Chapter 25: Confrontation

Chapter 25: Confrontation

In the dawn of night.
She stalks her prey.

She lays a trap,
And sees the way.

Cynthia decided that enough was enough. It was time to learn who exactly this trespasser was. Twice now she had snuck her way onto the property. Twice now she had gone to spent time with Christina. The first time, there had been reason enough to worry, and the sorceress thought that she had done enough to make Christina be wary and even avoid the girl in the future. But this problem was proving to be slightly more stubborn. It was time to handle matters herself.

She was almost certainly nothing, and very certainly nothing that couldn't be handled. But despite that, Cynthia wanted to know exactly what kind of influence over Christina was had by this girl. It was important to know if she was a threat. Wanting to find out as much as she could, Cynthia decided to follow her away from the manor. Placing the same kind of enchantment on herself to help avoid detection as she did last time, Cynthia kept a recklessly short distance between herself and the mystery girl all the way back to the capital.

The girl was confident, Cynthia could tell that just from the way she walked. She navigated the twisting and winding roads of Lasceria with efficiency and ease. It was almost difficult for Cynthia to keep up. But keep up she did. She wasn't about to let this girl get away from her before learning what she needed to learn.

As she followed, her anticipation only grew. 'This was going to be fun.' She thought to herself. This was just another simple Silencian girl, foolish and overconfident. Nothing more than a fun exercise of her wit and talent. By the time Cynthia was done with her and had gotten answers to all her questions, she likely wouldn't even know what hit her, thought Cynthia. This would be fun.

That was until the tables turned, and Cynthia was the one who wasn't entirely sure what was hitting her, as Hazel turned around suddenly to address her would-be stalker.

"You gonna tell me why you're following me, then?" Asked Hazel, completely unfazed.

Cynthia was for a moment speechless. How on earth did this girl notice her? Did she cast her enchantment wrong? No, checking herself for a moment, she could feel it now even, still in place. There must have been something that drew her attention directly at her. 'The girl got lucky', she thought to herself.

Conforming to her posture, Cynthia decided it didn't matter. She would have liked to stalk her prey for some time longer, confront the girl when she was somewhere rested, and didn't expect anyone else to be. Somewhere she thought she was safe. If she could put her off balance then, well at that point the battle was already half won. An emotional reaction of some kind was all the sorceress needed in order to work her magic, both figuratively and literally. But there were other ways to do that. Cynthia smiled to herself, now it was time for the game of wits. "I'm the reason you know you stepped out of line."

Hazel all but snorted. Turning her chin up at the sorceress, Hazel studied her. In her mind she thought to herself how confident this admittedly domineering woman was. This was Cynthia, the one that Christina was so terrified of. The way she stood, her posture, her words, the way she looked at Hazel even now. It was almost intriguing. But more than anything, to Hazel, it was a challenge she couldn't turn down.

Cynthia, in turn, was increasingly able to read this mystery girl. Nothing more than an overconfident street rat, out of her league. This would be fun, indeed.

"You know, it's not a very good idea to trespass on powerful figures' properties. You're only Crevician, so I don't blame you for not understanding, but the Southgard family isn't one to be trifled with." Cynthia pontificated. Posturing herself to demonstrate to this girl just how in over her head she was. Cynthia wanted to make her uncomfortable before she started really probing. "And I know you thought you got away with it, that was foolish of you."

Already she knew exactly what kind of woman this was. She had dealt with these kinds of people all her life. She thought that because she didn't live the same kind of life, that people like Hazel were a failure. She looked down at them from that place of leisure, and thought she could just take anything she wanted. People like this woman, Cynthia, thought that there would be nothing Hazel could do to fight back. A twinge of a smirk rose from Hazel's lips. It was so satisfying when she proved them wrong.

"Oh? Well, if I stepped out of line, you gonna tell me exactly who's?" Hazel asked, nodding towards Cynthia to make it clear she was asking her name, in such a tone that was only just barely mocking the sorceress's grandstanding, while still making sure to keep her answer as deadpan as possible. She already knew Cynthia's name of course, but she wanted to play with her anyway.

Cynthia kept up her own signature smirk. "Cynthia Arkinian. Obviously, I wouldn't have a reason to know anything about you. So why don't you tell me?"

Hazel's eyes barely shifted, giving no reaction from which her adversary could pry. "Just some Crevician, aren't I?"

It was then that something started to sparkle in Cynthia's eye. 'Interesting.'

In Hazel's eyes, Cynthia thought this was an interrogation. But in reality, it was all a game. And now the towering woman had given her a name, without Hazel giving one back, she would always know that Hazel had at least one more card. Of course, it was far more than just one.

Cynthia however, could tell this street rat was being stubborn, but didn't much care. Even if nothing about this elucidated any answers, that wasn't her real goal. The battle of wits was fun, but inconsequential. The sorceress would get what she wanted, one way or another.

