Chapter 129: Sybil
Last in line for the throne, Sybil Palemarrow suddenly appeared on the chair Lnd’s mind forced him to improperly see. Almost instantly sensory information assaulted his eyes, creating a wide arc of vibrating colors. He grit his teeth, almost casting Harbinger’s Halo and Touch of Regeneration to heal himself.
But that would be in poor taste and even poorerpany. Lnd wasn’t foolish enough to think that Aunty P. wouldn’t recognize a Harbinger’s mark. There had to be <em>some</em> information about Harbingers in the Royal vaults, even if the Inquisitors, such as his parents, were not privy to such notions. Aunty P. being the Royal Liaison to the Inquisitors, along with being the eldest princess, had to have given her some measure of secrecy.
“Sybil, you remember Lnd, right?” Lucia asked in a way that obviously implied <em>she did</em> remember him.
The princess nodded meekly, her hands fidgeting around the white rounded mask. It was nk besides two eye holes, but it still proved to be enough of a deterrent for onlookers. Created from a dead Lord’s bones, the mask was considered one of the Palemarrow Empire’s most important weapons, even if it didn’t provide anything other than camouge. A divine artifact was a divine artifact regardless of ability.
“And Lnd, you remember the Youngest Princess, right?” This time it was Spencer who spoke, interrupting his wife’s meddling.
Before Lnd could respond, Aunty P. yelled from across the room. “Get the boy a drink! He looks like his mind is about to splinter!”
With that his parents turned and frowned. A momentter there was a sh of light and the <em>tink</em> of a ss as a portal snapped open and a cup of water was teleported. His dad thrust the drink over.
“Sorry son, divine artifacts can be unpleasant.”
Lnd nodded along, sipping the water like it was a healing stream from the Swirling Pools. Eventually he looked back to Sybil, finding the mask’s power gone. The Sybil from his memory was faint and blurred, nowhere near the young woman sitting before him. From a childish tomboy who decided to y in a courtyard fountain and draw enough worry to send the butlers into a fit, to someone befitting of a Royal title. She wore her Empire’s colors, red and white, which contrasted with her dark yet scarred skin.
Lnd didn’t know the history behind the scars that wove through her lip and right eye, but he was familiar enough with battle to know how proper wounds looked. Swords, daggers, axes, each had their own weight and thickness as well as pattern and stroke, none of which held a candle to the scarring on the Princess’ face.
Even through countless healing treatments, Lnd could tell Sybil’s scars were deliberate and practiced. There was a level of precision to the wounds, a deeper understanding of pain than a warrior taking a swipe or an assassin going for the kill. No, Sybil was tortured, that much was evident from theck of <em>damage</em> the scars created.
One went through her eye,ing ever so close to actually blinding the poor girl but stopping just short. The other rose up and through her lips, cutting from her chin into her cheek while staying away from bisecting bone or a nasal cavity.
“Uh, er, hello,” Lnd coughed out, which prompted a set of giggles from across the room.
Lucia and Lnd both whipped to attention, scowling at Jude and his parents for the disruption. Each, in turn, held up their drinks, content with watching the “show.”
“G-good day,” Sybil then said. “How have you been?”
Before Lnd could respond, Spencer spoke up, “Why don’t youe over here and sit with us? That way we don’t have to yell across the room.”
A groan sounded from Roy Brown. “No whispering! We want to be able to hear!”
Everyone ignored him, even the Princess and her aunt as the pair slowly sauntered over. They sat, and quickly the conversation resumed.
“I’ve been fine, I guess. My adventures with Jude and Glenny have been hectic if I’m being honest. A few close calls, but we all have gotten a lot of experience,” Lnd said.
“Oh! That’s… good,” Sybil looked like she wanted to say something else, but a guiding nce from her aunt made her change her approach.
Lucia <em>almost</em> rolled her eyes. “Lnd, why don’t you tell us about some of your adventures, yeah? I’m sure Aunty P. and Sybil would be as interested as your father and I are.”
