Chapter 139: Backfiring

Fin groggily opened his eyes, his entire body stiff and heavy as though he had been working tirelessly for days and days on end. As he yawned, and tried to bring about another adrenaline rush to carry him through, the fact that dawn had not yet begun made it all the more difficult to be roused.

“Oh, thank Gods, you’re awake! I’ll alert his Majesty and Captain Antonio!” Annika’s breathy panicked voice made Fin blearily turn his head to stare quizzically at her. She looked exhausted, and pale… but there was a frantic energy about her that helped pull him up into a sitting position even though it made his chest throb.

“What’s going on?” the redhead managed to ask while stifling a yawn.

“Honestly, if I didn’t know that you required sleep to regain magic I would’ve been tearing my hair out waiting for you to awaken,” the Viscountess muttered, not having heard her husband’s question as she wrenched open their chamber door and informed a guard who had been posted outside their chamber.

“Annika, love, what is going on?” Fin tried again, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.

“We need you to summon Kraken and ask him our questions, because we think that blasted cat- sorry,” his wife added hastily. “We think he is up to something. Fin, were you aware that not only was he present at the time of your rescue, he is responsible for sinking two ships in the process? We aren’t even sure how he managed it! Then there is the matter of burning down that building with the Troivackian soldiers and-” the witch slowly stood and crossed over to his wife who was already pacing with her brow furrowed.

“I understood about a quarter of what you said, but I will summon him. Where are we supposed to meet the King?”

Letting out a long breath, Annika finally stilled herself and looked up into her husband’s face. “His Majesty is out giving a speech to the army before they all return to their posts. We’re anticipating the dragon returning.”

The Viscount nodded somberly before letting out a long weary sigh, and closing his eyes. He reached out to feel Kraken’s presence and found…

Fin frowned.

“What is it?” Annika asked while grasping onto the witch’s tunic sleeves a little tighter.

“He’s… it feels like he’s deep in the King’s woods for some reason.”

“What?! Hours ago he was in the estate! Remember how Clara mentioned a disturbance in the poison room?”

The witch frowned and nodded.

“When they reviewed the inventory, they found that he interfered with one very dangerous poison. It’s an extract obtained from a fish with spikes that swells, then releases a poison through these spikes. I was worried at first that Kraken might’ve harmed himself, but I’m starting to suspect he knew exactly what it was. We call it Tetrodotoxin.”  

Fin felt his sluggish mind slowly begin to resume its normal functions as he recalled his familiar mentioning he had learned a great deal about poisons during his stay at Annika’s estate…  

“What could he potentially do with it?”

“Many things, yet we can’t know for certain until we speak with him. Did you summon your familiar?”

“I will now. This is unbelievable. He was just a small kitten a few months ago, how in the world did he become so…” Unable to think of a proper term or description for the feline, the redhead failed to finish his sentence, and instead let out an aggravated sigh through his nose before once again closing his eyes and this time, calling for his familiar.

“It’s done. Let’s go meet with the King. Kraken will be able to find me no matter where I am now that I’ve called.”

*

“MR. HELMER! MR. HELMER! QUICK! THERE’S A PROBLEM WITH THE MEN!”

An air witch that Aidan couldn’t remember the name of bolted up to him on the ship’s deck, while two other witches were close behind him, along with one of the King’s personal Knights.

“What is the meaning of this?” the Chief of Troivackia’s Military demanded, placing his hands on his hips. It was not yet dawn, and he had just been tending to his familiar and ensuring that the dragon was indeed ready to fly again.

“It seems… as though… I swear it sounds mad! Yet, it’s true! I-I-I don’t know how else to say this.”

“Well someone will tell me what is happening, and they will do so quickly.”

The King’s Knight, a man who, like his brothers at arms, was a stoically serious man, regarded the fire witch with the briefest moment of hesitancy.

“There was… a swarm of cats.”

Aidan didn’t say anything for a moment as he stared blankly at the hulking mass of muscle that didn’t show any sign of jesting.

“A clowder of cats, yes, go on?”

“A clo-oownder?” one of the younger witches present asked, confused.

“A clowder. It is what one calls a group, or in this case, ‘swarm’ of cats.”

“Err… right…” The air witch that had first spoken decided to try and continue, though he was a little surprised that his superior was so accepting of the strange event. “Well, the clowder of cats swarmed all of the camp. At first we thought it was some dock cats, but then we realized we were completely surrounded… it felt as though there were more than a hundred of them. We found it a bit strange, but got distracted when we started seeing rats everywhere as well… The Knights were too busy chasing the vermin out that they didn’t notice the cats kept swiping any exposed flesh they could reach. We thought they were aiming for the rats!” At this, even Aidan looked confused, but the air witch had committed to telling the whole tale, and could not be stopped for questions.

“Then… about… thirty minutes ago, the men all started experiencing very severe symptoms that indicate they’ve been poisoned. Vomiting, passing out, other… things… it’s a mess! The physician here thinks… that the cats… that they had poison on their claws…” the poor witch looked more and more nervous as he told what felt like an absolutely outrageous nonsensical tale.

Aidan felt his teeth grit as he then looked to the King’s Knight, and noticed that the man wasn’t refuting or disagreeing with any of the accounts.

“The men on the ship appear unharmed, but all of the men on land are… incapable of fighting.”

The fire witch was already in motion as he began striding off the ship down the gangplank towards camps along the border of Austice.

“I want numbers, and I want them now. How many men do we have that can fight, and I want to know what antidote is needed.”

