The Foolhardies 173 Clear And Present Danger

"For the nth time, it'll work," Al insisted.

I kept my eyes on the golden loops formed in patterned swirls that went around the bracelet and remembered the magical chains that were wrapped around Luca's neck.

"Luca… you sure you're good to go?" I asked.

I turned to face my brother who had a bandaged around his neck and nape which conveniently covered the magical chains that would be revealed by the rising of the sun which was coming very soon.

"No migraines and the swelling's subsided," Luca answered while giving me the thumbs up. "Besides, I want payback for that earlier ambush."

I sighed heavily. There was no use insisting Luca stay back and chill as he was even more stubborn than Edo when he set his mind to it.

"Enough of your whining, Dapper," Dain growled. "Let's review the plan as previously discussed."

"Yes, let's… all this male bonding is beginning to make my skin crawl," Verania added.

Verania's lieutenant, a wily older pixie going by the name of Sutherland, laughed politely at his mistress' biting wit.

I sighed again and thought back to the moments after I shared the info the Inquisitor had given me with Darah and Grimthorn. Their decision to saddle me with my three rivals was a bad one, I thought. No way we could work together to foil this plot.

"The Great Generals have a.s.signed their own guard to protect key positions within the Palanquin Palace's grounds here and here," Al said, pointing out several spots in the map laid out on the table between the four of us. "The palace guards are in charge of the gates and entryways plus the Patriarch's quarters in the palace's west wing."

Al pointed to the spiral tower on the southern edge of the palace's roof which the four of us and our lieutenants were currently on.

"Our job is to scout out the vulnerable areas between the well-protected spots," Al reminded us.

"Most of our units are patrolling outside the city… we probably have fifty people between the four of us… That's not enough manpower to guard all those locations," Dain reminded him.

"Yup," Al agreed. "The Palanquin Palace is ridiculously huge…"

"We don't have to," Verania interrupted. She sent an icy-stare my way. "If what Great General Darah said was true then Dean can tell us exactly where we need to go."

The three of them turned their eyes on me, and I swear I could see a hint of jealousy hidden behind their intense gazes. Even Al was looking at me with a slightly less friendly stare.

"That's a.s.suming this thing works," I said, raising the arm that the new bracelet was wrapped around. "I've never even heard of a temporary anchor before."

"It's rarely used," Al admitted. "Most viseres don't like to spend their nights and days in the Fayne, you know."

He tried for a smile which I a.s.sumed was born out of guilt at his earlier glare.

"This should keep you in the Fayne even during the day unless you take it off," Al explained.

Sure enough, Sol, the Fayne's dull yellow sun, painted the horizon in fiery orange as it rose up to the sky and bathed us in dawn's glow — and I didn't disappear.

"Holy sh**, it worked," I breathed in as I gazed up at Sol in disbelief. "I'm still here…"

"What an unfortunate but necessary evil, Verania," said dryly. "Now, why don't you used your legendary gift and impress us all with your… adequateness."

In a lot of ways, the Fayne was the exact opposite of Mudgard. They were like night and day, literally. And while we humans worked during the day and slept at night, fairies did the opposite. This initially had to do with some fairy species having an allergic reaction to the sun. Some troll breeds, in particular, turned to stone at the touch of sunlight. However, most fairies just preferred the magical light of Idunn over the harsh light of Sol. So while the sun was up, fairies hid in their lairs and gilded palaces and dreamt of the coming night.

Why was this important? Well, if most fairies were asleep during the day then it would also be the perfect time for nefarious plots to come into play. a.s.sa.s.sinations in the Fayne actually happened in broad daylight.

This fact, I learned a few hours later, during midday, when, after choosing to tune out Verania's ridicule and Dain's whining, I used Fool's Insight for the seventh time and scouted out the scenery below me.

From my vantage point in the sky, I could see much of the Palanquin Palace's grounds below, but zooming in was necessary for me to make out individual locations more clearly which meant I was more limited in what I could see.

