The Cateris' library, though far inferior to Kav-deb's, was nevertheless impressive. Rows and rows of heavy black oak shelves filled with all kinds of literature stretched across the large room. Light was flooding in from the large windows that opened onto the gardens and formed comfortable little alcoves where it was convenient to sit. The darker parts of the library were equipped with pretty little lanterns filled with a strange moss that gave off a soft bluish light. In the centre of the room was a large space furnished with tables and chairs and a large leather sofa that seemed very comfortable. Aster smiled, Hermione seemed to be in heaven, she walked along a shelf letting her fingers slide along the rim of the various books and grimoires accumulated there. Her eyes shone with excitement and wonder. Aster had been more or less aware of her friend's adoration for books and other knowledge mediums, but she hadn't realised that Hermione had been so infatuated. To each his own neurosis, she guessed...
"This is huge!" Hermione exclaimed, stars in her eyes, a big smile on her face.
"And this is only the first level," Aster replied affectionately at Hermione's enthusiasm.
"I hope Lady Nepeta will let us access the others..."
"You're putting the cart before the horse, dear. You haven't even read a single book in the first level and you already see yourself in the second." Said Aster with a chuckle.
It had been two days since Nailla had given them clearance to go to the library, two days during which they had been busy in the kitchens cooking the dishes for the Eight Peaks celebration that would take place in a little over a week. The festival commemorated a major victory of the alliance of the hidden nations of Europe against the predecessor of the ICW in the Status War, which later allowed Ulthar and the other alliance powers to retain their independence from the ICW. Aster was impressed by the amount of food already put into stasis in anticipation of the party. It must have been the equivalent of the 14th of July in France or the anniversary of the fall of Grindelwald in the Holy Roman Empire.
The sound of Hermione's voice brought her out of her thoughts. "Besides, it might be time for you to show me your so-called 'surprise' translation solution. It's good to have access to the library, but it's even better to be able to read the books."
With a small smirk, Aster pulled a roll of paper from her pocket. "Look." She unrolled it and placed it on the table. Hermione leaned in beside her, her eyes fixed on the paper, her brows furrowed.
"One of your arrays? You didn't slit your wrists again, did you?"
"No, I've managed to make some iron ink."
"Let me guess... it's ink mixed with iron powder, and i hope it's a means to do your magic without hurting yourself."
Aster's eyes widened in surprise. "That's... exactly right. Well played. I use blood as a substitute for iron ink when I don't have any on hand. For unbound dark magic, blood is a better vector in this context because it reaffirms the bond to the entity I've pacted with, but since this is white magic, iron ink is the better option."
"Aster, I just wish you'd stop using your blood when you don't have to."
"Yes Ma'am." Aster replied, rolling her eyes.
"That said. What good is your array going to do us in deciphering Matagon?"
"That's right, wait a minute." Aster ducked between the bookshelves and a minute or two later she emerged with a thick, dark leather-bound book under her arm. She placed it on the table and opened it. Hermione leaned over and looked at it.
"A Fahri Yujul - Matagon dictionary?"
"I know Fahri Yujul and English almost perfectly. The array links directly between The text you want to read, the dictionary, my mind and then your mind. It uses the information in the dictionary to translate the matagon into Fahri Yujul, then the information in my mind to translate the Fahri Yujul into English. If it works well, it will mask the intermediaries and you will feel like you are reading English."
Hermione gave a small squeal of delight, stood up suddenly, and before Aster could react, she hugged her so tightly that Aster felt her feet lift off the ground. Hermione was after all a little more than a head taller than her. One day! One day she would grow up! Even though Anna had seemed resigned to the fact that Aster was doomed to remain short, Aster did not despair. One day she would be a good twelve feet tall! They would all see. However, the most pressing situation was her desire to be put down. As nice as it was to be snuggled up to Hermione and feel her warmth and heart beat against her cheek, Aster was soon in danger of ending her supposedly immortal life suffocated against her best friend's chest. In an attempt to make her distress clear she patted against Hermione's hip, the only place she could reach in her very restricted position.
Finally, seeming to understand her friend's predicament, Hermione released her grip and gently placed her back on the floor. Aster took a deep breath. "Thank you Hermione. I thought I was going to die. I didn't know you were so strong."
"Sorry Aster, I... I was just so happy. I haven't been able to read for a really long time. Being in the middle of all these books and not being able to decipher them was like a Tantalus for me. I was just so happy..." Hermione said with rosy cheeks. Her hands behind her back fidgeting.
"Tantalus? Never heard of it." Aster was quite curious, being with Hermione exposed her to a culture that was almost entirely foreign to her.
"Ah, it's an expression from a Greek myth. It's the story of Tantalus, who for having committed a crime against the gods is punished with eternal thirst and hunger. He is chained with his feet in the water, and with trees just above him covered with fruit, but as soon as he bends down to drink, the water recedes, and as soon as he lifts his arms to grab a fruit, the branches of the trees lift up out of his reach."
"That's horrible," Hermione murmured, shivering. Tantalus' condition reminded her strangely of her own in a way. For although the thirst could be staved off for a time, it never really went away and always returned.
"Today, it's an expression used when you're close to something but can't reach it. It can also be used literally, when you have food taken out of your mouth."
"I see the idea. You'll have to tell me more about Greek mythology, it sounds interesting. Well, I'm going to activate the array. Come closer and don't move please." Hermione complied, apprehension and curiosity in equal measure on her face. Aster closed the dictionary, placed the array and her hand on it, then placed her other hand on Hermione's forehead, before letting her magic run through the intricate and complex circuits of her array. Aster would never tire of the sensation of her magic taking shape, guided by the array in the exquisite symphony of her will. With a final click, Aster felt her magic fall away and stabilise. The bond was formed. She removed her hand from Hermione's forehead. "It's okay. Try it and tell me if there's a problem - pain, loss of concentration, anything. Mind magics are always tricky and a little risky (understatment) to pull off."
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I didn't feel anything. Everything's normal to me. I don't know, I was expecting a flash, light, something... It was... surprisingly normal."
Aster smiled, "Grab a book and give it a try."
Hermione picked up a random book from the nearest shelf and opened it. Her eyes immediately began to scan the page carefully. Then she gently closed the book and placed it on the table. Her face was radiant, her eyes fixed on Aster with adoration as if she had just opened the gates of heaven wide to her. "You're great, Aster. I feel like it's written in normal English."
