The Foolhardies 113 Double Trouble

I glanced over to the other end of the table where she sat, keeping in mind not to stare into her eyes less she try and charm me again.

"So, shall we get this discussion in order?" I looked over to Albert Sheridan before turning back to Verania and pointing out, "Both Albert and I were sent here by Darah, probably for the same reason, but why did Lavinia send you to the Westmarch?"

"Great General Folkor," she said, placing emphasis on her aunt's title, "must feel you two are incapable of fulfilling the task set to you."

Verania's lyrical voice was literally like music to anyone's ears even when the words she spoke were scathing to the listener.

"Based on your," Verania's eyes scrutinized both me and Albert, "trifling achievements, she and the other generals must feel like someone with more accolades to their name be more fitting for the task."

"Hold on—"

"Wait a minute—"

Both Albert and I started to speak but were interrupted by Aura's honeyed voice, which, once heard by all around her, easily dispelled Verania's charm.

"It's not nice to use your siren's call on your own allies, Verania," Aura chided.

Verania looked innocently back at Aura. "I was just having a bit of fun, your highness."

Both Verania's and Albert's officers gazed back at Aura in puzzlement. Most of them probably hadn't heard that Aura was actually Aurana. It was a gigantic secret that wasn't divulged to just anyone in order not to put an even larger target on Aura's head.

Luckily, the fact that no one recognized her meant the secret was still safe. But it had obviously served Verania's purpose of causing tension around the table. The pixie really was a vixen.

Although the two girls were smiling at each other, no one bought the act. We could all feel the frigid cold radiating off them both.

It was at this point that Albert, who'd chosen to sit beside me as he didn't want to be near Verania either, whispered into my ear, "I hear those two have known each other since they were children… rivals from the moment they laid eyes on each other."

Somehow, I felt a really strong Mean Girls vibe from Albert's statement.

It was a while later, after the tension died down, that we were finally able to get to the heart of the matter. Apparently, Darah had sent me and Albert here to investigate Great General Garm's relationship with the Scarlet Moon. Likewise, Verania had been sent here by Orryn Timbers and Lavinia Folkor because they weren't as confident in me and Albert as Darah Trickfall was.

A thought occurred to me.

"Wait, so you guys found your own bases too?" I asked, wondering if there were other thieves' hideouts waiting to be conquered.

Both of them had really uncomfortable looks on their faces.

"Then why the hell did you come here all of a sudden?" I asked.

"Scout out the competition," Albert answered at the same time as Verania said, "To see what type of squalor her highness was living in."

I think Aura and I actually sighed at the same time.

"You can come to visit me anytime, Dean. I'll show you Hawks hospitality," Albert said, cheerily. "We've set up in an old fairy fort out west that we'd taken from Dominion lackeys."

"A derelict fort sounds very you, Albert," Verania commented.

"And where are you based, Verania?" Aura asked in an icy tone I'd never heard come out of her mouth before.

Verania was still smirking when she answered, "The Moonlight Marauders are based inside Jester's Court."

My eyebrow rose at that statement, but it was Ashley who spoke out. "You're based in Great General Grimthorn's own city?"

I kind of hated how Ashley sounded so impressed.

"That is the job, isn't it?" Verania shrugged coolly. Then she turned her gaze on me and Albert. "I wonder how you two will accomplish our shared task from so far away?"

It was a fair question, and to be honest, I didn't have an answer yet. I was hoping Thor and his kobold crew would get me enough good intel to figure that out myself.

"He won't always be hiding behind his city walls," Albert said, confidently. "Not when a big war with the Sunspire Dominion's brewing."

"Do you really think the Dominion will invade, Albert?" Aura asked.

"Wait, what?" Luca interrupted, his head leaning past Aura on my left to glance over at Albert who was on my right. "There's another big war coming?"

"Coming?" Verania chuckled. "It's already here, Luca dear."

Albert nodded. "Verania's right. It might not be as large as the last war, at least not yet, but there have been more and more skirmishes recently… both out in the open and in the shadows."

"This is why the Trickster Council is so concerned…" Aura explained. "Apart from the Chancellor of the Moon, Great General Garm doesn't really inform the others what actions he's taken… all we know is that the west is now a powder keg that's one fuse short of exploding."

"And when that happens…" Albert began.

"War… one that would rival the Magesong-Trickster war," Verania finished. "Which one could consider small in comparison to what's coming."

"Why are you so sure it'll be bigger?" Luca asked.

