Loose Ends

Several days had passed since Mariana’s arrival. Carriages rolled through the castle gates from morning until evening, bringing nobles, dukes, and other important figures from across the region to welcome the Duchess or discuss matters concerning the kingdom.

Their attendants filled the courtyards, while unfamiliar voices carried through corridors that were usually far quieter. The others, meanwhile, had reached a few conclusions of their own, and Andrew had been updated on everything they had uncovered so far.

“So, Lucy got dismissed from Dad’s service.”

Sammy said it as they sat in Elena’s room, eating berries and croissants from a tray between them. Late-afternoon sunlight stretched across the carpet while Elena poured herself a cup of tea.

Nearby, Sybill sat with her head resting comfortably against Rowland’s shoulder.

“Hmmm.”

“And Leo,” Rowland continued, “is searching for Queen Natalie’s whereabouts.”

Sammy looked down at the berries in his hand.

“I just hope Mom is okay.”

Elena glanced towards Sammy.

“You call her Mom?” Rowland asked.

She nodded.

“She always felt like a mom to me.”

Her smile weakened slightly.

“I called my own mom Mother.”

Sammy went quiet. Elena set her cup down, the faint clink against the saucer briefly filling the space between them.

Rowland leaned back.

“I need to have a word with Grandmaster Erasmus.”

Everyone looked towards him.

“He was the one who gave the verdict.”

Sybill lifted her head slightly from Rowland’s shoulder.

“I want to know the why.”

Queen Alfariya’s old chamber still carried the stillness of a room left undisturbed for years. Dust gathered along the carved furniture, and the heavy curtains admitted only thin strips of daylight across the floor.

Rowland and Sammy placed a glass bottle on the table. Inside it sat a single crabapple.

They did not have to wait long.

The sharp, sour scent of the fruit began drawing several golden beetles from the cracks around the chamber. A faint chittering rose from beneath the floorboards and behind the walls.

Mana Drainers.

One crawled into the bottle, then another, followed by a third. Sammy immediately pressed a cork into the opening.

“Got them.”

The stuffed doll they had recovered from Queen Natalie’s room lay on the table beside them. Elena pointed towards the strands wrapped around it.

“Let’s test something.”

She pulled several fine fibres from the crabapple and dropped them into a smaller vial. Sammy carefully transferred one of the Mana Drainers inside and corked it at once.

The insect immediately crawled towards the fibres and settled over them.

Sammy stared.

“Well. They really do like the stuff. Even the fibres.”

They placed the stuffed doll inside an airtight glass jar, carefully transferred the remaining Mana Drainers into it, and sealed it tightly. Within moments, the insects crawled towards the strands wrapped around the doll before burrowing beneath the fabric.

Soon, the only movement in the chamber came from the occasional twitch beneath the doll and the faint scratching against the glass.

Rowland studied the jar.

“Let’s see what Grandmaster Erasmus has to say now.”

Not long afterward, Grandmaster Erasmus was summoned before the King. Without its usual gathering of courtiers, the audience chamber seemed larger and considerably colder.

Pale daylight fell through the tall windows, catching against the glass jar positioned in the middle of the table. Andrew sat on one side, with Sammy, Rowland, and Elena beside him, while Silvi remained safely hidden inside Elena’s pocket.

Grandmaster Erasmus stood across from them. The moment he looked at the doll, his expression changed.

“Your Majesty…”

He stepped closer.

“When did this happen?”

His gaze shifted towards Andrew.

“Has Queen Natalie returned?”

Andrew raised an eyebrow.

“That is a considerable conclusion, Erasmus. Explain it.”

Erasmus gestured towards the jar.

“The doll carries Teacher Sybill’s mana, precisely as those dolls once carried Queen Alfariya’s.”

His expression grew increasingly troubled.

“If the circumstances are the same, then someone has attempted to drain her mana through witchcraft.”

Andrew said nothing, and no one else interrupted him.

Rowland glanced towards the door.

“You can come in now, Sybill.”

The door opened, and Sybill stepped inside. Andrew pointed towards the jar.

“Watch carefully.”

For several seconds, nothing happened. Then something moved beneath the fabric, and tiny golden beetles began crawling out of the doll, their legs tapping softly against the glass.

Erasmus took a step backwards.

The Mana Drainers rushed towards the side of the jar closest to Sybill. They struck the glass again and again, their tiny legs and pincers scraping frantically against the surface as they tried desperately to reach her.

Erasmus stared.

“What are those?”

“Mana Drainers,” Rowland said.

Erasmus went silent, his expression gradually darkening with recognition.

“I have encountered the name in old texts, Your Majesty. Nothing more.”

He looked again at the creatures.

“They were believed to have vanished generations ago.”

Andrew leaned forward.

“They feed upon the blood of those who possess mana. Enough of them can drain a mage to death.”

“For a mage, mana and life force are intertwined. If enough mana is drained, life goes with it.”

Erasmus’s eyes remained fixed on the jar.

“And the blood they consume can remain within them for several weeks,” Andrew continued, “still carrying the magical aura of the person they fed upon.”

Sybill nodded.

“Like the leech.”

Andrew glanced towards her.

“Precisely.”

