Devourer

Chapter 11: Plans, Plots and Conspiracies

Lord Averlon bit his thumb as he fidgeted with the quill in his hand as he waited for the news. That first party he sent to the cradle has vanished… he had hoped since the cradle is further away from the previous attack sites the party would make the journey safely.

He even sent a group of guards into the forest on a scouting mission to act as bait, using the excuse of finding that mystery tomb or bandit camp to justify the decision. All the while he prayed that the beast would target the guards instead of his party. The party was supposed to return two days after being sent out. But that was a week ago…

This time he asked his spymaster Sarana to send some of her best operatives to approach the cradle from multiple directions. Praying they would be able to verify if Cecilia was still there…

The disappearance of the first party, the appearance of the beast and the supposed commencement of the prophecy. Idly he wondered what sin did he commit for spiteful fate to punish him so…

Then he heard a knock on his door and he sprang to his feet.

“My lord, my scouts have returned.” He heard Sarana say from the other side of the door.

“Enter.” Lord Averlon said his mouth dry and his body shaking from the tension.

When the door opened he saw a somber Sarana enter with five of her operatives. He could tell it was bad news judging from the expression on her face and he felt a chill go up his spine.

“What news?” Lord Averlon asked shakily.

“The Cradle has been breached my lord… Princess Cecilia is nowhere to be found…” Sarana said.

Lord Averlon sat back down shakily and he buried his face into his hands. He knew what this meant, either his dear daughter was dead or… the prophecy has been put in motion despite his best efforts. This beast must be a servant of this prophecy, there is no other possible explanation…

What’s worse they still know next to NOTHING about the heavens be damned thing… 

The only bit of information is that it could kill anything that they sent into the forest…

Should they request the aid of the other city-states? No, if anyone else found out that he was harboring the subject of such a dire prophecy, the Divine Council will have his head. They will burn Averlon to the ground to serve as an example for the other city-states…

“What have you found out…” Lord Averlon said quietly his eyes shut as he grasped his hair in frustration and desperation.

“No signs of a struggle at the cradle, the sealing crystals and the control crystal have all been drained dry. Not only that, examinations of the interior have revealed some unsettling things. We have found signs that the beast was in the house, the same serpent trail was found in the house and the princess’s room is empty. It looked as if she just packed up everything including the furniture and left.” Sarana replied.

“So she left willingly… that beast helped her escape…” Lord Averlon said through gritted teeth.

“We believe so… we also suspect the beast could somehow drain the ether from the crystals.” Sarana replied.

Then something snapped in Lord Averlon as he shot to his feet and swiped everything off his table. All his documents, pens, cups, delicate magical artefacts all clattered onto the floor with the more fragile items shattering.

Sarana looked on calmly as Lord Averlon, now enraged, grabbed the bottom of the table and flipped the whole thing over with a roar.

“My lord, this is no time for an outburst.” Sarana said calmly, completely unfazed by the display of self-destructive violence.

“18 years I have labored, ever since I heard that damned prophecy!” Lord Averlon roared as he delivered a kick to his now upturned table.

“18 years of work UNDONE IN A FORTNIGHT!” Lord Averlon howled as slumped back into his chair grasping at his hair.

“My lord, how should we proceed?” Sarana asked calmly.

“Those damned fools, they went out to that tomb and released who knows what forgotten horror into this world…” Lord Averlon muttered as he ignored Sarana’s question.

“My lord.” Sarana said this time a little louder and her tone a little colder. 

Lord Averlon paused, seemingly momentarily brought back to his senses. He pondered the question, what the hell does he do from here? He needs more information, if he wants the only mithril team to even stand a chance against the beast he needs to get them at least a list of attributes. They will need to know it’s strengths, it’s weaknesses, its attack patterns, which part of the body is vulnerable. If an adventurer knows what to expect then they can even take on monsters that are a tier higher in some cases. But if they know nothing about the monster then even mithril ranked adventurers can be taken down by a gold-ranked monster. 

