Melody of Mana

The knights and guardsmen did indeed have a few more questions. They wanted to go over the whole incident about three times with me. It seemed they were interested in how I'd been invited to the party, by whom, who I had come with, where I had been for the attack, and particularly how many and who of the attackers I'd seen. I didn't get the feeling they suspected me of anything, they just seemed to want as much information about everything as they could get.

The whole thing took a couple of hours and we were only a few from sunrise as they finally finished. One of them, a man with the distinct look of a father took me back to my comfy corner to rest while they finished up with Jackson, apologizing for how long everything was taking. Seems that having actually been at, and survived, the monster he had much more they were interested in.

I lay down in a quiet corner near Kala and nearly fell asleep. As I waited I saw two figures I recognized come in the open wall and start looking around. One of them took a few moments to speak to the priests that were present, the other the guards. Following that they met back up and walked towards the back, where one the entry hall used to be.

Physically I was exhausted, mentally I wanted to sleep. That said I wanted to know what those two were doing together and what all was going on. My mana had partially recharged so I hummed a few lines to toss up invisibility, then another to silence everything below my ears and followed after them.

They walked past the guards at the door the mana-eater had destroyed and into the hallway beyond. I hadn't come back here but the old man, Lord Fallon, and Lord Johannes were already there, along with several corpses in a rough circle and a small ceramic jar.

"So this is where it started then?" Emil said as he slid in, moving to the side as he looked at the scene.

"We believe so, though it's pretty likely most of the carriages were disabled and their drivers killed first. This is at least where they released the mana-eater." Lord Fallon shook his head. "Not that I know where in the world they even got such a thing."

"The host?" Emil inquired.

"A merchant girl named Armina, well liked. Appalling that they would choose one so young to act as its host." Lord Johannes looked like he was about to puke at the thought. "My guess is they thought it might cause a bit of hesitation on our part, nobody wants to put down a child."

"This is an absolute mess. It could have been much, much worse though. I'm truly glad the creature got put down so fast as it did, and you have my personal thanks Lord Fallon." The spymaster seemed genuine here. "As for the host, I'll see what I can do for her family. I imagine His Majesty will be livid on what has happened and I'll finally be able to go in hard against the few rebel cells I've been investigating."

"That is not as much of a concern for me as where they got a mana-eater Emil," the old man seemed a bit irritated at his unconcern with that.

"That is something I can actually answer. They stole it from us, it was taken about a month ago while in-route to its destruction." That admission brought shock to every face.

"You were keeping a monster like that!?" This was the first thing Bishop Theodore had actually said since coming here. "Are you mad!?"

"No to both of those. It was brought by one of the fleeing Imperial leaders. He wanted to trade it to us for sanctuary. A true shame that he had a fatal accident on the way there." Emil sighed like he was discussing a tragedy. "So my men took it in, we were transporting it to a hidden site where it could be killed without posing a danger to anyone when the storage vessel was stolen." He pointed to the jar, covered top to bottom in runes.

"Why was nobody told about this?" Lord Fallon scowled down at the man. I wouldn't want that look turned on me after seeing what he could do.

"Operational security. I can tell you now because though we failed, we were honestly trying to protect everyone. None of us are fool enough to try and use a mana-eater, not that the king would permit it even if we were."

Lord Johannes found a place and sat. "That is too much. There's no way a bunch of peasant and city-folk rebels could have found out about all of that and managed it."

"I agree, they had help." The snake-like man nodded.

"Perhaps the man who took over the Empire? I've only heard a few rumors, but perhaps..."

Both the spymaster and the Bishop shook their heads.

"He has respected all of the Orders up until this point. Provided assurances and even took great care not to harm civilians. This does not match his actions so far," Theodore said.

"I agree, my reports show of clean, precise strikes against the Empire. This... this is messy. Killing a bunch of non-combatants at a party? Potentially releasing a dangerous beast? No, that does not match at all what I've seen. If this were one of his operations I think we'd see a lot of dead soldiers, potentially with a spectacular show to go along with it."

"Then who?" Lord Fallon asked.

"I don't know. I can tell you why though general. It's well known that you always attend your cousin's parties." He looked pointedly at the other man. "If I find out who though, rest assured that they will not enjoy it."

"It nearly succeeded too. If things had been not perfectly so, I'd be dead." The warrior now had a bit of a tired look.

"But it didn't. Now gentlemen, if there's not anything else. I understand we managed to capture a few of the conspirators, and I for one would like to have a long..."

"Conversation?" The old man helpfully interjected.

"Torture session, a nice long torture session with them." With that declaration the man left, ostensibly to go hurt people.

"Most of the healing is done, but I'm off to check on the priests. Make sure they're all taken care of."

"My continued presence here seems to be putting you in danger; so my friends, I think I shall head back home."

Lord Johannes looked to the old man. "If you'd like a place to rest I'll do all I can to arrange it, though things are a bit of a mess now."

"Not quite yet. I'd like to have a bit more time with this containment vessel, not something I get to take a look at every day."

"As you wish, inform one of my staff when you're done. I should see to the others that are still here." With that the owner of the house left. Within a few seconds the hall was quiet and it was just me and the old man.

"I know you're there, come on out."

I dropped my spells, allowing myself to be seen. I was still a bit shell-shocked by seeing all that had gone on.

"That was dangerous Alana. Why did you think it was a good idea to come and spy on us?"

