radicalducati 375 Some Will Do More Than Forget
375 Some Will Do More Than Forget
Thalia's mouth twitched upwards as though she was grateful for the directness.
"Well to put it simply Daemon craft works like this. You cast a circle, you call a name and you promise something that you think you can afford. The power comes, but it doesn't leave when you want it to. It marks you and it takes what it wants. It twists the body if you force it through flesh and it binds to the soul if you invite it in. Eromaug's line of magick does both."
The Bracken elder lifted a hand.
"Elemental craft isn't a bargain. It's a bloodright. It doesn't demand oaths to a foreign thing. You're born with it or you aren't. You train it or you don't. There's a cost, of course there's a cost because everything in life comes with a price attached, but with us it's the cost of work, not a price that you pay with your soul."
The Tideglass matriarch nodded in agreement.
"Our lines swear to Hecate's laws, not to a daemon. Her laws bind how we use the gift, not our worth as people.There's no flesh carving, no soul-ties and no hidden chains."
The Highwind spokesman unwound the cloth from his hand and a faint spiral of pale scars tracked over his skin.
"The air that I wield can slice as sharp as knives if you lose focus for even a second. We've kept the wards of old alive, not the great canopy of protection that the kings boasted about while they stole our children, but the smaller ones. Lines that keep corruption from seeping into a town's foundations and runes that keep fields producing well even in hard times.."
A guard at the door let out a low breath and a noble cleared his throat, too loud.
Ann kept her face steady.
"I know the difference between pact craft and bloodline. I also know what people will say when they hear 'Hecate' and 'ward' in the same sentence. They'll hear 'witch' and forget everything else."
One of the Alpha's that had attended the meeting the previous day had slipped in at the back and leaned against the wall, listening intently.
"Some will do more than forget." He observed drily, "They'll spit on them as they pass."
"Then they'll have me to answer to," Ann said without bothering to look at him, "The rules we set yesterday apply to our new guests as well. We are done letting fear cause division and I have made that abundantly clear."
Adam spoke for the first time, his voice level but carrying a clear warning.
"Your silence kept your children alive, I understand that, but your silence has also kept this court unaware of your existence up until now. I have one question for you. Why now?"
Thalia didn't flinch away from the question and Ann felt a sense of quiet admiration for her. It took a lot of guts to come out of hiding and reveal yourselves to people that were known for persecuting your kind in the past.
"Because hiding in corners while Ely stitches bodies together and calls it fleshcraft is a coward's death. Because your Queen doesn't flinch in disgust when people say 'witch' in her hall and because the Lycan King stinks of Eromaug's influence and your portal will carry that same stink if you don't carve the right lines into the metal. We saw your frame going up and we saw the marks that only people who have bothered to read the old books would use. We're here because you're trying to do this properly."
"Your input would be greatly appreciated honestly," Ann said as she nodded to Eva, "Show them the plans for the framework so far."
Eva turned the tablet and pulled up a sketch of the portal's outer ring with Ann's countermark set integrated along the spine plates. The Bracken elder's eyes lit in recognition.
"You even reinforced the breakpoints where the most stress will hit first. Who taught you that?!"
"There were some notes catalogued from my Beta's mother's house." Ann said to a ripple of murmurs from the nobles, "As well as a stack of scanned texts that nobody was supposed to read, plus some of my own stubborn guesswork."
At the mention of Ann's Beta, the Tideglass matriarch's chin lifted.
"Your Beta…Lexi, wasn't it? We know of her."
A new wave of whispers moved through the hall but Ann didn't let it build, instead, she spoke over it, acknowledging aloud what everyone whispered about as they tried to turn it into a poisonous rhetoric.
"Then you know what she is... Human. Witch-born and Daemon-touched. She's also the best Second I've ever seen." Ann answered proudly and defiantly as she stared down each of the nobles.
The Highwind spokesman answered simply.
"Then you already lead by example, My Queen."
"Exactly," Ann said. "Which is why we're not wasting any time on purity tests. If you've kept wards alive, then name what you can do here and what you need. I'll give you the terms and conditions and reassurances that you need, and then we'll discuss oaths."
Adam didn't interrupt once while they talked.
He watched Thalia and the others with the same narrowed focus that he used before mounting an assault. His distrust was clear as day in his posture and the protective instinct of his wolf was on full display as his eyes flashed occasionally. He didn't try to hide either of those emotions.
Thalia glanced across to her companions once and then faced Ann again.
"We can raise four layers of wards between us all and maintain them comfortably without draining any of us totally. An inner ward, an outer ward, a field ward, and a ward set up at the point. The inner ward will sit on the palace, whilst the outer covers the city wall and the yards. The field ward will sit where your portals open. The point ward will be mobile. Ten stones, ten carriers, and they can be reset at new sites each day. They won't stop a spear but they will slow the corruption of Ely's dark magick.They'll also keep Eromaug's corruption from taking root in your stone. They'll buy seconds for you and your people…perhaps longer. Does that sound like it would work for you?"