Fateless

Chapter Eleven: A Terrible Plan

Hiya! It's been a hot second since I've updated, so I just wanted to post a little note that I'm back after that very long hiatus (Is anyone even still interested in this? *shrug*.) Hopefully I'll be updating more often, but things are hectic so I make no promises. There's a bit of perspective switching in this chapter, but it shouldn't be too confusing. Enjoy the gang being stupid and Dawn being everyone's mother.

~ Nick's POV~

"This is a terrible plan."

Ashlie rolled her eyes and shot me an irritated look. "Yes, I know, you've said it seven times already!"

"Yeah, well, I just want to make it absolutely clear just how terrible of a plan this is," I said, returning her expression with a glare of my own. The mage just laughed at me and booped my nose gently. I sighed. "You're not taking anything I'm saying seriously, are you?"

"Nope, not really," she admitted, shrugging. We came to a stop at the top of the staircase and Ashlie turned towards me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Trust me, Nick. Nothing bad is gonna happen. Besides, you have to admit, compared to most of our plans, this one is pretty tame." She grinned.

"That's not exactly reassuring," I replied, crossing my arms. Ashlie chuckled lightly, breaking the silence that echoed from the corridor walls as she turned around and continued up another flight of stairs. I sighed but followed.

Technically, she was right. The plan was simple and straightforward. Today, two days after their meeting in Ashlie's tower, was an Assignment Ceremony. An Assignment Ceremony usually took place at least once every month, sometimes more in special situations. It was during this that all children and new members of the kingdom visited the castle to be given an assignment by the Seer. While it was something that had become pretty routine over the years, the castle still made sure to make a big day out of it and treat it like a celebration. Things like this were supposed to strengthen the morale of the people or something like that. During the ceremony, the Great Hall was open to all and was usually filled with those being assigned as well as onlookers, townspeople, merchants, and even travelers who were curious about the tradition. Naturally, this meant that there had to be more guards then usual stationed around. Any guard that could be spared was moved more towards the center of the castle, acting partly as crowd control.

The plan Ashlie had come up with would take advantage of this. While Uni, Dawn, and Jon attended the ceremony as usual, Ashlie and I would sneak onto the fourth floor, tell the guard positioned there that they needed more help in the Great Hall and that he was being moved there momentarily. Then, Ashlie would open the door with a spell or something and would be able to assess the magic situation she suspected was involved. They had decided it might be suspicious if they all went at once, but maybe once Ashlie was in the room, she would be able to think of a way to magic up a way for them to all come back more discreetly in the future.

I bit back another sigh as we came to the fourth floor landing.

"I don't know, Ashlie, the plan just seems to rely a lot on magic..."

"Well, yeah, that's the point," she said, "why have a world class witch if you're not gonna use her?" Ashlie flipped her hair in mock arrogance and winked.

"There just doesn't seem to be a lot I can do in case things go wrong," I admitted warily.

"Oh, don't worry about that! I could always use you as a human shield if things get really rough," Ashlie said, bumping my shoulder. Before I could fully process and question her words, she pranced past me. "This way, right?" She took off down the hall to the west wing, leaving me no choice but to follow.