This complicates things significantly as now due to this unknown factor, the monster might just be a silver ranked monster that was able to use the element of surprise on every adventurer so far. Or… it could be a hero-ranked monster that simply overpowered every single team so far, the loss of the teams tells him NOTHING!

“Arrest the family of the adventurers that went to that tomb…” Lord Averlon said.

“They have already been interrogated my lord.” Sarana replied calmly.

“I know, I remember. Arrest them and make sure they know nothing, I want everything they know, torture them if you have to.” Lord Averlon said coldly.

“Is that wise my lord? Sarana asked as she tilted her head slightly.

“You know the prophecy, you know what is at stake. We can no longer afford to be gentle.” Lord Averlon growled.

Idly as Sarana looked at him, she noted he looked like he was starting to look a little unstable…

“Word will spread that you are arresting citizens for no good cause. With the lockdown of the roads many businesses have been affected, the public already grows restless. I feel if things continue to deteriorate we will begin to see agitators in the population.” Sarana said.

“Where are the families of the adventurers?” Lord Averlon asked.

“They came from two small villages, village Wheaton and village Hearthstead,” Sarana replied.

“Population?” Lord Averlon asked.

“8 families each… my lord.” Sarana replied, as she started to feel something was wrong…

“Use your underworld contacts, make them attack the village and have some of your operatives capture their families. Then squeeze every last bit of information from them. If we can find the tomb we might be able to find some clues to what this thing is.” Lord Averlon said.

“You want me to orchestrate a bandit attack, kill all the villagers and kidnap the families of those adventurers in the process?” Sarana asked dumbfounded.

“That seer served the Divine Council. If Heaven discovers what Cecilia is, the armies of Heaven will wipe Averlon off the face of the map. All our lives are forfeit unless we find the beast and Cecilia.” Lord Averlon growled.

“Yes my lord…” Sarana said with a bow as she started to have second thoughts on the man before her. 

What he said had some degree of logic behind it. However, if this becomes public knowledge, Averlon will have an uprising… If House Averlon is overthrown, who will the people blame for a covert operation?

The Forgemaster?

The Head of Commerce?

The Head Mage?

That girl the Royal Beastiarian?

Or the woman who is in charge of covert operations and spying?

The Spymaster Sarana Lohse would be the one to take the fall along with the house of Averlon if the worst should come to pass…

The rest would get away scot-free and chances are they would continue to serve the next ruler… as for herself? She’ll be dragged naked through the streets…

Sarana may have to consider a new source of employment…

“Oh yes, the girl that escaped the bandit camp, have her brought to the forest and have her see if she can remember anything when she’s in there. If we can find that bandit camp then we’ll be able to gather more clues.” Lord Averlon said.

“My lord, I doubt a common peasant girl will be able to find her way through a forest. She would more likely lead us in circles than actually lead us to the camp. She was lost for two days, at a walking pace, she could have walked for 50 kilometers in any direction. The camp may be hours away from where we found her.” Sarana replied.

“I don’t care, have her search. She’s useless as she is now, we might as well get some use out of her. I assume you still have her in custody?” Lord Averlon asked as he cast a cold glance at Sarana.

“Of course my lord, I have been awaiting your leave to release her.” Sarana replied as she gave him her best false smile.

“Good, have her sent to the forest to search.” Lord Averlon said.

“Of course my lord, is there anything else you require?” Sarana asked.

“No, complete your tasks and we just might survive…” Lord Averlon said with a grimace.

“Of course my lord, then I shall take my leave.” Sarana said as she bowed and made her way out of the room.

Once she was clear of the guards at the door her smiling mask gave way to a snarl. 

“You may be stuck here but not me…” Sarana muttered as she began to think on what preparations she would need for her to escape this city if the worst should come to pass. She has no intention of being lynched or turned to ash by holy fire…

◦◦,`°.✽✦✽.♚.✽✦✽.°`,◦◦

As I looked down at Cecilia who was lying on her bed flipping through a book. I realised over the past few days she apparently feels no sense of modesty when in front of me. It was honestly a bit of a weird experience being treated as someone or perhaps something that didn’t care about such things. Well to be fair yes I didn’t really care and since I have no eyes she has no idea what exactly I’m looking at considering I have an approximately 270-degree cone of vision. Still, the human in me still felt it was a bit awkward to be in the same room as a woman who was wearing so little.

