Chapter 806 (1/2)

“WHAT IN THE LIVING FUCK!?!” Ophelia bellowed. The stone building shook around the three of them with the force of the expletive. Shal kept his face studiously neutral as he allowed the noise to wash over him. Aylwind’s only response was a dull grunt. Both men watched as Ophelia waved a hand and shattered a wooden chair into splinters.

“For all it was a useful tool, it was still of the Wights,” Aylwind said when Ophelia finished hyperventilating. “So-”

“Do you know how fucking dumb you sound?” Ophelia hissed. “It was a tool of the Autarch! The Wights were a nameless collective of energy led by a spiritual being that the Spearman destroyed hundreds of years ago. The Autarch we know now is the Spearman. It was his tool, honed to a purpose. And that purpose-”

“Is accomplished, is it not? They were a means to an end. To loosen the image of Tellus.” Aylwind scowled and scratched the back of his neck. “That has been done. Do not belabor the point; your anger is not becoming.”

“Fools. I’m surrounded by fucking fools.” Ophelia threw her hands at the ceiling. The ceiling and the floor above it were annihilated by the casual gesture. Bits of debris clatters to the floor, but most of it was simply gone. The casual display of power did a lot to cool Shal’s mood. Above them, the sun seemed to peer down through the open roof into the room.

As the powdered wood floated downward, Shal’s eyebrow twitched. With a supreme effort of will, he suppressed the urge to reach up and knock away the sawdust with which he had been dusted.

“No matter your age, you behave like a child,” Aylwind muttered, but it was actually quite amusing to Shal that Aylwind kept his voice lowered. It was clear which of these two Masters held the power in the relationship. Which made Shal wonder whether he would be able to best Aylwind in combat.

It would be a close thing he suspected, but Shal believed he was almost there.

“Still,” Ophelia said, patting the dust off of her leathers as though she hadn’t destroyed the entire building above their meeting room. “All is not lost. Due to the fighting, there is no doubt that our chosen champion has benefitted from the Wight attack. Shal, have you reached Level 99 yet? Are you close?”

Finally, Shal could very easily resist the urge to smile. Some part of him sensed that something very bad was about to arrive in this room. “What do you mean? I am far from Level 99. I barely reached Level 98 during the attack. The scant few Witch Kings I could find were far from enough to level me.”

Ophelia’s wild frustrations were amusing. The new deadly stillness as she affixed Shal with an incredibly intense look was far beyond that. “Repeat that.”

Shal considered for several seconds before responding. “You have heard what I said. There is nothing more to clarify. I am far from Level 99.”

“Witch Kings?” Ophelia’s voice was small. Her eyes appeared vacant like she was studying something far away. “There were Propagators in the attack. I believe they attacked the South quadrant. When you patrolled.”

“There were only Witch Kings,” Shal said with a shrug. Aylwind seemed similarly confused, looking from Shal to Ophelia and back again. It did not reassure Shal that he and Aylwind were on the same page.

“There were Propagators. You should have met Propagators. Did you skimp on your patrols? Of all times to fucking slack off-”

“I did not slack off,” Shal said, his eyes blazing. There were no Propagators. They ran after they set their petty fires. Only Witch Kings.”

“There were Propagators. Five,” Ophelia was staring at the ground now. Shal wondered if she was considering blowing up the floor beneath them. “ I am very sure. I… they were there. They had to be.”

“There is no need to hide it,” Shal said as a small seed of certainty bloomed in his heart. “You arranged the attack. All of this, all of this death. To push me to reach Level 99? Perhaps. I don’t even know anymore. But it failed. There were no Propagators in the South Quadrant.”

“They were there,” Ophelia countered.

“And what? I missed them? No doubt you checked in on my progress and noticed that the Wights were cleared out after I passed through. After your meddling with my dates, I have a hard time believing that you would have trusted me enough to even allow me to wander away for the half hour. I’m surprised that you didn’t insist that you be the chosen one yourself,”

“If I could, I WOULD have. My image was the Spearman’s; it was not enough to accomplish his goals.” With deep breaths, Ophelia fought a losing battle with her rising temper. “Perhaps you let them escape. Because I am sure, they were there. The order was given. And for all the Wights had done to hurt us, they have never disobeyed an order.”

There was a ringing beat of silence as Shal took that sentence in, and then the Wraith Adder at his core slowly raised its amber gaze to glare at Ophelia. “Your arrogance is impossible to understand. But I did not let them escape. God help me, I agree with Master Sky. This was not a reliable tool-”

“THEY WERE THERE.” Ophelia bellowed. The floor rumbled ominously.