"Why didn't you tell them I was there?"

"Because it would have made them angry and not really changed much. Also I don't think you had anything to do with releasing this creature. I'd like an answer though."

"I recognized the Bishop and spymaster, and was hoping they wouldn't talk about me."

"From where?"

"The Shield considers me one of its wards, even if I disagree. I met the spy after someone had an assassination attempt on them. What makes you so sure that I didn't have anything to do with it? Not that I did."

"Because if you'd wanted Lord Fallon dead all you had to do was flee instead of help him."

"Who are you?"

The old man chuckled. "You seem to like being secretive, so I think I'll hold off on letting you know that just yet young lady. Know that if you try to spy on me again I'll take it rather more personally though. Now I'd suggest you go back to where you were before young Dietrich comes looking for you."

I sighed. "I kinda liked him, but he's not very bright is he?"

"No, he isn't. Rather charming though isn't he? You're delaying though, go on now."

I clenched my jaw. Disobeying just to disobey would be stupid, and from the look he was giving me might cause me more trouble than it was worth. I still hated that he was telling me to go though.

"I don't like being told what to do. It's even worse because I have to keep going on with it."

"My dear I already knew you were a bard, but if you don't like having to deal with some people, just don't. If they don't like it, tell them to go away. That's what's always worked best for me."

I pouted, but began singing my spells back into place. Redoing all of this was costing me even more mana, but afterwards I went back to my place beside Kala. She was still out cold as I relaxed and drifted off for a bit.

I woke up only a couple of hours later as the sun lit everything up. Most everyone had left by now except a few of the guards who were keeping an eye on the damaged house and one or two other casters who'd similarly fallen asleep from the work they'd been doing.

Dietrich was standing nearby, saying my name rather gently. "Alana, you really should wake up, I believe your tutor is currently talking to father."

That got my eyes open. "About what?"

"Father wanted to thank the both of you for helping save so many people. The young woman beside you too."

"Mmm, leave me outta this." The priestess said as she rubbed her eyes. It would appear I was not the only one disturbed from my rest.

"Well, if you wish there's food, and I can arrange for rooms too. I don't know how things are with our guest quarters right now, but I will figure something out."

"That won't be necessary, we're going to be returning home." I was saved as Jackson appeared. His clothes were stained and torn in a few places, and he looked like he needed to rest in a bad way.

"My apologies then Dietrich, but I think I shall be off. What of you Kala?"

She rubbed her eyes again, looking about. "Oh, my escort for the night... didn't make it."

"Would you like to come with us then? We're heading out anyway."

She blinked, "Very well, it's that or go back with The Shield. Personally I find them a bit stiff."

I offered her a hand and the two of us headed out toward the exit. Jackson looked a bit exasperated as he followed, the poor noble boy didn't seem to be able to say anything at all.

It took me a few seconds to realize that the driver and horse were dead. We did find the carriage though, with a few nicks and the like in it.

"I bet we could ask Lord Johannes to..." Jackson began.

"Nope! I do not want any more 'debts' to him or any other noble. I will walk." Then I looked at Kala, realizing we couldn't give her a ride anymore.

She snorted. "You know, I kind of like that idea better anyway."

After smiling to her I dove into the carriage to get my normal clothes. They were expensive to buy and I wasn't leaving them.

"I got some great advice last night."

"Oh? What's that? And from whom?"

"Some old guy, and it boils down to this. If you don't want to deal with people, tell them to get stuffed. By the way, you're going to be the one telling Marcus about the dress and dealing with the fallout, since you insisted that I come along and all that." I thought for a few more seconds. "Also, no more balls for me."

"I'm fairly sure that this incident killed the entire lineup for the year."

"Unsurprising."

The three of us walked down the streets in full destroyed party regalia. We got all the looks that one might expect, but no guards patrolling decided to say anything. My guess was that they had been told something, or just didn't want to mess with a group of 'nobles' whatever it was I was pleased by it.

As we left the noble section of the city I heard Kala's stomach growl. Mine shortly joined her in agreement.

"Perhaps we should have gotten some food on our way out." She observed.

"Screw that. Jackson, you have any idea on drinks?" I said as I began to sing some sandwich sized rolls and some cheese into existence.

With a sigh he looked around. I'd apparently disturbed some deep thinking from the man. A few seconds and he turned going into a nearby store and coming back out seconds later with a bottle of wine which he promptly drank half of.

"Here, water it down. It's a bit early for drinking." Before he retreated back into whatever he was on about, drifting away from the two of us enough so that he was just keeping an eye out.

I watered it down and we passed it back and forth as we munched on our food.

"Is this what being a bard is like? Telling people that they can screw off while drinking watered wine at breakfast might be the most original way I've ever started my day. Could do without all the death though." I nearly spat out the drink at Kala's question.

"The death is pretty uncommon. As for the rest of it... I don't know, this is the first time I've done it," I coughed out.

"You're handling seeing so many die remarkably well. Most of the girls I know would be having a breakdown right now."

"My home was destroyed during the war. I've seen bad things before. How about you? How're you holding up?"

"When I first manifested my magic I was near the battle lines. I ended up staying at one of the hospitals The Shield sets up for a few months, so I've seen worse."

The two of us decided not to dig into each other's pasts more than that, and quietly walked for a bit. After a bit of consultation we decided to stop by The Sky before taking her home. It was somewhere we could actually take a break and get some real food.