The six of them, plus Flame, traveled on the road. Miss Longueville sat at the front, directing the horse that pulled the wagon.
Longueville. Fouquet.
Aselith was certain they were the same person. He told Tabitha as much when the wagon was being prepared, having pulled her aside to do so.
There wasn't much deliberation on how to handle the situation. If she had revealed the truth, she would have had to prove it. Citing her familiar's ability to detect magic better than nobles wouldn't have done much. Maybe Aselith could have forced a confession out of Longueville; he did offer, and Tabitha didn't doubt he'd be able to.
But Kirche…
If Tabitha allowed Aselith to torture Longueville—which was exactly what he was suggesting—then how would Kirche look at her? No, that wasn't an option. And without such a threat, there was little chance Longueville would give up the artifacts she stole, even if they somehow got her to reveal herself. Fouquet was already looking at life imprisonment, if not execution.
So, they decided to play along and 'search' for Fouquet. Tabitha was curious what the plan was, as was Aselith. He suspected she wanted to test these items out on them before she sold them, maybe keeping them for herself if they were very powerful.
"You've been awfully quiet, Tabby." Kirche's voice broke Tabitha from her thoughts.
She was joking, of course. Ignoring her behavior since she summoned Aselith, Tabitha didn't speak much or often. Besides, Kirche and Louise had been trading barbs for a third of the trip so far, maybe half. They'd been on the road for almost an hour.
"Worried about facing Fouquet?" Longueville asked, glancing behind her.
"No." Tabitha responded in her usual manner.
Longueville nodded. "Good. With four mages and surprise on our side, he won't be able to escape."
"Four?" Saito asked. "I didn't think Aselith was a mage."
"He isn't. Just some sort of fire spirit." Louise said, head resting on her propped-up hand. "Longueville is a mage."
"But isn't she the headmaster's secretary? Why would a noble take that job?" He asked.
"Because only nobles can be trusted with that sort of information, familiar!" Louise snapped at him.
Saito turned his head to the side. As if on cue, Aselith placed his hand on Saito's shoulder.
"Oh no, I'm not a noble." Longueville said.
"You're not?" Kirche asked.
She shook her head. "Only a mage. No longer a noble." Longueville stated. "Headmaster Osmond doesn't care about that sort of thing. That's why I took a job as his secretary. He's openminded like that."
"Right…" Kirche said with a laugh. The three students already knew why Osmond wouldn't care about Longueville's background. He was very much like that with women. Judging by her expression, Longueville knew that as well.
"What happened?" Kirche asked next. "Why aren't you a noble?"
"Don't be rude, Zerbst." Louise said, glaring at Kirche.
"But I'm curious~!" Kirche whined. That started another sparring match between the two of them.
It was only a few minutes more before Longueville parked the carriage near the side of the trail, and another 10 going through the forest until they came across a broken-down cottage. It was just as she had described it to them, minus a golem standing guard.
"Did Fouquet leave?" Kirche asked. "If he saw you weren't here when he came back…"
"Maybe." Longueville said as she eyed the cottage.
"Aselith." Tabitha looked to her familiar. If this was a trap, he was the best-suited to handling whatever was there, physical or magical.
"On it." He walked around the tree and to the cottage.
Longueville, Saito, and the three students watched as Aselith reached the cottage's door. The mages had their wands in hand—Tabitha with her staff—with Saito wielding his sword and Flame next to Kirche. Aselith looked it over briefly before he kicked it open. There was no response, so probably no trap.
"There's no one inside." He announced.
"Damn." Kirche cursed, lowering her wand.
"He might have left a clue inside." Longueville said. "You three search inside while I scout out the area."
"So that's her plan." Tabitha realized as Longueville left.
The rest of them went to the cottage. Tabitha cast Detect Magic at the entrance, just in case whatever ability Aselith had didn't cover everything. Finding nothing, they went inside.
It was dusty. If the outside wasn't any indication, this building hadn't seen real use in at least a year. The table, chairs, fireplace, everything was covered in dust. Except, there were two items that were in pristine condition: two cases on the far table.
Tabitha didn't expect that. She thought Fouquet was going to retrieve the artifacts and then test them out on their group.
"Are those…" Saito pointed to them.
"It can't be." Louise stated, marching over to the table. "There's no way a thief like Fouquet would leave valuable treasures like these unguarded and…"
The moment she opened one, Louise stood silent. Inside was a long, large, metal rod.
