible on radar."

"...who?"

"At this distance, I cannot tell. However, they number almost sixty vessels."

"...dammit."

"Master, you need to sleep."

"I know. I know." He rubbed his eyes. It was hard to think. "How long before you know who they are?"

"Between one hundred thirty and one hundred and fifty minutes, assuming that the speed and direction of both formations remains consistent."

"Right." He buried his face in his hands. If they were hostile, that would be enough warships and knight-armours to swarm over Dreadnought. Maybe not to kill them, but enough to rip the transports apart. "Luxion. I'm getting the transports home. This is my damn fault. Letting out the half-elf secret tore Holfort apart as much or more than anything Julius did. The least I can bloody do is get these poor bastards home."

Julius, Jilk, Chris and Greg had been knocked out by Marie's light magic, according to the crew of their ship. And when they woke up, they didn't remember anything clearly since returning from Redgrave's defeat. Dark magic was the only explanation that made sense - Marie's magic must have somehow purged it from them.

If this was Sirius Dieke's work then he'd been subtle enough to do it without Luxion's surveillance noticing, which was worrying. And with no convincing evidence, Leon didn't feel he should act against the older boy. Innocent until proven guilty, and the new President's reputation was such that Leon wasn't sure he could have convinced even his closest friends that Sirius was up to more than brewing tea and doing paperwork.

The girl herself had collapsed unconscious after her light barrier finally collapsed. Leon hoped she hadn't strained something - she'd pushed herself to an unhealthy degree developing this much light magic to begin with as he understood it. According to Luxion, she'd also woken; but by that point Leon had basically locked himself in the navigation bridge.

"I understand, master. However, killing yourself will not save them."

Leon nodded. "Signal the fleet to follow us, and then head right for the new fleet at our current speed. Signal our fleet, I mean."

"Directly for them, master?"

"Yes. If they're friendly, we'll be safe - that's enough ships the pursuit will have to break off."

"And if they're hostile?" Luxion asked, sounding hopeful.

The boy rubbed his eyes. "Then you get to kill as many of them as you can." Hopefully that was enough incentive that he didn't have to worry about Luxion doing anything too unexpected. "I'll catch a couple of hours of sleep. And I do mean two hours - wake me at the end of that or when you identify the other fleet, whatever comes first."

"Yes master."

Leon leant back in his chair and closed his eyes, gathering his strength to go to his cabin. He'd get up and go to his cabin. He yawned widely. Cabin… right…

"Master."

Leon jerked awake. Yikes, had he just dozed off in his seat? He'd at least meant to go to his cabin. His chin felt damp and he realised to his embarrassment that he'd drooled in his sleep. Wiping his jaw, he looked around. "Luxion, how long was I asleep?"

"Two hours, master. I haven't definitely identified the other fleet, but there are… mixed indications as to who they are."

He rubbed his head, then raked his hair out of its ponytail and started retying it. "How so?"

"Radar returns from their hull shapes suggests a mix of Holfort's traditional arrangements and the slightly improved superstructures used by Fanoss warships."

He did feel better after sleeping. Less fuzzy, although his head was definitely of the opinion that more than a couple of hours would be in order. But this wasn't good news. "Must be hostile then. Fanoss transports would probably stick with the older hull design. It's more spacious and they don't need gun casements."

"Their speed isn't consistent with transports," Luxion corrected him. "It is possible Fanoss still has older warships in the same pattern as Holfort, but we have encountered none so far."

"Great," Leon sighed. "Another mystery. I'm going to wash up. Hopefully we'll have more idea by the time I've done that."

"May I suggest fresh clothes as well, master. I believe most humans of any breed would find your current odour unpleasant."

Leon glared up at the monitor. "Fine. Don't do anything I wouldn't, Luxion."

"I can hardly operate the Dreadnought while limited to human processing ability."

"I said wouldn't, not couldn't."

Luxion wasn't wrong, he reluctantly admitted after a quick but warm shower. It knocked away a bit more at his fatigue - probably not as much as the shock of cold water would, but that would have faded quickly in its effect. Stepping into the kitchen, he cut open a bread-roll and crammed some cheese and sliced sausage inside. Food might also help. When was the last time I sat down for a proper meal?

"Master," Luxion declared, leaving Leon almost dropping the sandwich as he re-entered the navigation bridge. "I have identified the new fleet."

"Who?"

The screen lit up, displaying ships that Leon recognised. He fell to his knees, not caring that this time he really did drop his sandwich.

