Hmm. I got a ton of hits for the last chapter, something like 3000 last I checked it, but only about 20 reviews. Well, I suppose that's what you get for not updating in a year and a half, but I still find myself a little… disappointed. Maybe I'll get more if I start keeping a more regular update schedule? Worth a shot, I guess.
Someone said in a review that it was stupid that no one noticed Fouquet's golem what with how much noise it made, seemingly conveniently ignoring the fact that I very clearly pointed out that the Bell of Sleep was in effect. What do you think it was, warm milk?
Bah.
Big thanks to Poliamida for helping me beta this chapter!
Chapter 9
The Thief and the Staff
The next morning was a rather subdued affair for the people of the Tristain Academy of Magic aware of the events that had transpired the night before. Most had already been in their beds asleep when the effects of the Bell of Sleep swept across the school and hadn't even noticed anything amiss. The hole leading into the vault had already been sealed once more and even though it lacked the enchantments that it was supposed to have, it would stand up to visual scrutiny and most mundane attempts to break it.
The students ate breakfast, chatted with their friends about the latest things that caught their attention and went to classes as normal.
Well, most of them did.
Two students in particular were absent that morning, but the ones that noticed chalked it down to them sleeping in for whatever reason and went on with their days. The truth of the matter however was that they had spent the whole morning at the Headmaster's office, recounting last night's events in minute detail.
"...And despite our best efforts, the thief then charged right through the outer wall of the Academy and escaped." Louise recounted from where she was sitting in her chair, head bowed in shame.
Sat in an identical chair right next to her, Kirche was leaning forward with her chin in her palm, elbow resting on her knee while the other foot bounced up and down with nervous energy. She hadn't said much during the entire thing, but it was obvious that she'd rather be doing something else than sit around with more than half of the teachers in the school watching her.
"Which would have been around the time I showed up, Headmaster." Colbert said from where he was standing with the rest of the teachers, a tinge of regret in his voice. "If I had only been a little quicker..."
"You probably wouldn't have been able to do anything." Osmond cut him off. "The thief was well-prepared and had surprise on his side, we should be thankful no one got hurt."
"Yes, but..." the balding teacher let out a short sigh before collecting himself once more. "Very well, Headmaster."
"So," the elderly man said, folding his hands on top of his desk. "What do we know about this thief?"
"It can only be Fouquet!" Louise burst out, making all eyes turn to her. Reddening slightly in response to the amount of attention directed at her, she did her best to ignore the feeling of embarrassment she had come to associate with that sort of thing. "There have been reports from all over Tristain describing a hooded figure attacking secure vaults and other fortified locations. He's been using earth magic to turn the walls into mud and then making off with their contents using golems, exactly what happened here!"
"Hmm." he muttered. "Anything else?"
"Well," Louise frowned. "I also seem to recall that he liked to sign his name somewhere at the scene of his heist."
"Definitely Fouquet, then." Professor Chevreuse noted. "We found 'Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt' written on one of the walls."
"We have to go after him, Headmaster!" Colbert exclaimed to the old man, who held up a hand motioning them to be quiet. "We will get to that in a moment, before we get into that there's one more thing I'd like to ask." turning back to the girls in front of him, he swept his eyes across them one by one before speaking.. "I understand the presence of miss Vallière and miss Zerbst, but I'd like to know what your part is in all of this miss Tabitha?"
The girl in question steadily met the aging man's gaze with her own unblinking one, not seeming bothered in the slightest as all eyes turned to her. "Fly with Sylphid some nights." she confessed. "Saw the attack."
"What?" Kirche burst out. "Then where were you last night? We could have really used your help with Fouquet!"
Tabitha shook her head. "Ice poor match against solid rock." turning back to the Headmaster who was slowly stroking his beard with one hand, he nodded at her to continue with her tale. "Remained hidden. Followed thief to hiding place."
"Oh?" Osmond leaned forward, interested in what the young Gallian had to say. "Do tell."
"Headmaster!"
All eyes went to the door as it was thrown open, admitting the Headmaster's secretary who with her hair sticking out of the bun she normally kept it in, glasses askew and breathing heavily seemed to have gotten there in a great hurry. "Ah, miss Longueville!" he exclaimed joyfully. "I was wondering where you had gotten to!"
"S-sorry Headmaster." she panted with her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. Straightening back up after a few moments, she fixed her glasses with one hand before marching over to his desk. "I have news about the thief's whereabouts!" she proclaimed.
"Oh, er..."Osmond fumbled with his words for a moment. "It wouldn't happen to be out in the woods, would it?"
The green-haired woman blinked down at him in surprise. "I… yes. Some peasants reported a black-hooded figure entering an abandoned shack out in the woods while looking for firewood. How did you know?"
"That must be him!"
He mentioned to the girl sitting behind her. "Miss Tabitha was just telling us how she tracked his path into the forest from the air." seeing the woman slump her shoulders in defeat, he hurried to continue. "B-but it would be good if both of you shared your findings with one-another! I'm sure either of you know something the other missed." he reassured her. A map was quickly brought out from one of the bookshelves and based on the peasants' testimonies and Tabitha's observations it didn't take them long to narrow down a location.
It was when they tried to figure out who to send in order to retrieve the stolen treasure and (hopefully) catch the thief that people started arguing.
"We need to alert the Palace!" Professor Chevreuse shouted with unease in her voice. "Request that they send in the Royal corps to deal with the thief!"
Osmond shook his head. "No that will not work. By the time we even get the message out, he might have already made his escape. This needs to be done right away before he can recover all of his willpower!"
"But Headmaster!"
"No!" the old man shouted at them. "This is something that happened here at this Academy and we are the ones responsible for it! Does a noble stand idly by, watching as a simple bushfire consumes their home? Of course not!"
Taking a moment to settle himself once more, he looked out over the people gathered in the room with him. "Now, I'm going to need volunteers to investigate this. Anyone willing, raise their wands!"
Silence swept across the room, the teachers suddenly all finding other and more interesting things to look at than the Headmaster. The sight of it for some reason made Louise's blood boil, gritting her teeth she shoved herself to her feet.
We are going to have to act if we want to live in a different world.
The red-headed Germanian at her side tried to say something to her, but she ignored her in favor of pointing her wand towards the ceiling. "I'll do it!"
"Wha-" one of the other teachers, a thin man with hair in a pale shade of yellow spluttered in surprise. "Aren't you just a student? You should just leave this to the faculty of the school."
He shrank back as she sent one of her most forceful glares at him. "I don't see you raising your wand, nor anyone else from the faculty."
A brief stare-off occurred between the two, broken only a few moments later as Kirche let out a sigh. "You're impossible, Louise. I guess I have no choice." pulling her wand out of her cleavage, she raised in the air. "I volunteer as well, can't let a Vallière steal the show now can I?"
"Hey!" Louise shouted, turning to face the other girl. "I don't need your help, Zerbst!"
"Hah." the Germanian scoffed. "You're not that good, Vallière. You need all the help you can get!"
Pausing as they noticed movement off to the side, they both turned to look as Tabitha stood up and raised her staff in the air as well. "Tabitha!" Kirche gaped at her friend. "You don't need to come for this stupid thing, this is between me and her."
"I'm going." the young Gallian stated calmly, turning her head to look at the redhead she added. "Don't want you to get hurt."
Old Osmond chuckled as Kirche grabbed the shorter girl, hugging her to her bosom while making overjoyed happy noises at the care shown by her dear friend. "I guess that's settled, then."
"Headmaster you can't be serious!" Colbert objected. "Sending just three students to handle such a foe is insanity."
"Ho?" he muttered, peering up at the younger man. "Are you saying you'll go with them, then?"
"Er..." the fire mage muttered, suddenly hesitant. "I worry that with two fire mages we'd burn the forest down, so no."