Aster blushed at the compliment, rubbing the back of her neck slightly embarrassed. She spoke up, trying to distract Hermione from the apparent success of her magic. "Shouldn't we start the search?"
"Yes, you're right," at this Hermione put the book she had been trying to find back in its place on the shelves and began to explore the depths of the library in search of information that might be useful to them. So did Aster."
oOOOo
After several hours of inconclusive research, Aster had come to the conclusion that she and Hermione had gotten off lightly for entering Ulthar's territory unauthorized. The heavier penalties for adults and people who had entered for poaching, illegal trade or other purposes ranged from the death penalty to servitude in the mines.
The worst punishment was for those who entered Ulthar for espionage, assassination, or military purposes. She had stopped reading after the first few lines of this specific class. It was too awful, even for her. Ulthar really wasn't kidding at all when it came to its international dealings with the Statutarian nations. Ulthar did, however, apparently have free trade laws for goods and people with the other hidden nations of Europe, although controls were still strict to prevent people from abusing the less strict isolationist laws of another hidden nation to cross into Ulthar. Basically the free passage of people was restricted to citizens of other hidden nations, with tourists having to go through numerous investigative procedures to enter the country.
The text that Aster was currently working on was about the fact that Ulthar was a nation with a fairly high immigration. Apparently many magical creatures came to settle in Ulthar, choosing to leave their home country for the hidden nation. Not surprising, given that Ulthar had significantly more accommodating laws for magical beings than other European nations. Moreover, Ulthar seemed to have laws that made it easier for magical beings to immigrate. Settling as a human in Ulthar with the equivalent of a visa seemed to be extremely difficult, but for a magical being, quite easily doable.
No wonder magical being immigration is so high, Aster thought with a sigh. European magical nations tended to be stupidly racist. Well, especially the Holy Roman Empire, and Great Britain. Those two countries were the worst in terms of discrimination. As far as Aster knew, there were no Veelas left in Britain. All of them had fled from the discrimination and oppressive regime against them. Futhermore Aster had read a book about a race of Veela endemic to Britain, the book had stated that the race had been declared extinct in 1965... The Holy Roman Empire was no better.
The only nations with a positive policy towards magical creatures were the Grand Alliance and the Scandinavian Clan Assembly. The other nations (apart from the hidden nations) supported policies of varying degrees of discrimination...
Aster was pulled from her reading by the sensation of Hermione's hand patting her shoulder. "Aster?"
"Yes? Did you find anything?"
"No, sorry... but I was wondering... why you're so keen to teach me Fahri yujul. I know you told me it's some kind of universal language of trade... but... I've never heard anyone speak it before and I was wondering if it was really useful."
Hermione had a point... Aster looked up from the page she was reading and thought for a minute how to phrase her answer. "It's true that it's not a language used in non-magical or normal magical nations. But in hidden nations and everywhere else, it is THE language to know. The Fahri are a people of great traders, and their language has become the dominant language of travellers, merchants and academics over the millennia. In the hidden nations, knowing it can really save you. On all the other worlds when later I'm sure you will want to expand your horizons and really travel, you will be understood almost everywhere. On this world, since the Fahri withdrew their trading posts because of the status, the language has gradually been lost and is no longer used by most of the small mages."
"I understand... so when we get out of Ulthar, it won't be of much use..."
"In the Goblin banks, addressing them in Fahri yujul will be seen as a sign of respect and you will be taken much more seriously. Finally, most of the interesting magecraft books are in Fahri yujul. For witchcraft and European wizardry, it would be useful to learn Latin though. From what mum told me, most of the good texts are still in Latin."
"Thank you Aster, really, for I wonder how I'd cope if I found myself dumped in a magical society without help. I assume with the status they don't let magics born to non-magics without help... do they?"
"I don't really know how it goes... I never really discussed it with Anna."
"I see... by the way, you mentioned little mages. What did you mean by that? The ones who don't have much magic? The ones who don't have the knowledge?"
"Good guess but no. I meant the ones who stay on the same world all their lives ignoring the rest."
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "What about you? By that definition. Are you a little mage or a big mage?"
"A big one." Aster replied with a small smirk and laughing eyes.
"You absolutely have to tell me about that."
"Well, my uncle Kav-deb, he lives in a flying castle on a world with three suns, if only you could see their dance in the sky, it has nothing in common with the sunlight here..."
oOOOo
Aster was getting tired. Her research was going nowhere. She had not yet found any legal text relating to their situation. For two hours now, Hermione had been silently going through book after book with determination. The only somewhat useful result on a practical level that Aster had obtained was a detailed map of the city. Something they would need if the legal route proved impossible. Aster was about to close a new book which, although interesting, had proved to be useless when she heard Hermione's voice calling her.
"Aster, come here, I might have found something.
Curious, Aster stood up, walked over and looked over Hermione's shoulder. "Look, this is a fairly recent edition of a book on rare legal cases, their exceptions and subtleties. According to this one we're in a kind of legal limbo. We are too young to fall under the normal law, but the laws governing unauthorised entry do not provide for exceptions. The law against punishing children like us and a few other exceptions conflict with the law on illegal immigration and entry."
"And ?"
"Well, according to this book, a few decades ago a new law was passed giving the possibility to people in this legal limbo to be exonerated from their sentence in case of 'service to the nation'. Unfortunately, the book does not go into detail about what they mean by this. The original intention of the law was to ensure that people in our situation could not be punished, but the law of entry into the country being constitutional, it is magically binding and prevents people in our situation from just being released. The solution that has been found is this notion of service to the nation that allows both the constitutional law to be respected while at the same time not giving the punishments reserved for the real criminals, to us for example."
Aster's eyes lit up, "So maybe there's a way... They say more about what they mean by service to the nation?
"Hang on, I might have seen a dictionary of Matagonian legal terms over there, I'll look it up."
Hermione returned quickly with a large dark green leather bound book which she placed on the table with a loud thump. With an expert hand she opened it, flipping the pages swiftly. She paused for a moment on the index, before turning the pages with speed and fluidity. Even Aster, who had spent a considerable amount of time in the Kav-deb library, was not so comfortable with books. Here, amidst the dusty books and tall, dark shelves, Hermione looked like an angel in her rightful place. Aster wondered how Hermione would react if she ever presented her with Kav-deb's library. Either Hermione would faint out of ecstasy, or she would move there permanently. No, taking Hermione there didn't seem like a good idea, if only for her health.
