Return of the Runebound Professor

An hour later, Lee went down to get Contessa. They’d all forgotten about her in the brainstorming session that had followed Noah’s declaration – but, at least thus far, no solution had arisen.

Contessa looked like she’d swallowed a bundle of bees when Lee prodded her into the room and closed the door behind them. Noah chewed his lip, drumming his fingers furiously on his knee as he thought.

He glanced at Contessa as she shifted uncomfortably and pressed herself against the wall, trying to keep their gazes anywhere but on her.

“What?” Noah asked.

“I – nothing. Nothing.” Contessa stammered, swallowing.

“I’m not going to kill you yet,” Noah said. “You didn’t have anything to do with the orders. You just delivered them, right?”

Contessa nodded hurriedly. “Yes.”

“Then you aren’t the problem right now. Do you know why we asked Lee to bring you back, though?”

Contessa didn’t reply. She watched Noah warily, like he was a snake that would strike at any moment.

“It’s because you’re going to have to make a choice. We’re going to do everything in our power to kill or force Evergreen to admit defeat. If she knows that you were working with us, she’ll kill you. But, if you don’t work with us, then I’ll kill you.”

The expression on Contessa’s face told Noah that she was already all too well aware of what he spoke.

“I’m sure you’re probably going to say you’ll work with us no matter what your actual goals are,” Noah said, raising a hand. “That would be the logical move that gives you the highest chance of survival – at least in the short term. I just want you to remember something.”

Noah rose to his feet as some of the fury that was bubbling just beneath the surface of his mind rose forth. Azel’s laughter echoed through Noah’s mind as flame smoldered at his back and coiled down his back in the form of a rippling cloak. The demon was enjoying this, but for the moment, Noah didn’t care. It worked for his purposes.

“The worst that Evergreen can do is kill you once,” Noah said, his eyes locking with Contessa’s. “But if you betray us, then I’ll be waiting for you on your trip to the next life – and I’ll make sure you never make it there. Do you understand?”

The flames vanished and, a moment later, Contessa gave him a jerky nod. The delay was good – it meant that she’d actually considered the full extent of what Noah was threatening. Of course, he didn’t actually have any way to interfere with her afterlife as far as he knew, but that knowledge wouldn’t hurt Contessa.

I need her more scared of me than she is of Evergreen.

“I’ll help you,” Contessa said. “It’s not like I have much of a choice. Evergreen would kill me if she knew what I’ve done already, much less if I try to do anything more. It doesn’t matter now, so you’re my best chance to live.”

“Good. Then tell me if there’s anything that could possibly help us. Does Evergreen have weaknesses? Habits?”

Contessa’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know. She rarely leaves her mansion. I was surprised when she attended the exam to watch Emily. I think Evergreen does care about Emily, but mostly because she’s the heir to the family. If you threatened Emily’s life, you might be able to try to bargain with Evergreen.”

Noah was shaking his head before Contessa finished speaking, but Moxie answered before he could.

“No. I won’t harm Emily, and Evergreen won’t get tricked by empty threats. We need something tangible we can work with. Ideally, pitting her against another enemy would be our best solution.”

“Except the main enemy we know of isn’t interested in helping,” Lee muttered. “Do either of you have Rune Oaths directly with Evergreen?”

It was Moxie and Contessa’s turn to shake their heads.

“No. She uses proxies,” Moxie said. “We’d need something incredibly important to get her to swear a Rune Oath directly with us – but she never would. We aren’t high up enough in the family. Evergreen needs us to be expendable.”

Noah pressed his lips together.

Damn. There goes that idea. I was hoping they could break the Oaths at a perfect opportunity and then I could heal them with the Fragment of Renewal, but if the backlash just goes to Evergreen’s proxy rather than her, it’s pointless.

“What about a surprise attack?” Lee asked. “Most mages are pretty weak to physical blows.”

“Up to mid-level, sure,” Moxie allowed. “But we already addressed that one. Evergreen is a Rank 6. She got her physical domain at Rank 5, so non-magical attacks are going to be almost completely useless aside from possibly surprising her. Rank 6 would have given her a soul domain and strengthened her physical domain, so I just don’t know how we’d manage to do anything to her no matter how we attack.”

