22 Caugh

Krys Jafferi held his head in his hands as he read the page in front of him. A missive, received through the quill, sent by the Queen. She had asked about the progress of the knife.

He hadn't had a chance to work on that! He had been too busy with the Kyvas situation!

But saying that he'd been too busy to work on a commission for her Royal Majesty herself? He didn't want to lose his head!

"Three days. Three days to get something done about that." Krys groaned. Three days was nothing, especially since the Kyvas situation was still a higher priority issue in his eyes.

His eyes wandered from that page to another—one he had gotten earlier in the morning.

'The Immortal is en route. He'll be here by this evening. -J.T. Lyre

Evening. Their biggest source for answers would be here this evening. He just hoped that the answers wouldn't turn out to be terrible ones.

His quill tugged at his hand—he had been using the quill he had set up for the network to jot down a quick note before the queen's guillotine arrived. He let go of it. The quill flew over to the metal sheet, dipped itself into the inkwell, and started scratching away at the paper fixed there.

A new message.

Krys shut down his diary and fixed his gaze on the paper.

'Student dropped Kyvas. Need to find him. Meet at our lab ASAP. -Jach'

"What the- Jach!?" Krys exclaimed.

He was already on his feet; he needed to hurry. He rushed over to his room and searched for his boots and cloak. The cloak replaced his jacket, which he tossed on the bed. The boots would replace his slippers, though that would take time. Krys tossed the slippers and grabbed the boots in his hands.

He rushed back out. The quill was writing again. Perhaps Jach had sent more information? Krys leaned on his desk and attempted to fix his boots to his feet, all the while keeping an eye on the page.

'Hey, a student accidentally dropped me. Someone else picked me up and is carrying me around. I sneaked out her quill. I think I'm at the entrance to the garden, and the girl seems to be waiting for someone here. Pick me up? -Kyvas'

Krys blinked, then looked up. "The Immortal's own bloody luck..."

He grabbed the page and headed out. He knew the location; it was just a matter of reaching to it now.

===

Jach shivered. The cloak might have kept him warm, but it didn't cover up the entirety of him. The chilled winds sweeping around the tower had still found their way inside, smothering his face in its icy breath and nearly freezing his lips off. He had no clue how Krys had managed to work on the stairways outside the tower without even using the cloak to heat himself up.

He had met Krys—well, almost crashed into him—not too long ago. Before he knew it, Krys had dragged the two to the stairway outside the tower, with the only explanation being a sheet of paper. Well, a paper with a message from Kyvas himself, so he supposed the explanation was adequate. Though why Krys handed the sheet to him while they were outside the tower and battling the winds was beyond him. The knife was still a few floors below them, and they needed to hurry if they wanted to find it—which they most certainly did want to.

Jach rubbed his hands together and blew into them. Perhaps his breath could induce some relief to his cold-numbed face.

'Over here!' Kyvas's voice reached Jach's mind before he could hear the smattering of footsteps. Telepathy was directionless, so the call-out was somewhat redundant, but it did mean that the knife was close.

Jach's sigh found itself hitting the dead-end of his cupped hands.

"Thank the Immortal..." He mumbled. Instinctively, he looked over towards the footsteps.

"Seph." Krys' voice identified the culprit before Jach could get a chance at recognising her. The girl was walking in a somewhat hurried pace towards the stairway leading up from the floor.

"Seph!" Krys beckoned this time. The girl took a couple more steps before stopping in her tracks. She turned and jogged up to them.

"Oh! Good morning, professors!" She smiled.

'I'm on her!' Kyvas informed. Jach eyed the girl. There, on her belt. He was obscured by her cloak, but Jach could still make out his hilt.

Seph noticed his gaze and followed it down to the knife.

"Oh! Yeah, I found this!" She pulled the knife out and presented it to the two. "It was dropped a couple of floors up. I recognised it as the knife you were working on so I was just about to head out to look for you!"

She gave a smile. Jach didn't believe her. Well, not entirely. He could see her coming to look for them, but not the fact that she had just found out lying about. Seph and her group were rather well known for their mischiefs, especially that time when they had broken into the room that held the magic core for the tower. Jach knew that Hiila Eliharaine was a close friend of hers and that it was much more likely that Kyvas was just passed onto Seph.

Krys took the knife from her hands.

"You found it upstairs, and you came down here first?" Jach narrowed his eyes.

"Uh-" Seph scratched at her ear. "I'm supposed to meet my friends in the garden. I wanted to tell them I'd be late but, I... Guess they were late too."

'She's telling the truth, as far as I know.' Kyvas chimed in.

"You know it's hard to believe you, correct?" Jach continued. "You have quite the reputation here."

Seph nodded sheepishly. "Bu-But this time was a coincidence sir, I swear!"

'Krys, stop that!' Kyvas grumbled. Jach turned to see Krys fumbling with the knife. 'And don't interrogate her, she isn't lying. Just get me back now. I'm already peeved.'

"... I'll turn a blind eye this time, then." Jach gave her a small glare. "But this better not happen again."

Seph nodded hurriedly. "Y-yes sir, it won't."

"Well, we got it back at least..." Krys grumbled. "Let's go back, I have a class soon."

===

Seph quickly turned around and drew a telepathy rune. The professors had just turned around and she could still hear their receding footsteps loud and clear.

'Is he really going to come?' Seph hurriedly asked.

The Immortal, that was the last ingredient for her plan. If she gave up the knife just like that, Yurel would not only be suspicious of her, but could also send Callu to steal it again. They needed a deterrent—something that would prevent Yurel from making a move so soon.

What better to deter him than the Immortal himself?

'... In the evening,' Kyvas replied. 'He didn't specify the time.'

'... Drat,' Seph cursed. 'It'll have to do. Please, it'll just have to do.'

The knife didn't reply. Maybe Kyvas had crossed the limits of his range.

Seph took a deep breath. She could do this. She could confront Yurel. She could save Callu. She just had to head down to the garden.

With that thought, Seph took the first hesitant step down the stairway.