"Harrumph!" he snorted. "These three are all nobles and they have seen the enemy, and besides..." he motioned to the bluenette with glasses "I've been informed that young Tabitha here has the title of Chevalier, proving that despite her age she is already an accomplished mage."
Kirche and Louise both snapped their heads over to stare at her with wide eyes.
"What?"
"Really?"
Tabitha simply nodded, which Osmond took as his cue to continue. "Miss Zerbst is from an accomplished Germanian military family that have produced many great mages, and I've been told she is quite the skilled fire mage."
"Hmph." Kirche smirked in pride, placing one hand on her hip and running the other through her crimson tresses. "That's right!"
"And lastly we have miss Vallière here." Louise automatically straightened at the mention of her name. "Who also comes from a highly respected family that have long enjoyed the favor of the Royal house and," he paused to look up at the pair of the replicant-soldiers who had been standing behind Louise's chair the entire time, dark and sinister with their weapons still held at the ready. "she managed to summon a very impressive familiar that, for all intents are purposes, is an army all by itself."
Some of the faculty members shot uneasy looks at the dark figures in their midst, but they all wisely kept their mouths shut. Some attempts had been made to disarm them after the attack, but these had all swiftly been denied by Legion who insisted on the fact that he needed to be ready should the thief strike again.
"Now, if there aren't any further arguments, I suggest you all go prepare yourself for the trip." He looked up at his secretary standing next to the desk. "Miss Longueville, please make the arrangements."
She nodded and turning to the three girls she said, "Go and make your preparations and then meet me at the main gate, we leave in an hour."
In Louise's room Siesta first helped the noble disrobe with professional efficiency before assisting her in getting into the armored suit Legion had made for her. In truth, she could have done it all on her own but it somehow felt right to the maid to offer her help in donning it. The whole process only took just over a minute as Louise slipped first her legs and then her arms into the black material, her fingers threading into the gloves attached at the ends. During this whole process, her familiar had been informing her on his own progress as well as what he had been able to glean from their encounter with the golem.
"From what I have been able to assess of the short battle against the stone construct, the traditional rocket-propelled munitions commonly used in my world does not apply here."
"You have golems in your world too, then?" Louise asked as she triggered the button just below her collarbone, the curious material of the suit immediately shrinking in response to this until it fit her like a second skin.
"In a manner of speaking, they were however constructed from metal and ceramics instead of stone, animated through a complicated hydraulic system controlled by a human pilot. Just like a human body these had several weak spots that could be targeted in order to bring it down, something that the golem appeared to lack completely."
"Of course it does." she pointed out as a matter-of-factly. "They're just earth and rock animated by the caster's will, to destroy them you either need to damage them to the point where they can no longer retain their shape or take down the caster." Grabbing her boots, Louise began the process of latching them into place. "It's just a matter of mass really, a smaller golem is easier to disperse than a large one simply because it has more to hold it together."
"Acknowledged."
A few moments passed in silence and finished with her boots, she stood up to allow Siesta to slip the surcoat down over her head.
"I have altered my current loadout to match these specifications Master, but I will strongly suggest that we construct a War Factory as soon as we have the resources to do so."
Louise raised an eyebrow at this. "Why? We seemed to have quite a bit left last I checked and that should last us a while, shouldn't it?"
"They will, but what we currently have available are in truth the emergency supplies meant for the sole purpose of defending the Construction Yard. They were never meant to last for the kind of repeated engagements we have been encountering and it is only a matter of time until they are depleted."
Siesta shot her a concerned look and Louise couldn't help but frown at the news. "I didn't know it was that bad, how long until we're all out?"
"At our current rate they will be fully depleted in about a month."
Louise blew out a sigh of relief. "So they'll last until we handle the thief then, at least. Good to know."
Seeing how the noble was fully outfitted, Siesta did her best to hide her worry and instead offered the younger girl a gentle smile. "Good luck lady Vallière, please be careful out there."
Louise nodded, returning the smile with one of her own. "Thanks Siesta, I will."
The ride to the thief's hiding place was a rather long and boring one.
Louise sat along with Kirche and Tabitha in a simple wooden cart that the secretary had rented along with the horse pulling it. Along with them they had two replicants sitting at the back and four more walked along the sides of the cart, having no trouble keeping up with it on the uneven forest road.
The bluenette had her eyes closed was resting her head against Kirche's shoulder as they moved along, but Louise was fairly certain she was still paying full attention to the forest around her. The Germanian on the other hand was noticeably starting to nod off and would probably be dead to the world soon.
Louise herself had busied herself with examining the laser pistol that she had finally gotten back from the Headmaster just before they left. Legion had instructed her on how to perform a basic field check; making sure that the front lens was clean, that the connection to the battery was secure and so on.
He had also told her that a more thorough check and calibration could be done to the gun, also pointing out that it wasn't something that she could do at the moment due to the shaking of the cart so there was no point in even trying.
Looking around for something else to occupy herself with, her eyes soon landed on the pair of black soldiers riding along with them and the massive guns that Legion had outfitted them with. They were just over 160 centimeters in length with boxy, rectangular bodies and long, thick barrels that she could probably fit her thumb in. They were fitted with short, but solid-looking stocks in the opposite ends and instead of magazines they had long, flexible feed-chutes attached to the large, bulky backpacks they both sported.
"Hey Legion, what are those?"
"M2 Browning Heavy Machine Guns, Master. These should give us better odds at handling the large golems than what we had in the last encounter."
"They look, well... heavy."
"They are indeed considerably heavier than what would be considered useful for an ordinary human foot soldier, these platforms however have no such issues."
"Right." she nodded. "Hopefully we won't have to use them."
They relapsed into silence after that and only a few minutes later Longueville announced that they had reached their destination.
"We're here." she called out to them. "The road ends here so we're going to have to walk the rest on foot."
This quickly roused the dozing girl across from her, Kirche stretching her arms over her head with a loud yawn, making Louise avert her eyes in annoyance while Tabitha simply opened her eyes and straightened back up. "Cover your mouth when you yawn, Zerbst."
"I can't help it." Kirche protested. "I'm sleepy from getting up so early."
Muttering to herself about vulgar, barbaric Germanians Louise took the hand that her familiar offered to her in order to help get down from the wagon. The other two followed in a similar fashion and they proceeded cautiously through the forest towards where the shack was supposed to be, trying to make as little noise as possible. Nervous butterflies were already forming in her stomach by the time they caught sight of the shack and they paused just outside it, looking around to make sure there weren't any golems lying in wait for them before proceeding.
"I'll scout ahead." the secretary told them quietly while eyeing the still-closed door of the shack. "Just in case he's lying in wait for us, the rest of you decide who's going inside to check the shack and the rest keep watch."
They all nodded and after a few moments of hushed planning while Longueville snuck on ahead, it was decided that Tabitha would go inside and check if the thief was in there as she had the most experience as a Chevalier.
"I'll go too." Louise whispered. "With this armor I'm wearing and Legion watching outside we'll have a better chance in case he jumps us."
"Master, I must object against this action." Legion immediately rumbled in protest. "Should Fouquet against all odds be ready and waiting for you inside, I will not be able to protect you."
She narrowed her eyes even as she kept her eyes on the shack. "I volunteered for this mission, Legion." she reminded him. "If I don't go, it would tarnish my honor as a noble!" she said stubbornly, her voice slowly rising in volume.
"It is not safe for you to go, Master. Allow me to go instead in your place, these units are expendable compared to-"
"I'm going and that's final!" she said loudly, cutting him off in the process and causing Kirche to snap her head over to glare at her.
"Shh!" the Germanian hissed at her in aggravation. "Not so loud, Louise!"
