Chapter 21

21

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Meanwhile, Fiaerna walked into The Card of The Round. She sat herself down at a white and black marble table and poured herself a cup of tea. Four gallant knights surrounded her, raising goblets at her arrival. "And who might you miserable lot be?" The Knight of Wands nearly choked on his wine. "You do not remember your squadron, Your Grace? We were assigned to guard you from birth. We may look...different...but I assure you we are true Knights of Krowne!" Wands coughed and wheezed through his declaration, yet Fiaerna sat blank faced. She was entirely unimpressed. She let the men ramble on and on. Each of the Four Elemental Knights tried to curry favor with their new Overlord by regaling her with tales from a past they had no idea she despised with a boiling hatred. Upon broaching the painful subject of Fiaerna's mother, she abruptly held up a hand, drinking one last sip of rose tea with her other, and relayed that the time was passing quickly within the Realm of The Cards and that she really must be going. The Knights of Sword, Wand, Cup, and Pentacle all rose from the table only to kneel humbly before Fiaerna. Each offering their support in their own over-the-top way to help Fi to find her mother as they seemed to have foolishly forgotten how they'd ended up trapped in an oversized deck of cards in the first place. Time has a way of deteriorating the human mind, after all. Magic even more so. Fiaerna stared down at the men with the sweetest smile. It was as if they were looking up into the eyes of an angel sent from the gods. But Fiaerna was no angel. She manifested a Shadow Scythe twice her size and cleanly swept through the men without a second thought.

"What needless praise." She walked out of The Card of The Round leaving four noble, headless knights in her wake. They'd bowed their heads so deeply in the wake of that sweet, sinister smile that they'd never seen it coming...