After leaving Lilly and Lady Selene in order to chase the assailant, Eolande was in a foul mood. She had managed to protect Lilly, but the wound Lady Selene had been inflicted was a disaster. And if her instincts were right, an invasion was about to take place.
She felt indignant, thinking back on the attack. If she hadn't been so focused on protecting Lilly and realized the real target, this could have been avoided.
She was currently chasing the black clad assassin responsible, but she had little difficulty actually catching up. There was one problem though.
'Of course it's them…'
She had recognized the movement technique they used early on in the chase. Now, she was just waiting for the right place to confront them.
'He really hasn't improved much.' she mused, a hint of disdain coloring her thoughts.
Spotting a secluded rooftop, Eolande called out, "Hey, Rantas, stop running!" Her voice was firm, echoing across the empty space.
The man she was chasing stopped abruptly, seemingly recognizing the voice. He turned around, and uncovered his face. His pointy ears and pale skin made him easy to identify as an elf.
"Well, I should have known you were the one chasing me. It's been a while, Eolande." His voice was steady, but Eolande noted a slight tremor, a sign of his underlying nervousness.
"What in the hells are you guys doing, attacking a royal guard like that? You're siding with Dortfell?" Eolande demanded, her voice laced with anger and disbelief.
Rantas shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh, you didn't expect that? Well, it is what it is, and Dortfell pays well," he responded casually. It seemed like he was trying to get a rise out of Eolande for some reason, giving half-hearted answers like that.
"Eolantas would never betray this country without good reason, pay be damned!" Eolande nearly shouted, clearly not believing the answer.
She knew Rantas wouldn't betray the clan, so this could only have happened at Eolantas's order. His loyalty, at least, was commendable.
"What your brother would and wouldn't do isn't something you would know much about anymore. You've been gone for hundreds of years. And isn't that part of why you left in the first place?" Rantas responded harshly, clearly not agreeing with her past decisions.
"That's none of your business," Eolande snapped, clearly frustrated. She ran a hand through her hair, thinking about what she should do now. "At least you didn't kill her..."
Rantas suddenly showed an insidious smile. "Oh, you didn't recognize the smell?"
"What do you mean? No, you poisoned her?" Eolande felt stupid to have overlooked that possibility. Rantas had often used poison in the past, and as the creator of that poison she really should have recognized it.
"Then it's already too late…" She looked at Rantas with a fierce stare. "You! Do you really want to make me your enemy? Have you forgotten who I am!?"
"Hah, you think we're still weaker than you? We caught up long ago, Eolande." He seemed confident, but it was still just a facade hiding the nervousness he actually felt. Eolande could tell.
A bell suddenly started ringing, signaling that Eolande's worst fears were coming true.
"You really… Have you lost your mind? What sort of political play is this?"
"You'll have to ask your brother, I'm just a lowly underling following orders."
"I would love to, but now that you've endangered the city like this I have people to protect!"
Eoande thought through her list of people she had to protect. First was Lilly, then Mia, then Thorin's family, then Gramps and Mia's family. She was going to be busy. Attacking the invaders wouldn't do much with her skillset, so she would have to bring them all out of the city.
"Of course, you and your pets," Rantas scoffed, clearly not having a high opinion of other races.
He didn't seem as haughty in the next second though, since Eolande suddenly appeared behind him holding a dagger to his throat.
A quiet whisper, cold as ice, threatened to freeze his blood. "For old times sake, I'll let you live this time. Don't ever call my friends and loved ones 'pets' again."
She hadn't spoken like that in centuries.
Rantas swallowed nervously, and he seemed shocked at the speed Eolande had managed to use.
"How did you...?" he stammered.
"You've never seen someone use the speed boots with an indigo crystal before?" Eolande's voice was a mix of amusement and warning. "And you had 'caught up long ago', was it?"
"That's… that's impossible!" He whispered indignantly, clearly having a hard time believing he was still so far behind her.
Eolande's smile was wry. "Don't get too discouraged, I'm just special."
Their conversation was interrupted as both Eolande and Rantas caught sight of a colossal red flame shooting into the sky near the harbor. Eolande immediately understood who was responsible, but she didn't have time to consider the attack right now. She looked over at Rantas, and as she feared, he had noticed.
"Th– The Vermilion Flame? It's still…" Rantas stammered, his gaze shifting from the flame to Eolande. Realization dawned on his face, turning to outrage. "You knew!? We never finished the job and you knew about it?"
Eolande shook her head, her expression solemn. "No, we did finish it. They were all gone. But somehow, the bloodline survived."
"How long have you known?" Rantas demanded, his voice tense.
"Just a few weeks. But let me be clear, our job was finished. You have no reason to go after them again." Eolande was putting up a strong front, but internally she was begging that the clan would see the job as finished.
"The hells we don't! That's clearly someone in full control of the flame," he said, pointing accusingly towards the harbor.
Eolande's fists clenched at her sides, her voice rising in frustration. "And so what? We never should have taken that damned job in the first place!"
A piercing shriek echoed through the city, drawing their attention back to the harbor. Eolande's eyes widened in awe as she saw the flame morph into a giant bird, soaring towards the fleet. Sounds of awe could be heard from around the city, and it seemed to collectively take a breath to observe the spectacle.
"She– she's going to stop the attack?" Eolande wondered out loud, feeling a glimmer of hope for this city. She had as much of a connection to it as anyone else after all.
"She? How well do you know that flame-holder?" Rantas asked, eyeing Eolande suspiciously.
"I… Well enough," Eolande replied evasively, her mind racing. She needed to do something here if she wanted to protect Lilly. The clan would almost certainly go after her if they knew about her, since they prided themselves on completing their jobs perfectly. And Eolande couldn't protect her from all of them.
Getting rid of Rantas wouldn't help much either, since Lilly had shown the entire city her powers now. It could delay the information, but it would still reach them. Also, Eolande wasn't that type of person anymore.
'Do I really have to go there and convince him to leave her alone?' Eolande wondered, hoping to find another way.
The fiery bird seemed to easily defeat the invading fleet, and now all they could see were ships on fire drifting towards the city, completely void of life.
Eolande felt awe at the power the phoenix had demonstrated, and relief that the city was safe. Yet, her internal struggle remained.
"That's going to be a problem, Eolande. The one who gave us that mission is obviously dead at this point, but we still honor the contract," Rantas stated, as if Eolande didn't know that perfectly well.
Eolande stood there for a while, internally debating. Lilly was going to have a huge target on her back in the future, both from Dortfell and the clan, unless she could stop one of them. But could she leave her now, at such an important time? Did she have a choice?
With a heavy sigh, Eolande made her decision. "I'll come with you back to the clan, Rantas. Then I'll have a talk with my dearest brother, and we'll come to an agreement, one way or another."