12
Triggerhappy
Stick with Trigger and You'll Make it Through
- Location
- SoCal
Halkegenia Online v3 – Chapter 12 – Part 3
Matilda had always loved her adopted sister from the bottom of her heart. In fact, from the very first moment she had lain eyes on the strangely mellow infant with her wispy blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes. The fact that her ears had born a point hadn't mattered at all. When others would have been repulsed by Tiffania, Matilda had been fond of the child and her elven mother, a woman as quiet and gentle as a summer breeze. They had been raised under the same roof, cared for and loved by the same people.
Matilda loved Tiffania as if she were truly her own blood. But even she had to admit that her sister was strange at the best of times, and not all from her unwordly upbringing. There was a touch of the inhuman about her, masked by how humane she always was. Such as times like this when she could appear so calm in the face of calamity. The only way Matilda could think to describe it was 'bravely happy'. Yes. It took a great deal of courage to live as her sister did and to smile every day for the sake of the children.
That didn't mean the young thief had to like it. And she didn't as Tiffania gingerly placed a steaming cup of tea on the table before her. A nice cup, Matilda noted, one of the cups she had bought for her sister after a particularly lucrative heist, all porcelain and delicate enamel with a fine fringe of gold leafing that was utterly out of place in this humble cottage. It must have been deliberate, Matilda thought, because at that very moment the precious and fragile tea cup was the only thing preventing her from upending the table and going for the throat of the girl sitting opposite.
The Cottage was cleared out, only Matilda, Tiffania, and Shiori seated around the kitchen table. The children had reluctantly dispersed back to work at Tiffania's urging. Kept busy, it gave the mage, the Elf, and the Faerie at least something like privacy.
The disinherited Lady of Saxe Gotha had never believed superstition about black cats and ill omens before. Now she was quite open to revising her opinion in the face of short black hair and peaked black cat's ears. Just one look at her set Matilda's teeth grinding. She was small, even childish, looking barely older than the eldest of the children, but Matilda knew that meant nothing when it came to Faeries, she could be fifteen or fifty. This girl, this Faerie, it couldn't be coincidence. And was she dressed in Tiffania's old clothes? Just adding insult to injury.
"Now then, Sister." Tiffania returned the kettle to its place beside the hearth, hands hovering and then clasping at her waist for want of things to do. "Miss Shiori."
Matilda very deliberately broke eye contact with the green eyed and cat eared girl. And to hell with whether it was bad manners. Of course there was a problem with the silent treatment. That being that it wasn't what Tiffania would want. And while thievery had taught Matilda patience, the children had done the same for her sister. And between the two of them, Tiffania had decidedly more endurance.
"Please, Sister, do not make our guest feel unwelcome." Tiffania broke the silence once again. "We have always been kind to those who have found their way to us."
Guest?!
"She has only told me a little, but I must say it sounds like Miss Shiori has had a very difficult time of things." Tiffania closed her sweet eyes and smiled her sweet smile as she took her own place at the round little kitchen table. The children
She'd had a difficult time?! Matilda felt her temperature beginning to rise. And right there in the middle of it was Tiffania, trying so hard to be of use.
"Perhaps I should start again with introductions?" Her sister thought aloud. "That might clear the air right? Of course, I suppose neither of you have been properly introduced of yet. I am sorry, that was terribly rude of me." And always apologizing. "Miss Shiori, this is Matilda, my Sister. That is to say she is my adoptive Sister." Tiffania placed one hand atop the table beside Matilda. "She takes work as a secretary to help support us here. Her work takes her far away most of the year."
"Sister huh?" The small Faerie girl asked. Her voice was soft and measured, but to Matilda it also sounded bitter, spiced with the smallest trace of venom. "I thought humans and Elves didn't get along." Their eyes met again, green and green, and perfectly understood. Neither trusted the other in the least.
"We're the exception that proves the rule." Matilda said levelly, using the Faerie turn of phrase to throw the question back at 'Shiori'.
The brief exchange, not entirely civil, but probably the best that could be hoped for, restored the smile to Tiffania's lips. "And Sister, this is Miss Shiori, one of the Faeries of ALfheim, a Cait Syth. But I suppose you already knew that. Sorry."
"And I thought you Faeries were keeping to Tristain." Matilda mused aloud. "The new Queen is quite taken with you all, last I heard."