Even now as I look down at her, she was in nothing but a nightgown and underwear. Well I can understand the utility of the decision. The hearth kept this place quite warm and honestly I’ve seen the clothes she usually wears. It honestly didn’t look that comfortable with its thigh-high socks, garter belts, and a corset underneath her flowing dress. So this attire is much more comfortable.

The oddest moment for me is when I returned from a hunt and I saw her bathing. When she saw me she gave me a cheery wave as she got out of the bathe and grabbed a nearby towel. Then she used the towel to dry her HAIR first, not bothering to cover up at all. She just walked over to me stark naked in nothing but a pair of sandals on her feet. She then began talking to me as if nothing was wrong with the whole situation. Well… honestly there wasn’t that much wrong with the situation. I can easily ignore her nudity once the conversation starts.

I feel nothing for human women, in fact until now I don’t even know if I’m male or female. So I guess it’s just the human in me acting up, like somehow this situation is indecent or something. Then again I am sure people with pets don't care about their modesty in front of their dogs or cats…

“You wanted to talk to me?” I asked as I looked down at her.

“Yes, I’ve come up with a plan to better conceal what you really are.” Cecilia said as she snapped the book shut and got off the bed.

“What is it?” I asked.

“You see friend I was combing through some of the old tales of past Devourers. All of them had hybrid features like one was covered in feathers, the feathers were a hybrid of multiple types of feathers. The Devourers could meld traits of those they consumed, optimising their abilities to use the strengths of multiple creatures. 

When I first met you, your blades and your invisibility was very obviously the pattern of the Stalker Chameleon. However, if you were to meld those two into with the invisibility powers of another creature and obtain the blades of another. Then it would be much harder to tell that your abilities are stolen from other creatures.” Cecilia said.

“Hmm that is true.” I replied.

“Then let me ask you friend, can you change your appearance?” Cecilia asked,

“Never tried.” I replied as soon as I thought about the subject I felt something click in the back of my mind. I found once again that my body knew exactly what to do and I decided to try it out...

“Ohhh a Spriggan’s skin…” Cecilia said with a happy clap.

I looked down and saw my body was covered in this strange bark-like skin. Much like those annoying Spriggans that I managed to wipe out… well as far as I know anyway. Their abilities seemed too useful for me to leave any behind. I actively hunted them for about a day and a half, there weren’t that many of them to begin with and there’s definitely a lot less of them now… in this forest at least...

“I guess I can.” I state as I switch back to my white skin.

“Excellent, also if I am to uphold my end of the bargain I will need to make you look… more presentable,” Cecilia said.

“Presentable?” I asked, confused.

“Yes, you are very intimidating but a tad too intimidating. I think if we can alter your appearance to seem more regal, I may be able to pass you off as some wise ancient beast. One that is intelligent and can be reasoned with.” Cecilia said.

“What do you have in mind?” I asked.

“I think some phoenix feathers would be excellent, we can meld that with the feathers of… well Feathered Wyverns. As for your blades there are Gigant Mantises whose blades you can combine with your stalker blades. Gigant Mantises also have invisibility so it could mask your real identity even further.” Cecilia said.

“Alright, sounds like a plan. Where can I find these creatures?” I asked.

“I think let’s start with the Gigant Mantises, we’ll worry about cosmetic changes later. They are found in a swamp not far from here. It’s about three days of travel for us humans but I think you can make better time than us humans on carriages.” Cecilia said.

“Sounds good.” I replied with a smile.

Cecilia was proving to be an extremely good ally. I was worried at first that she would try to trick me into just helping her get her throne back. I found out a few days after staying with her that she wasn’t afraid to invest in her endeavours. She has spent the past few days coming up with a plan to make me stronger so that we would be better equipped to complete our goals.

Well if there’s one thing I learnt on the streets back home...

Treat me right and I’ll treat you right

Compassion is hard to come by out here...