Amelia Thornheart-Chapter 126: Shenanigans IV

As Mel, Amelia, and the dice-board owner named Tamas were led through the narrow, winding corridors of the building, the whispers of the hidden wealth of the gambling dens grew ever louder. The scratched and chipped wooden staircase they’d walked up gave way to polished stone and vibrant rugs. The patchworked walls of the lower floors were replaced with smooth plaster and scenic oil paintings. Most importantly, the thuggish guards' escort duty was taken over by a different pair of men, both with sharp eyes and the unmissable hues of a warrior’s aura.

I should have brought a weapon, Mel thought, making eye contact with the men to determine their disposition. They weren’t outwardly armed, but she did not doubt that concealed within their clothing were hidden blades and firearms. Heightening her senses further, she examined her potential opponents’ aura.

Red. Lacking in colour or consistency, but enough to dominate an ordinary person. If it came to it, Mel felt confident she could handle these two, with or without her sword. Captain Halen had been particularly focused on forcing the most unfair training situations during the Academy sessions, often pitting Mel against two or three others.

Noble duels almost never happen on the battlefield, Captain Halen had instructed. When it comes to aura users, anyone with their horns straight knows it’s about killing them as quickly as possible. In most cases, that means getting you and all your friends to overwhelm them.

She pushed her senses a little further, straining to sense any greater dangers. The response from the aetherfield was a little concerning. Not because Mel had identified a more serious threat, but because she hadn’t. She knew there was a Kanaxai mage skulking about, and if she couldn’t sense him, then he must be at least second-circle.

Mel glanced at Amelia. Her friend was humming to herself as she strode confidently along as if she were taking a stroll through the academy grounds. Even if Mel couldn’t identify all the possible threats, there was no way that Amelia wasn’t aware, was there? From the demeanour of their guards and the absence of panicked noises, neither they nor the hidden mage had picked up on her friend's titanic power. Instead, Mel could sense the guards’ attention focused only on herself and her aura. They were being careful, but didn’t seem to be so on edge that they expected a fight to break out.

In fact, the most nervous of them was Tamas, who followed sheepishly, as if he were a lamb being led to slaughter. By the time they’d arrived at a set of heavy doors—flanked by bronze statues that Mel thought similar to Kami statues from her homeland—the dice-board owner’s face had lost all colour, and his formerly confident and cheerful grin had all but vanished.

“Lady Houk,” one of the guards said to the door, “we’ve brought Tamas, and…” The warrior glanced at Mel and Amelia, as if he weren’t sure exactly how to describe them. “The winners,” he finally finished, speaking as if the word was alien in these parts.

“Bring them,” came the muffled voice of a woman.

The loud clunk of a deadbolt sounded before the door was opened, and they were ushered in. At first, Mel thought she’d been transported back to the East. The room seemed to be trying its best to replicate the office of an Eastern lord. Ironwood furniture, Ainese earthenware, and, if Mel wasn’t mistaken, a rug made of Fengra wool. That said, there was a lack of authenticity to the interior design. It was as if the room’s owner had just wanted to create a dramatic impression, instead of adhering to the principles of teng shua.

Mel turned her gaze to the room’s owner in question—the one the guard had called Lady Houk. If this woman was responsible for the room’s design, it wasn’t reflected in her clothing. She wore a leather jacket with a high, upturned collar as if protecting her neck from a wind only she could feel. Her belt, worn diagonally across her torso, bore no less than three knives. Her light-brown hair was short, almost to the point of being masculine. A pair of stubby, Cerulean horns protruded from the woman’s crown, and underneath, a pair of blue eyes flicked over them, only giving them the briefest of attention before looking down at her paperwork. The desk was littered with small stacks of silver and gold coins.

The door closed, and the deadbolt was closed with a definitive clunk that seemed to declare, ‘Now you’re trapped!’. Perhaps that was the intention, for the very next noise afterwards was an awkward gulp originating from Tamas.

“One moment,” the woman said quietly.

For a dozen seconds, the room was filled with a loud silence, accompanied only by the scratching of Lady Houk’s pen. It was probably a tactic to make them nervous, but Mel took the opportunity to examine the woman further. She looked to be in her thirties, perhaps a little older than Captain Halen. The woman’s face bore a few minor scars, but the greatest damage was to her right ear, half of which was missing. Whatever the woman’s life story was, it wasn’t peaceful.

Mel glanced at Amelia, only to receive a wink in response.

