B2 – Chapter 5: Enchanting to prevent discovery

The next morning came rapidly, and Tristan woke up comfortably snuggled up next to Felicity and heard her mumbling something but could not make it out. He rolled out of the bed and stretched, dipping in the pool briefly to fully wake himself up before drying off and putting on the fresh underclothes. As he began to don his armor, Felicity woke up and yawned. “Morning,” she mumbled.

Tristan smiled at her, “Good morning. Care to help me gear up? It’ll speed things up.”

Felicity hopped out of the bed and assisted him in latching on his gear, before she shifted to her fairy dragon form and landed atop his head. “How’d you sleep?” she asked.

Tristan filled her in on the occurrences of the night, ending with, “and I made sure that she knew her place. Which made me feel weird. I always tried to treat servants and guards and the like as…well, not as lessers-”

“But now you have only lessers in this Realm,” Felicity said with a grin. “Which is perfectly fine; all Realms have rulers and those who obey them. Heck, The Matriarch is the ruler when you’re gone – and we never question it.”

“That reminds me,” Tristan said as they reached the main level, and he began walking down towards the dirt circle with the stalagmite from the cave still marking the back edge. “I was meaning to ask; you call her your mother, but you’re born from seedpods.”

“Oh, we just call her ‘mom’ because we all look like her. And, I mean, even the lady who made her called her the ‘mother of all fairy dragons’, hence why she chose the name Matriarch of the fairy dragons, or just ‘The Matriarch’, as she now prefers to be called.”

“So, all these other fairy dragons aren’t really siblings?” Tristan asked.

Felicity looked aghast as she leaned her head over, “Of course not! That would be so weird. W-e-i-r-d. Weird.” She scoffed and sat upright on his head, making small paw-claw biscuits on the top of his skull, “I hate some of these other fairy dragons.”

The two bringing the horses over both looked at her and shouted in tandem, “Up yours!”

Felicity chuckled, “You couldn’t joke around with your siblings the way that we joke around with each other.”

“Right,” Tristan muttered as he walked over to Onyx and Midnight. He leaned in close and pulled their heads to either side of his with gentle nudges. “Hey there, you two have a good night’s rest?” Both horses neighed and nudged him softly, eliciting a chuckle from Tristan. “Okay. We’re going to be riding hard to start, but then as we get to midday we’ll slow down. Just bump me a bit if you need me to swap. Okay?”

Another series of nudges told him enough, and Tristan looked up at the fairy dragons who were keeping the horses as stable hands. “Good job, you two. Please let the house-arrest guards know that our visitors can be brought to the circle here.”

They nodded and zipped off, and The Matriarch walked over. “Lord Tristan, you should know that this Fallthorn woman was reported to be scheming with her fellows about doing something to you upon your return and taking your ring. She deduced that it is how you traveled to and from the Fey Realm. It did not seem that her fellows were in agreement with her and tried to talk her down. I do not know how successful they were.”

Tristan scowled once more as he felt a heat in his chest. “This ends now,” he stated as he began walking to the guest houses which began to empty of their occupants. The performing troupe was walking over to him, and stopped as they saw him approaching with sure, swift strides. Shandra, the Fallthorn Elf, was glowering at Tristan.

He spun his essence crucible in his chest and pushed it into the king’s favor on his seal of nobility. “Kneel,” he ordered as he used the stored Command spell. All the group went to one knee, looking up at Tristan with awe, fear, or in Shandra’s case, hatred. “I heard that you were plotting against me and my benevolent, very kind treatment. Is this true?”

“No,” Shandra said. The rest of her allies did not speak.

Tristan grimaced, “I commend you for not wanting to speak out against your ally here, but the fairy dragons keeping guard over you lot told me that you plotted to steal my ring.” Tristan took off the ring and handed it to the Fallthorn elf, “Go ahead, take it.”

She snagged it from his hand and put it on. It began to glow with an auburn light, and she laughed with joy. “Now I will come and go as I please!” She tried to activate the ring, and her brown-colored essence surged into the item of artifice, emitting a deep, bark-colored light.

