.
I dumped extra Darkness from my core into my Vampire Cloak to intensify it, and extra Wind into my [Flight] skill to propel me upward faster. The attack made no adjustment as it shot under me, but I could not tell if that meant the attacker couldn’t see me, or the attack couldn’t be adjusted. It was a magic I had never seen before, after all.
Gaining more altitude, I dashed to reach the airspace above the tower. No further attack came, so I formed the theory that the attack had been an attempt to catch Lucy rather than a strike against me.
From above, I could see the remains of several floors. The topmost was just a narrow ledge, the next one down having more area, and the one below that even more. They stair stepped downward like that until the first whole appeared at the bottom.
It was unnatural, how such a diagonal break had formed, but it didn’t appear to be a smooth cut from some titanic weapon. Instead, the upper half appeared to have ripped away, with the missing side falling away from the building rather than collapsing into the structure and causing further damage with its falling weight.
I couldn’t guess what had happened to it, but I was willing to bet it had been an attack. No earthquake, tornado, hurricane or other natural event could have caused the upper half of a building to leap sideways away from its lower half.
Descending into the open top, I landed on the complete floor at the bottom and slipped into the shadows below the partial floors above it, where my Cloak would be at maximum effect.
Old Man, talk to Lucy, I directed. See if you can get her to describe what frightened her.
Durandal seemed to be able to communicate more lucidly with the Light spirit. I can’t overhear them, but I think it’s because the method between spirits does not involve mortal words.
Certainly, My Lady, the sword replied.
As I waited, I let my Vampire Sense expand, in order to get a feel for the location. Almost immediately, I discovered the stairway down, hidden deep within the shadows. I proceeded in that direction.
I could already feel Dilorè in my fairy sense, two floors below, and I had the vague sense of another person with her, one who was keeping her presence partially suppressed. They appeared to be quite close together.
A powerful fairy attempted to capture her, My Lady, Durandal reported. She evaded, and the opponent began attacking when she couldn’t be captured. The attacks were quite powerful.
Powerful enough to scare her that badly, I take it, I mused. Unless she was running from something in addition to that?
No, that is indeed what she ran from, he confirmed. As we saw in that attack that My Lady evaded.
With Vampire Sense, I explored the floor below us with some anxiety. I could find no occupants, so I went to the stone stairs that abutted the outer wall of the tower, forming a staircase that curved downward. It was pitch black, but that wasn’t an impediment for me as I descended.
What in heck were they doing down there? They seemed to be standing face-to-face…
This floor seemed unoccupied except by the sort of contents an attic might hold in a room ahead, a quarter-turn around the floor, where I would also find another staircase, leading down to where Dilorè was.
Sucking in more Darkness from the pitch-black air, I reinforced my Cloak’s mana again, then drew Durandal. My other hand went to my combat fan, but then switched to the Starfire Jade Writing Brush. Something about the situation made me feel it would be more useful, although I couldn’t say what.
As I walked, a patch of light came into view, being the opening in the floor for the next staircase downward, showing that the next level down was illuminated.
I had practiced the trick of circulating mana within my spiritual body, where it was better hidden. I began doing it now, setting up a circulation of all eight manas. Then I circulated Healing and Earth in my physical body as well.
Probably, I was cloaked hard enough that nobody would hear my footfalls on the stairs, but I crept down them anyway. My sabatons aren’t exactly moccasins, but Tiana had gained some rudimentary skills in stealthy movement in the knights. I used them now.
The stairs led down to another curving corridor. I passed a pair of unoccupied rooms, a large library and an art gallery. Based upon the contents, despite the fact that we were deep in a dangerous wilderness, this appeared to be the active residence of an aristocrat or rich recluse!
The following room had Light magic providing natural sunlight for a room full of flowering plants. After that, I turned into a hall that led to the large circular room in the center of the floor, where I would find Dilorè and the mysterious other person.
The door at the end of the hall was open, so I didn’t have any obstructions in my path. I walked in, saw my cousin, and stopped, gobsmacked.
I hadn’t expected to find her topless and locking lips with another fairy, her fairy mail skirt and ‘cuirass’ (which is, frankly, a bandeau tube-top) both piled on the floor on top of her discarded sword harness.
The green-haired fairy was invading my cousin’s mouth with her tongue and pawing her bare breast. Dilorè, however, was somehow still holding onto her spear, although from the stoned expression on her face she might let go of it at any minute.