"More or less." The Cait Syth girl took her cup in both hands and sipped at the contents. "It really doesn't matter how much the Queen digs us if Albion flattens the Kingdom around her. There's another war coming you know. We plan on winning. So I was sent in as a scout."
"A scout?" Matilda repeated, closing her eyes. Liar. And not even bothering to tell a convincing lie. Matilda saw it in her eyes. This Shiori was trying to get the measure of her.
"A scout." Shiori confirmed. "You know, sneak around . . . Learn what I can . . . More or less." The sentence finished with a shortness of breath and a fine sheen of sweat rising on the Faerie girl's brow. She'd looked frail to begin with, now exhaustion sapped what was left of her strength. Matilda didn't think it was a bluff, but it was too soon to say.
"Miss Shiori happened to be in Saxe Gotha when she was inadvertently discovered." Tiffania finished for her. "By chance Miss Shiori ended up escaping into the river but was gravely wounded in the process. I . . . I found her and brought her home to heal." Tiffania's smile grew as she recounted the events and as Matilda listened her resolve to speak out began to waver.
It was clear as day that Tiffania had already made this girl one of her causes. Just as with the children. Matilda couldn't crush her sister's spirit by telling her what the girl she was sheltering truly was. This Faerie. This assassin. She couldn't tell her the sort of danger that she had brought right to their family's breast. Not now. Not yet. But she could tell her of the danger, the very real danger that this Faerie Witch had put upon their heads. And if the Founder hadn't completely forsaken them, then by the time Tiffania knew the whole truth they would be very far from Albion and the Faerie Assassin Shiori.
Matilda sighed heavily as she finally relented and allowed herself to take a sip of her tea. She waited for the nostalgic bitter taste to fade before speaking. "By chance, I already knew about Miss Shiori's run in with the Army." It had been impossible not to acquire the details during her brief stay in Saxe Gotha.
"Oh?" Tiffania laced her fingers. "I see then. You just seemed so distraught when you arrived."
Matilda put her cup down and reached up to rub her temples. Distraught was a good word, albeit lacking a certain bite, to describe how she felt. "The truth is that this is exactly the sort of thing I was afraid would happen. The only good fortune is that I'm here now rather than later." She'd put this all of for too damn long. She'd been too meticulous, too careful when time was of the essence, and now she was paying for it.
"Sister?" It was rare for Matilda to see Tiffania ever look uneasy as she did now. "Your letters home?"
The young thief nodded reluctantly. "Ever since the Faeries have made their presence known, Albion has been growing more dangerous. The Reconquistadors suspect everyone and everything. This Forest has been good to us, Sister, but you can't stay here anymore. It isn't safe. Especially not for you. But I've found a safe place for you and the children." Safer than here anyways. Most of the past months had been spent making the arrangements and ensuring that everything would move smoothly. All that was left was for it to be done. Matilda had always known that this would be the hardest part.
Tiffania became still and her smile faltered. "Leave . . . You mean leave for the Continent . . . "
"Tiff." Matilda began as her sister rose and clasped her hands before herself once more. "I know this is difficult, but it's how things have to be." She'd made this very clear in her letters, but maybe Tiffania didn't want to hear it.
"I-I know." The halfling girl wrung her slim hands before her while her lips moved silently to a hymn from their childhood. "It's like you say. The Forest has changed . . ."
"But it's still the Forest you know." Matilda finished for her gently as she watched her Sister's eyes sweeping walls of her little cottage. This place had been Tiffania's home for much of her life, it had provided for and protected her, and now Matilda was asking her to leave it behind so suddenly. "Maybe one day we'll be able to come back." She let Tiffania think on those words as she put a hand on her Sister's shoulder.
"Are you sure? Are you sure . . . That it will be safer for us?" The Elf-girl spoke quietly, her eyes fixed on a shelf of books above the door to her bedroom.
"Yes, I'm sure. The place we'll be going to is very peaceful." Matilda breathed. And the people there were familiar enough with Faeries that Tiffania would be able to pass herself as a Sylph if she was spied from afar. So long as she kept to herself, there would be no more fearing that even the slightest glimpse inciting an Elf-Hunt. The Fae offered something at least, to make up for the nuisance they made of themselves. Not that she could say so much with one of those self same Faeries present. "It's not something we're going to argue Tiff. I've already made all of the arrangements. There are supplies and a ship waiting for us. But we have to go very soon. By tonight if we can manage it. Can you get the children ready?"
