Meanwhile, as Donovan was still in the confines of his own subconscious and as his colleagues were scattered to all corners from the infirmary in the College of the Labyrinthine Way, to the Bristlespine Mountains far off in the East; Dylan, who had commandeered a local inn as her command center, sat down for a quick bite to eat, as there were sounds of panicked screaming, cannons exploding, and steel clashing against steel, in the streets.
She hummed a quiet tune to herself, as a shadow rose behind her. The shadow slowly forming into the shape of a fox with dark gray fur, long red hair that flowed down past her shoulder on the right side and which was shaved on the left, and which had two blue horns, prodding from her head. "Mmm," the figure murmured, as she took a seat near Dylan. "Proud of ourselves are we? Figure you've done enough, that you deserve a break for tea and finger sandwiches is that it?"
"Mmm-mmf..." Dylan nodded and gave a muffled reply, before gulping her bite of sandwich down. "Shut it Lunastra," she stated. "I've worked five years for this. Plotting. Planning. Making sure I recruited the right people. The right crew. Making sure I had a crew and ship tough enough to get me where I needed to go. Who would endure the ride with me to Ourobouros Isle, and who would be with me as I recruited the army I needed to make my assault on this symbol of unity between weasels and lesser races..." Dylan snorted. "Don't talk to me, Luna," she stated, "As if I'm a child who doesn't know the meaning of hard work. I've worked my butt off to get here. If I want to have a sandwich and enjoy the fruits of my labor, I will."
Luna's eyes flickered. "You call yourself a commander," she muttered, in a brisk British accent. "Look at yourself." She gave Dylan a sharp once-over. "You act like just because you can cast a few simple caustic spells, and because you hired few vagabonds and fanatics with the price of gold, you can call yourself worthy of being a leader."
Luna narrowed her eyes. "You rest on your laurels, while Donovan's forces fight not for gold, or for jewels, but simply for values. They fight for beliefs and convictions, an ideal he has instilled so deeply in them, they will die for it before seeing their new home and the dream it represents crumble. You talk to me about victory? We are not even at the steps of victory yet, my dear Dylan. This is not the time to be snacking on a sandwich. The moment the eye approaches and when all seems calm...that is when we must be prepared for the strongest front of the storm to hit. Put simply...you have much to learn, dear Dylan. And I know how to teach you. If you will listen."
Dylan perked up, slightly interested. "How?" she stated in a dry voice. "If you say I'm so hopeless, and seem to know all my flaws, then what is the secret to my learning how to improve on any of these things. If even, just one?"
Lunastra nodded out the window. "See up there at what they call the College of the Labyrinthine Way?"
"Yes."
"There is a relic in there. An artifact from the time of the Musteladonian Empire. It will guide you to a source of great power. To one who can teach you secrets that even your own family has forgotten. She was sealed away in obsidian along with some of her greatest allies because the world was jealous of her knowledge and sought to have what she knew removed from this world."
"Truly?"
"Yes, yours was once a highly respected family, but the Dashrafts had them erased so they could take power and prestige for themselves. Your ancestor was known as...Dhalia the Divine, yes that's it. She was a wise and powerful ermine who was ahead of her time. An ermine who along with her allies, did not deserve the imprisonment that they were given. I mean, truly. To be imprisoned in a magical stasis for centuries..."
"...You mean she's still alive, after all this time?"
Lunastra smirked like a cat who had just caught a delicious mouse between its jaws, as she stopped pacing and turned casually to again place her coy gaze back on the young female ermine. "Oh absolutely," the ancient Omnosdai stated, trying to sound as sweet and tender as was even possible for a creature like herself. "In fact, I know she probably would reward you greatly, if you would do her the service of freeing her from the prison that clan Dashraft placed her in. All you have to do, is get the compass that's locked away in the College of the Labyrinthine Way. Without it, I couldn't even begin to tell you, where to start searching for her. Oh, true. I know where she's imprisoned and how to break her free, yes. But you see, there are enchantments on her prison, that creatures of my, shall we say, disposition, cannot penetrate."
Dylan narrowed her eyes. "And that's why...we need the compass?" she asked warily. "To get past these wards and these enchantments?"
"Indeed."
