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Scales & Shadows Ch42: Out of the Shadows
🕑 Added 2023-07-25 02:25:22 +0000 UTCSsiina saw a familiar golden flash from down below, and she rushed to the edge of the damaged viewing box where Kyrae was standing. In the background, a chorus of shouts approached as the aftermath of their fight for survival was noticed over the ending of the play. Her elf sister was wide-eyed and shaking, her hands twitching as she half-formed sigils, stopped, and restarted.
Down below, Phaeliisthia was bent over two lamias, one of them clearly Issa. Her sister wasn’t moving. The other lamia, the first assassin, was dead—and the sight of the mess on the ground near their neck made Ssiina retch.
When she reached up to cover her mouth, Ssiina realized she still held Ussen Ysta’s hand. The woman had wide, glassy eyes and her hand shook in Ssiina’s. She let go, but Ysta clutched after her wordlessly.
Below Ssiina, Phaeliisthia propped Issa up onto her lower body, looping her sister around with an ease that belied their tutor’s great strength. Issa’s face was calm, and more importantly, Ssiina’s sharp eyes caught that her sister was breathing, the rise and fall of her chest and lower body barely visible.
Next to her, Ussen Ysta whimpered. Ssiina relaxed her hand, and the ussen finally withdrew hers.
“W-will she live?” Ysta asked with a shaking voice.
“I-I… yes.” Kyrae answered with a faraway voice. “She will, I think.”
Ussen Ysta made to speak again, but quickly faded into soft hissing.
Ssiina watched below as Phaeliisthia continued to treat Issa, her magic warming the air like the midday sun, bright against the low purples of early night. Issa, please wake up.
“We should go down to her.” Ssiina realized she’d spoken only after the words were out. Quickly, she led the others down the pole, letting Kyrae cling to her.
The three of them descended into a crowd, where shouts were already turning to murmurs. Phaeliisthia, likely by design of a sigil array, had kept others out. That the Guardian of Uzh hadn’t yet made an order evinced just how worried she was about Issa.
People parted for them, but Ssiina’s harsh gaze did little to stem the tide of questions.
“What happened?”
“Is it true someone was killed?”
“We saw magic—”
“—part of the play?”
“True that—”
“—Ussen Ysta—”
“Student of—”
“Cousin Ssiina.”
The last one stopped Ssiina cold. Of course. Of course the plush box would have been for her of all people. Ssiina had noticed the box immediately, but hadn’t thought to worry Issa or Kyrae—after all they weren’t her sisters openly yet. Such a garish box could have belonged to any ussen, but one that prominently used royal green?
She had hoped it was Lassani and her family, the hssen branch that wasn’t actively trying to shove her aunt off the throne. But they almost never left the Emerald Palace. Of course it was her.
Ssiina nodded her head toward the kelaniel from whom the crowd parted, and faced the unwelcome solicitor with all of her remaining composure. “Cousin Deziiya, would that we were able to speak in better circumstances. I didn’t know you were in Uzh for Tuo’Antzin.”
“I only just arrived. Truthfully, I had hoped to speak to you during the festival—away from the crowds—but you wallowed in them far too deeply for me to approach. You really should have known better.” Hssen Deziiya Ssyri’Jiilits wore a fake smile cleverly disguised under meticulously overdone makeup. Like Ssiina, she was kelaniel, and like Issa, she was ra’zhii.
And that gave the blue-eyed hssen a massive chip on her shoulder. She shared a grandsire with Ssiina and Issa, but a different grandmother, and her ra’zhii mother hadn’t married an “elf-loving kss’kaa,” but rather an ussent from Kii’Ssiil.
“I apol—” Ssiina stopped. She felt Kyrae’s hand in her own. She felt her hearts hurting for Issa who had very nearly died. She realized she didn’t care. “It is not my prerogative to seek out someone with whom I have no important business.” Deziiya’s face twisted in surprise, but Ssiina continued, “You are welcome to stop by the estate whenever Phaeliisthia allows, and I would love to catch up. I’m certain my fellow students and friends Issa and Kyrae would as well.”
“If Phaeliisthia allows?” Deziiya hissed. “Does the delusional old monster have you whipped?”
“She is my tutor, and I respect her authority as it pertains to her own estate and my education.” Ssiina didn’t know where she’d found this courage, but she wasn’t going to back down. Her sisters were vulnerable, and this was a threat she was uniquely qualified to deal with.