Hermione stopped on a page, put her index finger on a line and began to read aloud. "Service to the nation. Type of punishment for medium offences. A type of unpaid activity that deprives the convict of liberty to a certain extent. It can be as simple as community service, but in most cases it involves years of service to a family or institution. Service to the nation can also be fulfilled in cases where the convicted person, by an important action, renders a great service to the nation."
"Hermione, I feel like the ten years here are already part of that 'service to the nation'... it was too good to be true."
"Wait, there's an example of someone who had his service to the nation fulfilled 8 years early thanks to an action. He apparently saved the life of the youngest daughter of the family he was serving..."
"Hermione, if it really works like that, we won't cut it... We don't know when an opportunity to shine will present itself, it could be years from now. I don't plan on being stuck here forever. My wyvern plan doesn't seem so bad, even if risky."
"Maybe... but I think we should continue the search a bit, anyway for your plan we need to find our contracts, I'll continue to keep an eye on the law, maybe there's an easier loophole to exploit that we don't know about."
"You're right..."
oOOOo
By now, Aster was feeling quite excited. This late afternoon had proven to be more productive than expected. She might not have found any legal loopholes other than that stupid service to the nation thing, but they had found where their contracts could possibly be. Hermione didn't like the plan to flee on the back of a wyvern, but she recognized that without any other legal avenues, it was the best plan they had to get away quickly. Aster had thought of enchanting an object to fly and take them away, but she didn't have enough magic to take them far enough. Finishing her free-flying acoas and carving it into her body had also been a possibility, but Aster didn't have the materials, books and references to create this acoas. Finally, engraving it on the body was risky ( understatment ) if it was not done with the right ritual, and here nothing allowed to perform this particular ritual.
The wyvern option had therefore been retained for the moment. The most important thing, however, was to get their contracts back, and for that, she and Hermione had been lucky. They had discovered the place where their contracts had the best chance of being kept. The mansion of the Casparos family. A family of high Matagonian nobility with one hand in the military affairs of Ulthar and another in the judicial affairs. They had been described as the traditional custodians of Ulthar's judicial records. Hermione had then quickly found a recent book on the Casparos (Aster was beginning to wonder if this girl didn't have a strong enough sense of smell to find any book by smell or something... the ease with which she had navigated the library was not normal).
The book had contained photographs of the exterior of the manor, (or rather the castle, the Cateris' manor seemed small by comparison.) as well as pictures of the family members. Aster felt like she had seen Lord Casparos, Rama, somewhere before, but she couldn't remember where... it frustrated her, but it wasn't like she could force her brain to remember. Maybe she should start working on a more traditional form of occlumency than her current soul magic occlumency. The advantage of the literal mind palace seemed really appealing.
Most interesting, however, was the detailed history of the Casparos family. This family was one of the founding families of Ulthar and had been one of the most involved in the war against the status. The book had been more than complimentary of the family, counting the exploits of this glorious lineage. The author must have been paid handsomely to speak so highly of the Casparos. Or maybe the book was directly commissioned by them. A less biased source would have been better, but the book had contained all the information they would need. It had confirmed that the Casparos' mansion contained the judicial archives within the mansion grounds.
The Casparos seemed to have been the custodians of the court records for ages, it was written that the family had passed on a generational blood ritual ensuring that anyone with the name Casparos could not abuse their role as custodian of the records in any way. Aster was really curious about the details of the ritual. It must have been really powerful to have lasted so long and protect such a vague concept. This one had been performed in the year 367 of the Christian calendar, or the year 6460 of the Matagon calendar, so long ago that the magic must have been something to behold.
And finally. The important thing was that they now had a clear plan of action, to break into the Casparos' mansion and steal their contracts. Hermione was sceptical about their chances of success, but Aster was confident. She would just need to make a few arrays, and she could put her plan into action. Aster chuckled softly, the Casparos wouldn't see it coming, or going away for that matter.
oOOOo
The Casparos' mansion was far more imposing than Hermione had imagined. She doubted that the term manor was even appropriate to describe such a building. The place looked like a fortress in the citadel. An imposing and ancient heavy architecture. Twisted towers stood on the body of the building. A high wall surrounded the grounds, and countless gargoyles and other whimsical and disturbing sculptures adorned the walls.
On this evening she and Aster stood at the entrance to a small, dark alleyway overlooking the heavy, dark, iron-clad wooden door of the Casparos' home. Hermione clutched the acoas that Aster had given her a few days ago. The myriad of symbols and strange shapes carved into the piece of wood glowed with a faint, reassuring silver glow. The gentle warmth of the acoas in her hand and the sensation of its magic taking shape surrounding her and vibrating gently around her to the rhythm of an inaudible melody was the only thing that kept her from panicking. Thanks to him, she knew she was invisible to the world. Hidden. Thank God she had reminded Aster of the importance of remaining visible to each other. Aster, who hadn't thought of that detail, had thanked her before launching into the acoas modification while letting out a long tirade about making the two acoas resonate or something. As much as Hermione began to share Aster's passion for magic more and more, most of the technical things her friend said went over her head.
Since meeting Aster, she had developed a form of respect and trust for her new friend and her abilities. Aster had proven to be more than competent, her knowledge of magic had never ceased to amaze her. If only Aster could show as much talent in restraint and common sense as she did in magic Hermione would be relieved. That was why she was there now. Aster had said that she didn't need to go with her and that she would be fine on her own, but Hermione had insisted on coming. She didn't doubt that Aster could handle it without too much trouble, but she had more doubts about her ability to carry out their mission without everything degenerating into chaos after Aster somehow decided that she was tired of discretion, and that a more 'frontal' method needed to be adopted. Hermione had come to prevent Aster from running headlong into the mouth of the wolf and to calm her most reckless impulses. (From what Hermione had read between the lines in some of Aster's stories, it had happened before.)
Hermione returned to her observation of the door. Aster had said that she was waiting for a family member to come through the door before taking action. She had refused to tell her exactly what she wanted to do to get past the unquestionably formidable wards of the place. Aster had been visibly anxious before their field trip the day before, but upon observing the Casparos' wards she had been particularly pleased. (Hermione didn't understand why the fact that they were blood wards was such good news. On the contrary, from what she had read in the Cateris in preparation for their mission, blood wards were supposed to be particularly effective...) This was apparently not the case according to Aster who had openly mocked them by proclaiming the absolute superiority of soul wards over all other forms of magical defence. Hermione had tried to ask for clarification but had given up when after five hours of explanation in the night, she had realised that the basic magical background needed to truly understand the subject in more depth than a caricature of extreme vulgarisation required a basic understanding of magic which she was sorely lacking.
