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Rift (Part 9)

The sound of minstrel's strings echoed in the deserted corridor leading to the royal great hall. Rilen's maroon shoulder cape fluttered behind him along with the orange of his tail. His court finery lacked only his ceremonial rapier. His tired footpaws felt only a little more comfortable in his high boots, but the heel did not offer much support.

Two guardsmen flanked the large wooden door to the great hall. Rilen's poised steps took him there with grace.

"Evening, Rilen m'lord." One stood to attention and opened the door for him. "Enjoy your dinner, ser."

"I shall." Light spilled into his eyes, and Rilen entered the hall. Two long tables ran the length of the room. The red and gold banners of house Estovar adorned the walls, and the sounds of conversation, lute and harp music, and occasional laughter echoed over the scraping of silverware. Rilen's place was, of course, at the head of the assembly at a third table, running horizontally against the back wall. His father the king sat in a large wooden throne lined with red velvet. He was digging into a slab of roast beef when Rilen rounded the left corner to sit beside him.

"I was wondering where you were, lad." The king said with half a muzzle full of his meal. His slender fingers, still adorned with several rings of office, worked to dissect the contents of the silver inlaid plate with equally crafted silverware as he spoke. "I assume that Lornian mercenary will be staying in town tonight? Did he tell you anything of his plans?" Rilen made himself comfortable in his own throne beside his father, smoothing his violet doublet down his chest.

"Indeed, he is staying in town. I didn't hear much of his plans. Perhaps he shall take up your offer to aid in the brewing conflict with Khandar." As Rilen spoke, he filled his own plate with helpings from the large platters and dishes before him. These included full turkeys, fresh fruits, butter and spice soaked breads, bowls of tossed salad, and punch made of fruit and vegetable juices with spiced wine. Of all of these he sampled, as he was eager to sate his hunger after a long day's journey. He did not forget to keep an eye out, however, or Mia. He expected to see her here, and would be a fool to think he could avoid her for long.

"What has become of Mia? Has something distracted her from dinner?" His father slowed his rhythm of plate-to-mouth to think.

"She was here, let me think." He slipped off into a mumble. "Something about... Ladies and their things... Ah, she said that she had made up her mind on her wedding dress, and would go straight away to her seamstresses." His voice picked up in a proud, bombastic tone. "She told me to tell you that she'd await you in your chambers, so I took the liberty of giving her the key!" His hearty laughter filled the hall, and several councilmen on either side stopped their feasting to give a quiet applaud. The king's paw came down on Rilen's shoulder with a congratulatory clap. "Ah, to be young again, eh boy? Ha ha. Yes indeed, she is quite the spritely thing. You be sure to hop up there on the double after your meal."

Rilen's face flushed with the unwanted attention he was receiving. More than that, a pang of fear sprung up in his chest. If she was to get there before he did... The prince laid down his utensils and stood from his place at the table.

"I... should go met her directly. Um..." The apparent meaning of his words were not lost on him, nor the surrounding councilmen. A flutter of laughter trickled down the high table. The king raised his goblet.

"And to it, boy! Ha ha!" His grin was wide. "To your health!" The other councilmen joined in the toast as Rilen made his way out of the hall as fast as his good graces would allow, his ears flat.

My dreams were disjointed and chaotic as I laid there in Rilen's bed. Sometimes I could swear I wasn't asleep at all, and only wandering around in my own head, in blackness. Flickers of Earth would pass before me. There were web pages on news articles and illegal items. There were notice screens out on the street with city wide announcements on some crime that had just happened. Was it a murder? Was that the regular announcer?

A subtle scraping sound drew my attention away, and my eyes opened in a haze. I felt as though I'd been punched in the face my head felt so heavy. Then the doorknob turned with a click of the lock. A primal jolt passed though me, and I threw myself off the bed to the left, the leathers of my suit squeaking slightly.

The door was pushed, coming up on the resistance of the paperweight I'd jammed under there. It ground against the carpet as a grunt sounded from the other side. Although I had only known Rilen's voice for a little less than a day, it sounded off.

The paperweight gave me enough time to get behind the door as they attempted to open it. If it was Rilen, I'd know soon, no harm done. If it was anything else, there would be no place to hide in any case. I blinked hard several times to prepare my mind for action, still groggy. As the door pushed open more, my muscles tensed, flattening myself against the adjacent wall.

