Issue #70: Gold and Glory
(Part 3)
It was actually fifteen minutes past the first bell of afternoon when Christina finally finished her packing. This after enlisting her husband and the twins to help load an unhappy mule with unruly heaps of tools and scraps. She insisted that every ounce of it had a chance of proving crucial to the success of the mission, something Cyn was quick to balk at.
“We’re off to capture and probably smash a Neo-Device, not equip every man in Liedecker’s patrols with more.”
Christina cinched a strap tight while one of the silver-haired twins worked the complex little mechanism of the buckle to lock it into place. “It’s the smashing that makes the bulk of this necessary. If I may speak freely Princess, you can’t just ‘smash’ a Neo-Device anymore you can one of the existing relics. What needs to be done is dismantling and that’s what the equipment’s for: examining, evaluating, and safely disassembling the Neo-Device into its component parts.”
At this, Wil took a sidelong look at her charge and friend the Princess. Patience was not one of the woman’s strong suits and if she got the opportunity, she might test the ‘you can’t just smash Neo-Devices’ rule. “What happens if you do break one without all that?”
“That’s the frightening thing,” replied Christina as she gave the boy a fond pat on the head. “It might simply be that its indestructible and you hurt yourself trying to break it, or… you might release the fundamental energies that power all Devices, resulting in a Fundament Cascade that could destroy everything within a hundred miles and leave the land barren for centuries.”
She gave both women a grave look. “There is a reason no new Devices were made for a hundred years after the second Great War. Legends say that the war was ended by someone causing a Cascade deliberately, inside and enemy city. Which explained rather handily why our ancestors destroyed all knowledge pertaining to Device creation.”
“Got it.” said Cyn. “Don’t just hit the thing with my sword. Let’s hurry up now; the Sorceress is supposed to meet us at the front gates and she’ll be pissed if we’re over-late.”
“Or,” from around the side of the smithy came a woman on horseback. She was wearing a black dress with divided skirts for riding and a red and black bodice. Over this, she wore a black cloak with the hood drawn over her face to cast the top half of her face in shadow. “I might come and find you without being pissed at all.”
The sorceress rode up to them, sitting straight and tall in the saddle as she regarded the trio. “Now this I didn’t expect: our Princess and out Tinker working together? Either I should be happy you’ve decided to put your differences aside, or worried over just how bad you must think things are to force yourselves to work together.”
Christina shook her head. “Some from the first, some from the second.”
“Wait. You know the Sorceress?”
“Castle Freeland is large, but not that large, Princes.” said Warrick, gathering up the twins before giving his wife a quick kiss goodbye.
“That, and we move in a lot of the same circles. Many foci and components of the ancient magic are useful in creating Neo-Devices.” said Christina, with a warm smile for her husband. “We keep out eyes open for things the other might need when buying supplies.”
“Speaking of supplies, it looks like you’re prepared for anything here.” the Sorceress indicated the mule. “Doesn’t look like there’s room there for you to ride; not without breaking the poor creature’s back.”
A small laugh bubbled in Christina’s throat. “Oh, you haven’t heard? I completed my horseless chariot a few days ago. The twins have been testing it out for me in the city. If you’ll wait just a minute, I’ll go get it.”
“Actually, if you’ll meet us around front, that would be perfect.” said the Sorceress. To Cyn and Willow, she added. “I had your horses brought around from the royal stables so we can leave as soon as possible… unless there’s any packing you need to do.”
While Christina hurried inside, Cyn shook her head. “We can buy what we need in town once we get on the trail of these thieves.” She checked to make sure Christina was gone and that Warrick and the twins were back to work at the forge before saying: “Now, why didn’t you tell me you knew the copperhead?”
Even if her eyes in shadow, the Sorceress managed to convey that she was rolling her eyes. “Because of that right there? It’s been over a year, Cyn and you still haven’t given up this ‘big sister’ overprotective stance you have when it comes to your friend there.”
The Princess bristled, but knew she had to take it. Princess she might be, but in terms of actual power wielded in the Kingdom of May, the Sorceress outranked her, being one of the Queen’s Inner Circle. The only reason she didn’t pull rank completely was friendship: Cyn had known the Sorceress before she gained the power and prestige that came with the title. She’d seen her without the hood and magical shadows.
“So what if I’m protective of my friends?” She asked, folding her arms and poking her bottom lip out in a mockery of a petulant child.
The Sorceress caught up the mule’s reigns and started her own horse back around to the front of the smithy. “It becomes a bit of a problem when it causes you to act like a twit to people like Christina.”
