Summoned By The Archduke

As we floated down the blasted stairway we saw an enormous whirlwind filled with a crowd of people in black robes with a pattern like the night sky swirling in the vortex. Large starry, black hoods were whipping around, and colliding with people in the vortex. The mages that had been hit with the mana shards had been sucked into the whirlwind. Then we touched down onto the floor, and the vortex died, slamming all the bodies and hoods against the far wall.

Fracas! Ceangail! Ciunas! Somnia! I multicast on the entire pile of people.

Then we found Denjirou. It appeared almost everyone had been protected by a shield, but Kanae's spell was so powerful that when everyone was slammed into the wall their shields all shattered. There were broken bones, concussions, and even some broken ribs, but everyone was still alive. I healed the mages that were cut up by the mana shards. They'd lost a lot of blood, but would survive.

“These are the robes of the former Orphean Cult. We can assume they are all criminals. We'll take down everyone else working for Denjirou, and let the courts sort it all out. I'll send a message to Aoi, and tell them to bring troops to the mansion,” I said.

“Then we'll have to examine every member of my staff. I'll need the four of you to actually fill the positions you were just filling as cover, until I can find reliable people,” Ériu said.

“Of course, you can count on us,” I said.

It took a month to sort everything out, and install individuals to run Marquise Ériu's marquisate. It was a good thing we didn't trust to use her people, as almost half of Ériu's staff were Orphean cultists. We found evidence of other Orphean cult connections outside Ériu's domain. Nearly every leading member of the Orphean cult committed suicide before we thought to check them for poisons. Denjirou survived, but just barely. His mind was mostly a blank shell now, so not much useful information was obtained.

We were able to positively identify three of the people who participated in the murder of Marquise Margaret. Two of them committed suicide, and the other was executed along with Denjirou for the murder. News of the assassination of the Marquise spread like wildfire. The matter of the Orphean cult was suppressed by the Queen. There was no need to cause a panic among the people, or weaken the realm in the eyes of our neighbors. With that concluded, we all returned to the Academy with Ériu.

“So, now that things have calmed down, when can I begin learning to silent cast?” Ériu asked me after my spellcasting class.

“Come to our dorm tonight, and we can begin and schedule times when you can join our study group. If you like. We'll also be practicing what we are learning, if anything, from our Academy classes. So some of it may be old basics for you,” I said.

“That sounds wonderful! I don't mind if some of the material covers what I already know. Maybe I can even help you with the material I know. My time will be difficult, as I now also have my March to manage. I can't completely ignore it during my last year and a half here. I was hoping to attend the graduate grades as well, but I will have to make due with a personal tutor from the Academy,” Ériu said.

“I'm so sorry, but at least we can explore more while you are still here. It will be wonderful having you join our study group. I'm sure there is much we can learn from each other!” Kanae said.

“Yes, it will be truly wonderful! I had given up on making any friends here at the Academy, but now I have all of you wonderful friends!” Ériu said.

“Excuse me, Lady Deirdre Ní Qin. I have a letter for you,” said an Academy messenger.

“A letter for me? Um, thank you,” I said, taking the letter and examining it.

“Who's it from, Dee?” Kanae asked.

“It doesn't say, but this seal looks a lot like the Queens seal,” I said.

“Oh! Oh, my! That's the seal of Arch Duke Setanna Mac Setanna, the queen's older brother!” Ériu said.

“The Archduke Setanna!?” I said.

“The Queen's older brother!?” Kanae said.

“Now what?” Aoi said.

“The letter says,”

His Grace, Archduke Setanna Mac Setanna, Lord ofVesthelm, Warden of the Southern March, Knight Commander of the Mystic Mage Knights, Keeper of the Flame of Kunra

Sends Greeting and Salutations,

to the Red Knight Deirdre Ní Qin,

By the power vested in us by the Crown and our station, we do hereby command your presence at Highmere Keep. Recent matters concerning the borderlands require your direct presence. You are ordered to present yourself before our court no later than the thirtieth day hence, upon the stroke of noon. Fail not in this duty, and bring with you your companions in arms knights-in-training Kanae Ní Dreamweaver, Aoi Takanaka, Diarmuid Ó Neill, and Kiera Mulryan.

Given under our hand and seal,

Archduke Setanna Mac Setanna

“Well, Kanae, looks like you've been outed as a child of the noble Elven Dreamweaver clan and me as the daughter of the abstained queen of the Red Dragons. I see another road trip ahead, in less than three weeks. It took five days for this letter to reach us, and it'll take us five days to get to his castle in the regional capital of Vesthelm,” I said.

“Oh, I know this one! The regional capital of Vesthelm is Vesthelm. What is the city of Vesthelm, Vesthelm like?” Darby said.

