"The Chapter-Mistress will probably want to hear this." I remark as I make my way over the mountain before me. Gently skirting over its snow-covered peak before I found myself before our behemoth Mobile Fortress. A grand, but harmless gesture of magic came from me as I flew by its head. Without it, I would've been thrown out of the air by its rumbling throat.
Yet even with it, I found my body shaking and trembling before I dropped down. Onto the safety of the ensorceled stone that made up our castle's grand entrance platform. And with a quick gesture, I dismissed the servants who came up to me to offer their aid. And I quickly made my way into the depths of the castle with a piece of sundered armour.
"Noalla, what're you doing back here?" Ainael asked me as she spotted me. Then, once she finished running up to me to ensure a more respectable conversation. I handed over the piece of armour I had taken from the bodies the Valkinvar had created. After I notified the nearest force capable of clearing it up, of course.
"A footman's bracer?" she questioned as she held it up before a torch before she passed it back to me.
"Despite your inspection, you did not catch it?"
"No, I am afraid not." she answers with a shrug before the moves to straighten out her mostly white attire.
"The lingering power on the serrated edge, you should be familiar with it!" I chastise as I make an elaborate point of pointing it out.
"Yes, yes, now I see. You are here to inform Chapter-Mistress Chiara, then?"
"I am, is she within the temple? Her private office? Somewhere more public?"
"I cannot answer that at the moment, you will need to get searching."
"I'll see you in due time, then."
"Jhr nosumonaterikra." she recited to me.
"Jhr nosumonaterikra." I recite back to her with the appropriate gestures. Turning my back on her thereafter so I could carry on my search for the Chapter-Mistress. Thankfully, the privileges I had accrued as a member of this chapter made my task easier. And I sent forth a wave of magic before I brought it suddenly back.
She was on her way to the temple by the looks of it, and she was busy.
"I hope she isn't so busy as to give me grief." I remark as the sounds of my heels striking the stone fill my ears. A steady, reliable beat that easily drowned out the flicker of the fire and the whistling of passing wind. The sound of chapter-guards and my fellow witches, however, were not so easily drowned out.
For a brief moment as well, I even stopped to inspect one of the chapter-guards. Only to smirk at him as I needlessly brushed their shoulder. Yet I went no further and left them to their duties. And I was soon only a hallway away from my superior who I picked up the pace to meet with.
"Chapter-Mistress Chiara!" I called out urgently, interrupting the conversation she was having. And, in order to make sure she was not mistaken and that I would not be on the end of a stern speech. I dropped down submissively and kept my fists planted.
"Rise." she remarks slowly after barely scraping my exposed head.
"Chapter-Mistress Chiara, I present an issue that I believe might concern you."
"You would think a veteran would know better." one of my pettier superiors remarked as a brief wave of giggling went through them.
"A strong witch decimated the footman who wore this, but I suppose there is more to it than just that?"
"Yes, Chapter-Mistress Chiara. It is with great concern that I clarify the enacter of this violence to be a Valkinvar operating beyond the frontlines." I explain, much to the bemused bafflement of my recent chastisers.
"A Valkinvar? Dearest veteran, we pushed them back from here some time ago."
"I know what I saw. Her posture, her blade, they were all indicators for someone of the Ordoar-Imdvarce." I tell them with a stern expression. Ignoring their childish behaviour by only focusing on the expression of our mutual superior.
"Walk with me, alone." the Chapter-Mistress explains before she sharply turns her head towards her previous group.
"But, Chapter-Mistress, the war effort." one contested as they reminded them of the tablets they held.
"The war might be coming to an end at the behest of His Royal Highness Prince Jhrartur, but it shall not be ending within the next minute!" she nearly snaps as she suddenly gestures for me to follow.
"So, yes, Chapter-Mistress Chiara, the Valkinvar."
"Do not mistake me for anything but a seeker of understanding, but, are you sure it was one?"
"Yes, Chapter-Mistress Chiara. Her sword was modelled along the same make and her style, while crude, was clearly meant to be an Ordoar-Imdvarce Valkinvar." I tell her, letting her inspect the armour piece once again.
"And your theory as to why one of them was far past their line of retreat? This is completely unorthodox for them and it is no fool's statement to say that they're predictable to the extreme."
"I have none, Chapter-Mistress Chiara. Which, on top of one being where I found it to begin with, is already a major call for concern."
"You found it where?"
"Out in the wilderness, they had been seemingly travelling under disguise. Or, at the very least, on a transport. I last saw them last heading to the site of the Surprising Barrage's namesake battle."
"So they are on their way to the disgusting ruins of Giant's Victory?" she questions as she turns around. One arm was down at her side while the other bent up to show her clenched fist.
"Shall I make haste to warn the garrison?"
"No, let them be caught unaware. I want confirmation that this is truly a Valkinvar."
"Then ambush them?"
"Silence, go." the Chapter-Mistress scolded as she put the piece of armour back into my grip. And, with a respectful bow, I departed. Brushing aside the comments as I walked by before I began my approach to the Beast Master's Throneroom.