"Ah, damn thing." A female voice whispered. The door was nearly pressed up against me. I heard the paperweight being picked up and lightly tossed over to the left. From here, I could see the bedside table where my Tech-blade still rested. There was a pause before the door was pulled back inward. They were going to close it behind them before stepping out. If that was the way of it...

I saw a glimpse of a frilled white and black dress. This was the same garment that I saw Mia wearing in our previous encounter with her. In a flash of desperate aggression, I stepped in behind her. The door was only half closed, and her eyes had caught a movement. It was far too late for her to react however. My left arm came up beside her and caught her around the throat while my right closed down over her muzzle, gripping it hard, clamping her jaw shut.

"Mm! Mmmm!" I could hear a muffled growl over her attempts to scream. I leaned in to whisper in her ear as her legs flailed to get free, her paws clawing at the leather of the arm about her neck.

"Your best shot at getting though this is to shut up." I shook her and tightened my grip harder for a moment, perhaps hurting her. "You get it?" My foot reached around and tipped the door closed. The sound of its impact against the frame was more than was desirable, but as long as no one was directly outside, they would have no idea she was in any danger. Her growls did not cease, although they became more strained.

As I pulled her away from the door and closer to Rilen's desk, I tried to gather my thoughts. She was certainly untrained, or she would have done something other than scratch at my arm by now. Her lack of training makes her more apt to panic, though. That's not good at all. If I couldn't restrain her, or keep her quiet, I'd have to find something else to do with her. Possibilities flowed in my mind, seeing if there was any way I could risk not killing her without her screaming.

For now, I didn't have any more time to think. I swung her body into the desk chair, and maneuvered myself behind her once more, my grip unaltered. Her scratches had become weaker.

"I'm not letting you go until you calm down. If you can't, I'm going to knock you out. If you try to run, I might just kill you. Do you want that?" I could hear her breath coming in heavy gasps though her nose, but she made no response.

"I'm not sure if you heard me." I leaned in closer, shaking her again. "Do you understand what you have to do to get out of this?"

"Mm..." She gave a slight nod against the pressure of my arm under her chin.

"I'm going to let your mouth go, and I'm going to trust that you're not stupid. Alright?" I didn't really require an answer this time, but she learned well, and nodded again. I first released the pressure from my grip, but held my hand in place. Then, my fingers slowly expanded their radius. Her mouth opened in several pants of breath.

"Ah..." She moaned. I could feel her trembling under my left arm.

"Let's talk." I said. It surprised me how many mental tactics I had used from watching the Enforcers from back home in their correctional programs. "Did you see my face?" It wasn't' a necessary question, but I wanted to know just in case. If I stood to face her, and she hadn't seen me already, she might panic all over again. Then again, she might panic anyway.

"Y-yes..." She gasped with a shaking jaw. The sound could barely escape her muzzle. I thought what it must be like to be held down and spoken to by a legendary demon.

"Only a flash of it, I bet. Enough though... enough. This must be scary for you, but I want you to try and relax, and keep talking to me. Want to tell me about what's going on in your mind right now?" My free hand unbuckled my main belt, and drew it out of it's place. I dropped it on the ground and moved to take one of her paws by the wrist. She flinched, a jolt moving though her body at my touch. I spoke to her again.

"No no, I'm just going to make sure your hands don't wander. Can you put them behind you?" She hesitated, but I was surprised at how readily she obeyed. It struck me that I wasn't using my full leverage in this situation.

"You know." I said, taking one paw in my hand and pressing the belt into it. "My magic will prevent you from escaping. You can feel it, can't you?" I heard a small sob from the other side of the chair.

"I can." Her voice wavered. She was on the verge of tears, but her terror of angering me by making a sound kept her composure. I did fell a twinge of guilt at that, but the bluff was successful. I was able to remove my other arm from her throat and buckle her paws to one of the rungs of wood in the back of the chair.

"Listen. Rilen will be here soon, and we can sort this all out. We should talk about this. Why did you come in in the first place? To see Rilen, right?" She nodded.

"Yes..." She sniffed in a deep breath to calm herself. "Yes, that right. I was going to wait for him here. His father gave me the key."

"That's good. We're talking." I chuckled a bit, though not out of any real amusement. "You've never spoken to a human before, have you? There's a first time for everything."

"What are you doing here?" She asked. "Why are you in Rilen's chambers?"