The two glared at each other for a moment before the pink-haired girl let out a short 'hmph!' and then started walking slowly towards the shack with Tabitha in tow. The door was pushed open slowly by courtesy of Tabitha's staff and once it was clear that it didn't trigger any traps, they carefully peeked in. The inside wasn't really much to look at filled with nothing but old, broken furniture piled in the corners, and a fireplace that looked like it had seen better days.
Tabitha's eyes narrowed as she took the place in and then leaned down to study the floor in front of her.
"No footprints visible." she muttered, meeting Louise's eyes for just a moment. "No dust or leaves, floor recently swept. Signs of habitation."
They both advanced slowly and further in they found a rather clean-looking bedroll and, most importantly of all, a nondescript wooden box that matched the description that they had been given.
"Should we open it?" Louise asked the other girl curiously. "I mean... we should check it's still in there, right?"
Tabitha shook her head. "Might be trapped, better to carry it out as it is."
As they went to carry it back out, two things very quickly became apparent: one, the box definitely wasn't empty, which was good. Two, whatever was in the box was quite heavy which wasn't nearly as good.
"Brimir's toenails, What's in this thing?" Louise grunted as they carried it out through the door. "Gold bricks?"
They were just barely clear of the shack when a massive boulder suddenly came flying from somewhere in the forest, smashing through the side of the building spraying splinters of wood everywhere.
Louise let out a yelp as Tabitha suddenly shoved the box into her stomach, sending them both to the ground as pieces of the shack rained down all around them. Landing on her back, she felt her head painfully thump against the ground right before the heavy crate landed right on her chest, further knocking the breath out of her lungs. Her armor cushioned the blow somewhat, but even then she still had to spend several seconds lying there doing her best to remember how to breathe even as the staccato bursts of gunfire erupted around her.
"Legion!" she gasped, even as Kirche sprinted over to help them. "Report!"
"Multiple hostiles coming from the east, Commander. I am uploading the telemetry data to you now, stand by."
Louise hissed as a spike of pain suddenly shot through her head, the world around her becoming blurry for a few moments before slowly coming back into focus. Then the crate was lifted from her chest and hands pulled her to her feet, a very harried-looking Kirche coming into view.
"Come on, Vallière, get up!" she shouted to her over the crashes and gunfire as she hauled her to her feet. She then went to do the same with Tabitha and Louise took a moment the catch her breath and look around. The replicants were spread out in a loose formation laying down accurate bursts of fire at groups of man-sized dirt golems, tearing great chunks out of their bodies each time they were struck.
At first glance it certainly looked like they were winning, but Louise knew they weren't.
It was the strangest feeling she had ever experienced in her entire life, knowledge about everything she looked at just trickling into her brain. She knew without counting that 19 of the clay golems lay spread out across the ground and that another 11 were coming at them between the trees. She could tell just how much ammunition had been expended by her replicants, that one of them was about to require a reload moments before it actually happened.
Like she had eyes in the back of her skull, it was how even with her back turned to it that the giant stone golem had risen into view over the sagging remains of the wooden shack.
"Behind us!" she gasped, whirling around just as it swept one enormous fist through the crumbling building.
It was only by virtue of Tabitha's quick reflexes that they were spared that particular fate, a wall of ice appearing in front of them to intercept the spray of high-speed projectiles before they could reach them. With its task fulfilled, it shattered a moment later revealing that the golem had raised its other fist in preparation to bring it down on top of them and this time it was Louise's turn.
"Fireball!"
The outer part of the golem's shoulder exploded into dust with a bright flash and a loud bang, forcing the arm to tilt slightly to the side due to the sudden loss of mass just moments before it was brought down on them. This changed what would have been a direct hit into a near miss, but as far as direction and monumentum was concerned it was more than close enough.
The ground underneath their feet buckled and split into large chunks as the massive fist, weighing in at several tons worth of rock and dirt slammed into it just over two meters from where they were standing. The force of the blow sent them flying in all directions, Louise found herself tumbling through the air with the grace of a blindfolded hippo trying to swim up a waterfall.
Had it been anyone else of her size and build hitting the ground at the angle and velocity she did, they would have suffered multiple broken bones and most likely a number of life-threatening internal injuries as well. Barring the use of healing magic and expensive reagents, they would have been forced to live out the rest of their lives as a cripple.
But by the grace of NOD and the advanced composite-ceramic armor she wore, it would not be so.
The hard, overlapping plates performed exactly the way they were intended, spreading the force of the impact over a larger area thus mitigating the damage to the point where she was left bruised but alive instead of broken and dead. None of this registered in her mind right at that time however as she was too occupied with the mind-numbing pain she was feeling from every part of her body.
Had the impact not forced the breath out of her lungs Louise would have been screaming her head off, but all she could manage was a feeble, pained whimper. Her ears were ringing and each beat of her pulse caused spots of light to dance across her vision, curling into a ball she could only wait for it to fade.
Soon she was able to make out the sounds of battle coming from nearby, specifically the metallic, staccato roar that could only be the heavy machine guns fielded by her familiar. She just knew, with such perfect clarity that she could almost see it, that he was still out there fighting as valiantly as ever.
While you are just lying here like the lazy, useless girl you are. A voice seemed to whisper in her mind.
Fresh fury ignited in her chest and surged through her body like liquid fire, seemingly overpowering the crippling pain that kept her from moving. With leadened limbs doing their best to resist her, Louise grit her teeth as she forced herself up on her knees and elbows. Drawing in a fresh breath of air, she immediately went into a fit of coughing as her body tried to clear her airways of the dust that had accumulated there. The action sent fresh waves of pain shooting through her body and she very nearly collapsed back down, but stubbornly remained in the same position until it passed.
Pushing herself up into a sitting position, she took a quick look around the battlefield with blurry eyes.
She watched how one of her replicants went flying into the woods with terrible force from a single blow from the golem, another just barely managing to throw itself out of the way in time. As if it could feel her eyes on it, the golem suddenly stopped right as it was chambering another blow and then it turned around to face her.
Louise could only sit there as it began to slowly walk towards her, feeling each of its steps through the ground where she sat. The twin streams of heavy, 12.7mm rounds did nothing to halt its advance even as bits of rock and dirt sprayed into the air with each successful hit leaving large craters in its body.
She was in no shape to stand, much less run from the construct and she knew it. Determined to at least go out with the grace and honor of a noble, she raised her head in silent defiance and waited for the end.
On the other side of the clearing, Legion watched in acute detail as the magical construct continued to get ever closer to his Master, uninhibited by his attempts to slow it down much less stop it. The armor piercing-explosive rounds he employed against it were not even nearly as effective as he had hoped they would be, and he was just about out of options when he spotted the so-called Staff of Destruction through one of his feeds. The millisecond he registered what it was, he knew with absolute certainty that it was not a staff and he hurried to have the closest replicant drop his weapon to pick it up.
The moment it did however, something changed.
Where a moment ago there had been a blank space in his data banks there were now detailed information about the weapon, its specifications and precise ballistics. He knew the exact, optimal way to hold the weapon in order to acquire the highest amount of accuracy while at the same time minimizing recoil, how much charge remained within its power core and much, much more.
Including the fact that it didn't have a smart grip-type connection to allow the wielder to interface with the weapon, so he honestly had no idea HOW any of this worked.
It just… did.
Reminding himself that now wasn't the time to ponder the impossibilities of magic, Legion took aim and after spending an entire second to make sure that all his calculations were accurate, pulled the trigger.
Louise didn't even have the time to react as a loud thunderclap of pure force split the air and the top half of the golem for all intents and purposes simply ceased to exist. Blinking the spots out of her eyes, she could also see an after-image of what looked like a bright line surrounded by a spiral of sorts passing right through where it used to be. Then the others were there with her, Kirche and Tabitha both sporting a couple more cuts and bruises than she remembered them having last she saw them but otherwise looking no worse for wear. They had been spared landing the way she did almost entirely thanks to the bluenette's skill at air magic, having been able to create an air cushion to slow and stop the both of them before they could be seriously injured.
