Magic and Gold

11: Blood Copy

Perspective of Blade

I walked to Scrap's lair in the Magia. Every tunnel looked the same, but after a while, you got accustomed to some of the familiar notches in the otherwise perfectly packed dirt walls. I ran my hand along the cool Earth as I went. At one point, I closed my eyes, memorizing the way without the use of sight or the orbs floating midair.

I pushed open her door and saw an absolute mess. She really did have scraps of everything squirreled away in here. It was organized chaos in neat little rows. Most of it looked useless, but every once in a while there was something amazing like a huge chunk of gold or a bag filled with coin. She really was like a squirrel, saving up her acorns for the harsh winter.

"You called for me?" I asked. She was sitting on the floor, sewing. She was threading gold thread through black gloves, probably for better magic conductibility. I nodded in approval.

"Did you know that you're an a*s?" She asked if with a completely straight face and flat tone. She did not look angry, but said it like a fact. She waited for an answer.

"Yes, ma'am," I said in equal seriousness.

She laughed. She looked less severe when she laughed. Like she might actually have fun sometimes instead of being a downright boring stickler. "It's why you've been put on my team for a big new project from the DHs."

"What sort of assignment?" I questioned. I knew that Planning had been working on something big. I could feel it in the air. People were energized, awaiting the newest deadline on our next big goal. But I was in the Department of Weapons, so I was on a need-to-know basis. I knew they would tell me when ready, and here Scrap was.

"We have to take out the whole royal family." My expression must have really been something, because she expanded. "I know it sounds far-fetched. Even if my morals were for it, it's a lot of work for the Department Head of Stealth. But Planning has been really busy. No one wants this to go wrong." I looked at her face and she looked...sad. Haunted, even. I knew the feeling of taking life. I knew how it stayed with you, how it hurt people.

I barely even acknowledged the fact that she was upset though. I had a bigger problem.

If I was a Department Head, I would have been told. But no, for now I would have to be subjected to being a mere soldier. I knew there was something important in the works, and I knew it would require getting into the castle. I had no idea that there was a target, and it was aimed at...what she said processed in my brain. "What the hell do you mean? They can't kill them all."

"There's only three of them," she said. "I know, I don't think that this is a good idea, but it isn't up for discussion with the DHs." She looked like she had tried. She had failed, even though she was a Department Head, too. I would have failed if I was a Head.

I tried to think a way through this, think a way out of it. I had to tell her. I had to save her.

Guinevere was in danger, and none of my superiors had even thought to tell me this. "When?" I asked.

"A week from now. Can you believe that? I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off since they told me, and there's still so much to be done. If we pull this off..." She was finally quiet.

A week. "I have to go," I said and ran in the direction I came from. I sprinted through the hallways this time. This was bad. This was really, really bad. I had a mental image of Guin in my mind. It was a specific image. She spoke to me like a real person, like the only person who truly ever knew me. She knew everything about me, and she liked me anyway. She saw me no matter how hard I tried to blend. She ranted to me about how frustrated she was, how much she wanted to make this country better.