<h4>Chapter 333: Attention</h4>
‘That was pretty badass,’ Regis said approvingly as we stepped outside.
Standing beneath the vibrant blue sky, I took a deep breath of fresh air, and couldn’t help but smile. The High Hall’s gargoyles and iron spikes seemed a lot less imposing now that my trial was over.
From the arched entry, the high justice cleared her throat to get our attention.
Lauden Denoir stepped forward and bowed deeply. “Thank you for your assistance today, High Justice. Highblood Denoir will not—”
“Presume to imagine that my actions were for your blood’s benefit,” the woman cut in with a slight toss of her fiery hair. “This is a ce of truth and justice, not some gambling den where low-minded people can seek to cheat their way into a fortune.”
Lauden Denoir’s aristocratic smile faltered for just an instant, but it was stered firmly across his face again when he took a step back.
“It would be best,” the high justice continued in her sharp, authoritative voice, “that today’s events, and the actions taken against you over thest three weeks, were left in the past, Ascender Grey. The High Hall has a...reputation to consider, after all, and the Sovereigns may be personally involved if the violence were to escte between you and Blood Granbehl.”
I raised a brow. “You have quite the way of asking for a favor, High Justice.”
Tension crackled in the air as my gaze bore into her ice-blue eyes. I considered all of thews that the Granbehls had broken that the high justice was asking me to just forgive and forget.
Finally, I let out a breath. “As long as the High Hall—and the Granbehls—stay out of my way, I won’t make an effort to cause trouble.”
The high justice gave me a single, sharp nod. “Then I would rmend you make yourself scarce, for a time at least.”
I held her gaze for a moment longer before turning away, the momentary thrill of the trial’s end stained by the woman’s sharp reminder.
Several small groups of people were still lingering around the edges of the courtyard, but they didn’t dare approach past the oppressive pressure radiating from Taegan and Arian, who were shooting warning res around the open space.
I heard a few cheers and a couple shouts for my attention, but I ignored them, instead focusing on Lauden Denoir, whose well-practiced courtly smile seemed stered on his face.
“Thank you for your unexpected assistance,” I said, watching the highblood heir carefully. “Though I admit I’m a little surprised that Highblood Denoir went out of its way to help a lowly, unnamed ascender.”
“For a friend of my dear sister? Honestly, any trouble is worth easing Caera’s mind. She’s been most concerned about you, in fact, but I’m sure she’ll be incredibly relieved to hear of your acquittal.” A genuine smirk slipped through the courtly mask he’d been wearing.
“I have heard Lady Caera muttering Effeminate One’s name under her breath more than once,” Taegan grunted.
“Sticking with that nickname, are we?” I asked, deadpan.
Arian, taking his sharp eyes away from the crowd for just a moment, shed me a chagrined smile. “My abnormallyrge and densepanion finds it easier to just call them by their physical characteristics rather than bothering to remember their name.”
Taegan shot the thin swordsman a warning look. “I sense mockery underneath your embellished words, tiny sword.”
“Anyway,” Lauden cut in, that forced smile twitching again, “I’d love to extend an invitation for dinner this evening so you can see Caera. My parents have already returned to our estate in the central dominion, but I trust a man of your obvious talent can find the way? The Highlord and Lady Denoir are eager to meet you, especially after the investment they’ve just made in seeing you released.” His tone became more serious, almost pointed, as he said this. The implication was clear.
Before I could respond, ric wrapped an arm around my shoulder and said, “Many thanks to you and your highblood, but I’m afraid my nephew has been through a significant ordeal. He’s been tortured for three weeks straight, after all, and needs some rest. I’m sure Grey here would love toe around some other time, of course. We’ll send a note.”
Before the Denoir heir could refute, my “uncle” was already pulling me away. I nced back to see Lauden, nked by Arian and Taegan, with his arms crossed and brows creased into a frown.
I opened my mouth to ask ric whether it was wise to dismiss the Denoir heir so suddenly, when a shout interrupted me.
“Ascender Grey, I love you!”
Surprised, I scanned the crowd until I found the source of the voice, who turned out to be a young woman in vibrant orange leather armor.
‘I love you too, you tanned, sculpted goddess,’ Regis hollered, his voice echoing in my head.
My eyes lingered on her, curious, until ric thumped me on the arm.