"Louise!"
She groaned as the two helped her into a sitting position even as the replicants took up positions around her. Tabitha took a few moments to look her over and, after finding no wounds that would necessitate medical attention, nodded in confirmation.
"No wounds, should recover without issue."
"Oh good." Kirche sighed in relief even as she fussed over the girl. "When you went flying like that, I thought you were a goner!"
Louise tried to slap her hands away but quickly found that the less she tried to move, the less it hurt. "Stop that." she mumbled instead. "M'fine."
"Well you certainly don't look fine!"
Just then, the green-haired secretary appeared out of the treeline and spotting the trio on the ground, hurried over to them "Are you alright?" she shouted. "I came as soon as I heard the commotion, but I couldn't get here in time."
"We're mostly okay." Kirche responded. "Louise got the worst of it, though. She might need a healer."
"You think?" Louise groaned. "I feel like I'm one, big bruise!"
Miss Longueville offered her a gentle, relieved smile. "Well, at least you're in one piece. What about the staff of destruction?"
Tabitha motioned with her staff at the replicant holding it and she walked over to it, holding her arms out for it. "May I see it?"
"Master," Legion protested. "this is a very dangerous piece of equipment, in the wrong hands-"
"Enough." Louise muttered painfully, cutting her familiar off. "Just… just give her the staff."
"Very well."
The secretary sagged slightly as the cumbersome weapon was handed to her and Tabitha's eyes narrowed as she saw her starting to move away from them. "Where are you going? The wagon is in the opposite direction." she said suspiciously.
The green-haired woman paused for just a moment, hands tightening imperceptibly around the object in her hands. "Oh, er..." she said haltingly. "The horses might have gotten spooked by all the loud noises making them run deeper into the woods, so I thought I'd go check."
"While carrying that?" Tabitha asked, pointing with her staff at the railgun which she was already starting to visibly sag under the weight of carrying. "You're lying." she accused, raising it until it pointed straight at the older woman.
There was a few moments of terse silence before as she slowly turned to face them before suddenly snapping the weapon up to aim at them, holding it the way Legion had before. "Oh, not bad." she chuckled even as Louise and Kirche stared at her in shock. "I guess that's a Chevalier for you!"
Four assault rifles and two HMG's immediately snapped up to aim right at her but she seemed unfazed by their presence. "Tut-tut." she said. "I wouldn't do that, I'll blow you all away before you ever have a chance to fire so don't even try it!"
"Wha- miss Longueville!" Kirche exclaimed in shock. "Why are you doing this all of a sudden?"
Louise on the other hand successfully put two and two together, her eyes widening and then narrowing in realization. "You're Fouquet." she rasped.
"That's right." the woman now known as Fouquet said with a smirk. "I was initially going to let you all leave once you showed me how to use the staff, but I'm afraid I can't let you do that anymore now that you've seen my face. Good bye." she called out just before her finger tightened around the trigger.
BOOM!
What Fouquet a.k.a. Longueville had missed, and that Legion had conveniently never mentioned, was that the weapon she was now holding had never been designed to be used as an infantry weapon. In fact, she was probably the first-and-only standard-issue human to do so.
And Sir Isaac Newton never took kindly to people attempting to challenge his laws.
Unused as she was to using any kind of firearm, she had failed to notice several important things. One example of this was how, between the time of her aiming the heavy and cumbersome weapon at them and when she pulled the trigger, gravity had been steadily pulled the muzzle downwards and away from its intended target.
The resulting explosion of a piece of metal hitting the ground at Mach 1, plus the recoil of firing said piece of metal at that speed was more than enough to send her flying backwards with great force. It also had the effect of mercifully knocking her unconscious before she could even register the pain of her collarbone being snapped like a dry twig in a storm.
Once they had gotten over their shock and surprise, they quickly secured the thief and the weapon and were soon headed back to the school. On their way back, seeing as Louise wasn't really in any condition to do much else than lie on the floor of the cart, the folded up capes of the others under her head as a pillow and wincing at every bump in the road, Kirche asked the question they were all wondering.
"What exactly is that thing and how are we still alive?"
"This is a Global Defense Initiative model T-573A2 Railgun modified for personal use." Legion responded in her ear through the comlink she had finally managed to relocate and, was now relaying the information to Tabitha in the same way Louise used to. He was once again carrying the weapon and was currently riding shotgun with the Germanian as she drove the cart. "It was the personal weapon of the mutant known as the Ghost Stalker and was believed lost when he disappeared after the second Tiberium War."
"So how did it end up here?"
"Unknown, but presumably in a similar fashion to my own appearance in this world." the replicant holding it looked down at the weapon in its hands, now lacking both its power core as well as the magazine of 20mm ferrous-tungsten slugs it used as projectiles. "As a mutant he was physically superior to a normal human being in terms of strength and resilience and could therefore handle the enormous recoil of the weapon."
"I thought we were going to die for real when she pointed it at us." Louise muttered from where she was lying. "Why didn't you do anything to stop her before she fired it?"
"Because based on my calculations of where she was aiming, the odds of her successfully hitting us was less than one percent, Master. Had it not been our mission to capture her I would have shot her the moment she aimed it in our direction."
She let out a groan of despair, letting one arm flop to cover her eyes. "You could have told me that sooner! Stupid familiar!"
Louise let out a contented sigh as she let herself sink into the familiar comfort of her own bed.
A quick visit to the school healers had erased most of the aches and bruises she had sustained while fighting Fouquet and a nice, long bath had taken care of the rest. She hadn't had the heart to complain while Siesta fussed over her and each and every mark left on her body after she had helped peel Louise out of her armor and into the bathtub. Combined with a hearty dish prepared by the Head Chef in her honor, she felt quite sated and relaxed by the time she finally went to bed.
Only, sleep wouldn't come.
She just couldn't stop thinking about the day's events, of how once they had returned Old Osmond had told them that he had sent in requests to the Palace for her and Kirche to be awarded Chevalier titles for their bravery.
Her, Louise the Zero, a Chevalier.
The very thought sent strange, excited tingles down her spine and she couldn't help the tiny giggle that made it past her lips before her brain turned to darker things, namely the short but intense battle before that against Fouquet's golems. Her hands curled into fists against the soft material of her bed covers as she remembered being knocked about like a rag doll, unable to get off more than a single spell while her familiar picked up the slack.
The fact that she had reacquired her precious laser pistol hadn't even made the slightest bit of difference, seeing as she never even had the chance to draw it!
Useless and weak is what you are.
Rolling over to her side, Louise drew in a shuddering breath as she squeezed her eyes shut even as a few tears escaped from the corners of her eyes. "I need to get stronger." she whispered in the dark.
"Master?"
"I couldn't do a single thing, Legion. If you hadn't been there today, if you hadn't blown that golem to pieces like you did..."
"But I was."
"Yes, but..." she swallowed. "What if you hadn't been?"
"I will always be with you, my Master."
"Yes, I know." despite herself, she couldn't help but smile at the confident way he said that. "But even still… I want to get stronger. More capable. I want to become someone worthy of being called your master, Legion. Can you help me with that?"
"Yes Master, I can."
Louise was running.
Not the kind of running you did when something was chasing you, or for that matter when you were running late for something. This was more of a steady jog, something which she had started to become intimately familiar with during the past week-and-a-half as Legion had started her on what he referred to as "light exercise".
She on the other hand had other… names for it. And phrases.
Quite a few of which should never be mentioned in the vicinity of civilized people.
Also, having repeated the words "this wasn't what I had in mind!" so many times both out loud and within the confines of her own mind during these past couple of days it had almost become sort of a mantra to her.