Just what are you planning? Mel thought. She faced Lady Houk and was about to open her mouth when the mysterious gambling den boss spoke first.

“I always do my own books,” Lady Houk said. “A lot of money passes through the tables downstairs, into this building and onto my desk.” She tapped one of the neatly stacked coin towers with the back of her pen. “If you leave your finances in someone else's hands, it won’t be long before bits of it start going missing. Even if you take the thief's hands, their replacement will eventually face the same temptation.” Lady Houk sighed, as if reminiscing about times passed. “In the end, it’s easier to do things yourself. Not that there aren’t benefits. Like now, I can see that this week’s revenue—which was looking rather good—is now down by thirty denarii.”

“Lady Houk,” Tamas said in an uneasy voice. “I—”

“The occasional loss is part of running tables,” Lady Houk continued, showing no sign of hearing Tamas. “In the years I’ve been in business, I’ve seen Lady Luck occasionally poke her unwelcome horns into my operation. Sometimes she strikes subtly, giving a customer just the card they need, allowing them to win a few days’ wages. Sometimes, she’s a little more heavy-handed. Her luck comes storming in like a disgruntled arcwhale, disrupting the way things are and handing someone a win of their lifetime…” The demon trailed off, tapping the paper. She looked at Mel with piercing blue eyes before slowly switching to Amelia. “Sometimes, she comes in like a maelstrom, intent on upsetting the natural order of things.”

“Hehe…” Amelia grinned back, scratching her nose.

As if on cue, one of the guards approached the desk carrying a box. He opened it and began slowly and methodically taking out metal tools and placing them very deliberately on the wooden surface. Mel breathed in slowly, reassuring herself of her own aether. She wasn’t under any illusion regarding what the reddish-brown stains on the tools were.

A set of pliers. A set of prongs. A hammer.

“Lady Houk…” Tamas said weakly. “I had nothing to do… to do…”

“No, you wouldn’t be so stupid,” Lady Houk sneered. She placed the pen down and leaned back in her chair. After watching Amelia closely for a few seconds, she said, “It’s not the amount that concerns me. Thirty denarii is far from the largest winnings I’ve paid out; it’s the manner in which you won.” Lady Houk leaned forward just as the guard placed a particularly nasty-looking implement on the table. “I have two questions for you, young lady. Who are you, and why did you decide to cheat so blatantly, and sacrifice those dainty hands of yours for such a small amount?”

“Hrmph!” Amelia folded her arms and twisted her body. Looking at Lady Houk with an indignant expression, she declared, “I did not cheat! I’m just extremely lucky! I hope you don’t think those tools are going to scare me. You better not be thinking of punishing Tamas, either. It’s not his fault I chose his table!”

Mel watched Lady Houk’s eyes widen and then narrow in barely concealed confusion. It was a common reaction to those first encountering the anomalous existence of Amelia. How would this gambling boss react to pure chaos wrapped up in an undetectable Kanaxai disguise? Mel was confident she could guess exactly what the demon was thinking right now: What in the Seven Hells is going on? Doesn’t this woman realise I’m threatening her?

“I don’t think you understand what’s going on, my anisa,” Lady Houk said slowly, her eyes cold and piercing. “Whatever fancy corner of the Known World you came from, you’re in my world now. Different rules apply. I might hang you in the alley as a warning to other thieves.” Mel felt herself bristle at the naked threat, but Amelia remained resolute in her indignant pout. “But you are a woman. So, tell me how you cheated the dice, and I might only take a finger or two. Hells, if you’re obedient, I might even let you walk away with your earnings.”

“Watch yourself,” Mel warned, unable to keep quiet any longer. She pushed her aether, convecting it around her body, prompting her aura to glow strong and true, bathing the room in red. Her aura gave her confidence, but that confidence wobbled slightly as she sensed a hidden power in Lady Houk.

She’s a warrior as well, Mel realised. At least orange. She re-evaluated the gambling boss in her head. It had been strange how little Lady Houk seemed to care about Mel’s red. Was she perhaps running her aura now, undetectable by Mel? Had the Kanaxai mage cloaked it for her? Whatever the answer, Mel made a mental note to train her aetherfield sensitivity in the future.

While the two guards bristled at her aura, with Tamas backing away against the wall, Lady Houk continued to appear unbothered, choosing instead to scoff as if amused. “Is that where you get your confidence?” the demon asked Amelia, barely giving Mel a glance. “You think yourself safe? With your guard protecting you? Did she help you cheat?”