Aster had proudly stated that anyway, now that Hermione was her apprentice, she would sooner or later learn about soul magic. Hermione couldn't help but smile when she thought of the look on Aster's face when she said that. She had seemed so proud and happy to be able to declare herself a master. (According to Aster the only qualification needed to be a master was to have an apprentice. Hermione doubted that very much, but she didn't want to question something that made Aster so obviously happy). She let her eyes drift into the distance, remembering that her status as Aster's apprentice was due to her agreeing to be her partner and letting Aster drink her blood. She was a little anxious, no she was lying to herself, she was really anxious about this. What was becoming Aster's partner really going to feel like? Was it going to hurt? Aster had said no... but she was the vampire. She hadn't been bitten before. Or ad she?
A bond was also supposed to form, a powerful bond. When Hermione had asked for more details, Aster had begun to describe how the two people's magics harmonized and synchronized over time, how over the years the two personalities tended to influence each other. The human took on some vampire traits but in a lesser way. One of the questions that had nagged at Hermione was whether one of the vampire traits that could be received was immortality. To this question Aster had been rather uncomfortable but had finally answered. No, the vampire's partner remained mortal. Aster had not wanted to elaborate on this and had changed the subject rather abruptly. Nevertheless, Hermione couldn't help but wonder how vampires with long term partners lived with the knowledge that sooner or later, the person they had formed such an intimate and powerful bond with would die while they lived... Hermione would have liked to know more, but the subject seemed to make Aster far too uncomfortable for her to venture into it again.
The idea of forming such a strong bond with Aster, someone she had been friends with since very recently just seemed like too much, it had been a very difficult decision to make to propose this to Aster. But seeing her friend suffer like that, and knowing she was walking around alone at night attacking people and drinking their blood to survive but hurting herself in the process was too difficult and immoral for her not to end up making the proposal. Fortunately, from what Aster had said, the bond formed very slowly over the years and could be broken without much pain or danger if broken ealy enough. It only became really dangerous to break it after a decade or so. In short, Hermione would have plenty of time to decide if she wanted or could continue this relationship with Aster in the years to come. Knowing that she had a chance to stop. That the bond was reversible was very important to her. The idea of losing her free will for life in a decision made out of urgency and necessity would have been unbearable for her.
The feel of Aster's small, soft, cold hand on her wrist pulled her out of her thoughts. "Hermione, look, at the door to the manor grounds," Aster said in a low voice.
Hermione looked up and immediately recognized one of the Matagot she had seen in the Casparos history book a few days earlier. Dark beige fur striped with black, the fur sleek and glossy, elegant and intricate stripes topped by beautiful green orbs with thin, vertical pupils. The very long whiskers. The beautiful green and black silk finery forming an elegant dress falling almost to the ground. Behind her, two Matagot guards in dark armour of leaded steel. Both were armed with large halberds with vicious blades and a long, slightly curved sword hanging from their waists. The small group moved towards the streets of the city with a confident step. Lady Daenaetia Casparos, she recognized, the wife of Rama Casparos. A figure of authority and power in Ulthar.
Hermione turned to Aster with a raised eyebrow. "So? Your plan?"
A vicious smile played on Aster's lips as she pulled out of one of her pockets a small jar containing what appeared to be some very dark grey, almost black, ash. "Show me your acoas." Hermione complied and presented Aster with her small wooden plate engraved with a thousand faintly glowing symbols. Aster uncorked the jar, took a bit of the strange ash with her fingertip before spreading it on a specific array of the acoas. She did the same for hers before placing her hand under the small jar and closing her eyes in concentration. A faint green glow emerged from under the ashes, and they began to tremble softly. They began to coalesce into strange and increasingly solid shapes until they took the form of two tiny insects which flew out of the jar towards the group of Daenaetia who were walking away. Hermione was as curious as she was uncomfortable, the aura that magic had had was unpleasant, as if an invisible, cold, wet mist had risen around her and long, icy fingers had run up her arm for a moment before disappearing. A chill shook her shoulders and she noticed that despite the summer heat that had returned, she had goosebumps.
"Aster, what was that?" Aster raised an eyebrow and watched her for a moment. Her black magic eye seemed to glow with intensity, its gaze shooting right through her, leaving her feeling nakedly open and vulnerable.
"Dark magic. I didn't think you'd have such a strong reaction to it."
"Dark magic? Like your black magic?"
"No they're two different things. It's complicated, I'll explain later. Look at Daenaetia instead, my little ones should be doing their job soon."
Hermione was a little irritated that Aster wasn't explaining it to her now, but she gritted her teeth and swallowed her annoyance. Aster was right, now was not the time for a lesson on the nature of magic. Instead she turned her gaze to Lady Daenaetia. She continued to walk, her bearing haughty and confident, when suddenly she seemed to jump, and rubbed the back of her neck. She looked around for a moment, before resuming her walk with an almost imperceptible shrug.
A few moments later, the two ash insects returned and landed on their acoas, where a few minutes earlier Aster had spread some ash. Their form began to shake gently again before they fell back to dust, leaving behind only a small drop of red liquid that slowly disappeared into the light grooves of the array. Hermione saw the faint silver light of the acoas tinge slightly green and a previously inactive part of it glow softly.
"Aster?"
"Hm? Ah, yes. I copied the magical signature of Daenaetia's blood into the acoas. Now the wards in the manor should recognize us as family. That's the great weakness of wards based on blood and bloodlines. By this kind of method you can get past it. There are methods to magically disable one's blood when it's out of the body to prevent what I just did from happening, but most people aren't paranoid enough to do that."
"So now we can just walk into their mansion? Isn't that a little easy? I mean... their security is lacking..."
"From what Anna had told me, the old families tend to have too much confidence in the strength of the ancestral wards of their ancestral home. And this flaw in the blood wards is not easily exploited."
"Not easily exploited? You just proved the opposite."