'The last person you'd expect, he's like a background character that you always find in his office… and once you unlock the hidden route for him, you have to complete it at least once or every other route will just leave you and all the other main characters dead.'

"Acchan!" Katarina exclaimed, jerking upright.

For a moment, she wasn't sure where she was. This wasn't her bed, either at the academy or any of the Claes houses. Then she realised that the bookshelves visible in the dim light were those of the hidden annex of the Ministry of Magic library. She was on a camp-bed in one of the alcoves formed by the shelves, screened off from the rest of the room by an improvised curtain.

"What? My lady?" Anne rolled over on the other camp bed in the alcove.

"Never mind. I just had a strange dream." Katarina squinted at the clock placed between the two beds. Well before dawn. "Go back to sleep, Anne."

"Are you sure?" the maid asked, though her eyes were still lidded. She was caring for all of the little group hidden away here, which was more work than just looking after Katarina - no small task, as the girl herself would readily admit. "I can…"

"It's the middle of the night," Katarina offered apologetically. "I'm sorry I woke you." She huddled down under the blankets again.

'Who is Acchan?' asked Ann, inside of Katarina's head.

They were well past the point of the girl hiding that from the saintess' ghost. 'My best friend in my past life. She's the one who lent me the game I was playing.' Katarina tried to remember the girl's face, but it was hard. Many of the details seemed to blend together with those of other people - particularly Sophia for some reason. At one time, she'd even had a dream of the best moments of her friendship with Acchan, except with Sophia in her place and Katarina's current form in the place of her old Japanese self.

The maid-saintess in her head nodded. 'The game where Holfort's descendant or your adopted brother would kill or exile you for the high crime of defending your legitimate interests?' she asked. 'I can see how that would be concerning.'

Katarina frowned. 'It's not exactly like that.' Then she shook her head. 'And there was something else about the game. Something I'd forgotten about - I never played any part that involved it, but Acchan was telling me about it… dropping hints without actually spoiling it for me.'

'Like a puzzle?'

'Yes, it felt great to figure one out and move ahead with the game. Maybe that's why Sophia reminds me of her - she does the same with romances sometimes.'

'So what secret did this Acchan tell you about light magic?' Ann sounded offended at the notion that Katarina's past life friend could have known anything about the subject that she didn't.

'It wasn't about light magic, it was dark magic… no, a dark magician.' Katarina tensed suddenly. 'Oh gosh! Leon's right, there's one at the academy!'

She rolled over and looked at Anne. The young woman had gone back to sleep - or at least she'd closed her eyes and was breathing regularly. Katarina slowly pushed her blankets back, careful not to make any noise to wake her poor maid.

'Who is the dark magic user?' asked Ann. 'The one who attacked your friend Sophia?'

'It wasn't an attack, exactly, but I think it was.' Katarina pulled on yesterday's dress over her nightdress and found her warmest socks. 'Was them, I mean.'

'Was who…? I mean, who is the dark magic user?'

'I don't remember, but I think I'll know them if I see them. You know, knock the memory loose.' She tapped the side of her skull with her knuckles and then winced and looked over at Anne.

The maid rolled over. "No, Lady Katarina, don't eat that, it's been on the floor," she mumbled without waking.

Exhaling in relief, Katarina moved the curtain aside and slipped out into the moonlit library annex on her tip-toes. The tiled floor was cold even through her socks, but her boots would be too loud.

Two more alcoves were curtained off, one Angelica (and Olivia, if she could be found), the other for Sora Smith. The man puzzled Katarina - he smiled at her familiarly now and then and claimed they'd met before… but then he wouldn't tell her where! She was sure she'd remember someone as roguish as him, if only because Keith would probably have warned her off from talking to him.

Angelica and Anne were both wary of him once Larna explained that he was a dark mage, but really he couldn't do much. Even Katarina had as much magic and he'd tried to hide that he was sulking after she undid every bit of dark magic he tried on her - under supervision of course.

If anyone was likely to notice her, it was him. Katarina considered leaving a note but decided that writing it would probably make enough noise to wake someone. Finding her boots in the dark was hard enough and she sat in a stack of books to lace them up, since moving a chair would make noise.

Lots of books had been moved aside to make room for anything Larna could find about light magic or dark magic. Olivia had been very disappointed to learn that the annex wasn't for magical books. Apparently a past librarian had used it to store books that his wife had disapproved of. Other ministry members had continued the tradition over what must have been at least a century until somehow it was forgotten about.