She chuckled. "You might be, but you know who isn't? Christina. She's under the direct protection of the Southgards, and by extension, the Silencian crown. So why don't you save yourself the trouble and tell me what you've been doing when you were secretly visiting her. Both times." Cynthia said, hoping to catch the girl off guard with her knowledge of her visit the previous time.

Hazel, on the other hand, let out an amused laugh, having no interest in playing this woman's game. "Really, Cynthia? Protection? That's fucking rich." She said, calling out her name, just to remind the woman of the imbalanced information. "You protect Chris the same a warden protects an inmate."

Despite it all being meaningless banter, something about what the little punk said actually affected Cynthia. She wasn't sure if it was how annoyingly evasive she was being, how she wasn't showing any kind of emotion, or if it was something about the suggestion on how they treated Christina that the girl had just made. "Oh, darling." She spoke with soft, sweet condescension. "You think you understand something, but you don't. You don't understand anything. You don't even understand how in over your head you really are, inserting yourself into our Christina's life."

Cynthia was starting to get impatient. She wanted to make this street rat feel small. She wanted her to second-guess every word before she spoke it. She wanted to make her feel like their ward. If she was anything like the girl she had been visiting, then an emotional reaction was certain to come.

Hazel, however, couldn't care less what Cynthia wanted.

"Your Christina, eh? Is that what she is? Your doll? You get to dress her up and then show her off to make you feel good about how big and powerful you are?" Said Hazel, judgement oozing out of every pore. "Or maybe you just do that as a way to wear her defenses down."

Cynthia even had to stop herself from recoiling back, genuinely surprised at how much this punk girl seemed to know. She spoke with such certainty, despite being so vague. There wasn't any chance this girl actually knew any of those things she suggested, was there? 

'Why am I even entertaining this? We're not being cruel to Christina.' Cynthia internally dismissed. 'All of that is just part of Lena's plan . . .' 

Reminding herself to cleanse any doubt, Cynthia stayed focused on the task. At this point it was clear that the street rat was succeeding at her little game, but it still didn't matter. The sorceress was working towards something else entirely. Not being able to win the battle of wits was unsatisfying, but in the end it was just part of the job. The street rat was fearless, and trying to throw her off balance wasn't working either. But she also thought of Cynthia as the villain, somehow coming to the conclusion of hating her before they ever really met. Cynthia could use that.

The Sorceress put on a much darker face. Her smile gone, she looked at the girl with a sadistic warning, looking deep into her eyes. It was time to play the bad guy. "Do you want to find out exactly how 'big and powerful' we really are? Because if you don't want to answer my questions, and instead want to play in the big leagues, then I can easily oblige." The sorceress said, her lips leaking out a smile for a single calculated moment near the end. Her look one that would unnerve and worry almost anyone unlucky enough to cross her.

To Hazel she knew that this woman wanted her to feel afraid, she wanted her to think that she didn't have a choice, but, there was something else going on here. Cynthia changed who she was too quickly, lowering her façade. It wasn't really lowered, and Hazel could see right through her. She was pretending to be something sadistic in order to manipulate her, put Hazel where she wanted. She was positive that they were doing the same thing to her friend.

There was something else in Hazel's eyes now, something she couldn't hold back and hide. Just the tiniest bit of rage. Everything Cynthia gave her was fake, Hazel wanted to make her feel something real in return "Oh, you think that convincing that lost, scared girl that she's broken, and needs to completely change herself in order to be loved, is powerful? Nah . . . that sounds like cowardice to me."

Somehow, the last comment against Cynthia stung. Cowardice? They were helping Christina. It wasn't her fault the girl was a complete and utter brat. All things considered, they had been far kinder to Christina than they should be. And, in showing her a path to being better, they were still treating her in a much better way than clearly anyone had before. 'I don't want to actually hurt Christina, I'm only doing what I have to do . . .' Thought Cynthia. But even still, her mind wandered.

But thankfully for her, pulling Cynthia back into the moment, noticed something that left her relieved, after all she was getting impatient. The girl's hands were casually held at her side. But one small finger was twitching. Looking back at the mystery girl, Cynthia was nearly ashamed she didn't immediately realized it. The punk was doing a good job at hiding it, but it was just barely leaking through. She saw this girls rage.

 Cynthia spared a thought, that if the girl was this good at hiding her emotions, it was almost unnerving how much hate for her this girl really had. But either way, the girl thought she had every advantage, and in a fair face off she would probably have been right. Unfortunately for her, anything against Cynthia could never be fair. The street rat looked at Cynthia like she was proving through their conversation just how much better she was, but she was blind. Cynthia was on an entirely different level.

Cynthia's own fingers twitched delicately back and forth by her side, as she started to weave an enchantment into her words and influence Hazel's mind.

"We're done here. I think it's time for you to listen."

