Chapter 58 Shit Luck

  Fredric Carlo Cascadia was the second son of Baron Emilio Cascadia. Their family was well off, unlike many of the other barons in the Kingdom of Altia who were just glorified governors, but he had no clear future ahead of him. His options in life were the same as any commoner with a personal recommendation from a noble lord or lady. The only problem was his lack of any standout skills.

  Unlike the self respecting children of most of the other noble houses, children like Freddy found fulfillment in vices to make up for their mediocrity. Some had decided to experience every single individual thing that they could possibly experience, some like Freddy. That was why he had bought a box of psychedelic mushroom powder and also why he had purchased the Wand of Pyro’s Dream. The wand had Cone of Flames, Ember Storm, and Fireball stored inside it. The best part, for someone magically inept like Freddy, was that he only had to point the wand and speak the command phrases in order to cast them.

  Freddy had just steeled his resolve to start, what was advertised as the trip of a lifetime, when the mirror suddenly darkened. Freddy looked up, to see why the mirror wasn’t reflecting an illuminated wall behind him, with more of a curious surprise than fright. There was a black void in the mirror that looked so out of place that Freddy thought that half of the back of the mirror must’ve broken and fallen off. He leaned to the side to try and get a better look at it and froze. He hadn’t noticed them at first, but as he moved to the side, it was impossible not to. A pair of silver eyes reflected the light, of the glowing stones that surrounded the mirror, as they followed his movement. Freddy gulped hard. He slowly turned around to face the being that stood behind him.

  The silver eyes of the uninvited guest locked with Freddy’s as he finished his rotation to stand face to face with the invader. Freddy started hyperventilating as the silver eyes didn’t blink but simply watched his every move. In a moment of clarity, Freddy reached for his wand to try and blow away the being of nightmares that stood across from him. His hand had barely found his wand, which was still strapped to his side, when one word resonated with the world around him: “Stop.” The shadow that Freddy’s own hand had cast locked his appendage in place. Freddy tried to struggle but was immediately made aware that it was not just the shadow of his hand that had taken the invader’s words as an order. The entirety of Freddy’s shadow, right up against his clothes and skin, had become incredibly stiff.

  “W-w-what do you want from me?!” Freddy demanded as his eyes started to lose focus from a sudden drop in the oxygen going to his brain. His hyperventilating was going to cause him to faint before the encounter had even truly started.

  “The wand.” The ruler of shadows in front of him began. “Where did you get it? Who made it?”

  The sudden but clear and easily answered question hit Freddy’s psyche hard enough that he abruptly stopped hyperventilating. “Huh?” He questioned with utter confusion. He had no idea why the being, that obviously had total control over a power that he couldn’t even begin to understand, would need to know something like that.

  Silver eyes settled on the wand in question and the shadows around it darkened even further. A small strap, that kept it from being stolen or accidentally slipping out of its sheath, was undone and the wand slowly lifted out and towards the being of shadows. A human looking hand that looked almost like it was entirely made of shadows reached out and grabbed the wand. The silver eyes looked over it for a moment before they returned to boring into Freddy’s. “Answer me.” The gravelly voice of the ruler of shadows ordered him.

  “Y-yes.” Freddy replied and tried to relax into the solid but unfelt embrace of the shadows all around him. “All I know is that the ‘CSC’s Favored Customers’ are given the ability to look through special catalogs that have more interesting items in them. The wand was on the list and I always wanted to be able to cast Fireball, you know? It just always seemed so amazing and I wanted to be able to try it. It was pretty fun but the limit of once per day made me wary of actually using it once I had gotten down aiming it. Missing or it being out of charge could spell the end of me if I ever truly needed to rely on it to save myself so now I just carry it around.”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  The being of shadows waited, for Freddy to finish giving him just as much unnecessary information as helpful information, as if he had all the time in the world. “Who made it?” The upright void questioned him.

  “I-I have no idea, honest to Judgment, it was just in the catalog.” Freddy swore. The wand disappeared into the void of shadows and then the ruler of them vanished without a trace. “Hey! Wait! That’s mine!” Freddy called out after he had regained his bearings. He had no way of knowing that the being in question was still in the room with him, watching his every move.

