Discordant Note: Crescendo | TBATE

Chapter 296: Family Reunion

Thank you to my beta reader and editor, GlassThreads!

Toren Daen

It didn't take long at all for Viessa to escape her 'accommodations.' Cylrit had stowed the unconscious Scythe in a feature-fit guest room, with as many luxuries as the dwarven castle could afford. Plush carpets, silk bedsheets, wine and food and everything else. Her stump of an arm had even been cauterized, with a little scathing note left apologizing for how her throat would always bear the marks of my burning fingers.

And just this morning, the Scythe had disappeared like a ghost, vanishing as if she'd never been there. Her tempus warp went with her.

Seris walked in front of me, the click-click-click of her high heels on the descending stairwell the only thing I could hear. Cylrit walked in front of her, holding out a simple mana lantern with his characteristic stoicism. If anything would dare try to attack Seris from the bottom of that stairwell, it would have to go through him, first.

Both of them were utterly unperturbed by the knowledge of Viessa's absence as we descended the stairs leading to the dungeon in a macabre mirror of our last trip down.

"I know your fears, Toren," Seris said. "But if Viessa had decided to take Chul Asclepius with her, we both know that you would know by now."

Indeed, this was true. Aurora had spent the last night speaking with Chul, our bond distant and granting us both our time. If Viessa had dared to try and tempus warp Chul away, Aurora would have none of it.

The only real solace was that I'd finally gotten a full night's sleep after so long. When I'd awoken this morning, it had been with a mix of utter confusion at how rested I'd felt. Seris herself hadn't slept much, though, instead completing paperwork through the night after our rendezvous.

And she had oh-so-delightfully spoiled my morning by helpfully informing me that Viessa was gone, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

I had something of a talent for delivering bad news. Seris, however, made it an art form. It was something about her perfectly unflappable demeanor, unaffected by every single bit of bullshit happening around her. She made it seem as if it was all going according to plan.

"If you really wanted Viessa kept here, you could have taken away her tempus warp," I said with annoyance. "Could you please tell me why?"

Seris paused on the stairwell, glancing over her shoulder as she peered at me. It belatedly occurred to me that my Scythe very, very rarely explained her plans to me in any fashion. But as she saw the little bundle of nerves adorning my face, something in that regimented habit relaxed.

"Scythe Viessa has seen fit to taunt me and make my operations on this continent exceptionally difficult," Seris eventually said. "Her orders are clearly different from mine, and I have had trouble honing in on her as she happily galavanted across the continent, committing systematic genocide. That, Toren, has been exceptionally irritating to me."

Seris continued to stroll downward. "I've made sure to remedy that. Viessa may not know it, but there is now a mana tracker imbued into that tempus warp. Wherever she now wanders with it, I will be able to follow. Cadell's location has also been indistinct across this war... And I do not like things being unknown."

I rolled my shoulders, appreciating the intelligence while also fearing the repercussions of such an act. "And what about what she'll say regarding Chul?" I pushed, remembering how I'd stopped Viessa from completing her goal. "That could be... damning."

Seris waved a hand as if my words were a bad smell she could simply dismiss. "Superficially and on an immediate level, I can understand why you would think that to be so. But Viessa intruded upon my domain without consulting me. She attempted to steal my prisoner, won by battle and bloodshed, and then faced consequences. I was well within my rights to send you after her to protect our prize."