But as Cynthia spoke, Hazel saw something that to which even the sorceress was blind. Faint, yet visible in the late sunsetting light, small pins of purple light started to shine from Cynthia's dominant hand, as she played with the weave of the Arkane. But then, as the words left the sorceress's lips, for Hazel at least, so too did thin violet tendrils of smoke, flowing towards her. The glowing wisps were so thin that even in the moment, Hazel couldn't be sure if they were real or a trick of the light. But as in a near instant they got closer and closer, Hazel realized that they were coming directly at her.

Flinching suddenly with a step back, washing the purple smoke away with a wave of her hand, Hazel, for the first time in the interaction, felt like she was on the back foot. "The hell was that purple shit coming out of your mouth?" She exclaimed in cautious fear. Hazel had known that Cynthia was supposedly magical, but this was the first time she had actually seen it. She wasn't prepared. 

. . . At least, Hazel thought she was on the back foot. But Cynthia, who couldn't see anything that Hazel had just seen, only saw that this infuriating girl was somehow unaffected by her mental magic. Worse, she even seemed to realize that something magical was happening.

'That's not possible.'

 Cynthia was stunned into silence. How did her enchantment not work? Her gift for mental magic worked on everyone, even waiting to use it on a someone who was caught up in emotion was just something extra to be positive it would take effect. But . . . nothing. On top of that, the girl talked about something purple coming out of her mouth? She couldn't quite believe what the evidence before her suggested. Cynthia knew that all magic was conjured from latent Arkane energy that existed within the world, but certain kinds of magic did so in such a way that left those Arkane currents invisible to the eye. Mental magic, an extremely rare sorceress gift that Cynthia was extremely lucky to be born to have, was one of those kinds. But . . . this girl, whoever she was, clearly saw it. She saw something that even other magic users couldn't see. She could even tell it was something tied to her mouth and words, and even somehow been untouched by its effects. Cynthia didn't know who this girl was, or why she was meeting up with Christina, but one thing was undeniably clear, this girl could see the Arkane.

The magic faded away from Cynthia's fingertips, as suddenly she was of a singular mind. Her mission, her impatience, even her own annoyance were all an after thought. Only one thing mattered. "How did you do that? Tell me, who are you?" Cynthia demanded, stepping closer toward Hazel in a near manic state. "What you just did is impossible, did some kind of mage experiment on you?"

Hazel, ever the quick study, picked up on exactly what kind of advantage she had instantly. She had thought that in the moment of getting caught up with some kind of magic that she was going to find herself on the back foot. But now in some way, Hazel even being aware of this woman's magic had sent her completely spiraling. This woman had pretended to drop her façade before, but now her mask dropped for real. The tone and pacing of her words were night and day from her calculated taunts she had been slinging before.

'Now's the time to push the advantage.'

Hazel smiled from ear to ear, not even giving Cynthia the decency of her full attention as she let her eye contact wander away. "Oh, all this time you've been taunting me, telling me I don't know shit, boasting about what you turned Chris into . . . but look who's the scared little girl now." Hazel stung, giving Cynthia only a glancing look from the corner of her eyes.

Something hit Cynthia in the way that it shouldn't. The words of this girl should have just been words, but now there were so much more. She was taunting her, mocking her. With what right? Who was this piece of street trash? She thought she was better than Cynthia? She was nothing compared to her. Nothing at all. Lunging forward, she grabbed Hazel by the wrist, intending to force some answers. "Okay, street rat. You listen, and you listen wel-"

Cynthia could have dealt with the moment in so many different ways, she could have summoned bonds to restrain the girl, she could have composed herself and refused to fall bait, and even if she would never have stooped so low, Cynthia could have used combat magic on this criminal to fully subdue her once and for all. But the sorceress let her anger and frustration get the better of her, and became physical.

The second that Cynthia laid a hand on Hazel was the same moment she realized that she had made a very bad mistake.

Expertly twisting her wrist free, Hazel demonstrated the full extent of Cynthia's error. She smoothly grabbed the sorceress's own wrist and used her other hand to push up behind the elbow. Taking a step to guide the way that everything was going to twist, Hazel expertly applied pressure in such a way that resulted in Cynthia getting forcibly spun around as she found her own arm painfully jammed up into her back. Completely outclassing her opponent, it gave Hazel a great amount of satisfaction to make Cynthia feel the same kind of powerlessness that she had forced upon her friend.

Wincing and letting out a gasp of pain, Cynthia felt a small shove from behind her that left her momentarily unbalanced as Hazel let go. It took Cynthia a moment to gather herself, as she grasped at her slightly burning wrist and felt the ache from her shoulder being pushed past its natural stopping point. But when she turned back around to confront her attacker, all she saw was a flash of Hazel darting around a nearby corner. Cynthia's blood boiled. The chase was on.