Honestly, Katarina thought that they just looked like romance novels and had looked forwards to seeing if there was anything that might cheer up Sophia. However, Larna had shown one to Anne and the maid's face had gone a shade of pink that Katarina had never seen before on the maid that was almost a big sister to her. The result had been some truly terrifying threats about no cookies, no buns and no gardening lessons with Yumeria.

In the face of such potential horrors, Katarina had had to accept that she'd be limited to the books she'd brought with her. Although she had a sneaky feeling that Angelica might not be so restrained - there was something suspiciously book-like under the other girl's pillow last time she had gone over to that alcove.

Her hair snagged on her collar and Katarina realised that she'd left her hairclasp behind. Not wanting to go back for it now that she was in her boots, she pulled out the neckerchief she wore for gardening and used it to cover her hair.

The hidden door didn't squeak when she opened it. Sora had oiled the hinges, the latch and the lock to avoid that very circumstance. They didn't want anyone knowing that there was something behind these shelves.

Out of earshot of the others, Katarina broke into a trot towards the entrance of the ministry.

'How do you plan to get to the academy?' asked Ann.

Oh yes… Katarina considered that and when she got to one of the long axis corridors that cut across the building she took a left rather than the right that would take her to the entrance.

Kyle and his mother shared a room above what had once been stables. However, these days the ministry had less use for horse transport and most of the stables had been converted for other storage. Katarina remembered visiting Yumeria and seeing inside the old stables when she arrived.

It was still dark when she went out the servants entrance and into the stable yard. A few horses whuffled at her from across the yard where the remaining animals were kept, but she didn't have any apples or sugar for them. Perhaps she could get some before she came back.

The door to the storeroom was just on a latch, as she remembered. Lifting it, she swung it open and saw the shadowy shape she'd hoped for. A dust sheet was thrown over it - dragging it off revealed the familiar bulk of an airbike. Katarina scrambled onto it and consulted her memory. Right, so the starter was here…

There was a rising hum and then the airbike took off, floating in mid-air. Her knees felt cold - sitting astride this had pushed her skirt up past them. Oh well. Cold knees weren't a problem.

She very slowly opened the throttle and the airbike skimmed obediently out of the door. Right, now for take off. She'd have to go up fairly steeply to get over the yard's gate.

Holding the brakes, Katarina opened the throttle wide. The engine roared loudly. Okay, now angle…

"Hey!" Kyle's window swung open and the little half-elf stuck his head out. "Do you know what ti-"

"Bye Kyle!" Katarina released the brake and almost fell off as the airbike rocketed upwards.

Behind her, a shrill "That's my airbike!" was left behind.

Having navigated her way across the capital from the air before, Katarina was confident in her skills. All she needed to do was find the right road…

Given that it was dark, it was impressive in her own view, that she only had one false start and two accidents. Hopefully no one really needed that weather-cock that she'd hit and what were the chances of anyone noticing that a tree was missing a couple of branches?

The sun was creeping up over the horizon as the familiar buildings of the campus came into view. Katarina brought the airbike down over the wall, not far from her vegetable garden, and cut power to just barely enough to keep it in the air. She didn't want to wake anyone - they'd have a long day at school, no need to make them start early for her sake.

'Are you sure you shouldn't have told anyone where you are going?' Ann asked mildly. 'Your maid is probably awake by now and worrying.'

Katarina looked at the sun. "It's just sunrise, it's not that late."

'Sunrise in winter is fairly late,' the ghost of the Saintess pointed out.

...oh. She hadn't thought of that, she saw the sun rise so rarely. 'Well, I'll be quick. I just need to take a look at the student records, figure out who it is and then I can go back and tell them.'

'You're not planning to confront the dark mage alone then?'

'Of course not,' Katarina assured Ann. 'I need a proper adventuring party before taking on a boss. That's just basic common sense.'

'Thus my concern that you might not have thought about that.'

Sometimes Ann wasn't very nice, Katarina admitted to herself. But she was getting better.

The student council offices were quiet, unsurprising at this hour. For a moment, Katarina worried that the door would be locked, but it swung open at her hand.

A single lamp lit the hallway, leaving the wing full of haunting shadows. It was almost as if everyone was lying in wait for a surprise party. Katarina checked the door to the archives and found that this, unlike the outer door, was locked. Well bother.

Maybe there was a key upstairs. The student council leaders probably all had keys, maybe they left them in their offices.

'Which are probably also locked,' Ann pointed out.

She'd never know if she didn't try. Katarina went up the stairs and was surprised to find the door to Nicol's old office was ajar. The light of a second lamp was visible from within.