You see, Legion had decided to interpret her desire to become stronger in the most literal fashion possible and had quickly worked out a training regime for her. Being so closely bonded to her meant that not only did he have an excellent grasp on her sleeping and eating habits, but he had readings on things like blood oxygen levels, heart-rate and so on.
What this meant in a practical sense was that he could tell exactly how hard he could push her at any given time, as well as how hard he needed to push her in order to get the kind of results he wanted to see. For a trainer, this was invaluable information.
To Louise on the other hand, he was the ultimate slave driver!
Legion had claimed that he was seeing a steady improvement in her, but she had her doubts about that. The only change she had been able to tell was that her appetite had shot through the roof only a few days into her training. She had also come to immensely appreciate the luxury that was hot baths and had nearly declared her undying love for Siesta after the maid had revealed that she knew how to give massages.
She didn't even want to imagine the kind of hell she would have been in without them!
Running laps around the Academy was just the warm up, after that were a series of various exercises for strengthening her upper and lower body followed by another series of stretches. Then after a short 20-minute break to catch her breath, she then went on to practice her aim with the pistol on the shooting range. She had yet to start any form of blade practice, but he had assured her that would come once she had gained the conditioning to do so effectively.
At least the Tiberium seeding had gone off without a hitch.
The experiment had ended after a full week had passed and they had been able to discern that the runic circles of containment did, in fact, function as intended. The Headmaster, upon being presented with the evidence for this, had then taken it upon himself to inscribe the ground with the design they had developed. It had been very impressive to watch the old mage create the enormous circle, a full 800 meters in diameter, using nothing but willpower and his staff in a matter of minutes.
Not only did he carve it into the ground, he also filled it in with magically reinforced metal that he had promised would not rust for at least a century.
Having finished her lap around the Academy outer wall, she staggered to a stop just outside the main gates. She had quickly learned that despite how inviting the grass was, collapsing down in it to rest without performing the proper stretches first could make it rather hard to get back up again. So she remained on her feet, hands resting on her knees and with sweat dripping down her face even as she fought to get oxygen into her bloodstream.
A sudden breeze swept across the area and she let out a sigh of relief as she felt it caress her sweat-coated skin and clothes in the form of a pair of shorts and a tank top. She had been very hesitant to put them on at first after seeing just how much skin they showed and during the first few days she had insisted on Legion checking every corner ahead of her for people before passing it. It had very quickly become apparent to her just why it showed so much skin once she'd started exercising and soon settled with simply wearing her uniform on top while on the way outside.
A bottle of water appeared in her view, held out to her by the replicant that always ran alongside her during her exercise. It was there not only for protection but also for carrying things like water, her clothes and last but not least a small first aid-kit in case of training-related injuries like scrapes and whatnot.
Quickly snatching it out of its hand, she unscrewed the plastic cap and proceeded to suck down as much of the sweet, sweet aqua pura she could before her burning need for oxygen overrode her need for water and forced her to come up for air.
"Puah!" she gasped, throwing her head back and with the bottle held in both hands, went back to trying to catch her breath.
"Good job on completing the course, Master. You only needed to stop and rest twice this time, a marked improvement over last week's consecutive three."
"Yeah, well." she panted. "Don't feel like much of an improvement, I still feel like I'm about to die when I'm finished."
"Take a few minutes break and then we will continue, today's regiment will consist of 20 push-ups, 20 pull-ups and three sets of 15 repetitions with the dumbbells."
"What?" she whined in protest. "That's five more than last week!"
"Yes Master, I know."
"Fine." she sighed, taking the hand proffered to her by her familiar she pulled herself to her feet. "But there had better be a bath waiting for me when I get back!"
"Yes Master."
"And a massage!"
"Of course."
Suitably encouraged by the promises of her familiar, Louise went back to her training with gusto.
"Sooo, Louise..."
Looking up from her meal, fork still held between her lips, Louise met the curious gaze of Kirche across the table they were sitting at. She had been watching with a strange sense of fascination as the pink-haired girl practically inhaled everything set out in front of her, having consumed enough food for three people before Kirche had even managed to finish the one she had.
All while maintaining perfect table manners and decorum, no less.
"I've noticed you seem to have been disappearing a lot lately after class," she said slowly, even as the girl in front of her polished the last bits of food on her plate, drained her cup of wine and then refilled it as well. "and each time you return looking tired and disheveled."
Louise raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes, and?" she gestured at her with the silver cup in her hand, its contents sloshing slightly in response. "What I do on my own free time is my business, I don't exactly demand to know what you're up to all of the time do I?"
"True." Kirche admitted with a small shrug before her lips split into a grin. "Not that I'd mind if you did, you wouldn't believe some of the things I've seen!"
Louise rolled her eyes. "I'll take your word for it."
"Oh good." she exclaimed happily. "Now that we've established that we trust each other, you can tell me all about the handsome young man you've been seeing!"
Louise's eyes bulged in their sockets as the wine she was drinking suddenly decided to take the road less traveled and went on a sightseeing tour down her windpipe. Correctly deducing what was about to happen, Kirche calmly leaned sideways in her chair until she was just barely level with the table, thus avoiding getting sprayed as it exited her mouth at what must have been the speed of sound, followed by a violent bout of coughing.
"Oh, that's not it?" she asked innocently, having straightened back up a moment later.
"Wh- what the hell, Zerbst!?" Louise spluttered indignantly. "Are you trying to kill me? Is that it?"
"Oh don't be like that, it was just a simple yes-or-no question."
Louise let out a sigh. "No Kirche, I haven't been out seeing anyone. I've been training with my familiar, that's all."
"Oh." Kirche blinked, sounding disappointed. "So that was it." now it was her time to sigh. "I'm disappointed in you Vallière, getting my hopes up like that. Here I thought you'd finally found someone but all you were doing was practicing for the Familiar Exhibition." she shook her head. "What a bummer."
Louise rolled her eyes and was about to bite off a retort when something the other girl said caught in her mind. "Wait, say that again."
"I said I'm disappointed in you, and-"
She cut her off with a quick motion of her hand. "No, after that!"
Kirche blinked. "Er… I said you were just practicing for the Exhibition instead of living your life?" she then watched with some alarm how Louise went completely pale. "Louise?"
"Th- th- th- th-" Louise stammered. "that's this week!?"
The Germanian winced as the last bit came out in a hoarse shriek that barely even sounded human to her ears. "Yeah, I thought you knew." she said in genuine surprise. "They teachers have been going on about it for days now."
"Oh no." Louise whimpered in despair, holding her head with both hands. "I've got nothing planned!" shooting to her feet, she very nearly tripped herself on her own chair in her haste.
"H-hey, Louise." Kirche exclaimed. "Calm down!"
"Can'ttalkgottamakeplans!" Louise blurted out as fast as she could before she raced out of the room as fast as her feet could carry her, leaving Kirche sitting there looking after her with a dumbfounded expression.
"Oh this is bad!"
Three days of pondering, planning and brainstorming with Legion had left Louise little more than a nervous wreck. She had barely been able to eat nor sleep since she was made aware of the upcoming Exhibition, putting everything including her physical training and school work completely on hold until it was over.
The day before, she along with the rest of the school had witnessed the arrival of none other than her beloved childhood friend, Princess Henrietta, by means of a gilded carriage pulled by four unicorns. For a brief moment she had entertained the thought that the princess had come for her sake before ruthlessly squashing it, burying it deep within the darkest recesses of her mind.
After all, it wasn't unusual for the high-ranking nobles and occasional royalty to show up to act as judged while simultaneously watching the exhibition in the hopes of spotting the rising stars that might one day be people of great importance. Far more than just bragging rights, it was the perfect chance for young nobles to show their capacity for growth and learning. Many dreamed of catching the eye of someone with a high status with a show of confidence and indeed, it was not unheard of such a thing happening.
