FVN 40 – Betrayal
40 – Betrayal
Elise had discovered with her experiment with Naomi that her divine power would last about ten minutes. That meant that she only had five minutes left to defuse the situation before she wouldn’t have control any more. She could always use it again, but she didn’t want to be dependent on it, in case whatever god was giving her that power had a limit to its generosity. Figuring out Emilia’s goals was important, but it would have to wait until she got the drow to safety.
“Step aside,” she told the dwarves at the tunnel. “Let the drow go.”
“What the hell are-?” started one of the dwarves at the door.
“Quiet!” said Elise before turning to the drow. “Go. Quickly.”
She didn’t use {Suggest} or {Charm} that time, but she didn’t need to. They sprinted past the Royal Guards by the tunnel and disappeared into the darkness. Elise was about to follow when she heard Hallbjorn stirring below her.
“Hallbjorn?” she said.
He groaned, and opened his eyes. It took him a few moments for him to fully comprehend what he was seeing. When he did, his eyes widened until they were almost circles.
“Elise?” he asked. “Is that you? Why are your wings-? Your rune! What’s going on?”
“I don’t have much time,” said Elise. “Someone is trying to start a war. The drow’s mother tree was poisoned. So were you. Don’t do anything rash. Just keep digging the tunnel. I’ll try- No, I find out what’s going on and put a stop to it.”
“I was poisoned?” he asked. “A war? Who? Why?”
“Your guards can explain the poisoning later,” said Elise. “And will explain the rest later. For now, I to go. Just know that the drow that poisoned you were being manipulated. They don’t want a war any more than you do.”
“The ghouls poisoned me?” he said, looking angry.
“Please, Hallbjorn,” she said. “Please trust me. I can fix this. I just need a bit of time. I’ll explain everything when it’s over. For now, good bye.”
“Elise, wait!” he called, but she was already gone.
She met one of the drow fifty feet further down the tunnel. She heard armored footsteps from behind, but the drow put her hand to the wall and pulsed mana to collapse the tunnel before they could get anywhere close. They met up with the other two, one of whom had the still-unconscious Naomi on her back, and dashed back into the drow cavern, periodically collapsing the tunnel behind them again.
“Why is it so dark?” asked the drow carrying Naomi once they emerged from the tunnel
“The Mother Tree was poisoned,” said Elise. “You didn’t know that?”
“We’ve been on standby for the assassination since yesterday,” said the woman who had collapsed the tunnel.
“Since yesterday?” asked Elise.
Did that mean that Emilia was planning on assassinating the king before the poisoning even happened? Did she know about the poisoning before it happened? Did she just let it happen so that she would have an excuse to eradicate the dwarves?
“I don’t understand,” she said aloud. “Why is she doing this?”
“Who?” asked the drow.
“Emilia.”
“Was she the one who… made us like that?”
“She has to be,” said Elise. “Who else could have done it?”
“But why would she do that?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense unless she’s trying to start a war. But why would she do that?”
At that moment, Elise’s wings turned back to silver, and she suddenly remembered the System notification that she had dismissed while saving Naomi.
[ More information about {Rune of Fate} is now available. ]
She opened her status window, and internally grimaced at what she saw in the skill’s description.
[ {Rune of Fate}: A rune granted by !@#$%^&* that @#$%^&*. Allows the user to channel divine power. Current charges: 0/3. Cooldown: 29 days. !@#$%^&* ]
If she had known that the number of uses was limited she wouldn’t have tested it on Naomi before. There was no way she could have avoided using it just then, but there was no doubt that wouldn’t be the last time she needed it. Especially if the war Emilia seemed so desperate to cause actually broke out.
“Oh, thank Titania, you made it back!” came a voice from behind.
They all whipped around to see Emilia descending from above the treeline with a worried expression on her face.
“How did the mission go?” she asked.
“Why did you do that?” asked Elise, flying up to her. “Why did you manipulate them?”
“Manipulate them?” she asked. “What are you talking about?”
“Stop playing dumb,” said Elise. “I know you were planning the assassination before we found out the tree was poisoned!”
“What? I would never-! I-!” Emilia stopped and took a deep breath.
Then she smiled.
ago
Right above their heads was an Omnivorous Cyclops Cow. It was staring them down with its lone red eye, as if in disbelief at their obliviousness. Meanwhile, Lyra and Emilia were frozen in terror. Lyra’s hands were still plunged into the water, preparing to fling it at Emilia. The stalemate continued for another few seconds, until a growl started in the back of the cow’s throat, and it broke Emilia from her stupor.
She flew away as fast as she could, with Lyra herself breaking free and following behind a moment later. The cow’s growl grew louder, and when Emilia looked back, she saw its eye starting to glow. She dove to the side, just in time for the energy beam to sizzle through the air where she had just been, singeing the edge of her dress. The cow began charging up another one, but Emilia managed to put a tree between her and it before it could unleash again.
In the time it took her to dodge, Lyra caught up to her, and the two were now traveling together, and going the wrong direction. The cow had somehow come from what should have been the safe side of the stream, and they were only flying deeper into unmarked territory. Soon, they came across three more of the cows, and when they turned to run from them, they found even more. After a minute of desperate fleeing, they found themselves hiding in the trunk of a hollow tree, with the sounds of cows stomping all about,