Civil guards had been assigned to all corners of Camelot to find and capture the Crimsonmane mages who carried out the attempted assassination of the Donar family. Mages of the Magisterium were also deployed to pursue those who fled to the world's end if necessary. In the palace belonging to the patriarch Alasdair, a civil guard unit, as well as the magi, had infested the entire rooms. They dragged Florence Crimsonmane from the palace doors to the carriage as she struggled when her hands were grabbed by the personnel.
"What are you doing to me, damn it! ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ! You can't drag me like this. I'm innocent! Let go or I'll destroy all of you. ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐'๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ?"
Aunt Florence's struggle did not awaken the patriotism of the housemaids. Her husband, Ulysses, was left speechless after learning that Florence was involved in an international wizarding terrorist network. Elsewhere, Spencer, Doyle, John, and Aimeeโmembers of the Crimsonmane family who laid an assault on Alicia the other dayโwere also arrested by their residence. Of course, they did not give themselves up as voluntary prisoners; they ought to feel the heat of lead and the sting of magical energy before finally submitting.
Only a handful of Crimsonmanes were known to conspire, but that did not mean they were the only ones involved. On the pretext of anticipation, Grand Magus Haddock had issued orders to interrogate every member of the Crimsonmane except the three Trinketshore residents. After a series of questions were thrown, they found a number of new suspects working behind the scenes. They found not only the Crimsonmanes, but also men from certain circles. Some were from other wizarding families, others were government officials. And almost all of them caused a commotion to chaos during the capturing process. There were times when they played cat and mouse with magic brooms, set fire to several residential blocks, and demonstrations by fanatical supporters of several suspects. That was just what it was, seizing these people was akin to detaining wild horses in steep terrain. This massive hunt drastically destroyed the Crimsonmane's image and lowered the people's trust in the Camelot royal hierarchy.
The attempt to seize Orb back then was an enormous blunder. The authorities found and arrested more people than they expected. This was worrying. How could these cases spread to the dark side of the government? It was possible those honourable servants of the country ended up ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต the country itself!
With all those big catches, the authorities were struck by a thousand lousy luck. They literally found nothing out of the dozens of people. All the suspects could neither tell the name of the organisation they served nor the mastermind behind all the activities in it. The suspects could not utter a word, in the sense that their minds were being blocked by something, preventing them from revealing everything. There were pieces of memory missing from their brains, although the memory sought was right at the nerve endings, ready to spit out through the lips. They remembered but forgot. They knew, but "knew not".
All the ways they could think of were done, but all were to no avail. Asking carefully, torturing, reading minds, to forcibly removing information using various types of spells. The officers got nothing from the suspects, albeit they knew and were willing to share them. It was ridiculously weird. Grand Magus Lachlan Haddock and all the authorities were left puzzled. They still hit the same dead end.
"You absolutely didn't find anything?" Donar asked Haddock in an office at the Wizarding Prison Complex. A box building covered in grey paint (or cement) was used as the emergency office of the Magisterium while Skycastle was being repaired.
"Not at all, 'My Lord'," replied the Grand Magus. "But I found this."
Several photographs were handed over to Baron Trinketshore. Each paper was printed with a picture of a letter, a wall, to the interior of a hidden chamber. After a thorough examination, Baron Donar found similarities between all of them; there was a symbol emblazoned on it. A symbol of an opened eye with horns facing sidewaysโone horn was at the corner of the eye, the other was in the upper arch not far from the first one. He saw the symbol painted large on the wall and tiny on the back of the envelope. He also saw characters in the letter's photo that he did not recognise at all. Maybe some kind of communication code? Whatever those were, they were all printed on photo sheets and none of them helped.
"I saw a symbol...."
"Yup."
"The Crimsonmanes are part of the 'savior' too, are they not? I thought the things my family only comes to mind arenae far from wealth and power."
"Oh, don't fash yourself, Donar. That's still most of your family."
"But this is all you've found?"
"Other than the nauseous 'save the world from the adversity' blarney? Yeah, that's all we've found for now."
"What about the writings on the documents and the walls?"
"That's one of the issues. No one knows what the writings mean. The epigraphers are trying to decrypt the meaning of them. Well, though, they still don't know what to describe. The writing used does not have the equivalent of known characters, not even the historical basis."