"The Staff of Destruction." Louise murmured. "I don't believe it."
"I can't believe I'm agreeing with you, Louise." Kirche approached and looked over her shoulder. Louise didn't even react to that.
"Why would Fouquet just leave this here?" Louise asked, holding the case in her hands and showing them the staff.
"Because Longueville is Fouquet." Tabitha revealed the truth.
"What?" Kirche turned to her. "What are you talking about?"
"It's true." Tabitha gestured to Aselith with her staff.
"The woman reeked of the same magic I sensed where Fouquet escaped the academy." He explained.
"That…" Louise began. "She was near Fouquet, so maybe—"
"Too strong." Aselith shook his head. "I've been here long enough to know how your magic lingers. Longueville is Fouquet."
"I can't believe it." Louise stared down at the staff in her hands.
"Then…she took the secretary position just to steal from the academy?" Kirche put together what Tabitha had considered.
"Yes." Tabitha nodded.
"But enough about the thief." Aselith casually said as he got closer to Louise. "I'm more interested in that." He pointed at the staff.
It would have been better to plan what to do next, but Tabitha was curious. What had grabbed her familiar's attention?
"You recognize it, too?" Saito asked.
Aselith chuckled. "Maybe not this exact model, but I'm more than familiar with…well, 'advanced' is a relative term, but this clearly launches an explosive of some sort."
"What are you two talking about?" Louise looked between them. "This is a staff."
"It's a toy." Aselith declared.
"It's a powerful artifact!" Louise snapped at him.
"It's a toy to me." Aselith retorted happily.
"It wouldn't hurt you?" Saito asked. Tabitha wanted to know as well, despite not knowing exactly what they meant.
"Not unless the projectile is magical, which I highly doubt." Aselith said.
Saito looked back at the staff. "But how did it even get here?"
"We can ask the archwizard when we return." Aselith said as he stepped closer to the other case. "I wonder what sort of neat toy the Staff of Eternal Fire is. The case is too small for a flamethrower. Maybe…"
Whatever he was going to say next died on his lips. When he opened the case to look at the staff, he stared down at it in shock. Genuine shock.
"…Now this is surprising." He spoke softly.
"What is it?" Tabitha asked as she stood next to him.
The staff was red and made of some material Tabitha didn't recognize. Strange patters were etched on its length, ending in a cut gem of equally mysterious type. She'd never seen it before, let alone seen its power, so she couldn't remark on it more. The only oddity was its name, same as with the Staff of Destruction. Both were too short to properly be called staves. 'Cane' would be more appropriate, if less impressive.
They didn't have more time to discuss anything as the ground began to rumble. As one, they looked to the door and saw the ground near the edge of the forest begin to rise. They rushed out of the door as the earth began to take shape. Not one, but three golems began to form. Fouquet was making her move.
Tabitha and Aselith shared a look. They both came to the same conclusion: Fouquet wanted a demonstration. If she didn't witness it, she surely heard from the professors how the three of them and their familiars took down her golem. Using three would force them to figure out how the artifacts worked to save themselves. Whether she just couldn't figure them out or didn't want to risk injuring herself, it didn't matter. They would play along.
"Saito." Aselith took the Staff of Destruction from Louise, earning a yell from her in response, and handed it to him. "I believe you know how to use this."
"I don't…" Saito trailed off the moment the staff was in his hands. His eyes then widened. "I do…"
The golems finished forming and took a step forward. Saito quickly worked on the staff, turning a piece of it to jut out and then extending its length.
"What are…how do…" Louise tried to ask.
Tabitha suspected what was going on. Aselith tested Saito with a variety of weapons, all of which he was able to use as if he'd been a trained soldier. His runes may have been too archaic to read normally, but they matched what Tabitha found in her research. There was no doubt he was the Gandalf, the familiar of Brimir. That also meant the Staff of Destruction wasn't actually a staff. It was a weapon.
"Don't stand behind me!" Saito took a knee, the 'Staff' of Destruction over his shoulder. He pressed something on the weapon. With a metallic click, something shot out of one end toward the golems, a burst of smoke from the backside.
It moved so fast Tabitha couldn't follow it. It struck the chest of one of the golems, exploding on impact. The golem toppled over, breaking apart. Tabitha couldn't believe its power, especially since it wasn't magic.
"Nicely done." Aselith said as he stepped forward. "Let's deal with the other ones."
Author's Notes:
Again, not much to say here.