Lnd hesitated, looking around the table. Everyone seemed to lean in a bit, like they were waiting for him to start a race or unveil a new invention. He took a breath, finding that Glenny and his dad were still talking quietly and Jude and his parents were doing something suspicious with copper coins while keeping an eye on the conversion.
“Well. I guess starting out, we took a caravan detail to Liontrunk where we…” Lnd then gave a highly redacted version of events leading up to the battle with the Sightless King.
His parents smiled the whole time leaning into one another rxed, even after the part where Glenny went missing. At the mention of the Huntress they had stiffened but that quickly dispelled when Lnd mentioned House Onryo and the corruption they were seeking to rectify.
It was a bit surreal for Lnd, telling his parents about a House they directly intervened with some years earlier. He often forgot that it wasn’t just Glenny’s mom that was stationed in Shoutwell and in fact every adult in the room had been except for Aunty P.
“Artificial Lord?” Sybil finally asked. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
Aunty P. was the one who answered. “They are rare and all but extinct on this continent. Your mother saw to that. And I say good riddance.” She made a <em>humph</em> at that. “Monsters that somehow are able to sway the minds of the weak, allowing them power only fathomable to those who are truly worshipped.”
Sybil’s jaw went progressively more ck as the exnation went on. In the end, she looked at Lnd in a new light. “And you three killed it? That’s amazing.”
“Well no,” he corrected. “The Huntress did, but we battled with the Sightless King’s main follower.”
“Oh. But what happened after that? I mean, you helped save the city! That must have given you rewards fitting for a hero!”
Lnd didn’t know about that. He said as much. “I got some paper.”
“Paper?” Sybil asked like the statement was in anothernguage.
“Yeah, the expensive magically delivering type.”
“Oh.” She deliberated for a moment. “Well, was the progression in your Legacy worth the effort?”
Lnd hesitated. “I was given an extra primary spell from my Lord, yes.”
“Oh that’s wonderful! That’s quite rare. What does the spell do?”
Lnd had his hands on the table, but at the question he subconsciously began to retract them, making an effort to hide his crow tattoo. “Oh it’s, uh… I can make fire.”
“Fire?” Sybil asked despite a warning re from her aunt. “You are not a Legacy of Fire, are you?”
“N-no. I, uh,” Lnd looked around the table for help.
His parents were hesitant to intervene, knowing that their involvement might cause a bit of a stir in the eyes of the Youngest Princess. Luckily, Aunty P. had grown up and worked directly with individuals of secrecy. Hiding one’s Legacy, to her, was natural.
“Sybil, deary, that is a rude question,” she said calmly.
Sybil frowned at that. “Is it? Spencer and Lucia told me their Legacies.”
“Yes but they work for us. Lnd does not, and if he wishes to keep his Legacy unknown, that is perfectly eptable.”
“Oh okay…” she turned to Lnd. “Sorry.”
“It’s no problem,” Lnd said, an idea forming that could potentially ease the tension. “I would like to tell people my Legacy, but I kind of made a big deal about not telling the Huntress when we first met her. And well, she scares me and I think she’d be more insufferable if my Legacy somehow got back to her. Hopefully we will never see her again.”
Aunty P.ughed at that, but Lnd could see Jude nodding along with the statement across the room. Sybil also seemed to be understanding but as her aunt just continued tough, the atmosphere became awkward. The younger princess was growing red from the older one’s excessive bellows, especially after Jude’s parents joined in a momentter.
Lucia sighed, nting her face into her palm while Spencer eyed the support beams in the ceiling.
“What is—”
A <em>thud</em> crashed beside the table where Lnd and the others sat. Something fell with the weight of a cascading waterfall, kicking up what little dust remained in thevish building. The <em>thing</em> unfurled itself to be a middle aged woman wearing dark leather armor and a warm cloak that looked like it was made of trimmings found in a garbage pit.
There was no mistaking who the person was, however, which only resonated with the fact that Lnd had just insulted her.
“Lnd,” the Huntress acknowledged with a sinister grin on her face. “I don’t think I’ve shown you <em>scary</em> yet.”