Leon Graves's Story

Alain, as he walked, heaved a sigh, thinking. Was a job here even worth it? He didn't know. He supposed he would head to the parapets of the castle, clear his head a little, maybe. In his preoccupied state, he didn't even notice the knight in full body armor until he tipped her arm, "Sorry." He muttered without looking back.

The knight just gave him an annoyed look, but currently, a vagrant wandering the halls (though she had heard of a man fitting that description from some of the servants, who seemed to love to gossip until they noticed her, at which point they hurriedly attempted to make themselves look busy) was not high on her priority list. Though a funny thought struck her. So, that was the heir's new pet. She ignored the man, though made note to eviscerate him should he do something like that again if for nothing more than not paying attention, but also to see if she could make that little girl pissy. No, for now she had bigger fish to fry, and an employer to meet with. Although truth be told, she wasn't entirely happy to call him such, since she was more used to just killing whatever the hell she wanted because she felt like it, not because some big asshole in a castle told her to, but hell, money was money, and it was always nice be able to do pretty much whatever you wanted in the name of 'the crown' which pretty much exempted you from getting in trouble. She pushed open the doors of the main throne chamber and stretched her arms, lazily strolling in to meet the man in charge, "You sent for little old me, my lord?" she asked with overwhelming false enthusiasm. No doubt he would have some trivial errand for her to run, or some little pest to kill. Maybe the man in the hallway? Maybe some of the servants? That would be fun, if not a little tedious, though she kind of hoped it was execution day. She made that up herself, but she hoped he would see eye to eye with her on that, at least. After all, who didn't enjoy a good scream of pain?

Trifect didn’t say another word as Alain left carrying the Heir on his back. He just shrugged, and picked his cane back up. Seems that Alain was in such a hurry, that he left it behind. What a shame. Trifect wasn’t really surprised when the doors shut and Alaizabel appeared. After all, he was used to her by now. “She’s made a blood pact with the servant girl. To be quite honest, I hoped they would have both died. Alas, my hope was in vain. However it is of no consequence, seeing as you are fully revived once again.” Trifect bowed before Alaizabel, out of respect for her now returned powers. “I was aware she had been touched by white magic, though to the extent I was not sure. As far as Alain is concerned, he is an above average theif. He is someone that could be useful for political measures, but my deal with him was one to protect my cover. I figured smiting the man where he stood, wouldn’t exactly leave me looking like the weak old man I’ve worked so hard to seem like all these years. To ruin a cover like that, over someone like him, it wouldn’t be wise. He wouldn’t necessarily be a bad ally to have, but he is human after all. It is your choice naturally. Now, if I may be so bold to ask, what is our next move?”

Leon had been in the throne room since he talked with Aethyra. Dealing with people that have questions and whatnot. It was a necessary part of the job, but one of the least glamorous portions. Aethyra was taking abnormally long to do the task she was given earlier. What was that girl up to this time? Sometimes he rather regretted allowing them to live among him. If he had his own heir, he likely wouldn’t have bothered. He was still under the thought that they could learn to rule the kingdom properly however. Could they really learn though? Only time would tell. As Selphie walked in Leon just looked at her, with an indifferent gaze. “I did send for you. I sent Aethyra on a little job this morning, to bring me a man from the dungeon that the old King saw fit to lock up. However, unsurprisingly she has yet to complete the task, and once more brings dishonor to her name. I wish for you, someone more competent, to complete the task. Bring the man to me, I care not to see my heir at this point. Do no permanent harm to them, and use force only as necessary. Understood? If so you may leave to it.”

