When the sharp tongue wags and is set loose without warning, what follows is war.
ZINA
Morning ca with an air of festivity and a startling discovery. No matter how hard Zina looked, she could not find her staff.
As in, the staff that she had been abandoned with which had been her guide as a blind girl. After recovering her sight, she had less and less use for the thing to the point that she had lost sight of it. But for so reason that morning, she had woken up with it in mind.
She had turned her room upside down in search of it, gone through every bag and every box, gone through all her clothes like she was on a cloth wearing spree, and yet, the wooden-like long thing was nowhere to be found.
"Did you see my staff?" She asked Seraph the mont the girl finally made entrance into her room.
Instead of answering her question, Seraph frowned. "You have scattered your hair." The girl comnted, taking to arranging her hair.
Zina huffed in exasperation while she allowed Seraph to do her thing. With the newly gained independence her sight offered her, the maidservant now ran more and more errands for her which allowed her anonymity to deal with the Thralgor Spy Guild. And recently, Seraph had been tasked with locating the ever elusive Central Heralder who was the assassin of the Guild; an assassin that Zina had never used for once because she never possessed the required steel to use him.
"What about Central?" Zina asked while Seraph prepped her hair anew, putting the curls that made for a flamboyant head style back in place.
"I was finally able to reach him. He expressed his willingness to do as you please."
Zina’s heart literally flew to her throat as the plan that she had been concocting with Fionna ca to the fore of her mind—the plan to take Igar down.
After montarily escaping Daemon’s interrogation, she knew she had to act fast because she wasn’t so sure the reprieve she felt would last for long. Ard with that knowledge, she had started to make her move. However, the heightened security in the Capital ant she was even more restricted.
As prominent packs from all streams of life stread in, security only got tougher, and if outside security was anything to boast about, the security within the castle was a nightmare to say the least.
Zina couldn’t even take a step without an Epsilon demanding that she reveal who she is. Every corner and part of the castle was teeming with guards and it was the exact kind of nightmare that Zina had never dreamt of encountering.
Indeed, Daemon’s level of execution was sothing she would have admired if she didn’t have a man to abduct and torture. And while it was still debatable if Fionna could infiltrate the castle or not, the Red Hand was still under surveillance. Added to that, courtesy of being a participant in the tournant, Fionna could not move as she pleased.
So Zina’s last recourse was to reach out to Central, the one Guild Heralder that she never thought she would have a use for.
"What of North?" Zina asked as she stared at herself through the mirror before her. She looked different as she had always looked before, and I had nothing to do with the exquisite hairstyle nor the flamboyant pieces of moonstones that adorned her, it was her eyes and the glitter that shone in them.
"He is here." Seraph whispered conspicuously.
On cue, the North Heralder appeared before Zina, offering Zina a bow, with his fist crossed to his heart.
"It’s my honor to appear before the Theta of the Arctic North."
Zina stood, walking towards the older man who still managed to retain an ethereal agility despite the white hairs that peppered his hair and jaw.
"Please stand." Zina said, smiling.
The man stood upright, his eyes glinting with steel.
"While it is an honor to appear before you, Theta. Why have you chosen for this task? I am but the Master Traveller and not your Master Whisperer."
"The South Heralder has been compromised, I feared that using him would expose us further." Zina answered, recollecting the events that happened during her journey to the East.
The South Heralder who was also known in their circle as the Master Whisperer had been caught by Daemon and his people. Zina had been apprehensive that Daemon hadn’t further interrogated her as to the identity of the man for it could only an that he also knew about the Thralgor Spy Guild.
Could it an that he also knew about the words that were inscribed on her staff? The thought would have ordinarily driven her crazy, but she was no longer that person. Now she was just one woman who wouldn’t allow anything to stand in her way of bringing down one man.
North nodded grimly to Zina’s explanation. "In that case, I shall now convey South’s findings to you. The Four Houses also registered for the tournant, and they intend to use this opportunity to reclaim their spot."
Zina expected as much; it was asking too much to demand the total complacency of the Four Houses especially after the shit show Daemon had pulled over them. They would surely fight back for their spot, but this ti around, the fighting would be done on fair grounds and not by virtue of possessing a generational blood.
"What of the participants? I believe you have our people spread out at every inn, has anyone peculiar co by? Soone with Red Eyes?"
North stilled at the question before he finally answered. "They’re a lot of peculiar persons currently visiting the Capitol, Theta. Nonetheless we were able to narrow down the list of male persons that possess red eyes to about five people. We narrowed the list down by eliminating those that aren’t from the West."
North handed her a paper that Zina perused for all but a second before she allowed her hands to fall by her sides. They were just unfamiliar nas that gave her a headache.
"If you were to narrow them down on the basis of who has reached a level two shifter, how many would remain in the list?"
"None."
Disappointnt filled her, but it could also be a good thing for her. "If that’s the case, then they’re probably not the person I am looking for."
Zina rembered the man from her visions; he had certainly seed powerful. Powerful enough to be a Lycan Shifter at the very least. And the way the man hissed Freya’s na like he was soone untouchable.
Seraph appeared suddenly before them; Zina hadn’t even been aware the maidservant had disappeared. "I can’t find your staff either. I can swear I saw it last week before you sent away."
Zina’s stomach clenched uncomfortably at that knowledge. "My room is out of bounds, do you an to say soone managed to saunter into my room and take it away?" Zina asked in disbelief.
Seraph didn’t seem to have the answer either as the maidservant looked around the room like a lost puppy. "Could it be at the Temple?" She offered in an attempt to find a solution.
"The last ti I touched it was on the day of the Blood Moon, Seraph. It can’t be at the Temple."
The maidservant chewed at her cheeks, at a loss for words, while Zina glared at her room, more aghast at the fact that soone could easily enter it without her knowledge than the fact that her staff was missing.
Wasn’t her day starting out just splendidly?
"Sothing happened this morning though," North said, interrupting her thoughts.
Zina looked at him expectantly, her eyes urging him to go on.
"One of the participants lost his tongue."
What?
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