"It's not as simple as it sounds. Blood tends to lose the details of its owner's blood magic signature very quickly. Preserving and replicating it in a way that is usable and accurate enough to fool wards as powerful and ancient as the Casparos' is absurdly difficult. The blood must be no more than twenty seconds old, and the replication acoas must be perfect. Aunt Sonya taught me that trick. Apparently it helped her a lot in her youth."
At this revelation, Hermione felt a little less confident that their little heist would succeed. She knew in her heart that Aster was older than her, but the fact that she looked even younger than her made her doubt the reliability of Aster's knowledge of magic beyond her control. She decided to bury her doubts, they would only put her in more peril.
Hermione was quite intrigued by this Aunt Sonya that Aster mentioned on a regular basis. When she had asked about her Aster had been quite secretive, much in the same way as she had been about the details surrounding Kav-deb. Hermione hoped that one day Aster would dare to confide in her a little more... " So it's safe to enter the manor now?" Hermione preferred to ask.
"Yes, I think so, hopefully my acoas worked. After that we'll have to continue to be careful, places like this tend to be packed with guards and detection magics. Don't worry, we should be fine with that." She finished, pointing to her magical eye with her index finger.
Hermione nodded. "Shall we go in behind the next person to enter the manor?"
"Yes, still try to be discreet and not tempt the devil. The invisibility offered by the acoas is not perfect and even if your smell and the sound of your footsteps will be masked, the keen senses of an attentive Matagot will know that something is wrong."
"Shouldn't we enter through a side door? A servant's entrance?"
"That would be ideal, but to get into the manor grounds, there's only this entrance. We'll do that to get into the buildings once we get past the wall."
"Right."
Hermione let her gaze drift to the door in the wall. They didn't have long to wait before a group of three richly dressed Matagots approached the gate. Aster nodded to her, and both of them quickly exited the alley and began to walk in the footsteps of the group of Matagots. As they approached the door, she noticed a drop of sweat on Aster's forehead, she could almost hear her teeth grind. Aster's eyes were filled with worry and apprehension, the knuckles of her fingers had turned white around the acoas she was clutching tightly in her hand.
A few seconds later they crossed the threshold between two large, particularly massive Matagot guards in armour. They were taller than any she had seen so far, a little over two meters tall at a guess. A second later, Hermione felt a sensation similar to the one she would feel when passing through a thin veil of cool water. For a moment she felt as if a presence greater and more terrible than anything she had ever known before had leaned over her for a moment, but as soon as it came, the strange sensation disappeared. The two large Matagot guards did not seem to suspect their presence. A few metres further on and they were on a wide white gravel driveway in the middle of a huge garden. This one seemed much richer than the Cateris', but also seemed more impersonal. In it were numerous bushes and flowerbeds surrounding and punctuating an expanse of rough-cut grass. Numerous rare or unfamiliar trees formed a small wood all around the garden. About two hundred metres away stood several large grey stone buildings with architecture somewhere between Gothic and Romanesque. A large building, more of a fortress than a manor house, reached up to the sky in a graceful balance between a wide, heavy and imposing base and a myriad of arcade towers and buttresses, which often defied the laws of gravity, as they had no logical point of support.
Around the castle, having seen it in its entirety, Hermione could no longer decently call this marvellous architectural madness a manor. Around it were several smaller buildings, ranging from outbuildings to what appeared to be normal houses to greenhouses. Hermione's observations were abruptly interrupted by Aster's hand grabbing her wrist and dragging her out of the gravel driveway towards the trees.
Once in the shadows of the trees, away from the door and away from the sharpest eyes that could see through their delicate invisibility, Aster leaned against a tree and slid down its trunk with a long, sigh of relief. Hermione on the other hand crouched down, staring intently at Aster as a realization came over her.
"Aster, tell me the truth. You weren't even close to being sure that your technique for not getting detected by the wards would work, were you?"
Aster looked up at her before lowering her eyes to the ground and tracing aimless shapes in the soft earth at the base of the red oak. "I'm sorry." Hermione could see shame and regret in Aster's eyes.
"Do you do this sort of thing often? Throw yourself in blindly, relying only on your magic and hoping it will pass? Or that your unverified theory is right?" Hermione could feel anger rising inside her. She had to make a conscious effort to keep her voice low. She knew that Aster was dangerously reckless, but to take such a reckless risk without talking to her first... Hermione had only realised this by the way Aster had shown terrible anxiety just before passing the ward. Far too late for her to react.
"I... no... but there, it was... we had to get in and... in theory it should have worked, and it did."
"That's not the point! What would have happened if it hadn't worked?"
"Um, well, the wards would have detected us and..." Aster turned comically pale. Which was ridiculous considering the already near-perfect whiteness of her skin. "I'm sorry Hermione. I... I should have told you. I hadn't considered the possibility of my magic failing until we were two meters from the door."
Hermione felt like pulling her hair out of her head. If Aster really did have a habit of acting like this. The fact that she was still alive was nothing short of a miracle. Hermione let out a long, deep sigh. "I'm willing to let that go for now. And I mean for now, if and only if you swear there will be no more secrets of this sort."
Aster raised her hands in the air in surrender. "I promise Hermione Taylor that I will share with her before any action is taken, the details of any plans involving her in any way."
Hermione sighed." Okay." She would have preferred a more general promise, but Aster was allowed to have secrets and not tell her everything. She would have to go with that for now.
As an afterthought she added. "Granger, Hermione Granger. Taylor is the false name." she just didn't liked the idea of Aster thinking of her as Taylor. It just seemed wrong to her.
The eyes of Aster widdened a second. She seemed to hesitate but after looking right in her eyes, as if to look at her soul she said. "Aster Karrasinqi" The silence weighted between them for a few second.
In place of fidgeting Hermione said. "So, the details of the plan. Including the magic and not forgetting to tell me how sure you are of its reliability."
Aster seemed to be shaken out of some deep thoughts and responded "The door will probably be magically locked and warded off from the rest of the mansion, so I've done a magic lock cracking array. There's no risk in using it, that much I'm sure of. The only drawback is that I would need several minutes to unlock the door. More or less time depending on the complexity and strength of the locking magic. Then we go in, find our contracts, and steal them. Then we come out the same way we went in."
"That's better... If only you'd explained things like that the first time. We were lucky that it worked."
"Well, I was pretty sure, okay? There wasn't much risk involved."
Hermione preferred not to answer and just rolled her eyes. "I think we should start by going around the outbuildings."
