I was back at the Ban household, planning my next move. Playing music, it turned out, was a great way for Barclay to quietly dip out of the conversation. He never did schedule a duel with . The two goons relaxed imnsely once he was gone, which said a lot about the power dynamic. They seed to genuinely enjoy the music and gave complints and apologies before leaving.
Lancelot filled in. Barclay was the grandson of the current lord of the Falls, one of the Fos brothers who ranked the sa as Ban. The Orders were always trying to cosy up to the lord and, by extension, his family. She had good things to say about Blue Hair, which surprised . The guy was called ‘Gareth,’ though Lancelot did ntion she tended to call him ‘Gaz’ when he wasn’t on duty. The Order of the Kraken was mostly a seafaring Order, with their power base far from Fosburg. They had to do more sucking up than most.
I didn’t tell her about the Guiding Star. I wasn’t about to talk about it to anyone but Ban, Elaine, and Miss Peaches. I knew I could trust them to at least not be secret cultists and give the threat the weight it deserved. Lancelot was definitely trustworthy, I just also felt she might run off and do sothing stupid. She was politically savvy but, considering how close we ca to a fight, seed lacking in control.
Especially right now—she was bouncing off the walls with impatience as we waited for the sanctum’s defences to fully activate. “Lancelot, calm down, we can talk more in a minute.”
“I’ve already told you to call Lance. Really, all my friends do.” Lance casually dropping the offer of friendship distracted . I felt embarrassed but also a burst of joy at the simple but honest gesture. I had been drowning for so long in a sea of enemies with only the rare temporary ally to help keep afloat. Even those were constantly changing, caught up, battered, and capsized by capricious storms of politics.
“I’m flattered,” I managed, so wrapped up in my thoughts of darker tis I’d forgotten I was in a better one.
“Did you just blush? Look, I want to be clear here, I an—” She sighed and began what I imagined was a polished rant. I cut her off.
“Friends, I get it. I was rely appreciating your kindness. Runes are fully lit, by the way.” I nodded to the walls.
“So, what haven’t you already told about the Moon Gift?” She was practically vibrating.
“Not much, we’re far into observations and rumours. And I will assu you don’t want the long-lauded history, more practical applications.”
“See, you already get !”
“Alright, so what have we already covered?”
“Things I know are possible include reflecting opponents’ glamour attacks back at them, empowering your weapons and armour with it to enhance your blocks and counters, using it for mobility—not Levity, but literally stepping off the air.” Lance listed them out. I knew she’d been experinting with them over the last few days, trying to wring any and all mories out of .
“Oh, I almost forgot! Illusions are possible, mostly sound. I was sho—soone used it to muffle sound, like a targeted echo.” That last application I’d seen in a hunt with one of the princesses when she’d visited the Harkley estates. She’d sohow muffled everything around her, making everything sound like it was coming from the wrong angle. It had caught my attention, as before then I’d never considered how echoes actually worked.
“You’re not lying, that’s all actually possible?” Lance’s face was unreadable. She stared at her sheathed sword.
“I an yes, it’s reflections. I’ll be honest, it’s going to be tough. It’s a very broad gift, so mastering it is notoriously difficult.”
“But it’s not useless? It’s not one of those that’s really useful at lower ranks and then tops out at Iron? Like Fire often does.”
“I’d personally disagree with what you said about Fire, but no. It’s literally the preferred tool of the High King of Albion and his family,” I said.
“Any more ideas on how you think I should train it? Use it?”
“So I did actually speak to—” I didn’t say the word princess. Mary Quilvern did not appreciate the title, and using it was a great way to end any conversation you had with her. But it’s not like I could hide that I was talking to important people.
“You don’t need to tell who, just what you learned.” Lancelot wrung her hands together. I could taste the desire for knowledge on her. Also, what choice did I have? A Fae Goddess had put in her path; I doubt she wanted to play a ga of half-truths with soone who she was possibly related to.
Co to think of it, was I not being dragged into possibly the biggest family spat in all of Euross? Passing around knowledge from one arm of the family to the other.
“I feel I should reveal at least a little. Look, nothing I say here leaves this room, right?” I wanted Lance to trust , and I didn’t want her second-guessing the only piece of real advice I had directly from a moon glamour user. Still, the spectre of the Harkleys lood over , and every ti I spoke of these things, even indirectly, I feared it would sohow sense it and co claim .
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The feeling was intense right now because I knew that I would have to share at least so parts of my story with Ban, Elaine, and Miss Peaches when explaining the threat to Fos. A life I’d assud I’d leave behind and forget about was becoming more relevant by the day. I could always remain hidden and say nothing, but I hated Divine Cultivators with a passion that eclipsed my own desire for secrecy.
I’d not survived everything I had just to survive. I had survived to spite them, to bring about their loss. Living my life was not a victory; their failure was what was most important to .
“Of course, you have my silence. Especially after last night, which I’m sorry about—I promise we weren’t trying to snoop,” said Lance, looking guilty.
“It’s alright. To be honest, I’m a little thankful to know the Lady is keeping such a close eye on .” It did answer a couple of questions about my current situation.
