45: High Princess Kanon

•─────⋅☾Sol Rule 3126, The Daar'muth Region☽⋅─────•

They strayed from the dirt road, following Aiden whose attention was on the map. He led them into a level valley, where trees began to thin. Warm winds from the desert borderlands could be felt in the evening breeze.

The kijen sisters were enjoying a good frolic in wild growing meadows, bathed in golden daylight.

However, the vermin and nigen were keeping a close eye on Liran, as her complexion had further paled.

"Immortal hammer..." Liran constantly mumbled: her mind lost to her thoughts.

Xiao frowned. Now that they were free from the soul flower issues, he took some time to observe his group; in particular his group leader.

"To be carrying a piece of that foul soul gem in her pocket. Her will is strong," he commented to Aiden, as he walked beside him.

"She doesn't complain and tries to deal with it herself."

"Keeping it bottled in will cause more harm than good." Xiao sighed. He once faced a similar dilemma and his fate was tied to some sad, immortal, ratiss demise.

Aiden mulled over his question, "So you were once an alfar mage?"

Xiao nodded. "My name is Xiao Li. I spent my youth and early adult life learning from my master in one of the wizard's small libraries. Then The Alchemist destroyed it."

Liran paused, her ears twitched when she caught wind of Xiao's unfolding story. She stepped back to walk at the ratiss's pace. "Your master was a wizard?"

Xiao raised a brow when he saw her eyes light up and her complexion improve. He laughed. "Once a bard, always one, eh? Fine, I'll tell you but let's do it after we make camp."

They took shelter in a secure cluster of trees, which formed a clearing for a perfect campsite. Once everyone was settled, Xiao began his tale as promised, with Liran attentively listening.

"To be honest, the world hasn't changed much from my time..."

He delved into his life as a scribe for an Artificer Mage, who practiced the art of trap spells and contraptions.

"One of his life's works was the Brush of Soulbender, which was embedded with immortal power to temper fate."

"Immortal power, what's that?" Liran blurted like a little kid.

Xiao chuckled. "I guess some things have changed. Back in my, well, our sunturns, some mages could use immortal power. It's like lingxi, but with the ability to expand into a sea of consciousness. That's like a mindscape. Within the sea, spirit energy gathers to form a golden core. The immortal mage could then harness cosmic power via their core, which also evolved over time."

"Holy mother!" Aiden and Rat gasped in unison.

"Sounds like they could cause a lot of damage." Clover frowned.

Wei and Chen nodded.

"Oh, most definitely." Xiao leaned in close when he added, "Some immortals could even blow up worlds and walk away unscathed."

Liran blinked, unsure if he was pulling her leg or if it was true. But if it was, then there were scarier necromancers than The Alchemist.

"That's enough of that. This age's most powerful threat is a wizard, and we've met all of them." Wei huffed, ending the topic.

"True. We should rest while we can." Xiao nodded.

Liran's shoulders sagged, as she wanted to know more. But, there was plenty of time. She gave him a thumbs up and went to find a spot to hunker down.

"You rest Liran-sai. I'll wake you when it's your shift," Aiden told her.

She nodded, snuggled up against a cave wall and closed her eyes.

Aiden, Chen and Annoying Imp stepped outside to stand guard. 

Chen looked up to see the top of the hill the cave was part of, but didn't see anything untoward in the fading sunlight. He especially failed to see the shadowy figure of a man standing on top of it.

This shadowy figure had been following they party since their departure from the wizard's library.  It was easy to miss him, for his body was shrouded with dark magic, and they had their head concealed in a dark, silk hood and body covered in black soft leather armor: even their daggers sheathed at their hips were black to be vague to the eye.

"Finally got you where we can get you." The shadowy figure pulled out a scroll and snapped its Royal Bind tracking seal. 

As the scroll unraveled, a white-rune pattern teleportation array formed on the ground.

Malcolm in full heavy dark metal armor, a team of 17 shield warriors also in heavy metal armor, some with hawk shaped helmets over their heads, appeared.

