Chapter 31: Promises

Casimir returned to his dorm and spotted Cornelius sleeping in one of the chairs.

He was dressed and ready for bed, snoring with his mouth full of sharp teeth, wide open.

Was he waiting for me? Casimir opened the door to his room. Before he could settle down, he heard several knocks on his door.

Casimir sighed with a smile and opened the door for Cornelius.

“What happened? I heard from Merritt that you said that you were attacked and that Tristan is missing!”

Casimir nodded. “Yes, your uncle believes that it would be best for me to leave, and I will depart tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“For my safety.”

Cornelius’ face scrunched up with frustration and anger. “My uncle isn’t going to accept the Inquis’ help?”

“He seemed reluctant to let me go. It was Aetherseeker’s idea.”

Cornelius paused and groaned. “Mr. Aetherseeker… he was not my uncle’s first choice. Uncle Hadrian wanted to pick someone from the Forevergreene family, and it was all agreed upon, but at the last minute, our family patriarch told Uncle to pick Mr. Aetherseeker instead. ”

Casimir raised an eyebrow. “Do you know why the change?”

“He said something about nepotism, but every other institution or guild run by a Weaver family does the same thing. Also, Aetherseeker was still loosely connected with our family. He was the bodyguard for one of our members.”

“Can you tell me more about him?”

“There is not much to tell. He fought in the War, retired with honor, and was picked up by one of our family members. I only met him a couple of times during meetings. He didn’t seem important.” Cornelius’ face darkened.

“I asked your uncle if he believed that your family was compromised, and I ended up offending him.”

“I can imagine, Uncle views everyone in our family highly. We are intellectuals who believe in collaboration and elevating others for the good of Nivilies. Murdering upstart Weavers and exploiting our peers is not what we do. It is certainly not something grandpa would condone.”

“Could someone with ill intentions have been in your patriarch’s ear?”

Cornelius frowned. “Yes, that could be the case. Mr. Aetherseeker’s name came out of nowhere.”

That is suspicious. I wonder…

“Can you tell me more about Awldriver?” Casimir asked.

“You think she is involved, too?”

“I don’t know.”

Cornelius bit the inside of his lip. “She was with our family for longer and worked as an alchemist for one of our businesses. She is good at what she does. I just wish I had spent more time studying underneath her.”

“She disappeared again?”

“Yes–” A nervous look appeared on Cornelius’ face. “She wouldn’t…”

“Don’t worry, I plan to find out the truth as soon as possible.”

***

Casimir was alerted to his cousin’s arrival by Damian knocking on his room door. It was late afternoon, and he and Cornelius were busy working on Alwdriver’s duplication project. They both promptly arrived at the door of Chancellor Salamander’s office.

“I’ll be damned if I lose two more of my companions.” Cornelius reached for the doorknob before Casimir and gave him a confident smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll reason with Uncle.”

“Thanks.” Casimir followed him inside.

Aetherseeker stood beside the Chancellor’s chair and greeted them with a prideful smile. Chancellor Salamander looked tired with the bags underneath his eyes, but maintained a countenance of dignity.

However, the most intimidating presence in the room was Whitley, who sat with a cold scowl in one of the chairs across from the Chancellor's desk. One scrutinizing glance smashed through Cornelius’ composure.

“Um, Uncle…” Cornelius began.

“Wait until we are finished, nephew,” Chancellor Salamander said in a tired tone.

Cornelius nodded cautiously and whispered into Casimir’s ear. “Good luck.”

He backed away out of the room and shut the door.

Casimir took the seat next to Whitley. “Lord Mindrattler.”

“Casimir?” Whitley asked in a stern tone.

“Yes, Lord Mindrattler.”

“Why am I here?”

Casimir kept his calm composure and answered in a controlled tone, “Lord Salamander believes that my life is in danger and wishes for me to leave, but I want to stay.”

Whitley turned to Lord Salamander with a raised eyebrow.

“Mr. Mindrattler informed me that he was attacked by an Aether beast that seemed to have been controlled by a Weaver.” Chancellor Salamander’s measured response sounded like he had rehearsed it in front of the mirror several times.

Whitley narrowed his eyes and returned his appraising gaze to Casimir. “Is this so?”

“Yes,” Casimir answered firmly.

“Hmph,” Whitley turned to Salamander. “It appears that Lord Iker’s criticisms were warranted. How do you plan to fix this mess?”

Aetherseeker began in a casual tone that was dangerously close to insulting. “Lord Mindrattler, you can’t–”

Whitley shut him down immediately with a glare and asked Salamander. “Who is this?”

Casimir suppressed a smug smile.

“The Assistant Chancellor, Mr. Aetherseeker.”

Whitley maintained his cold glare but allowed him to continue.