"It will be dangerous to stay, but it will be dangerous to go as well . . . and what about supplies . . . the children aren't ready . . . " Tiffania was silent for a moment before nodding very slowly. "The young ones will need to be carried. Pippin and Maurice will be exhausted just hiking out of the forest."
"I've arranged for a wagon." Matilda said, feeling faintly relieved. "And I have all of the papers to move along the back roads. Everything is planned out." The biggest hurdle would be ensuring that her sister was never inspected much less seen by the authorities, but there were ways to avoid that as well.
"We'll need the camping gear . . . James and Jacks can carry the tarps." Tiffania began to think aloud. Matilda felt relieved as she listened to her Sister slowly filing away her entire life. The things that would need to be taken and what would have to be left behind. "Medicine and supplies. Books? No . . . Maybe one or two? Maybe we can find room. We . . . We'll have to travel light I suppose."
"Tiff." Matilda said after a while, waiting for her sister to recenter herself. "You go take care of the Children. Get them ready to travel."
"Tonight?"
"Tonight." The thief nodded once. The mission laid out before her, Tiffania had set herself to work, humming that odd melody that Matilda could never quite remember the notes to as she turned her attention to her new task with a fixity of purpose that she usually only committed to the children. Later, Matilda was sure that Tiffania would need to sit down and have a good long cry over this, but for now there was work to be done, the tears could come later.
Her sister was growing into a strong young woman. Matilda smiled until Tiff stopped at the door, looking back doubtfully to her and then . . . to Shiori. "And what about Miss Shiori?"
"Yes." The Cait Syth said in that sibilant lisp that seemed to come out whenever a Cait was amused. "What about Miss Shiori?"
"Miss Shiori, you are certainly too injured to travel on your own. I cannot imagine part ways with you just yet." Matilda steeled herself for what she knew was coming as her Sister looked her in the eye. "Please Sister, she must travel with us."
Absolutely not! Matilda thought darkly. The Fae were nothing but trouble, trouble she wanted to keep Tiffania and the children as far away from as possible. But to say that out loud was too much. She watched Shiori from the corner of her eye, weighing out the risk, what it would cost to bring her along, what it would pay to keep Tiff content.
'She's injured.' Matilda told herself again. 'Founder just look at her.' Shiori appeared to have a talent for deception, but her bravado was wearing thin with alarming speed. In the sheen of her brow and the sway of her shoulders, it was becoming clear just how weak the girl really was. She wouldn't stay that weak for long of course, not with Tiffania's care, but maybe long enough to stay out of trouble. Tiffania would never abandon her while she was too weak to travel alone.
"That is a decision for Miss Shiori to make." Matilda said, tone flat and expression neutral. Still, it satisfied her sister for now as she departed to gather the children. It wouldn't take long. All of the children had travel clothes and there were supplies kept in case they ever needed to hike to the other hiding places in the forest. Matilda would explain to them all what was happening once Tiffania had prepared them. But for now, she was alone with Shiori, and Tiff was out of earshot. It was quite the liberating feeling to take the mask off as she turned back to the Faerie.
"So." The thief said, tone becoming brusk and businesslike. Her personal feeling didn't matter right now. This was a job even if it was one she would be doing for herself.
And yet Shiori, so like a Faerie, seemed only intent on sabotage as she echoed infuriatingly. "So."
"Your decision." Matilda scowled as she looked the girl over. This was the face of a Faerie assassin? Maybe the Fae were more desperate than she thought.
Shiori answered with an observation, tilting her head. "I sense a bit of hostility. It's not very nice to use that tone of voice with someone when they haven't done anything wrong."
"I'd say it's rather rude to lie in the face of someone's charity as well." Matilda said back as she returned to her seat, not out of courtesy, but to keep this professional. "Yet here we are. I'm going to show my hand a bit and tell you that Tiffania is very sharp, my Sister is also very unwordly. She knows to be cautious, but it would never occur to her to think what you really are. I however am different."
"And what am I?"
"Assassin." She let the word drop and sit there between them, heavy as a lump of lead. It was the lack of response more than anything that proved Shiori's guilt, not that it had ever been in doubt. "So."
