“Hrrrmph” Marshall grunted irritably, showing no interest in proclaiming his admiration for the tactics of cultists. The old man glared at Graymoon, giving him a sharp look. “How many of your men have you lost, man?”
“I confess myself to be unclear on the exact numbers….but upwards of fifty, at the last count” Graymoon responded darkly, already deep into the cup that Frederick had handed him. “The five that accompanied me today are definitely dead, but the others…I am not sure, although I always assumed…”
“—in any case, if this brother of yours is the recruiter, then the priority should be to hunt him down and destroy him” Marshall proclaimed to the room at large. The man scowled at Sharon, but a small spark of something that could possibly be fleeting approval showed in his eyes. “You did well to find their base of operations at least, Dal’dieb. I assume you purged the room of all vile traces? Destroyed their pentacles? Sanctified it to the Light?”
*
Downstairs, Marshalls assistant was making a hasty exit from the ugly scene at the atrium, down one of the many corridors in Sharons mansion when a door in the wall creaked open and a dark shadow lunged, grabbing the hapless girl by the wrist and pulling her into the servant passage as the door shut behind her with a quiet click.
“Shhhh!”
“Oh hi, Li”
The other said amicably, whereupon Liaena dropped her hand to frown up at her. Despite there not being the vast disparity there was between Liaena and the Night Elves, she was a good inch shorter than the other girl. “I need you to help me out with something. Come on”
“Oh. Okay”
*
Upstairs in the corridor outside Sharons room, a door flush with the wall creaked open and Liaena spilled out, dragging Kathlin along by the sleeve as she took a quick look around for Night Elves and then made a bee-line for Sharons room. Shutting the bedroom door behind both of them, she locked it before heading straight to the wardrobe. Bowls of warm water and towels were already set out, courtesy of Frederick.
“Wow…” Kathlin mumbled as she took slow backward steps into the room, the better to take everything in. “Li, your boyfriend has a really nice house. A really, really, really…”
“Would you please focus!?”
Liaena snapped as she pulled two identical sets of navy robes off hangers and threw them onto the bed, to which Kathlin turned around and smiled at her. “Oh sorry. How have you been?”
“What? Fine.” Liaena responded confusedly as she started to strip out of her filthy clothing, pulling the chainmail shirt off for it to land with a loud clank on the floor. “Now listen. I need you to be me for just a little while”
“…that sounds unhealthy”
“Shut up. I have a potion that’ll make you look just like me, so all you need to do is wear my clothes and sit in that room with the Night Elves until I get back” Liaena retorted as she produced a small vial out of her bag for inspection. “See? You’re going to be my alibi”
“….right” Kathlin mumbled as she took the vial and held it up to the light. The insides were pitch black and slightly translucent as shimmery bits floated around within the glass. “An alibi for what?”
“Gngh. There’s an elf with a black cloak in there, and she’s got something that I want back. It’s important” Liaena chewed on the inside of her cheek before responding finally. Washing herself down as rapidly as possibly from the basins that Frederick had left, she dunked her head in the water to claw out the dried on gunk before coming out again dripping. “So, will you do it?”
“Sure!” the girl responded cheerfully, before immediately throwing the vial a dubious look as though she was already regretting her rash decision. “Although Li….how long does this last?”
“Uh” Liaena was already rummaging in her wardrobe to produce a similar looking satchel, taking a few vials out of her own to populate it. Pulling one of the sets of blue robes over her head, she gave the other girl an isn’t-it-obvious-look as her head popped out of the collar. “…Till you take an antidote?”
“And you have an antidote?”
“Yes!”
“…..”
“I have an antidote, and it’s even been tested” Liaena said sniffily after a few seconds of being on the receiving end of a sceptical look. “And what would be so bad about being me forever anyway?”
“Your grades are terrible. When will you be back then?”
“Uhh….soon” Liaena said carefully, already edging away towards the door. “Ohhh, and…could I have some of your hair, too?”
“….”
“why?”
“nothing-major-I-won’t-commit-any-crimes-with-it-honest-thanks-so-much-kind-of-in-a-hurry-right-now!” Liaena gabbled as she leaned forward, plucked out a hair and set off rapidly towards the door. “I’ll-see-you-later-you’ll-do-great-lock-the-door-behind-me-byeeeeee!”
“but…”
*click*