Rowland placed the smaller vial beside the jar. Inside, the Mana Drainer still clung to the fresh crabapple fibres.

Erasmus frowned as his gaze moved towards the strands wrapped around the doll.

“Are you suggesting those are crabapple fibres?”

“Yes,” Elena said.

Erasmus looked at her sharply.

“How can you be certain? Those strands were believed to be Queen Alfariya’s hair.”

“No.”

Elena stepped closer to the table.

“I knew my mother’s hair. It was finer than that and much closer to mine.”

Erasmus remained unconvinced.

“That establishes doubt, Princess. Not proof.”

Rowland nodded.

“Then consider this.”

He looked towards Sybill.

“Teacher Sybill’s hair is black.”

Erasmus followed his gaze.

Rowland pointed towards the doll.

“Yet you can still sense her mana coming from that.”

Erasmus went still. In the silence, the faint scratching from inside the jar became impossible to ignore.

His eyes shifted from the Mana Drainers to the strands, then finally to the needles piercing the doll.

“The hair…”

His voice grew quieter.

“The needles. The doll.”

Realisation settled across his face.

“It was all a ruse.”

His gaze returned to the jar.

“A facade made to resemble witchcraft.”

He stared at the Mana Drainers.

“While these creatures were doing the actual draining.”

No one spoke.

Erasmus slowly lowered his head.

“I examined the evidence myself, Your Majesty.”

His expression tightened.

“Duchess Mariana assisted me. Her knowledge of magic was held in the highest regard.”

Andrew’s eyes hardened.

“Then perhaps it is time you heard from someone whose knowledge predates both of yours.”

He looked towards Elena. She reached into her pocket and gently placed Silvi on the table.

Silvi smiled.

Erasmus stared at her.

Sybill casually raised one hand, and a silencing spell spread around the room. She was already expecting the usual horrendous scream that followed whenever someone discovered Silvi was a talking, moving, very much alive porcelain doll.

Erasmus kept his eyes on the creatures.

“One thing still troubles me. Why are they still lurking in the castle after all these years?”

Silvi tilted slightly.

“Mana Drainers are extraordinarily difficult to get rid of, dear. Burning them is the only reliable way. Otherwise, they can remain dormant inside cracks, beneath floors, and behind walls for years.”

Erasmus frowned.

“Then whoever placed them here would have had to draw every last one out before destroying them.”

“Precisely,” Silvi said. “And that would require an exceptionally potent source of mana. Sibi managed to wake and draw them out without even trying.”

Rowland’s expression darkened.

“So leaving them here was simply easier.”

Sammy looked towards the jar.

“Maybe convenient too. If another powerful mage ever came to the castle.”

Rowland’s eyes moved towards Sybill.

“It nearly worked.”

A loud thud shattered the moment. A shrill scream followed, then hysterical crying from somewhere outside.

“Helen!” Elena shouted.

She and Sybill ran towards the sound.

Guards rushed into position while startled servants crowded against the walls of the main hall. One of the great doors stood open, cold air sweeping across the marble floor as Queen Natalie faced Mariana from opposite sides of the room.

Leo stood protectively between Natalie and Mariana, his wand raised, with several guards forming a defensive line beside him. Mariana had her own wand drawn.

Several men surrounded her—a tall, broad one, a lanky one, and others Sammy recognised immediately.

Sammy froze, his eyes widening in horror.

Mariana aimed her wand towards the chandelier.

The chain snapped, and the enormous chandelier crashed onto the marble floor with a deafening thud. Shards of glass and twisted pieces of metal skittered across the room as servants screamed and guards threw up their arms against the falling debris.

In the confusion, Mariana wrapped herself in magic and disappeared. Her men leapt through the open windows.

For several seconds, the hall seemed to freeze around the wreckage.

Queen Natalie looked towards Andrew and smiled.

Andrew stared at her as though the shattered chandelier, the guards, and everyone else around them had simply ceased to exist.

“Natalie…”

His cane slipped from his hand and struck the marble floor. He ran towards her, and Natalie barely had time to open her arms before Andrew pulled her into a tight embrace.

Sammy stood frozen, staring at the window.

Sybill hurried into the main hall and stopped when she saw Andrew embracing a woman she did not recognize.

“Your Majesty…”

Andrew turned towards her.

Sybill shook her head.

“I have the very bad news.”

The scattered voices around them died away.

“Lucy has been killed.”

The corridor outside Lucy’s room carried the sharp smell of scorched fabric and lingering magic. Elena held a sobbing Helen tightly against her while Andrew, Natalie, Leo, Sammy, and Rowland gathered nearby.

Sybill knelt beside Lucy’s motionless body.

“She has been killed by the spell.”

She gently turned Lucy’s neck. A blackened mark stained the skin where the magic had struck, with dark veins spreading outward from it like cracks.

Helen cried harder.

“It looks like she was tortured,” Leo said grimly. “Someone wanted information from her.”

Rowland’s expression hardened as he looked down at Lucy.

“She knew we were onto her long before today.”

His gaze remained on the body.

“Lucy was a loose end.”

Andrew’s jaw tightened.

“And Mariana made certain every loose end was tied before she fled.”

His eyes shifted towards Natalie.

No one spoke. Mariana had not been caught unprepared.

She had been planning to disappear.