For this very reason, being awarded first prize was quite the event despite the fact that the only award was mostly cosmetic; a golden pendant with silver and bronze inlays in the shape of the sigil of the Royal House of Tristain.
She was jolted out of her train of thought as she heard the announcer call out the name of the next person in line, next up being none other than herself. None of the others in her particular class had done much that she would have considered noteworthy with the exception of Tabitha, who had put on a brilliant aerobatic display with her familiar Sylphid.
Before that, she felt she had a pretty fair chance but after seeing that she wasn't so sure anymore.
"Calm yourself, Master." Legion's rumbling voice echoed in her mind, his steady presence akin to a mountain of stability within the turmoil of her thoughts. "All preparations have been made and everything is ready according to schedule."
"You're sure there's nothing else?" she whispered nervously. "If something went wrong with the princess watching us, I'd die from shame alone!"
"Master-"
"Self-combust and explode!" she moaned, holding her cheeks with both hands. "The earth itself rising up to swallow my remains, then I'll spend eternity in the afterlife reliving it!"
"Master, they're calling your name."
Louise slapped one hand to her mouth as the announcement almost made her lose her lunch. Swallowing the bile she felt rising in her throat, she took a few deep breaths and after slapping herself lightly on the cheeks a few times with both hands, walked out on the stage.
She looked out over a veritable sea of people belonging to both commoners and nobles, all watching her with undisguised curiosity. Over the years, the exhibition had also become something of a festival with it as the final event-sort of thing with stalls with games and food for everyone with money to pay for it, drawing in people from all the villages around the Academy as well.
Looking off to the side, she saw the judges' platform with them all arranged into a single line to watch her, the princess right in the middle. Hoping beyond anything that her stomach would stay where it was and that its captive horde of butterflies wouldn't fly out when she opened her mouth, she announced herself and her familiar to the crowd below.
"My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière!" she called out. "And this is my familiar, Legion!"
Mutterings and whispers immediately rose as not one but well over a dozen of what appeared to be identical, black-armored men marched out on the stage carrying musical instruments in their hands as if they were weapons. Most of them bore violins, a few brought in cellos and two even carried in a large, full-length harpsichord as easy as anything. Following them was a number of the servant staff with a number of chairs equal in number to the replicants and setting them down in neat lines, they all then filed out as quietly as they came.
Quickly settling in, they all raised their instruments into ready positions and after a nod from Louise, they began playing.
It had been a bit of a challenge to find a song that she liked that didn't feature instruments that required the ones playing it to blow into them, such as brass or woodwind instruments. Having neither lungs nor lips, these instruments would be impossible for her replicants to play and some of the songs she heard simply… didn't sound right without them.
In the end, she had simply settled for the same song Legion had first played to her that time in the market; Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.
Well, part of it anyway.
The whole song was nearly 50 minutes long and so after much thinking she had told him to play only the "Spring" section which, she reasoned, was fitting considering summer was right around the corner in Tristain.
Also, she really liked the sound of it.
The sounds of people moving around and the whispers of 'how many familiars does this girl have?' seemed to fade away into nothing as the comforting notes washed over her, instilling a deep sense of calm in her. Actually, they HAD faded away into nothing as the people below her were far too busy listening to music of a type and quality that they had never heard before in their lives.
Synthetic hands slid effortlessly over strings and keys with the care and precision of master musicians, ensuring that each and every note was perfectly on-key and before Louise knew it, ten minutes had passed marking the end of the song.
As the final notes faded, they seemed to leave behind them a great void and Louise saw how many in the crowd were weeping openly, tears pouring down their cheeks either from the great beauty of what they had just heard or by it ending. Or both.
A moment later she was nearly blown away by the thundering applause she received by the crowd, hundreds, maybe even thousands of hands joining together as they cheered for her. With a smile on her face she performed a graceful curtsey followed by the replicants standing and bowing in perfect synchrony, the cheering growing even louder in response.
Yes, hers was indeed the best and finest of all servants.
Louise grinned so hard she was almost afraid her cheeks would split even as she was being glared at by no less than four pairs of eyes, all belonging to her classmates sitting across from her at the table. Several hours after the exhibition had ended, she had sat down for dinner as usual at an empty table and during the time it took for her to turn her head and get the attention of one of the serving staff, Kirche, Tabitha, Guiche and Montmorency had appeared at the opposite end.
Hanging from her neck and clearly visible to all, the victor's pendant shone brightly as the lights of the room were reflected off its gleaming surface.
"That was cheating, Vallière!"
"You can't just put that many into it at once! The rest of us only have one familiar!"
"How the hell could we even compete with that!?"
They shouted at her, almost at once, with the exception of Tabitha who just kept on reading her while the others went at her.
Although Louise liked to imagine she was turning the pages with a little bit more force than usual.
She just kept grinning even as her food arrived, last was a simple porcelain mug which she had ordered Legion make for her after her victory had been announced. Without saying a word, she slipped her fingers through the loop and then proceeded to raise it to eye-level in a toast, showing that spelled out on the side in bright, bold letters it had the words "RIVALS' TEARS" printed on it.
She honestly didn't even care about the handful of mashed potatoes that was thrown in her face, nor the rest of all that ended up on her in the resulting food fight. She had won.
And victory tasted sweeter than all the food and wine wasted that night.
That night after taking a sorely-needed bath, Louise went to bed with a smile on her face and fell asleep almost before her head touched her pillows. In her dreams she saw future glories, fame and riches, and an enigmatic bald man who spoke to her about injustices and revenge.
And battle, always she dreamed of battle.
Great armies of gold and white clashed against opponents in red and black like two opposing tides turning back and forth. Guns of all sizes thundered and boomed as they spat their lethal payloads, treads and wheels churned the earth into mud even as the blood of those who fought for it stained it a bright red.
They fought in the forests, they fought in snow, on the plains, on the beaches and in sand dunes that stretched out like the sea itself. Great birds of steel and glass crisscrossed the skies, roaring their fury through guns and engines, blasting apart both the land and the-
"Master."
Everything faded into a blur of color she could make no sense of and then she was looking down on a series of buildings that glowed from within with a deep, crimson light.
"I apologize for interrupting your dream sequence, but your input is required."
Suddenly, she wasn't alone in the skies but there was someone there with her. His image was hazy and indistinct, yet at the same time she knew exactly who it was there with her.
"Oh, hello Legion. What are you doing in my dreams?"
Meanwhile, in the waking world, the door to Louise's room opened with barely a sound, swinging open on silent hinges to admit a single figure. Closing the door behind them, they slowly crept across the room, avoiding chairs and tables until they reached her bedside. The figure smiled as they looked over the relaxed features of the girl as she slept, blissfully unaware of the unknown person standing at their bedside.
With her name on their lips, the figure reached out with the intention of shaking her awake. They were woefully unprepared for the hand that came out of the shadows to intercept the figure's own, clamping around their wrist with a grip that felt like an iron shackle.
Louise was having a rather pleasant discussion with her familiar about the finer points of resource management when she was suddenly and rudely jolted awake by a loud scream going off right next to her bed. Shooting upright, she didn't even get the chance to ask what the hell was going on when the door to her room was kicked open, revealing the silhouette of a person.
They yelled something her brain wasn't quite awake enough to make out and then launched themselves into the room, the door somehow ending up closed again behind them and throwing the room into darkness once more. It took her several seconds to struggle her way out of the warm embrace of her blankets and then a few more to actually manage to light the candle by her bedside.
During which a violent struggle which she could only make out parts of took place in her room, including a lot of yelling, fists impacting against what she suspected was ceramic armor as well as at least one attempt to do the same with a blade.