Instead of Verania, I answered my brother's obvious question. "The Magesong clan was one of the small ones, but the Sunspire Dominion is the largest fairy clan in the central region."

"They're not someone our Trickster Pavilion can take on carelessly," Albert admitted. "Perhaps not even without help from another clan."

"Which is why everyone's so concerned with Garm's allegiance… He's holding his own here in Westmarch without asking the other great generals to help him… It means he's probably already getting assistance from an outside source," I finished.

As the meeting went on, the one thing the three of us could agree on was to get out of each other's way. Although Albert and I did promise to exchange information from time to time, Verania begged off and claimed it was every fairy for herself.

"Luckily, Dean and I aren't full-blooded fairies," Albert chuckled.

And with that self-deprecating statement, our meeting was at an end.

With Verania in the lead, the others began to file out of the great hall while Aura, Luca, and I stayed behind. There was another sensitive matter I wanted to discuss, and I preferred no one but the two of them heard it.

I spent the next ten minutes detailing Ty's dreams to them, only stopping to take a sip of elf tea.

Their reactions after I'd finished my story were typical. Luca had gone in panic mode, wondering if Ty had gone crazy from all my stories or if my proximity to him has somehow allowed Ty to tap into something distinctly Fayne in origin. Strangely enough, that latter one made a bit of sense. Perhaps it was my fault my friend was getting nightmares. Aura seemed to think so.

"The Fayne's energies could somehow be leaking out of you and affecting your friends, but," Aura began.

"But?" I prompted.

"Well, it hasn't affected Arah, has it?" Aura pointed out.

"Um, that might be because she's been handling whatever it is… that girl is hardcore," Luca explained.

I nodded. Compared to Ty, Arah was a tigress.

"Still, I've never heard of a non-marked human ever receiving prophetic talents," Aura reasoned. "Even you and Luca didn't receive fairy gifts until after you'd arrived here."

I sighed. "You sure there's nothing else?"

Aura looked away from me. "I… I don't know. Maybe, but… I'll have to look into it before I can say more," Aura said, turning her gaze toward me again. "What about the elf who was watching your house. Are you sure he wasn't scouting you out?"

Even with glasses on Mudgard, I was fairly sure of what I saw. I nodded to Aura.

"If that elf wasn't there for you then perhaps he was there to scout out one of your friends," Aura answered worriedly.

It was a very worrying statement. I'd lost Luca to the Fayne. Arah and Ty catching a fairy's interest was my second-worst nightmare scenario.

"Um," Luca interrupted my thoughts by voicing out one of his. "If anyone's being scouted, wouldn't it be Arah instead of Ty?"

Aura agreed. "Arah does seem like the better choice of the two."

"Still doesn't explain why Ty's getting these weird dreams," I pointed out. I wasn't sure why I felt the need to defend Ty as a candidate for abduction, but it might be because I didn't like how they automatically thought only Arah was worthy.

At the end of it, the three of us couldn't come to an agreement, although Aura did promise to look into it for me.

"There might be something in the lore… but I'll have to check first," Aura finished in ominous fashion.

The very next night, Albert and his forces were getting ready to depart to their own secret base, and I'd arrived early from Mudgard to see him off.

He and I were standing at the bottom of the tower's steps.

"Verania's gone?" I asked.

Albert nodded. "Yeah… she left during the daytime."

"Honestly, I thought you'd have left with her," I said laughing. "But I'm glad I got to say goodbye."

Albert offered me his hand and I shook it only to find that he actually passed me a small packet.

I glanced down at it. "What—"

"—It's just something to help you," Albert scratched his cheek with a finger. "Sorry, I overheard you and your friends talk about premonitions last night, and I remembered something Roger told me about your fairy gift."

"Um, you and Thors discussed my fairy gift?" I asked, surprised. That was a no-no even between allies. Fairy gifts were our trump cards after all.

"It's not what you're thinking. He just mentioned that you had good eyesight and I put two and two together based on what I've learned about you since," he said, raising both hands in surrender. "Don't worry… I'll keep it secret that you've actually got a sense gift."

I raised the packet he'd given me eye-level.

It was a leaf wrapping elves liked to use for their medicines.

"That's something to help you see even clearer," Albert explained as he turned around and mounted his swifthart.

I glanced up at him. "How much clearer?"

He held tightly on his swifthart's reins, and then looked all serious at me, "I'm not sure, but I've heard this particular medicine can help you sense users have an out-of-body-experience like no other."

With that final word, Albert led his soldiers out of the grounds, leaving me with another mystery to discover literally in my hands.

Chapter end