143 - Covert

Lyra's party went on for hours and hours and only started to subside when the sun was coming up.

Arielle fully blamed that for the slight headache she had the next morning. Though she’d used a noise-cancelling spell to eliminate most of the sound, something about the energy in the air kept her up, not to mention the fact that Lyra crept into bed a little past midnight. She seemed to drop off to sleep the second her head touched the pillow, unlike Arielle, who tossed and turned for most of the night.

Nevertheless, Lyra was up early and managed to get her brother up on time to take them to the station, where Vittoria was waiting in disguise.

Arielle got to say goodbye to Lyra’s parents, who were in their bedroom, but not to the various other family members strewn in the living room and out in the garden. She thanked Lyra’s mother and father for their warm welcome, but she wasn’t sure how much of what she said they understood, as they were mumbling their words drowsily and only patted her hand and said a quick prayer before going back to sleep.

The only one in the family who seemed to be awake and chirpy was Lyra. Her brother was only somewhat conscious when they stepped into the carriage, which was much nicer than the one that was used to pick up Arielle. He sat up to direct the horses while Arielle and Lyra sat indoors with the upholstered seats and woven curtains.

"I’m used to it,” Lyra said when Ari asked her how come she was so unaffected by the events of last night. “I have a lot of siblings and cousins, so we throw a lot of parties, usually. I didn’t drink anything they did, so I'm always right as rain in the morning.”

“Oh,” Ari responded. Meanwhile, she hadn't drunk anything either and had a dull intermittent throb in the side of her head. She laid her head on the curtain and closed her eyes, attempting to get more sleep before they got to the station.

It didn't work, and when they reached the station, she said goodbye to Lyra, made plans to meet up at the ball, and waved as her carriage galloped away.

Arielle expected Vittoria's portal to take them the second that Lyra's carriage was out of view, but Vittoria instead analyzed Arielle from head to toe.

"You look like you had a good night," she quipped, and Ari sent her a sour look.

It made the woman laugh.

She also cast a healing spell to ease Ari’s headache.

"I’m glad you had fun with Lyra,” she said. “And now that you're back, I have an assignment for you.”

Arielle perked up. “What assignment?” Were they going to resume their soul sessions? Vittoria had suspended Ari's lessons until further notice, but perhaps she had changed her mind and–

“I’m getting closer and closer to rounding up all the people involved with the attempted flame giant awakening, with the sacrifice of the dragon,” she said. “However, there’s something I need from the Camhanachs.”

“You mean Riorke’s family?”

“Yes.”

“I thought you said they didn’t have anything to do with the demons.”

“I said it was very unlikely; however, I can’t rule anything out and cannot ignore that the factory that makes their weapons is the same one being pumped with the free-mini orbs to make the magic fire blades. Now it could be a coincidence, and it could be that they don't know what's going on. There might also be a weapons log there which you can access, and that could give us some clarity. But most importantly, the Camhanach totem will also be there, and I should be able to sense if it was used."

"What is this totem?"

"It’s a representation of the centuries of loyalty they’ve had to the Emperor. It's a divine seal, like a signature of sorts, and it's powerful enough to have been used in trapping the dragon. Maybe. Once I have it, I can tell if it was used at any point during the attempt to summon the giant. It's something that requires a Camhanach to be utilized, so that will tell me how deep the corruption goes." Her eyes darkened. "Anyway, the safe is very much like the one in the demonic sect, kept under a layer of spells put there by the old Emperor himself, as a gift to the Camhanachs. You're the only one I can think of who can access it without setting off alarms."

Arielle bit her lip. Vittoria wanted her to steal from Riorke's family?

It was one thing breaking into the demonic sect and stealing an antidote for Elric. It was another thing doing it to someone she considered a friend.

"I don't know if I can do that," Arielle said. "Riorke is my friend. I don't know if I can steal from him."

“I wouldn’t be asking you if it wasn’t necessary, Arielle,” Vittoria said. “And we're not taking it. We're simply analyzing it while there. I just need access first. A door.”