Aetherseeker cleared his throat and corrected his tone. “Lord Mindrattler, there is another aspect to this. Mr. Mindrattler is obviously a very talented and diligent student, but he has shown signs that he is not ready to attend an academy.”

“How so?”

“He severely injured his Aether heart and is lucky that it was caught in time.”

Whitley gave Casimir a cursory glance. “I can sense that his Aether heart is beating just fine, so it was not that severe of an injury. I understand the concern, but us older families are more resilient than your average Weaver.”

Aetherseeker pressed his lips together and nodded. “Yes, but there is also the recent incident. Mr. Mindrattler neglected to say that he claimed that the beast was human-like, which is unheard of. You don’t believe that is far-fetched?”

“Are you suggesting that my cousin is a liar?” Whitley asked sharply.

“I don’t doubt he saw something and was attacked, but I believe his perspective was warped at the time.”

“Oh, so you think he is crazy.” Whitley gave Aetherseeker a mocking smile.

“No, I would not use–”

“You said enough.” Salamander hissed. He cautiously apologized to Whitley. “Please excuse him.”

“No, we will sort this out here and now.” Whitley rose from his seat and crouched down in front of Casimir.

“Whitley?” Casimir blinked.

“Only in private, remember.” Whitley scolded. He then placed his hands on Casimir’s temples. “Think back on what you saw.”

Warm Aether rushed into his head, and Casimir remembered back to his encounter with the beast and the mystery woman cloaked in black. As quickly as the Aether probing his mind came, it disappeared, and his memory of the woman dulled. That was weird.

Whitley released his grip on Casimir’s head and returned to his seat. “This is concerning. Are you investigating this?”

Salamander nodded. “I will sort this out with the aid of Needle. In the meantime, I’ll continue to mentor Casimir during the summer.”

Whitley frowned. “Needle is here instead of Spindle, why?”

“The Emperor’s Advisor personally sent his men to look after the Emperor’s nephew and Lady Pennyroyal’s grand niece due to previous incidents.”

“Oh, but my cousin has to go, despite my position in the House of Lords.” Whitley tilted his head. “You can’t spare extra security for him?”

“That isn’t the case, Casimir and I both agree that he is being targeted because they view him and the constant Inquis presence as a threat.” Salamander frowned. “You entrusted me to look after and train your heir. I am not suited to do this.”

“No, you certainly are not,” Whitley said coldly and left his seat. “This is disappointing. I’ll be looking for another Master for Casimir.”

Chancellor Salamander sighed. “As you should.”

What! “No.” Casimir looked up at Whitley.

“Come on, Casimir, we are leaving,” Whitley commanded.

“But Whit–”

Whitley grabbed his arm, a haze entered his mind, and he felt the urge to move forward. Then he found himself following Whitley out the door.

Blast it, he is doing it again.

Casimir resisted and pulled away from his grasp. “Cut that out! You know how much I hate it!”

Whitley looked at him, annoyed. “Could you have waited until we were in the car?”

“I’m not leaving, I have a job to do!” Casimir stood firmly in place.

Whitley sneered. “Your job is to become a Weaver, marry, and sire heirs. And maybe help with managing the Mindrattler estate. You can’t do that if some rogue agent kills you.”

“I’m close to catching them!”

“Let Needle handle it. This is probably one of their messes anyway.”

He reached for Casimir’s arm.

Casimir evaded. “Remember what you said to me when I was at my lowest.”

Whitley paused and gave him a smug smile. “I told you that you’ll get over it because you don’t have a choice.”

“Before that! The only reason why I agreed to become a Weaver was to become strong enough to bring Sageman to justice. How can I do that if you won’t allow me to catch these rogues?”

Whitley face-palmed. “Casimir, you won’t be able to bring Sageman to justice if you die before getting your Weaver license. Come home, I’ll find you the best masters to train under, and maybe if you can last more than ten seconds against me in a fight, I might reconsider. ”

Whitley offered Casimir his hand. “Others can handle this. You owe these people nothing.”

Casimir held up his head proudly and looked upon Whitley with strong conviction. “I promise I will fulfill my duties as a Mindrattler as long as you don’t interfere with my duty to protect Nivilies from rogue Weavers.”

Whitley retracted his hand. “Tsk. There is no helping you, isn’t it? But I guess if you die here, your genes aren’t worth continuing.”

He turned away to leave. “Go tell Salamander that you have my blessing to stay and that he has no business kicking you out just because of his own incompetence when dealing with unruly staff.”

“Thank you, Whitley.”

Whitley glanced over his shoulder with an inkling of a smile. “I’ll pick you up in the Spring. You will meet your cousins when they come back from boarding school.”