Then, her finger exploded. She screamed out in pain and fell to her face, sobbing on the ground. Tristan plucked the ring from the ground, wiped it off on the grass, and slipped it onto his finger. “When I first received this ring,” he said as Shandra kept crying, “I was told it would only work for me. And now I see that proven correct.” He waved over The Matriarch, “Bring in our fairy dragon with access to rejuvenation.”

She bowed and flew off as Tristan paced in front of the group of bards who were now looking at him with fear and terror. “I hope you see, now, how fruitless trying to kill me and take my ring would be. I do not seek any ill-will towards you, but I cannot risk having you reveal my secrets at this point.” He looked up to Felicity, “I know that enchantment can control people, but what about manipulating thoughts and memories?”

Felicity shrugged, “I don’t know.”

Tristan looked back at the theater troupe, including Shandra who now met his eyes with fury and a true understanding of just how insignificant she was compared to him. “I will come back here,” she growled.

The Matriarch came back with the fairy dragon in question, who stepped over and mumbled his rejuvenation Third Order spell Cure Wound. The woman’s finger healed over, but did not grow back. “Lord Tristan,” he stated, “Regenerate is Seventh Order, and I cannot yet do that spell.”

“She does not play instruments, she is a singer,” Tristan replied. “She will still be able to make a living. Consider it the price of a lesson.” He looked back into her fury filled eyes and let his essence vent from himself as he spun his crucible, shrouding his body in silvery mist that crackled with crimson, gold, black, and icy-blue sparks. The temperature dropped noticeably, and the traveling bards recoiled back in fear. “The lesson is do not go against your superiors.”

Tristan turned to The Matriarch, “You are skilled in enchantment, yes? I want you to perform a spell, if you have such knowledge, that wipes all memory of me, the Fey Realm, Felicity, and all they have met or done since the past day.”

The Matriarch raised an eyebrow and shook her head, “Such a spell does not exist within enchantment as a spell type, Lord Tristan. The memory spell type could perform such a feat. But I do have an enchantment spell I could use of the Tenth Order. Deca Command, which would let me craft a ten-word order that they would be compelled to follow.”

“Wait,” Tristan replied. “Doesn’t enchantment only last for a day?”

The Matriarch shook her head, “Third Order or lower. This is Tenth Order. It will last for years commensurate to the essence I expend. More than all save Shandra’s lifetime. But this spell, combined with your natural inclination towards ordering lesser Elf kind should ensure she complies.”

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Tristan nodded, “Do it. The order I want you give is as follows; you cannot communicate anything about Tristan or the Fey Realm.”

The Matriarch nodded, “I obey your will.” She turned to the group and began speaking in Elvish, “Lukekaa sanat huuliltani ja noudattakaa käskyjäni niin kuin parhaiten osaatte. Minun sanani on laki, ja teidän on noudatettava sitä. Käskyäni ei voi kieltää. Noudattakaa määräystäni älkääkä vastustelko. Sitä vastaan ei voi taistella. Alistukaa tahtooni. Sanojeni vääjäämätön vetovoima tuudittaa teidät kuuliaisuuteen. Kuuntele käskyjäni ehdottomasti. Etkö halua miellyttää minua? Miksi taistella sitä vastaan, kun voit vain alistua? Tottele minua.” (Read the words upon my lips, and obey my orders as you are best able. My word is law, and you will follow it. There is no denying my order. Heed my stricture and do not resist. There is no way to fight it. Submit to my will. The inexorable pull of my words lull you to obeisance. Listen to my orders without fail. You want to please me, do you not? Why fight it when you could just submit? Obey me).

As she spoke, she made the same spell gesture with her fingers as she would for the First Order spell, Command. Tristan thought, it must be because the spell itself is effectively the same? Just more complex? The starting sentence was identical for both the basic Command and this Deca Command spell.

The eyes of all the theatre troupe glazed over, and she repeated the ten-word phrase that Tristan had given her. The theatre troupe was then led over to the horses; even Shandra who walked with plodding steps. The Matriarch looked to Tristan, “It is done.”

“Two questions,” Tristan said as he turned to the group. “First, why was the spell gesture the same for Deca Command as the First Order Command?”

“The same spell, just a more intense version.”

Tristan nodded and thought, good, my intuition was correct. He cleared his throat slightly, “Second question; how could someone cast spells if they lose a finger like Shandra over there?”