At the dawn of the third day since his arrival in the village of Tarbes, he was ready to depart to la Roch.e.l.le, the aerial port in Gallia. Thank the doc.u.ment he receives from the king, he now knows that the griffon wouldn"t be able to fly the three of them their direction, the distance to large for it to cross.That signifies that they would need to stop at the port city to take a flying ship to rejoin the floating island. Since the academy and Tarbes weren"t that far from the city, he would be able to rejoin the city in a few hours of flight rather than the three-day travel by horse.
While they have a griffon, he wouldn"t be able to fly with the three of them on longs distances. He guesses that once the border" crossed, Tristain wouldn"t have the authority to send soldiers to pa.s.s it without conflict, more so when Gallia was said to be under the reign of a madman.
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Taking advantage that it was still a good hour shortly before the sunrise, he pushes the door open when he see light inside the house. Why thinking of the lack of security he came across Siesta herself preparing breakfast for her family, he dad already awake and eating.
Hearing the door opening, the two turn their head, surprised to see Alex after three days.
"Master, how did you found your way back? I was thinking that I would have to go search for you tomorrow?"
"Your lack of faith as of my capacity to found my way in those tunnels aside, I exit it by the air." Respond him dryly, making her blush and lower her gaze, her father on the side perk a little at this.
"You were able to make it fly again?" Excitation was slightly perceptible in his voice.
"Yes and no, I had to deconstruct it and built another one."
The two seems perturbed at this, feeling their confusion he continue.
"As I say the dragon plumage was nothing else than an aircraft, a means of transport, it isn"t alive, it a machine."
"Machine?" The word, completely alien for the older man.
"How to put it... I know you know that the knight of the princess had those contraptions that fire a ball?" Ask him, seeing the two nod back, he continues."That a type of machine, something constructed from metal and other parts to allow those without magic to fly. A little like a dragon, only it was created, not born."
While it shares some light for the two, they hadn"t the needed knowledge to completely understand shat he was speaking off.
"Nevermind, I just came to say that I was finished, I will depart to la Roch.e.l.le today, and if I"m unable to catch them before they take the ship, I will pursue them."
As soon as he finishes, Siesta worried.
"But you can"t go their alone, it too dangerous?!" Says her while grabbing his sleeves.
Putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, he looks at her."That why I will go alone, don"t forget that I can use magic and is stronger than any men. It would only make you into unnecessary danger to bring you along. I want you to return to the academy, Kirche needs you there more than I will need you now."
While depressed that he wouldn"t bring her, she could understand that she would be only an extra burden. Nodding sadly, she takes a step back, letting Alex free.
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While she couldn"t go with him, she would neither less see him off. When the two exit the house, they were surprised to see the hovering metal thing two-meter above their house. In a single leap defying gravity, he gracefully lands onto one of the wings without a sound.
The airship didn"t even bugle at his sudden weight, reacting immediately and stabilizing in real-time. The only thing betraying the presence of the crafted aeroplane was the nearly imperceptible hum from the gemstones powering the runes.
If the sight of the plane was strange, the fact that Alex vanish inside it when it was physically impossible to blow their mind off.
While they were standing silly, outside, it vanishes from their sight as a ripple pattern runs through it. As the soft hum slowly recedes until stopping, they know that he had departed.
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Unwilling to bring any attention to him, he flights above the cloud and under the sound barrier speed. The travel until the city was uneventful, but it was a forgone conclusion when your the only one in ht esky and able to see for hundreds of meters all around with nothing to hide in than the clouds.
Even then, the infrared captor would pick any source of heat higher than the cloud in a half-mile area.
With the map given by the king scanned and had to the navigation system, he re-activate the camouflage and goes down when the surrounding start to correspond to the outskirt of the city.
Flighing still at a 200 feet alt.i.tude, he land when the screen displays an ever-growing amount of heat source. sifting from a real view, he sees the city starting to appears, half a mile further.
Climbing out of the plane, he takes it into his storage while taking longboard, out. The board was nothing more than his crafted s...o...b..ard. Made of Evans steel, it shares a good part of the runes cl.u.s.ters from the plane. While it wouldn"t be as fast, nor having a camouflage of weapon on it, it was a suitable mode of transport that would outrun any beast driven contraption.
He doesn"t know how it would fare against dragon or griffon, but that was alright in his eyes, it wasn"t made to be a racing device, but a safer mean to close large distance.
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Like the plane, it was powered by runes inscribed" gemstones, the only difference was that he would have to direct it with his feet rather than hands, but that was all.
Putting his feet into the slot, he feels the board anchor them safely, connecting the system to his revamped boots. In a soft hum, the board hover, and with a slight pressure of his left foot, was propelled forward.
While the board was gaining in speed, he takes out the pair of goggle he crafts the previous day, after the board, and wear them. Those goggles weren"t only here to protect his eyes of the wind but were also enchanted.
On the light green tainted gla.s.s, a gaseous like trail appears a few feet away. Directing his board toward it he soon came into the dirt road traced by countless of stomping from human, beasts and carriage.
Near enough, several other enchantments start to come to life, a.n.a.lyzing the leftover the trail. He soon receives results from them, being only a few hours all, and bearing two other magical signatures, he knows that the chance that it was Wardes were high.
