89 Protection II (2/2)

Launcelot laughed before growing somber. ”But yes, it is in my schooling that I uncovered some dark lurking beneath the gold of the crown.

In my eight years in the capitol, I befriended a young girl, a half-hero, though I suppose they were called mutants at that time.”

Launcelot grimaced at the word 'mutant', and when he continued speaking, the grimace remained.

”She became my dearest friend. We were inseparable and she, fiery-spirited as she was, always getting into scuffles with the other girls and boys in the streets, always escaping from the clutches of patrolling knights, wished to become an adventurer, and I too with her.

But she was far, far stronger than I. Her power, illustrious and destructive as it was, made her seem to far from me, so unreachable. Thus, when we were fifteen and she asked me if I wished to withdraw from Veritas to follow her into adventurer's training, I did not.”

”Standard case of rich guy can't abandon his position to be with his poor lover?”

”No. I used every justification I could. I had too much to lose joining her, I told myself. I could not throw my life away as an adventurer when I had the Lakely estate to tend to. I could not disappoint my mother who expected so much from me. I could not this, I could not that.

In the end, I was simply a coward riddled with insecurities. I simply believed myself too weak to walk her path.”

Launcelot's gauntleted hand balled into a fist, the creak of metal ringing through the confines of the cottage.

”I will regret that decision until the end of my days.”

Li let the nobleman pause to collect his thoughts. The fact that he was an adventurer now without his friend at his side could only mean that an unfortunate fate had befallen her.

”What happened to her?” said Li. He did not want to press Launcelot, but he could tell the shielder was a man of strength. There might have been a time, a younger Launcelot, perhaps, that would have grieved, but now, enough years had passed that, though there was pain in his expression, he carried himself with composure.

”I am not sure. That is the terrifying part.” Launcelot took in a short, halting breath. ”I graduated. I regretted my decision. I underwent adventurer's training despite my mother's protests. I saw her again, but she was an adventurer no longer. She was a hero of the then newly formed Ascendant Order.”

”Had she changed any?” Li asked the most important question. He knew the duchess had some ability to alter the minds of others. Alexei had confirmed that much, though it was not a given that Li could trust the vampire's thoughts entirely. Not because the vampire was not trustworthy, but because, from what he could glean, the vampire only had secondhand knowledge that could have been unreliable.

At the least, the only thing Li could hypothesize was that the duchess could not control Li or affect him in any way. If she could have, she would have, as simple as that. She simply had no ability to do so. But still, it would be prudent to know this information.

”I would like so very dearly to say no.” Launcelot's jaw set. ”She was entirely the same. She was happy to see me. I talked to her for quite a while, and she was much the same person. Just as happy and confident and forward-looking as ever, though now, she believed that the Ascendant Order was the best way for her to feel the thrill of fame and adventure and battle, and it did make sense.

There was no lack of foes for the order to fight and heroes were starting to become respected even moreso than adventurers. It felt as if I had simply been left behind again, unable to catch up with her, and now, the bridge was one I could never cross for I lacked any heroic power to match her.

The way she drifted apart from me felt natural. Believable.”

Launcelot raised a metal-sheathed finger. ”But there was one thing that drove me to suspicion. I knew that she held a star shaped birthmark at the small of her back. I saw no such mark then. That led me to explore. The Lakelies built many of the royal buildings, including the Noonspire that the Ascendant Order and Arcana use.

I reviewed a few dusty but usable blueprints to access the Noonspire through the sewers. I came upon the lowest level of the spire, a former dungeon sealed off once it came under the duchess remodeled it, and there-”

Launcelot shuddered, and Li blinked. It was unlike the shielder to ever shudder, experienced and strong as he was.

”I saw her. Encased in a bag of flesh. I scrambled to free her, but then I saw another of her, just the same, encased in another bag of flesh. Then I saw others that I knew not of. Countless others. All in these bags, all sleeping.”