92 - Mutiny
Vittoria stared at Arielle while the retching sounds filled the air and vomit soaked through her boots.
Perfect. Just a fantastic ending to this godforsaken day.
Ari was still in her assassin disguise but had dropped the invisibility when she arrived at Vittoria’s home. There was blood smeared all over her, both demon and human, and her face was covered in soot.
She also smelled faintly of smoke and hellfire.
Despite all that, and the fact that her friend was spewing her guts all over Vittoria’s bamboo floor, Arielle had a big smile on her face.
She even maintained the slightly maniacal grin as she patted the girl’s back. “There, there.” She said it in that practiced monotone voice of hers, like she knew those were the words she should say but not entirely why she was saying them.
Vittoria shook her head.
She had built up so much frustration in the past few minutes, but now that Arielle was actually in front of her, she found it difficult to express it.
She would be yelling now if it were one of her soldiers who had pulled the stunt Ari did.
They would be cleaning muck for weeks, would run laps every time she blinked in their direction, and would have to suffer the consequences of such blatant insubordination.
But of course, she couldn't do that to Arielle, because not only was she not a soldier, she had also succeeded.
Against all the odds, she had somehow fought the demon and won, and escaped with the antidote, one of the most protected items in the world.
Vittoria had figured she could do it, but she had still experienced several jaw-dropping moments during that mission.
She'd known Arielle was skilled, but watching her enter Yseult's home and take all his valuables without triggering a single alarm...that was extremely remarkable, especially for a girl who had not been trained to do such a thing.
Following her into the main building and seeing her bypass the guards easily was also impressive.
However, the true test came when she entered the treasure chamber.
Vittoria had expected that to be a real challenge that took them several minutes to solve. She had waited to see what the catch was, what extra piece of security Yseult would have instituted to hide the antidote, now that he knew she was coming for it.
She had been expecting Arielle to see it at any moment and was prepared to pull her out when she needed to.
But then Arielle had gone off script.
Even worse, she had severed their connection, choosing to face a high-ranking demon alone.
Vittoria knew Ari was stubborn, but never had she pegged her as stupid or suicidal before.
She was shocked and enraged that she would make that choice, but it had only taken her a few seconds to snap out of it.
Deep down, she’d known there was a chance something like this might happen. The girl had a rebellious streak, and she didn't have a good enough grasp of the concept of fear. She was also willing to do just about anything to save Elric, so Vittoria had understood that, despite her warnings, Arielle’s daring tendencies might get in the way of her mission.
It wasn’t her first experience of a soldier going rogue. Sometimes, they did it out of fear, other times out of compassion, but nearly all the time it ended with their death or some other sacrifice, perhaps that of another team member.
When Arielle had broken their connection, all those losses flooded Vittoria’s mind, and it infuriated her that Arielle endangered Elric and herself all because of a stranger’s scream.
But even as she'd raged, Vittoria knew that this was exactly what she wanted.
Someone who was compassionate, loyal, and wasn’t just a dogged rule-follower or a ruthless sociopath willing to sacrifice others for the greater good.
There might come a time when it would be inevitable, and Ari would have to make that choice.
But luckily, that day was not today, and it was too much to ask for the girl to behave perfectly on one of her first missions of this magnitude.
She was, after all, just a child.
The maid was a child too. She looked pale and sickly, not shocking considering the amount of moisture that came out ofher.
It was almost clear, with very few chunks of actual food in her vomit.
Unsurprising, seeing as how emaciated she was. Vittoria doubted that the girl ate more than a single meal a day.
Eventually, she finally got a hold of herself; her violent ejection turned into coughing as she struggled to draw a breath. She also slowly turned her gaze up to Vittoria.
The expression on her face was like she was looking death in the eyes.
“I-I-I...” She was stuttering so badly that she couldn’t finish the apology. Then she dropped to her knees and gripped her robes, clearly attempting to use them to wipe the vomit on Vittoria’s boots.
Vittoria moved her foot back before she could. "Don’t do that. Get up.”
The girl reacted to her commanding tone as though she’d been shot. She winced, let out a sharp breath, and hurriedly climbed to her feet, her hands folded in front of her, face red hot with shame.
Vittoria used a cleaning spell to wipe the vomit off her boots and her floor.
"S-s-s-sorry," the girl finally managed.
“It’s alright. It’s not the first time I’ve had vomit on these boots.” Back when she was training recruits, it was a common occurrence. The acidic scent of bile was almost familiar to her at this point.
She glanced back at Arielle, who was staring at the Inara.
“Was the journey that jarring?” Arielle asked the young girl. "I apologize."