"It's a bit of a story, that. Rilen was kind enough to let me stay here after..." I heard something outside. With Mia convinced she'd disintegrate or something if she got up from the chair, I snatched the handle of my Tech-blade and unclipped it from its open scabbard. I didn't have to tell Mia to stay quiet, for she was frozen in fear once more. She was a perceptive girl to anticipate my need.

I got up and moved a bit to the left. It was surely Rilen. The odds of it not being him were rather low, to my understanding. Even so, should it be someone else, I would use sheer intimidation to stop them in their tracks. If that didn't work, I'd have to run them down and hope to make as little mess as possible on the carpet.

The sound of the key rattling against metal stopped when its user realized the door was already unlocked.

"It's me." Rilen whispered into the crack of the frame as he opened the door. I set the blade against the table again to avoid looking overly aggressive. Rilen stepped into the room, and stood stock still upon seeing Mia.

"What in..." He winced and shut the door behind him, perhaps in a flash of understanding. His voice dropped down to a whisper. "I got here as soon as I heard. Blast it, are you alright, Mia?" He moved to the base of the chair and knelt to inspect her.

"I think so. Rilen, do you know this demon? What is going on here?" He heaved a sigh a looked up at me. I knelt opposite him behind the chair to unbind her.

"Let's get you more comfortable, and we'll tell you all about it." I said, putting my belt back on. Rilen began the tale.

"I'm not sure how much sense this makes, but I swear to you it's all true. I found Eswin here out in the woods bordering Westfarms. He said he's from another world, and doesn't mind ours one bit. He assured me that while he did carry weapons, he had no idea what world he would stumble into. I still don't know what manner of magic allowed him to travel here, but he has shown no signs of aggression since he killed Jeal, the Khandar lieutenant. He saved my life."

"No signs of aggression?" Mia questioned. "I was half strangled." I approached the other side of the chair to fully face her for the first time.

"I'm sorry about that, but what would you have had me do? Let you run off screaming down the hall?" Her muzzle pointed down, her eyes shifting away. Perhaps she didn't like to look at me, or perhaps it was simply her conceding her point.

"No, I suppose there wasn't much for it."

"If I had wanted to harm you, be assured that you would not have been conscious for long the way I had you. But that's enough of that. There's no need for us to mull over these hostilities." Rilen stood.

"I know this is a strange thing to be placed upon you so suddenly, Mia. But now that you know, you are part of our little game for the time being. We are trying to hide Eswin here for as long as we can while we think of something to do with him, and gather people who we think we can trust. I suppose you've just volunteered to be the first." She let out another sigh to collect herself.

"I've so many questions. What do you expect me to do? I can't just walk about like nothing is wrong knowing this. I don't even know what this means. Do you?" Rilen looked uncomfortable.

"I don't. I'm not sure Eswin does either." I shook my head. "But he doesn't seem to have any way to get back. In fact, I'm not sure you want to go back, do you?" Rilen looked to me. It's true that I spoke very little on the subject, not that we had much time for such things.

"Going back would be problematic, I should think." My mind flew to Rorick, still in his hospital bed, hopefully. If there was some way that these fox's magic could cure him of his blood disease, maybe he could stay here too. "In any case" I continued. "I'm finding your world to be increasingly wondrous. Your magic amazes me beyond anything I've seen. I'd be a fool not to learn something about it." Mia spoke.

"But don't you de- I mean, humans have powerful magic already?" Her gaze shifted to the Tech-blade. "Doesn't the Legend of the Destroyer speak of piercing wands, waves of hellfire, and vorpal blades?" Rilen looked puzzled.

"It's true." He said. "If your people don't have powerful magic, they must be enchanters of the highest order." I paused, perplexed at my position.

"Look, my powers don't function off of magic. It's all done by mechanical processes, chemical reactions, and transference of energy."

"Magic is energy..." Mia mumbled to herself. I reached up to my head and brushed my hair back.

"Right. Fine. I guess so. What do I know of magic?"

"Oh." Mia looked worried. "I didn't mean to offend, I just..." I waved her concern away.

"It's alright. Let's just say for now that our powers are very different." She nodded. Rilen sighed and sat himself down on his desk, folding his arms over his violet doublet.

"Now that introductions are done with, I'd like to discuss what we're going to do with you. I was thinking tha-" He cut himself off, staring at the floor near the right side of the door. I turned to see what he was looking at. There, that paperweight sat haphazardly on its side. "Is that my Phylactery?"

"Your what?" I asked.