When she knocked gently on the door, it swung open the rest of the way. "Oh, President Dieke."

The boy looked up from the paperwork. "Lady Claes?"

"Uh-huh," she agreed. "I'm sorry to bother you this early."

"It's alright," he said dismissively. "I'm keeping long hours." There were bags under his eyes, as if he wasn't sleeping well. "Would you like some tea?"

"That would be lovely." He made the best tea. It was one of the reasons she was glad she'd been given permission to visit the council offices whenever she wanted - besides having so many friends on the student council.

Sirius Fou Dieke walked over to the side and activated a magical device on the sideboard. A small kettle was mounted above it and he removed the lid and checked inside before closing it up. "It heats the kettle," he explained, indicating the device. "They're expensive, but worth it. I was just checking I'd remembered to fill the kettle."

"It's like a hot-plate!" Katarina declared in delight. "How clever!"

"I'm not sure what a hot-plate is," the boy admitted. "But I'll take your word for it. Why are you back here, Lady Claes? I thought you'd gone back to your family, like so many other students."

"What? Oh, are they?"

He nodded. "The loss of Duke Redgrave's fleet and his family leaving the capital has demoralised many families. There's been a rush of families calling their children back to domains away from the continent. Forty-seven so far. Although forty-six if that's not where you were… but in that case, why haven't you been attending classes and… um," he indicated her hair.

Katarina reached up and then remembered that she was wearing the neckerchief over her hair. "Oh, I forgot my hairclasp," she said casually. "And it's… a special project."

"Ah. And is that over now?"

"No, I'm… looking for Olivia!"

"Here?" Sirius raised his hand as the kettle began to whistle. "Just a moment." He wrapped a towel around his hand and lifted the kettle off the magical device, pouring hot water into the waiting teapot. Setting the kettle aside, he put the lid on the kettle and gave it a little shake. "You like milk and sugar, don't you?"

Katarina nodded.

"Excellent. And why are you looking for Miss Campbell here? We've searched the entire campus. I'm worried, but it seems most likely that she left the campus, willingly or otherwise."

"Ah, but…" Katarina broke off, remembering Acchan's warning again. What had she said about the dark mage?

'A background character that you always find in his office.'

Sirius poured the tea into two cups and reached for the milk.

"Lord President, are you the hidden dark mage?"

There was a crash as Sirius knocked the jug of milk over onto the floor. It smashed on the polished wood and he stared down at it for a moment and turned to look at Katarina. "Why would you ask that?"

"W-well," she said apologetically. "Er, let me help clean that up…"

"No, no." He reached down and lifted the largest piece of the jug. "Why would you ask if I was the dark mage?" Was it Katarina's imagination or were the shadows of the room moving? Surely it was just the lamp flame causing that?

"Well you're always in the office…" Wait that didn't make any sense. "A-and…"

He sighed and shook his head. "Your light magic, I suppose."

And then the room darkened, as if the lamp was miles away.

"Are you going to save me as well, Saintess Katarina?" Sirius asked.

Wait, saintess? She wasn't a saintess.

"Why don't you get some sleep while I tidy this all up?" Sirius suggested, and it seemed like a… terribly… good… idea…

Katarina felt the wooden floor against her knees for a moment and then her so-very-heavy eyelids closed. Her last thought was to wonder why there were tears on Sirius' face.

"So this is your famous lost item." Hertrude Sera Fanoss looked around as she boarded Dreadnought. "I saw it from the outside, but I rather assumed it would have a more imposing interior."

"Dreadnought is a working ship," Leon told her. He'd managed eight hours of sleep since the fleet had arrived, with the reassurance that now the transports were safe.

"You look like hell," his father told him bluntly as he followed the princess aboard. Then he gave Hertrude an apologetic look.

She shook her head. "I've heard the word before, Count Bartford. And you're not wrong."

"It's been a rough few days," Leon admitted. "So, I gather that you've joined forces - which is great news, but I'm missing context."

He knew far more than signals had conveyed, since Luxion had sent spy drones across to both his family's ships - to ensure they weren't being coerced - and to Hertrude's - to ensure that no betrayal was planned. But they didn't know that and he didn't want to have to explain why he knew.

"I was pushed into the war by Count Garrett. His regency council still essentially rules Fanoss in my name," the princess admitted. "Letting him have the war was the only path I could find to loosen that grip - with so many of his supporters here, I hope that my sister and her allies are changing that. Until I get home, I won't know."

"Your path has killed tens of thousands of people," Leon observed quietly.

