MOFM 13: The Heir of Crowns

13 | Chamber

April narrowed her eyes. "You mean only people you approve of," she said. They're planning something nefarious by playing with the magic responsible for holding up this huge landmass. What if they messed it up? Who would pay for their idiocy? All the more reason to get out of here.

"You could say that, yeah," Pernice rolled her shoulders. "Besides, she wouldn't want to share it with lowly beings like all of you."

" 'She'?" April echoed. Her fingers search her belt from behind her. As expected, they confiscated her sword. Feathers brushed skin. An idea popped into her head. They might have taken the only sharp thing that could slice through this cloth bond around her but they didn't know of April's other hidden weapon.

"Sevine," Corlas's voice warned behind them once again.

Pernice rolled her eyes but ignored her colleague. April did her best for her face to remain neutral even though her fingers felt around her wings for any sign of her metallic projectiles.

"A benefactor of sorts," Pernice answered. April's mind flew back to what the smith in the city said. It's amusing, having used the same word. Could they be the same person all along? "She supplied us with the funds for all those imports just so we could carry on with the plan."

April didn't need to be a scholar to guess how that plan was going to go. First, they'd use the jasclume ores to cut off the spell's access to the island. Then, using the dwarven metal, they would try to enclose it into a new case. Since Umazure's magic didn't work on them, it wouldn't ever be able to break out. After that, they'd either give the spell to this benefactor to duplicate or study or whatever.

Where would that leave Falkirta and the people oblivious of their impending doom?

April gritted her teeth. She needed to keep Pernice talking. "This benefactor of yours," she prodded. Her fingers knocked against something cold. Metal. The feather. She gripped it with her right hand. With a yank, she tore it from her skin. A sharp pain enveloped her wing. "What would she do if this experiment failed?"she said through gritted teeth. It took everything in her to not let herself wince despite the pain.

What's more important was that April now held a sharp feather.

Pernice licked her front teeth. Her mousse brown hair was loose today too. Did the Adviser do that whenever she felt like being evil? "Punish us, most likely," she said. "The Heiress doesn't like failure. She'd seek retribution, in the whole of Falkirta, if need be. Her anger isn't something to be trifled with."

The Adviser's face hardened. "That's why we can't fail," she said. April's fingers worked double time in slicing through the cloth. Slowly, with every grating fiber being snapped into two, her magic returned to her veins. Pernice got into April's face. "That's why we can't let you get in the way."

April suppressed her own growl. These morons just went and entered a deal with someone they didn't know. Who was this Heiress anyway? Why did she have a lot of versallis, enough to sway an entire council of a prideful territory?

The fabric around her tore more and more. Just a little now. Keep Pernice talking. April cleared her throat to hide the longest tear she managed with her feather. "So what are you doing out here?" she asked. "Why aren't you all with Elami in whatever room she's doing her magical hula?"

Pernice scoffed. "She needed her focus," she said. "It's a complicated spell, for sure. Not that you would know that."

April's mind flashed to the hidden gibberish somewhere in her breastplate. Did they search her for that? Did they find it? It appeared not, considering Pernice still thought April didn't know about the spell.