Chapter 2.1 - Sneaking Around

Dash goes to talk to Lycoris, and their mischievous nature as a group gets put on full display.

Lycoris was sitting at her desk stress-reading, as she heard a familiar knock on her door. Dash always gently knocked two times, without fail. She took a deep breath before she went over to open. Unsurprisingly, the face of her twin brother greeted her. She silently turned and walked further into the crescent-shaped room, followed by him.  

“How are you holding up?” He tilted his head slightly to the side as he spoke. Lycoris sat down heavily in one of two living chairs by the center wall opposite the door and gestured towards the other.

“I’m just having a hard time. I thought that part of my life was over.” She looked up at the ceiling resting her head on the backrest of the chair. “I’m not going to lie; I have felt an uneasiness in my power lately.”

Dash had sat in the opposite chair resting his elbows on his thighs. He looked down.

“I must admit, so did I… I was the one who brought it up to father actually.”

Lycoris was a little surprised.

“Mulling it over, that makes more sense than father or auntie noticing themselves. I haven’t spent proper time with either of them for a while.”

“You’re not the only one, father has been working hard lately. I doubt even mother sees much of him these days.”

They were both silent for a moment as they looked at each other.

“We should definitely rummage through his things and see what he’s hiding” they said in mischievous unison. The two of them smiled as if they were children once again.

“I know a way we might be able to get in unseen.”

Lycoris kept a slightly outdated map of the central tower on one of her shelfs, it was the only one she could get away with keeping. The map did not feature the rooms underneath their floor as their younger siblings, Nihara- and Dosa’s, floor. However, this case it made no difference, Magnar’s office had been in the same place for many years now.

“Is there an entrance other than the main one?” Dash asked while scanning the map for clues. Lycoris let out a small non-verbal sound as she turned around to look through the same shelf, she got the map from.

“There should be a map of the hidden tunnels here somewhere…”

“The hidden tunnels? I was sure father told us they had been put out of service years ago.”

“That’s true. However, they are still accessible, in case of emergencies.”

Magnar had forbidden anyone from using the hidden tunnels, which had entrances and exits all over the palace grounds, because they could not take the ware and tare constant use brought them. The tunnels were near impossible to upkeep due to the nature of their construction, however, Magnar had settled for magically strengthening them for the time being.

“You really should be aware of that, Dash. They could prove invaluable should you ever have the need to escape the castle unseen.”

Dash smirked “Never really thought of it that way. I always thought you’d just teleport us out here in that case.” He was in a joking mood.

“Nope! I’d leave you behind without a doubt.”

They both chuckled lightly.

“I found it” she walked over to the table. “We can enter the tunnels from our hallway, then find our way upstairs to the exit located in father’s study.”

“Wait, the staircases aren’t labeled?”

“Nope, security or something like that.” Lycoris smiled at her brother’s innocent surprise. “I’m surprised you don’t remember. It’s right next to entrance in our hallway”

“It was a long time ago we played around in there. I never liked being there, so I guess I didn’t consider the details valuable information.”  Lycoris could sense a small rant coming.

“It’s fine Dash” she paused “Scaredy cat.”

His playfully chocked and insulted expression made her chuckle.

“Come prove me wrong then.”

He defiantly started towards the door.

 

***

 

Lycoris slowly opened the door leading into her father’s office. To her surprise it did not make any sound, she concluded the hinges were regularly oiled due to the importance of stealth. She cautiously stepped inside, as the room seemed to be empty, with Dash following behind. The ceiling was taller than downstairs, the walls of bookshelves reaching it. Lycoris assumed her father had the ability to levitate, a not so common trait. Otherwise, he would not be able to reach the top without a ladder, which was not present in the room.

“Look at the desk” Dash whispered loudly to her. Her eyes fell on the surface of Magnar’s desk, there, lay many papers of varying sizes. They walked up to it.

“These are construction plans,” she stated.

“But for what?”

She tuned him out, too busy reading another document.

“From what I can gather, these are buildings supposed to be located at the base of Mt. Ezekiel.”

 

“For housing of soldiers and their families. This facility will also act as a place to train new recruits, as well as a specialized training ground for the mages.”

 

Lycoris compared the document with the construction plan. She noticed a peculiar machine-like structure was supposed to be part of the roof. She had seen concepts of machines like this one, they were tools to amplify the magic it was provided. One- or more mages would pour their power into it, working in the same manner as ammunition. The machine would then be able to shoot beams of concentrated, amplified magic.

“I had no idea this was out of the prototype stage,” she mumbled. The concept of such magic amplifiers had been around since her great-grandmother Queen Sara’s time.

“But why would he choose there of all places to use them?”

Lycoris had to agree the position was odd. Mt. Ezekiel would limit the range of the weapon by a fair amount. There were a multitude of better locations she could name off the top of her head. She could only come to one conclusion.

“To protect the palace, I suppose. However, with this range it couldn’t possibly protect against much.”

“My best guess would be this is more like a trial run. You know, a way to get the Mages familiar with the technology.”

That would make more sense than her conclusion, though it might have been a combination of both. Lycoris’ ears perked up.

“Do you hear that?” she asked her brother, the fear of getting caught starting to bloom.

“No, Lycoris. You know your hearing is better than mine. Them wolf ears gives you advantages like that-“

She had to cover his mouth to keep him quiet. The sound had gotten closer; footsteps. When she was younger, she had gotten familiar with her father- and mother’s footsteps. They would check on the twins multiple times after bedtime to make sure they were actually sleeping. Granted, their worry was not unwarranted. Lycoris loved to stay up late. The sunrise and subsequent day intrigued her greatly.

“I hear father coming, let’s get going”

Author's Note

Constructive criticism is welcomed, along with general comments on the story, characters etc. :)