The Young Mage Ch. 05 - Interlude

"Mmm, I think it's my turn now," Fiona said, spreading her legs slowly. "Let's see if two tongues are better than one," she said, looking at both of them with unhidden lust. Vivien stirred immediately, and giving Fiona a predatory look, she dived between her creamy thighs. Sanela joined her after a moment and their tongues soon made Fiona moan with pleasure.

"Ohhh... I think we will have a really late dinner tonight..." she purred, running her hands through their hair and caressing their necks. "It is easier for you, though. You are having a snack already..."

***

The faint sounds of city life reached Fiona's ears as she observed the large house, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. This was the culmination of her plan, this is where the trail had ended. If there had been any trail in the first place... She knew from the very start that her plan was a long shot, and now, when she looked at the plain, grey house, she couldn't help feeling unimpressed...

"It bores me to even look at this place... then again, maybe that was the whole point," Fiona mused as she waited for Tanya's elite guard to arrive.

It took three weeks for her plan to yield any visible result and she was getting anxious to see if it had worked. Her whole plan had been to pretend she was doing a meticulous investigation with the use of magic and potions, creating a show for the servants. If the Regent had truly been poisoned, then it made sense to assume that the delivery of that poison had been done through one of the servants. Following Fiona's plan, Tanya had used the few servants she fully trusted to plant rumors about Fiona's research yielding some results. Every few days, they would gossip with the other servants about how they had overheard that the Lady Regent and the sorceress were closing in on the perpetrator. The servants were being observed for any unusual behavior, and after three weeks one servant managed to stand out.

"He made frequent visits to this particular house, so if he is involved, this place should contain some answers..."

After some time, guards appeared, pouring in from both ends of the street. Fiona took a big breath and came out of her hiding place, motioning to the guard captain.

"Let's get this done, captain. You take the lead and I'll engage only if needed. I want to observe from behind, just so we don't miss anything important."

The captain nodded, and issuing a silent command to the small group of guards, he knocked at the door, loudly.

"In the name of the Lady Regent, open up!"

No response.

"Open the door, right now!" the captain shouted when there was no response to his repeated pounding.

After a long moment, the unmistakable sound of the door latch being lifted reached their ears, and the door opened to show a small middle-aged man wearing spectacles on the tip of his nose.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Step aside! We have orders to search this house!"

"Of course..." the man said hesitantly. He moved aside, letting the guards enter. Fiona slipped inside quietly, trying to remain inconspicuous.

In groups of three, guards began searching the house. The small man watched them rummage through his house with an outwardly calm expression.

"What are all these papers?" the captain asked, coming to the desk that sat in the middle of the large room. The room looked like a typical merchant's study, its two desks and numerous bookcases overflowing with papers and documents.

"These are my trading accounts, of course... Look if you must, but I implore you not to share the information. I am a merchant of some renown and I have a certain business reputation to uphold," The man said with indignation.

The captain took a few documents from the desk and then took several stacks of documents from the bookcases at random. He sat in the corner and started going through them impatiently. Meanwhile, Fiona was observing the merchant, trying to notice anything unusual, but other than some nervousness, the man really seemed to be who he claimed to be.

"Captain! We have searched all the rooms. There is nothing here," one of the guards said, entering the room. The captain clenched his jaw in frustration. He had been going through the documents for a while but was clearly unable to find anything suspicious. Fiona sighed quietly.

"This was my only lead... There has to be something here..." she thought, pacing around the room and looking everywhere closely. "Maybe there is a basement?" she thought and started stomping her foot on the floor. That drew the immediate attention of the merchant, who started eyeing her with interest.

"This house has no basement," he said with a satisfied look on his face. And Fiona soon realized he was telling the truth. The floor beneath her feet was quite solid and gave off a dull sound.

"There has to be something... there has to be," Fiona thought in frustration, stopping at one of the walls, her eyes drawn by a peculiar figurine sitting on a bookshelf, depicting some strange creature. She was about to reach for it, but then her eyes caught the faintest of glows, one that guards would never be able to spot by themselves.

"This is a faint energy residue... Someone was casting here not long ago..." Fiona thought, suddenly elated by her find. She moved away from the wall, pretending indifference.