When she finally did manage to turn on the lights Louise was presented by a hooded figure and a lady-knight of some sort, held in kneeling positions on the floor by the two replicants that had been guarding the room.
"Unhand me immediately!" the woman hissed, even as she struggled uselessly against the unyielding grip of the one holding her down.
"What- what's going on here?" Louise demanded to know. "Who are you? What are you doing in my room!?"
"Based on the fact that there was an armored knight waiting outside the door while another snuck in silently, I can only assume an assassination attempt. With your permission Master, I will now proceed with interrogation protocols. One moment."
"H-hold on!" she tried to protest, but one of the replicants had already reached down and with a single movement pulled back the hood of the first figure.
Louise's eyes widened in horror as she immediately recognized the woman beneath the hood, all of her questions and protests dying on her lips in favor of a single alarmed exclamation.
"Princess Henrietta!"
"I'm so sorry, Princess! Please forgive me!" Louise wailed from where she was kneeling in front of the princess, her forehead and both palms pressed against the floorboards.
As soon as it had become apparent just who it was they had captured, their positions had soon become reversed with Louise on the floor and Henrietta sitting on the bed. The lady-knight, now revealed to be the princess' bodyguard Agnes, was standing next to her and had been glaring daggers at the two replicants flanking the pink-haired girl.
"It's alright, Louise Françoise." Henrietta said reassuringly to the distraught girl on the floor. "Nobody was hurt so it's fine."
"B-but your Highness!" Louise protested weakly.
"I don't want to hear any more about it." the princess said firmly, earning a meek nod from Louise. Her eyes softening, she continued in a more gentle voice. "But this isn't how I intended for our reunion to go, my friend. Please stand up so that I can look you in the eye when we speak."
Nodding again, Louise stood up and barely had time to react when Henrietta immediately pulled her into a close hug.
"P-princess?" she stammered in surprise.
"It's so good to see you again, Louise Françoise." the princess whispered in her ear, holding her like that for a moment longer before releasing her with a smile on her lips. "And why don't we forget all those formalities, while we're at it? You're the only one I can open my heart to like this, after all."
Louise blinked once but then smiled. "Yes, Henrietta!"
Tension seemed to just drain out of the room as the two girls chatted happily with one another, catching up with everything that had happened during the long years since they had last met.
"Remember when we chased butterflies in the courtyard when we were little?" Henrietta giggled.
"Yes!" Louise said with a smile. "And then we both got scolded by the chamberlain, Lord la Porte, for getting mud on our clothes."
The princess let out a contented sigh at the memory. "I will never forget the time we spent together, Louise Françoise. Those days were spent in happiness and without worry or concern for the future."
"Those were good times." she agreed fondly. "Do you remember when we played the 'palace game' and fought over who got to wear the dress?"
"Ah, the Siege of Amiens. That was the time we argued over which one of us would play the princess, and I managed to score a critical hit on your stomach."
Louise giggled at the memory. "Yes! And I fainted just like that right in front of you!"
They both shared a laugh at that.
"That's right, Louise!" Henrietta exclaimed, wiping a tear from her eye with one hand. "This is really nostalgic, I didn't think you would remember something from so long ago."
"There's no way I could forget!" Louise said with a grin. "Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, motioning with one hand at the dark sentinels standing at her side. "I completely forgot to introduce you. This is Legion, my familiar that I summoned during the Springtime Familiar Summoning ritual!"
"Oh, yes!" the princess said, stepping closer to get a better look at them. "I was meaning to ask you how you managed to summon so many, but looking at them like this, it would seem that the rumors were true after all." she turned back to Louise, her hands clasped together in excitement. "You did manage to summon a dollmaster after all! That's amazing, Louise!"
"Yes!" Louise smiled brightly, proud of her success.
Off to the side, Agnes had stood quietly in the same spot the entire time, seeing no reason to interrupt the happy reunion of her Highness and her childhood friend. Instead she had been studying the two tall beings which she now knew that despite their very human shapes, were anything but.
This was something she had already come to suspect from the very beginning when, rushing to the princess' aid after having heard her scream, had managed to land a punch right in the face of the one holding her. The fact that her knuckles were still sore from that one strike spoke volumes about how hard she had hit it, as well as how sturdy those things were.
Agnes took her job very seriously, perhaps even moreso since she was a commoner, and had spent a lot of time doing research on things that could harm the princess. Know thy enemy and all that.
It paid to know the strengths and weaknesses of both humans and beasts, mundane and magical, and this had of course included the curious group of familiars called dollmasters. It was said that the first had been one of the four familiars of Founder Brimir and had since appeared only on the rarest occasion, no more than once every 200 years or so. There were variations of course, but in all accounts she could find their summons were often rather obvious in what they were with visible joints and quick, jerky movements.
Terrifying to be sure, but no matter how she tried she couldn't make the connection to the two standing right in front of her at that time.
It would appear that some more research would be in order once they got back and with that in mind, Agnes refocused on the conversation between the princess and the Vallière girl.
"You are getting married?" Louise exclaimed in surprise. "That's wonderful! Congratulations, princess!"
But her excitement quickly waned at seeing the rather sad expression on the princess' face. "Alas, it is not a marriage borne out of love but one of necessity. My groom-to-be is none other than the Emperor of Germania."
"Wha- what!?" Louise asked, flabbergasted. "But why, princess? That country is filled with nothing but barbarians!"
Henrietta gave her a sad smile. "It is for the sake of the alliance between our countries, Louise. Right now there's a civil war in Albion and soon, the rebels will overthrow the Royal Family and the country will be no more."
Louise swallowed. "I'd heard that there was a rebellion going on there but… is it really that bad?"
"Yes." the princess said with a small nod. "The marriage needs to go through before this happens. Because of that the Albionese rebels are now desperately searching for an item, a letter, that if its contents are made public will make such an alliance impossible."
"That's terrible! Isn't there anything that can be done?"
"There is." Henrietta confirmed and turning to face her, she clasped her hands in front of her as if in prayer. "I need for you to go out and find that letter for me, Louise Françoise." she pleaded with her and Louise could see tears starting to escape the corners of her eyes. "I know it's a terrible, selfish thing to ask and I wish there was another way, but you're the only one I can trust with this. The only one I know with absolute certainty would never betray me!"
Louise was taken aback by this sudden request and her eyes immediately went to Agnes who, seeing her eyes on her, just shrugged her shoulders. "As good as I am, I'm still just a commoner." the blonde woman confessed. "I wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell if they sent mages after me."
"And her place is at my side, as well." Henrietta said with a sigh and lowering her gaze to her hands, she spoke in a sad tone. "I really hate to ask this of you, but-"
"I'll do it."
Taking the princess' hands in both of her own, Louise met her surprised look with her own determined, steely gaze. "I'll do it!" she repeated again, louder this time. "On my honor, the rebels will never have this letter!" she declared with confidence.
"Oh Louise..." Henrietta said happily and Louise couldn't help but bask in the radiance of her smile. "You have no idea how much this means to me."
"Anything for you, princess Henrietta." she said, returning the smile. "Where should I start looking?"
"Look for Prince Wales, he's the one I entrusted with keeping the letter safe." she responded, a hint of uncertainty creeping into her voice. "Last I heard he was still in Newcastle but whether this information is still accurate or not I cannot say."
Louise nodded. "I went on a trip to Albion with my sisters at one point in the past so I know where it is."
The princess sighed. "I just hope we're not too late."
Just about then, Louise noticed out of the corner of her eye how the two replicants suddenly turned to face the door, Agnes following suit a moment later. Parting from the other girl, she took a few steps towards them intent on finding out what was going on.
"What's wro-" she started asking but Agnes held up a hand, motioning for them to be quiet even as she silently moved over to the door with slow, careful steps.
"There appears to be someone waiting on the other side of this door, Master."