They were joined by a finely dressed young woman in white leather armor, which fitted to her slender curves. Knee-high heeled boots gave length to lean legs. Her waist-length amber hair was held up in a simple ponytail, with her dainty forehead covered by a wispy, soft fringe. Her small green eyes were scrunched in a scowl as she stared at the meadows below.

Malcolm took in the splendor and austerity of High Princess Kanon.

"Sire!" He and the warriors knelt down, bowing their heads to acknowledge her majesty.

Kanon faced her men with a condescending glare.

"Lord Malcolm, you and your family will be executed if this is a waste of my time." She loftily flicked off her ponytail as she stood over them.

"I guarantee, it is not." Malcolm glanced toward his right to where the shadowy figure was also bowed.

"Sire, your servant answers. The bard who has your grimoire is in the cave below with Aiden-ta."

Her eyes glowed with fierce magic, which called upon a dense barrier around the men to apply intense pressure to their bodies. It forced their bows closer to the ground. "Did I say it was mine?"

"Ni...no, Your Highness, please forgive my foolish slip of tongue." The shadowy figure stammered as his body trembled with fear.

"Because of your inaptitude, the grimoire got stolen and almost into Darien-ta's hands! Now you tell me that his brother has it!" She yelled, stirring stronger magic, which had one of the warriors cry out with intense pain before his body was sucked into an implosion. "Useless! I want that grimoire. No excuses!"

"Sire!" The men answered in unison.

She released her magic and strutted away from the pending battle ground.

Malcolm heaved for breath, his nerves still shaken by the high princess's magic. Yet, he had to carry on and retrieve the grimoire without delay.

They struck Liran's camp hard and fast in the night.

"Malcom-ta!" Aiden cursed as he quickly gathered his fighting ability and cast a barrier spell over the others.

"The grimoire. You will give it." Malcolm licked his lips as he charged for Aiden: their shields clashed, sparking fire, ice and lightning magic between them.

Everyone fought relentlessly, but none of the royal warriors had expected the ratiss to command extreme terra-curse magic combinations.

The two warrior squads bellowed with fear when the stone ground split beneath them; they were devoured.  The mighty spell cast rendered the three ratiss unconscious from stamina drain.

Malcolm called upon all his blood code power to carry on the fight. The immense hatred he felt for Aiden and Liran stirred emotions, which woke the Morningstar from his nap. But Liran was able to put him back to sleep via the song.

Clover and Bosnia combined their energies to aid Aiden. With combined might, the party eliminated the lord.

"She won't stop to get it... back..." Malcolm breathed his last words to Aiden before his dead body dissipated.

"She?" Aiden frowned, analyzing breadcrumbs of facts to arrive at an answer. "Liran-sai. Could I see the grimoire you got for Lyashi-vai?"

Liran nodded and pulled out the book. 

Aiden turned it over and shivered, feeling the Morningstar's magic like a slimy coldness. But while the fiend was inactive, he was able to examine the book.

"Doesn't look anything special, other than being host to that evil's power." He wondered if this she was after it for that reason.  But, then dismissed this theory as there was no way anyone would've known about the pebble. 

Unfortunately, the book was locked. As he was returning the book to Liran, he caught a tiny embossed symbol of a peony on the back cover.

Peony. He fought with those petals in that dream battle. He strained his brain to think of the connection, but nothing came to mind. 

So he dropped the matter, making sure Liran had stowed the grimoire back in her spatial pocket.

Bosnia, Clover and Rat went to scout the area to make sure no hidden guests remained.

"I guess I should have that tea." Liran spent some time and magical focus, brewing the Soul Flower tea. 

Nearly half an hour later, it was ready and cooled.

"Ugh, it stinks like sweaty socks." Annoying Imp screwed up his nose, at the tea's awful aroma.

"I've drunk worse swill." She poured a tea cup and held it before her mouth. "Whelp, bottoms up!"

Liran gulped in one go and was knocked out cold.