“As expected of a woman whose sire was unqualified to—”
“My-my apologies for my elder sister’s behavior,” an out-of-breath voice hissed. “The awful events that have shaken you have also shaken her, and she is merely lashing out from a place of concern.”
“Geliss,” Deziiya pulled to the side. “I—”
The newcomer hissed softly, drawing up next to his much larger sister, who glared at Ssiina, but kept her mouth shut. Hssent Geliss Ssyri’jiilits was one of the rare kelaniel born purely male, and unlike most others had chosen to maintain that identity. Sleight and slim for one of his kind, and sharing coloration with his ra’zhii sister, he ever acted as the conciliator and voice of reason.
Publicly.
Ssiina had learned the hard way, years ago, just what the boy—now a young man—said and did behind closed doors. Deziiya, she could handle, but Geliss wouldn’t be so easily provoked. And if he was here, something was going on. That, or his sister needed a minder she couldn’t dismiss on a whim.
Her hearts hammering, a pale Ussen Ysta shaking like a leaf, and a seething, silent Kyrae leveraging a white-knuckled grip on her hand, Ssiina decided to back down. Next time. “I understand, Geliss and Deziiya. My apologies for speaking out of turn. As you can imagine, tonight’s events have given me quite a scare—particularly for my fellow students whom I have come to consider as friends despite our differences.”
“Of course,” Geliss smiled. “Deziiya could learn something from such openness.”
Oh he’s pissed if he’s taking a jab like that.
“Geliss!” Deziiya spat.
Geliss chuckled, blue eyes shining dangerously. “I am only trying to make light of a dangerous atmosphere. And with the crowd as it is…” He gestured to the dense packing of people trying to either watch the conversation between hssen or whatever Phaeliisthia was doing. “Well, I think we should act with some decorum.”
Everything we say will be heard by the Empire. He’s pointing that out so I back down.
Ssiina seriously doubted Deziiya or Geliss were behind the assassination attempt on Ussen Ysta, anyway. But her fangs itched at the idea of letting Deziiya’s sleights get away. She remembered a fragment of a conversation she’d had with Issa and Kyrae about a year prior.
“Smile to their face now, and stab it the next time. Backstabbing blowhards don’t expect anyone to actually come straight at them.”
The slight smile Ssiina grew at the memory caused the scheming hssent’s eyes to widen, and she replied. “I agree. As such, I should really inform Phaeliisthia of all that’s transpired. I look forward to visiting with you soon under better circumstances.”
Geliss narrowed his eyes, but nodded. “As do I.”
“Then let us rest for the night, Geliss,” Deziiya said. “This has all been far too much for one evening, and I detest being crowded.” She swung her gaze around and the crowd flinched away. Together, and surrounded by royal guards who seemed to melt in from the sidelines, the pair retreated.
Ssiina heaved a sigh, then looked at the remaining crowd and drew herself up. “Unless you have urgent business with Phaeliisthia or myself, leave.”
Some left; others murmured, probably unsure of Ssiina’s identity.
“Return to your homes,” Phaeliisthia’s voice boomed from the glowing area behind Ssiina.
Ussen Ysta flinched and gasped. Kyrae flinched, then relaxed with a sigh. Just how familiar have we gotten that we’ve come to find comfort in Phaeliisthia’s terrifying presence?
The crowd didn’t hesitate. The Guardian of Uzh was not known to give commands twice. She wasn’t known to give commands at all, really, but if anyone wasn’t aware of her power before today, her display earlier sure made that clear, and the few who tried to stay were dragged off by the mass of the others.
Kyrae didn’t wait until the crowd was gone to detach her hand from Ssiina and run off toward their downed sister. Ssiina herself followed shortly after, Ussen Ysta trailing behind her.
How much did Deziiya and Geliss see? the kelaniel wondered. Did they assume we had guards who defended us, or did they see my sisters and I save ourselves and Ussen Ysta? That neither of them mentioned it bothered Ssiina. They can’t be behind it… right? The assassins were clearly after Ussen Ysta Ssyt and they used the same powers as Issa.
Ssyt… isn’t that one of the families Sire is investigating?
Walking into the area of Phaeliisthia’s magic was like coiling on a nice, warm stone. Sigils hung in the air, and a haze disturbed sight from outside. The distant chatter of the city ceased the moment Ysta and Ssiina entered. Kyrae was already embracing an unconscious Issa near the middle, and Phaeliisthia stood to one side, studying the headless body.