“We won’t have enough. The Daxarian army will slaughter us at this rate. Especially because I heard word from the messenger that the House Witch is not only awake, but still possesses some power…” the air witch huffed as he raced after the fire witch on the dock.

The poor lad then almost careened straight into the Troivackian Chief of Military’s back when he abruptly stopped at his words.

“The… House Witch… is not only awake but he has magic left?!” Aidan’s black eyes flared and a surge of heat pulsed from his body.

After a moment however, he shook his head, regaining control over himself. “It won’t matter. There is no way he will be able to last for long at this rate. He’s most likely running on reserves. One good battle and he will either die or collapse at the very least.”  

“Y-Yes, sir… that is most likely true…” the air witch conceded quickly as the Troivackian Knight joined them.

“His Majesty is speaking with the physician now. I was told to escort you there.” Aidan didn’t bother to hide his scowl as he pressed his hands into his pockets and waited for the Knight to move in front of him to begin leading him to the monarch.

As he turned his back and began to move away, the air witch behind him dared to whisper to his comrades then.

“It was so strange… it’s like the rats and cats were all… organized! But how in the world could that have happened?!”

The fire witch was unable to stop the heat that began pouring from him as he wondered how indeed such a strange phenomena had occurred… but at the same time he knew without a doubt his son had to be involved somehow.

When he reached the camp where the Troivackian King stood talking with the Royal Physician with his legs braced and his arms folded across his chest, it was clear he was irate. Mr. Kraft stood at his side, his face expressionless as ever, his long blue coat rumpled after hours of work through the night of condensing all the reports they had received from the army in Rollom.

By the time Aidan reached the meeting, he was already in a blackened mood.

“You, Witch. I’m about to consult a Godsdamn mage because no one seems to have any clue how this happened,” Matthias growled dangerously.

“That would make two of us,” Aidan informed him dryly. “There is no record of such a strange occurrence of two species uniting and seeming to conveniently poison an invading army. They're beasts. I suspect a witch of some kind has a hand in this.”

“Ah, it must be Mr. Helmer’s son,” Mr. Kraft observed with a sudden nod of understanding.

Matthias’ thin grasp of self-control snapped as he snatched the assistant up by the front of his coat, and hauled him up off his feet until he was an inch from his face.

“If you know anything about this I suggest you speak quickly.”

To his credit, the assistant managed to keep his tone calm, though his cheeks turned the shade of parchment paper in the torchlight as he stared into the dark deadly gaze of the King.

“I haven’t any idea how this would have been accomplished. I only know that the House Witch possesses unlimited power.”

At this Aidan straightened. “What? You never mentioned this to me.”

“We all assumed he was dead until recently, and then we were busy,” Mr. Kraft reminded while daring to shift his eyes from the King who still had him in a vice grip, to the fire witch.

The monarch gave the assistant a firm shake, which nearly shook the man’s spectacles off his face. Mr. Kraft’s attention swiftly returned to the noble.

“What does ‘unlimited power’ mean?”

“Well… only if he knows how to use it properly. His magic is based on a sort of instinct, or feeling people get. It cycles back to him as much as he puts in. To completely drain him, he would have to be working against the nature of his power. The animals uniting together for a common cause, I really do not know how that was managed, but… everything that has been strange about this war has started and finished with Mr. Helmer’s son.”

Matthias turned slowly to Aidan, a predatorial glint in his eyes was not lost on the fire witch.

“How strange… that your son predicted the soldiers being found here. Even more peculiar that he managed to be rescued and survive on your watch- quite easily I might add, while two of my ships were sunk.”

“Your Highness I am not a Daxarian spy, I-” Aidan’s fury was evident as he began to bark his defense. However the King only continued his list while moving stealthily closer.

“-Then we have this atrocious show of the majority of the men being poisoned, your dragon runs out of fire… it is all quite convenient. If I were a betting man, I’d say a strategic thinker could play both sides of this war and come out a winner either way it ends.”

Aidan then noticed the King’s Knights beginning to surround him.

“Don’t be ridiculous, I provided you with insight and communication with your exiled aunt. That alone allowed Rollom to fall within a day. The Coven of Wittica would never have-”

The Knights lunged towards him, but he had been prepared.

“NO!” He exploded, flames erupting around him, forcing the men to leap back away from him.

With the fire surrounding him, Aidan moved towards the King again, murder in his eyes. “If you think your metal clad humans are capable of taking me against my will, I will show them how melted steel feels against their flesh.”

The King didn’t speak a word.

“I will retrieve my wife before dawn and have at least a unit of men healed and ready for battle.”

“A convenient way to flee to safety,” the King observed coldly.

“That weak hearted boy only escaped from me because I was surrounded by nothing but water for leagues. He survived because that is precisely how talented his mother is. I will get her and return. You will see my sincerity, mark my words.”

“Oh, your words are marked, without a doubt.” The King smiled, the menacing glint in his eyes enough to even make Aidan second guess himself for the briefest of seconds.

Glaring, Aidan strode away from the camp back towards the ship where his dragon waited, a ring of flames encircling him as he moved to ward off any ambitious attacks.

“You, assistant,” Matthias called to Mr. Kraft who watched the whole scene with great interest.

“Yes, Sire?”

“What are the odds that Mr. Helmer’s son destroys him before I do?”

The witch stared after Aidan for a long thoughtful time before replying.

“It is tough to say for certain. While the House Witch is powerful, his magic is weak to conflict and violence. Mr. Helmer is… well… his antithesis.”

The Troivackian King’s lips curled upwards to form a shadow of a smile. “Then I suppose the pleasure will be all mine.”