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It was easy to track the trail outside the city, but the nearer he came, the more other signature start to mix in, making it more difficult to follow the initial lead.
Its arrival didn"t pa.s.s unseen as none have ever seen a hovering board before. Few soldiers were tempted to arrest him and confiscated it to send it the palace for recompense, but when they see him tear through a local tug wanting the board, they choose to take a more wait and see position.
Even though it wasn"t simple to follow the trail, he was neither less able to do so thank the particular MS of the griffon, as none other could be found into the city.
"Thankfully, none every kingdom have established military troops, otherwise I would have need days to track down the good griffon."
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Stopping near the inn they seem to have stopped by, I turn into an alley, storing the board, before shifting a little, turning my red hair, white, and green eyes, blue.
While I haven"t seen a lot of people my height, it should be enough to throw off the guards that haven"t stop to follow me since I enter the city. I know it wasn"t the brightest idea to enter it riding the board, but it did safe me a lot of time, and I wasn"t against putting them in their place, should they attempt to steal from me.
Jumping on the roof of the nearest building, I stealthily make my way until the inn. With enough chance, they would be sleeping off the way they made until here and I would be able to sneak in. Looking through the tainted gla.s.s, I enter the Inn through a window, rapidly catch my intended trail.
From what I could see, they are only a few strong MS, a sign of mage, but what catches my gaze was the LACK of MS from the third one. How can I know that they were a third party? Simple, while all inhabitant of this world has magic, none all could use it. It transcribes into a more or less "contaminated" trail, the stronger the mage, the less natural magic would be mixed into the trail. The third one, while releasing a magical trail is completely untainted, signifying that while magic enters the body, the person doesn"t have the magic to taint it, and only two-person here didn"t have magic, the first was already dead and the second has been at least accompanying Wardes, Louise.
Focusing onto the trail, I rapidly made my way to the door.
"Moron."
The two high MS have separated into two different chambers, with the blank MS following the one on my right, before a fresher one had entered the other. Approaching and putting my hearing against the door, I could hear the moans, grunt and creaking of the bed.
Taking the handle in hand, and an unlocking charm latter, I push the door, my two-tail sprout in my back. Casting a silencing charm at the door"s hinges, I enter inside the room without a sound.
As I was thinking I could see Wardes back while he was ploughing a moaning Louise, who was thankfully hidden for me by the man larger frame. Creeping just behind him, I could see Louise "s head, her eyes shut from the pleasure she was feeling. Without waiting, a stunner strikes each of them through my tails, making him fall on her.
Exiting the room, I lock their door, and rapidly open the second, finding Henrietta sleeping on the bed. Closing the door behind me, I take my wand and start to cast diagnostic spells above her body.
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Alex sigh in relief when he discovers that the man hadn"t touched her, only put her to sleep through a potion. Now knowing that she was safe, he wards the room with strong privacy and counter-strike wards.
Entering the other room again, he does the same, and then transfigure the sheets into a gown for the two of them, before levitating the two on a chair, covert in heavy chains.
Starting with the strawberry blonde first, he enervates her. Fluttering eyelashes before taking in her surrounding still, she didn"t have the time to understand what happens when she hears it.
"Legillimen!"
Blasting through her brain without care of the possible damage, he hunts for any information. He soon found what happens. The girl has been compromised for years since her young age even. Going through the memories, he could see her encounter Wardes when she was around five, him appearing sixteen.
Even from this time, she seems unable to perform any basic magic, being soon denigrated as a failure by her family. He saw Wardes worm his way in her heart, plotting to use her to go through the princess and her readily agreeing.
Years past, she became a childhood friend with little Henrietta, building strong bond, but still keeping her hatred for her family and the ruling power at the origin of the caste. He rapidly goes through the following years, until the summoning ritual, the plot to fake the arrival of the commoner, a spy brought by Wardes to her, the plot concerning the exhibition, knowing that Henrietta would come to see her personally.
They would have used the spy to kill her and then Louise the spy turned familiar, coming closer to the royal family, before striking at least the king, and if possible the queen too. He saw his arrival wrenching their plan, hastily making another to get rid of the incoming royalty, before a botched attempt when seeing her arrive alive at the academy.
Finally, the last attempts to abduct the princess to use her as a bargaining chip with the Albion royal family, to lure them out of hiding.
Exiting her mind, he blasts her with another stunner, before turning to Wardes.
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Having all he wanted from Louise, he enervate the man, striking him, when he attempts to get out of his chain and enter his mind, having successfully drawn his gaze to him.
Going past a large amount of information, he hunts for precise memories, the one containing the emplacement of Reconquista HQ, or any other vital information on them.
As he was thinking, since the man was among them for a long time, he has raised to a high position among them. What he learned was worrying.
They had already overtaken the royal family, killed the royal couple and chasing after the crown prince, Wales, to whip out the last heir. War had plagued the northern land of the island, and now Reconquista was at the head of a 70,000 military that was scheduled to invade Tristain as fast as Wardes bring the princess and Wales was eliminated.
Seeing that he had already sent a message that he was in La Roch.e.l.le and would be there the following morning Alex was facing a dilemma, he could either return to the palace with the three, warn the king of the near invasion, and lost the last scion of Albion, or he could fly to Albion, take the three of them with him and strike before they could exit the land while attempting to save the prince.