"This looks like some static spell was cast here... Maybe some kind of illusion?" She raised her hand, sending a torrent of magical energies around that part of the wall. As the magical energies collided with the wall, the wall shimmered, revealing a door.

"Damnation!" the merchant growled, casting a quick lightning towards Fiona. The door flew open, and three men armed with swords rushed at the captain and the other guard in the room.

"MEN! In here!" the captain shouted, taking out his sword and engaging two of the assailants.

Fiona managed to deflect the bolt sent at her and then pushed with her kinetics at the merchant. He grunted with effort, trying to stop her kinetic push, and then simply dodged to the side, overturning the large desk and crouching behind it. Ice shards flew at Fiona and she was forced to use her kinetics to protect her body from being pierced by the sharp icicles. She kept lashing out with pushes, sending the icicles into the wall as the thumping of boots sounded from the floor above. Other guards were probably rushing to help them. But the captain was already hard-pressed by his two assailants and it was a question of seconds before he would fall...

"Enough!" Fiona cried out and in a marvelous display of kinetics mastery, sent a push at all three armed men, crashing them into the wall without even touching the captain and the other guard. Another, much stronger wave was sent at the overturned desk, shattering it in a devastating display of kinetic force and sending the merchant/mage flying into the wall. Using a splinter of the desk leg with her kinetics, she hit him over the head and he slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"Huh, My Lady... You really are a force of nature..." The captain said, breathing hard and looking at Fiona in awe.

"I'll take that as a compliment, captain," she said, moving to check on the merchant. Her fingers found a big lump on his head.

"He will be out for a couple of hours at least... I'll send one of the guards to fetch some lenerium to block his magic. Tanya probably has some," Fiona thought as guards rushed into the room, seizing the stunned assailants. "Now let's see what is that door hiding..."

The hidden room was relatively small but packed with different things. Fiona found swords, magical ingredients, potions, and stacks of pamphlets and books.

"The Cult of the Remaker..." Fiona read from the pamphlet. "I vaguely remember someone mentioning this cult... but why is this here? Why would anyone hide religious pamphlets..."

She rummaged through the papers, her hands finally settling on a book.

"The Remaking..." Fiona read the title and then opened the book. As her eyes glided over the words, her expression became increasingly serious and worried.

"By the gods..."

***

"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay any longer, my dear Fiona?" Tanya said, holding Fiona's hand.

"I am afraid not... the news you've shared made me quite restless," Fiona said, her eyes glancing towards Vivien for a moment. The girl was holding herself well, but Fiona knew she was worried sick.

"Yeah, the information has reached me only today... Did you know the Duke and Duchess Girault well?"

"I've attended the Ball they once hosted in the king's name... They were both trusted associates of King Tristan."

"I see... It is a strange coincidence that all of these mysterious deaths are happening in such a short time span. The prince and my husband here in Ashad, and now the Duke and Duchess of Vistania... There were even some rumors about deaths in Nessia," Tanya said, shaking her head.

"I truly wonder if there is any coincidence there..." Fiona said, pensive.

"What do you mean?"

"I am not sure, but I have a bad feeling about all this... The things I've read in that book we found... The book doesn't seem like an ordinary religious text. It is more like a zealous and radical proclamation about politics and morality. This mysterious god they keep mentioning... The strangest thing is that there is no description of him even," Fiona said in frustration. "Also, why would this cult murder your husband and the prince? At first, I thought that your husband outlawed the cult and that this was just some kind of retaliation..."

"As I've told you, we had no idea that the cult even existed. I can't wrap my head around this either!" Tanya said, slamming her hand on the table.

"Yeah... so, will you be able to consolidate your position now?" Fiona asked after a moment.

"Definitely. You have given me a culprit, and I will make him talk before his head rolls," Tanya said in cold anger. "I will outlaw the cult and make sure that every follower is arrested and questioned."

"Good. Take care, please."

"Of course... Oh, by the way, Sanela told me to pass the message that she was waiting for you in your room..."

"Finally some news I can get excited about," Fiona said with a mischievous smile.

End of Chapter 5.

***

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