“Is her attention related to how you know all the things you do?”
“It’s complicated. Look, first things first. How did I, your friendly Bard, get loaded down with this knowledge? Well, I spent so years in what I would describe as captivity at the hands of a House of Renown in Albion, a powerful House. The kind of House that occasionally hosts mbers of the royal family. I have since escaped, but the idea of being caught by them fills with dread. Still, I feel confident that my escape was successful, as during my escape I t the Lady, and that’s where I was given the na Taliesin.”
“That sounds—rough.” Lance couldn’t find the words.
“You have no idea. Look, I told you that so that when I explain that I spoke to one of the Quilverns, it doesn’t co across as nonsense. The sound thing I ntioned? I was dragged on a hunt and saw it used that way. I asked about it, which she took well to. Apparently, it was the trick she was most proud of, and she chose to spend so ti explaining it to —much to my fellow’s frustration.”
I didn’t want to get into the full frustrations of ‘my family.’ My peers had been getting no traction with her all day, and suddenly the bookish boy had the princess’s full attention. They were jealous enough that the hunt was when I first learned I could return from death—and it was the first ti I brought death to another person. Getting this knowledge had literally killed .
“So you have experience flirting with royalty? No wonder you were so smooth with the Lady.” Lance tried to inject so positivity. My emotions must have been showing. I silenced the urge to point out that my behaviour back then was based around the bookish and delicate persona of Regus, not the bombastic self that had erged since my rebirth.
“I am not a flirt. I am just friendly. Now, look, what she told was that reflections are a mont of loss. If you bounce a ball off a wall, you hear a thud. If light reflects off a sword, over ti the sword heats up. A reflection is a redirection of glamour coupled with a small sacrifice of its original power. She ntioned her earliest training was in bouncing sothing off her and controlling how much energy she absorbed and how much she returned. The echo control was like a tuned-up version of that.”
I’d been digging that conversation out of mory since I’d seen Lance’s trick at the table. It helped that I’d used the sa theory to create a simple technique of my own—a smoke cloud that could muffle my movent, trapping the sound within it.
“So what do you suggest?”
“I’m going to throw things at you.” Lance didn’t so much as pause; she just grinned.
“So that’s why you were collecting pebbles on the way ho. Alright, bring it!”
“Stop dodging!” I yelled an hour later.
“FUCK!” she exploded, flinging her arms up and cursing the sky. The sanctum rang with echoes. “This isn’t working. I can feel it, but the second I do, my brain tells to fight back, to react.”
“Look, you’re so close. Do you really want to miss out on getting this because you can’t stay still?” I was getting frustrated. I’d had trainers who used to take sick pleasure in flinging rocks at , claiming to train my ‘awareness.’ Until now, I’d believed it was purely for their entertainnt, but given we’d been doing this for the last few days, it had long surpassed boring and was now soul-crushing drudgery. It was not helped that every ti I could start to feel the familiar glamour shift, Lance would instinctively dodge an attack.
“I’ll try.” She wasn’t any happier. I’d hit her a lot. Adding just a bit of glamour to the rock seed to help her train but also ca with the downside that they hit far harder. Five rocks in, and I felt her glamour start to flow. The sixth rock she dodged. The seventh that I fired right after nailed her dead centre in the chest. I sensed sothing, and the rock fell limply to the floor.
“I did it, I did it! I—fucking ow!” She clutched her chest.
“What happened?”
“I caught all the energy! I did it!” She winced as she tried to throw both arms up. “I can see why this glamour is broken. There’s way more power in just a small rock than you’d expect.”
“Congratulations!” I was impressed. Manipulating a new gift was always a challenge. I still hadn’t used my death glamour.
“My Hearth is exhausted though. I was dumping so much into each attempt to make sothing happen. I’ll get better, but I’m going to need to take so ti to cultivate to get the glamour back. Now I know what I’m looking for though, it shouldn’t be difficult. I can’t thank you enough.” She ran over and gave a hug. I went stiff from the surprise.
“Oh, crap, before I do that I need to help you. Look, I have a request from the Lady. Mum was going to cover it, but as we have so ti now, I can get you started. Sorry, I wanted to start earlier, but Mum suggested we didn’t ss about before you spoke to the Lady In Peach.”
“A request from the Lady?” I was starting to think I was nothing but a convenient translator. What had she lined up for?
“The Lady said to take you through the basics of dream glamour cultivation. Implied it would be useful for you.” Lance worked hard to keep the curiosity from her tone. I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in surprise at the offer though. It wasn’t like dream glamour was of any use to .
“She didn’t explain, not that I rember. There must be a reason though. I bet it’s because dream glamour is different from most glamour in that you don’t take it into your Hearth. Not a good idea—it has too much of the source’s soul and mind in it. It’s why so many Oracles all seem kind of mad and crazy.”
Lance was speaking casually as she started to tidy up the sanctum, collecting the pebbles. She was ignorant of how my racing heart and pulsing Hearth reacted. I could feel my death gift stirring at the implications.
“Please tell more.” I kept the desperation from my voice as Lance continued to share the secrets I needed to keep my mind sane.
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