  —

  Isaac watched as the nobleman’s son kicked a chair in frustration and then was finally drawn back to the ‘magic’ powder in the box in front of the mirror. It had only taken the boy a few minutes to leave their interaction behind and indulge himself in his illegal extracurricular activity. Isaac sighed in disappointment. “Rich kids with nothing better to do.” He grumbled and then actually took his leave. The reason Isaac had waited so long was because he needed to make sure that the young noble truly didn’t know anything else. If the boy had waited a few minutes, and then made a run for a communications device or the CSC, then he would have known that the boy was lying to him. Isaac referred to him as a boy even though Isaac was most likely the younger of the two because there was an obvious disparity in maturity, grace in character, and power.

  Once Isaac was positive that the rich kid wasn’t going to accidentally help them at all, he left and joined Lenna. He motioned towards the ground and the pair of them fell. Isaac’s shadows cushioned and silenced their landing. “Nothing.” Lenna surmised. She hadn’t heard their conversation but she had seen most of it through the window.

  Isaac shrugged. “We know that the CSC sold the wand to him, along with the drugs, but that’s it.” Isaac informed her. “For now, let’s go drop in on the second target.”

  “Understood.” She replied. “Where is she?”

  Isaac pointed to where they both knew the noble side of town was. It was in that direction that the marquess’s mansion resided. There were also buildings for various kinds of entertainment, including an arena and theater, as well as high end businesses. There were quite a few mansions that were kept clear and clean specifically for visiting nobles which was where Isaac assumed their other target was. It only took the pair twenty minutes to reach the building of which she resided and learn that Isaac couldn’t have been more wrong.

  “Isaac,” Lenna spoke. “I don’t think this is what we signed up for.”

  Isaac groaned and clawed through his hair in frustration. “Damn it!” He swore in a whisper. “What kind of shit luck is this?!”

  It was Lenna’s turn to groan. “No.” She pleaded to no one in particular. “This is balancing out our good luck.” She told him.

  Isaac groaned again and dropped down into a sitting position on the sidewalk across from the building their target was inside. He propped his elbow on his knee and his head on his hand. “Is it too late to give up and make it someone else's problem?” He wondered aloud.

  Lenna eyed the massive brick walled and iron gated building in front of them. “No, it is not.” She sighed. “But how would you feel if we really just left it like this? Would you be able to accept defeat?”

  Isaac inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly. “No.” He replied. “I would not.” He sighed again. “I guess we really are going to have to turn this place upside down, I had no way of knowing that she was the damned marchioness when I tagged her.”

  Lenna nodded in agreement. “So, what is the plan?” She asked him.

  “Do you think that the Thronsen Estate is better warded than the Arbencroft Estate?” He questioned with an intense look at the iron gated brick wall that surrounded the property.

  Lenna shook her head. “Not unless they were specifically trying to outdo their duke’s citadel. The Sasston Citadel wasn’t warded any heavier than the Arbencroft Estate on the inside. Its exterior protection was stronger but not its interior. Places like that have to be built with staff changes in mind so the wards cannot be tied to specific people. It also wouldn’t make sense to have dozens of items that would prevent the wards from acting on the staff because those can be lost, dropped, or stolen.” She explained. “Are you going to go for a walk?”

  “I’m not sure how enthusiastic of a walk it’ll be, yet, but yes.” He told her and rose to his feet.

  “Wait until you have me and Shamesh to stir up any trouble.” She ordered him.

  “As you say, my Lady.” Isaac replied with a deep bow.

  “What should I do?” Lenna wondered.

  “Go inform Heitor of everything we have learned so far. I’ll need my shadows again so, once you are out of sight, I’m going to recall them. I’ll also leave Shamesh outside and on standby while I go in alone. It’ll be easier for me to teleport around without worrying about how Shamesh is going to get through closed doors.” He instructed and informed her. “Once I’m done looking around, I’ll return and we can discuss how we are going to go about this. Who knows, maybe that wasn’t the marchioness and there is some other woman that is staying with them.”

  “Understood.” Lenna replied. “Be careful.” She told him.

  “Of course.” He said with a grin. “Careful is my middle name.”

  “Do you even have a middle name?” Lenna wondered.

  “Yes, Careful.” He replied with a perfectly straight face. “As of three seconds ago.” Lenna could do nothing but sigh and shake her head in exasperation.