“I did not cheat!” Amelia protested.

“You rolled three Moon Eyes,” Lady Houk spat, venom dripping from her voice. “In a row. On a board that I know for a fact makes a single one impossible. How did you do it? Did you swap out the dice? Are you working with Tamas? Believe me, I can be very determined to uncover the truth, and right now…” The demon reached over and picked up one of the bloodstained tools. “I feel determined.”

“Firstly,” Amelia declared, dramatically untwisting from her indignant pout and raising a finger, “You have terrible etiquette. You’re obviously an admirer of Eastern culture, given how you’ve decorated the room. What’s the point in going through all that effort if you’re going to be so rude? Secondly…” Amelia took a few steps, not towards Lady Houk, but towards the edge of the room. ”You’re the one who should be apologising to me. Using weighted dice and threatening someone for the innocent crime of being devilishly lucky? That’s immoral! And finally…” Amelia stopped at one of the bookcases and crossed her arms. “I didn’t let your men lead me up here so I could be threatened by you!”

“Oh?” Lady Houk intoned. She stood up and rested one hand on her belt, on the handle of one of her many knives. “And why, as you say, did you let my men lead you up here? Were you suddenly overwhelmed by a suicidal tendency? Or did you naively think I was going to actually pay out your so-called winnings? Hmm? Which is it, my anisa?”

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“All wrong!” Amelia exclaimed proudly, her face a perfect picture of smugness. “I let your men lead me up here so I could rob you!”

“What?” Lady Houk asked.

“What?” Mel echoed.

Any immunity Mel thought she might have developed against Amelia’s uniqueness was evaporated as both Mel and Lady Houk exchanged shocked expressions before both looking back towards Amelia.

“We’re… robbing her?” Mel asked, not quite believing she was asking such a question.

“You’re… robbing me?” Lady Houk asked, her voice small, as if she were asking herself. “I…” The gambling boss frowned and then slowly began chuckling. “Ha… haha… ahahaha…” The jubilant noise grew until it became full-blown laughter. “Hahaha! A madwoman! A madwoman has come to me. Are you insane?” she asked, unsheathing a knife. “The only way those hands of yours are going to touch my gold is once I’ve cut them off and—”

“I don’t need your gold!” Amelia said with a grin. “I just want the jewels in the safe behind me!”

For a split second, Mel saw Lady Houk’s expression change into one of pure shock, and then, if Mel wasn’t mistaken, one of raw fear.

Then Amelia’s aether exploded.

It wasn’t a Word, thankfully. But it was some spellwork from Marzanna that manifested a thick wall of aether-reinforced ice between them and the rest of the room’s occupants. Through the ice, Mel could make out the muffled shapes and shouts of Lady Houk and her men. From outside the room, she could hear a sudden scream of agony.

“That’s the Kanaxai mage,” Amelia said idly, turning around to examine the bookcase. “I suppose he’s supposed to be their secret weapon. Honestly, what a rude woman! Now I guess I’ll just…” Amelia’s hands thrust forward, almost too quick for Mel to see, and burrowed into the bookcase, ripping out the hidden safe. “It wasn’t just three times. I was lucky for a fourth time, for them to lead me here. Honestly…”

“What’s going—” 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

“Less questions, more escaping!” Amelia declared. “Speaking of… how should we get out of here?”

Mel pushed down all thoughts about what Captain Halen was going to do to her when she caught wind of this, and nodded towards the window. “Window?” she suggested.

“Mmm. Window,” Amelia affirmed. The window’s latch was locked, but the glass and metal frames were both inadequate to resist either of them. As the window was ripped open, a cry sounded from beyond the ice wall.

“They’re going through the window!”

“Let’s go!” chirped Mel’s friend-turned-jewel-thief. Amelia jumped out the window, and Mel followed shortly after, both landing in a thin alleyway. “I think we should run,” Amelia said, peering up at the building. “I could put them to sleep, but then Lia Liona will come under even more scrutiny. Bah! If I knew this would happen, I would have changed my disguise. Serena’s going to be so annoyed…”

Amelia began running, carrying the stolen safe as if it were light as a feather. Mel pushed her aura into orange, doing her best to catch up. Just as they rounded the first corner, she heard the sound of splintering wood from behind. It seemed Lady Houk was carving her own way out of her office.