"So what?" The Cait Syth slumped in her chair. Her strength spent, she appeared now simply tired and hateful. "If you knew what I was sent to kill you'd understand."
"Try me."
"Necromancer." Said so simply that for a moment Matilda did not comprehend even her own alarm. And now it was Shiori waiting for a reply as Matilda grasped at straw.
"Necro . . ." Her eyes widened as the full horror sunk in.
There had been rumors of course. Public condemnation to that effect and even a Church sanction for Heresy. Maybe Reconquista really did have Necromancers in there service. It wouldn't be the first time, or the last, that something so vile was used while maintaining a facade of righteousness. Still, somehow Matilda had not allowed herself to really believe it, the only claims came from a Kingdom desperate for allies and a Church desperate for recognition. Maybe Reconquista consorted with such powers, but surely not frequently. Maybe there was a Necromancer, but certainly kept on a short leash and far from sight. That wasn't what Shiori told her as she didn't spare the gruesome details.
But no, the truth was that she just hadn't wanted to believe something so vile even of her own disowned homeland. And if Reconquista would use such methods, truly . . . 'I have to get Tiffania out of here.'
"Right now, what I'd really love is their head on a stick." Shiori growled, her eyes meeting Matilda's and burning through her like molten jade. "I'd really love that . . . But you can see how I wound up when I tried. All I can do is go home and report back. Next time we'll do this right."
"You're a risk." Matilda said. "You're too much of a risk."
The Faerie laughed lightly, it was still enough to set off a coughing fit. "Pot meet kettle. It's nice to meet you. Or did you think everyone else is like Tiffania? Us worldly people sure notice strange things, don't we? Like how weird it is that someone doing secretarial work could afford to hire a whole ship of smugglers. Or know how to hire a ship of smugglers in the first place. Someone's been naughty behind their sister's back." Too much of a damn risk. And it only got worse. "By the way. There wouldn't happen to be room for a couple more . . ."
Perfect. Matilda had thought. Perhaps the next day would bring better tidings. But that evening as the children were bundled up and led from the forest, Matilda in the lead and Tiffania at the rear to keep them together and help the stragglers, eyes on the sky and ears trained on the night noises of the forest, the prospects didn't seem good.
Matilda had always loved her adopted sister from the bottom of her heart. In fact, from the very first moment she had lain eyes on the strangely mellow infant with her wispy blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes. The fact that her ears had born a point hadn't mattered at all. When others would have been repulsed by Tiffania, Matilda had been fond of the child and her elven mother, a woman as quiet and gentle as a summer breeze. They had been raised under the same roof, cared for and loved by the same people.
Matilda loved Tiffania as if she were truly her own blood. But even she had to admit that her sister was strange at the best of times, and not all from her unwordly upbringing. There was a touch of the inhuman about her, masked by how humane she always was. Such as times like this when she could appear so calm in the face of calamity. The only way Matilda could think to describe it was 'bravely happy'. Yes. It took a great deal of courage to live as her sister did and to smile every day for the sake of the children.
That didn't mean the young thief had to like it. And she didn't as Tiffania gingerly placed a steaming cup of tea on the table before her. A nice cup, Matilda noted, one of the cups she had bought for her sister after a particularly lucrative heist, all porcelain and delicate enamel with a fine fringe of gold leafing that was utterly out of place in this humble cottage. It must have been deliberate, Matilda thought, because at that very moment the precious and fragile tea cup was the only thing preventing her from upending the table and going for the throat of the girl sitting opposite.
The Cottage was cleared out, only Matilda, Tiffania, and Shiori seated around the kitchen table. The children had reluctantly dispersed back to work at Tiffania's urging. Kept busy, it gave the mage, the Elf, and the Faerie at least something like privacy.
The disinherited Lady of Saxe Gotha had never believed superstition about black cats and ill omens before. Now she was quite open to revising her opinion in the face of short black hair and peaked black cat's ears. Just one look at her set Matilda's teeth grinding. She was small, even childish, looking barely older than the eldest of the children, but Matilda knew that meant nothing when it came to Faeries, she could be fifteen or fifty. This girl, this Faerie, it couldn't be coincidence. And was she dressed in Tiffania's old clothes? Just adding insult to injury.