Alaizabel raised an eyebrow at his words.
"I have to disagree Trifect, I have plans for both that involve them being alive... for now. But I must admit I am impressed; with the type of magic humans were using I would have guessed blood magic had been forgotton. I wonder if they even realise how powerful they have made their bond..." She looked at her hand, feeling her own blood pumping beneath the pale skin. "Strings of blood bind far longer than any emotion."
She stood up as he spoke about Alain, walking over to Trifect while she listened.
"Hmm, that was probably a smart move. I saw how the princess acted around you, clearly the trust placed in you by the royal family has weakened in her... you should be careful. But you won't need to be for much longer." Her eyes slid over to him. "My powers are now fully restored... it has reminded me of the taste of chaos. I want it back. So as to our next move... we're going to put on a show."
She gave a slight giggle, walking around Trifect slowly while she spoke.
"What I need you to do, my dear friend, is make sure nobody leaves. A spell, a shield, a creature... anything will do. But do not forget that there is magic within these walls, I want it so that only you or I can remove this barrier so that not so much as an insect could leave this place. Meanwhile, I think it's time I met this new ruler himself... if you spread trouble in every corner then there will be nowhere to run... and the princess will have nowhere to hide from me. I will be able to take the time and enjoy her suffering."
Alaizabel stopped behind Trifect, her eyes turning black for a moment.
"If you do this task well Trifect, you shall be rewarded. When this is over, my dear student, I will teach you the final secret to your magic. The one that will finally allow you to become one with the darkness, reaching the highest levels of power. However, should you fail me..." Without warning, Alaizabel suddenly thrust a hand into Trifect's back, her extended talons piercing the skin and digging into the spine. Not enough to kill or even wound, but enough to cause excrutiating agony. "I will be very disappointed in you. I have no use for those who disappoint me."
She held the hand there a moment longer before slowly withdrawing it, her magic healing any scars instantly. Then with a soft smile she raised that same hand to his cheek, turning him to face her.
"But I'm certain you will make me proud." She murmured gently, before turning and walking back towards the shadows. Her voice floated back to him, "And continue your work with Alain, human or not he is close to the princess... he could be useful in the future."
Then the demon dematerialised into the shadows, her senses turning to see out this lord who had taken the throne.

Competent, eh? Even more so than the 'heir'. Heh heh, she liked the sound of that. But even so, she had been right, and it was just another glorified errand. Still, she was not so foolish as to reject Leon's command. She may have been a bitch sometimes, (or, pretty much all the time) but she wasn't stupid. Far from it, in fact. She had seen the man in action when he took the throne from the old king. She knew she didn't stand a chance against him, "Yeah, alright. Kinda grungy looking guy, lotsa knives on him, got a bad vibe to him? Actually, I passed by him on the way here, I think. I'd heard Aethyra had him, but I didn't see her. I'd heard she took a liking to him. Had a feast for him and all. Why would she do that, I wonder." She almost laughed as she left the room. Yes, she intentionally liked getting the 'heir' in trouble. Yes, she liked being a bitch. As she took to the halls, she grabbed Alain by the arm, which caused him to wake up from his trance.

"Let go of me." He said resolutely, no fear in his eyes as he glared the knight down.

When Selphie spoke, she caught him off guard. He hadn't expected a woman to be behind the mask, "Don't get pissy. The Lord just wants to talk to you. The girl was supposed to come get you whenever ago, but she never did. Ergo, he sent me. This doesn't need to get violent." But it could very easily if he was going to be a pain in her neck.

Alain, who was pretty much done with the royals, this castle, and their weird as problems, stood for a moment before finally relenting. This was better than talking to Trifect, wasn't it? This was the older man's boss, after all. Despite wanting to leave, the weirdness was not enough to scare the gold-lust out of Alain, "Fine. But if this is a trap, I'll-"

"You'll what, stab me with your little knives? Scary. Now come on. The Lord has been waiting hours, so the quicker we get there, the better." She said, pulling him in the direction of the throne room. If Leon wasn't happy, she didn't want to be on the receiving end of his wrath.

It took mere minutes to get them back to the throne room, and Selphie pushed Alain into the room, "You want some privacy for this, my Lord, or what?"

Alain looked up at the all important Lord. So this was Leon, the taker of the castle, killer of the old king. New Lord of the castle. Hmm, "You have my congratulations on taking the castle. Not much of an interesting battle from where I was, but I probably missed most of it."