"Okay..." Dylan looked out the window up toward the college. "I suppose it's worth the risk," she muttered, as she pondered the idea. "I mean, if this ancestor of mine, was truly imprisoned unjustly, and if she truly was treated unfairly as all my kind have been throughout Mintaran history, I suppose it's only fair, I do what I can to even the scales for once."
"Oh, indeed! Not to mention the bounteous reward she will provide you with, for the favor of freeing her from that offensive prison."
Dylan raised the corners of her mouth slightly. "True," she replied in a manner that seemed to exude confidence. "If she can truly teach me how to not only lead the people of this land, but how to rule them, I say that is all the more reason to free her. Very well. It's decided. I will trust you in this, Luna. You may lead the way to the compass. But only if you remember, that I will keep an eye on you, the entire time. Betray me...and I will not hesitate to react in kind. Do you understand?"
The Omnosdai smirked and nodded. "Of course, mistress," she replied compliantly, in a decision to play along, and to act as if she was submissive to the will of this arrogant ermine, than to give away how much she despised serving Dylan. A descendant of Dahlia, whom she did not even believe was worthy of the lineage of the original Frostwood. Not that any of that mattered, since she had convinced Dylan quite easily to retrieve the King's Compass. The one artifact which could lead the way to the Garden of Black Stone. Lunastra already, could taste the reward she would receive, for freeing the ancient and powerful Black Dahlia from her obsidian prison.
Oh, and of course Dylan would get a reward too.
"Just not the reward she's expecting," the fox muttered in a private joke to herself, as she again merged with Dylan's shadow, before the ermine went out and gathered a group of mercenaries who really weren't involved in any other part of the taking of the city.
"All of you, come with me!" Dylan shouted as she led the way to the College. "I have a job I need your help with, and I'll pay you five times as much as any of the others if you aid me with it!" This offer of money was all that it took, to then persuade five otters who were Anaton Covenant members, two badgers, and a gray fox, (the latter two, who were members of the Hoarfrost's Halberd,) to follow her up to the steps of the College of the Labyrinthine Way.
"Search everywhere!" Dylan exclaimed as she used her magic to burn the locks off the doors. "Look high as well as low!" she ordered as she kicked said doors wide open. "I don't want anyone to leave until they've found the compass this place is hiding. It'll be small, old, and it'll have a wood frame with an iron needle with a red stone in the center, got that!?"
"AYE!" the small team of mercenaries shouted as they dispersed throughout the college. Ransacking and smashing whatever got in their way, all to find one small little tool of navigation. Dylan meanwhile, supervised with great pride in herself. "Hmpf," she muttered raising her snout just a little. "To say, that I have no leadership skills. Indeed. Why, yes. Perhaps I could do with a little learning of how to improve and how to become stronger as a leader. But to say, I don't know how to rule over others?"
The ermine widened her smirk into a callous grin. "Preposterous," she murmured arrogantly. "I know exactly what I'm doing. And with my best agents in other parts of Mintara as well, soon this whole continent will know my influence. As well as the name of Dylan...Eloise...Frostwood."
"Lady Dylan!"
"Hmm?"
Dylan broke from her inner monologue as one of the mercenaries, the badger, came running up to her. "It's no use," the black and white striped weasel, stated gruffly. "We've looked everywhere. Top to bottom. Every office. Every place administration might consider important. Whatever you're looking for isn't here. Or if it was, it got moved, probably just before the raid."
"What!?" Dylan widened her eyes. "No," she snarled. "There's no way. You have to be mistaken. It's here! I have it on good information! Keep looking. There's no way someone could have known ahead of time that..." Dylan stiffened. "Colin," she whispered, a thought suddenly occurring to her, as she sniffed the air and caught wind of the prairie dog's familiar but all too unwelcome scent. "Dells take him," she growled to herself. "I should've known. That blasted marmot who can see glimpses into current futures. He probably caught a glimpse of me headed for the college and the reason why, and he took the compass out of its hiding place before I could get to it."
The ermine shrugged. "Oh well," she said popping her knuckles. "Easy enough fix. Though I do pity that lovely fox and marmovulpine daughter he'll be leaving behind, if he doesn't immediately hand it over. Oh, well." she snarled, as she followed the scent up the hall toward the direction of the infirmary. "Such is life, isn't it?"