Cyn started after her, followed by Willow. “Maybe I don’t like her for other reasons, okay?” She waved goodbye to Warrick and the twins before changing the subject. “Say, does she know who you…”
“We’re two of the most skilled people of their craft at Castle Freeland.” The Sorceress shrugged. “Besides, I cloth myself in illusion to keep people from begging me to use my magic for them when I’m not in the Queen’s service. Being who she is, I expect Christina would rather make her own solutions to her problems… literally.”
They rounded the corner to find Cyn and Willow’s mounts. Cyn’s was a massive, white warhorse with a black star pattern on the forehead and a stripe of the same down its back. No dainty purebred beasts for a princess who routinely rode out against the nation’s enemies. It was already in full tack with a small bundle tied to the back of the saddle.
Willow’s horse was a bay gelding with no saddle. It did, however, have a harness around its midsection with leather loops on it for attaching things. There was a bundle similar to the one behind Cyn’s saddle as well as a white horn bow and two quivers of arrows.
Holding the reigns of both animals was a young woman with hair that looked white at first, but as they drew closer, they could see that it shimmered with the ancient magic, the power twisting the light so that skeins of color—all colors, known and unknown—shifted continually on each strand. She had a dark complexion, but more sun-kissed than the deep brown of the Queen. Her clothes, a black breeches and a black tunic with a red slash across it, marked her as a special class of servant in the castle: one in the Sorceress’s employ.
Both Cyn and Wil knew Kay, who was to the Sorceress what Wil was to Cyn, and greeted her with waves.
Kay, however, greeting them with a scowl. “I am deeply vexed with all of you. From the quiet uproar among the nobs, this mission sounds most exciting.” She glared at her erstwhile mistress, “But ‘someone needs to monitor the prophesies’ and that someone has to watch a wall full of mirrors and paintings done by madmen for word on some dead elf-god.”
Taking the admonishment by her companion in stride, the Sorceress just clucked her tongue. “Kay, you know how important this is. The Books of Reason and Passion both describe portents of Maeve’s return from Air and Darkness and several of them have come to pass already. We must be ready if her gaze turns toward our world.”
“Yes, yes; I know. That doesn’t mean I’m happy about it. I don’t see why your ‘apprentices’ in Frederick Town can’t do so while I come with you on your adventure.”
“We might just be following a magical trail to some stinking basement in the city.” the Sorceress pointed out.
Cyn coughed. “Not likely.”
The Sorceress huffed. “Next time, Kay. I promise. Even if it allows Maeve to get a foothold in this world for seven and seven years.”
“That’s all I ask.” Kay grinned. “And don’t worry, I know how to reach you if this ancient waif tries to kill the world while you’re gone.”
“And that’s all I ask.” replied the Sorceress with a laugh.
Cyn scratched the back of her head. “Say, Sorceress? You mentioned earlier that Christina was the top of her field. Does that mean you think Neo-Devices can match the ancient magic?”
“Of even Devices?” Wil added.
The Sorceress hemmed and hawed over the question a few moments before answering. “That’s not as easy a question as one might think. As similar as they are, the Neo-Devices made today aren’t like those that have been passed down from past ages. They don’t bond to people, they aren’t tied to a single power (though some Devices manifest in several ways), and a person can have multiple Neo-Devices. At the same time, magic seems to only come to those with it in their blood, or who are adept, and it tend not to be as practical as a Device or Neo-Device while being far more diverse.
“In my professional opinion, Devices have the raw power advantage, the ancient magic has variety, and Neo-Devices have utility. Three powers that balance one another in this world, making this age unique among all the Age of Man.”
A noise like a gigantic cat purring contentedly interrupted them. The source was revealed as Christina exited the front door of the smithy astride a most peculiar contraption. It was a platform mounted atop what looked at first like misshapen, triangular tires. Upon closer examination, these were revealed to be stamped belts of rubber threaded over a trio of wheels to create a reverse conveyor which pulled the platform forward as the wheels turned it. A single normal wheel was attached to the front, connected to a shaft that extended upward, ending in a crank that Christina turned to change the platform’s direction.
The body of the platform was akin to a single person chariot; a rounded front and back, the later fitted with a cushioned shelf that acted as a seat. Beneath that seat, the actual Neo-Device, a locomotive design with going tubes and pumping pistons hummed and purred, its internal glow showing Christina’s legs in shadow through her dress.
“And that is why it’s impossible to take them seriously.” Cyn remarked.
The Sorceress shook her head. “Until you realize that she can make more than one and give or sell them to whoever she chooses. Imagine if May fielded an army of horseless chariots against enemies who must still feed, water and care for a cavalry’s worth of horses.”
“And my mother knows about this?” Cyn asked, letting the idea sink in.