"No." Inara seemed stricken by the apology, in a haste to reject it. "It wasn't your fault! Never. It was...erm...it’s kind of everything. I’m not sure…” She paled as she looked around. “I can’t be here. I must return.”
"You can’t,” Arielle said plainly. “They’ll kill you.”
“But if I’m here, I’ll die anyway. We can’t leave the sect.”
“Is it a blood oath?” Vittoria asked. She knew the most prominent members of the sect took a blood oath to never leave or betray the secrets of the sect under penalty of death. A maid who was likely privy to a lot of their secrets would certainly be under such an oath.
She nodded and twisted her hands together. "I will die if I don't go back."
“There’s usually an allowance in most blood oaths of that nature,” she said. “To account for things like travel and running errands. Are you not allowed to do those by yourself?"
“Yes, but–”
“So take this to be an errand you're running. The punishment won't take effect for a few days. In that time, we'll figure out what to do with you."
The girl still looked terrified at the possibility of staying. "But with Lady Ishta...I can’t–”
“Wait, are you going to make her go back after the waiting period?" Arielle frowned deeply, stepping in front of the girl protectively. “They’ll hurt her.”
Vittoria rolled her eyes. “You just met her.”
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"No, I didn't. We met before also, in Khor, and talked a little after I saved her.”
“You–" Oh. Now parts of their conversation made sense to Vittoria. The girl had mentioned that she recognized Arielle from Khor, but she didn't take that to mean they had met. She thought she simply recognized Ari’s mannerisms or voice after overhearing her talking to the trolls. Arielle was, after all, fond of discussing things with the monsters she fought.
But it made even more sense that Arielle had directly communicated with the girl after she’d saved her. It must be why the maid was looking at her like that.
"I knew it was you," she whispered, bowing. "Thank you. Thank you so much!"
"You are welcome," Arielle said, looking distracted by Vittoria's boots even as the girl stared at her with such fervent hero worship that it clearly made Arielle a little uncomfortable.
But Vittoria understood. If she were younger and greener, she likely would be looking at her in the same way.
She too was in awe of Arielle’s performance today, even before she’d faced the demon. It was incredible watching her move around the sect with ease, stealing things without triggering a single alarm. Vittoria had never seen anything like it, in all her years.
And despite her fear, part of Vittoria trusted Ari would somehow defeat the demon too.
She had, after all, killed the behemoth with little effort.
Vittoria’s concern had been that this demon was higher-ranking than a behemoth and could trap and kill her in the blink of an eye. Demonic pocket dimensions didn't always follow the rules of real time, and sometimes, an entire war could last a minute.
So Vittoria moved fast, but it was still too late, because Arielle had already won by the time she got to her.
She first had to find the traps that Yseult had set for her–invisible runes that recognized her magical signature and were set to drain the life from her spells and from her. Then she had to figure out how to bypass them by ripping into the ribbons of darkness that bound her spells.
However, that had triggered a response from the Elders and the Demon Lord. They had come for her.
While she fought them, she sent off her portal bird, who had watched through the window and seen Arielle hacking the demon to pieces and escaping with the maid.
Excellent work.
The bird couldn’t make it inside the building without Ari, but she knew Arielle would get out. Since she had killed the demon, there would be nothing else that could stop her, and her portal bird only had to wait for her to exit.
However, there was a bigger demon to worry about.
Luckily, Vittoria had kept it busy, giving Ari time to escape.
She had also set off the small bombs that she had placed outside the compound (ensuring that they didn't touch civilian encampments) to serve as a distraction. It attracted the guards, taking them away from where Arielle was, while Vittoria allowed the demon lord himself to trap her in his domain.
It was a chaotic, fierce battle, and she had already been somewhat weakened by Yseult’s trap and fending off attacks from the elders.
But when the demon Lord split his attention and tried to reach for Arielle too, Vittoria had dealt a fatal wound to the Lord that had caused him to retreat, allowing her to escape.
He wasn't dead. He would return with a vengeance and would likely come for her soon.
But she would be ready then and would ensure Arielle was ready as well.
Because they certainly had a huge mess on their hands, on several fronts.
Ari had robbed an Archmage, killed a demon lord’s son, stolen at least a dozen potions from the sect, and also a maid.
She had broken an international treaty, invaded sacred ascendant property, and broken several other laws while she was at it.
Which meant, if Vittoria was claiming she was behind all of it, she had broken those laws.
Her mutiny was now over.
She would have to go to the council and talk to her mother and accept whatever terms she gave her and undergo a possible trial. Her self-imposed exile was no longer viable.
Vittoria really should be furious.
She should be angry that her great rebellion would now be broken and that her decades-long protest seemed to be coming to an end.
But it was a sacrifice she would have to make to ensure that this was cleaned up as neatly as possible, and Arielle and Elric remained safe.