"Now then, Sister." Tiffania returned the kettle to its place beside the hearth, hands hovering and then clasping at her waist for want of things to do. "Miss Shiori."
Matilda very deliberately broke eye contact with the green eyed and cat eared girl. And to hell with whether it was bad manners. Of course there was a problem with the silent treatment. That being that it wasn't what Tiffania would want. And while thievery had taught Matilda patience, the children had done the same for her sister. And between the two of them, Tiffania had decidedly more endurance.
"Please, Sister, do not make our guest feel unwelcome." Tiffania broke the silence once again. "We have always been kind to those who have found their way to us."
Guest?!
"She has only told me a little, but I must say it sounds like Miss Shiori has had a very difficult time of things." Tiffania closed her sweet eyes and smiled her sweet smile as she took her own place at the round little kitchen table. The children
She'd had a difficult time?! Matilda felt her temperature beginning to rise. And right there in the middle of it was Tiffania, trying so hard to be of use.
"Perhaps I should start again with introductions?" Her sister thought aloud. "That might clear the air right? Of course, I suppose neither of you have been properly introduced of yet. I am sorry, that was terribly rude of me." And always apologizing. "Miss Shiori, this is Matilda, my Sister. That is to say she is my adoptive Sister." Tiffania placed one hand atop the table beside Matilda. "She takes work as a secretary to help support us here. Her work takes her far away most of the year."
"Sister huh?" The small Faerie girl asked. Her voice was soft and measured, but to Matilda it also sounded bitter, spiced with the smallest trace of venom. "I thought humans and Elves didn't get along." Their eyes met again, green and green, and perfectly understood. Neither trusted the other in the least.
"We're the exception that proves the rule." Matilda said levelly, using the Faerie turn of phrase to throw the question back at 'Shiori'.
The brief exchange, not entirely civil, but probably the best that could be hoped for, restored the smile to Tiffania's lips. "And Sister, this is Miss Shiori, one of the Faeries of ALfheim, a Cait Syth. But I suppose you already knew that. Sorry."
"And I thought you Faeries were keeping to Tristain." Matilda mused aloud. "The new Queen is quite taken with you all, last I heard."
"More or less." The Cait Syth girl took her cup in both hands and sipped at the contents. "It really doesn't matter how much the Queen digs us if Albion flattens the Kingdom around her. There's another war coming you know. We plan on winning. So I was sent in as a scout."
"A scout?" Matilda repeated, closing her eyes. Liar. And not even bothering to tell a convincing lie. Matilda saw it in her eyes. This Shiori was trying to get the measure of her.
"A scout." Shiori confirmed. "You know, sneak around . . . Learn what I can . . . More or less." The sentence finished with a shortness of breath and a fine sheen of sweat rising on the Faerie girl's brow. She'd looked frail to begin with, now exhaustion sapped what was left of her strength. Matilda didn't think it was a bluff, but it was too soon to say.
"Miss Shiori happened to be in Saxe Gotha when she was inadvertently discovered." Tiffania finished for her. "By chance Miss Shiori ended up escaping into the river but was gravely wounded in the process. I . . . I found her and brought her home to heal." Tiffania's smile grew as she recounted the events and as Matilda listened her resolve to speak out began to waver.
It was clear as day that Tiffania had already made this girl one of her causes. Just as with the children. Matilda couldn't crush her sister's spirit by telling her what the girl she was sheltering truly was. This Faerie. This assassin. She couldn't tell her the sort of danger that she had brought right to their family's breast. Not now. Not yet. But she could tell her of the danger, the very real danger that this Faerie Witch had put upon their heads. And if the Founder hadn't completely forsaken them, then by the time Tiffania knew the whole truth they would be very far from Albion and the Faerie Assassin Shiori.
Matilda sighed heavily as she finally relented and allowed herself to take a sip of her tea. She waited for the nostalgic bitter taste to fade before speaking. "By chance, I already knew about Miss Shiori's run in with the Army." It had been impossible not to acquire the details during her brief stay in Saxe Gotha.
"Oh?" Tiffania laced her fingers. "I see then. You just seemed so distraught when you arrived."
Matilda put her cup down and reached up to rub her temples. Distraught was a good word, albeit lacking a certain bite, to describe how she felt. "The truth is that this is exactly the sort of thing I was afraid would happen. The only good fortune is that I'm here now rather than later." She'd put this all of for too damn long. She'd been too meticulous, too careful when time was of the essence, and now she was paying for it.