"And if you find out that the seal was used to summon the flame giant, would Riorke's family be in trouble?"

Vittoria hesitated for only a moment. "Potentially."

Arielle's discomfort deepened.

It was easier when it was black and white, and when the enemy were people she didn't know and could just assume were evil.

However, if Riorke's family was involved and if she was somehow involved in getting them punished or killed...though she didn't know them personally, she did know Riorke, and he might get hurt in the process. It was likely the right thing to do, but the whole thing just felt like a covert betrayal.

“I'll give you a few days to mull it over,” Vittoria said, sensing the doubt in Arielle's face. "And to recover from your trip."

Ari nodded.

Perhaps that was what she needed, a few days to let the idea settle in.

***

Everything hurt.

Riorke was used to pain from training, the usual aches that beset his bones and joints after being throttled over and over again. Red and purple bruises bloomed on nearly every exposed surface, and the armor he wore chaffed and weighed him down.

Training armor was heavier on purpose than the one he would wear on the battlefield, in order to build the necessary muscle from the resistance. It was also hotter, and significantly clunkier.

In the skirmish, the sound of clanging and a few warriors tripping over their own feet echoed around him. At least he hadn't done that, despite his tiredness and bruises from yesterday interacting with the new ones from today.

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Riorke was typically great at recovering quickly. His constitution accounted for it, not to mention that he’d been training ever since he could walk.

Ever since the first day Riordan had placed a wooden sword in his hand and told him to swing it.

Riordan.

Even now, the thought of his brother echoed, a painful pang in his chest. It had been years, yet sometimes he still couldn’t believe he was gone.

He shook his head and sat up, the temporary pain now being secondary to the internal one. He reached for his sword, biting off a groan at the effort it took to pick it up again. He got to his feet. Every part of him was exhausted, but he couldn’t stay down. He wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

Him being the beady-eyed bastard who was currently standing in the upper corridor that functioned as a viewing platform, watching the field with an unimpressed gaze. General Pissguzzler.

He had a real name, but Riorke refused to remember it, much less use it.

Pizzguzzler had them fighting since dawn, and it had probably been hours at this point. Some of the other Lords had come at given points to observe the skirmish, including Riorke's own father.

However, none had put a stop to the brutal training yet.

Riorke had done much better than his compatriots, some of whom were much older than him.

Unlike most of them, he had not been knocked on his ass by a sword meeting his. No. He’d been fast enough and strong enough to avoid most of their hits, even taking on two at a time. Though he was the youngest, he was a natural fighter, with good instincts and constant training.

Except when it came to magic.

Which was what Pissguzzler ultimately targeted him with.

A heated pulse had hit him straight in the back and sent him slamming into a wall, after which he’d lain there for Sentinel knew how long, trying to get his brain and body to connect again.

And now, after he got back to his feet, he eyed the smug bastard who hid his smugness behind that unflappable exterior.

Pissguzzler's eyes met Riorke's, and he raised an eyebrow.

A large body suddenly interrupted Riorke's view. In a fraction of a second, his entire body dropped to the ground, and he rolled over and hooked his leg on the other person’s knee before tossing him. He’d learned that move from Lacey, and at first he’d hated it because it was embarrassing how often he'd fallen to it. But then he’d made Lacey teach him, and now it was one of his favorite things to do when being snuck up on.

He flipped back to his feet and swung his sword in time to meet that of another faceless opponent, and then he turned around and kicked one more out of the way.

He felt a magical pulse again, and he darted to avoid it, yet it found him anyway, slamming him sideways into another wall.

He was getting really sick of it.

It seemed he was the one most targeted by the General's magic. This was the third time in as many minutes, and he was tired of the constant assault.

The next one came when he was being two-manned, and after he got back to his feet, he yelled in annoyance, "Anyone else getting rained on like I am?"

"Do you not recognize the pattern of that attack?" the general said. "It's similar to the one your brother fell to. If you can't counter it, how do you have any hope of ever surviving what he could not?"

Riorke's ears had started ringing when the commander mentioned Riordan.