“No time to mingle with the groupies,” ric said, quickening our pace. “We need to get you somewhere with fewer eyeballs, regardless of how big and blue they might be.”
“Why does it feel like we’re trying to run away?” I asked, keeping a leisurely pace. “Lauden has a terrible poker face, but it wouldn’t have hurt to visit his ce and just say thanks—”
ric snorted humorlessly and hurried onward. Beside him, Darrin’s head swiveled back and forth, like he expected us to be attacked at any moment.
“If you think a simple ‘thank you’ is all Highblood Denoir is doing this for, you might as well slip a cor around your neck and hand them the leash,” ric said, turning onto a wide boulevard I recognized as leading toward the exit to the first level. “Don’t be thick, boy. The only reason those self-absorbed nobles would get involved is because they want to make you their loyal little pup to fetch them des and relics from the Relictombs.”
“That’s easy enough to tell,” I retorted back. “But unlike the Granbehls, Caera’s family doesn’t have anything to hold over my head besides me maybe owing them a favor.”
“A favor is often more valuable than a carriage of gold, especially if owed by an individual with as much potential as you,” Darrin replied as his eyes continued to scan our surroundings.
‘Not to cast doubts on your beloved horned paramour, but it is possible that Caera told them just how powerful you are in order to try and convince her family to help,’ Regis added.
It doesn’t matter, I said, as much to myself as Regis. I doubt we’d have any reason to cross paths again.
Mypanion clicked his tongue. ‘s, If only our alcoholic friend here was half as pretty as Caera.’
I turned my attention to ric, realizing that, unknowingly, I’ve been relying on the old drunk. Without him, it would have been a lot harder to get back into the Relictombs...but at the same time, he was easy to understand.
ric saw me as his meal—or rather, alcohol—ticket, and he wasn’t interested in who I really was or where I came from. I didn’t have to worry about his motivations, and I appreciated that about the man.
It was hard to say the same about Darrin Ordin though. I wondered what ric might have told him, and what kind of promises had been made on my behalf for Darrin’s help.
‘Not that he was even that much help...’ Regis groused.
As my thoughts turned back to the trial, one in particr that had been nagging at the back of my mind stood out. “ric, why exactly do I have groupies? Who were all those people at the trial?”
ric and Darrin exchanged a look. “My idea, actually,” ric’s friend said over his shoulder, running a hand through his blond hair. “Though I let ric do most of the dirty work.”
We moved to the side of the road to avoid a huge carriage pulled by two blood-red oxen.
ric shrugged, but his beard twitched in a way that worried me. “I might have spread some rumors about you. Stirred up some interest, encouraged a few people toe watch your trial.”
“What kind of rumors...?” I asked, watching ric from the corner of my eye.
The old man cleared his throat. “Nothing topromise your shroud of mystery and intrigue.”
I stopped walking suddenly and gave him a pointed look. “ric...”
“Just a tale of a young ascender being bullied by a named blood,” he said, scratching at his beard. “If I suggested that the ascender was so handsome and...gifted...that he’d drawn the attention of even a certain highblooddy—”
I resisted the urge to bury my face in my hand. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
‘That certainly exins the ratio of women to men in the crowd,’ Regis teased.
ric shrugged and started walking again, weaving through the swelling crowd of people as we neared the exit portal to the first level.
Darrin had watched this exchange with a tight-lipped smile. “That part wasn’t my idea,” he said apologetically before following ric.
I stared down sparkling tiles of the street, hoping that these rumors never reached Caera.
Jogged to catch up with the others, I fumbled around for something else to talk about. “So what’s the n?” I asked finally. “I’ve wasted enough time out here—”
“Let’s get somewhere a little less crowded,” Darrin said, ncing around at the dozens of people passing by in both directions. Most of them weren’t paying attention to us, but a few did double takes when they saw Darrin, and more than a couple pairs of eyes followed me as well.
We bypassed the many inns and ascender bars lining both sides of the wide street as ric made a beeline for the portal to the first level. Once the portals were in sight—like two pieces of ss hovering over a pad of colorful mosaic tiles—we joined a queue of ascenders who were leaving the second level.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I think it’s best if we leave the Relictombs for the moment,” Darrin answered. “First, we’re going to my estate in the countryside of Sehz-r.”