“What do you mean, ‘If I knew this would happen?’” Mel hissed. “What happened? You had a sudden urge to become a criminal!?” As much as she tried, she couldn’t decipher Amelia’s actions. Everything her friend had done had been so bizarre, even for her.

“Of course not,” Amelia replied casually. “I get that you might not have picked up on it. It wasn’t a coincidence I decided to start throwing dice, although I suppose I did also use it as an opportunity to test how lucky I am…”

“Picked up on what?”

As they ran, Amelia tapped the safe. “Doesn’t this safe feel weird to you? Sure, it did have a Kanaxai ward hiding its signature, but that’s gone now. Can’t you sense it?”

“Sense what?” Mel said, casting a glance at the safe. “What am I—” She cut off as some deep instinct within her suddenly flared. She hadn’t spotted it in the office, but now that she was running beside it, she could detect a strange coldness emitting from inside. It was a dark coldness that caused more than just her body to shiver. It was something… unnatural. “...What’s in there?” Mel asked, trying to keep her pounding heart under control.

“Not jewels,” Amelia replied. “Picked up on it when we were walking past the dice tables. I was only gambling to try and pinpoint its location. And then, lucky me, we get brought right into the office with it in! Isn’t that some ridiculous luck?”

“...You’re calling that luck?”

“I don’t know if there are any jewels inside,” Amelia continued. “If there are, I’ll donate them to charity. I only said that so that rude woman would think I don’t know what’s really in there. Hmm… this way!” Amelia darted down a side alley and Mel followed suit, her brain churning with questions.

“But they saw our faces!” Mel exclaimed. “They’ll figure out who I am, and who Lia Liona is and what ship she came into dock on within a day! Can’t you… Can’t you have not done this and reported it to the captain instead?”

“Mmm… not really.”

“I don’t—”

“That was my plan, honestly,” Amelia replied. “But I get these bursts of intuition sometimes. I just knew that I had to get this right there, right then. If I didn’t… it would have been used to hurt someone, soon. I don’t know how I knew that. I just did. What’s in here isn’t nice. I think I’ve saved someone’s life by taking it now.”

“But the captain…”

“I’ll explain it to Serena. Don’t worry. We just need to—shit!” Amelia rounded a corner, slamming into someone, only for her and the safe to go flying.

Mel dug her heels in and skidded to a halt. She sensed a burst of aether. Not from her, or Amelia, but from the person she collided with. Mel flared her aura, twisting to face the opponent, only for her mouth to open in surprise.

“What are you doing here!?” she asked.

“What are you doing here?” Finella replied, casting a glance at the upside-down heap that consisted of Amelia and safe. “Quick! We need to go!” Finella pulled Amelia up. “I’m being chased. Not that way. This way!” Finella gestured to the way Mel had come from.

“Not that way!” Mel grabbed Finella’s wrist.

“Huh? Why?”

“We’re being chased.”

“What? Oh.”

“Why are you being chased?” Mel asked.

“Stole some information,” Finella answered. “You?”

“Stole some jewels.”

“What?” Finella’s face flashed with confusion just as Amelia collected her newly acquired safe. “I…” Finella shook her head. “Never mind, this way!” They darted down the only exit available, a dark, dilapidated alleyway that seemed to swallow them whole.

After turning one corner, Mel realised the complete lack of windows and doors in the alleyway. They even lost the sky, as the buildings’ overhang changed the alleyway into more of a tunnel. After turning another corner, she heard the frantic shouts of her and Finella’s pursuers coming into the alley. And then, after turning one final corner, Mel realised that an easy escape wouldn’t be possible.

It was a dead end.

“Thought you were supposed to be lucky,” Mel said to Amelia as she began rolling up her sleeves.

“I am lucky,” came the response. “It wasn’t me who said to come down here, was it?”

“Here,” Finella said, passing Mel an iron bar she’d sourced from somewhere.

“Thank you.” Mel took it and began massaging the bar, trying to produce enough of an edge that her aura could take hold. “Where are the others?”

“Split up,” Finella said. “The two cadets earned their pay, though. Great actors.”

“Is that so?” Mel mused, just as their pursuers rounded the corner.

Lady Houk, skin glowing with sweat and orange-yellow hues, took the front. She’d found reinforcements, as flanking her were no less than four warriors, each manifesting varying levels of red. Behind them were two others Mel pegged as mages, with one of them shrouded in darkness, as if light refused to bounce off them. A telltale sign of Kanaxai magic.