Cynthia sprinted off on the balls of her feet, rushing after the mystery girl as fast as she possibly could. It wasn't until this moment as she was chasing her that Cynthia realized, this was a deliberate place that the girl had led her to before deciding to stop and chat. Rounded corner after corner after hidden alley. Each time it was only the barest glimpse of Hazel's figure darting out of view that led Cynthia in the right direction. Earlier Cynthia had thought that she had been the one following this girl, but now she realized that this girl had been leading her all along.

Finally after a few more minutes of exhausting running, Hazel reached a dead end. Seeing the approaching wall ahead, Cynthia finally smiled. She was out of breath, but she wouldn't underestimate this girl any longer. She had already seen her magic, there wasn't any more need for Cynthia to try to be subtle. She was going to finish this like she should have so much earlier when she had the chance, and she was going to enjoy it.

But even within that line of thought, Cynthia underestimated Hazel once again. Still sprinting toward the wall full tilt, Hazel jumped up, reaching for and finding hold on a small protruding brick. She then vaulted herself up off that wall onto an adjacent corner, where another better handhold a little higher up gave her clean access to somewhere to plant her feet. She continued this and other series of different maneuvers until she had climbed a full three stories high.

Cynthia stood motionless in awe of the girl who scaled the wall in front of her with ease. Finally pulling herself up over the roof edge, Hazel twisted herself around and let her legs dangle off the ledge.

Hazel had won, even if the way this magical bitch glared at her from down there that told Hazel that Cynthia didn't realize it yet. Knowing that, she couldn't help one last taunt. "I guess you ain't so scary when you don't get to cheat, huh?" Hazel laughed at her own jab, only rubbing salt further into the wound. "Cheating like that, all to bully that poor kid . . . I guess your parents raised you even worse than Christina's did, huh? You should be ashamed of yourself."

There were no words in Cynthia's mind, only white-hot rage, as the taunting set her over the edge. She saw the street rat's legs flip back over the ledge as the girl disappeared from view. But it wasn't over. Far from it. Cynthia mustered pure channels of Arkane energy from all around her in the palms of both of her hands, pulling the force in and in and in. Until finally she let it all burst. In that moment her entire body launched upwards, dozens of feet in the air. Reaching the same height infinitely faster than Hazel had with her climb.

As Cynthia started to descend back down, she mustered just a bit more Arkane power to steady and slow her fall, touching down on the roof gently on her feet. But as Cynthia looked around for her mark, Hazel was somehow nowhere to be found.

'How on earth?' She thought to herself. No idea how it was even possible for Hazel to have disappeared, Cynthia decided to try to center herself. She could tell if she didn't find the space to calm down now, she would completely burst.

Taking deep breaths in and out, Cynthia started to calm down. Letting her anger get the better of her was one of the reasons that the mystery girl even got away. Trying to get physical with her only ended in giving her an escape route. Cynthia was better than resorting to violence, she reminded herself. She was better than this. The sorceress sighed, finally admitting defeat. She summoned one more burst of Arkane energy, this time to get herself safely down.

Cynthia had a lot to think about. That girl, their entire conversation, the last few things that the girl had said to her. How she could see her magic . . . There was a lot on her mind. She had followed that girl here to get answers, but now she was left with only more questions.

'How cliché . . .' Thought Cynthia to herself, rolling her eyes. Either way, regardless of whether or not it was cliché, it was getting late, she needed to get back home. It was her night to take care of Christina.

Thinking of her ward, Cynthia couldn't help but linger on how the girl had called her a bully, called what they were doing cruel, insinuated that what ever Christina was raised to be, that Cynthia was worse. The Sorceress had let her anger get the better of her, and for that she was ashamed. Should she also be ashamed for how she was treating their ward, she wondered? No, they were doing was only what was best. Cynthia was sure of it. All Christina needed to do was behave, and things would get better.

Still, walking off into the night, Cynthia rubbed her aching shoulder from where her target had forced her into a painful position. 'Maybe it wouldn't kill her to cut Christina some slack . . .'

**********************************

Hazel, on the other hand, watched Cynthia propel herself back down and wander off, safely from another hidden roof a few stories above. She smiled to herself, confident in the victory she achieved. She had never faced off with a magic user before. It was exhilarating . . . but also, she couldn't help but wonder that with all that she imagined would be possible with magic, it didn't make any sense for her to really win. Surely Cynthia could have conjured something to help her, or even just thrown a fireball or something, right? The fact that nothing like that happened either meant there was something about magic that Hazel didn't understand, or that Cynthia woman wasn't giving it her best. Maybe both.

Either way, there was one thing that she was certain of; she had a tiny bit more information on what exactly was going on with her friend, Christina. That, and she now had more questions about what seeing those purple smoke-like tendrils meant, why she could see them, and why that woman reacted to that information the way that she did.

She didn't even know where to start on getting those answers.