"I assumed as much going into the war," she replied equally quietly. "I assumed, in fact, that deaths would be more evenly distributed between our two nations. While I hate to think of my countrymen dying, I believe that the fact Garrett is unleashing horrors like this is proof that anything I do to get him out of power is justified."

Leon looked her in the eye and saw her resolve. "You may be right. And yet you're here on Dreadnought, looking for a ride back to Holfort?"

"Mind your manners, son." Barcus Fou Bartford kept the reprimand mild. "She's still a princess - and not all the ships with her were amenable to joining her. She had to fight her own people to get this far."

He tilted his head in acknowledgement of his father's point. "My point stands, your highness."

"You may as well drop that honorific." Hertrude smiled slightly. "Although does this vast vessel at least have somewhere to sit down?"

"I think I can just about manage that level of hospitality," Leon answered, mind racing. He led them to a lounge. "Quarters are being prepared - a little cramped, unfortunately."

"I've trusted you as my escort before, I'm willing to do so again," the princess (regardless what she had just said) assured him. "The reason I must go to Holfort is that the scale of Garrett's victories force it on me. If the kingdom and principality were locked in a bloody stalemate, I could reasonably offer both sides a satisfactory way to back down. But it's much worse than that. Hatred of Fanoss must be driving the royal court to be equally extreme in hitting back. Unless I can distinguish between Garrett's actions and my people's, the backlash will be just as severe. King Roland will have no choice about calling for a war to the knife."

"Just as you had little to no choice about this war?" Barcus asked curiously.

"Essentially."

Leon nodded. "I see. So you're going to present yourself as an ally. And recast Garrett as a renegade that Holfort and Fanoss can join forces against."

"Exactly," Hertrude confirmed. "I'll have to make concessions besides that, but the sooner I can get to Holfort, the sooner I can establish the narrative."

Barcus shook his head. "Politics."

"It is distasteful but also true." She looked around. "I understand that your ship is among the fastest in the kingdom, Leon. I'm confident that my remaining ships will remain under Count Roseblade's direction if not his direct command in escorting your force back to the continent. I do suggest that we depart as soon as possible."

Leon let a smile cross his lips. "We're underway as we speak. It'll take us a couple of days to reach Holfort."

Hertrude's eyes went wide. "A couple as in two days? From here to the capital?!"

"Dreadnought's mostly engines and bunkerage," he lied with the practice of frequent repetition. "Sails would just slow her down, even with the wind behind her. If you want to even see your ships again before they catch up, we'll need to go back on deck right away."

"...I think that won't be necessary."

"I didn't think Dreadnought was quite that fast, son."

"I didn't think it wise to draw attention to the fact. Hopefully we'll make it back to the capital before news of the outcome of the battle," Leon added. "I don't think there were any other Holfort survivors, so at least there shouldn't be a panic to deal with at the port."

"What do you mean about not calling you 'your highness', your highness?" his father asked Hertrude.

She sighed. "I was recently given the chance to see the original treaty that separated Fanoss from the kingdom. Our copy was lost, probably deliberately. It's suited my ancestors mostly to pretend that the cause was Holfort tyranny, but it seems that there was at least some wrongdoing on their part. Perhaps considerable wrongdoing. I'm sure that that's the Holfort's view. While I'm not enthused with some of their policies, any outcome of this war will leave us both badly weakened so…"

"So…?" Barcus enquired.

"Are you suggesting reversing the secession?" Leon asked bluntly.

"If they're willing to moderate some of their policies that seem a little too directly aimed at claiming the nobility," Hertrude confirmed steadily. "I did start this war, after all. And my parents believed that the constant wars between principality and kingdom should be stopped. Their approach… hasn't worked. Perhaps this one will."

"That's…" the older Bartford shook his head in disbelief. "You're going to surrender your crown?"

"It depends how flexible King Roland proves to be. I do require some concessions on policy, as I said. I think the current war suggests that weakening the nobility has caused Holfort's military might to be less impressive than it should have been, even discounting the dark magic used." Hertrude rested her hands on her knees. "I imagine that they will ask you what I've said before they negotiate seriously - and there will be doubts of my sincerity since our recent treaty was betrayed almost immediately. Normally I'd hold some cards back, but when they ask you, please let them know that if they prefer I would be willing to also abdicate in favour of my sister - Hertrauda never had any part in past negotiations so her reputation is clean of that stain."

"...I guess that would help?" Barcus couldn't really hide that he was feeling out of his depth.

"Being a princess was only fun until I grew up to realise the responsibilities involved."