“That’s her,” one of the unfamiliar warriors said, pointing at Finella. “That’s the one who was asking about you, Lady Houk.”

“Is that so?” Lady Houk sneered. “Thank you, Simmons. Spread out! Don’t let them pass.” At her command, the gang of renegade aura users formed a semi-circle. Mel’s earlier suspicion regarding hidden blades turned out to be correct as she saw many of them produce a variety of gleaming weapons from about their persons.

“That’s Lady Houk?” Finella asked.

“That is,” Mel answered.

“And those…” Finella nodded towards the safe in Amelia’s arms.

“Her jewels,” Mel explained, more than anything, to reinforce Amelia’s impromptu story.

“Understood.” Finella looked towards Lady Houk and asked, “If I were to tell you that harming us would cause a catastrophic diplomatic incident, would that possibly persuade you to turn around and go about your day?”

“No diplomatic incident,” Lady Houk said, her lips curling into a sneer, “if there are no bodies.”

“See how rude she is!?” Amelia cried. “You'd better turn away right now!”

“Careful,” Lady Houk said to her colleagues. “That one’s a second-circle ice mage. Maybe even third-circle.” Behind her, Mel saw the mages nodding. “Let’s get this done quickly, before we draw too much attention,” Lady Houk continued. “Keep one alive. We’ll need to question them.”

“Yes, Lady Houk!”

With that, no one spoke any further. There was no purpose in further discussion. The only thing left to decide was who was going to attack first, and that would be decided through violence, not speech.

Mel took a breath.

And flared her aura.

“Lady Houk, here.”

Tefira swatted Simmon’s hand away. She used her hands to push herself against the alleyway’s wall, gritting her teeth as her body screamed at her. How many ribs were broken? She spat out blood, only for more to fill her mouth. She’d bitten through her tongue during the fight, damn it.

And her nose was broken.

“Water,” she said.

Simmons, who looked like he was nursing some broken ribs himself, fetched her a cup. Tefira drank it all. Blood and water filled her stomach, slightly helping her condition. She could feel the telltale sign of aether exhaustion throughout her body, but she couldn’t let what remained of her aura collapse just yet.

“They’re gone?” she asked.

“They’re gone, Lady Houk,” Simmons replied.

“Damn.” She was too injured to risk getting angry. She needed to conserve her strength until she could crawl back home and into bed to recover. Not only that, but she had to deal with the consequences of losing that. “This is bad, Simmons,” she said.

“What should we do?”

“I.. I need to think.”

Tefira took a few breaths and surveyed the surroundings. Even her shaky aura meant she could see well in the dim alleyway, although she wished she couldn’t, for all she could see was the sign of her failure. Only she and Simmons were conscious. Everyone else lay sprawled out, with no small number of broken bones.

“I don’t understand, Lady Houk,” Simmons said. “How they beat us.”

“Ha…” Tefira closed her eyes, recalling the fight. “It was the mage.”

“The mage? But she didn’t do anything. She just stood there.”

“No. She did the most.”

“Didn’t feel like that when I was getting an iron bar in my face,” Simmons grumbled.

“She warded them.”

“What?”

“She warded them. Empress knows with what. That’s how they moved so fast. Orange aura can’t move like that. It was as if they were a strong yellow, or even more.” Tefira spat out some more blood and continued, “But we got some information.”

“What’s that, Lady Houk?”

“That mage. There’s something about her. Why covertly ward her allies and not engage in the fight herself? If she’s capable of warding multiple people like that, then she’s at the peak of third-circle. Hells, she might even be a Speaker.”

“You’re telling me we might’ve just had a bout with a Speaker?”

“All I know is that there’s more to that one. She knew full well what was in the safe. Help me up.” This time, Tefira used Simmons to help her stand. Resisting the urge to groan, she pushed her aura as much as she dared and said, “Find Sahira. They might have passed through her network on their way to me. One of her girls might have seen them.”

“Alright.”

“Go. Now.”

“And leave you, Lady Houk?”

“Just go. Damn it.” Tefira waved Simmons away, and eventually she had the peace and quiet of this moon-forsaken alley full of broken bodies and embarrassment. With him gone, she had some time to reflect on what had happened.

Whatever may come from this, she had to get that item back.

That man wasn’t known to forgive.

Even worse, she still didn’t know how that mage cheated the dice!

Sighing, she reached up and placed her nose between her fingers.

Ah, Honora, Tefira thought, snapping her nose back into alignment. Maybe I should have listened to you.