Foxtails and Fairytales: Facades and Fables of the Phantom Prince

[Arc 14] Ch.4 Next Steps

[Sebas]

"But they were demon beasts." Talisa said wide eyed. Demon beast were not commonly interpreted as being able to pull off such a maneuver but it wasn't that odd either. However other than that I had one more piece of evidence. A foggy memory from the dearly departed Alpha.

"No, they were conscripts. A type of enslaved Familiar that the Nightclaw have been producing. I've been running into them with increasing frequency. It seems that the kingdom of Ardentwae may be involved somehow." I thought about the Prince's curious request of me.

"They are dangerous enemies." Talisa nodded.

"Especially that megacroc."

"Megha-krock?" Talisa asked.

"Super big Crocodile. The one that tossed our ship like a bad salad." i said.

"I didn't think she was that big, even my father is bigger than that. I could have done something if we hadn't been out in open water." Talisa pouted.

"Wind dragon right? Flying and speed specialty. Adults usually grow a second pair of wings once they've mated and they are the longest from nose to tail if I remember correctly." I spat out the few details that I knew.

"You are... very well informed." Talisa looked a bit bashful.

"Zorlo taught me a lot. He is the reason I can even speak Dragon to begin with. Although he was a little too modest about it at the time." I answered.

"That's right, you were trained by Zorlo Bluecoast. The rumors around you are so bizarre it's hard to know which ones are true." Talisa said.

"No kidding. Even I don't even believe some of the stuff I've gotten away with." I chuckled.

"So what is our next move?" Talisa asked.

"Well, I can let Liz know that we are okay telepathically. But it's going to take a second since it's an emergency means, and she is so far away." I said. I pulled a silver necklace shaped like a Christian cross. In the center of it was a blue stone in it that is a very valuable gemstone that was basically the evolved form of the Darling stone.

I sit with my legs crossed while I concentrate. I hold it between both hands and slowly separate them. Blue magic circles begin to appear in the air as if unfolding. They create a box in the air around the necklace and then stack into the air as if creating a cone of circles getting smaller until the point. They all begin to rotate independent of each other.

-Hello hello is this thing working? Liz can you hear me?

-MASTER!!!!!!

Liz's voice pierced my head with a volume that shouldn't be theoretically possible with telepathy magic.

-Liz are you okay? Is everyone else okay?

-Master? What took you so long *snf*

How did she sniffle... this was a mind conversation there were no noses?

-Stop being so technical and wondering if i can sniffle! Just answer me normally! I am fine, are you okay? Is there anyone with you?

The long distance spell takes up quite a bit of magic to maintain and it was only getting more expensive as she got further and further away.

It turns out there were a number of casualties. But all of the sorcery class was accounted for except me and Talisa. There was a report that Alpha had taken a crossbow bolt to the neck and was no more.

Yep, I had allotted three tails to that Alpha and they had all returned. Dying is never fun and as the owner of the magic I retained their experiences, but it was muted like a memory from the other day. Reading many books with the duplicates and physical training had its limitations. I had learned the hard way but as distractions and for recon they were invaluable.

Alpha was counted among the casualty and lost-at-sea list. As well as many pirates and a few rangers. The crew of the sunken ship couldn't be found, not even the decorated captain.

To be fair it was surprising that so many of the Rangers survived where the human crew that were familiar with the sea had not. But it seemed as if many of them died bravely fighting while swimming or acting as noisy decoys so the others could be rescued by Flint and his men.

What concerned me most was that Alpha had protected the prince from a crossbow bolt that came from shore or a small boat hidden in the storm. And not just one but seven. He was nearly out of magic when the prince was shot at while being rescued. With one last push he jumped in front of the bolt and fell into the sea while pushing the prince down on the deck and out of the line of fire.

My guess is that one of the conscripts managed to carry a crossbow out there in their animal form and was shifting back and forth. Or a bowman was riding one of the conscripts. I hesitate to believe they really fired from the shoreline but with everything I've seen in this world I couldn't quite rule it out either.

All in all, it appeared this was an assassination attempt at Prince Vance, probably from one of his brothers. Which confirmed that the Ardentwae Kingdom and the Nightclaw are in bed together. At least to some degree. That was the biggest problem I'd found with the nIghtclaw. They were seen as a necessary evil in the world. An elusive jack of all trades criminal guild with lots of power at its disposal. And there were many corrupt nobles and even some good ones who needed the help of a discrete third party that had that kind of power.

I told Liz that since no one confirmed Alpha's death with a body to say that we found him, and I treated him. We would need to take him to a city as soon as possible to prevent permanent damage to his vocal cords but that he agreed to take us the rest of the way by land route.

Finally, when the exchange was over the magic circles shrank into the necklace and it fell into the sand.

"Damn she is really far away." I wiped the sweat from my forehead as I fell backwards.

"Jekyll... Sebas...? Ouu I don't know what to call you anymore..." Talisa made a cute noise in her confusion.

"You should probably call me Doc or Jekyll for now, at least until the school year is over." I answered her.

"What happens then?" She asked with worry in her voice that tugged at my newly resolved heart strings.

"Either I'll be free to do as I like, or I'll be dead. But that is a secret for another time." I sat up. "I told Liz that we found Alpha and that he is going to escort us to the capital. We are going to take the land route."

"Alpha...?" Talisa looked around.

Theatrically, I waved my hand over my face changing my hair and features and adding the mask to my look. "I still have plenty of secrets." I winked.

Now we should do something about her dragon...ness.

The lower the profile the better and even though I knew she could take care of herself. Being a dragon should be a trump card not a weakness.