Chapter 12.
The Conspirators, Assassin and Mordaunt
I.
"I'd say it's about time you guys made your move, wouldn't you?" Maria Badeaux was hunched over in the plush, king sized bed, having pushed aside the myriad soft and luxurious covers that were normally spread across its ample surface, letting only the smooth caress of the sheet screen her otherwise uncovered frame. There were no lights on in the room, the only illumination being the thin rays of the morning sun that leaked in, filtered through the sheer curtains that hung before a massive window.
The woman next to her, who was laying on her back and making use of the many expensive bed coverings, unlike her partner, ran a pale hand through her short blonde hair and flicked her long bangs away from her eyes as she regarded the Juge's condescending expression, her own a mixture of amusement and haughtiness.
"I'm just saying, your enigmatic partner said he got some pretty good info back from the catacombs, despite me not finding anything, and I think it sounds like the field is getting pretty leveled." The Juge continued, an unlit cigarette dancing between her fingers.
"You're not just saying that because some of that information points to the fact that the ones inhabiting said catacombs are the perpetrators of the notorious crime you are so eager to solve are you?" The other woman asked, her prodding tone showing she considered the question purely hypothetical, that she knew full well that was the reason for the Juge's enthusiasm. "Eagerness seems to be your primary emotion tonight."
The Juge shrugged in response, a satisfied smile dancing across her lips. "Say what you will but, pain in the ass and over-complicated as this case might be, I still have my duty to those dead people and, more importantly, I can simplify my life again by getting this ridiculous situation out of the way."
"Is that all this is?" The other woman asked, rising slowly to put her face closer to Maria's. "Some obligation for you to fulfill?"
"Well," Maria responded. "Who's to say I can't mix work and pleasure."
"I do suppose you're right though." The blonde mage pulled back away from Maria suddenly, and got out of the bed, placing a nearby robe on her naked form. "I think it is about time I made a move. But not with the one in the catacombs."
"Oh really? Shame for me." Maria replied with a backbiting tone. "If not them, then who?"
Camille turned around, a smile of surprising maliciousness, but expected self-assuredness on her face. "With my sister of course."
After some time spent holding and consoling Rosa, Louise had managed to convince her inside and also managed to convince Grimaud to allow her inside. Once indoors, Louise had laid the exhausted and still quite injured Rosa down in her bed on the upper level. With the help of Grimaud, and the begrudging assistance of Rider, Louise had managed to utilize the combined knowledge of all three of them to apply more effective first aid to the injured young woman than her and her equally inept Servant had managed up to that point.
After the body had been stabilized, Louise set to work on concocting a way to do the same for Rosa's impaired and deteriorating magical systems. She had observed that when an ample outlet for her naturally generated mana was provided it was possible to hinder, or at least slow, the absorption of those same energies by the Tulip. It was with this principle in mind that she surveyed what magical resources and artifacts she had in the casting materials she had brought with her: various potions and powders, in numerous quantities and container sizes, gems whose value varied from magical to almost purely monetary, chains forged of arcane sources, rings and loops with catalytic inscriptions already carved upon their surfaces, bones from beasts both magical and mundane, and several dried plants that one would not find in the average market. Louise wasn't too picky, she just needed something that could slow the Tulip down for the remainder of the Grail War, after which she could work on a more long term solution.
Before allowing herself to sleep, or even rest, Louise spent several hours at one of Grimaud's old desks she had converted into a makeshift workshop of sorts. The sun was just starting to light the drenched world below, the clouds themselves still loosing the last vestiges of their charge, when she sat back, finally satisfied that what she had managed to throw together would work. Two rings sat in front of her in amongst the scraps and remnants of the various other failed attempts. Both were of a thin strip of twisted silver, though each one was twisting a different direction than the other. Minuscule runes were etched into the entire length of both bands, so many that there was barely any discernible blank space on their surface. A small perfectly cut green gem was set into the facing of one, which Louise placed on her right hand. The other ring, which she carried with her over to Rosa's bedside, was inset with an equally flawless blue stone.
Rosa murmured slightly as Louise sat down next to the bed where she lay. The few beams of sunlight were catching in the raindrops that clung to the window, and small spots of light were scattered across the invalid woman's face. She opened her eyes, her vision distracted by the dots of sun, and looked with a momentarily confused eye on Louise. When she confirmed who it was that had woken her though, her confusion softened to a calm tenderness.
"Sorry to wake you, Rosa." Louise said in a low and caring tone that was almost a whisper. The dark room, Rosa's previously unconscious state, and her own exhaustion made Louise feel inclined to keep her voice low. "How are you feeling?"
Rosa surveyed Louise's features for a few seconds, looking lovingly on the other woman as she considered the question. "Pretty bad." She said finally. "It hurts... so much. I feel so tired, Louise."
"I'm sorry. But I have something here. Something I made, something that might help."
Rosa considered the offer for a second, her mind immediately reminded of the last time a mage had offered her something they had claimed would help. She couldn't prevent a shudder running through her frame as the memory surfaced.
"I can understand that you might be unsure, maybe even scared." Louise said, as if she had heard Rosa's own thoughts. "But at the rate your body is going..." There was a long pause that Louise was trying desperately to fill with the right words. "It's going to do more damage if we don't slow it down. I said I would help you, Rosa." Louise took the other woman's hand as she spoke. "And I plan to do exactly that. I don't want you to get hurt anymore. I don't want to lose you."
Louise had closed her eye as she pressed Rosa's hand tightly in between both of her own. She started suddenly when she felt Rosa's other hand on her face. She looked down to see the sickly girl smiling back up at her.
Rosa stroked Louise's cheek gently with her thumb, the tip of which occasionally brushed against the thick leather of the eye-patch. "Does it hurt at all?" She asked as she let her nail catch on and off the covering.
Louise smiled back, and removed one of her hands from Rosa's to place it on the limb that held her face. "Not at all. Not anymore." She said.
"I'm glad." Rosa replied. She closed her eyes and removed her hand from Louise's face, letting it drop onto the bed.
Louise let go of the other hand she held and, using one hand to raise Rosa's own right then, with the other, placed the ring with the shimmering blue stone on her finger. As the ring slipped on Rosa couldn't help scrunching her features up and bracing as if expecting some sort of pain to accompany the application. There was no pain though. As soon as Louise released Rosa's hand each stone made a sort of glint off their surfaces and a beam of light, thin as a thread and of shifting colors, momentarily shot between the two stones. Rosa then felt an almost floating sensation, as if a force, not nearly strong enough to achieve it, were trying to raise her up into the air.
Louise was glad that Rosa had her eyes closed, she'd have hated for the young woman to have seen the grimace on her face at that moment as the transference magic activated. Louise knew that she would be fine, but it was going to take her a little bit of time to adjust to the feeling of the foreign mana flowing into her body. It was important she work on adjusting her own magical circuits output to channel more of the excess mana into Rider. She could avoid difficulty by treating her Servant, and the nearly limitless mana-well that being a phantasmal afforded him, as a sort of reservoir for any overflowing energy.
The new mana was at least welcome at the moment as it helped refill her nearly empty reserves that such an eventful night had expended. She was just starting to feel more stable because of this and, before she could give it any more thought, she passed out where she was, half sitting on the floor, half laying across Rosa's lap on the bed.