“Your mother commissioned it.”
***
The location where witnesses reported suspicious folk congregating near the wall was precisely where Cyn expected someone might try to scale the wall: halfway between the North Gate and the nearest watch tower, in a narrow, stinking alley behind a tavern and a flophouse.
It was a miracle that anyone reported it at all, given that it probably wasn’t unusual to see illicit activities happening in that alley.
“Do we know anything about this witness?” she asked. She and Wil were scouring the alley for any clues the Watch might have missed while the Sorceress sat her horse with a spindle of amethyst on a gold chain hanging from one hand and a blank yet intense expression on her face. Christina was standing near the wall, tapping it with some sort of iron tuning fork with a length of cord hanging from it that ran to a bulbous bit of rubber which she crammed in her ear.
Willow shrugged. “The Watch says they were anonymous; probably afraid of retribution. From the criminals.”
“They could have said something more useful.” Cyn groused, “For all we know, this had nothing to do with what was stolen.”
“No…” said the Sorceress, her voice far away. “It was here. Long enough to leave an impression in the Astral. Ten to twenty minutes perhaps.” She opened her eyes and the rose colored light of them cut through even the mystic shadows over her brow. “But why would they linger here where they could be spotted?”
“It does seem like a huge mistake after they managed to leave no traces at the castle at all.” Wil agreed. She frowned at the hard-packed dirt of the alley. And when they manage to erase their tread even here.”
Christina, who hadn’t seemed to be following the conversation, ‘hmm’d’ and looked back at them. “I think I know the answer to your question.”
“They were waiting for someone?” Cyn guessed.
Instead of replying directly, Christina gestured to the wall. “I was wondering how they got out of the city here at all. Erased footprints or not, that’s a fifteen foot climb and if you throw a grappling hook up to the top there, you’re going to leave some dirt from the street on the way up and no one can or would be able to clean that up on the climb.”
She started pacing, gesturing with the tuning fork. “Plus, the top of the wall is walked by guards night and day. Even a drunk guard would see a grappling hook lodged up there if not someone climbing up.”
“Maybe they have a Neo-Device for that.” Cyn suggested.
“I actually thought the same thing.” said Christina. “That’s what this does: it detects the residue most Neo-Devices leave in the Fundament. And what I discovered is…” She pointed dramatically at a nondescript, moss-covered section of wall, “That piece of the wall is a Neo-Device itself.”
If she expected a round of applause for her brilliant deduction, she would have to make due with dumbfounded silence and looks of confusion.
Eventually, Cyn managed to find her voice. “Wait. What? The wall? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Not at all.” said Christina, turning back to the wall and running her hand across its surface. The slimy moss didn’t seem to bother her at all. “In fact, I would wager that it was even placed her on your mother’s orders. It would serve the Queen and yourself very nicely to have a secret way out of the city would it not?”
“Up until it stopped being secret…” said Cyn. “And the part where no one told me about this.”
“I admit I might be wrong on that part and someone else place it here entirely, but…” her fingers delved into a hidden crevice, and a loud chunk sound could be heard inside the wall. “One.” said Christina, resuming her search.
Wil moved closer to Cyn, ready to defend the princess if need be. “What does this Neo-Device do? Is it dangerous?”
Christina found another crevice further down the wall, “Depends on if you consider the threat of enemies entering the city in secret dangerous. If I had designed this, I would have made a key instead of a combination.” Chunk! “Two.”
A minute more of searching and she found a third and final hidden niche and activated it as well. A three-foot wide, eight-foot tall segment of wall swung freely inward as easily as any door and in defiance to the fact that it was a slab of stone weighing more than all four women and their mounts.
Beyond it, the land tumbled away in a steep slope no horse could ever navigate, even if they could fit through the portal.
“That explains why whoever out thief is stopped her for so long.” said the Sorceress, “They must have known the entrance was here, but not the combination.”
Cyn wasn’t listening, however, as something at the bottom of the slope caught her eye. Without a word to her companions, she went through the hole in the wall, scrambling down the hill until she reached it. When she did, she discovered it to be exactly what she’d suspected at a distance: a leather satchel with dull fasteners of dark metal.
Her nose wrinkled at the site of blood spatter on the closed flap and the strap, which have been cut by a sharp blade. There wasn’t enough blood to indicate the original owner was dead, but he must have been wounded indeed to have left his satchel behind.
An icy cold crept into her chest. Betrayal at the idea that he would steal something so important from Castle Freeland, but fear as well, for what must have happened to him just after. He might have been annoying and over-confident, and prideful… but he was dear to her.