“Sehz-r?” I wondered aloud, trying to remember what I’d read. “That’s sort of rural for a famous ascender, isn’t it?”
“I like it that way,” he said nonchntly.
I considered the size of crya and where we’d entered the Relictombs from in Aramoor, which was in the eastern dominion of Etril. Would we have to go back through Etril before heading to Sehz-r? It was a very long way to go just to have a conversation, considering that we were surrounded by inns where a private room could be rented for a handful of gold.
ncing back across the second level toward where I thought the massive portal into the deeper zones of the Relictombs was, I noticed a group of men—all dressed in dark leather and chain armor—look away at the same time, like they’d been staring at me only a second before.
I quickly scanned the rest of the line. The woman in the orange armor was standing several people behind us. Our eyes met, and her mouth fell open slightly before she lowered her head, letting her dark hair fall across her face. Besides them, no one else seemed to be paying attention to the three of us.
Questions arose but I kept them to myself, trusting that ric had his reasons for getting us away from the Relictombs, and not wanting to make Darrin suspicious by asking the wrong one.
It only took a couple minutes for us to reach the exit portal, where a uniformed clerk waved us through. It was like night and day traveling from the second level to the first. Where the second was bright and airy, the first was dank and heavy with the smell of iron and excrement.
A man dressed in the hide of some mana beast was shouting at one of the portal guards about his pass. The uniformed guard had his arms crossed, and a muscle in his wide jaw was twitching.
Behind him, a dozen ascenders were waiting in line to enter the second level, most of them grumbling about the wait.
I was watching themotion from the corner of my eye when I noticed the woman in the bright orange armor step through the portal. She scanned the area, and when her eyes found me she made a beeline toward us while withdrawing something from her dimension ring.
With heightened senses and reflexes, the seconds that it took for the tanned woman to catch up to me passed by in a crawl.
Just before she was in arm’s reach, I spun on my heels and caught her by her wrist, crushing the chain bracer into her flesh.
The woman gasped, and whatever she was holding tumbled to the ground.
“Did you not think I’d notice?” I asked, my gaze piercing through hers as I twisted her wrist. “Why are you following me?”
“I’m s-so sorry!” she squealed, her mahogany eyes wide and her face pale. “I just wanted your a-autograph!”
I nced at the ground where the item she had dropped pressed against my boot: a pyramid-shaped steel box, engraved with chains that wrapped around the edges. As I watched it, the woman’s foot groped forward and tapped the pointed top.
Several things happened at once.
The artifact at my feet unfolded, letting out a glowing golden light.
There was a sh from the woman’s free hand, and a sleek dark dagger appeared in her grasp.
All around the portal tform, the crowd of ascenders that had been either watching us warily or ignoring us in favor of grumbling about the unmoving line drew their weapons and turned as one toward me and mypanions. Behind them, three nervous officials vanished through the portal back to the second level.
This whole thing had been a setup—and there was only one group that would go to this kind of trouble.
“Lord Granbehl sends his regards,” the orange-armored ascender snarled, thrusting the de at my abdomen.
Still holding her by the wrist, I jerked the tanned woman off her feet and threw her at a nearby cluster of armed ascenders. She let out a yelp before crashing into them, but my attention was back on the artifact, which had opened like a flower and was glowing more brightly by the instant.
Lifting one leg, I began to step down toward it, intending to crush it under my heel, but...I froze, unable to move. The golden light emanating from the open pyramid wrapped around me, shining over every inch of me like a second skin. I could just make out the ethereal shape of chains within the light, wrapping around me and mypanions.
“Well I’ll be damned, they actually got a force cage.” Even with his voice muffled by theyer of energy the force cage had wrapped around him, ric was more amazed than shocked as he tried to wiggle his body. “And a pretty good one at that.”
His words were met by a chorus of chuckles from the many ascenders now eyeing us dangerously.
“Shit,” Darrin swore, sounding like he was speaking with his head under water. “This isn’t good.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw two men struggle to pull the orange-armored woman to her feet. By the way she was holding her arm, I knew I’d pulled it from the socket. That didn’t stop her from beaming at me victoriously.
“Quite the handful, aren’t you?” she said while popping her arm back into ce. The woman sauntered closer toward us. “A shame that I have to hand you over to the Granbehls. So many better uses for a pretty face like yours.”