Deftly, she removed a knife from the gore and cleaned it with a flick of her fingers. “Ssiina, and Ysta. Good of you to join us. First, I must apologize to all of you for not coming sooner. I do not have the same… authority over the city as I do my estate, and I presumed you three could handle yourselves.
“Technically, I was not wrong, as Kyrae had already stabilized Issa when I arrived. However, I feel a lingering magic, one that is distinctly abnormal.” The Guardian of Ush snapped her fingers, and the body of the elf assassin appeared next to the other. She looked it over, noting the bite marks. “A clean bite, Ssiina. But hardly strong enough—a greater opponent could have survived long enough or pulled away.”
“How do you know—” Ssiina started.
“I didn’t, but I had a guess.” Phaeliisthia smirked, then inclined her head toward Usen Ysta who was hiding behind Ssiina. “And do not be shy, Ysta. I do not believe you’re behind this, and the questions I’ll need to ask of you may just be as informative for you as they will be for me.”
Ussen Ysta gulped, slithering out—over my tail—to one side. “Yes, Phaeliisthia, Guardian of Uzh.”
“Phaeliisthia is fine, dear,” the ancient serpent dragon in disguise purred. “We will leave this place for my estate shortly, but before I go, is there anything I ought to know?” She crossed her arms under her extremely modest chest.
She probably already knows it. Ssiina inclined her head towards Kyrae, but the lately-outspoken elf was still latched onto Issa, crying softly. It took everything Ssiina had not to join her in front of Ysta, and her voice hitched. “T-the assassinsss. Ahem. The assassins came out of the shadows used for the play’s finale. There may be a co-conspirator among the cast.”
“Concerning.” Phaeliisthia drummed one golden talon against the pale white skin of her other arm. “I will have the cast rounded up and questioned.” She didn’t elaborate on how. “Anything else?”
Ussen Ysta jolted. “M-my guards—Phaeliisthia mis-ma’am—I—they—”
“Stop.”
Ussen Ysta stopped with a whimper.
Phaeliisthia’s brow darkened, and Ssiina braced for what was coming next. Instead, the dragon serpent exhaled slowly and relaxed her expression.
“Breathe, dear,” she said. “I will not harm you unless you are at fault.”
Ussen Ysta tensed even more.
“Bringing my charges to watch the play in your viewing box is not intentional harm. Now speak before my extremely overtaxed patience runs dry.”
“Y-yes, Phaeliisthia. M-my guards. They weren’t in the box. I thought they might have been elsewhere since I told them to enjoy Tuo’Antzin, but now I’m really worried and I’m really sorry, but it’s all my fault I should’ve known when they weren’t in the box and—”
“Enough,” Phaeliisthia boomed.
Ussen Ysta made a small gasping noise and her eyes rolled back. Shaking, she fainted, and Ssiina rushed to catch her, supporting the lighter lamia’s upper torso and slinging an arm over her shoulder. Three years ago, I’d have let her hit the ground, Ssiina thought darkly. How much like Deziiya was I?
Phaeliisthia massaged her brow with one hand, all the way to the bases of her horns. “Ssiina, do you know any more about Ysta’s guards?”
“Their names are Kliss and Kiina: brother and sister, in that order. Both are lamia, but I do not know if they are lania’el or ke’lania.”
“Thank you Ssiina. They will be found, and they had best hope for an excuse and a suppliant master.” Phaeliisthia sighed. “I… am sorry. Were I more attentive, I could have stopped this myself with ease. Even against someone for who I care not, an assassination in my city is a failing of my own.”
Ssiina’s eyes widened. “Hsss… I accept your apology?”
Phaeliisthia laughed darkly. “I do not need you to accept what I did not need to give.” Her white eyes glimmered as she walked away from the bodies, and Ssiina wondered if she was… pleased. “Now, take my hand, Ssiina, and Kyrae the other. Keep hold of your charges and I will take us to my estate.”
At this distance! Ssiina was awed enough that she didn’t act at first, sheepishly sticking her hand out when Phaeliisthia crooked an eyebrow.Swallowing her tears, Kyrae grabbed Phaeliisthia’s other hand firmly. The golden glow around Ssiina and the others snapped inward and thickened into tangibility, and the five of them disappeared in a flash of light.
