Chapter 37 #3
“We don’t have a choice,” said Anna quietly. “We won’t be given access to the Crown, otherwise. And there is no other Artifact in Flutic nearly as potent when it comes to boosting one’s Ego.”
“As to anyone agreeing to fight with us…” Brianna shrugged. “I doubt many would agree to what amounts to certain death. But you never know. And even one more Gold-ranker would make a world of difference. How much time do we have?”
“Instinct tells me, not much.” Harald shrugged apologetically. “Eclavistra must be aware of my location, and possibly more through the Endowment. If we tally too long, she might come sniffing.”
“Then it’s decided,” said Anna. “I will summon the council and put in the request for the Crown. We will ask for their support and for the help of anyone who will stand alongside you in this fight.”
Harald shared a worried look with Sam. “I don’t know. I just can’t shake the sense that this could be asking for a whole lot of trouble.”
“There’s no other way to gain the Crown,” said Anna. “I will do what I can, just as Brianna will. One way or another, we’ll have an answer for you soon. Await word in my manor. This will take a day or two at least. If we’ve need for your testimony, we’ll send for you.”
Harald rose to his feet, his sense of uncertainty and unease growing. “You think this best?”
Both Brianna and Anna nodded.
“Then we’ll let you do what you can. But please. Hurry.”
* * *
Brianna arrived at Sonora Manor two days later with a hempen sack.
She looked, somehow, even more haggard and irritable than before.
Clearly the past forty-eight bells had been difficult.
Everybody trailed the massive woman into a side parlor, where she drew out a slender band of pale green metal and tossed it angrily onto the coffee table. It rang out with a beautiful sound as it spun and then settled, revealing a single teardrop emerald set upon the brow.
“That’s not the Twilight Crown,” said Vic carefully.
“No. It’s not.” Brianna rubbed vigorously at her face. “What it is, however, is the best I could wrangle from Lady Elara, whose horde of Artifacts is legendary. It’s the Circlet of Quiet Dominion. Perhaps the only other Artifact in Flutic that grants a +5 to Ego.”
“I take it the council wasn’t interested in helping,” said Harald, heart sinking. Visions of a dozen Gold-ranked raiders stepping up to their side had been dancing in his mind all along.
“No. They’re not. Anna’s suggestion nearly tore the fragile peace apart. It’s been nonstop arguing ever since. She rapidly had to pivot from trying to borrow the Crown for you to stopping the other Houses from hunting you down so as to prevent your summoning an arch demon into Flutic.”
“Seems she was successful,” said Nessa wryly, moving to the window to peer outside.
“She swore, and I agreed, that we would only do this in the dungeon. Not in Flutic. That mollified the worst of them.” Brianna sighed and sat heavily on a chaise lounge, causing its frame to crack.
“By all the demons and angels both, I can’t wait to face Eclavistra if it means getting away from those harpies and cowards. ”
“No other raiders?” asked Harald, already knowing the answer.
“Oh, some agreed to help. But everyone I’d trust in this fight is either dead or won’t come.
Those who volunteered? I’d not trust not to break when they see Eclavistra in the flesh.
Pah.” She leaned back. “I’ve watched my peers for years.
Watched them climb the ladders of power and turn to politics instead of raiding.
Thornar serving Blaze’s petty vendettas, Auric fretting about his legacy, Yseult Khan obsessed with wresting control of House Celestara from her brother.
” She sighed. “No. It’s just us, and we need to get to the dungeon, soon. ”
“Then so be it,” said Harald. “We owe thanks, at any rate, to Lady Elara.”
Sam took up the circlet warily. “It’s so beautiful.”
“That it is,” agreed Brianna wearily. “Masterwork, and it’ll help you with your part of the battle. Oh. And here.”
And she pulled the Slats out of the bag, to drop them next to the table.
It was an ugly tool, made of two boards bound together at the base, with a leather loop at the top preventing them from coming more than a handful of inches apart.
The wood was worn and stained, their faces embedded with small iron hemispheres, and the hilt grimy.
Sam made a face.
“Ah, Flutic, never change,” sighed Vic. “To think in our hour of greatest need and hope that humanity would be undone by greed, politics, and petty self-interest. I’m shocked, I tell you. Shocked.”
“No matter.” Harald stepped up and put a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “We’re ready. Our plan works because of specificity. Each person here has a role that no one else can fill. I drain. Sam contains. Kársek severs. Vic dissects. Nessa orchestrates. And you, Brianna. You hold the line.”
“That, I can do.” Brianna yawned massively. “For how long, I can’t say, but the duration will definitely increase if I can take a nap and have a good meal after.”
“Then one last rest,” agreed Harald. “And then we’ll be quit of Flutic. We’ll descend into the dungeon, find our battlefield, and end Eclavistra once and for all.”