Aster nodded. "And if we don't find anything, then, the manor."
oOOOo
Hermione was almost beginning to despair. They had been through all the outbuildings, they had almost been discovered several times, and now they had managed to break in through a window on the third floor of the manor leading to a lavish bathroom. Hermione had had one of the scares of her life, when as she climbed the walls and onto one of the gothic risers, a loose stone gave way under her foot. Fortunately Aster had grabbed her wrist just in time.
At the moment, they were both moving like shadows through the narrow, labyrinthine corridors of Casparos Castle. They had crossed paths with several servants and a few guards, but fortunately none of them had shown themselves capable of seeing through the invisibility offered by Aster's two acoas. Not having access to a map of the manor or any idea of where the room might be, and not wanting to expose herself by kidnapping and interrogating a guard or servant, Aster was reduced to opening any door that looked important in the house.
Hermione was about to start standing guard once again as Aster was about to start trying to unlock one of the red beech doors with heavy brass locks, when she felt Aster's hand come to rest on her forearm and pull her towards one of the corridor walls. Hermione was too surprised to resist and found herself trapped between the cold grey stone wall and Aster's body, hidden behind a large ornate matagon armour. Hermione was about to open her mouth to grumble about being pushed around, but she stopped herself when she saw the frightened look on Aster's face and the fact that she had just placed one of her fingers against her lip as a sign of silence. Hermione raised an eyebrow and all she got in response was a shake of Aster's head pointing to an intersection in the corridor a little further on.
Her friend's senses had apparently not deceived her for a few seconds later a form emerged from behind the corner of the wall. they was tall and slender and wore a long, dark grey and brown robe with many patterns and arabesques. The wrists of they four arms were adorned with various bracelets of what appeared to be ceramic in shapes as strange as they were harmonious. they three long tails were similarly decorated. On their head was a bonnet featuring a black band covering their eyes and about twenty pieces of fabric in various patterns giving the bonnet the equivalent of a long tail falling down the individual's back. Hermione immediately recognised what Aster had said was a khre yujul. The unsympathetic cousins of the Fahri. Hermione had been horrified when Aster had described their tradition of gouging out their eyes at the end of childhood as a rite of passage. Even though it was obviously cultural and intended to ensure that they could only see magic, Hermione couldn't help but find the practice of self-mutilation barbaric. At least the fact that the creature could see magic explained Aster's eagerness to hide them behind the armour despite their invisibility.
The Khrè turned in their direction and moved down the corridor at a calm pace. Hermione swallowed and Aster pressed harder against her. They both stood still, holding their breath as the khrè passed in front of them. They only released their breath after it disappeared behind the corner of another turn in the wall.
Hermione looked at the spot where the khrè had just disappeared, "How did it not see us? They're supposed to see magic!
Aster nodded at the armor. "The armor is heavily enchanted, it must have scrambled its..."
Aster clamped her hand over her mouth, eyes wide with horror. "We have to follow him!"
Hermione raised her eyebrows. "What? It sees magic! We're going to get spotted! We're here to find the contracts and leave."
"Hermione, I... if it's what I fear we have to follow him. He was a Khrè dignitary, or at least a noble. I have my suspicions, but if they're right... we have bigger things to worry about than running away."
"What do you mean?"
"Lord Rama Casparos. I remember where I'd seen him before. When I followed a group of matagots one night. He was on the platform waiting for the Khrè craft."
Hermione's analytical mind was beginning to form connections faster and faster. Everything Aster had told her about her nights out. The contact with the khrè of the Casparos. The political division in the city about a possible return to the fight against the status of secrecy. The abolition of the Yugul trading posts when the statute was introduced. The conservative political alignment of the Casparos. The strange behaviour of the guards, and all this, in the run-up to the great festival of the eight peaks. A highly symbolic date... Hermione swallowed. If her conclusions were correct, this was not looking good. Her eyes met Aster's. Like two mirrors aligning, she saw the clarity in them.
"Aster, I... we have to find out for sure. You're right, we have to follow him."
Aster nodded and they both set off in the Khre's footsteps. Before she could reach their target, a flash of insight crossed Hermione's mind.
"Aster, if what we think is right, do you think that preventing it or reporting it to the royal family counts as 'service to the nation'?"
Aster looked thoughtful for a moment and then a big smile lit up her face. "You're great, Hermione. If this is what I think it is, then yes, preventing it by warning totally counts as a service to the nation or more.
"But first we have to be sure. Defaming an ancient noble family is punishable by death in this country from what I've read." Hermione said as she swallowed.
Their discussion was cut short when Aster put a finger to her lip again in silence. She poked her head around the corner of a wall quietly and Hermione followed suit. They were there just in time to see the khre pass through a heavy wooden door further down the corridor. A bright orange light shone from it and Hermione could hear the sound of voices. The door slammed shut behind him. They watched the door for another minute or two. In that time they saw another Khrè enter, and two Matagots, including Lady Daenaetia.
"We need to find a way to hear what's going on in this room." Aster whispered.
Hermione nodded. "I have an idea. We need to go into an adjacent room. Can you do the transfiguration of form that you told me about?"
"Yes, I think so. I'll just need some base materials."
They checked the hallway one last time before moving to the door directly to the right of where their suspects had entered. Aster watched the door for a moment before nodding decisively and turning the handle. To Hermione's astonishment the door opened without resistance. The door opened into a rather large and very dusty room. In one corner was a large pile of broken furniture and various other obviously old objects. A row of large, dusty, dirty windows let in the golden sunlight. The dust dancing in the sunlit air gave the impression of a thousand silver lights glowing in the air. Aster closed the door behind them and turned to Hermione. "Your plan?"
"Do you know what a stethoscope is?"
Aster shook her head no.
"It's the object doctors use to listen to their patients' hearts. You need a round, wide surface to pick up as much vibration as possible in the wall and a wire connected to your ears to hear."
"Yes, it can work. I don't know if it's arrogance or confidence in the thickness of the walls, but they didn't put any soundproofing magic in the room where they gathered. I can also enchant the object to amplify the sound further."
Aster immediately set to work and Hermione helped her as best she could. In a few minutes the object was finished. It looked rustic and inelegant, but Aster seemed satisfied. Without further ado they stuck it to the wall and listened carefully.