The two of them just leaned back and sighed in resignation. Donar took a sip of his cold whiskey, while Haddock took another sip of the cigar that had been neglected in the ashtray before Donar followed suit.
The brown cigar of the Grand Magus was inhaled, and a puff of smoke dispersed as he sighed. Not even a roll of a quality cigar could lighten the wizard's burden, and Haddock expressed his desperation again. "Moreover, what kind of magic did the mastermind cast? A forbidden one of some sort? We've tried to undo it at all costs, even with Arcane. ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ."
"At this rate, there's no point in imprisoning more men. It's even considered as arresting with prejudice." Donar agreed, "I just hope it's not a vain work. What my wife has doneโฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ๐ข๐ฆ in vain, either."
Silence gripped their bones again as Donar brought up his wife in front of the Grand Magus. The two stared at each other while sipping their whiskey. One could not tell why men were foolproof to play with the look on their faces. Baron Trinketshore saw what the Grand Magus saw; clear eyes, blank stare, loose eyebrows. It was the wrinkles on the face born of age, the difference between Haddock's sight of Donar.
Haddock broke that temporal silence, "We've had worseโ"
"This is definitely the worst of all, Grand Magus," said Donar.
"Okay, this is the worst," Haddock shot back, "And we'll sort it out again as we've always done, as long as we're patient. Finding new angles might help. This new office of mine might help. You know, like looking at these cement walls. Seeking inspiration behind those grey walls that looked unique, or ๐ญ๐ข๐ป๐บ. Ah, or the moment I'll take your daughter out on a trip tomorrow to find out her fateful path. That would be fun, and inspiring. Either way, we'll figure something out. Once again, Lord Donar, do not fash yourself."
The middle-aged man let out another sigh. "About tomorrow. I don't know, can't you just tell her on the spot and just send one of the monks here? Why go all the way to realise ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ 'great destiny'?"
"But Donar, she ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด have a great destiny. And that destiny requires her to investigate the worldโฆ You ought to expect that she will leave you soon."
"Why don't you just tell me right here what this is about, so I can tell her everything? Let me also personally hire a Celestian monk to train my daughter."
"What difference does it make? After all, she will leave you anyway. That's her destiny. Camelot has already proven unsafe for her. She must find the others and save the world."
Haddock opened his desk drawer and pulled out an old book. He searched for the desired page and then shifted his book to the baron. He continued, "But if you really want to know what her destiny isโฆ."
The Baron looked at the contents of the book. His brow furrowed, feeling that something was wrong. When he closed the book and looked at the cover, he turned a slightly annoyed face at the Grand Magus.
"What's wrong with you? Yer playing with me, pal?"
"Hey, that was my first reaction, and so will your daughter's. But I don't think this author was wrong. You saw it for yourself. The content describes your daughter just right."
Donar held his forehead as he shook his head. "I've never felt this ridiculous. You're making me even more doubtful."
"Please don't be doubtful."
"I'm not ready to lose someone I love again."
"Even though I'm younger than you, 'My Lord', at least I learned something about letting go. We'll all lose, sooner or later. Instead of idling, it is better to take the risk and complete the mandate given to us."
"No wonder you have almost no friends. Not even a ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ."
"Hey, calm down. Please believe in your daughter. She is a strong woman like her mother."
"Strong. ๐๐บ๐ฆ, ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต. Look what happened to Ailsa now."
"Alicia will not share the same fate, Donar. She will find the others and succeed in fulfilling her prophecy. She ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต succeed. Otherwise, this world is no more!"
Checking the time on his watch, Donar took a sip of his last whiskey and rose from his chair. Just before turning around, he begged Haddock, "Promise you'll protect my daughter if you have to take her to Vanir."
Haddock nodded. "Question no more. I'm trying my best."
๐๐ณ๐บ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต. A bit of worry stuck in the Baron's heart. At least Haddock was honest. Alicia would not be able to hold on forever, it just made her even easier to find. Perhaps the girl should be released into the outside world, facing the path that has been prepared for her. His father's instincts were still attached to him, but he could also heave a sigh of relief. Her daughter has a purpose in life now. May the Silent Divine guide and protect his beloved daughter, Donar prayed in his heart. []