"How do you know they"re the one behind everything?" asked Aella, as she followed Firion down a hall she hadn"t traveled before. He was using his sneak ability, which made him invisible to everyone except her."I noticed these three were sneaking around, meeting with the advisors and tutors, so I started paying more attention to them. They were also meeting with some of the n.o.bles off and on. I haven"t managed to track them back to whoever is sending them out on missions, but I thought you might be interested," he said softly, pausing to answer her question before starting back up. They came to a turn in the hall and he paused again, holding out a hand for her to stop.
Motioning for her to follow, he slipped around the corner. She peeked around it, and saw that it opened up to a balcony that overlooked what had to be a dance hall. Because of his ability, Firion was standing up, looking down on the scene below him, without being seen, but she had to sneak, crouching low to the ground, and scurrying across the floor, to stay below the railing. Peeking through some decorative gaps in the railing itself, Aella could see that there were figures on the floor below, practicing fighting and various activities, all without making a noise. If she wasn"t sitting there, watching them go through the intricate and elaborate movements, she would never have believed it was possible to do all that without making noise.
Firion glanced at her, then pointed at three figures who were standing against the wall watching everyone. She nodded to let him know she had seen them, and then turned back to watching. There was something about them that seemed familiar, but with their entire bodies covered in black material, she couldn"t tell what color their skin even was.
Turning after several minutes, Firion left the hall, going a different route then they had come. Aella followed, scooting along the floor as quietly as she could, wondering if Firion was doing this on purpose. By the time she got far enough down the hall to feel safe in standing up, she spied him laughing silently as he waited.
Frowning, she glared at him, be he knew she wasn"t really upset. They went down the hall a bit further, before turning into an unused room. It was bare, except for dust in the corners.
"Why do I think I know those three?" she asked as soon as the door was shut.
"They were counselors from the compet.i.tion to be king. The only counselor that isn"t with them is the female that spent so much time with us after you were crowned."
Aella couldn"t believe it. They hadn"t given any indications of being trained as a.s.sa.s.sins. She tried to remember if they had walked differently, but honestly couldn"t remember. The elation of being the winner must have clouded her ability to notice, and that bothered her.
"The counselors were supposed to have lives in town. Find out what those lives are. I want to know if they own businesses or deal with n.o.bles. I want to know everything you can find by tomorrow night."
He nodded and she stepped forward, into the library. The Advisors were waiting, but she knew they would take a while. Best to check on Bridgette first.
"Aella! Thank goodness you"re alive! I read that one hero had tried to take the powers of another, by drinking their blood, and died horribly. It gets harder with each attempt. Promise me you won"t try to do it!"
Aella grabbed Bridgette"s arms and made her be still for a moment. The woman had been pacing back and forth, and was in a frenzy by the time she arrived.
"Get a breath. I"m fine. Calm down for a moment before you hurt yourself!"
Bridgette nodded and pulled a large book into her lap, to stroke like a beloved pet and immediately became calmer.
"I read that, and I just knew you were going to die. What would happen to the other heroes! If you weren"t there to balance them out, I don"t know what would happen!"
"What do you mean?" asked Aella, since she hadn"t told Bridgette she was the Hero of Air yet.
"Well, Alfred needs someone to keep him focused. Robert is such a hot head, he gets Alfred so riled up, and Josephine doesn"t care about much more than her daughter, so you would be the only one to keep them leveled out. All Curt can think about is jumping into Josephine"s bed, and we all know that"s not going to happen."
Aella smirked at that, because he had technically been in Josephine"s bed, and Robert was dead.
"Bridgett," said Aella softly, holding up her hand and creating the whirling fireball again.
"Wow! So, it did work! Wait, but that means Robert"s dead?!" Bridgette"s eyes grew wide in surprise.
"He got into a fight with Alfred and said something nasty about his sister."
Bridgette gasped, holding both hands over her mouth in horror, then s.n.a.t.c.hed the book back, before it slid off her lap. "Everyone knew that Alfred"s sister wasn"t to be talked about. Robert must have lost his mind."
Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
"What actually happened to his sister?" asked Aella, wondering if Bridgette would tell her.
"Well, she was taken by the church, to keep Alfred in line, and he was sent to kill the last king. But she died before he came back, and it was a wonder they were able to keep him under control afterwards. I"m still not sure why he chooses to stay working for the church. You"d have to ask him for any more information. I won"t tell you anything else."
Aella nodded in understanding. She hadn"t learned anything more than what he had already told her, but was grateful Bridgette was willing to tell her as much as she had.
"Did you learn any more about the heroes or the history of the demons?"
"No, I keep coming up against this language I don"t understand. I"m sure once I get enough different samples of it, I"ll start to figure it out, since that"s how I learned all the others, but this one is really hard. I did find a reference to the first demon king and his little brother, though. It was talking about how close they were and how hard it had been when their parents were killed by the humans and their new church. After the king was crowned, and the demons and humans split up the land, it swapped over to the other language again."
"Does it say why the demons didn"t just leave the valley, instead of cutting it in half to share with the humans?" asked Aella.
"The lands outside of the valley are heavily populated by monsters. Here, I found a map!"
Bridgette jumped up, setting the heavy book she had been holding down gently, then rushed across the room to a large podium. Laid out on it, was a tiny map, depicting the entire valley, and land both north and south of the mountains. This map actually contained more territory then the giant map she had studied with the Advisors.
As she studied it, she saw that the cartographer had gone to the effort of using blue ink to show where the coast line met the water. The land to the south, was almost as much as the land here in the valley, but it didn"t continue anywhere. The land to the north, seemed to do the same, except the very northwest corner showed no blue on the border of the map.
"Does that mean the land extends further?" she asked, pointing to the corner.
"It could," agreed Bridgette, leaning in to look at it. "It could also just be that the cartographer ran out of blue ink."
Aella studied it for a few more minutes before turning away. "See if you can find any more maps. I would like to know if there really is more land over that way. Maybe the only way to end this war, would be to take the demons away from the humans."
"Oh, I hope not. It would be incredibly difficult to move so many books, and keep them intact," said Bridgette with a shake of her head.
"It will be a last option, but still an option. It would be better to move my people and all of these books, than it would be to continue this stupid war."
"If you say so," said Bridgette unhappily. "I"ll keep looking for more clues and answers."
With a nod, Aella teleported to the throne room where the advisors were waiting. Amusingly, Varnin was pacing back and forth with her hands clasped behind her.
"Is there a problem, Varnin?" asked Aella, startling all of them.
"Your Majesty!" exclaimed Varnin, bowing quickly before continuing. "Word has reached the castle that the heroes are on their way here as we speak! What should we do when they get here, if you aren"t here?"
Aella was surprised that word had reached Varnin so quickly, and she narrowed her eyes as she wondered if there were some magic involved in their communications.
"How did you receive word of this so quickly? I have been tracking them, and they are easily a distance away still."
Varnin looked confused. "Your Majesty, they were spotted in a small town less than a hard day"s ride east of here."
Aella thought back on her trip from the town to the pits. It had seemed such a long trip, but it had been in a slow wagon. She supposed a horse, riding hard, could easily travel that same distance much quicker. Nodding her understanding, she said, "Don"t worry. I saw the Heroes get distracted again by a fire that I imagine was started by the human military. They were heading north the last I saw them."
Varnin calmed down, but Aella took note of her distress at the thought of the Heroes arriving with no king for them to fight. Could she have been one of the Advisors that the three counselors had met with? Or was she just worried, because the Heroes would be able to kill anyone they wished if she weren"t there to stop them?