After two minutes of listening, Hermione removed the metal ball from her ear and refrained from swearing. In the adjacent room she had heard many voices talking. First in Matagon, which she didn't understand at all, then in a language vaguely similar to Fahri yujul. All this to say that she did not understand a word of the conversation they had wanted to spy on. Fortunately, Aster, by the look of concentration on her face, did not seem so helpless. She stood up and walked anxiously towards the windows, trying to pass the time by trying to make out the landscape through the thick layer of dirt and dust covering the countless small diamond-shaped window panes.
After what seemed like hours, or maybe tens of minutes, of waiting with a lump in her stomach, she couldn't tell, she heard Aster get up hurriedly. The hastily engraved runes that had transfigured their makeshift stethoscope deactivated and it reverted to the ancient candelabra it had been.
Hermione turned to her friend and said in a low voice, "Well?
Aster nodded grimly. "Yes, this was a meeting to review their coup plan."
Hermione's eyes widened and she bit her lip. Has she had grasped the potential consequences of a coup by a pro war faction while waiting to know what Aster had heard she hopped it was just their imagination. A coup with this background would be terrible. "How are they going to do it?"
"They plan to start a revolt and a fire in the lower town as a diversion. Meanwhile, an elite team will infiltrate the royal palace through the secret passages normally used to evacuate it in case of an attack gone wrong. They assassinate the royal family, the nobility who are politically opposed to them, and they take power. They haven't really discussed what they're going to do next, but a war against the ICW has been mentioned.
"It's worse than I thought. And the role of the khrè in all this?"
"They supplied weapons and imperial war golems to the Casparos. There was mention of more substantial logistical and military support during a potential war against the status."
"I think we can definitely drop the wyvern plan."
"Yes."
"Who do we warn? And how? We need proof! We're prisoners, no one's going to believe us without proof."
" For whom to warn, it would have to be someone high up, perhaps directly through Lady Nepeta to request an audience with a member of the royal family. "
"That might work. What about evidence? We' d need something material."
"The Cateris and, or the royal family should have a pensieve. If we can convince Lady Nepeta of the seriousness of the situation she should accept my memory. But there is something we can do now to get proof, and reduce the chances of their coup succeeding."
"What's that?"
"They mentioned where the Khrè weapons were stored."
"You want to sabotage them?"
"Yes," said Aster with a savage smile.
"What a mess we're in." Hermione despaired. "All right, I'll go with you. All by yourself your own recklessness will get you killed."
"Thank you, Hermione," Aster murmured, wrapping her arms around her waist and resting her head on her chest. It would have been an understatement to call Hermione surprised. Aster really wasn't the type to initiate physical contact, and yet... Hermione didn't know what to do for a second or two before finally running her hand through Aster's hair.
Finally, Aster released her grip. "They're in the basement of the manor. The deepest level. I'm going to fuck up as many as I can and take one as proof. Then we go back to the Cateris' house and try to convince Lady Nepeta. Does that sound like an acceptable plan?"
"It sounds even more reasonable to me than running away on the back of a wyvern." Hermione replied with a slight but strained smile.
"Let's go." Aster walked to the door and put her ear to the door to listen for a moment before timidly poking her head out to observe the hallway. A moment later. She waved to Hermione to follow her.
oOOOo
Aster was really starting to reach her limits, her magical veins were still too damaged to handle what she was doing. She wasn't supposed to have to keep her invisibility acoas active this long. But if she relaxed and let her acoas become inactive again, Daenaetia's blood would be lost and the Casparos' impressive blood wards would spot her instantly. And yet, she had to keep going. Getting into the manor with stolen blood had been a risky gamble. Had she tried this method without the vivid memory of Sonya's lessons about the arcana of blood magic, the wards would have crushed them. Hermione had been right to point out her temerity and let her know her anger about it. But Aster couldn't wait any longer. She had already spent too much time in Ulthar, every time her gaze landed on the little blue vial tied securely around her neck, every time she felt the soft warmth of Anna's soul against her chest, she knew she should not, could not linger in Ulthar and leave her mother in this state. Just the thought of it reopened the wide wound of that fateful night in her battered heart.
She could not let her concentration slip, she could not give in to her exhaustion now. The magical lock on the khrè weapons storage room was as powerful as it was vindictive, resisting her array with all its might. Her hands slid at full speed over the thirty bluish runic circles her array had conjured on the door. She feverishly manipulated rune after rune, every angle, every shape, in search of the click that would indicate that the door was finally open. Sweat poured down her forehead as her eyebrows furrowed. Her array wasn't powerful enough to unlock just by overloading, she had to play it smart.
She could feel Hermione's presence a few steps behind her. She stood guard carefully, watching for the slightest noise, the slightest sign of an approaching presence. Every now and then she would glance at her worriedly, but Aster did not have the luxury of letting her concentration slip even a little.
Feeling the desperation rise within her, Aster pushed her magic harder, faster, she had to get past the complex locking spell. She had to manipulate it, visualize its structure, and press it in just the right place with enough force to make it believe that she was allowed into the room. The bluish light from the dozens of circles of curved lines and runes on the door was beginning to hurt her eyes. Would she make it?
Finally, she saw the moment, the point of weakness in the structure she had been dissecting for half an hour. She changed the angle of a runic cluster by half a degree clockwise. Then, suddenly, in the oppressive silence of the deep cellars of the Casparos, where the wall is only vaguely hewn stone and damp moss, a tiny, timid click was heard.
Aster wiped her forehead with her forearm and closed her eyes for a moment, letting her magic leave her hooking array. Then she pushed open the door, which opened without a sound or resistance. Behind her, she heard her friend's light footsteps approaching, before she felt Hermione's hand rest gently on her shoulder. Then she felt her light breath against her ear and her quiet, soft, almost inaudible voice.
"It was both impressive and disappointing. After all his efforts I was expecting a big flash of light or something when the magic lock finally gave way." She sensed amusement, respect and affection in Hermione's voice, and almost without realising it she leaned her head and back against her friend, longing for some comfort and rest.
"Hermione, my dear, welcome to the fantastic world of magecraft lock-picking. Blowing a lock in a big explosion or anything that spectacular is a sign of incompetence on the part of the picker."
Hermione pouted and said mischievously. "I wanted to see some big, impressive magic too!"
Aster laughed softly. "I'll have to tell you the legend of Asphral the Flamboyant. The greatest of the white mages. It's a formative story that Sonya used to tell me at night when I was younger."