“Vesthelm is like any other major city. Vesthelm is a beautiful city, situated at the top of Mount Vest on the shores of High Mere. The mere is the highest mere in the known world. The obsidian sand shores, and lake bed, make it a glass-smooth, black, mirror surface. The stars shine on its surface in the daytime. It's so mystic and beautiful. The most unusual thing is the water stays warm all year long,” Ériu said.

“I wonder what this is all about?” Kenai said.

“Sounds like political theater. It's probably related to the case we just solved. Try not to talk to him. I hear he's a fairly devious duke. He and the Queen have a history. Best if we can avoid riling either one, but finding the right balance is not going to be easy. Word of us is spreading, and as our fame rises so will the political theater. We need to start planning on how to protect ourselves,” I said.

“Oh, how nauseating. I just want a nice peaceful second life,” Aoi said.

“Second life?” Ériu asked.

“She means second life, as in the first part of her life was growing up in the slums, and this is an entirely new life, or rather new experience,” I said.

“Right, that's what I meant,” Aoi said, ignoring the glare from me.

“Oh, I see. Yeah. sure it must be like night and day,” Ériu said.

“Exactly! And on that note we'd better get to class or this second life might come to a screeching halt,” I said.

“Oh, is it that time already? Wow, the time just seems to fly,” Ériu said.

The days passed quickly towards our appointment with the Archduke. We were getting a lot more stares from the students as news of our little adventure down south spread. Many students were also not happy with the fact we had made friends with the Marquise. The jealousy and outrage was clear, and almost boiling over. Some students thought it was all bullshit, and we were ourselves panhandling the stories to make ourselves look more important than we were.

Lastly, Ériu was getting approached by would be suitors so frequently that she needed to have a knight guardian whenever she was out in public, as many guys saw an opportunity to have the easy life as the husband of a Marquise. Ériu was probably headed towards an arranged marriage. I was so happy to not have any titles, or suitors. Arranged marriages? NO. THANK. YOU!

Then the day came, we had to head to Vesthelm to meet the Archduke. I was really dreading this. One thing I was happy about. Kanae and the rest of my companions had settled in to their roles, and were now well enough versed in this world that they would seem like any other native of this world. Our backstory of them being raised in the slums was now totally convincing, even though it caused students at the Academy to look down on us.

What effect our audience with the Archduke would do we had no clue. My status as a princess of dragonkind, was not widely known, and it could only bring trouble for me. Granted as the daughter of one that gave up the throne, I was not a part of line of succession, but would still be recognized as a princess. The 'Lost Princess' in fact. There had been a search throughout the lands by the Red Dragons in search of me. There was still to this day a reward for information leading to locating me. I wanted no part of it.

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The Duke had sent an entire caravan to escort us to his castle!

“I have a really bad feeling about this,” I told Kanae.

“So we're traveling in luxury under heavy guard to meet the Archduke?” Kiera said.

“Is anyone else creeped out about this?” Aoi asked.

“I think we all are, but this sure looks like fun!” Darby said.

“Shut up, Darby!” Aoi said.

And so we departed the Academy and the Capital in a grand and flamboyant style. I think every student at the Academy was staring at us leave with anger, jealousy, and rage. Even in the streets everyone was watching the flight of us peacocks in full dress uniform in the royal carriages. Goddess kill me now. No, she was too busy rolling on the floor laughing to do anything. I so hated the Goddess. Five days later we rolled in to Vesthelm.

The city and lake looked like they'd been carved from the living rock by the Goddess herself. Words could not describe the ethereal beauty of the place. The city rose up from the aptly named Obsidian mountains like pitch black monoliths, and needles stabbing Sunstar and the sky. It was as if the spires were making the sky bleed in the reds and oranges of the late afternoon. The third moon Astara was in conjunction and setting with her lover Lugh the Sunstar. The needle tower of the Keep's sanctuary was stabbing her. She was turned red by the shadow of the Sunstar.

Our visit could not have been timed better, or worse depending on one's view. Vesthelm was the city that had never fallen in any war the nation had been in. It was said to be impenetrable. Seeing it with my own eyes I could believe it. It must be a terrifying and demoralizing target for any invading force. The black walls and the red lights from the windows must look like a hellscape for an invading army. It was beautiful, eerie, mesmerizing, and disturbing all at once. To me, it was both beautiful and terrible. I had no other words, and I was not alone in my awe of the city.

“It's so beautiful, but also giving me shivers,” Aoi said.

“Yes, it's beautifully creepy,” Kanae said.

“Creepily beautiful,” Kiera countered.

“It's terrifyingly magnificent. Is that actually carved from the living rock?” Darby said.