As annoyed as she was, she was extremely proud of Arielle.
She was also hopeful and excited about the future for the first time in what seemed like forever.
Perhaps it’s not over after all.
She’s my protest now.
Nevertheless, she fought not to mirror Arielle’s smile. She shouldn’t encourage insubordination from a teenager.
“I’ll take care of it,” Vittoria said, running her hands over her face. “For now, let’s get you both cleaned up and healed, and get the antidote to Elric."
"Okay. Which one should we use? I have the antidote from Leviathan and this one from the treasure chamber." Arielle rummaged in her sack, which sounded like it had quite a few things in it, and brought out the two vials.
Vittoria scanned them, using her Vitae and Luxa to take a cursory note of their contents.
The Saint’s blood was unmistakable in both, but the potency was different.
Leviathan's potion also had added compounds that Vittoria was curious to explore.
Perhaps the demon in her basement could help her with that.
“The latter," she said. “Let's go give that to Elric and see if he likes it."
***
Yseult arrived to find the sect in chaos.
Explosions had gouged minor craters in the earth around the compound. Guards were running around with elders yelling out orders. Most importantly, there was a pulsing menace and anger in the air.
Mordius was furious.
Vittoria had been here. She had set off some of the traps he'd set for her, at least the ones in the compound, but they hadn'tbeen powerful enough to keep her.
Of course.
It had hurt her, though, and also had weakened her. So the traps inside should be enough to finish her off.
He could sense the flitters of light in the atmosphere, her signature that she’d left behind. He imagined she was either put down or already dead.
However, no one here looked particularly triumphant. They seemed panicked and fearful.
Yseult immediately felt a headache coming on, as he wondered how many fires he had to put out now.
One of the fires met him first.
“That witch!” Lady Ishta rushed out of the main building down the stairs, surrounded by her maids, with her face red and her typically perfectly secured bun losing a few strands.
Her brother followed, holding an ice pack to his head, looking just as furious as his sister.
“She took Inara!” Lady Ishta said.
“Who?”
“The maid.”
“I know who Inara is. I meant who took her.”
“Who else? The witch that snuck in here! She got into our treasure room, stole from us, and took Inara.”
She got to the treasure room?
Yseult was instantly on alert.
So she had gotten that far, despite all the traps he'd set for her. Bollocks.
If she had gotten into the treasure room, then...
No. She would still not have gotten the antidote. He would know. He’d kept that well hidden.
"Healer Levi is injured," Lord Draco said. “She stabbed him in the chest. He’s still recovering.”
He blinked. That part shocked him the most.
Their new healer was demonkin and an overlord, incredibly durable and powerful. For Vittoria to fight through the traps, fight the demon Lord and Levi, and still manage to get into the treasure room was impressive, even for her.
He needed to find out what had happened.
He pushed past the two Dracos with the lady’s voice still ringing behind him and stormed into the building. He headed straight for the treasure chambers, pulling them open, using his blood and their family spell to reveal all the hidden compartments.
What he saw made his heart stop.
It was gone.
The antidote, which had hidden with all his most painstaking spells, was gone.
H-how?
She hadn't been satisfied with just that. A few other potions were gone as well.
And not a single alarm had gone off.
The room had not collapsed into itself.
No one was here.
He ran his hand through his hair, a ringing in his ear. Heat boiled in his body and his brain. How had she done this?
How had she done this?
He wanted to kill someone. He wanted to kill several people.
Blood rushed thickly through his veins, breaths flaring his nose and filling his lungs at a dizzying pace.
How had it all gone so wrong?
This was supposed to be simple. Elric was nobody to worry about, and they only needed to take him out.
But now it had become a mess, a massive mistake.
Someone came up behind him. “Levi is looking for you.”
“Not now,” he bit out as his heart raced.
No. There was no time to rage and panic.
He had to set things right.
His world was falling to pieces around him, and he needed to fix it immediately before things got worse. He still had another card to play. He had wanted to save it from a more desperate situation, but this was as desperate as it came.
He would need his blackbook first, full of blackmailable material on several assembly members and his supposed 'allies'.
He stormed out, blood pounding in his ears as he walked to his building.
It gave him some relief to find that his guarding spells had been untouched. No single alarm had been triggered, not a single magical signature recorded. No one had been here.
So at least she hadn't had the time to ransack his quarters before she left.
At least that's what he thought, until he got to his room and opened up the hidden chamber that held his black book.
In that second, his mind blanked.
Not a single thought went to completion as he stared at the compartment that should hold his black book, but instead held a throw pillow.
Then, as he slowly revealed the rest of the hidden compartments in his room, his brain broke.
A fire consumed him.
He screamed.