But at his implication, he saw red.

In a way, his next set of actions made sense. After all, his brother always told him that the only way to stop an attack was to kill it at the source.

Riorke threw his shoulder back and lunged forward, hurling his sword with all his strength right at the General.

It was a stupid move.

Even though his aim was true and the throw had enough strength behind it to pierce the bastard's chest, and despite the gasp from the audience as it whizzed past them, he knew it would be blocked.

And it was.

The sword exploded backwards when it met an invisible barrier before clanging to the floor.

Everything else stopped.

The battle, the talking.

They looked at Riorke in shock, in fear for what would happen to him,

Riorke wasn't afraid.

What he had done was deserving of punishment. He was sure he could get out of it if he appealed to his father–who had left at some point during the training–and told him what the Pissguzzler had said.

But Riorke would never give him the satisfaction of needing his father's help.

Which was how he found himself in the holding cell a few minutes later, escorted there by Knights who scolded him and told him he shouldn't have done what he did, and that there were better ways to handle his anger.

He didn't respond, didn't take a breath until he was lying on the cold floor.

As far as holding cells went, they had one of the nicer ones, because his family didn’t believe in treating prisoners as subhuman. There was even a mattress and a pillow, but he chose to lay on the clean floor instead to cool the rage and fury still burning from Pissguzzler mentioning Riordan.

He chewed on his jaw. That was why he’d done it: to get a rise out of him, and it had worked.

“...won’t be able to…”

“New weapons…”

“We’ll see who needs magic then."

The words were in the corridor next to him, and he didn’t know who was talking or why, but at this point he didn’t care. He just wanted some sleep.

“Keep it down,” he mumbled before he dozed off.

***

Within the five days that Vittoria gave her, Arielle decided she would break into Camhanach's safe after all.

Her decision hinged on three things:

One, she owed Vittoria a favor for the help Vittoria had given her with Lyra. And the help she had given her in general.

Two, it was likely better for her to be the one who broke into Riorke's family's home. That way, she would be involved in whatever they found and could potentially mitigate Vittoria's response to it. Not that she wanted Riorke's family to get away with it, if they were knowingly involved in consorting with demons. But she did want to protect Riorke in whatever way she could.

And three, this would be the perfect opportunity to check on him. She hadn't seen him for the latter part of the semester and didn't know if he was doing okay.

In any case, she would go.

But first, she had her session with the dean.

They agreed that they would continue biweekly sessions over the break, particularly since Arielle had decided to attend the ball. The dean wanted to coach her on how to behave at the ball and how to keep from falling for the very traps that might be set for someone like her.

When she appeared, the dean looked up from his scrolls and greeted her with a smile.

"Arielle," he said. “How have you been?”

“Normal,” she hedged, then admitted. “I went to see Lyra a few days ago for her birthday.”

“Ah yes." He gave her a sympathetic nod. "I imagine that was a very difficult time. I was told that she would lose the rest of her cores on her birthday.”

“She did,” Arielle said. "But her Vitae cores have gotten stronger."

"Have they?"

Arielle nodded.

"That's good. I suppose you will be working with her to create more Vitae-only spells and runes?"

"Yes. I'll ask Telip for help."

"It's so nice you're willing to help your friends," he said. "It's good of you, and it's good of Lyra to be able to accept that help. Some people find it harder to do."

Arielle nodded, and then she decided to venture into her moral quandary.

"Dean Octavius."

"Yes?"

"What if...what if you had a friend whose family might have done something very wrong. And you're involved in catching them. How would you...handle that?" She wasn't convinced Riorke's family was guilty, but she had to be prepared just in case they were, and the dean was good at giving advice sometimes.

However, a part of her was worried that she was saying too much, though she didn't know how he would be able to figure anything out from the little information she'd given him.

“Are his family criminals?” the dean asked.

“Not right now,” Ari answered. “But if I apprehend them, they might become criminals, and I’ll always know that I’m partially the reason why.”

The dean stared at her for some time, then he nodded. "Come with me. I would like to show you something.”