“No, it was built from carved stone and magik. You won't find a single crack or line in the stones. Many consider it one of the Seven Wonders of the world. Pilgrims come from all over to pray in the cathedral to Astara the Goddess of Darkness. It is said that any child with the darkness attribute blessed at the altar there on the Day of the Dead, is fated to have great power. Naturally the city is overflowing with visitors on that day every year,” I said.

“You don't have the darkness attribute, but you have a dark mana and can see dark mana. How is that?” Kanae asked.

“Well, I don't remember much about my parents, but my mother once told me about my birth. I was born here in Vesthelm, on the Day of the Dead, before that very altar. My mother said I was born wrapped in black and red flames. My mother bore a star shaped scare just above her womb from that day on. I don't know what that all portended, but the clerics were all in a frenzy afterward. Something about a prophecy, I think,” I said.

“Wow! You get more mysterious by the day! What's the prophecy?” Kanae asked.

“I have no clue. I've never found any reference to any prophesy related to my birth, the altar, the cathedral, or the signs, or the born in fire thing. Nothing,” I said.

“That sucks. So anti-climatic,” Kiera said.

“That's life,” I laughed.

“A star shaped scar above her womb? What could that mean?” Darby asked.

I pondered for a moment, my hand unconsciously over the star birthmark on my own womb, “I don't know. Probably nothing.”

I noticed Kanae watching me closely. I realized my hand was over my own womb. I took my hand away and adjusted my posture in the carriage.

We pulled up to the Archduke's residence where we would be staying for our tenure in Vesthelm. We all shifted uncomfortably as we pulled to the grand mansion towering in glistening midnight obsidian as smooth as glass. Not a single seam could be seen in the grandiose mansion. The windows on the lower floors all glowed in a reddish black, if black could ever look red. The inner lights being absorbed by curtains as dark as the stone. It was beyond eerie. We all shivered as we got out of the carriage.

“Welcome to Highmere Keep,” said a tall black-haired, black-eyed elven servant in a black uniform trimmed in blood-red accents, with the Archduke's Crest in bright gold and red embroidered below the right shoulder. I found myself staring at the beautiful elf. She looked almost regal and otherworldly. I was at a complete loss seeing an elf working for a member of the Royal family.

“Sorry, um, thank you,” I said recovering, clumsily.

We were escorted to rooms in the mansion, and unsurprisingly the rooms were enormous, luxurious, and amazing. Tomorrow we faced the Archduke. But it had been a long ride, and I found myself exhausted for some reason. I was restless though, and tossed and turned most of the night. I had an unsettling sense of danger all around me and couldn't figure out why. So I ventured out into the palace's garden.

The moons had long ago set for the night and the gardens were lit by the starlight. The stars seemed to shine brighter here than anyplace I can ever remember. The garden glowed in the soft light of many bushes of Moonrose, which seemed to all be connected by a fascinating pattern of glowing threads provided by blooming Starrock flowers. The whole field covered in various glowing flowers of every color, many of which I recognized as potion ingredients. A field of earthly stars competing with the stars above on this majestic night.

The darkness was nearly complete save the starlight and glowing garden. It was a very relaxing garden. Not least of all due to the scent of Somnient leaf, a major ingredient in healing and sleeping potions. It was only a faint scent. Too much of the flower would have put any visitors to sleep. The garden was maintained by a master herbalist to have resulted in just the right combination and quantity of certain potent flowers and herbs.

I shivered. I felt small as small and insignificant as a person can be in a vast black universe littered with stars above and below.

“Extraordinary,” I said to the darkness.

“Makes you feel small and insignificant, doesn't it?” came a voice in the darkness.

I jumped, and whirled around only to see a giant of a man with the most peaceful face I'd ever seen. His obviously red hair seeming gray in the dark of the night.

“I was just thinking that,” I said looking questioningly. Another man, whose eyes were shadowed from me, was standing slightly behind him on his left.

“Sorry to have startled you out of your reverie. It's somewhat late to be wandering the gardens. Having difficulty sleeping?” the stranger said.

“Just restless, and unaccustomed to such luxury and grandeur. I am just a simple girl, and this is all foreign to me,” I said.

“Hardly a simple girl, to be wandering the gardens of Highmere Keep in the dead of night,” he said.

“The night has always wrapped herself around me. I was born in her embrace, so my mother once told me,” I said.

“Oh? Indeed, and where were you born that the Goddess of the Night wrapped you in her embrace?” he asked.

“I was born here on the day of the dead, at her hour in fact. It will be sixteen years soon,” I said.

“Oh, how remarkable,” the man said. The man behind him shifted uneasily. He gave me bad vibes.

“Well, I must be off, to try and get some sleep. It will be a stressful day tomorrow. I should try to be well rested,” I said.