“I’m fast,” Lee pointed out.

“Fast, but not faster than an ever-present domain,” Moxie said with a shake of her head. “You’ll just get yourself killed. It won’t work.”

Noah chewed his lower lip. It was frustrating. Every idea they’d come up with over the past hour had been equally useless, and it didn’t look like Contessa was about to supply anything groundbreaking.

Evergreen was just too powerful. No attack they could muster on their own had any real chance of truly defeating her. Even Sunder had its limits. If everything somehow worked perfectly and Noah managed to land a fully charged Sunder on Evergreen, he wasn’t even sure if it would kill her.

“Maybe we’ve been sitting around in the same spot for too long,” Lee said. “I always think better when I’m doing something.”

Noah opened his mouth, then paused. Lee had a pretty good point. Nothing was coming to them inside the inn room. A change of scenery actually had a chance of spurring some new thoughts loose.

“That’s a good idea,” Noah said, rising to his feet and grimacing. “Contessa, how long do we have before Evergreen starts getting pissy that you and Moxie haven’t shown up?”

“Given how long it took me to get here? Not long. Two weeks if we’re really pushing it, but her suspicions will be up if it takes that long.”

“We should aim for a bit over a week, then.” Noah nodded to himself. “Right. That gives us a whole week to figure out ways to deal with this. We might as well get moving.”

“I don’t have a flying sword,” Contessa said.

“Then I suggest you get one,” Noah said. He tilted his head to the side. “Assuming you have to return to Evergreen, that is. If you can’t think of any ways to help us, I won’t drag you there with us.”

Contessa’s eyes widened in surprise. “You won’t?”

“Why should I? You aren’t going to betray us.” Noah raised an eyebrow, his eyes burning into Contessa’s. “You’d gain nothing from it. So, if you want to sit around on the sidelines and just pray that we find a way to win, you’re welcome to.”

Relief shone in Contessa’s eyes. Not too much, but enough. The moment faded quickly, replaced by exhausted understanding. Contessa and Noah both knew it – she wasn’t getting set free. She would be dead either way if they failed.

“I’ll stay behind, then,” Contessa said. “I’d rather spend my last week alive on my own, drunk out of my mind.”

“There’s nothing at all that you can think of that could help us before you leave?” Lee asked, eyeing Contessa closely. “Your life could depend on it as much as Moxie’s.”

Contessa let out a bitter laugh. “As if Evergreen would ever give me leverage over her. I’m a step above Moxie in the house’s social ladder, but we’re both just unimportant side branch members in the end. I’ve got nothing.”

Noah shrugged. “Then go get drunk.”

Contessa darted out of the room. Lee shut the door behind her, then looked back to Noah.

“Is it a good idea to let her wander around?”

“I meant what I said.” Noah went back to drumming his fingers on his thigh. “She really doesn’t have any options but to hope we win. Contessa is self-centered. She doesn’t care about the Torrins. She just wants to live, and so she won’t do anything that will endanger that.”

“Agreed on that front,” Moxie said. She stood up, holding the stuffed cat close to her chest, then drew a slow breath before speaking. “I guess we should get moving, then. We aren’t figuring anything out here.”

“No, we aren’t,” Noah agreed.

He picked up his flying sword as Lee’s body rippled and shifted. Her clothes fell away as she fluttered out in her crow form, landing beside Noah’s travel bag. He slung it over his shoulder, then opened the top for Lee to nest in.

Once she was settled and Moxie had gathered her own belongings, throwing the cloak Noah had gotten her over her shoulders and sticking the stuffed animal into her own bag, the three of them set off.

They made good time through the city, soon making their way out of it and traveling until they were far enough for Noah to use the flying sword. He set it down on the ground before them. For a moment, Noah and Moxie stood silently on the barren hills.

“I didn’t want it to end like this,” Moxie said, her voice so soft that Noah could barely hear it. She stepped onto the flying sword, her hands clenched at her sides. “I wanted to spend the rest of the summer with you and Lee.”

“You will,” Noah said as he walked onto the sword behind her, wrapping his arms around her stomach and pulling her close. “I promise.”

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