"What?" she hissed, the princess' bodyguard once more motioning for her to be quiet as she slowly reached out for the door handle and with one swift movement, pulled it open.
"Ouch!" Guiche de Gramont exclaimed loudly as the door he had been leaning against suddenly disappeared, making him fall forward flat on his face in an entirely graceless manner. Rubbing his aching cheek, he looked up to find a very irritated-looking lady knight flanked by a pair of replicant-soldiers staring down at him.
"Please don't kill me!" he whimpered right before they grabbed him and dragged him inside, shutting the door behind them once more.
"I see." Henrietta said thoughtfully as they all stood in a semicircle around the chair with the blonde boy they had just finished interrogating. "You saw us come this way and then decided to eavesdrop on us through the door."
Louise folded her arms. "It's totally suspicious!" turning to the her, she said "Don't worry, princess. I'll make sure to dispose of him quietly for you so that he doesn't blab about the mission to anyone!"
"H-hey!" he protested weakly.
"I concur." Agnes said, sharing a look and a nod with her. "He's a liability and we can't trust him."
"Now h-hold on just a minute!"
"Now, now." the princess said with a smile. "I'm sure he didn't have any bad intentions in mind." tilting her head slightly, she regarded the nervous boy sitting in front of her. "Would you?"
Guiche swallowed nervously at the hidden threat in her words. "O-of course not!" he shouted "I would never betray your Highness! I swear on the name of Gramont!" he insisted loudly in desperation.
"Gramont?" Henrietta asked curiously, her voice softening somewhat. "I know of a General Gramont, could it be that you are somehow related?"
Guiche nodded eagerly in confirmation. "Yes, your Highness! I am his son."
"I see, yes I can see the family resemblance." the princess relaxed slightly and offered him a small smile. "Your father is a great and brave noble mister Guiche, if you are of the same bloodline then perhaps you could be of assistance to this troubled princess?" she said.
"Yes!" he responded in an almost giddy tone. "As you command!"
Louise nodded in confirmation, a resolute expression on her face as she turned to face the princess "We'll leave for Albion first thing in the morning!" she declared, raising a fist in emphasis to her words.
Henrietta smiled at her and reached out to her, pulling her into a tight embrace "Please be careful," the princess whispered to her. "and come back safely."
Louise closed her eyes and pressing her face into the taller girl's shoulder, she nodded.
"I will."
Deep within the systems of the NOD Command Center, Legion's mind churned as he examined the problem from every possible path and angle. After the princess and the others had left and the Master had gone back to bed, he had set out to find out additional information from whatever source he could find.
Had there been a global network of information available to him, this task would already long have been over but lacking that he was forced to pursue a more… old-fashioned way of gathering the intel he needed.
Which would be asking questions and reading books.
To say that Legion was displeased with the arrangement would be a bit of an understatement.
Still, he pressed on.
Thankfully, Professor Colbert was still awake at this hour and was available to respond to some of his questions as well as point him in the direction of the books that held what knowledge he did not. Once he had managed to amass what he considered at best to be an acceptable level of intel, he wasted no time running it through his tactical assessment routines.
The answers he got were… highly unsatisfactory.
Which was why he was now doing the A.I. equivalent of pacing back and forth as he tried to find a solution to the problem.
Enemy strength: Unknown.
Enemy level of organization and supply: Unknown.
Target location: ...Unknown.
. . . . .
This was bad.
No, Legion corrected himself, this has long since crossed the limit of what could be called bad and was now firmly into the territory of 'highly suboptimal'!
The only true silver lining was that the Tiberium seeding had gone off without issue, so they were once more in supply and no longer had to rely on emergency stocks. This had enabled them to continue with base expansion and now had both an Operations Center and a War Factory, increasing their odds substantially.
However…
Albion was a floating island nation, something which Legion found downright disturbing and had spent more time than normal trying to find out just how this was possible, finding out about the existence of windstones in the process. He certainly found them interesting and already had several ideas on how he could use them, and it was with some reluctance that he put the subject into his research queue and resigned himself to researching them at a later date.
Now, back to the subject at hand.
The simple fact was that neither of these buildings could offer anything that would be of use in this situation and he had immediately started construction on an Air Tower, but he doubted it would be ready before the Master's departure. Even then, it would also take some additional time to build any form of aircraft but at the very least they could be used to support her if needed.
Also, speaking of the Master…
She was the real issue in this equation, not even a full month into her training and she was already being sent out on a covert ops-type mission which also presented him with yet another issue; what would he send out alongside her to protect her?
The replicants he had constructed for her until this point had been made only to serve as guards and frontline troops and even though they had served this purpose with distinction, they simply lacked the complexity required for a search-and-retrieval mission.
Employing human wave-tactics in a situation more suited for a team of commandos was a little like using a sledgehammer to solve a problem necessitating the use of a scalpel; it might work depending on the situation but generally it wasn't not a very good idea. He pondered for a brief moment about simply altering their design, but quickly discarded this thought.
This was a new purpose and a new design was likewise required to fulfill it.
Drawing inspiration from the countless logs belonging to NOD Commando units both past and present, Legion had soon formulated a design that matched his parameters. Based on the fact that the current generation were all women, he considered making its appearance of that of a female but quickly discarded the idea as unnecessary. The "Femme Fatale"-type look was an effective tool for infiltrating social events and the, but there was no need for that this time.
Once he was finished, he carefully looked over every aspect of the design one final time.
It would be a little shorter and thinner than the other models, this was so that it would be possible for it to fit into smaller and more confined spaces, but it did have the trade-off that it could not fit as much muscle mass as the other models. This would be compensated by using denser, more high-quality fibers and he deemed the trade-off to be acceptable.
Also, based on what he knew of the thought patterns of adolescent humans there was a slight chance that his Master would feel more at ease with a form that was closer to her age, which would be advantageous to her morale.
Statistically all of this should have been enough to even the score and he wracked his systems to try and come up with anything else. The battle against the thief, Fouquet came to mind and he recalled how despite the fact that it should not have been possible to do so, he had somehow managed to perform a telemetry upload to his Master.
It was one of those things he was supposed to do as per protocol when and if the Prophet was facing a threat of a certain level, something which had not occurred until this point. Not even when she was briefly held hostage during the events in Mott's mansion had that happened, as such a thing had been part of their hastily drawn up plans of attack.
Facing down a multi-ton construct doing its best to turn her into paste on the other hand…
The Maker had implanted himself with some very specific cybernetics to be able to receive that exact sort of thing, but for all he knew the Master had none of these, a fact backed up by the repeated scans he had done of her body.
Still, it did present him with some very interesting ways of inserting knowledge straight into her mind, in theory.
Browsing through the vast library of knowledge that he had intended to impart onto her over time in the form of education and training, he searched for something that would be of use to her on this mission. He needed to be careful with this, as there was a distinct possibility that if he sent her too much too soon it would overload her learning centers which could cause serious damage to her cerebral cortex.
And that was something he'd see himself be reduced to slag before intentionally doing.
So it was with great care that he finally selected a single skill-catalogue out of several thousands and after wrapping it with the best code he had, sent it down along the connection he shared with the Master.
Now, all that he could do was wait.
There.
Phew… I can't say I'm totally, perfectly happy with this chapter but it's going to have to do. I find it very difficult to write both Tabitha and Henrietta but hopefully I did them well enough that I don't get murdered by someone in my sleep.
I mean, if you do that I won't be able to write anymore, right?
Right?
Oh and in case anyone is interested, Newton's Three Laws of Motion are as follows:
First Law:
An object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force.
Second Law:
The sum of the forces of an object (F) is equal to the mass (m) of that object multiplied by the acceleration (a) of the object.
Third Law:
When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body.
If you enjoyed, please leave a review and I'll see you next chapter!