“Goodnight, Miss Deirdre, and pleasant dreams,” he said.

“Do, I know you? I don't recall giving my name,” I said.

“No, you don't know me, but you are a more well known person than you may know,” he said.

“Goodnight then sirs, and may the Goddess wrap you in her cloak,” I said.

“And you also,” said the other stranger, in a voice as cold as the north wind.

I returned to my room and shivered. I settled into an uneasy sleep. I woke in a start when Aoi jumped on my bed in the morning.

“Wake up sleepyhead, or we'll miss breakfast!” Kanae said.

“What time is it?” I said yawning.

“It's almost ten. We've been trying to wake you up for a half hour!” Kanae said.

“I had a hard time sleeping, and wound up in the gardens last night. It was nearly two when I finally settled down,” I said.

“Walking the gardens at night? How boring, you can't see the colors in the dark,” Kiera said.

“It was beautiful, many of the plants were glowing. It was incredible. Like walking among the stars themselves,” I said.

I then told them about my walk and the mysterious men that I met.

“Wow, that one guy sounds really creepy,” Aoi said.

I got dressed in my full dress uniform, and we headed for breakfast. After breakfast, we wandered the gardens.

“Wow! This is a beautiful garden!” Kanae said.

“Yes, it's as beautiful in the day as at night. But they are different as night and day. He he he,” I said.

“Ugh. So lame,” Kiera said. Everyone laughed.

Shortly after a guard approached us, and told us it was time for our audience. We proceeded to the great hall and when instructed we entered. I led us in and noticed the room was filled with spectators in seats on the sides. At the far end of the hall in the high chair I saw a giant of a man with long shocking blood-red hair. I instantly recognized him as the man from last night. I nearly froze in place, but managed to keep my pace. As we got closer I noticed near the front on my left side Marquise Ériu. What the Hell was going on? Our escort stopped, and so we stopped and knelt, while lowering our heads.

“Raise your heads,” came the familiar voice of Archduke Setanna.

“Nobles and guests, behold before you these brave students. Students who, with no regard for their own lives or safety, pursued the cause of justice to solve the terrible murder of Marquise Margaret Ni Delphinia. They investigated and solved the murder and facing great odds subdued and captured the killers and their minions. Exposing the most diabolical conspiracy against our Realm in countless years. It is with great honor that we bestow them with knighthood, and award them with the Order of the Arcane Mage Knights,” said Archduke Setanna.

The Archduke stood up, drew his large sword and approached us. He rested his sword on my shoulder, and said,

“I hereby create you a Knight of the Realm, Princess Deirdre Ní Qin! Arise Knight of the Realm!”

A knight on his right side pinned me with the medallion of the Order of the Arcane Mage Knights and took a step back. Setanna then proceeded to knight the rest of my companions, and they were subsequently pinned with medallions as well. Then the entire audience stood and clapped. Yet out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man whose eyes were glowing with intense hatred, and some other emotions I couldn't determine. Was there also a look of lust in there? The entire place then seemed to turn into a social gathering with many questions and propositions for possible future positions in their households scattered throughout.

“Did you see that creepy guy on the side there? If looks could kill we'd probably all be dead now. What's his problem? Who was he?” Kanae whispered to me shortly after the Archduke had finished his presentation.

“I don't know, but it seems we have a new enemy,” I said.

When Ériu came down to congratulate us, I asked, “Lady Ériu, who was that grumpy looking old dude that practically stormed out?”

“Who? Oh, You must be talking about Count Belldonnar. I don't know what his problem is. Be careful of him, he'd make a very dangerous enemy,” Ériu said.

“It may already be too late, I think he was with the Archduke in the gardens last night, and he was staring knives at us during the ceremony. I rarely see such hatred as his eyes were expressing,” I said.

“Hmm, that's strange. He's always been so polite and civil whenever I've seen him before,” Ériu said.

“Did you know about all this beforehand? You could have given us a heads-up. We were all sweating darts about what the Archduke was summoning us over,” I said.

“Guilty conscious, much? Go ahead and tell me your sins so I can absolve you all. He he he,” Ériu said.

“Oh, ha ha. Seriously though you could have given us a heads-up,” I said.

“I didn't know. No one did. We were all surprised, and by the time we found out, it was really too late,” Ériu said.

“Fair enough. Now I can finally unwind a little,” I said.

The whole affair ended about two hours later after servants had brought out drinks, tables, chairs, and some light snacks. I was heading off to the training grounds to meet up with a knight when I turned a corner and almost ran into Count Belldonnar.

“You are not the chosen one you think you are princess. Enjoy your brief fame. The Darkness is coming for you also. Soon enough. Like your filthy parents before you,” Count Belldonnar whispered, putting special disgust to the word princess.