However, as my sight pa.s.sed over the southern gate and its adjoining courtyard, my eyes flashed on the number of bodies lying on the ground. All of them belonged to the palace guards.

"Luca… how many guards were stationed in the south courtyard to the right of the Garden of Mana," I asked quickly.

My brother must have noticed the urgency in my voice as he looked through the stack of scrolls on our table and quickly found the information I needed.

"There are a hundred palace guards stationed there including two well-known captains who work directly for Chancellor Kairon," Luca read out loud.

"Well, I think they're all dead," I said ominously.

I felt rather than saw the group around me stiffen.

"Impossible," Dain breathed. "The palace guards are elite soldiers trained specifically for defensive maneuvers…"

"Everyone's down…" I relayed to them what I could clearly see with my bird's eye view of the courtyard. "I don't know how but no one's moving… I think they're all dead."

"You must be seeing things wrong," Dain insisted.

"I see things pretty well, you know," I responded with a little more hostility than usual. "And I'm telling you that they're all dead."

There was another bout of silence following my statement which really wasn't productive at all as we could have at least be sending sprites out to warn the other groups in the palace. It was a fact I clearly pointed out to the rest of them.

"Let's send word to the council as well as to the Starfall clan's entourage just to be safe," Al agreed. "Riardon call the sprites—"

"—Calm down, Sheridan," Verania warned. "We can't alert the council or any of our other allies about what Dapper saw…"

"What? Why not?" Al asked surprised.

"Because then we'd tip off the a.s.sa.s.sins that we know they're coming," Verania explained. "Or did you forget which groups were mentioned in the Justiciars intel?"

Al began to protest but then stopped himself. He, like the rest of us, knew exactly what Verania meant. It wasn't just the drow we'd seen, there were a lot more parties involved in today's plot, and no one knew who'd set this in motion.

"a.s.sa.s.sins from the Claw, the Under Ring, The Crippling Blades, the Blood Monks, and worst of all, the Hashas.h.i.+n…" Luca enumerated. "These are the worst of the worst of the criminal underworld…"

"Informing the council now will only alert these experts that we know they're coming," Verania insisted again. "But… if they weren't any wiser then we might be able to turn the tables on them."

"You want to ambush the a.s.sa.s.sins?" I guessed.

"Smaller numbers don't matter when you have the advantageous ground," Verania explained. "And I have confidence in the soldiers I brought with me. I a.s.sume you three are the same."

"The council and other guards are all aware of the situation as it is," Dain reasoned. "Our information might just cause chaos in an already well-planned formation."

It was at this moment where I decided to release Fool's Insight so I could look at my fellow young commanders and confirm the decision in their faces.

By the determined look on his face, Dain had come around to Verania's line of thinking, believing that we alone could take advantage of this situation. That was very dangerous thinking. Al, on the other hand, looked like he was still undecided. It was up to me to either agree or turn things around.

I glanced down at the map and saw something written there that filled me with all kinds of dread.

"The southern courtyard… it has a direct entrance to the southern wing, doesn't it?" I asked in a whisper.

I expected the response I already knew the answer to.

"Yes," Al answered. "It's right past the Garden of Mana which is next to—"

Al just realized what I realized, and the color drained from his face as it had with mine.

"Warn everyone…" I ordered. "Do it now!"

I jumped out of my seat and rushed toward the stairs. Luca followed quickly behind me while Al ignored Verania's protest to hold on and think about it.

Verania must not have known, or if she did, then she probably didn't care. But the southern wing was home to the princess' bedroom, and last I saw her, Aura was exhausted enough by the talks that she looked about ready to drop.

She was probably sleeping now and was no doubt defenseless, and as I ran down the steps, the sunlight bathing me in a fiery orange glow, I prayed to whoever G.o.ds or spirits or even devils that would listen that I wasn't too late.