Alaizabel moved through the shadows, hearing their whispers more clearly than ever.
Her powers had made her sensitive to everything that happened in the castle, and right now two events were taking her curiosity.
She had intended to target the lord, deciding it was time to see just how much he wanted the princess alive, when the girl in question caught her attention. She listened as the princess spoke with Parthenia, quite amused by how the girl’s emotions were getting to her. But then she mentioned that she was going to present herself to the lord… and Alaizabel had an idea.
She had wanted to put on a show after all, perhaps it was time for a public appearance.
Her voice gently moved to Parthenia so that only she would hear her.
My dear Parthenia, the princess is right. If all these strange things are happening, then it’s time for the Lord to know about it. You two should go right away, before someone else gets hurt.
Her voice was soft and kind, with a gentle persuasion to it. She wanted everybody to be in that throne room together… so that she could spread some chaos.
With a contented smile, she moved away from those to and headed to the throne room itself.
She observed the meeting with curiosity.
This lord was not that impressive, although she could sense some power around him. With him was a woman, captain of the guards she assumed, and Alain.
Time to have some fun.
Once again she spread her voice between the people, each only hearing their own individual message.
First, to Alain. He would surely remember her voice from the first time, so she took on the same pretty and seductive tone as before.
First the princess fails to reward you, then this lord thinks he can just have you dragged in here whenever he likes… you don’t deserve to be treated this way. These people have some nerve.
The captain was more difficult, she had to play this from a different angle.
He’s making you do the grunt work? Typical man. Give him some power and those that got him there are forgotten, I’m sure you did most of the work for this invasion in the first place.
And finally there was the lord… she intended to make him feel the need to prove himself as ruler, making it easier to make him turn against the princess.
So, you have taken the castle and yet you can’t even control a young girl? Rather pathetic… no wonder you don’t call yourself King.
She giggled to herself even though nobody could hear, waiting to see everything coming together.

Selphie raised an eyebrow as some voice spoke to her...at least, she thought it was a voice. Was it? Probably just a projection of her own devious thoughts, because,honestly, she'd pretty much been thinking the same thing already, the only problem was what could she really do about it? Leon was, for all intents and purposes, stronger than she was, he had proven that on the day of the invasion. She didn't know why she entertained these thoughts. Even so, perhaps one day the Lord would have a mysterious accident. The decrepit little mage with his pitiful light magic would whisper in the princess' ear, but the heir didn't like him, and there was no bad blood between herself and Aethyra. Obviously the Captain of the guard was more trustworthy than some old man who'd probably never seen real combat in his life, 'Oh, Mistress, how good it is to see you. I think we should invade such and such place.' A devious little smile came to her lips behind her helmet as she thought of the bloodbaths she could incite under order of 'the crown'. It was almost enough to make her bloodlust boil. Sure, the here and now was a nice gig, but it was boring, plain and simple. She knew they'd only been at under Leon's 'command' for what, a week or so? Almost a month, maybe? She didn't really care to keep track, she wanted more blood. If the heir would listen to her, they could conquer pretty much everything, just for the hell of it. Leon had his own plans, she knew that much, though usually when he talked about them, all she heard was 'mwa wah wa waaah'. The thought of Leon actually doing that almost made her snicker, but she held it back. Best not to piss the old man off just yet.

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Alain, on the other hand, stayed entirely calm. That voice again...what was this? It surely wasn't in his own head, but to ask such a thing aloud would render any business deal this man had off the table. Even if you had to be just a little crazy to do this job, you usually weren't supposed to let it show to possible employers. And the message...he didn't really want to think of Aethyra or her little servant girl, mostly because it irritated him at the moment. He wanted to give the girl the benefit of the doubt; after all, her faculties weren't really in order at the time, and the little servant girl had rushed her off before she could really respond to his words...still, she hadn't really seemed to try to resist, and Aethyra was capable of stopping the girl from rushing her off, of that he had little doubt. In the end, he gave a mental shrug and pushed her from his thoughts. With any luck, they wouldn't meet again, and then it would all be a moot point. That servant girl, though...he hoped he saw her again. He wanted to teach the little pup a lesson in speaking in ways not befitting a girl of her situation, or of raising their hands in ways of violence to their betters. She probably hadn't even killed a fly before, she almost stank of innocence. He wasn't afraid to kill, or hurt...aside from Aethyra, who would miss the brat? For now, he wouldn't hurt her, but he would do just enough to put some fear in those baby eyes of hers.

His thoughts turned to Leon. 'Dragged him in here'...yes, there always was that, but it was for a job, wasn't it? It wasn't like he couldn't just say no and get the hell out of dodge if he didn't want to have anything to do with this insanity. It wasn't like he'd never dealt with entitled noble assholes before, he was sure Leon wouldn't be any different. He did find he had a sort of respect for the man, though. After all, he'd worked to 'earn' a kingdom, not just be born into it like most Lords. If nothing else, that made him a good leader or an able fighter, perhaps a bit of both. Unfortunately, Leon never bothered coming down to the cells so Alain could see his work personally. Once more, he pushed the voice aside, waiting for Leon to speak and answer him...though he looked to the Lord's face with a little more attention that was necessary. Maybe he wasn't the only one who heard that voice...