"Sister?" It was rare for Matilda to see Tiffania ever look uneasy as she did now. "Your letters home?"
The young thief nodded reluctantly. "Ever since the Faeries have made their presence known, Albion has been growing more dangerous. The Reconquistadors suspect everyone and everything. This Forest has been good to us, Sister, but you can't stay here anymore. It isn't safe. Especially not for you. But I've found a safe place for you and the children." Safer than here anyways. Most of the past months had been spent making the arrangements and ensuring that everything would move smoothly. All that was left was for it to be done. Matilda had always known that this would be the hardest part.
Tiffania became still and her smile faltered. "Leave . . . You mean leave for the Continent . . . "
"Tiff." Matilda began as her sister rose and clasped her hands before herself once more. "I know this is difficult, but it's how things have to be." She'd made this very clear in her letters, but maybe Tiffania didn't want to hear it.
"I-I know." The halfling girl wrung her slim hands before her while her lips moved silently to a hymn from their childhood. "It's like you say. The Forest has changed . . ."
"But it's still the Forest you know." Matilda finished for her gently as she watched her Sister's eyes sweeping walls of her little cottage. This place had been Tiffania's home for much of her life, it had provided for and protected her, and now Matilda was asking her to leave it behind so suddenly. "Maybe one day we'll be able to come back." She let Tiffania think on those words as she put a hand on her Sister's shoulder.
"Are you sure? Are you sure . . . That it will be safer for us?" The Elf-girl spoke quietly, her eyes fixed on a shelf of books above the door to her bedroom.
"Yes, I'm sure. The place we'll be going to is very peaceful." Matilda breathed. And the people there were familiar enough with Faeries that Tiffania would be able to pass herself as a Sylph if she was spied from afar. So long as she kept to herself, there would be no more fearing that even the slightest glimpse inciting an Elf-Hunt. The Fae offered something at least, to make up for the nuisance they made of themselves. Not that she could say so much with one of those self same Faeries present. "It's not something we're going to argue Tiff. I've already made all of the arrangements. There are supplies and a ship waiting for us. But we have to go very soon. By tonight if we can manage it. Can you get the children ready?"
"It will be dangerous to stay, but it will be dangerous to go as well . . . and what about supplies . . . the children aren't ready . . . " Tiffania was silent for a moment before nodding very slowly. "The young ones will need to be carried. Pippin and Maurice will be exhausted just hiking out of the forest."
"I've arranged for a wagon." Matilda said, feeling faintly relieved. "And I have all of the papers to move along the back roads. Everything is planned out." The biggest hurdle would be ensuring that her sister was never inspected much less seen by the authorities, but there were ways to avoid that as well.
"We'll need the camping gear . . . James and Jacks can carry the tarps." Tiffania began to think aloud. Matilda felt relieved as she listened to her Sister slowly filing away her entire life. The things that would need to be taken and what would have to be left behind. "Medicine and supplies. Books? No . . . Maybe one or two? Maybe we can find room. We . . . We'll have to travel light I suppose."
"Tiff." Matilda said after a while, waiting for her sister to recenter herself. "You go take care of the Children. Get them ready to travel."
"Tonight?"
"Tonight." The thief nodded once. The mission laid out before her, Tiffania had set herself to work, humming that odd melody that Matilda could never quite remember the notes to as she turned her attention to her new task with a fixity of purpose that she usually only committed to the children. Later, Matilda was sure that Tiffania would need to sit down and have a good long cry over this, but for now there was work to be done, the tears could come later.
Her sister was growing into a strong young woman. Matilda smiled until Tiff stopped at the door, looking back doubtfully to her and then . . . to Shiori. "And what about Miss Shiori?"
"Yes." The Cait Syth said in that sibilant lisp that seemed to come out whenever a Cait was amused. "What about Miss Shiori?"
"Miss Shiori, you are certainly too injured to travel on your own. I cannot imagine part ways with you just yet." Matilda steeled herself for what she knew was coming as her Sister looked her in the eye. "Please Sister, she must travel with us."
Absolutely not! Matilda thought darkly. The Fae were nothing but trouble, trouble she wanted to keep Tiffania and the children as far away from as possible. But to say that out loud was too much. She watched Shiori from the corner of her eye, weighing out the risk, what it would cost to bring her along, what it would pay to keep Tiff content.