Cornelius’ head popped out from around the corner after Whitley left. “And I thought Uncle was terrifying when he was mad. ”

Casimir shrugged. “He is still a head shorter than me. ”

Cornelius snickered. “Don’t say that around Uncle, okay.”

***

Later that evening, Casimir and Sully slipped into the forest and looked back at the overcast evening sky above the main building. A dull streak of orange could be seen from the setting sun on the horizon, and its color reflected on the building's glass, giving it a golden hue.

His gaze focused on the location of the Chancellor’s office, and he smiled.

“What is it?” Sully shared the expression with Casimir as he led the way to the creek.

“Whitley certainly has a way with words, but it would have been easier if he were the one saying it. I almost got thrown out by the Chancellor.”

Sully chuckled. “I wish I could have been there, but there was someone else who needed my undivided attention.”

Casimir rolled his eyes. “Merritt.”

Sully casually flicked Casimir’s forehead. “Awldriver. ”

“Did you find their hideout?” Casimir rubbed the sting out of his head.

“I was not patrolling around this campus just for fun or to babysit you all day. I was able to get familiar with some of the terrain and the faculty habits.” Sully glanced back at Casimir and grinned with his eerily white smile. “Feverfew and Awldriver liked to disappear in the forest north of here. They could have been collecting herbs, but I deem it unlikely.”

“So we hide and wait.”

“That is the idea.”

Sully and Casimir stopped at an outcrop near the creek where Casimir collected the ingredients for his assignment. They sat in the shadows of the rocks and waited. The sky moved and changed as the hours passed by.

Still nothing. Casimir looked at Sully, calmly watching the creek. “Do you think we will be able to save Tristan in time?”

“I don’t know, and you must be prepared if we don’t.”

“I know.”

They spent the rest of the dying night in silence. Casimir wished he had a cup of coffee when he saw daylight peek above the top of the trees. A bust.

Sully stood up and pointed. “There.”

Right after his declaration, they saw something streak down the banks of the creek towards the main campus. It was so fast that you could miss it if you blinked.

“That was Awldriver. It felt like her.” Sully began to leave the outcrop.

“Do you know where she came from?”

“Somewhere north of here. Come on.”

Casimir followed Sully as he retraced Awldriver’s steps. Casimir was not sure what he was looking at. Awldriver’s lightstep was far superior to his. She left no broken branches or footprints behind.

Sully stopped at a clearing that was southeast of where they found Bryson. “Somewhere here.”

“Where, though. I don’t see anything but undisturbed snow.”

Sully’s eyes scanned the field. “I know that this school is over an extensive cave system. There must be an entrance somewhere. ”

Casimir scanned over the snowfield until the white messed with his eyes, and he rubbed them.

What I give for some shades.

A strong gust of wind kicked up the snow in the clearing, and Casimir could feel the pressure around them rise and quickly drop.

“Drat, someone is weaving a pattern!”

Both Casimir and Sully turned towards a large amount of Aether from the trees. Within a hair’s breadth, he and Sully dodged a torrential wind that turned every tree within its path into splinters. Then a grey blur rushed out of the path of destroyed trees and positioned itself in front of Casimir and Sully. The towering abomination fashioned from a poor lobotomized Simon Spindlehitch drooled and tilted its head unnaturally to a 90-degree angle. Its brown eyes stared blankly in space.

Sully blinked twice and glanced at Casimir. “Was that what you saw in the forest?”

“Yes.” Casimir weaved Iron Sinew.

“I’ve seen something new today.” Sully rubbed his chin curiously, but Casimir could also sense his cousin extending his Aether-cancelling field towards the creature and Awldriver.

The spider unhinged its jaw, revealing three rows of sharp teeth, and leaped towards them.

“Blast it.” Casimir dodged again, and the massive humanoid spider reached for Sully, but his cousin nimbly evaded.

Casimir then fired several needles at the spider’s skin, causing it to screech and turn to nip at him with its jaws.

Casimir leaped back and weaved Body Blow. He connected the pattern to the creature’s jaw with a punch and sent it flying several feet. It landed on its back, kicking up snow and dirt, groaning and struggling to get upright with its top-heavy body.

Casimir frowned and looked at the creature with pity. “I’m sorry.” He weaved Electric Hand and shocked it unconscious.

The spider lay still in the snow. Casimir looked at what used to be Simon solemnly and shook his head. “I hope I’m not too late.”

Sully stretched. “That thing came out of nowhere. We must be close.”

They scanned the field again, which now revealed sections of dormant grass once hidden beneath the snow, and zoned in on a metal trap door due west of the clearing.

“There,” Sully announced.

Casimir rushed over and picked the lock on the door. After he heard a click, he flung the door open and was hit by the smell of decay.