"I can't wait to hear it... but now..."
"but now we have weapons and khrè golems to screw up, I know." finished Aster.
Both of them silently entered the vast room. A huge cellar with a high ceiling supported by countless pillars carved out of the rock. The place was dimly lit with a diaphanous bluish light by phosphorescent mosses nestled in the various crevices of the rock. On the floor of this humid cave was an accumulation of terracotta boxes of typical Khrè manufacture. A little further on, between the pillars, Aster could make out large, strange, disproportionate, vaguely humanoid shapes, slumped over, or folded in on themselves.
Always keeping her Lagaelis eye open for traps or suspicious magic, Aster lifted the heavy lid of one of the crates with her mechanical arm and unsurprisingly, in the dim glow of the mosses, she saw the many khrè deadly artifacts piled inside. From magically reinforced bladed weapons, to the more sophisticated yujul magical technologies. Aster winced, she had seen these objects of death in action before and if the Casparos' plan went as expected in a surprise attack, it would be carnage. She looked away from the crate and walked further into the huge room, the sound of her footsteps echoing unearthly in the cavernous depths.
She stopped in front of one of the sleeping terracotta colossi. The golem was enormous, easily four metres tall, its ochre surface covered with a complex interlacing of thousands of runes and arrays, and she could see and feel the magic crackling beneath the ceramic shell. If she had any doubt about the Casparos' intentions of all-out war, this sight would have swept it away. The reasons for the uprising of a hidden nation against status were obvious. But the reason for the involvement of the Khrè Empire was less clear. A fall from secrecy would allow them to re-establish their trading posts, but would they really bother to help start a huge war just for that? Aster could not say. The Khre Empire had always been mysterious and unclear in its intentions. She shook her head to clear her mind. The Kre Empire had always been known for its internal power struggles and dynasty dissensions as well as its numerous political intrigues. To see through the hellish complexity of the empire's intentions was a lost cause without more information.
Anyway, it wasn't as if any of this would matter in the future. She and Hermione would foil their plan in Ulthar, be seen as heroes for preventing a coup, a war and be released with honours. Then she could concentrate on resurrecting her mother and her budding friendship with Hermione.
Hermione's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "Aster, how do you plan to... 'screw this up' as you said?"
" The khrè are magical beings, and all of them are mages, normally they use arrays and artefacts using their own magic to fight. However, in this cellar are gathered artefacts created to be used by normal Matagots. The Golems are autonomous. Therefore everything here works from an external source of magic. Secondly, the Khres abhor dark magic, so they will not use it to power their weapons."
Aster could almost see the well-oiled gears turning in Hermione's mind, and when she spoke, Aster couldn't help but be surprised despite the fact that she was becoming well acquainted with her new friend's intellectual abilities. "Power stones, The Khrè's artefacts are based on power stones. And you're going to use your dark magic to do something to them. Make them unstable or unusable maybe."
"Exactly..." Aster had only mentioned power stones and their importance in making mage-independent magic and artifacts once or twice when Hermione had asked her about the functioning of her arm. And yet, she had almost immediately made the connection.
"I'm going to do something a bit dangerous, okay? So please step away and stand by the door."
Hermione's eyes widened. "Aster, do you really have to be like this? You're always getting yourself into trouble. You'll end up killing yourself."
Aster couldn't help but roll her eyes. Yes, she might have been a little bit prone to experimenting with her magic in a way that wasn't really safe. But she knew what she was doing! Kav-deb and Sonya had been excellent teachers (although it was mostly Sonya who was responsible for her lack of self-preservation in her magical practice). Kav-deb, for all that he is a black mage, was quite reasonable compared to Sonya. Let's not even mention Anna. If she knew what Aster was doing, she'd be locked in a padded cell with only pillows for company). "It's not dangerous for me, I am blessed by Lagaelis, this magic should, perhaps, normally, not be a great risk to me."
It was Hermione's turn to roll her eyes and raise her arms in the air in a gesture of desperation. "Aster, you will be the death of me! You'll kill me with worry! Do you realize how confident you sounded in your last sentence?"
Aster raised an eyebrow. "Extremely sure of myself, why?"
Hermione buried her face in her hands. "And she really means it... Aster, you can't possibly believe that you're confident in a sentence where you say, and I quote, 'this magic should, perhaps, normally, not be a great risk to me.'"
Had she really said that? She would have to address this insecurity problem at some point. She heard Hermione's footsteps move away, as she, with a defeated look on her face, went to stand by the door having obviously given up trying to reason with her. Aster walked over to one of the monstrosities that were the golems and observed the concentrations and flows of magic flowing through its metal veins. It didn't take her long to find the source of the golem's magic. In its thick neck, just below that monstrous parody of a living thing that served as its head. At this moment she couldn't thank Kav-deb enough for insisting on teaching her the main runic system yujul. She hopped onto the Golem's back gracefully and placed her hand on a small runic cluster participating in the Golem's maintenance array. She let a tiny bit of magic slip into it, and prayed. For the first time she really prayed. If she had been wrong, if she had misread the array, the Golem would awaken and that would be their end. Fortunately, after a few of the most intense seconds of her life, a small cavity materialized in the back of the Golem's neck. Within it levitated a bluish crystal the size of a walnut, the strength of the magic it contained blinding her for a moment.
With a gesture she brushed the runes of her artificial arm, and her own cavity containing her bloodstone, which she had made in haste before finding herself in the citadel, opened. She carefully extracted her bloodstone and slipped it into one of her pockets. She winced as she felt her arm relax completely and fall limply against her side. She gently took hold of the golem's blue power stone and slipped it into her arm. With a wave of her hand she closed the cavity in her arm. She felt a shock run through her, a powerful current that increased in intensity by the second. The countless runes on her arm lit up with a powerful blue light and a wave of heat swept through her. Filled with a powerful vindictive joy, a great toothy grin spread across her face. What greater insult could she inflict on these fucking khrè than to take one of the few power stones strong enough to serve as a reserve for one of their Imperial Golems for herself. She couldn't help but laugh and hurl a barrage of the most vicious insults at the Golem in a bastardized khrè yujul with a heavy accent that would make any khrè's ears bleed. She jumped off the Golem's back, still dazed by the magic coursing through her veins.
She took a few minutes to regain her composure, and set to work. The Casparos would not be able to count on the support of the khrè for their little coup.