"Yes, I saw it there." Mia said. "It was pushed under the door. I put it aside when I came in. I had no idea why it would be there." Rilen got up and retrieved it. Now that I got a better look at it, I noticed several features of it that I had originally missed. Even so, it could still be a perfectly functional paperweight. It was a stone box, fashioned in a conventional rectangle, much like the dimensions of a brick. There was a gradual circular depression on its top, in the center. Two raised, rounded pegs protruded only a few millimeters up on either side of this depression. Rilen's claws dung into its side, and opened it like a box. Inside sat a thin scroll with caps of gold. It looked like the caps would fit into the pegs on the outside of the box. Rilen closed it again.

"It's my phylactery." He explained. "Most traditional students of magic have one. It's essentially a scroll we keep important runes on. These runes will ground our minds to the task, and help us learn new spells. Once we know the spell well enough, we don't need the phylactery anymore." I couldn't even begin to imagine how that sort of thing would work.

"So, you just focus and you make new spells using this?" Rilen gave a chuckle and closed the box again, setting it on his desk.

"No no. We have a teacher who gives us spells to practice. New spells are created by masters who can weave magic without any objects or reference." I wasn't about to stop here. I wanted to know everything.

"You used magic without this against Jeal though, right?"

"I did. I knew those techniques well enough. There is no real point were a spell becomes ready. You simply know when it's not working and when it is." I thought I understood that. There are many skills that are highly technical that just feel wrong when not done properly, but are immediately different when done well.

"I see."

"In fact." Rilen continued. "My teacher is the one I thought we should tell first about you." I knew nothing of this person, but they must be important to be trusted to teach the prince of the land magic.

"You think we can trust them to keep it secret? Do you think they will be on our side?" Rilen's tone was serious.

"I know Kard well. He is our high magister, and he lives here in the palace. He is a very wise man, and I don't think he will be quick to assume anything about you, Eswin. Besides, he's a man of solitude. Even should he not like your presence much, I doubt he'd care enough to make a scene over it. That's why I trust him." I was silent for a moment, looking into Rilen's face, his brown eyes looking into mine.

"Alright. That sounds good to me. I don't know enough to make a decision like that in any case."

"Good. Then it's settled. We get you up to Kard's study room in the North West tower. The sooner the better." My gaze shifted to Mia.

"What about her?" She looked as if she was about to be killed on the spot.

"Oh, I won't tell. Surely, I won't." Rilen looked to me.

"I don't think she'll tell anyone, Eswin." My brow furrowed.

"Even so, I don't think we have to let her go. She can stay here tonight. I'm sure she would be comfortable here with you, wouldn't you say, Mia?" Rilen put his paws on his hips.

"Well, I am exhausted. I could conceal you with magic if I was rested. You got a chance to catch up on your rest while I was gone yes?" I nodded. "Then I shall rest until early morning. The two of you can make yourselves comfortable here. When I'm ready, we will strike out to the North West tower and seek Kard's aid." A swell of confidence grew in me. We were figuring this out. Things would be alright.

"That sounds great." I picked up my techblade, boots, and pack, and took them to the door with me. There I sat against the wood, laying my things beside me. "I'll be here." I said matter-of-factly, looking over at Mia. "I might nod off again, but that's alright." Mia slowly got up from the chair. Rilen spoke, undoing his belt.

"Yes, Mia, please make yourself comfortable..." His voice trailed off as he removed his boots. I watched as the two foxes exchanged awkward glances. Without a word, Mia crossed the room, moving around the bed to the other side. She took a pillow from the bed, and made a place for herself on the floor.

"Oh." Rilen muttered. "No, please. You can take the bed if you-"

"No, I'll be fine here, my dear." Her voice held a tinge of sharp sarcasm. Rilen heaved a sigh, shaking his head. He climbed into bed, the covers rustling with his movement.

The door was not the most comfortable place to sleep, but it was optimal to keep Mia from escape. Even should I fall asleep, I would be roused if she tried to open the door. I let this comfort me as I tried to collect myself for what was to come. Things were finally starting to make sense. We had a plan. People can know if we are careful. I couldn't help but fantasize about learning some of this magic for myself; the topic had faded and receded in priority ever since Rilen and I spoke in the woods my first morning here. If this Kard was as wise as Rilen said, perhaps he wouldn't mind sharing some knowledge with a demon? Rilen seemed to put a lot of stock in Kard's integrity. These thoughts occupied my mind until sleep took me once more.