'She's injured.' Matilda told herself again. 'Founder just look at her.' Shiori appeared to have a talent for deception, but her bravado was wearing thin with alarming speed. In the sheen of her brow and the sway of her shoulders, it was becoming clear just how weak the girl really was. She wouldn't stay that weak for long of course, not with Tiffania's care, but maybe long enough to stay out of trouble. Tiffania would never abandon her while she was too weak to travel alone.
"That is a decision for Miss Shiori to make." Matilda said, tone flat and expression neutral. Still, it satisfied her sister for now as she departed to gather the children. It wouldn't take long. All of the children had travel clothes and there were supplies kept in case they ever needed to hike to the other hiding places in the forest. Matilda would explain to them all what was happening once Tiffania had prepared them. But for now, she was alone with Shiori, and Tiff was out of earshot. It was quite the liberating feeling to take the mask off as she turned back to the Faerie.
"So." The thief said, tone becoming brusk and businesslike. Her personal feeling didn't matter right now. This was a job even if it was one she would be doing for herself.
And yet Shiori, so like a Faerie, seemed only intent on sabotage as she echoed infuriatingly. "So."
"Your decision." Matilda scowled as she looked the girl over. This was the face of a Faerie assassin? Maybe the Fae were more desperate than she thought.
Shiori answered with an observation, tilting her head. "I sense a bit of hostility. It's not very nice to use that tone of voice with someone when they haven't done anything wrong."
"I'd say it's rather rude to lie in the face of someone's charity as well." Matilda said back as she returned to her seat, not out of courtesy, but to keep this professional. "Yet here we are. I'm going to show my hand a bit and tell you that Tiffania is very sharp, my Sister is also very unwordly. She knows to be cautious, but it would never occur to her to think what you really are. I however am different."
"And what am I?"
"Assassin." She let the word drop and sit there between them, heavy as a lump of lead. It was the lack of response more than anything that proved Shiori's guilt, not that it had ever been in doubt. "So."
"So what?" The Cait Syth slumped in her chair. Her strength spent, she appeared now simply tired and hateful. "If you knew what I was sent to kill you'd understand."
"Try me."
"Necromancer." Said so simply that for a moment Matilda did not comprehend even her own alarm. And now it was Shiori waiting for a reply as Matilda grasped at straw.
"Necro . . ." Her eyes widened as the full horror sunk in.
There had been rumors of course. Public condemnation to that effect and even a Church sanction for Heresy. Maybe Reconquista really did have Necromancers in there service. It wouldn't be the first time, or the last, that something so vile was used while maintaining a facade of righteousness. Still, somehow Matilda had not allowed herself to really believe it, the only claims came from a Kingdom desperate for allies and a Church desperate for recognition. Maybe Reconquista consorted with such powers, but surely not frequently. Maybe there was a Necromancer, but certainly kept on a short leash and far from sight. That wasn't what Shiori told her as she didn't spare the gruesome details.
But no, the truth was that she just hadn't wanted to believe something so vile even of her own disowned homeland. And if Reconquista would use such methods, truly . . . 'I have to get Tiffania out of here.'
"Right now, what I'd really love is their head on a stick." Shiori growled, her eyes meeting Matilda's and burning through her like molten jade. "I'd really love that . . . But you can see how I wound up when I tried. All I can do is go home and report back. Next time we'll do this right."
"You're a risk." Matilda said. "You're too much of a risk."
The Faerie laughed lightly, it was still enough to set off a coughing fit. "Pot meet kettle. It's nice to meet you. Or did you think everyone else is like Tiffania? Us worldly people sure notice strange things, don't we? Like how weird it is that someone doing secretarial work could afford to hire a whole ship of smugglers. Or know how to hire a ship of smugglers in the first place. Someone's been naughty behind their sister's back." Too much of a damn risk. And it only got worse. "By the way. There wouldn't happen to be room for a couple more . . ."
Perfect. Matilda had thought. Perhaps the next day would bring better tidings. But that evening as the children were bundled up and led from the forest, Matilda in the lead and Tiffania at the rear to keep them together and help the stragglers, eyes on the sky and ears trained on the night noises of the forest, the prospects didn't seem good.
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