As Eric"s footsteps faded away, Lucy sighed. With a flick of her wrist, her communication crystal reappeared in her hand, lying still on her palm. Watching it warily, Lucy tapped her foot impatiently against the floor of the study."Come on Alistair, I don"t have all day," Lucy muttered.
As if that was the queue, the crystal lit up.
"The council meeting is in ten minutes. Let me remind you all that this is an extremely important matter and involves topics that could spell the end of Tonbura. Everyone must attend, even you Morningstar," Alistair"s voice echoed from within the crystal.
"Oh, I wouldn"t miss this, Crowsea," Lucy growled.
"No worries, Alistair. We"ll all be there."
Before anyone could react to Lucy"s statement, Flen"s soothing voice came through to defuse the situation. With the situation temporarily avoided, murmurs of a.s.sent from the other council members rang out, affirming their partic.i.p.ation in the meeting as Alistair cut the connection.
With a determined look on her face, Lucy flicked her wrist, the crystal disappearing once more as she strode out of the manor. The streets of Tonbura were lively with both players and locals scurrying past, each going about their business in the warm midday sun. Striding forward, Lucy moved with purpose, her mouth set in a determined line as she headed for Flen"s hall.
"Ah, sorry!" a player yelped, jumping out of Lucy"s way as she strode past. This scene recreated itself several more times as Lucy moved through the streets, players doing their utmost to stay out of the mage"s path.
"Afternoon, Lucy!" a woman hoisting a pot of wine called out.
"Good afternoon, Helga. Managing the tavern while Moira"s gone?" Lucy asked politely, slowing down to converse with the woman.
"That I am. I"m looking to serve something special tonight, give Moira the night off."
"Oh? Is that what you"ve got there?"
"You know it. And I know that you"re expected at Flen"s. Don"t let me delay you," Helga said kindly, repositioning the pot on her shoulder as she bade Lucy goodbye.
"Be sure to stop by!" Helga called, shuffling off in the other direction.
Finally arriving at Flen"s hall, Lucy was met at the door by Maria, coming from the other direction. Nodding to her friend, Lucy pushed open the door, holding it for the priestess as they entered the hall. The other members of the council had already arrived, Alistair, Flen, Tom, and Craig, all seated at the long table that dominated the main room. Only Burgess was conspicuously absent, most likely attending to business matters.
"Lucy, Maria, good for you too arrive," Moira said pleasantly, poking her head out from the doorway to the kitchen. "Can I get you anything? Sandwiches? Tea?"
"Tea for me please."
"I"ll have a tea as well."
The two women answered, settling down at the table as Moira disappeared back into the kitchen. As Moira set the tea down in front of them, Lucy glared at Alistair, her eyes narrowing as she looked towards the old militia captain.
"Good of you to finally show up, Alistair. I was beginning to wonder if you"d done us all a favour and fled," said Lucy, her voice dripping with venom.
"Lucy!" Maria gasped.
Ignoring her friend, Lucy continued.
"Where the h.e.l.l have you been? For nearly two days I"ve been hunting for you, and finally, out of the blue, you contacted us this morning to convene a council meeting. You owe us answers, Crowsea. And I intend to get them today."
"Behave, Morningstar," Flen said sternly, before turning to Alistair. "I"m curious though, where have you been the last two days? No one"s been able to find you since the award ceremony."
"I"ve been busy, I called this meeting because there are things I need to explain," Alistair replied with a grim look.
"Explain? What do you need to explain about?" Craig asked.
Lucy let out a short bark of laughter.
"Do you plan to tell them? Or should I?"
"Tell us what? What"s going on?" Maria asked, her wide eyes looking back and forth in confusion. Alistair remained silent, meeting Lucy"s angry gaze with a determined look. Seeing that he intended to ignore her provocations, Lucy pressed further.
"Don"t ignore me, Alistair! Do you intend to tell them about how you"ve put us all in danger of being hanged for treason? Or shall I?" Lucy asked, her eyes glittering dangerously.
"Treason?" Craig echoed, his voice shaking slightly. Maria"s hands shot up to her mouth at this, while Flen and Tom looked troubled, directing their gazes towards Alistair.
"Yes, treason," Lucy repeated. "Not only has this man used my student without his knowledge in his political powerplay, but he"s put the rest of us in danger. You"d better have a good explanation for this, Alistair. I accepted my exile from Seacove because I didn"t want to play politics, and now you drag me back into it. I am not someone you can just use how you please!"
Alistair sighed, drumming his fingers idly on the table as he met the council members shocked gazes.
"I"ve been attending to important matters. Matters which I will now lay out in front of you all. I admit, I owe you all an explanation," Alistair said heavily. "For the last two days, I have been doing my best to deal with the fallout of the choice I made at the award ceremony."
"What choice? Why are you two being so cryptic? Alistair, what the h.e.l.l is goin" on?" Tom asked, his baritone voice thick with worry.
"The choice I made to knight Erick Kystfyr," Alistair said heavily.
"That"s it? You may be playin at bein" a militia commander here in Tonbura, but yer still a G.o.dd.a.m.ned n.o.ble. How the h.e.l.l is that something to worry about?"
"Because he didn"t knight my student into the service of Nova.n.a.lba," Lucy said with a cold fury. "No, instead he made him a knight of Crowsea."
"So?"
This time it was Flen"s turn to let out a sigh, as a flash of realization pa.s.sed over him. Giving Flen an understanding nod, Alistair picked up where Lucy had left off.
"Lucy is correct. When I stood up there on that platform, I made a choice. Too many died that day. What began as a force of nearly four-thousand militia had been reduced to less than half that number. The survivors were b.l.o.o.d.y, hurt, and broken. And so I made a choice, instead of knighting Erick Kystfyr into the service of Nova.n.a.lba as is the custom, I instead made him a knight of Crowsea, effectively declaring my intent to build a force of my own."
Upon hearing this revelation, the council went silent, a myriad of expressions crossing their faces as they struggled to make sense of Alistair"s words. Only Lucy"s expression was unchanged, a look of cold fury that seemed to pierce straight through the old militia captain.
"So you admit that you knew what you were doing when you used my student as your political p.a.w.n? That you knew the effect this would have upon Tonbura and its residents?" Lucy demanded, rising to her feet as she slammed her hands down upon the table, causing Maria to jump slightly in fear.
"Yes."
"You would doom us all," Lucy snarled, pointing at Alistair. As she did so, the rings on her fingers began to glow, magical power swirling around her hands as the mana in the room began to congregate around the furious mage.
Rising to his feet, Alistair drew a sword from his waist, a watery aura surrounding the blade as he pointed it towards Lucy.
"Brat, don"t think that just because I"ve aged that I can"t take on a fledgling such as yourself," Alistair growled, his tone turning angry for the first time since the meeting had begun.
"Try me, old man," Lucy swore.
Around the two, the air was visibly shimmering, as mana swirled around the two fighters. With a small squeak, Maria fell backwards, unable to bear the pressure emanating from beside her. Oblivious to this, Lucy glared at Alistair who returned it with a glare of his own.