It wasn’t particularly strange that my cousin would be doing this. Dilorè plays around, eagerly and frequently. She doesn’t seem to go after mortals often, but she is quite aggressive with other fairies. More than once, during my first stay at the palace, she had become amorous with one of her various friends or cousins while we were in the middle of a meal or other activity. She has absolutely no inhibition against having an audience. Actually, I suspect she likes having one.
But I was baffled that she would actually delay an important reconnaissance to play around. Once it’s time for business, Dilorè can focus perfectly. Or rather, I was baffled at her until I noticed how dull the light in her eyes was. She didn’t seem entirely awake.
So I tried to wake her. Keeping my Cloak ramped up, I focused upon her and used my spiritual voice.
My Lady, we have a dangerous threat facing us. Why are you doing this right now?
I’m not sure what I expected from her. Shock? Shame? Laughter?
Yeah, okay, maybe I expected that last one.
I didn’t expect her to ignore me. Frankly, the heavy breathing became louder instead, as she seemed to get more into it.
Some fairies might have ignored the rude person interrupting their fun, but Dilorè would never miss the chance to tease her prudish cousin about anything involving sex. And yet, she did nothing of the sort. The scene continued with utterly no reaction from either participant.
I wondered if my cloak was strong enough to prevent her from hearing my spiritual voice, even though I had the sense it didn’t work that way. Then, her spear slipped from her fingers and clattered loudly as it hit the floor. The slow dance between the two fairies’ mouths continued without her reacting at all to the noise.
Dilorè! I practically yelled in her head.
I’ll be honest: I was finding this scene more than a little stimulating, which was a problem, because I couldn’t look away like I normally would do. I had become really worried about my cousin. This was not normal.
The green-haired fairy’s fingers trailed downward from Dilorè’s bosom, passing her tummy and pushing onward into her last remaining clothing item other than her stockings. The scene’s rating now threatened to move from T to M.
I quickly sheathed Durandal, then moved quickly across the room as I continued speaking to her mind.
Dilorè, wake up! Do you know what you’re doing right now?
“Mmph,” she responded finally, breaking out of the kiss. “Huh?”
She was still groggy, if not in a trance, but at least she was responding.
Oh, for… My Lady, wake up!
She dodged the green-haired fairy’s mouth as the woman tried to reclaim her lips, and stammered, “What’s… where…”
I reached the location directly behind her. I could sense a heavy amount of dark mana involved in whatever the woman was doing, so I put my hand on Dilore’s hair and poured simple Light into her to counteract it.
The other fairy immediately jumped backward a step, her head whipping around as she yelled, “Who’s here? Show yourself!”
From all around the room, vines began snaking out, moving around as if searching for something.
“What were you doing?” Dilorè whimpered at her. “I said, I can’t stay here! My baby…”
The other fairy gave her a fond smile and cupped her cheek with a gentle hand. “Dear child, you don’t have to worry about your baby. You can stay here with me.”
“Uh….” Dilorè breathed out, then shook her head. “No… I…”
I glanced with concern at the approaching plant life. Sooner or later it would find me. It had no normal senses for my Cloak to interfere with.
“It’s fine, child…” the woman crooned.
“I need to… save my baby…”
Dilorè’s daughter, wherever she is, is many decades older than me. In fact, she should be an adult fairy by now. But they had been separated when she was still an infant.
That’s right, you need to save her! I insisted. You can’t waste your time here!
My cousin broke away from the woman again, backing into me, so I took that opportunity to push more Light into her. It did seem to help, the first time.
“You’re behind her, aren’t you?” the fairy snapped, and the vines all adjusted their courses, seeming to track more in my direction. She didn’t apparently realize I was literally touching Dilorè though, since they were shooting for various destinations in a line behind her.
This woman was clearly the same dryad tribe as Möemnen. I remembered the trouble I had, escaping her, and the fact that I didn’t have Kiki to help me this time.
I had something else though. I grabbed Dilorè with my free hand and pulled her away, then sent tendrils of blood at the woman. They snaked around her like coils of rope, ensnaring her arms.
“Vampire!” she shrieked, enraged. “You dare invade my home?!”
I sent out more tendrils to grab up Dilorè’s discarded gear and clothing, then used the Writing Brush to send a stream of Fire into the path between us and the corridor, blasting the vines out of the way. Carrying Dilorè in my arms with her spear tucked under my arm and the rest of her things piled on top of her, I dashed for the exit.