In desperate hopes that she was wrong about who the satchel belonged to, she unfastened the flap and rifled through it. Stink bombs, pepper balls, pots of alchemical glue—there was no mistaken the tools of his craft (mainly harassing her).
“What is it, Princess?” Wil asked, half running, half sliding down the hill.
Cyn held up the bag, which Wil knew as well as she did. “The Sneak Thief.”
About Vaal
Landon Porter is the author of
The Descendants and
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Fantasy IS my first love – I only got into superhero fiction by finding works such as your own on the internet – so if there was any re-imagining of the Descendants that would catch my attention… I’m intrigued with where you’re going with this. 😛
The missing piece of the classic adventuring party is of course the audience-relatable plucky* youngster with no relevant skills or abilities who constantly endangers everyone with their pluckiness but whom everyone recognizes as the greatest hero of the group after they save the day through sheer blind luck and ridiculously contrived circumstance.
[* Dictionaries define ‘plucky’ as meaning brave or spirited, but nowadays it’s mostly used to mean an annoying liability. If you ever meet a person described as plucky in real life, run for the hills and hope they don’t follow.]
close, but no cookie I say.
We’ve got the dps, the rogue, the mage… we need a tank! Enter the Honorable Sir Kane, Knight of the Alloyed Whips
I suppose I show my D&D influences when I say that I saw the party as fighter, rogue (actually a ranger, but close enough) and mage, meaning the last member would be a cleric for that perfect quatuor.
Trying to imagine Melissa as a fantasy character makes me laugh.
That’d work too… work amazingly… we’d probably get some sort of Granny Weatherwax approach to healing. ‘I’ll make you feel better. I won’t make you feel welcome’
It’s just I’d be shocked to have a Cyn focus without Warrick 😛
Kura?
“The Tank is DPS! The Tank is DPS! Fifteen bucks a month to put up with this mess.” ~ Nhym
So glad you guys are on board with this. I was slightly worried I’d wake up to an inbox full of ‘WHAT DID YOU DO?!’ :p
Getting a feeling like when I watched Buffy the Musical – don’t quite know what’s going on, but expect it to be a lot of fun.
I really like it. Lots of subtle reveals going on too.
We get to see lots of warm fuzzies about Cyn and Laurel and assuming the powers work the same way despite being artefacts, we get to have a few more insights on the mystery that is Facsimile
It cool. I like this re-imagining of This Descendants.
Words are very
Unnecessary
They can only do harm.
Nonetheless, there’s a plan.
(Apologies to Depeche Mode.)
Oh my gosh! Le twist!
I’ve always wanted to do this:
dun dun DUN
I think I’m the only one not liking the medieval thing. The story itself is interesting, but I’d rather you didn’t obscure the actual plot behind the imaginary setting. It just feels extremely unnecessary. And Willow being relegated to a background role is just insulting to her character. If it has to be anyone, why not Melissa? She’d have useful healing “fieldcraft”, and be snarky enough to make conversations interesting. In the real setting, of course it’d have to be Zero, but making her less a sidekick than an occasionally useful servant is just wrong.
I understand your issues and I can promise you that they will all be addressed. Not to give too much away, but there’s more to this tale than meets the eye initially, and Wil is most certainly not going to relegated to the background.
I actually expected more people to have problems with this because I don’t usually do something this… weird… but I hope you’ll stick with it because I feel it has one hell of a payoff.
Oh snap! Cyn is an idiot, letting her emotions get the better of her, as usual. And this time even Melissa told her to listen!
Seems to me Melissa was more of an idiot there to just talk about ‘listening to his story’ without any mention of anything relevant like “it wasn’t him” which apparently was the main gist of the story. The fact she didn’t mention a convincing reason why his story would matter essentially implies there isn’t one.
Every villain has some sob story about why they’ve done whatever, and there’s always someone soft-hearted who’ll accept it as an excuse.
I’m more partial to ‘evil speeches of evil’ [Where the villains asserts why it’s totally okay to be evil] than sob stories.
Yeah those are cooler, but sadly not every villain has one of those prepared.
Is Cyn going crazy? She was slipping in and out of her fantasy character for a minute there. I’m assuming this is the payoff that was mentioned, but that threw me for a minute.
It’s a bit more complex than that. If I posted the name of Part 2, I think it would explain a lot.
And that name i[REDACTED]
Next Issue: Descendants #71 – Yellow
“…a zweihänder in a concealed crossbow.”
Can’t be sure with all the gunblades and whatnot in media these days, but I think that should be and.
“… the blade sheered through…”
Sheared is the one you want there. The two are confused almost as often as hoard (stockpile) and horde (large group of irate nomads).
“…above the earth, heat the call…”
Heed.